We Misunderstood Revival & End-Times

Too often, the role of revival in the end times has been misunderstood.

Many have known there will be an end-time harvest or ingathering that will be the byproduct of a great outpouring of God’s Spirit. However, the Church has not always done well in getting the big picture of how the end-time drama includes the greatest revival that will ever hit the earth.

We must see that the outpouring we are contending for is unto the return of the Lord. As we have established, global revival is a part of the end-time drama. We must get the picture of this unfolding drama not only to enhance our overall vision of revival in the context of the end times, but also to see the part we play in the drama itself.

Revival and the drama of the end of the age are deeply connected to the Church’s intercession. Without the Bride partnering with Jesus in focused and prevailing prayer, there will be no end-time outpouring. Understanding our part in revival and in the end times will provoke us to prepare and pray now. It will stir the groan of intercession and enflame a passion for the knowledge of God. It will enable us to engage with the Lord to dethrone principalities and powers with the help of angelic hosts as we contend for the final breakthrough that will sweep, perhaps, a billion souls into the Kingdom of God.

Billy: Corey and I have had a similar journey. God marked us for revival, and then over time He began to color in the picture of what the revival He has planned entails. It took me a long time to realize that there is a “big R” revival that is unto Jesus’ return. There will be many outpourings and seasons of refreshing, but there is a day coming that will see souls saved from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. This mighty day of visitation is a day in our future and is so established in Scripture that we literally don’t need any more prophetic words to tell us it is coming. We just need to believe the Bible.

Revelation 12 is a wild chapter that encapsulates what is coming in a dramatic way. A woman is introduced in Revelation 12, and she is giving birth to a male child. A dragon with seven heads and ten horns appears in this chapter, and we see he’s coming to devour the child. The passage culminates with the male child being scooped up to Heaven, and the dragon, which is lucifer, is enraged. So, the dragon goes to make war against the offspring of the woman, who are the believers in Jesus and the Jewish nation.

Revelation 12 gives us this metaphorical scene that speaks powerfully to what will happen in the last three-and-one-half years of this age. And we are shown this scene for a purpose. We need to know the biblical narrative of what is coming at the end of the age to instruct our hearts and breathe into us vision for revival and the Lord’s return. If we do not see the role of revival in the end times, we won’t have the big picture of what we need to contend for.

When you begin to get your mind around that vision in Revelation 12, you realize it’s speaking of a time that will be the most dynamic and dramatic time in human history. A war will break out in Heaven, Michael and his angels will fight the dragon (satan), and the dragon and his angels will not win. We read:

And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the devil and satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.” (Revelation 12:7-10).

Already, the devil has been cast into the third Heaven, the abode of God, in Zion, the Heavenly City. He was cast from there into the second heaven. This is where he is right now. But there is a day coming when satan will be cast out of the second heaven to the earth, “having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time” (Rev. 12:12).

Corey: I want to connect Revelation 12 with Daniel 10. In Daniel 10, we see Daniel as an old man in a season of prayer and fasting for twenty-one days. He was going after God, seeking God’s purposes for the future of Israel, and desiring Israel to be fully established in her land.

In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. (Daniel 10:2-3).

On the twenty-first day, a mighty angel appeared and said to Daniel,

Do not fear, Daniel, 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. (Daniel 10:12).

Then the angel said something extraordinary:

But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia. (Daniel 10:13).

At the very beginning when Daniel set about to seek God, the angel was sent to bring a message to him but was prevented by an angelic war with the principality or prince over Persia. For twenty-one days, the angel was fighting against this principality. Meanwhile, Daniel kept showing up, day after day, praying and fasting, confessing the Word, and repenting for his people in intercession. But the angel couldn’t break through to deliver the message to Daniel, so God sent Michael, the chief prince over Israel, to enter into a war in the second heaven. When Michael showed up, the angel broke through and appeared before Daniel.

This is an amazing picture!

Billy: It shows us what happens when we are faithful with fasting and prayer. We may not physically see anything happening in our favor. We may not feel anything. But Daniel 10 lets us know, as we fast and pray, angels and demons, principalities and powers are shifting and moving. I love reading verse 12 where Daniel is told the angel came because of Daniel’s words! This tells us our words have the authority and power to move God and to move angels and demons in the unseen realm.

Think about that for a minute. What would have happened if Daniel had stopped on day eight or day ten? What would have happened if he fasted until day twenty and then stopped? Daniel 10 demonstrates what happens when we stay in the place of fasting and prayer, when we remain faithful in intercession to the end—it brings breakthrough.