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The topic on the minds of many Christians and Messianic Jews today is
revival. Christian TV, radio and best-selling books persuasively
argue that we are in the midst of the greatest revival in the
history of the world. Enthusiasts point to the signs and wonders
occurring in such places as Toronto, Pensacola, Benny Hinn's
church in Orlando, Promise Keepers filling up stadiums, and their
recent million man rally in Washington DC, as signs of this
revival.
As a result, I've been thinking more about End Time revival.
Knowing that we are drawing closer and closer to Acharit HaYamin
(the Last Days), those days in which we can almost hear the
footsteps of Yeshua approaching, I want us to consider the
question, "Does the Bible predict there will be a great End
Time revival that sweeps the world before the Second
Coming?"
The twenty-fourth
chapter of Matthew contains the Messiah's most
comprehensive teaching on His Second Coming. In
it He gave us specific signs to look for that
would immediately precede His return. Some of
the signs include: false prophets and false messiahs,
wars, earthquakes, famine, the persecution of
God's people, the moral decay of society, a great
apostasy, or falling away from true Faith, the
rise of the Anti-Christ, the rebirth of Israel,
the rebuilding the Jerusalem Temple, a final outbreak
of anti-Semitism, and unprecedented destruction
on a world wide basis.
When you hear these precursors of His return, you might object,
"Rabbi Loren, we have always had these things. We have had
wars and rumors of wars from time immemorial. There have always
been earthquakes and famines. Even in the first century there was
the persecution of Messianic Believers. Humanity has usually been
morally loose. There has been anti-Semitism since the time of
Pharaoh. The people of God have always been plagued by false
prophets and false messiahs." It's true that throughout
history we have experienced many of these signs. But Yeshua gives
us the key to understand these signs when He compares them to a
woman in labor. He says that "all this is but the beginning
of the birth-pains" (Mt. 24:8). Why does our righteous and
wise Messiah compare the Last Days to a woman in labor?
A woman's
labor pains increase in two ways: in intensity
and in frequency. The labor pains become more
intense and the contractions come closer and closer
together until the very end, when the pain is
most agonizing, and the contractions almost continuous,
one right after the other, and then the child
is born. Rabbi Yeshua is telling us that the world
is going to go through more troubles and disasters,
which will increase in frequency and intensity,
until the very end, when they are almost unbearable,
and nearly continuous, one coming right after
the other. Then He will return, bringing with
Him a delightful new time in history, the golden
age of man.
Since
Israel became a nation once again in 1948, the
intensity and frequency of these signs have increased
like the birth-pangs of a woman approaching her
time of delivery, exactly as Messiah foretold.
The first sign Messiah gave us in His message
on the Mount of Olives (Matthew 24) has been largely
overlooked and His solemn warning neglected, and
that's the one I want to focus on. While there
has been spiritual deception ever since the Garden
of Eden, we are forewarned that spiritual deception
will reach its zenith in the Last Days.
"Yeshua
answered and said to them, 'See to it that no
one misleads you. For many will come in My name
saying, I am the Messiah, and will mislead many'"
... "Many false prophets will arise, and will
mislead many"... "For false Messiahs and false
prophets will arise and will show great signs
and wonders; so as to mislead, if possible, even
the elect" (Mt. 24:4-5, 11, 24).
In Matthew
24:4 Messiah issued this warning: "See to it that
no one misleads you." The repetition of this warning
three times in this chapter underscores its seriousness.
The nature of this warning is specified: false
messiahs and false prophets will arise and show
great signs and wonders. His four-fold use of
the word "many" indicates a deception that involves
multitudes.
According
to Yeshua, this End Time departure from the Truth
will be spearheaded by apparent miracle- workers.
The false prophets of the Last Days, to whom Messiah
refers, will use signs and wonders to support
their false teachings. The signs and wonders they
are able to perform are apparently so impressive
that without discernment by the Holy Spirit, even
God's elect sons and daughters would be deceived
by them. Obviously, something more than mere trickery
is involved. These miracle-workers are empowered
by Satan, whom they unwittingly serve in the name
of God.
Writing
to the Thessalonians, Paul issued a similar warning:
"Let no one in any way deceive you... (2 Thess.
2:3). Rabbi Paul goes on to explain that the deception
of the Last Days will infect the professing community
of believers. That is evident from the words "falling
away," or apostasy, that he uses in the rest of
the verse: ... "for it [Messiah's return] will
not come unless the apostasy [falling away] comes
first, and the man of lawlessness [Anti-Christ]
be revealed, the son of destruction."
Rabbi
Paul assures us that the Last Days will be characterized
by apostasy, not revival. We are not to be deceived
into thinking that the apostasy won't come; it
must come first, or Messiah simply will not return!
Therefore the teaching that there will be a world
wide revival in the Last Days, however well intentioned,
is biblically untenable. Paul's prediction can
only mean that in the Last Days many professing
believers will reject the biblical teaching that
apostasy is inevitable.
Other
scriptures confirm that false signs and wonders
will be an integral part of the Last Days apostasy.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Messiah declared,
"Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord,
did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your
name cast out demons, and in Your name perform
many miracles?' And then I will declare to them,
'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice
lawlessness'" (Mt. 7:22-23).
These
apostates about whom Messiah speaks are high-profile
Christians and Messianic Jewish leaders, who apparently
perform signs and wonders in the name of Messiah!
Tragically, they seem to think that their ability
to prophesy, cast out demons and perform miracles
proves that they belong to Him. Their signs and
wonders are so impressive that the accuracy and
truth of their doctrine and the purity of their
lives no longer seems to matter. They are able
to delude others by emphasizing experiences over
doctrine - exactly the situation we see today!
Speaking
of what well describes our own day, Rabbi Paul
gave this warning to his young disciple Timothy,
"the time will come when they will not endure
sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears
tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers
in accordance to their own desires; and will turn
away their ears from the truth, and will turn
aside to myths (2 Tim. 4:3-4). We seem to be in
that time.
I've been
a follower of King Messiah for almost twenty-three
years, and there is no question in my mind that
there has been a definite trend away from sound
doctrine, to a religion based largely on personal
experiences. When someone points out bad doctrine,
they are told that they are being too critical
and should focus on the positive (as if bad doctrine
can be swept under the rug, where it won't do
any harm. But God's Word says that a little leaven
will leaven the whole batch). They are told it
is enough to confess that Yeshua is Lord (which
is essential to good doctrine, but it is not all
of good doctrine). They are told to "judge not"
(which is misapplied - Yeshua did not mean that
we are to stop using our faculties to discern
good from evil, sin from holiness, right from
wrong - He meant that we must not act as if we
are the final judge. We aren't to condemn people
to hell, thinking that God is finished with them,
and that they are beyond redemption).
Clearly,
the Bible predicts a "signs and wonders" movement
of the Last Days, but it will be empowered by
Satan, and thus a delusion that will deceive many.
After a solemn warning that in the Last Days "difficult
times [not revival] will come" (2 Tim. 3:1), Paul
makes this remarkable statement: "Just as Jannes
and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men [false
prophets] also oppose the truth, men of depraved
mind, rejected as regards the Faith" (2 Tim 3:8).
Jannes
and Jambres were the magicians in Pharaoh's court
who, through the power of Satan, duplicated (up
to a point) the miracles that God did through
Moses. Rabbi Paul thus declared that the Last
Days opposition to the truth would be accompanied
by demonstrations of power, though certainly not
originating with God. These modern false prophets
operate by performing apparent miracles in Messiah's
name. However, they are actually empowered by
Satan. In that way, they deceive and lead many
astray. Shrewdly, they don't lead them out of
the visible Community of Believers; instead they
destroy them with false doctrine and thus false
hope from within the Body of Messiah. Satan has
no more effective tactic to damn souls!
The whole
gamut of today's so-called revival scene, from
Toronto to Pensacola, must be seriously faced!
Videos of the services show people crawling on
the floor, howling like wolves, barking like dogs,
roaring like lions, going through bodily contortions
impossible without the aid of some spiritual power,
unable to speak or even remember their names when
they try to give a testimony, and worse. Many
of those being baptized at Pensacola seem to lose
consciousness or shake so violently that they
must be carried out of the baptismal tank lest
they drown. Others flail about so wildly as to
require several men to handle them. Such manifestations
were also found in past "revivals" among the Shakers,
the Mormons and many other cults. That such things
could now be widely accepted as evidence of the
Holy Spirit only testifies to the extent of the
delusion that is already permeating the Messianic
Community!
Jude exhorts
us to "contend earnestly for the Faith which was
once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3).
Contend earnestly against whom? Not against godless
enemies outside the Messianic Community, but rather
the warning concerns those who are within: "For
certain persons have crept in unnoticed" (Jude
4). "Crept in" can only mean those who are inside
the visible Body of Believers.
That we
must earnestly contend for the Faith against those
who have crept into the Messianic Community implies
that the battle is not so much one of faith against
unbelief, but rather of true faith against false
faith. Those relatively few apostates who announce
themselves as atheists or convert to Islam, Buddhism
or Hinduism are not the primary focus here. Yeshua,
Paul and Jude are instead warning of a falling
away from the Truth from within the professing
Community of Believers. That is precisely what
we see today.
Is it
possible for wolves in sheep's clothing to creep
in unnoticed, and assume positions of leadership
in the Messianic Community? Paul confirms the
words of Jude when he addressed the Ephesian elders:
"I know that after my departure savage wolves
will come in among you, not sparing the flock;
and from among your own selves men will arise,
speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples
after them" (Acts 20:29-30). Rabbi Paul affirms
that spiritual deception would arise within the
Church.
Does the
Word of God predict a great revival for the Last
Days? It doesn't appear that Yeshua thought so
when He raised the question, "When the Son of
Man comes, will He find faith on the earth" (Luke
18:8)? This does not bode well for a dynamic faithful
Messianic Community when Yeshua returns.
Rabbi
Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, also did not
seem to think so. Instead, he predicted that the
days immediately preceding the coming of the Messiah
would be characterized by Anti-Christ, "whose
coming is in accord with the activity of Satan,
with all power and signs and false wonders, and
with all the deception of wickedness for those
who perish, because they did not receive a love
of the truth so as to be saved. And for this reason
God will send upon them a deluding influence so
that they might believe what is false, in order
that they may be judged who did not believe the
truth, but took pleasure in wickedness" (2 Thes.
2:9-12).
Again,
the apostle to the Gentiles warns, "the Spirit
explicitly says that in later times some will
fall away from the Faith, paying attention to
deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by
means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their
own conscience" (1 Tim. 4:1-2).
Beloved
brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit is warning
us that false teaching is demonic in origin and
frequently promulgated by liars who occupy places
of prominence in the Church. This deception will
take place in the later times. In the Last Days
there will be those who fall away from the Faith
into demonic delusion as a result of listening
to these treacherous pseudo- Christian religious
leaders. Does the Bible teach that in the Last
Days the Church will experience revival, grow
increasingly numerous and powerful, faithful and
pure, and that it will take over more and more
of the political and social institutions of society?
Hardly. According to Messiah, it's a time for
Anti-Christ to bring desolation. It's a time of
unparalleled tribulation so overwhelming that
no life would survive unless the Almighty intervened.
It's a time of terrible persecution for Jews and
Christians. It's a time for those in Israel to
flee to the hills. It's a time characterized by
false messiahs and prophets who deceive multitudes.
(Mt. 24:15-24).
The book
of Revelation gives us the most detailed picture
of the Last Days, and it does not portray a powerful,
faithful Church which has taken over the political
and social institutions of the world. Yes, there
will be a great harvest of humanity during that
period known as the Great Tribulation, which immediately
precedes the Second Coming. Yes, it will be a
time of salvation for many, but it comes at a
very high price. Revelation 7 records that a great
multitude, so large that no one could count it,
a multitude from every nation and all tribes and
peoples and languages, will come to a saving faith
in Messiah during the Great Tribulation. However,
at the same time it will be given to the Anti-Christ
to make war with the saints on earth and to overcome
them (Rev. 13:7). There will be those who are
beheaded because of their testimony about Yeshua
and their faithfulness to Word of God. They will
not worship the Anti-Christ or receive the mark
of the beast on their forehead or hand (Rev. 20:4).
To summarize,
the scriptural warnings foretell the growing delusion
we find in our day:
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A false signs and wonders
movement led by many false prophets.
-
Many being deceived through
these apparent miracles.
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The replacement of sound
doctrine with personal experience.
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The rejection of the biblical
teaching concerning apostasy and the insistence
that we are in the midst of, or at least are
building up to, the "greatest revival in the
history of the Church."
Such is
the prevailing teaching today among most charismatics
and increasingly among evangelicals and Messianic
Jews. The promise of revival will be part of the
Last Days deception, so beware. Don't be part
of it! Don't assume that the apostasy of the Last
Days will take place in the distant future. There
are too many signs of Messiah's return, and examples
of false teaching and unusual phenomena taking
place in the Church today, to make that assumption.
Instead,
ask yourself a few questions: Is it not enough
that Messiah indwells us? Is He not in our midst
each time we meet? Are we not to be filled with
the Holy Spirit at all times? Is not the Word
of God enough for us? Is not His grace sufficient?
Are we not complete when we are joined to Him
by faith? Why then would we run after signs and
wonders, as though they automatically prove that
God is at work, while neglecting what the Lord
has already given us?
It's
really so simple: we are to learn what the Bible
says for ourselves. We are to be like the members
of the synagogue at Berea, who were "more noble-minded
than those in Thessalonica, for they received
the word of God with great eagerness, examining
the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things
were so" (Acts 17:11). We are to love one another,
help one another, and reach out to a confused,
lost, corrupt and dying world with the Good News
of Messiah.
May God
help us remain pure and holy in our faith, take
a stand for the Truth, and be found faithful,
doing those things He has called us to do when
Messiah returns. "When the Son of Man comes, will
He find faith on the earth?" Let's hope that He
finds some genuine faith on the earth, especially
in you and in me.
This message
is adapted from an article in Dave Hunt's October
1997 newsletter, "The Berean Call."
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