I was just reading a post concerning the Great Awakening that is coming. It is a hope that I am in agreement with, we need a revival in our churches today but I am doubtful that it will occur. There are
many who teach that in the last days there will be a great outpouring of the
Holy Spirit. This is based on Joel’s
prophecy of the last days.
“It shall come to pass afterward
that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.
And also on My menservants and on My maidservants,
I will pour out My Spirit in those days. And I will show wonders in the heavens
and in the earth: blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned
into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and
awesome day of the LORD. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the
name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall
be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the remnant whom the LORD calls.”
(Joel 2:28-32)
Is this a prophecy that has already been fulfilled? Jesus told his disciples to tarry in
Jerusalem until they would receive power from the Holy Spirit. They sought the
promise and tarried until the Holy Spirit came upon them in the upper room. Peter explained this visitation of the Spirit
as being that which was prophesied by Joel (Acts 2:16). 14Peter…said to them, “Men of Judea…let this
be known to you…15these are not drunk, as you suppose…16but this is what was
spoken by the prophet Joel.” (Acts 2:14-16)
Peter said that the outpouring of
the Spirit would happen in the last days (Acts 2:17). The last days began with
Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension and will culminate with Jesus’
return. The New Testament writers used the phrase “in the last days” five times
and in two different ways.
1. In Acts 2:17 and Hebrews 1:2, “the
last days” is used to refer to the early church.
2. In 2 Timothy 3:1 and 2 Peter 3:3, it
refers to the generation in which the Lord returns.
James 5:3 could be used in either
way. 14Peter…said to them, “Men of Judea…15these
are not drunk, as you suppose…16But this is what was spoken by the prophet
Joel: 17‘It shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out
of My Spirit…’” (Acts 2:14-17)
(2 Thessalonians 2:3-42 Thessalonians 2:3-4).
Some man is going to style himself as greater than God, pretending to be
God—and people will believe him. Why? Because:“The coming of the lawless one is
according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,
and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not
receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion,
that they should believe the lie” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-112 Thessalonians
2:9-11).
The “man of sin” posing as God
will be performing supernatural acts with the help of the devil, deceiving all
those who have rejected God and putting himself in a position to be worshipped
by the world.
Revelation 19:20 Revelation
19:20describes this powerful religious leader as “the false prophet who worked
signs” in connection with the political leader called the “beast.” The False
Prophet is the same as the one called “another beast” in Revelation
13:11Revelation 13:11, who performs miraculous “signs” (verses 14-15). He is
also the leader of the false church (“the harlot”) in Revelation
17:1-5Revelation 17:1-5. He is also referred to as “another horn” who will
“persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and
law” in Daniel 7:8Daniel 7:8, 20-22, 24-25.
In looking at the New Testament writers, we find a warning about those who will
depart from the faith in the last days.
1 Timothy 4- Now the Spirit
speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2 Speaking lies
in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3 Forbidding
to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be
received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
There are many today who call
themselves Christian but have never had the transforming power of
salvation. They are professors of
salvation without being a possessor.
They hold to the name without being born again.
2 Timothy 3- This know also
that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers
of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to
parents, unthankful, unholy,3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers,
false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of
God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from
such turn away.
This is an excellent description
of many within the church today. The
doctrine that excuses sin in the lives of Christians has destroyed the power of
salvation to live holy and godly lives.
Jude gives this warning of the
end times in chapter 3. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write
unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and
exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once
delivered unto the saints. 4 For there are certain men crept in unawares,
who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the
grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Peter gives us this warning of
the end times in chapter 3. This second epistle, beloved, I now write
unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: 2 That
ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets,
and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:
3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers,
walking after their own lusts, 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his
coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were
from the beginning of the creation.
Will there be a great worldwide
revival as so many teach today? If not,
will there be a falling away of believers as we near the return of Christ? I also know some people that say that both
will happen. So which is it?
First, I want to say I do not believe
in a great worldwide revival as many teach it today. Does that mean I’m against revival? Of course not. I just don’t see it in scripture the way it
is taught. I’m concerned that we have
had a blending of teachings about the End Times that is not based on the
Scriptures. The Great Awakening sounds good,
but the problem is that the Bible paints a very different picture.
Those who teach that there will
be a great worldwide revival in the last days have a very different
Eschatological view than I do. Many of them are Preterist. Preterits is a Christian eschatological view
that interprets some (partial preterism) or all (full preterism) prophecies of
the Bible as events which have already happened. This school of thought
interprets the Book of Daniel as referring to events that happened in the 2nd
century BC while seeing the prophecies of
Revelation as events that happened in the first century AD. Preterism holds
that Ancient Israel finds its continuation or fulfillment in the Christian
church at the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.
The term preterism comes from the
Latin praeter, which Webster's 1913 dictionary lists as a prefix denoting that
something is "past" or "beyond."
Adherents of preterism are commonly known as preterists. Preterism teaches that
either all (full preterism) or a majority (partial preterism) of the Olivet
discourse had come to pass by AD 70.
Historically, preterists and
non-preterists have generally agreed that the Jesuit Luis de Alcasar
(1554–1613) wrote the first systematic preterist exposition of prophecy -
Vestigatio arcani sensus in Apocalypsi (published in 1614)—during the
Counter-Reformation.
Many of them are also Postmillennial
in their teachings as well. Postmillennialism
holds that Jesus Christ establishes his kingdom on earth through his preaching
and redemptive work in the first century and that he equips his church with the
gospel, empowers her by the Spirit, and charges her with the Great Commission
(Matt 28:19) to disciple all nations. Postmillennialism expects that eventually
the vast majority of men living will be saved. Increasing gospel success will
gradually produce a time in history prior to Christ's return in which faith,
righteousness, peace, and prosperity will prevail in the affairs of men and of
nations. After an extensive era of such conditions Jesus Christ will return
visibly, bodily, and gloriously, to end history with the general resurrection
and the final judgment after which the eternal order follows
Postmillennialism was a dominant
theological belief among American Protestants who promoted reform movements in
the 19th and 20th century.
I try to be a realist when I look
at the condition of the world and Church. I do not believe that we should sit
by and wait for the “Rapture” to take us out of our problems. It will do us no good to become a "gun and grocery Christian." We are not to hide the light of the Gospel
nor are we to throw up our hands and give up hope. While worldwide revival sounds nice, it does not fit the warnings given by the
New Testament writers.
2 Thessalonians 2:3 “Let no one in any way deceive you, for it
(the Day of the Lord and our being gathered to Him/rapture) will not come unless
the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of
destruction.” This verse says that
there will be a time where many will fall away from the faith before Christ
returns.
Matthew 24:10-12 “At that time many will fall away and will
betray one another and hate one another.
Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most
people’s love will grow cold.” Jesus
made it very clear that the opposite of revival will be the norm.
Revelation 13:3 “I saw one of his heads as if it had been
slain, and his fatal wound was healed.
And the WHOLE earth was amazed and followed after the beast.”
Luke 18:8 “when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
2 Timothy 3:1-5 “But realize this, that in the last days
difficult times will come. For men will
be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient
to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips,
without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited,
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness,
although they have denied its power”
2 Peter 3:3-4 “Know
this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking,
following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His
coming?”
1 Timothy 4:1 “But the Spirit explicitly says that in
latter times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful
spirits and doctrines of demons..”
Revelation 13:7 “It was
also given to him (Antichrist) to make war with the saints and to overcome
them, and authority over EVERY tribe and people and tongue and nation was given
to him.”
In the Revelation of Jesus Christ
chapter 3, we are given a warning concerning
the day in which we live.
And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things
saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of
God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert
cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,
I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and
increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art
wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee
to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white
raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do
not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see. As
many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and
open the door, I will come in to him and
will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to
sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my
Father in his throne.
This does not sound like there
will be a worldwide revival. It is a
call to repentance, and there will be
those who will answer the call. There
are many who are accepting the message of the Gospel around the world. There are those who are experiencing the transforming power of salvation. There are those who are turning from their false religions to find the peace in their soul that only Jesus Christ can give. Yet, within the Church today there are those
who continue to practice sin, deny the power of the Blood of Jesus Christ to
destroy the works of the devil in their lives, and live ungodly lives without
thought to the consequences.
My advice is to make sure that
your personal salvation has been secured in Jesus Christ. That you know in whom you have believed and
are persuaded that Jesus Christ is able to keep you in the midst of trials and
tribulations of this life. Know what you
believe. Know the historical background
of what you are being taught. Just
because it is popular and many are following after the teaching does not make
it right. The mission of the Church has
not changed we are to make disciples and spread the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. We have been commissioned to
carry out message of salvation regardless of a worldwide revival or a falling
away from the faith. It is our duty to
remain faithful to Jesus Christ.
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