CAN WE EXPECT A BREATH OF REVIVAL AMIDST THE APOSTASY OF THESE LAST DAYS?

(Part 2)

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: and I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved,” Acts 2:17-21.

As I said in my first message on this subject, the matter came before me as a result of a comment that I made to a brother who emailed me in response to an article posted on ‘The Burning Bush’ website about the corruption and deceit very evident amongst our local Unionist politicians.

I pointed out to him:

“Any age of apostasy is an age in which ‘Judas’ appears!! The Antichrist will be the personification of duplicity.”

That comment brought about a realisation that the days of the Saviour’s ministry during His first advent were days of apostasy!

I am seeking to enlarge upon this conclusion.

CONSIDERATION OF  THE  PRINCIPLE WHICH UNDERLIES THE REACTION OF GOD TO THE DEVIL’S ACTIVITIES. 

“When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him,” Isaiah 59:19.

This was repeatedly seen throughout the days of the Old Testament, Pharaoh, Goliath, Rabshakeh, Belshazzar, etc.

1. The Lord has never permitted the devil complete freedom to blaspheme and deny His Person. Evidence of this is recorded in the Bible from the very beginning.

When Adam and Eve were deceived by the devil into doubting the truth of God’s Word (Genesis 3:3-5) it is recorded that, “The LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel,” Genesis 3:14-15.

There is the first promise of a Redeemer and what it was He would suffer in overthrowing the devil. “It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

It was always the purpose of God to oppose and overthrow the devil. Christ’s death at Calvary is central to that purpose. There the Saviour redeemed His people from under the thraldom of the devil, settled for ever the debt of their sins, into which they were provoked by the devil, and broke the devil’s power. 

Consider these verses.

“Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out,” John 12:31.

“Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged,” John 16:11.

“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it,” Colossians 2:14-15.

“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage,” Hebrews 2:14-15.

“He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil,”  1 John 3:8.

2. It was further displayed in the judgment of the flood in Noah’s day! “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually,” Genesis 6:5. 

The Lord responded to that universal rebellion, just as He will do in the very near future to the increasingly universal apostasy of this age. 

“And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them,” Genesis 6:7.

Paul speaks of the return of Christ in these fearful words.

“Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day,” 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10.

Yes, the Lord answers the challenges mounted against Him by the devil!