I became a Christian, a believer in Jesus Christ, in August 1969. For over a half-century, over 55 years, I have read about and heard Bible teachers addressing Jesus’ imminent return to snatch up His disciples.
For how many years have Bible teachers predicted the imminent second coming? Around 30 AD, in Luke chapter 21, Jesus taught his disciples about signs of the end times. He enumerated events that must come to pass before his return to Earth. In Luke 21:28, Jesus said, “When these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption is drawing near.”
You can walk around from now until doomsday looking up. Instead, turn your Bible back to chapter 19, where Jesus recites a parable about a rich man who trusted three servants to invest his money. Two servants increased their master’s wealth through profitable investments, but one declined to invest. He returned the money given to him with no increase.
At the beginning of the parable, after distributing money to his three servants, the master instructs them, in the Modern English Version, “Trade until I come. ” In the King James Version, he said, “Occupy until I come.”
This tells me that I am to be productive for the sake of the Kingdom of God, to work as though His second coming may be centuries into the future.
From time to time, in various places around the country, a powerful evangelist like Mario Murillo will hold a very large meeting in which thousands respond to the Gospel message and turn to Jesus. This is not a sign of national revival.
Revival is not the exclusive purview of a church or big-tent gathering. Revival happens on the highways and byways, in cities large and small, and on the campuses of universities. When you see many people in the marketplace turning to faith in Jesus, that is the spiritual barometer of true revival.
“An Evangelical Awakening is a movement of the Holy Spirit bringing about a revival of New Testament Christianity in the Church of Christ and in its related community. Such an awakening may change in a significant way an individual; or it may affect a larger group of believers; or it may move a congregation or the churches in the city or district, or the body of believers throughout a country or continent, or indeed the larger body of believers throughout the world. The outpouring of the Spirit affects the reviving of the church, the awakening of the masses, and the movement of uninstructed peoples toward the Christian faith; the revived Church, by many or by few, is moved to engage in evangelism, in teaching, and in social action.” Excerpt from The Christian Post, July 19, 2020 | Revival: What It Is and Why We Need It!
Church meetings are useful for instruction in righteousness. But the true spiritual revival of a community of people, whether a neighborhood, a city, a county, or a state, happens in public.
After the resurrection of Jesus, he appeared to his disciples with the plan for national revival.
Then the eleven disciples went away to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw Him, they worshipped Him. But some doubted. Then Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Matthew 28:16-20 MEV
The first step of the Great Commission is worship. The second is to make disciples. The third is to be mindful of God’s omnipresence: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
John White
Rockwall, Texas
John N. White 