"And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice."
(1 Kings 19:11-12)
The inerrant Word of God makes it abundantly clear. The end of the Age will be marked by rampant apostasy, a great Falling Away. But before the darkness completely closes in, will there be one final REAL revival, one last great testimony to the flawless perfection and sin-purging purity of the Gospel message? It is an open question, and the answer to it lies only with God Himself.
Revival - TRUE revival - may yet come, if God wills it to be so. But if it comes, it will come through NO device or design of mortal man. It will come only as a Sovereign act of the Creator, as a totally unmerited gift and as a direct Divine expression of His unfathomable goodness, His patience and His mercy towards us. And it will not come in a tempest that smashes rocks in its forcefulness. It will not come in a 9.6 Richter Scale earthquake that heaves and splits the Earth beneath our feet. It will not come in an inferno of searing heat and Heaven-high flames. Revival - TRUE revival - if it comes at all, will not come in any of these ways. It will not fulfill the grandiose and false expectations of men's imagination. It will come as a still small voice...
It will not come with cultural relevance and seeker-sensitivity. It will not come with guitars and synthesizers and drums. It will not come with pulsating stage lights and penetrating lasers. It will not come with laughter and leaping. It will not come with fanfares and festivals, with dancing in the aisles and loud shouts of delight. It will not come with parades and with programmes, with platform prophecies and powerful proclamations and headline speakers and television specials. It will not come with bold business models or best-seller books, or with truckloads of money and echoing crystal cathedrals with towering pulpits and stadium-size PA systems. It will be nothing to do with noise or with numbers.
It will never come with Charismatic Renewal, Purpose-Driven, Promise-Keepers or Alpha. It will never come with New Wine, Churches Together, The Call or the New Apostolic Reformation. It will never come via a Bethel or a Willow Creek or a Hillsong or a Kensington Temple. It will never come with any amount of naming-and-claiming and positive confession, God-chasing and grave-sucking, courses, conferences, crusades and contemplative prayer. It will never come with all the methods and machinations of man put together. For TRUE revival is not of fallen flesh but of Almighty God.
If TRUE revival comes, it will come with the sound of weeping. It will come with bitter tears, with the beating of breasts, and with brokenness. It will come with unbearable sorrow, an anguish which rips the very soul apart. It will come with a raw and brutally honest repentance that wells up from the uttermost depths of one's being. It will come with fear and with trembling. It will come with a heart that bleeds unstoppably for the eternally lost, a heart that uncompromisingly cleaves to the Author and Finisher of our Faith, the Word of the Book and the Word that was made flesh, a heart that trusts in God alone and nothing of man. If TRUE revival comes, then this is how it will come, and no other way. It will come not with a mighty wind, an earthquake or a fire. It will come with a still small voice...
"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."
(Isaiah 55:7-9)
