The Times of Restitution
By Harry Champness
Why the Coming of the Lord Has Been Delayed “REPENT ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things.” A great and solemn work is before the people of this generation. We have reached the times of restitution which all the holy prophets have spoken about since the world began. That Prophet like unto his brethren has appeared, and his voice is still sounding to-day. Times of refreshing are coming from the presence of the Lord, for the times of restitution have come. A clarion voice must be sounded through the length and breadth of the land, calling the people to repentance. Only those can sound it who have themselves repented. It must go forth with no uncertain tones to earth’s remotest bounds. We are not to call people to penitence, but to repentance. There has been too much relying on sorrow for sin unaccompanied by that godly sorrow which worketh true repentance to salvation. No tears of grief, no heart sobs, can avail of themselves. They are useless unless they lead to thorough reformation through the power of the cross. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” must be heard again. Then similar results will be seen as at the Jordan’s banks when the people stood publicly confessing their sins before they were plunged into the watery grave. The self-life must decrease, that the Christ-life may increase in those who give this message. Those who handle sacred things must be pure in heart. Only clean lips must take this message upon them, or they will be consumed by the glory of it. The standard has been lowered to meet the low level of Christian living. It must be raised, and put back into its rightful place. Our experiences must be leveled up to God’s standard, instead of lowering that standard to meet our experiences. There must be thorough restitution made as far as lies in our power. “For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.” No repentance is complete unless it leads to restitution. “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.” The restitution of the soul is close akin to the restitution of the body. He who forgiveth all our iniquities, healeth all our diseases. Genuine repentance will work carefulness and clearing in soul and body, and the great Healer is at hand to work for all who thus repent. These will follow when John the Baptist has done his work. When God visits his people because they have put away their sins, times of refreshing will come with his presence. “He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth.” He will pour water upon the thirsty soul, and floods upon the dry ground. And there shall be a revival of all the power and glory that attended the beginning of the proclamation of this message, and that power and glory shall be much more abundant. God is coming near to his people in these days. He is refreshing hearts that have been crying for the outpouring of his Spirit. He is renovating set forms and customs. Those from whose eyes the scales of prejudice have fallen cannot but rejoice as they see his stately steppings among us. Where there has been lip service in the past, heart service is taking its place. Family worship is becoming the prayer meeting of the home, where each member seeks daily for grace to get down lower and lower, so that by love they may serve one another. Each meal is becoming a communion, where it is recognized that all things are shared in common with the blessed Master. Each business transaction is done under his careful supervision. The whole life is transfigured by the glory of his indwelling presence, and every act is divine service. God is coming near to our churches in these days. Such times of refreshing as we have never known before are coming into our services. Hearts are responding to the tender touch of the Spirit of God, even as the face of all nature is now responding to the spring. Hard hearts are being softened, and stubborn wills broken. Those who were mere formalists are finding a joy and delight springing up in their hearts. Many who formerly had simply chosen to do his will have now come to delight in it. Testimony meetings are full of a power hitherto unknown. The ordinary way of conducting meetings is giving place to the extraordinary. O, the great God has come down to visit the Seventh-day Adventist churches throughout the world in these last days, to see if they are awake and ready to respond to the call for the finishing up and cutting short of this work in righteousness! God is coming near to the world in these days. There is a spirit of unrest settling down upon the outside world; men’s hearts are failing them for fear. There is distress of nations with perplexity. People are in a state of expectation, as in the days of John the Baptist. Everybody is on the tiptoe of expectancy, wondering what will happen next. Wars and rumors of wars are filling the air. The strain is getting so intense that any alleviation, however slight, is gladly welcomed. The Restitution of All Things
Now is the time to press the battle to the gates. Now is the time for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. “Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.” The Lord is coming. He is even now at the doors. Elias has come to restore all things among the people. The Lord is coming to restore all things in the kingdom. Get ready for the events that are fast hastening upon us! Let him restore the soul in order that there may be the necessary preparation for the restitution of all things when the King comes. All the power that has ever been manifested in the past is to be gathered up under this message, and that and much more are to be revealed. All the power that is being manifested outside of this people to-day is to come into their ranks if they will let it. O the shame that others who have not known these precious truths should be in advance of us with the power of the Holy Ghost. Thank God, he is rolling away our reproach. He is beginning to startle us by what he is doing. He will startle us yet more. The God of past generations is still the God of the present. There is no need to cry, in despairing tones: “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” He is here, waiting to do for us all that he ever did for Elijah, and more. When we are willing to put away from us the accursed things, and be clean, the power of the Holy Ghost shall fall upon this people, and as the result we shall soon see the restitution of all things.”