God's patterns, and why you need to watch for them

No issue in human history has been more hotly debated than the nature of God.

"God works in mysterious ways," goes the cliché. And believers may find themselves frustrated and lost when trying to understand how God operates and how He intercedes in human history.

However, WND Founder Joseph Farah believes he has found a way to assist Christians. God's actions are not random nor inscrutable. Instead, they follow patterns – patterns that can be studied, internalized and understood.

"We serve a God of patterns," said Farah. "He shows us patterns so that we can learn from them. And He gives us the presence of the Holy Spirit to understand these patterns. And that's really what it's all about at the end of the day. It's about 'The Restitution of All Things.'"

Farah made the comments in a wide-ranging interview with Rabbi Eric Walker on "Revealing the Truth," the television program of the Igniting a Nation ministry. Farah was describing the purpose behind his newest book, "The Restitution of All Things," and the importance of prophecy in leading people to faith. Indeed, it was through prophecy and specifically through Hal Lindsey's famous book "The Late Great Planet Earth" that Farah discovered who Jesus Christ really is.

"He had been prophesized," said Farah of his realization about Jesus. "He was a fulfillment of prophecy. I had never heard that before. I didn't realize that He was the Jewish Messiah, but it hit me."

Farah credited "The Late Great Planet Earth" with first exposing him to the "Israel-centric" nature of the Scriptures. And while the WND founder said he doesn't agree with everything Lindsey has taught, he has no doubt "The Late Great Planet Earth" and its author was "used by God" to get that message out to millions of people.

"That is one of the greatest selling books, not only of its time, but in the history of the world at this point," he said. "God used that book to grab me, I will tell you that in no uncertain terms."

Rabbi Walker added Jesus Christ, or Yeshua, is best understood in his Jewish context. It is the critical context of Jesus's battle with the religious authorities of his time, which sets up the entire driving conflict of the New Testament. It's a struggle Farah believes most Christians who have read the Gospels have missed.

It's the book that gives you tomorrow’s news today! Get your autographed copy of "The Restitution of All Things: Israel, Christians and the End of the Age."

"The Gospels are dominated by one conflict," Farah explained. "And it's not with who we might think it is with. It's not Satan – that lasts for 40 days in the wilderness, then it's over with. The rest of the conflict is with the religious authorities of Jesus's time, Yeshua's time, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. If you asked the average Christian what was the error of the Pharisees, they will almost unanimously say, 'Well, they were hypocrites.' But that doesn't begin to explain the story. Why was Jesus speaking to them so harshly? Why was he condemning them? Why was John the Baptist condemning them before Yeshua did?

"The answer is very simple. They had deviated from Scripture and they had held traditions of men higher even than Scripture, and it's throughout all the Gospels. How come we don't have sermons about that? So that's where I start the book because it's a very important foundation for what we're talking about because you know what? In Yeshua's first coming, many people did not recognize him as the Messiah because they had the wrong expectations.

"They were expecting the Lion of Judah to come and the Lamb of God came instead," he noted. Laughing, he added: "Well, the next time, the Lion of Judah's going to come, and I don't believe Christians understand that. I think they're expecting the Lamb of God to come. Of course, He will be, but He's going to be a very different looking and sounding Yeshua than he was in the first century."

As Farah notes, the Bible says Jesus will be ruling an earthly kingdom with a "rod of iron." But what will be the standard of justice, of right and wrong, of good and evil? Farah says that answer is provided as well. "We're back to the Torah," he observed.

"You can't help but notice that things are going to be very different in this future kingdom on Earth for believers and unbelievers alike," he explained. "How many believers know that the seventh day Sabbath is going to be observed in the future kingdom? And why would that be since we don't do it today? But the Apostles did it. And why is there this disharmony between then, and now, and the future?"

Of course, this may be surprising, or even shocking to many believers. The idea Christians will suddenly be observing the biblical or Jewish feasts may seem alien or strange. Yet Farah maintains the Bible is clear.

"The Feast of Tabernacles will observed," he said as an example. "Mandatory! I mean, there are harsh penalties for not observing the Feast of Tabernacles in the coming Kingdom of God, as we see in Zachariah 14. What I'm doing here with this book or attempting to do is to introduce people to what many of us refer to as the Hebrew roots of the faith, the Christian faith, and doing this using Scriptures almost exclusively. I don't know if anyone else has done this kind of comprehensive introduction to this new way of seeing our Messiah, seeing the patterns that we learn through Scripture. It's a big project."

Yet why take it on? As Rabbi Walker observed, "The Restitution Of All Things" is a challenge for readers, presenting them with truths that go against their preconceptions. Farah said, initially, he didn't want to do the book.

But ultimately, he had no choice.

"This is something that God kept hammering me to do," he said. "I didn't want to do it. … This was dictated to me in many ways."

After reading Acts 3, as he had done countless times previously, the words "the restitution of all things" jumped out at him with a new meaning they had never had before. Driven by this, Farah felt he had no choice but to write. And he hopes it will help those who are looking for answers to the greatest of questions.

"I can't say that it's going to be what every person looking this program right now is looking for," he said. "But I know that some people are looking for it. I know that without any question. Because I was instructed to do this for some people. And the reaction to it has been very, very positive."

It's the book that gives you tomorrow's news today! Get your autographed copy of "The Restitution of All Things: Israel, Christians and the End of the Age."