Life Capsule for Today Date:7th April, 2024
Theme: Bible Restitution(1)
Text: Matt 5:16
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. NKJV
Topic: What is Restitution
Today’s Reading: Numbers 5:6-7
“Speak to the sons of Israel, ‘When a man or woman commits any of the sins of mankind, acting unfaithfully against the LORD, and that person is guilty, then he shall confess his sins which he has committed, and he shall make restitution in full for his wrong and add to it one-fifth of it, and give it to him whom he has wronged.
Words of the Ministry:
This week, we intend to look at one of the old landmarks in the bible, we would be considering the subject of restitution, that is how to terminate the past and make our wrongs right. Some teach against restitution altogether saying it’s of the law and since the law have been abolished we can forget it, others over burden the conscience of the saints making them suffer condemnation more than necessary. The Lord commands us not to remove the old landmark as some do concerning matters like restitution, the divinity of Christ, the rapture, eternal punishment in hell etc. We have been warned of false teacher in 2pet 2.1-3. This we hope to avoid by looking into the word of God and considering the timeless truth of restitution.
The word Restitution is very biblical and it means both “restoring something to its original state” and “returning something to its rightful owner,” such as a public apology that leads to the restitution of a person’s honor and reputation, it may also include returning a stolen item are benefits of a fraudulent transaction. To do justice to the matter, we would look at restitution both in the old and new testaments, we would consider it and how it was done before the law, during the law, after the law of Moses and in the new covenant.
I like by citing a few examples of restitution before the Law of Moses:
1. Abraham and Abimelech (Gen.20.1-14, Vs7 please read). You would notice Abimelech wasn’t a slave or illiterate, God is therefore no respecter of persons. He expects all believers to obey the truth regardl4ess of status. We can see that the first person that preached restitution is God as Abimelech did not have a copy of the bible. God reveled it to him through the spoken word. We notice therefore that restitution is therefore restoring an item back to the rightful owner (not to a beggar, needy, church etc but the rightful owner).
2. Jacob, Joseph and his brothers: As we read Gen 42.1-3, 25-28, and Gen 43.1-2,11-12,19, we would notice that immediately Jacob and his sons realized the money was in their bags, they returned it and made provision to buy another, many would say its government money, its divine provision, or he is a rich man or did I send him to make mistake. Long before the law, it was impressed on the heart to have a clear conscience before God and man.
Join us tomorrow as we progress in our study on the theme restitution by considering how restitution was practiced under the law. Please spread the word, invite friends and neighbors to like our social media pages.
Bible in one year: 1 Sam 19-21. For further fellowship send us an email on godmanvideos@gmail.comor visit our youtube channel: @godmanmedia. You can also interact with us by dropping your comments on our facebook page. Our physical meeting, Word feast comes up every Wednesday by 5pm and Prayer Gym every Saturday by 7am while PENIEL comes up once a month, every last Sunday of the month from 4pm to 6.30pm at Suite A10, Ahser Office Complex, beside Living Faith Church, Opposite Hassan Stores, Arab Road, Kubwa Abuja.