                    [Times Square Church Pulpit Series]

                             The Last Revival

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By David Wilkerson
April 11, 1988
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          The New Testament church was born in a blaze of glory.
          The Holy Ghost came down upon it with fire, and the
          first Christians spoke with tongues and prophesied.
          They experienced smiting conviction, and multitudes
          were converted. They broke out on the right and on the
          left and were greatly enlarged. The fear of God fell
          upon them and upon all who saw them. There were signs,
          wonders, and miracles. The dead were raised. Fearless
          evangelists went everywhere preaching the Word. Jails
          could not hold them. Storms could not drown them. When
          their possessions were seized, they continued to
          rejoice. When they were stoned, hanged, burned or
          crucified, they went out singing and praising God. It
          was a triumphant church, unafraid of Satan, irreverent
          toward idols, unmoved by plagues or persecution. It was
          a blood-washed church, living and dying in victory.

          What is the last hour church going to be like? How will
          the church go out in its final hour? Will it go out as
          a fat, prosperous, self-seeking church, counting heads,
          getting out the vote? Will it be just a handful of true
          believers holding on, watching death and apostasy eat
          away at it like a cancer? Will the last day church live
          in dread and fear as AIDS and other plagues ravage the
          masses? Will fewer and fewer overcome the world? Will
          coldness and apostasy leave it weak, mocked, and
          powerless? Will the church go out of this age full of
          hypocrisy, with great praise, worship, and prayer
          meetings where unclean hands and impure hearts offer
          strange fire?

          To be sure, there is going to be a great falling away
          or apostasy. There will be spiritual harlotry on all
          sides. Because sin abounds, the love of many will grow
          cold. There will come deceivers, teaching doctrines of
          demons. People will have itching ears and will flock to
          hear soft preaching. Deceptions will get so bad that
          even the elect will be tested severely.

          But the church of Jesus Christ is not going out with a
          whimper or a limp. It is going out victorious, with joy
          unspeakable, riding a river of peace. It is going out
          in freedom from all bondage, with its foot on Satan's
          neck. And every member of this true church will live
          and die without fear. The tempter's power will be
          broken. Christians will be holy and will tear down
          idols. They will be just as strong in the Lord as the
          first Christians.

          Is there going to be a great ingathering before Jesus
          comes? Can we expect to see one last powerful out
          pouring of the Spirit, greater than anything in
          history? Is it not said that only a remnant will go on
          with Christ? Does not Joel prophesy "to the remnant
          which the Lord shall call?" Is it not true that at
          present only a small remnant wants to hear about
          holiness? We need to understand what is meant by "a
          remnant." It is true that it will be but a small
          percentage compared to the billions of people on the
          earth. But even 10% of New York City would be over one
          million overcomers. The remnant also means "that which
          remains of the original." Those who sew understand that
          a remnant is a piece of the original cloth. A remnant
          church is one which has the same character as the
          original New Testament church.

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                A Great Revival of Righteousness is Coming

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          I want to make a statement with the greatest spiritual
          authority possible; I make it backed by a covenant as
          sure as the one made to Noah. There is going to be a
          final, midnight hour revival, one which shall break
          forth on all sides. Zion will travail and many, many
          children will be given to her. There will be great
          singing and shouting, and Zion will say, "Where have
          all these come from?" It will be a revival of
          righteousness.

          I have heard old-time preachers speak of a last revival
          for years. One dear friend has been preaching it for
          over 60 years. Now the young preachers are praying for
          revival; they want to see God work in this day, not
          just read about it in books. It is not enough to simply
          preach on past revivals. Why pray, why seek revival, if
          it is not promised in the Bible? If the Bible says we
          are beyond hope, let's just evangelize and preach, and
          not be concerned about results. But, if revival is
          promised, Christians need to see it, lay hold of it,
          and pray with faith knowing that God has promised to do
          it. Is it in the Word? The promise is found in Isaiah
          54. This is one of the most important chapters, in
          God's Word for this generation. We are clearly told
          here what God intends to do with His church, His
          people, in the last days. This chapter prophesies what
          is going to happen at Times Square Church, as well as
          everywhere else there are hungry hearts. It will happen
          in Russia, in China, in every land, every island of the
          sea, from the North Pole to the South.

          The church is going to experience an undeserved
          outpouring of love, mercy, and kindness. It is going to
          come in a time of great affliction, with a tempest
          raging, with anxiety on all sides, when society is
          being tossed about. God swears he is going to reveal
          Himself in great kindness: "...But with everlasting
          kindness will I have mercy on you, says the Lord your
          Redeemer... My kindness shall not depart from you,
          neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, says
          the Lord that has mercy on you" (Isaiah 54:8-10). What
          God is saying to the church, He is also saying to
          individual believers. God is speaking to those
          "...afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted"
          (Isaiah 54:11). Is that you? Are you experiencing a
          sudden, violent disturbance? Yes, this includes the
          economy. It also includes the alarming world situation.

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                    God Will Have An Overcoming People

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          But God's greatest concern is for those who have at any
          time been His beloved, even backsliders and those
          overcome by a sudden, violent storm of temptation. His
          promise is to those who are right now in great
          affliction, tossed in a storm, not comforted, hopeless,
          helpless, and lost. God is going to woo back to Himself
          a backslidden, forsaken people. "For your Maker is your
          husband; the Lord of hosts is His name; and your
          Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole
          earth shall he be called. For the Lord has called you
          as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife
          of youth, when you were refused, says your God. For a
          small moment have I forsaken you, but with great
          mercies will I gather you. In a little wrath I hid My
          face from you for a moment; but with everlasting
          kindness will I have mercy on you, says the Lord
          Redeemer" (Isaiah 54:5-8).

          Some would argue this refers to the Jews, to Israel of
          the flesh. But the Word proves otherwise, for Paul
          calls this chapter an allegory or symbolic
          representation (Galatians 4:22-31). This is about the
          Jerusalem which is above. If these promises were for
          the Jew, they were never fulfilled. About 42,000 came
          out of the Babylonian captivity, and they multiplied to
          less than three million by the time of Christ. They did
          not "break forth on the right and on the left" as
          promised in Isaiah 54:3. This is a prophecy to the last
          day church - a church He momentarily forsook.

          Who is this he refused and for a while forsook? From
          whom did He hide in a little wrath? You can be sure God
          would not withdraw without a reason. What would make
          Him hide His face? "Your iniquities have separated
          between you and your God, and your sins have hid His
          face from you, that He will not hear" (Isaiah 59:2).
          God has not divorced the present day compromised
          church, but He has had to hide His face. She has left
          Him, her beloved. "Thus says the Lord, Where is the
          bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put
          away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have
          sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have you sold
          yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother
          put away" (Isaiah 50:1).

          God said, "You walked out on Me. You had others lovers.
          You cheated; you committed adultery. I didn't leave you
          - you left Me! I had to refuse you because you sold
          yourself to prostitution." The church ran off to
          Babylon, but it is not yet divorced. For God says,
          "Show Me the papers! Show Me the bill of sale where I
          sold you to the devil!" God is saying, "We are not
          living together, but the divorce is not final. The
          marriage is not hopeless. I still love you! You left
          Me, yet I called and called, and you refused to
          listen." "Wherefore, when I came, was there no man?
          When I called, was there none to answer?"(Isaiah 50:2).

          To this harlot, sin-corrupted, backslidden, wandering
          wife, God swears, "I am going to call you back." "For
          thus says the Lord, You have sold yourselves for
          nought; and you shall be redeemed without money"
          (Isaiah 52:3). And again, "For the Lord hath called you
          as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit..."(Isaiah
          54:6). There is even now the sounding of this final
          recall; "...with great mercies will I gather you"
          (Isaiah 54:7).

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                        Many Sinners Will Be Saved

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          First, he will call the wicked who never knew Him.
          "Behold, I have given Him for a witness to the people,
          a leader and commander to the people. Behold, you shall
          call a nation that you know not, and nations that knew
          not you shall run unto you because of the Lord your
          God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for He has
          glorified you. Seek the Lord while he may be found,
          call upon Him while He is near. 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"
          (Isaiah 55:4-7).

          This happened in the New Testament church when the
          Gentiles ran to Christ. The heathen saw the light and
          responded. But once again, in one last revival of mercy
          and kindness, the wicked are going to hear. Multitudes
          will run to Him. They will forsake their wicked ways
          and call upon the Lord. Those who refuse Him will
          blaspheme and become violent.

          Second, he is going to offer comfort, healing, and
          restoration to all who walked out on Him. "I have seen
          his ways, and will heal him; I will lead him also, and
          restore comforts unto him and to his mourners" (Isaiah
          57:18). How thrilled Isaiah must have been to bring
          this message. Remember, his commission was to go, "Make
          the heart of this people fat, and make their ears
          heavy, and shut their eyes: lest they see with their
          eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with
          their heart, and convert, and be healed" (Isaiah 6:10).
          Now God is saying, "For My own name's sake, I will
          forgive this polluted bride and call her back."

          "I, even I, am he that blots out your transgressions
          for My own sake, and will not remember your sins"
          (Isaiah 43:25). Think of the millions of backslidden
          Christians worldwide. In our street meetings half the
          converts are backsliders, those who walked out on God.
          So it is in Times Square Church. What a revival it will
          be as multitudes of backslidden Christians come back!
          Backslidden preachers will be wooed back, and they will
          become the holy ones of Zion. Children, bound by drugs,
          alcohol, sex, doubt, and fear, will hear His call, and
          multitudes will return. Addicts, alcoholics,
          prostitutes, homosexuals, AIDS victims, and the
          backslidden destitute will be called by Him.

          Will His outpouring of mercy overlook sin? Never. Those
          who walked out on God are those who once tasted of the
          Holy Spirit. They once knew Him. The Lord will send the
          Holy Spirit, His messenger, with a word of love,
          calling them to remembrance. He will send the Holy
          Spirit to bring to their minds all His loving words and
          how lovely their relationship once was, to remind them
          of how He once protected, loved, and blessed them. "And
          I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the
          inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of
          supplications, and they shall look upon Me Whom they
          have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one
          mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for
          Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn..."
          (Zechariah 12:10-11).

          The Church is the house of David, and Christians are
          the Jerusalem from above. Think of it! God has promised
          to pour out the Spirit of grace and prayer. Many shall
          mourn for Him (including Jews) seeing how their sins
          have put Him to open shame, crucifying Him again. They
          shall experience bitterness and weeping. This refers to
          the ministry of the coming Christ of whom Zechariah
          prophesied, but also of the Spirit God will send upon
          His last hour church which will produce a great
          mourning for sin and a revival of repentance. We can
          preach strong, powerful messages on sin; we can blow
          the trumpet and warn the people, but only a sovereign
          work of the Holy Spirit can cause a weeping and
          mourning for sin. And He has promised to do just that.

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                    A Barren Church is Going to Travail
                       and Bring Forth many Children

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          "Sing, O barren, you that did not bear; break forth
          into singing, and cry aloud, you that did not travail
          with child; for more are the children of the desolate
          than the children of the married wife, says the Lord.
          Enlarge the place of your tent and let them stretch
          forth the curtains of your habitations; spare not,
          lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes; for
          you shall break forth on the right hand and on the
          left; and your seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and
          make the desolate cities to be inhabited" (Isaiah
          54:1-3). Some would argue that this last day church is
          not barren. They would point to all the super churches,
          all the ministries, and the many multitudes who attend
          religious seminars, conferences, and the concerts and
          who devour religious books, tapes, and videos. But what
          God calls spiritual children and what the church has
          been calling children are two very different things.
          While the church has focused on growth in numbers and
          influence and success, Paul is crying out, "My little
          children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ
          be formed in you" (Galatians 4:19). Paul would say,
          "Don't tell me how many attend your church. Don't tell
          me how many attend your functions, how much literature
          you distribute, how many Bibles you send out, how many
          witness on the street - tell me how many are being
          formed into the likeness of Christ! How many are going
          on to purity?"

          Amos prophesied to a people of God who worshipped Him
          with sin in their hearts, "I hate, I despise your feast
          days, and I do not appreciate your solemn assemblies.
          Though you offer Me burnt offerings, I will not accept
          them; neither will I regard your peace offerings. Take
          away from Me the noise of your songs, for I will not
          hear the melody of your instruments. But let judgment
          run down as waters and righteousness as a mighty
          stream" (Amos 5:21-24). And Isaiah, speaking God's
          Word, said, "...your incense is an abomination to me...
          it is iniquity, even your solemn meeting... Your
          appointed feasts my soul hates; they are a trouble unto
          Me; I am weary of them. When you spread out your hands,
          I will hide My eyes from you; yea, when you make many
          prayers, I will not hear... Wash you, make you clean;
          put away the evil of your doing from before My eyes;
          cease to do evil" "Isaiah 1:13-16).

          Some boast we are in revival, that the prosperity
          message packing auditoriums is God's Word, that many
          spiritual children are being born. I believe God will
          look upon the past 20 years as famine of the Word, as
          years the cankerworm has eaten, years of self-seeking,
          years of strangers being exalted in God's house, years
          of devilish music, proud preachers, money madness,
          empire building, years of shallowness. "They have dealt
          treacherously against the Lord; for they have begotten
          strange children..." (Hosea 5:7). "Yet I had planted
          you a noble vine, wholly a right seed; how then are you
          turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine to
          me?" (Jeremiah 2:21).

          Many Christians have become barren from sitting in a
          barren church and listening to a barren pastor with no
          anointing from God. In the process they have become
          spiritually starved, with no spiritual authority.
          Families suffered; children backslid; marriages fell
          apart. Or else, they went to a church where many
          Ishmaels were born. Ishmael stands for flesh. Even
          though Abraham prayed, "Oh that Ishmael could stand
          before You," God said, "...Cast out the bondwoman and
          her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir
          with the son of the freewoman" (Galatians 4:30). There
          are many Ishmaels being born in churches today -
          Christians bound by flesh, claiming to be heirs of
          righteousness.

          God is going to cleanse, heal, and embrace His wife and
          give the church true Isaacs, children after His heart.
          "Sing, O barren, you that did not bear; break forth
          into singing and cry aloud, you that did not travail
          with child; for more are the children of the desolate
          than the children of the married wife, says the Lord"
          (Isaiah 54:1). God is not talking about simply
          switching crowds, emptying the houses of Ishmael and
          giving the crowds to the righteous. It is much deeper
          than crowds, numbers, and success. God is going to do
          the counting, not man. "Shall I count them pure with
          the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful
          weights?" (Micah 7:11). "The Lord shall count, when He
          writes up the people, that this man was born there"
          (Psalm 87:6). You can look at any great gathering of
          Christians - there may be thousands, and they may all
          be praising God with upraised hands, singing loud
          praises, but God does the counting. He knows who is
          holy. He knows those who mourn for sin. He may have but
          a few there, born of Zion. God is not impressed by
          crowds, for rock musicians draw the biggest.

          But God promises that holy Zion is going to give birth
          to more children than the house of Ishmael. This is His
          ironclad promise of a great ingathering. "Enlarge...
          spare not... lengthen... strengthen... you shall brake
          forth on the right had and on the left..." (Isaiah
          54:2-3). God is going to remove the shame and reproach
          of His church. "Fear not; for you shall not be ashamed;
          neither be confounded; for you shall not be put to
          shame. For you shall forget the shame of your youth,
          and shall not remember the reproach of your widowhood
          anymore" (Isaiah 54:4). What is this shame and
          reproach? It is the lack of spiritual authority over
          the powers of Satan. When he was surrounded by the
          wicked Assyrians, Hezekiah said, "...This day is a day
          of trouble, and of rebuke (shame) and of blasphemy; for
          the children are come to the birth, and there is not
          strength to bring forth" (Isaiah 37:3). There stood the
          enemy pouring contempt on the Israelites, mocking their
          weakness, heaping blasphemy upon their God. This is a
          type of what we have seen in Christian work - birth
          pangs, but no birth. It seems the devil mocks our every
          attempt. The church has been taunted and ridiculed for
          its weakness. How many Christians know what it means to
          be almost victorious, almost an overcomer? And Satan
          laughs. But God promises, "I will remove that shame.
          You will bring forth. An army will come forth out of
          your womb. A victorious army."

          The reproach of the church is its powerlessness before
          enemy giants. David asked, "...What shall be done to
          the man that kills this Philistine, that he should defy
          the armies of the living God?" (1Samuel 17:26). It was
          a reproach to cornered and cowered by the enemy. It was
          shame and reproach to see God's people wallowing in
          fear. But God has promised to bring forth children
          without this shame and reproach upon them. They will
          bring down their Goliaths. They will bring glory and
          honor to His name. No shame of hiding or running.

          These kind of children are born only out of the
          consecrated womb of a faithful, loving, intimate wife.
          This wife came back because she was grieved in spirit,
          desolate, lonely, longing to be back with her Lord. Now
          she is established in righteousness (Isaiah 54:13-14).
          There is not false doctrine in this church, nor is
          there fear. But there is great peace and confidence in
          the face of terror all around.

          This last revival will come because God will pity His
          own name. He will sanctify His name before the whole
          world. Let me share with you a great prophecy from
          Ezekiel. "But I had pity for Mine holy name, which the
          house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither
          they went. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus
          says the Lord God; I do not this for your sakes, O
          house of Israel, but for Mine holy name's sake, which
          you have profaned among the heathen, whither you went.
          And I will sanctify My great name, which was profaned
          among the heathen, which you have profaned in the midst
          of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord,
          says the Lord God. When I shall be sanctified in you
          before their eyes." (Ezekiel 36:21-25).

          I believe God still has a covenant future for the Jews.
          But the prophets saw our day and all these prophecies
          are dual in application. An undeserved revival of
          holiness - one last gathering of a pure remnant - is
          already happening. It is because God has determined to
          close out the ages with a mighty exaltation of His
          name. What a display of power it will be!

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771 USA.

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