It’s so important to have the right vision for the future. The bible says that without vision, people perish and in the days in which we live, having the right vision is imperative.
“Where there is no vision, the people perish:” Proverbs 29:18
As I have shared in my previous message on the Great Deception, I can see how the Devil has planted tares in the Church that are messing up our vision. It has become so big now and morphed into a teaching that is regarded as gospel truth. This teaching is that of the Antichrist to come, and this is the expectation that most Christians have today and it is interfering with our vision. Little do we realise where it all originated, nor consider that it may have been planted by the Master of Lies.
I don’t believe that its God’s plan for the Church to ‘fall away’ before the Lord’s Return and for the Antichrist to then appear, for history shows that this has happened already in the Dark Ages. Look at my message on the Great Deception. Great Deception
John the Baptist prepared the way for the Lord’s first coming and was a type of the coming Christ. The End Time Church is also to be a type of Christ the coming King. John had to die at the hands of men as a type of the coming Christ, who also died at the hands of men.
The Church (His Bride) before the second coming is to be like her coming Lord who is a victorious King. She too is meant to be a victorious Church. In Malachi chapter 4 it speaks of the people before the great and terrible day of the Lord who are like their coming king.
“But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; And you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet On the day that I do this,” Says the Lord of hosts.” Malachi 4:2-3
This is hardly speaks of a defeated Church because the wicked are as ashes beneath their feet. This is not a picture of a weak church. The wicked here don’t have the upper hand. It could be speaking of sickness, poverty and oppression being under our feet as it says in Ephesians 1:22-23.
“And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”
It also speaks of Revival, with hearts being turned to God. A similar verse in Joel 2:32 speaks of a people calling on the name of the Lord and being saved before the Great and Terrible day of the Lord .
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.” Malachi 4:5-6 w
This Elijah mentioned here is the Spirit filled Church before the Great and Terrible Day of the lord, which is His 2nd Coming. Notice in verse 2 that it mentions God arising with healings.
This is the vision that we should be embracing before the Lord’s return. Its the vision of the Bride of Christ. This is our destiny.
God is looking for a Bride, who is fully focused on her coming King. Unfortunately, because of this belief that the Antichrist is coming it has skewed up the Church's’ End Time Vision and filled her with all sorts of conspiracy theories and fears. So many think more today about the Antichrist than they do about the Christ.
God’s plan is for a great revival before His return and needs His Church to pray and prepare for it. We are not called to be prophets of doom, but bringers of good news. There is a vast harvest out there of souls and not much time left before His return.Those who come into the Kingdom may not have time to mature but at least they are saved by faith. Remember what the Lord did in the welsh revival in the early 1900s. Through prayer a whole nation virtually turned to God from their sin over night, with the repercussions affecting the world.
God’s plans for us are good and not evil to give us a future and a hope, and even if there was a famine in the land, He promises to provide for us.
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. “ Jeremiah 29:11
“The Lord knows the days of the upright, And their inheritance shall be forever. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, And in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.” Psalm 37:18-19