The year is 2017, and countless prophecies are heard within the Christen realm to the effect that a great spiritual revival is imminent in preparation for the expected coming of Christ in our time. One can well understand the sentiment behind such a notion. The strain of the times is being felt – the sense that something needs to happen – and it is rightly deemed that the church is in no condition to manifest Joel 2 or 1 Thessalonians 4, the latter usually referred to as the rapture.
The problem is that there is no scripture to back this assertion – namely in the sense of a worldwide spiritual awakening, of global repentance and conversion, and indeed of socio-political transformation toward godly models. Rather it is spoken of a falling away, of a spiritual famine, and of a world in thrall of the antichrist. As it was in the days of Noah ... and as it was in the days of Lot ... thus – so stated the saviour – shall it be when the Son of man is revealed. And neither of these ages experienced anything remotely like a universal spiritual revival – quite the contrary.
Somewhere – somehow – there seems to be a great disjunction between the prophetic scriptures and the perceived need and expectation of our time. The churches are in a state of desperate crisis, such as yet retain a biblical model, insofar as the pastoral ministry is altogether incommensurate with the spiritual requirements of the age. It is a case of the blind leading the blind, after the scathing denunciation of Laodicea in Revelation 3. One of these days the foolish virgins of Matthew 25 will be caught unawares, and it will be asked, were not all these great things supposed to happen before the coming of the Lord? And the answer will return, it’s already happened and you did not know it.
So it becomes us to ask, what kind of revival – what move of God – can we expect in our time? Is there indeed revival, and what form might it take? And what we actually observe, contrary to much zealous teaching, is that revival fires are everywhere dying down – namely in the conventional sense we have come to understand revival. Specifically we are speaking in this context of the great twentieth century pentecostal revival, which brought restoration of the spiritual gifts. While today there are greater attendance numbers, the quality of experience is not remotely what it was even a mere forty years ago, let alone that of the original outpouring after Azusa Street in 1906.
And here lies the problem, in that the evangelic / charismatic churches are still pursuing a pentecostal message with undue emphasis upon the spiritual gifts, when another age is actually upon us. For this is the age of the calling of the bride, the opening of the seven seals, and the restoration of the Word of God in fullness. While pentecost, in the above sense, is certainly part of our message, we have today progressed beyond that into whole new order of ministry – of which ministry the established denominations are entirely unaware. We ask, how could this have happened, and we note that the said pentecostal revival occurred outside of the established churches, free from religious organisation and denomination. Indeed the fathers of the movement denounced religious denominationalism for the antichrist system which it is. Yet within a very few years, the pentecostal movement went the way of every revival preceding it, in that it organised and enshrined its non-biblical doctrines as binding dogma – and right there it died.
Indeed the same holds for the entire history of revival and biblical restoration. Luther, Wesley or Pentecost – no spiritual revival ever originated from within the religious establishment and, once religious organisation took hold, God removed the candlestick and the life of the Spirit moved on, leaving behind the dead denominational husk. Yet every historic revival also built upon what was already in place, such that we are speaking of cumulative revelation, leading up to grand consummation in the coming of Christ. Accordingly there is a godly awakening among the elect – there is indeed revival – which, in its nature, however, goes entirely unrecognised among the religious denominations and centres of learning.
What then is the message, the ministry of this present age, as characterised by the calling of the spiritual bride? A large number of scriptures may be adduced which broadly reflect the idea of consummation – which is to say, of the spiritual church conforming to the image of Christ. Below are presented three biblical passages which convey the essential idea.
1 Corinthians 13:9-10 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
We shall be like him (the Christ), for we shall see him as he is. Here, as throughout the New Testament, the emphasis is not upon human effort – it is not upon praying and fasting and zealous works – but upon the cognitive and receptive aspect of the gospel. It is upon seeing and cognising, upon knowing and understanding. Indeed we learn in Matthew 16 that revelation – divine revelation of who He is – is the spiritual rock, the foundation of the entire edifice of faith. Which brings us to our concept of the apocalyptic rapture – for the literal meaning of apocalypse is revelation.
Concerning then revival in our time, it is not going to be revival as previously understood. It is not going to be a public affair, manifesting ‘out there’ with a lot of noise, with newspaper coverage and reverberations through the political and spiritual landscape. The only genuine revival we will see is that occurring within our own soul, and the world at large, including the nominal churches, will know nothing about it. Indeed we are speaking of a secret rapture and of Christ coming as a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5), which scenario is not to be confused with Revelation 19, where Christ appears openly as conqueror and king for his millennial reign.
Where thus it is spoken of seeing him (the Christ) as he is, the reference is not to some historic or derivative Hollywood Christ of the religious imagination – which is to say, a man in a robe – but to Christ as the revealed Word of God. It is the Word of God which is quickened in the rapture, the Word which is the spiritual seed sown into the individual soul. Moreover it must be Word of God in its fullness – the seed in its maturity – not the dead stalks and husks of the reformed traditions. Specifically it is the opening of the biblical seven seals in our age, whereby the spiritual bride is quickened to the ministry of the age.
As we read in the Revelation, the book of life was sealed with seven seals, such that no mortal was able to look thereon. In other words, through seven ages we were accustomed to seeing through a glass darkly – through religious tradition and theological guesswork – but now face to face, as the lamb of God releases these seals to his faithful. This is vitally important, insofar as it constitutes the true baptism of the Holy Spirit – not manifesting in signs or sensations, but in the revelation of Jesus Christ. It constitutes the oil of the wise virgins, as per Matthew 25, and marks the essential difference between doctrinal abstraction and spiritual experience. As states Job 42, I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear: but now my eye beholds you. And again, Matthew 5, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Coming then to the rapture as a generic spiritual experience, we find that it is not a singular event but occurs in scripture a full seven times – the personages involved being:
– Enoch (Genesis 5:24, Hebrews 11:5)
– Moses (Deuteronomy 34, Jude 1:9)
– Elijah (2 Kings 2:11)
– Jesus, the Christ (Mark 16:9, Luke 24:51, Acts 1:9)
– the Old Testament saints rising with Christ (Mathew 27:52-53)
– the gentile bride (Thessalonians 4:16-17)
– and the two witnesses to Israel (Revelation 11:11-12)
What can we glean from these events? While the narratives are tantalisingly sparse, we observe, notably in the case of Elijah, an intersection of domains or experiential realms, of heaven and earth, with the suggestion of congruence or interpenetration. We find the same in 2 Kings 6, where the angelic host is seen encamped around his disciple, the prophet Elisha. The suggestion is that, in going to heaven, we do not fly off into space; we remain right here, translated into another dimension, existing at a higher rate of vibration. Such indeed we may assert, notwithstanding the biblical metaphor of ascending and descending to and from heaven. As remarked Jesus, speaking with Nicodemus (John 3:13), no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
We may speak in this connection of a parting of the spiritual veil, where the temple or tabernacle of Moses furnishes the essential type. The holy of holies, where dwelt the living presence of God, was separated from the sanctuary and outer courts by a veil. As a metaphor of the true or spiritual temple, its three partitions correspond to body, soul and spirit – the three principles comprising the human nature – where the veil of body and soul clothes the spirit. We find the idea expressed in John 12:21-24, where certain Greeks asked to see Jesus. Came the saviour’s answer: Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone: but if it die, it brings forth much fruit. Why could not the Greeks see him? As gentiles, unlike the Jews, they knew nothing of a prophet messiah, and would have merely seen a man in a robe – a man like any other man. Their time would only come when the veil of the flesh was rent, and Christ could be known as the Holy Spirit within.
As Paul states in Hebrews 9:24, For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself ... Thus from the earthly tabernacle, where dwelt the shekinah light upon the mercy seat between the cherubim of beaten gold, we come to Revelation 4 and the ark of God in heaven. Surrounding the heavenly throne, as recounts the evangelist, John, were ‘living creatures’ – which creatures were full of eyes within, suggestive insight or spiritual vision. We understand concerning these creatures, the said cherubim, that they function as guardians against anything profane that would usurp the powers of the heavenly sanctuary. Only the high priest of Israel entered once a year, bearing the blood sacrifice in prefigure of the atoning death of Christ.
Here we may compare Genesis 3, And the Lord God said, behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever ... he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life. We learned moreover, concerning the tabernacle of Moses, that it meant certain death for anyone to enter unbidden into the Most Holy. The way of the tree of life was barred – in symbol, the way of the sanctuary – until the cherubic sword pierced through the saviour’s heart, and the temple veil was torn from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51).
It is moreover the cherubim of Revelation 4, described as being full of eyes, which bid the prophet, come and see ... as the lamb of God opens the seven seals, revealing the mysteries hidden from the foundation of the world. These entities – having the form of a Lion, a Bull, a Man and a flying Eagle – are not merely guardians, they also facilitate entry for those who are bidden to enter. Specifically they represent the fire of God which conveys the sacrifice into his presence, purging us from sin, as it is written in Psalms 104, he makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flaming fire. Yet, even as there is set in the material heavens a light too bright for mortal eyes, in symbol of the spiritual sun, so these holy cherubim likewise cover their eyes and avert their gaze from the divine radiance. And they rest not day and night, crying, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
Where previously it was thus death to enter, we are now bidden to come and partake of the hidden manna. In a profound reversal of perspective, where previously the tree of life was kept by a flaming sword, that sword is now turned outward, as our vision aligns with that of the saviour to behold the mysteries of God revealed. Demons scatter, and the veil of the physical world dissolves before his gaze whose eyes are like flames of fire, the sword of the Spirit issuing from his mouth. It is the cherubic fire streaming from the eyes whereby we behold the open door and see into the heavenly realm. Our God is a devouring fire, as state the scriptures, which fire issues from the sanctuary to dissolve the material veil, vanquishing doubt and all that would obscure our passage, bringing us face to face with the eternal God.