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“Full Restitution”

Exodus 22:3

Blessed is that enlightened soul who, by the grace of God, is able to see Christ in the Old Testament as well as in the New. Blessed are those eyes that behold the Lord Jesus Christ in all the promises, precepts, and prophecies of the Old Testament as well as in the proclamations of the New. Blessed are those hearts that can see the beauty and glory of Christ in the ordinances, types, and shadows of the law as well as in the shining light of the gospel.

Christ the Key

It is a sad fact, but a fact it is, that most who read the Bible and most who preach and teach from it see nothing in the Old Testament but historic facts, legal precepts, carnal ceremonies, and moral ethics. To the vast majority of the religious people I know, the Old Testament is a sealed Book, without meaning or message. They simply cannot unlock it, because they do not have the key. They are like those Isaiah describes in Isaiah 6. Seeing, they see not. Hearing, they hear not. Understanding, they understand not the things written in the Old Testament Scripture.

The key to the Old Testament is Christ! What a great blessing it is to have the key! Yet, there is no room for boasting here. If we see, hear, and understand the Scriptures, it is because God has graciously caused the light of his glory and grace to shine in our hearts by his Spirit. It is because we have been taught of God. It is because the Lord God has opened our understanding that we might understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45). It is written, “Blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear” (Matthew 13:16).

Restitution Made

Nowhere is man’s spiritual blindness more evident than in the things written about the Mosaic law and the Levitical sacrifices. Reading the things written by various commentators about the laws of restitution in Exodus 21-22 and Leviticus 5-6 and the requirement of restitution to make atonement, I was as amazed as I was disappointed to see so very few make even a gospel application of them, much less give a gospel interpretation!

The law of God requiring restitution for any wrong done by one person to another and the sacrifices requiring restitution for atonement were not intended merely to teach a moral precept of restitution. Rather, these things were written to teach by precept and by picture that the Lord Jesus Christ would, by his great work of redemption, turn the tables and make a full restitution of all things to the everlasting praise and glory of the triune God. They all testify of that which is written of him in Psalm 69:4. — “Then I restored that which I took not away.”

Restitution of All Things

There is a day appointed called “the times of restitution of all things” (Acts 3:18-21). In that day, when God our Savior has made all things new, he will display to all creatures the wonders of his wisdom and grace in restoring all things to God and his glory by the salvation of his elect (Ephesians 1:3-14; 2:1-7).

Don Fortner

Pastor Fortner’s