All Restored; Nothing lost

“Then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found” (Lev. 6:4).

The law of God required strict equity. Whatever was stolen, whatever was committed in trust and lost, whatever a man found that belonged to another but kept for himself, in all of these and more, God’s law required full restitution. God is holy. He watches over the wrong. He requires restoration of what is taken away and what is lost that was entrusted. Here we have the testimony of God’s justice, the restitution of what we lost, the entrustment of God’s own to Christ, and the anticipation of Christ’s work to restore and to keep what was committed to Him.

The Psalmist spoke of Jesus when he said, “Then, I restored that which I took not away” (Ps. 69:4). We failed to render to God His due. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). But Christ propitiated God, reconciled us by His blood, and redeemed us from all iniquity (Rom. 3:21, 24-25; Titus 2:14). He made restitution to God for His people. He gave Himself a ransom to God for "the many" given to Him by the Father (Matt. 20:28). He restored what we had taken away.

But there is something very notable in the middle of Leviticus 6:4: “...that which was delivered Him to keep.” Whenever a man entrusted a possession to another man for safekeeping, if that possession was lost while under his care, the caretaker was guilty. Christ not only made restitution to God for our sins, for failing to give God the glory due His name, but He also kept all that was His Father’s, all that His Father entrusted to Him to keep and bring again. Jesus said, “those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost” (John 17:12). God our Father entrusted His people to His Son, our Mediator, as our Surety, to bring us to Himself again (Gen. 43:8-9). If Christ failed to keep His sheep, if He lost even one given to Him by His Father, He would have broken this law in Leviticus 6:4. But He did not fail. He could not fail (Isa. 42:4). “He is able to save them to the uttermost who come unto God by Him” (Heb. 7:25). None of God's elect shall be lost. All of God’s Israel shall be saved (Rom. 9:8; 11:26-27; Gal. 6:16).

When God brought Israel through the Red Sea, when the waters stood up as a wall on either side while they passed through on dry land, when those same waters became a watery grave to the Egyptians, then all Israel sang the song of Moses (Ex. 15). In that song they said, “Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O LORD, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased” (Ex. 15:16). All whom God redeemed from Egypt were brought through the sea. None of the plagues and not a drop of the waters of judgment came upon them. None in Israel were lost. “Not an hoof shall be left behind” (Ex. 10:26). The weight of the wrong of all of God’s elect was laid on Jesus to pay. Their eternal salvation was put into His hand. God’s word and God’s glory was put into His hand. And He kept all that was entrusted to Him. He lost nothing. He made all of God’s elect sure by interposing Himself for them. “38 I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day” (John 6:38-39). “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). “16 other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. 17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father” (John 10:17-18). “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand” (John 10:27-29).

Do you see by God-given faith that your eternal salvation from sin, your salvation from God’s eternal judgment against you because of your sins, your deliverance from the accusing, lying, murderous devil, your salvation from all of the seduction and idolatry of this religious-political world (Rev. 17-18; Gal. 1:4), your salvation from your own fallen sinful nature; do you realize by faith that all of your salvation from all of these has been laid on the almighty shoulders and put into the unfailing hands of our unchanging, eternal Savior and Lord, who ever lives and is mighty to save (Ps. 89:19; Isa. 63:1; Heb. 7:25; Jude 1:24)?! He shall not fail until He send forth judgment into victory (Matt. 12:20; 1 Cor. 15:54-57; Rom. 7:25). He set His face like a flint to accomplish the eternal will that God put into His hands to do. And He finished that work. He ran the race set before Him (Heb. 12:1-3). He entered heaven to take possession of our inheritance for us (John 14:2; Heb. 6:20).

When Jesus has delivered up all to His Father, when the final accounting is made, nothing of all that was put into His hands shall be lacking (Eph. 1:10; Col. 1:20). All of His people shall be saved. Nothing that is theirs will be lost (1 Cor. 3:21-23). Not one good thing of all the Lord promised them shall fail (Rom. 8:28-30).

We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. We have failed to do the one thing for which we were created: to glorify our God. We have stolen all that was put into our hands in trust. But Christ has made restitution for all that we took away. And He has kept all that was given Him (Matt. 11:27; John 3:35; 13:3; 16:15; Heb. 1:3). He alone could and did save those given to Him of His Father (John 17:1-4).

I took and lost all. Christ restored and kept all. My all is in His hands. He did not fail. He cannot fail. He ever lives. He is the Lord God omnipotent (Rev. 19:6). He reigns over all. All things obey His will at His word. Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. God our Father has secured us to Himself by giving us to Christ, putting us in Christ. “Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?! I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 7:25-8:1).

Rick Warta