CHAPTER 3. WHAT CAN WE EXPECT?

CHAPTER THREE 

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT? 

This writing in relation to the end times, is not about the seven seals or the seven trumpets or the seven vials of God’s wrath from the books of Revelation and Daniel. Although, they may be referred to from time to time. The normal treatises that we read on the end times are plenty and so I choose to stay away from that vein. My intention here (and I trust that of the Holy Spirit) is, to awaken believers to the realities that will soon come upon the earth. This is not playtime nor is it a time to be casual about our relationship with the Lord. Phrases that will be repeated over and over again in this writing will be, be ready, be alert, awake and watch. Certain scriptures may even be repeated as we go on. If you have ears to hear, then listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to His people.

Can you honestly sit down and ponder how things have changed over the years to their current status, without being overwhelmed? One thing we have lacked, and a great deal at that, is foresight. To be prophetic is to have foresight. To be a prophetic people, is to be a people who are pre – pared. For many of us, we have been caught off guard and the circumstances we are faced with today are pressing in and almost squeezing the life out of us. We have been too casual about our sojourn here on this earth let alone the end times. The book of Proverbs has this to say.

“A prudent man foresees the evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished (with suffering)”.  (Proverbs 27 verse 12)

Prudence sacrifices the present to be prepared for the future. To be prudent in the biblical sense, does not intimate that one looks into the future via a crystal ball or any other dubious means. It has to do with being in and maintaining a right relationship with the Lord. From that basis, one perceives by the Spirit of God times of trouble, or peace for that matter. Promptings or perceptions from the Holy Spirit of the kind I am referring to are not hocus pocus, occultic machinations from demonic sources; they are based upon sound scriptural understanding. The Lord Himself calls us to be in a state of watchfulness and preparation.

“Therefore watch – give strict attention, be cautious and alert – for you do not know when the Master of the house is coming, in the evening, or at the midnight, or at cockcrowing, or in the morning. Watch, I say lest He come suddenly and unexpectedly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to everybody; (Give strict attention, be cautious, active, alert and) watch”!

(Mark 13 verses 35 – 37)

What are we as individuals, and corporately as believers to expect in these last days that we are living in? Certainly unbelievers are scoffing and mocking, particularly at the second coming of the Messiah.

“To begin with, you (the believer) must know and understand this that scoffers (mockers) will come in the last days with scoffing; people who walk after their own fleshly desires and saying, where is the promise of His coming? For since the forefathers fell asleep, all things have continued exactly as they did from the beginning of creation”.  (2 Peter 3 verses 3 – 4)

We know that there are mockers, those who scoff at the Lord’s return. They are described as people who walk after their own fleshly desires, that is to say, they do what they want, how they want and when they want. But, are you familiar with believers who do the same, they scoff and mock at the return of the Messiah too. How do they do that? Some do so verbally, but most all of us do so by the way we live. Our conduct belies our confession. What we say we believe is not really what we believe, unless we are living it. Our lives tell the real story of what we believe.

“Since all these things are thus in the process of being dissolved, what kind of person ought each of you (us) to be in the meanwhile, in consecrated and holy behaviour and devout and godly qualities? Let me warn you therefore, beloved, that knowing these things before hand, you should be on your guard lest you be carried away by the error of lawless and wicked persons and fall from your own present firm condition – your own steadfastness of mind”.  (2 Peter 3 verses 11 – 17)

Because we are living in the time of the end, there is a greater sense of urgency to be prepared and ready. The days that have gone past us have been evil days. However, as we rush headlong to the culmination of the end, the intensity of evil is growing in magnitude. Our faith is going to be tested and stretched not merely in areas of tribulation, but very much so in the area of lawlessness and deception. The requirement of faith and patience to endure to the end is greater upon us now than in the past. If nation rising up against nation, kingdom against kingdom, famines, earthquakes, false prophets and false messiahs are but the beginning of birth pangs, what will the actual end be like? Is it any wonder then that Yeshua says?

“And then many will be offended and repelled and begin to distrust and desert Him whom they ought to trust and obey and will stumble and fall away, and betray one another and pursue one another with hatred. And many false prophets will rise up and deceive and lead many into error. And the love of the great body of people will grow cold, because of the multiplied lawlessness and iniquity. But he who endures to the end will be saved”.  (Matthew 24 verses 10 – 37)

The love of many will grow cold, because of lawlessness abounding throughout the earth. It is the nature of the case now and will continue on until the Lord returns. The advantage that we have is, we have been forewarned well in advance. If we are not on our guard and watching, then we will be overtaken by the events of the day. There is a lackadaisical attitude that resides in the hearts of many because we feel it won’t happen to us or we have all the time in the world. We need to continue in a state of preparation and watchfulness, knowing that as time goes by, we draw ever closer to the return of our Lord.

I do not subscribe whatsoever to a  pre – tribulation rapture, it was and still is the teaching of the Lord Jesus and the apostles, that He returns at the end of the tribulation of those days. It is my firm belief that, the church will be here during the tribulation period until at the end of tribulation when the Messiah returns, then, we will be caught up to meet Him in the air and so shall we be with Him forever more. It has long been a lie of the devil that the church will be conveniently raptured away before the tribulation starts and only those unfortunate enough to escape will be left behind. There still are many things the church needs to walk in and accomplish before the Messiah returns. Can we honestly say that the church has been the demonstration we are required to be as revealed in scripture by the Holy Spirit of God? Someone has said quite correctly, “we are not yet ready for the second coming of Lord because we have not yet fully appropriated the meaning of His first coming”. What a statement! The Messiah came to accomplish all things appointed of Him by His Father and there are things that still need to be walked in by the people of God this side of His second coming.

We must expect confrontation between light and darkness, which is a fact established in scripture. We must expect to be hated by the world, which is a fact established in scripture. We must expect tribulation and suffering in this world because that which is born of the Spirit is spirit and that which is born of the flesh is flesh and the two are opposed to each other, which is a fact established in scripture. We must expect that all those who would live godly lives in the Messiah, will suffer persecution that is a fact established in scripture. We can expect many adversities and we can also expect the grace of God to sustain us in these times. The theories of men, good and noble they may be, if they are not substantiated in the scriptures, then they are to be rejected as false and deceptive. When we are ignorant of what is revealed in the scriptures as to what things take place, then we wander blindly, walking not knowing where we are going and we become susceptible to the onslaughts of the enemy. Once again, ignorance is not bliss we need to wise up. In Hosea, the Lord contends with His people.

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge….”  (Hosea 4 verse 6)

The Hebrew word used for destroyed is ‘damah’ and means to be dumb or silent, hence to fail. You know what it means to be dumb founded or dumb struck, you get this blank look on your face and you kind of like just stare into thin air, you know what I mean, well that is what is going on here. When we are devoid of knowledge, and by knowledge I mean the ability to ascertain or to see by the Spirit of God and interpret correctly the times, then we grope like the blind leading the blind with the result that we are dumb founded or taken by surprise. The Lord’s own rebuke to the crowds and to His disciples still stands today.

“He also said to the crowds of people, when you see a cloud rising in the west, at once you say, it is going to rain! And so it does. And when you see that a south wind is blowing, you say, there will be a severe heat! And it occurs. You hypocrites! You know how to discern the looks of the earth and sky, but how is it you do not know how to discern the present time”.  (Luke 12 verses 54 – 56)

How many of us glibly and casually use or hear the phrase ‘it’s a sign of the times’? How often do we take to heart what has been said or heard? Don’t be fooled, we are living at the time of the end, very soon, and all things will be fulfilled, the Messiah will return and His millennial rule will take place. I am persuaded to believe that there is about to come an outpouring of the Spirit of God upon all the nations of the earth. It will be a time of great revival and refreshing as a priority upon the people of God in the nations. It will also be a time of repentance for many unbelievers who will come into the kingdom of God. It will be in this outpouring of the Spirit of God that God, will effect those desired changes from his own heart in the life of the corporate people of God. He will set in order the things He has so desired, the things that are lacking. I believe true apostolic and prophetic authority will come into play. It will be a supernatural, sovereign working of God of which no man is going to lay His dirty fingers on as in past times. How long this time period will continue I am not certain but it will be absolutely necessary for the strengthening of His people for what will follow. Don’t think that during this outpouring of the Spirit of God everything will be perfect, it won’t. His own arm is going to bring Him salvation; He will show Himself strong on behalf of His people. After this period of blessing and even overlapping it, we will enter that final period of the end of this age when the mark of the beast etc will come into effect. The intensity of the time requires us to be vigilant and sober minded.

When John the baptizer came, he came in the spirit and power of Elijah and there was no mistaking his call to repentance, it was loud and clear. He came announcing the coming of the Messiah and was the messenger who would prepare the way for the Lord. (See Matthew 3 verses 1 – 3, Luke 1 verses 16 – 17.) Even so, at this time of the end once again, the Lord has raised a voice of one, a corporate messenger, who will call to repentance His people and to prepare the way for the Lord’s return. It will be unmistaken, loud and clear and those who have ears to hear will hear the clarion call to be prepared. If the ones giving the call to preparation are not themselves prepared then how those who are listening ever shall be ready? Paul’s admonition to the Corinthian believers was such,

“And if the trumpeter who sounds the alarm does so indistinctly, how shall anyone prepare themselves for battle”?  (1 Corinthians 14 verse 8)

The trumpet call in this sense is the call of God’s prophets to sound the alarm to God’s people to prepare themselves for the days we are entering. If they sound the call unclearly then we will be overtaken by the times. The watchmen on the wall have a responsibility to look and see and warn the people of impending trouble and when they see it come, must blow the trumpet with all their might and warn the people of the coming danger. There is a prophetic voice that has been raised up for these end times in all the nations and it behoves the people of God to listen and take head to them. For those who are called to sound the trumpet, don’t be afraid of those who would seek to play down the seriousness of the hour by their so-called knowledge of the scriptures. Be faithful to the call of God and trust yourself to Him. Know this and know it well, many will come and seek to corrupt the truth of God because they themselves are foreign to it. If the watchmen on the wall are fast asleep, then so are the people in the house.

Restoration of the nations!

What about nations that are in turmoil, political and economic collapse? Can we expect their complete restoration before the Messiah returns? What would you like to hear? Is there anything in scripture that says we can expect this? Restoration is most certainly scriptural and we can and do look forward to a time of restoration of all things, a time when all things will be restored to their pristine glory beyond our imagination.

“Repent and return to God so that your sins may be washed away, so that times of refreshing and revival can come from the Lord’s very presence. And so that God may send to you the Messiah, Yeshua, who has been appointed by God. Heaven will retain Him there until the time that has been appointed to restore all things spoken by God through the agency of His holy prophets long time ago”.  (Acts 3 verses 19 – 21)

We need to understand the difference between the complete restoration of all things and times of refreshing or revival, because there is an essential difference from God’s viewpoint that is. To restore is to reconstitute, to reconstruct, and to make it as it was before it lapsed into degradation. To refresh is to revive or to cool off so as to recover from the effects of heat, yet not to be brought back to the way it was. To be restored is to be brought back to the pristine glory that once was. To be refreshed is to be enabled to continue on in the task that you have been appointed with. Without times of refreshing, we would all be overcome by the pressures that come our way to mature us. God is the all-wise God who knows when we need those times. Refreshing and restoration may overlap, however complete restoration is reserved for an appointed time and that is when the Messiah returns, not before. The complete restoration of all things is when God establishes His Kingdom in fullness on the earth, then will be true theocracy, then will be the government of God and the heartbeat of God shall be so, that is, “Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven”.

So, before the Messiah of God returns we can expect times of refreshing and revival and these times come from the Lord’s presence when His people repent and turn from their wicked ways. God’s people in any nation are the salt and light of it, but if the light in that nation is dull or as being the salt of it, has become insipid, then great is the decay of that nation. Righteousness lifts up a nation, but sin is a destroyer of any people. As God’s people we have a great responsibility upon us and our nations are part of that responsibility. The condition of the nation does reflect the condition of the church and we as the church in our nations are in desperate need of revival and refreshing and God wants to give it but is waiting for a heart condition from us when we turn from ourselves and are given over to Him. Do we want revival and refreshing in our nations? Then we need to heed the requirement of God for it; and when we have met His conditions, then, He will pour out His Spirit on us His people and righteousness will flow through our lands. When we cry out to God for revival in our nations or cities, He will begin to convict us of things that are displeasing to Him so that we repent with Godly sorrow that will bring deliverance from sin so that salvation may flow.

“If My people who are called by My name shall humble themselves and pray, seeking My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land” . (2 Chronicles 7 verse 14)

Make no bones about it saints of God, there is coming that time of great distress and tribulation all over the world, which shall never be again, it is a reality that we are to expect. No amount of fussing and unbelief is going to change that and we can also expect God to sustain and keep us in this time if we trust Him to.