We hear a lot of talk in the Christian Church today about revival. Many teach that there will be an end time revival. They teach that God will revive His Church and bring millions more into His Kingdom world wide before Jesus comes back. What we have to establish is what stage of our Lord's coming is being referred to.
This question does not arise in the thinking of many, since they do not believe in a pre-tribulation rapture. I believe most firmly that the Bible teaches a pre-tribulation rapture of all true believers and that this is the next event on God's prophetic calendar. I also firmly believe that there will not be a world-wide revival before the rapture of the Church. I will now seek to show you from the Bible that exactly the opposite is true. In fact the Bible speaks many times of APOSTASY preceding the rapture of the Church. Let us first look at what Paul said to young Pastor Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:1-4 He warns Timothy of the coming apostasy. "I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His Kingdom; Preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap unto themselves teachers: and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables." Notice in these verses two judgements are mentioned. One at His appearing (The judgement seat of Christ at the Rapture) and the other at His Kingdom (His glorious appearing to set up His earthly Kingdom) These verses do not mention any kind of revival at the time of His appearing but a turning away from the truth, apostasy. Timothy is strongly encouraged by Paul to continue to preach the truth of God's Word even though many around him will turn from that truth and fall into error. Consider 1 Timothy 4:1 "Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times some will depart from the faith…". Notice the emphasis here, the Spirit EXPRESSLY SAYS. Again, no revival mentioned for the latter times. Check out also 2 Thessalonians 2 1-3. Matthew 24. Luke 21. 7-36. Now, I can almost hear you saying 'But didn't Jesus give us the great commission?' Didn't He say in Matt 24:14 "And this gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come?" Does not this suggest that the Church gets the job done? Doesn't this suggest revival?' Allow me to answer. Jesus did give us the great commission, to go into all the world and preach the gospel. This alone does not suggest revival. As for the Church getting the job done, I do not believe we do! When Jesus said 'And this gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world as a witness..' He didn't say by whom! The only place we find this being accomplished in the prophetic Word of God is in Revelation 14:6 where we read: "Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, tribe, tongue and people.." So the task is not completed by the Church but by an angel! Let us now return to the question of end time revival that is taught by some. The usual quote for this belief is Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost. He quotes Joel 2: 28-32
Peter says…"And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh…" Acts 2. If we compare it with Joel's original prophecy in Joel 2, we find it begins with the words "And it shall come to pass AFTERWARDS…" I ask AFTER WHAT? I believe AFTER the events prophesied in Joel 2 verses 1-27 which include v1 "For the day of the Lord is coming, for it is at hand. A day of darkness and gloominess.." And v10.."The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble; the sun and the moon grow dark and the stars diminish their brightness." This speaks of the tribulation when as already quoted the angel finishes the job! Now, this does not excuse us from witnessing or from preaching the gospel! Pre-trib rapture believers like myself are often accused of an escapist attitude. We are accused of just waiting for the rapture to escape this world and our responsibility to win people to Christ. This is a lie! Pre-trib rapture believers are very aware; probably more so than those of other persuasions, of the dreadful times ahead during the Tribulation. It will be the worst period of time that this world has ever had to endure. Jesus said it will be a time more terrible than any other time in the world's history. He said that if those days were not shortened by His glorious appearing, then no flesh would be saved alive. We cannot ignore the prospect of people having to endure the tribulation or indeed, going to hell itself, because we failed to witness and preach the gospel. So preach we MUST! But only the truth! During this present apostasy of the Church, many so-called ministers are afraid to preach the truth, afraid to offend those who pay their wages! Afraid that the truth will empty their Churches and endanger their livelihood. I believe liberalism within the Church is a direct result of such attitudes. Many preach to win the acclaim of man instead of divine approval and to save lost souls. Many ministers today also have the shackles of denominationalism to contend with. They cannot preach what they sincerely know in their hearts to be true, because it goes against the beliefs of the denomination that placed them and keeps them where they are today. All these fears and attitudes breed the present apostasy within the Church today. So then, am I against revival? Do I pray for revival? The answers are NO & YES in that order! I believe there are pockets of genuine revival today. I have no problem praying for revival, because the Lord knows His Church needs it! I just cannot see, from the scriptures, that world-wide revival is going to happen, when the opposite is foretold for the last days before the rapture of the Church. In closing this article, I give a warning. Beware of following the so-called latest move of God. This is fast becoming a popular past time in the Church. It gets reported that God is moving by His Spirit at such and such a place, and Christians start booking their flights to go a 'catch the Spirits move' wherever it happens be. Rubbish! Seek God for yourself! Get alone with Him and seek His will for your life. TEST ALL THINGS 1 Thess. 5:21 Second hand experiences are seldom if ever genuine.
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