Text: “Repent, for the kingdom of
heaven is near” Matt. 4.17 (NIV)
Restoration !
On
the 22 of June 2004, in the market place of the city of
This
was the crowning, finishing, completion point of a restoration which had taken
years.
The
original Frauenkirche, was a baroque Church built between 1726
and 1743, with its 314 foot high dome, weighing 12,000 tons, it was one of the
wonders of the age
For
two hundred years, the magnificent bell shaped dome, stood gracefully over the
skyline of old
On
the night of the 13 February 1945, however, during the bombing of Dresden, the
Church caught fire…. pillars glowed red and exploded, the outer walls
shattered, and thousands of tons of stone plunged to earth, when the stone
cooled two days later the entire building was a heap of rubble.
After
the war, the East German government made plans to clear away the ruins, and
make it a car park, but these came to nothing…
However,
round the ruins, things began to happen, in February 1985, the 40th.
anniversary of its destruction, 400
Dresden citizens arrived at the ruins of the Frauenkirche, lighting candles and
laying flowers…. and over the years, the numbers coming increased from ten to
twenty to thirty thousand and more, gathering round the ruins of the Church….
even as a
ruin, the Church was still playing a part in life,
a part in
the momentous movement that eventually resulted in
the fall
of the
When
the wall did come down, funds were raised to restore the Church and
on
was put
in place,
This
was the crowning, completion point of a restoration which many had dreamed of,
many had
longed for, many had looked forward to.
Restoration.
The
restoration of that ruined Church….
The
Bible speaks profoundly about restoration in many places…..
sometimes
the restoration of ruined walls and buildings,
more often the restoration of human life…..
When
Noah, on the
looked
out and saw the white dove coming back with
an olive
branch in its beak, that simple olive branch was a sign that God was restoring
the earth once again…..
When
the Psalmist wrote, How we laughed, how we sang,
when we
heard that at last
Yes
the Bible has much to say about restoration, how God restores His people…..
One
fascinating example of this is to be found in, of all places, the book of
Leviticus.
Normally
we might associate the book of Leviticus with all the details of the Law,
details of how the Tent of Meeting was put together, details of sacrifice, and the laws for
daily life.
But
in chapter 25, there is a wonderful description of restoration,
a
wonderful description of God’s unique restoring care for
Leviticus
25, speaks of a year of restoration that the living
God was to bring about…..
This
was to happen every fifty years.
It
was called the year of Jubilee, from the Hebrew word yabal, which means to bring back to restore………….
Once
every fifty years, was to be a year of Jubilee, a year of restoration…..
on the
tenth day of the seventh month of the
49th. year, on the day of atonement, a silver trumpet rang out in the Temple,
followed by trumpets ringing out all over the land – the signal that the year
of Jubilee had begun - a whole year of rest from all toil and work.
A
year when past losses were made good, the fruit of the vine and of the fig tree
were picked just where they grew……..
A
whole year in which both the land and its people had a chance to rest, and be restored by the living God…..
Here’s
what Leviticus says:
8. "Count off a period of
forty-nine years.
9 Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on
the tenth
day of the
seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the
trumpet throughout
your land.
10 For the fiftieth year
proclaim liberty
throughout the land to
all its inhabitants. It shall be a
jubilee for you; each
one of you is to return to his family
property and each to
his own clan.
11 The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for
you; do not
sow and do not
reap what grows of itself or harvest the
untended vines.
12
…..eat
only what is taken directly from the fields.
13 In this Year of Jubilee everyone is
to return to his
own property.”
Just
as the earth was restored after the flood, just as the people were restored
from exile in far off
Those
who lost their lands over the previous fifty years
had their
land restored to them.
Those,
so poor that they had become slaves over the previous fifty years,
had their
freedom restored to them..
The
old ties to family land and family home
were
restored……the Jubilee year was to be a time of rest for all the people,
a time of
restoring…..
So,
of course, in the days, months, years before the Jubilee itself arrived
it was already
having an effect, changing life in
people
prepared, families looked forward to returning to the old farm they had lost,
labourers
longed for rest after ceaseless toil,
And
- for slaves wouldn’t every year, every month every day, every hour
be
counted off towards the Jubilee………?
In
the days, months, years before the Jubilee itself arrived
it was already
having an effect, changing life in
There
is a 19th. century French painting, called ‘The
Angelus’. It portrays an elderly couple in the fields, outside a small French
village. It is evening, and the light of the setting sun catches the roof and
spire of the church in the distance. The couple stand,
among the rows of vegetables they have been hoeing. The old man has taken off
his hat, and his wife has her head bowed. The Angelus, is a short moment for
prayer in the evening, and we can guess that the bell is tolling in the Church behind
the elderly couple to signal the end of the day’s work, the time for rest, and
restoring
This
was what the Jubilee year was to be………
a time
for rest and restoring….
something
this busy age has long ago forgotten -
But
time for rest and restoring…. is one of God’s purposes for human life,
one of
God’s purposes for us too !
If
we look right through the Bible, then, we find that the Word of God declares
that this is what the living God does – He restores us,
He
is the One who restores His people……..
and among
His people, especially in times of ruin and desolation, we find
great
hope, deep longing, an intense looking towards the restoration He would bring.
for this is what
God is like…………….
But
deepest of all perhaps, to consider,
is the
message of the Bible that while we were created for a relationship with God,
that
relationship has been ruined, desolated, by our sinfulness.
But
the amazing declaration of the Scriptures, is that the living God has not given
up what He has made - the women and men He has created !
The
declaration of the Bible, is that the Living God still has a loving purpose for
this world, this disintegrating world ! And it is to
restore us to Himself……….
The
Living God still has a loving purpose for this world, this disintegrating
world, and comes seeking us, to restore us to Himself !
through
Jesus Christ.
For
the Word of God declares, that the living God has moved, has acted, in power, to
restore the world, to bring us back to Himself through Jesus, the lowly servant
of the Lord.
And
we see the moment when that begins in Matthew’s gospel….
in those
words
of Jesus
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
coming near……….
the
kingdom of heaven is coming near, God is beginning the restoring of the earth,
and at
the centre of God’s purpose of restoration is Jesus.
These
are words of enormous significance for the earth,
and its
peoples. For Jesus, the lowly servant of the Lord, is
the One who breaks the power of sin and death at the Cross, and restores us to
the living God.
In Him, through Him, with Him, through His cross and
resurrection, the restoration of the world, the restoration of men and women, you
and me, has arrived.
Just
as in the years before the Jubilee itself arrived
it was
already having an effect, changing life in
people
prepared, families looked forward to it, labourers,
slaves and
many others longed for the day.
This is why Jesus invites men and women
to repent, to change,
to look up, to
change direction………..
for the kingdom is coming near, the day is coming near,
life approaches, and He
brings it………….
In
Jesus, God’s restoring of the world, is now activated, it is now being realised,
and as we
gather round the Communion table here.
The
invitation is to us all - to be part of what God is doing,
to be
part of the full restoring of life in Jesus Christ.
AMEN