The Restitution of All Things, part 1

"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, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." (Acts 3:19-21)

"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;" (2 Thes. 2:1-3)
Many disciples feared that Christ would come again very shortly after His resurrection. However, Paul and other apostles helped the early Christians understand that there were things that had to happen first. One of those things was a "great falling away," or also known as an apostasy. An apostasy is a period of time when the authority to act in God's name is removed from the earth due to the disobedience of God's children. The disobedience often led to the rejection and martyrdom of many prophets.


Prophets are men called of God to cry repentance unto His children. We learn in Amos 3:7, "surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets." The prophets act as the mouth piece for God. No commandment would be given, nor revelation for the world received, unless it be given to the prophet and commanded of God to be given to the world.

Throughout the Bible we see a pattern of prophets called of God, such as Abraham and Moses, and then a rejection of those prophets that led to the removal of such esteemed men. It is the pride of man that causes these apostasies to occur. We see that even after the Son of Man came and ministered, and ascended into heaven, that people began to fall away and deny the words of the apostles. This led to a great falling away. Thus the prophecy of Amos was fulfilled, "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it." (Amos 8:11-12)

For centuries after the death of Christ and His apostles, many people wandered and searched for truth, but found only lies. Many died for the cause of religion. Many were persecuted and questioned for the wanting of truth. They thirsted after righteousness, but were hid from the truth because they knew not where to find it. For generations the Lord prepared the world for the last days. Before He could come the Second time He had to restore all things onto the world. The restitution of all things did take place, and the name of Christ's prophet that Christ worked through was Joseph Smith, Jr.