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 home to me a realisation that THE DAYS OF THE SAVIOUR’S MINISTRY, DURING HIS FIRST ADVENT, WERE DAYS OF APOSTASY! I set out to prove this by pointing out the particular features of those days. I could add one more evidence of that to those I have already given — the number of those possessed of devils that Christ delivered! “And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits,” Mark 6:7. Notice the emphasis upon equipping them to encounter ‘unclean spirits’! That was a sure sign of apostasy!
We see it today with the terrible and abnormal crimes committed. This an evidence of the devil at work as never before in our experience!
In my second message I spoke on the subject: — THE REACTION OF GOD TO THE DEVIL’S ACTIVITIES. The Lord NEVER permitted the devil freedom to do just as he liked. No, the Lord ever opposed him and curtailed him and strengthened His people against him. “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you,” James 4:6-7.
We continue with our study by considering:—
THERE ARE CLEAR PROPHECIES OF REVIVAL IN THE LAST DAYS.
Just such a prophecy forms our text for this series of studies.
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh . . . ”
1. Let us first of all identify just when the ‘last days’ take place. This special period of time is frequently mentioned in the Bible.
The very first mention is in Genesis 49:1. It shows the important of this period to God’s people in tat it was the last word of Jacob to his sons!
Another early mention is in Isaiah. He really was given a wonderful revelation of future times. He was, as it were, the forerunner of John the apostle and what was shown to him and which is recorded for us in his book, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass,” Rev 1:1.
Here is Isaiah’s mention of the “Last Days”.
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem,” Isaiah 2:2-3.
This is a reference to events AFTER the return of Christ and that which will take place at the last trumpet being sounded. “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever,” Revelation 11:15.
That which Isaiah depicts of the action of nations hastening to Jerusalem to learn of God’s Word, is a time also spoken of by Habakkuk. “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea,” Habakkuk 2:14.
It is to be noted that the first mention of the last days refers to the return of Christ and the setting up of His earthy kingdom. Is it not sad that the events surrounding it are denied or at best, ignored, by most preachers today!
We ought to be like Isaiah and teach our people of that coming time of glory and blessing!
2. The references just given refer to the conclusion of the last days, but when did they start? I certainly believe that we can deduce from Peter’s words on the Day of Pentecost, that he believed that the “last days” had begun.
“But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; and it shall come to pass in the last days . . .” Acts 2:16-17.
Thus the last days is a lengthy period that had begun at Pentecost and would continue on until the days following the return of Christ.
Think about
It is something that everyone should think about! ‘Last days’ are frequent in our experience. *Our school just had the ‘last day’ of the final term before the summer holidays. *Even the holidays, sadly, shall have a ‘last day’!
*More importantly, each one of us shall have a last day on this earth. We shall breathe our last and enter eternity. That is a day we must give thought to and prepare for. How we are when we enter eternity determines the eternity we enter!
“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him,” John 3:36.
Here are two very different eternities. There is one of “everlasting life” and there is another when “the wrath of God abideth” on the individual. There cannot be a greater contrast than these two eternal states!
FAITH
The difference is decided upon by whether or not we “believe” or “do not believe” on Christ the Son of God.
To believe on Christ is to accept what he says of His purpose amongst men. Paul teaches us that “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,” 1 Corinthians 15:3.
Those referred to by Paul are those who have embraced the Gospel message and rely solely upon the shedding of Christ’s blood as an atonement for their pardon and forgiveness of sin.
They do not rely on their church-going or their acts of kindness and charity toward others. These things cannot pay for our sins. It is like trying to pay for our debts with counterfeit money. Such is worthless just as our works are without value when it comes to pay for our redemption!
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost,” Titus 3:5.
Yes, we must prepare for our ‘last day’ and our leaving of this world by embracing Christ as offered to us in the Gospel.
“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David,” Isaiah 55:1-3.
3. We are told that the world, as happened in the days of Noah, will increase in wickedness as the last days progress. Paul states: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come,” 2 Timothy 3:1. The Greek word translated “perilous”, khal-ep-os, appears in only one other place in the New Testament.
“And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way,” Matthew 8:28.
The word “fierce” in this verse is the same Greek word as is translated “perilous” in 2 Timothy 3:1.
It describes the actions of two men “possessed with devils”! The word “possessed” indicates that they were under the power and control of evil spirits. Thus they come forward to meet the Saviour in a hostile manner.
Such will be the days at the close of this age before the Saviour’s return. The Lord Jesus tells us in Luke 17:26, “And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.”
*What were the days of Noah like? Genesis chapter 6 gives us a very full description of that time, just prior to the world-wide flood.
“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. . . The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth,” Genesis 6:5, 11-12.
*That is what is happening internationally over the last generation.
Corruption dominates every facet of life, be it ecclesiastical, political, business or domestic! Rebellion and defiance of God and His order is everywhere seen. The sodomite, repeatedly condemned most forthrightly by God — “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient,” (Romans 1:26-28) — parade their depravity with pride on the streets of the nations.
That which is repudiated and abominated by God, has in this generation, been legalised and sanitised by perverted politicians to the degree that its is now illegal to speak of them as did the Lord. One day both the defiant legaliser and the divine law breaker, will stand before the ‘Judge of all the earth” and hear His damning condemnation!
4. I believe we can expect to see the same mercy as was displayed in the ministry of Noah displayed again. As the world hastened downward in Noah’s day, the Lord showed mercy and enabled His servant to preach for some one hundred and twenty years.
*Hear what Peter says of that time. “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water,” 1 Peter 3:18-20.
What Peter tells us is that in mercy God waited and held back the judgment of the flood while, by the Holy Spirit, Christ preached unto those who are now dead and in ‘prison’ awaiting the final judgment, through the preaching ministry of the prophet Noah.
In like fashion, God shows “longsuffering” today toward the brazenly wicked. Peter informs us of this.
“But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness,” 2 Peter 3:7-13.
Mission
*The Lord is currently on a ‘mission of mercy’. Although there is a crying out by the depravity and sins of mankind for judgment, God is not willing that any of US, His elect, should perish in the judgment. This verse is speaking of God’s elect. The little phrase, so often overlooked, proves this to be so. God is “longsuffering to us-ward”.
During the 120 years of Noah’s preaching I have no doubt that many of God’s elect were gathered into His Kingdom, died and went to be with him, before the flood came.
So it is today. That explains the ‘delay’ in the Saviour’s return. Please remember the words of Matthew 25:5. “While the bridegroom tarried.”
The Lord in mercy tarries in His coming and lengthens the opportunity for ungodly men to “flee from the wrath to come.”
We, as Christians, should seek to act as did Noah and use the time to preach Christ.
Sadly, all too many are failing to do that but rather adopting the ways of this evil generation.
We will conclude our study at the two services on the Lord’s Day, August 2nd.