Great end-time revival?
Summary
The Bible speaks of apostasy and not revival. The great crowd from the great tribulation (Rev 7) therefore converted before the Rapture.
Rev 7:2-4 2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea,
3 saying, Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we seal the servants of our God on their foreheads.
4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed: One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed.
Rev 7:9-14 9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one was able to number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying, Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!
11 And all the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and did homage to God,
12 saying: Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.
13 Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?
14 And I said to him, My Lord, you know. So he said to me, these are the ones coming out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
According to the doctrine of Pre-Tribulation Rapture, 144,000 Jews come to faith shortly after the rapture and proclaim the gospel, resulting in a very large worldwide awakening.
The 144,000 and the great uncountable multitude from the great tribulation are contrasted in Revelation 7.
Answer
Nowhere does the Scripture speak of a revival in the last days; on the contrary, the Lord says that before his coming:
- the saints will be persecuted by all nations (Mat 24:9-13),
- it will be as in the days of Noah before the flood (Mat 24:37-41) and
- it will be as in the days of Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah (Luke 17:28-36)
- the question to be asked is: will he find faith? (Luk 18:7-8)
- and the night comes when no one can work (John 9:4)
Paul talks about the end times:
- Of apostasy, the effective appearance of the Antichrist and of "strong delusion, that they should believe the lie" (2 Thess 2:1-12)
- and that difficult/perilous times will come in the last days (2 Tim 3:1-5)
Revelation says that people will not repent in the end (Rev 9:20-21 / Rev 16:9-11 and 16:21)
See below for details and further reasons.
Conclusion
----> If this revival does not take place AFTER the Rapture, then the great innumerable multitude of Revelation 7 has been converted BEFORE the Rapture!
----> But if the innumerable multitude converted BEFORE the Rapture (was saved by having their robes made white in the blood of Jesus), then the great tribulation from which the multitude comes is also BEFORE the Rapture!
The innumerable multitude from the great tribulation was converted BEFORE the Rapture.
----> The Rapture does not take place BEFORE, but AFTER the great tribulation.
Greatest revival: Without details how?
There is no information in the scriptures about:
- how and when the 144,000 came to faith
- whether the 144,000 evangelize
- that the innumerable multitude would be converted during the tribulation
- that the innumerable multitude came to faith through the 144,000
Greatest revival: Starting from NOTHING?
Although there is no believer left on earth after the Rapture, according to the pre-tribulation doctrine a huge revival should start... and that in only 7 years? How is that supposed to work?
According to some proponents of the pre-tribulation doctrine, only people who have never heard the gospel can be converted after the Rapture. So a start to revival with people who have never heard the gospel?
There has never been anything like it in the history of the world; God always left a remnant on earth as a testimony (e.g. Noah or Caleb and Joshua).
Greatest revival: under the most difficult conditions?
How should a revival take place if:
- the Holy Spirit is taken away from the earth? ----> see:
The Holy Spirit is the restrainer?
- and under the censorship of the Antichrist? ...
- the words of Jesus are: The night comes when no one can work
----> What was not possible in 2000 years of church history is now to come about in 7 years: the greatest revival?
What does the Lord Jesus say: apostasy or revival?
Mat 24:9-13 9 Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.
10 And then many will be offended, will deliver up [or: betray] one another, and will hate one another.
11 And many false prophets will rise up and will deceive many.
12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of the many will grow cold.
13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
Mat 24:37-41 37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark,
39 and they did not realize until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
40 Then two will be in the field: one is taken and one is left.
41 Two ‹women› will be grinding at the mill: one is taken and one is left.
Luk 18:8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?
Luk 17:28-36 28 Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;
29 but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 Even in the same way will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
…
34 I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left.
35 Two ‹women› will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left.
36 Two will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left. *)
*) Luk 17:36 is only found in one part of the Greek manuscripts, namely in the Textus Receptus
Joh 9:4 It is necessary for Me to work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one is able to work.
What do the teaching letters of the NT say? Apostasy or revival?
2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 1 Now we ask you, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him,
2 that you not be quickly shaken from your mind, nor be troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as if from us, as though the day of Christ is at hand [or: is near].
3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that day will not come unless the falling away [= apostasy] comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition [or: destruction],
4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?
6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time.
7 or the mystery [or: hidden truth] of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.
8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.
9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,
10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,
12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
2
Tim 3:1-5 1 But know this, that in the last days perilous [or: dangerous, terrible] times will come:
2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 without natural affection, unyielding {or word-breaking, o. faithless}, slanderers, without self-control, savage, despisers of good,
4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away.
What does Revelation say: Apostasy or revival?
In the whole of Revelation, in the seal, trumpet and bowl judgments, there is nothing about a revival, but that people do NOT repent (i.e. do not change their attitude) and even blaspheme God in the last (seventh) bowl.
Bible text from the Book of Revelation (Rev) | |
---|---|
At the 5th seal | Rev 6,9-11 9 And when He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the Word of God and because of the testimony which they held. 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? 11 And a white robe was given to each one of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until ‹ the number of › their fellow servants and their brothers, who were about to be killed as they were, was filled up [i.e.: would be joined in full]. |
After the 6th trumpet | Rev 9:20-21 20 But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not do homage to demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which are not able to see nor hear nor walk. 21 And they did not repent of their murders nor their sorceries nor their sexual perversions nor their thefts. |
After the 4th bowl | Rev 16:9 9 And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has authority over these plagues; and they did not repent to give Him glory. |
After the 5th bowl | Rev 16:10-11 10 And the fifth angel poured out his bowl onto the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain. 11 And they blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds. |
After the 7th bowl | Rev 16:21 21 And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. And men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because the plague is exceedingly great. |
Only at one passage in Revelation, after the two previously killed witnesses are resurrected, is there a "positive passage":
Rev 11:12-13 12 And they heard a loud voice out of Heaven saying to them, Come up here. And they ascended towards Heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them.
13 And in the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of Heaven.
But it says nothing about them having truly repented. They probably had to recognize God's power rather against their will.
What does the Old Testament say? Apostasy or revival?
Daniel 7:21-27 21 I was watching, and this horn made war with the saints and prevailed over them,
22 until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
25 And he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High. And he shall intend to change times and law. And they shall be given into his hand for a period of a time and times and half a time.
26 But the court shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it until the end.
27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heavens shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.
----> If there were a worldwide revival, would this not - as in past revival movements - have a tremendous impact on the unbelieving world, so that Christian laws would prevail?