The Restoration of All Things
by Paul Jablonowski
July 31, 2018
Noah released a dove which returned with a freshly plucked olive leaf in its beak, and therefore knew, "that the waters had abated from the earth" (Gen. 8:11).
The restoration of all things is a doctrine, like the fresh olive branch the dove brought to Noah, which shows the flood of injustice and deception is coming to an end in our generation.
Acts 3:21 says that Jesus will not return from heaven to earth until, "the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began."
Understanding that God is able to save all of His creation is hard for most people to comprehend because we are currently stuck in this thing called time. Therefore, we miss God's eternal nature and don't realize that He is able to finish that which He started. There is such injustice in our world and the tension that comes with unresolved evil, that we desire judgment on things that are not right, but since God sees the end of time, He is way more merciful than we are. The truth is that everything will be restored and every single injustice will be resolved in due time.
Our Father will be faithful to redeem His creation and our only decision is when we will be a part of it. His sovereignty is above our decisions and He even uses evil to work towards our good if we have set our hearts to love him: "All things work together for good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28). Basically, our Father is looking for overcomers in this current evil generation who overcome the world through love and not through control or manipulation. But eventually, all will be restored through Jesus.
Unfortunately this is not what I have been taught for the first 20+ years in my walk with the LORD. The typical evangelical church teaches a hell fire that lasts forever, but this is a mistranslation of key words in Scripture. The purpose of this writing is not to give a full theological understanding of this doctrine, but to simply give my testimony of its truth and fruit in my life. The footnotes in this newsletter contain some further research for those who want Scriptural proof for these things.
Dr. Stephen Jones writes:
In the case of the judicial system itself, how can we expect our judges to establish justice in the courts, prescribing judgments that are neither too lenient nor too harsh, when the Church itself prescribes an infinite and horrible punishment upon all sinners alike, regardless of the nature of their crime? The courts are merely reflecting the values of the people.
Which is worse, to sentence a man to five years in prison for theft, or to sentence him to a torture chamber for all eternity? Civil judges today know that the punishment should vary, depending on the severity of the crime. Yet much of the Church is still influenced by the Roman logic that the purpose of punishment is to deter crime, rather than to restore justice. With this mindset, it is logical that if punishments are severe enough, law and order will be maintained, and the people will be obedient.
If they had been students of the divine law, they would have understood that the purpose of judgment is to restore the lawful order by restoring the lost property to the victim, while restoring the sinner to grace and forgiveness.(1)
The bottom line is that corrective judgment is not to try and scare people into believing so they don't sin anymore, but to restore right relationships!
The lake of fire and river of fire in Scripture is for the purpose of refining, purging, and purifying. Again Stephen Jones writes:
All of our misunderstandings of the lake of fire would easily be solved by a study of God's Law. After all, the law is the most relevant factor in this matter of judgment. Paul says in Romans 6:23, "for the wages of sin is death." Ezekiel 18:20 confirms this: "The person ["soul"] who sins will die."
Anyone who studies the divine law will see that death is the worst possible punishment that can be meted out. Even when a man was guilty of multiple murder, the maximum penalty was death. There is no sin worthy of being burned at the stake, much less being burned in a torture chamber for an eternity.(1)
Separate from the fire before the throne, there is a place that Jesus calls "hell" which is "Gehenna" in Greek and was the city dump in biblical times. While hell is certainly a place of destruction in the natural and shame in the spiritual, it was not a place of eternal torment, since the bible does not use torture as a means of bringing judgment.
The term "eternal" in Scripture means "age lasting" because again, our Father is outside of time and works differently throughout the ages ordained for us. Please refer to this link Does God Punish Endlessly? to understand that "eternal" and "everlasting" are mistranslations of the Greek and Hebrew words that really mean age-enduring and age-lasting.
It took years for me to accept this Restoration of All Things. Mainly because here in the bible belt of Alabama we have eternal torment ingrained into us from youth. Back in 2010 I had even written a newsletter coming against this doctrine quoting multiple scriptures and typical evangelical rhetoric to say how it was false. But I was wrong.
Many of the early church fathers taught this truth.(1) And there is much good teaching on the Reconciliation of All Things.(2)
Hell is a real place that is to be shunned and avoided only through the saving grace of Jesus Christ, but its not eternal.
Eventually every knee will bow and every tongue confess Jesus is LORD because they will see His goodness!
--------------------------------------------For Further Study---------------------------------------------------------
(1) For a full explanation of the Restoration of All Things, see Stephen Jones; Creation Jubilee - https://gods-kingdom-ministries.net/teachings/books/creations-jubilee/chapter-3-the-lake-of-fire-or-the-molten-sea/
(2) Another chapter from
Stephen Jones book - Creation Jubilee - https://gods-kingdom-ministries.net/teachings/books/creations-jubilee/chapter-5-the-restoration-of-all-things/
https://www.gods-kingdom-ministries.net/teachings/books/if-god-could-save-everyone-would-he/chapter-1-if-god-could-save-everyone-would-he/
A worship song I was singing
during this time - http://www.sonstoglory.com/music/ionlyhaveeyesforyoumylord.mp3
https://gods-kingdom-ministries.net/daily-weblogs/2018/09-2018/sovereignty-and-fate/