End-time Vision – Part 4

We are living in a time that demands our attentiveness to the inner voice of the Spirit.  He is calling the Church to “Arise, shine; for your light has come!  And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.  For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you.” (Isa. 60:1,2).  There is a cry for revival from God’s people which originates from the Father.  How many can see by faith the Body of Christ rising in overcoming power?  It is the vision that the evangelist Tommy Hicks saw of the Church rising upon the earth as a great giant with its arms and head in the clouds. 

“And from those clouds suddenly there came great drops of liquid light raining down upon this mighty giant, and slowly, slowly, this giant began to melt, began to sink itself in the very earth itself, and as he melted, his whole form seemed to have melted upon the face of the earth, and this great rain began to come down. Liquid drops of light began to flood the very earth itself and as I watched this giant that seemed to melt, suddenly it became millions of people over the face of the earth. As I beheld the sight before me, people stood up all over the world! They were lifting their hands and they were praising the Lord.”

Before this great end-time outpouring comes, the Church must rise out of worldliness.  Will you be part of the remnant of believers that will respond to this call?  I believe Paul saw the condition of the Church in our days when he said: “‘Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.’  See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” (Eph. 5:14-16).  Waiting on the Lord for revival is not done in complacency.  It is a time of cleansing, as David prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Ps. 51:10).  It is also a time to receive the Spirit by faith.  “‘He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’  But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive.” (Jn. 7:38,39).  Furthermore, it is a time for unity: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!  It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down the edge of his garments.” (Ps. 133:1,2).  The early Church was established during a time of great outpouring.  It came with repentance, faith, and unity (see Acts 2:38-47).

In my last article I mentioned the river of life that flows from the throne of God, and the fruitfulness of those who are planted on the banks of that river (Ps. 1:3).  When Ezekiel saw this river, it was flowing out from the temple wall, at first only ankle deep, but the further it flowed, the deeper it got.  In Jasper National Park, the Maligne River flows from Maligne Lake which is supplied by glacial melt.  From that lake it flows into Medicine Lake, where it goes underground and emerges in the Maligne Canyon as a small stream.  The further the stream flows down the canyon, the larger it gets because it is joined by many of the other underground streams flowing from the same source.  As you hike along this canyon, you can see an occasional stream gushing out of the canyon walls to join the river.  This is merely a natural phenomenon, but it illustrates what will happen as we individually allow the river of life to flow out of our hearts.

I long for the day when the river of God flows to the sea of humanity as a deep and wide river.  It will bring healing to the nations (Ezek. 47:8).  Currently, it is flowing through believers as small streams.  Occasionally these streams join, and they become larger and more powerful.  We can be those from whose hearts flows rivers of living water.  As we do this, we bring life to those around us.  We must not seek to hold onto this living water, to form our own lake or pond.  When the river reaches the sea, its waters are healed, but the swamps and marshes are not healed, they are given over to salt (Ezek. 47:11).  When the small streams join together, they lose their independence but not their nature (2Pe. 1:4) since they all have the same source. 

In the vision given to Tommy Hicks, the giant was not able to rise until it did so in the unity of the Spirit.  The vision he saw is of a great outpouring, but before it occurs, there must be a revival in the Church.  Out of this revival will come a restoration of authority.  When the arms and head of the giant reached into the clouds, the outpouring began.  The head represents authority.  When a united Church takes its authority to the second heaven, something dramatic occurs on the earth.  We must understand the role that the Church has in the plans and purposes of God.  As the Body of Christ, all the enemies of Christ must be brought under her feet.  “Then comes the end when He (Christ) delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.  For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.” (1Cor. 15:24,25). 

There is a major event coming to this world when the devil and his angels are cast down from the second heaven to the earth (Rev. 12:7-9).  We have a description of this type of spiritual warfare in the book of Daniel Chapters 10 to 12.  The prophet was fasting and mourning for three weeks before the angelic messenger appeared to him in a vision.  This messenger was sent from the moment Daniel began to pray, but it took twenty-one days to reach him.  How many times have we prayed but given up too soon because we fail to understand spiritual warfare?  Because of the importance of the message, the enemy opposed it greatly.  The key to the victory was Daniel’s faith and humility.  “for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words.” (Dan. 10:12).  This is the kind of faith the centurion demonstrated when he believed in the authority of Christ and understood how to be humbly “in authority” while being “under authority” (Matt. 8:8,9).

Come, let us draw near to God.  Let us cleanse ourselves.  Let us humble ourselves in the sight of God that He may lift us up! (Jas. 4:8-10).  Let us drink from the living waters until they flow out of our hearts.