Are We Living In The Last Days? Does Scripture Speak About A Worldwide Revival Or Great Apostasy Before The End?
Do you believe we are in the last minutes of the last days of this age? And is there any scripture to support a worldwide revival before the great Day of the Lord? Or is there support for a great apostasy before that day?
I believe that it is good and wise for Christians to live their lives believing that Jesus Christ is coming again. Jesus told us to watch and to pray and to anticipate His return. I don’t at all think those commands of Jesus applied only to A.D. 70. Some Christians may assume that Jesus’ exhortations to watch, pray, and anticipate His return were completely fulfilled in A.D. 70, and think that Christians should live as though the coming of Jesus is delayed and still 50,000 years away, assuming that they have nothing to worry about the return of Jesus. To them, I would say that we’ve certainly got some interpretive differences.
I believe that God desires that every generation of Christians should live as if Jesus Christ is coming soon. Is it possible to do that in an unbalanced, fanatical way? Of course. I suppose it’s possible to do just about anything in the Christian life in an unbalanced, fanatical way. The groups who think Jesus Christ isn’t coming for 20,000 years have their own imbalanced and fanatical people among themselves, do they not? I believe Jesus wants us to live as if He’s coming soon. And I believe that He gives some reason to every generation to believe that He is, in fact, coming soon.
There are Christians who love the Lord and read the Bible seriously who disagree with my End Times understanding and eschatological framework. That’s okay. This isn’t a universal belief among Christians, but it is believed by many Christians and has been for some time. Here is my understanding of the End Times. The Bible describes a spiritual, political, economic, and cultural environment that will mark the very last days before the return of Jesus. When I look at the world around us today, I say it fits the Bible’s descriptions of that time. Is that a guarantee that Jesus Christ is going to return in one year, five years, 10 years, 20 years? No, it’s not, but it tells me I should be ready. I should live as if I’m ready.
Will there be either a great revival or a great apostasy before that day? Yes. I know there will be a great apostasy; the Scriptures speak to that plainly. But there have been times, both in Bible history and in times since then, where great revival and spiritual awakening have existed alongside great apostasy. I think that it would be within the nature of the Lord, as He has demonstrated through the Scriptures and His workings throughout history, to bring in a great harvest of souls before the very end. It doesn’t mean that there’s not a great apostasy at the same time. I believe that both can be true.
The Scriptures do specifically talk about the apostasy, although there is not as much evidence in the Scriptures for an End Times revival. But we can certainly pray for it. We can hope for it. We can say, “Lord, You’ve done works like this in the past. Do it again.” I’m excited about what I see God doing in the world today. I don’t want to hype it beyond measure, but people are hearing the gospel and responding to it. People are turning from atheism and from false religions. They’re trusting in Jesus Christ. Christians are being awakened and revived. There is something happening in the world today, and I pray that God would build on it. And if God wanted to use that as something of an End Times revival, I’d be pleased as punch. I hope you would too.