Headlines are screaming it! All media modes are promulgating it! We are in the midst of one of the greatest political and social movements the world has ever seen. If there was ever a time to recognize our need to prepare for the soon coming of Jesus, it is now.
The Bible describes the scene of today using the metaphor of four angels holding back the winds of strife from completely engulfing our world. But if I am honest, as a pastor, the signs of the times are not what concerns me most. What concerns me most is that the church has continued to allow crises like these, along with the pleasures and cares of this world, to distract it from focusing on the one thing we need most as a people to carry us through to the end: REVIVAL.
You see, the truth is that revival is never born out of controversy and debate. It is born out of prayer, humility, and repentance.
"There is nothing that Satan fears so much as that the people of God shall clear the way by removing every hindrance so that the Lord can pour out His Spirit upon a languishing church and an impenitent congregation. If Satan had his way, there would never be another awakening, great or small, to the end of time. But we are not ignorant of his devices. It is possible to resist his power. When the way is prepared for the Spirit of God, the blessing will come. Satan can no more hinder a shower of blessing from descending upon God's people than he can close the windows of heaven that rain cannot come upon the earth."1
A beautiful promise — but a conditional one for sure. What is preventing the Holy Spirit from being poured out on God’s people? Is it God? Let’s ask Jesus:
“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Luke 11:13 (ESV)
No — the problem is not with God. It is clear that He is quite willing to give Himself to us if we would have Him. The problem is with us. We have to prepare the way if we want to receive the blessing of the Latter Rain — and all the blessings that come with it.
Somehow, we are blocking the way. The Holy Spirit is knocking, but we are not opening the door. He is willing to come in, but we are too full of excuses about why it isn’t the right time yet. How long will we continue to ignore the knocking sound? Can you hear it? Can you feel it? The Holy Spirit is calling us right now.
This is where our focus needs to be now – in the still small voice of God -- not on the social and political chaos in which we are presently engulfed.
The Problem Staring Us in the Face
On one hand, God’s people have the prophetic writings of the scriptures unmistakably indicating that we are living in the last days; on the other hand, people have been saying this for over 150 years!
In the midst of this delay, two types of church members have evolved to explain the problem we face. We will call the first type of church member the Alarmist, and we will call the second type of church member the Scoffer. What does the Alarmist do? He sets dates like 2027, obsessively focuses on current events, or criticizes the church for not emphasizing certain pet doctrines.
His fuel is fear, and he uses it to motivate and manipulate. But if fear is your only fuel for preparing for Jesus coming and it doesn’t happen, fear eventually wears off or gives way to disappointment and unbelief. Then over time the Alarmist either doubles down his efforts or turns into a Scoffer. What does the Scoffer say?
They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation” (2 Peter 3:4 ESV).
In other words, the Scoffer’s fuel is doubt and reason; and because of this, it is often hard to argue with him. Why? Let’s be honest! We’re still here; and until we are not, we can’t “prove” that we won’t be. So, what happens when the Alarmist and the Scoffer come together in the same room? They attack one another. The Bible tells us:
"But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?”
1 Corinthians 3:1-3 (ESV)
As you can see, without the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we can easily divide up into warring tribes -- one side accusing the other, and the other accusing them right back. Historically, this has happened with God’s people every time He has wanted to pour out His Spirit. It happened after 1844. It happened after 1888, and it is happening again today.
The problem is that the Alarmist and the Scoffer are both wrong — because they are both living in the flesh. God can’t use the fear and fanaticism of the Alarmist any more than He can use the reasoned doubt of the Scoffer.
So, is there a way to avoid the ditches of alarmism and skepticism? Is there a third way? Yes!
It’s About People
When we examine the Scriptures to answer the question as to why Jesus waits, we find a clear answer in 2 Peter, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:8-9 ESV).
Friends, it’s not about power or intellectualism — it’s about people.
God loves people, and He is not willing to come until everyone has had a chance to know how much He loves them and how He has made a way of escape for each person so that they can be forgiven and have everlasting life in heaven with Him. And if it really is about people, then we need to keep things in perspective.
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God. . .”
2 Peter 3:10-12 (ESV)
Don’t you see? It shouldn’t matter when Jesus is coming if we know that He IS coming! The reason this is the case is that Jesus has clearly explained to us why He hasn’t come yet. It is because Jesus wants as many people as possible to come to repentance and be saved.
So, if we are armed with the knowledge that He is coming and that the reason He hasn’t come yet is that He wants to save more people, then what should we be doing? Again, the apostle Peter tells us in the book of Acts, “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago” (Acts 3:19-21 ESV).
We need to repent! We need to be praying for the power to reach more people with the gospel of Jesus Christ! As long as we remain carnal Christians — as the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers — we will remain dependent on the milk provided by others instead of the solid food that comes with the maturity of learning to feed ourselves.
Those who are focused on feeding themselves with the solid food of Christ’s Righteousness (that comes through a deep study of the word and sharing that food with the spiritual starving world) will be protected from the fanaticism of the Alarmist and the cynicism of the Scoffer because they aren’t dependent on external circumstances to motivate them. They have something far better — an experiential connection to Christ through the power of the third person of the Godhead — the Holy Spirit!
Why Does Jesus Wait?
Simply this! His word will not allow Him to come until God’s people finish the mission we have been assigned to accomplish. “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14 ESV).
And how do we accomplish this mission?
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Acts 1:8 (ESV)
In the last days — this outpouring of the Holy Spirit is called the Latter Rain.
Call to Action
Will we be the generation who finally tires enough of wandering in the wilderness of sin that we willingly prepare the way to receive the blessing we need to finally enter into the long, talked-about Promised Land? It is not something we can manufacture. it is only something we can accept as we open our hearts to the pleading voice of the Holy Spirit. Is the Holy Spirit convicting your heart today?
Our response to the voice will determine whether we become changed into New creatures in Christ Jesus or if we remain the same.
- Ellen G. White, Selected Messages (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1958), book 1, 124.
