Coming out of Covid and with the churches opening up, are people willing and ready to go back to church? In the years after the war gradually evangelists began to appear on TV until we had a whole generation of tele-evangelists who were reaching millions (although footprint figures are not the same as actual viewing numbers) – people who didn’t necessarily go to church. A decline in churchgoers coincided with this. Now, after 18 months or more of lockdown when people couldn’t go to church, people have become so familiar with online church, will they go back now that we have the freedom, and we can sing, and we don’t have to wear masks? I know the online church is reaching many, many thousands who wouldn’t normally go to church, but I’m concerned, because I do believe there is a need for the physical church. And that’s why I’m so concerned about revival.
It’s very clear that after the Holy Spirit fell on the Day of Pentecost, in Acts 2:14-21 Peter stood up and spoke to the multitudes, “These people are not drunk, but this is the fulfilment of Joel’s prophecy where God says: it shall come to pass in the last days, I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh, your sons, your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams, and on My servants and on My handmaids I will pour out My Spirit and I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath… And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved.”
This was the beginning of the Church! The Church did not really exist until this outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It was accompanied by remarkable signs and wonders, but if you look again at vv17-21, you see that the emphasis is on evangelism. Evangelism with signs and wonders and with enormous power! The prophecy of Joel 2 is being fulfilled in Acts 2 on the Day of Pentecost – a time of signs and wonders and miracles in heaven and on earth – a remarkable period that had never been experienced in the same way before – which culminates in this, that ‘whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord shall be saved’!
So we’re looking at a period which commenced on the Day of Pentecost which was of miracles, signs, wonders – and salvation! All this began within 50 days of the Resurrection of Jesus from the Dead, and within 10 days of His Ascension and the giving of the Promise of the Holy Spirit. There was a necessity of the miraculous in order to establish the Church – and the very day when the Holy Spirit came was the first large scale evangelism – 3000 souls saved! By what attracted the people? They didn’t see what happened to the 120 in the Upper Room, but when the 120 came out and began to make a noise, speaking in other tongues, the people were astounded, because all the nations who had gathered in Jerusalem for the Feast heard the words of the Gospel in their own language! Verses 5-12! It caused a stir! The people were amazed and marvelled, “Are not these speaking Galileans, how do we hear, every man in his own language?!” This was a powerful miracle. And it was the first thing that drew the people.
In our worship, in our living, in our preaching – and me in my evangelism – we have to be fulfilling the prophecy of Scripture! Peter said here, quite clearly, quoting Joel, that God said He would pour out His Spirit on all flesh! We need to see that today! Literally. We need to see the outpouring of God on all flesh! And that must come with signs – your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. At my age, 89, I’m not old, I’m still seeing the visions, I’m not ‘dreaming’… Joel quite clearly also said, God will show wonders in heaven and signs on the earth, blood and fire and vapour of smoke…
So prophetically, the Church was to be born into an age of the miraculous, and I believe it is God’s intention that it should live through the miraculous, and that it is only the miraculous that will really convict the ungodly. Look at v22, how does Peter describe Jesus? He says, Jesus of Nazareth, but different from any other, because this man is ‘approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by Him in the midst of you!’ Even though we see Jesus working the miracles – He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, raised the dead – yes – but which GOD did by Him. Note that. Jesus had given up His Heavenly Authority to live as a man, until it became evident that GOD did these miracles THROUGH His Son Jesus.
We in the Church have to come alive, and become strong, and we have to overcome the fear – and give hope and life! What we need now is a Church on Fire! With the Power of God! We need another Pentecost! We need another outpouring of the Holy Spirit! I’m leading the charge, I’m leading the move… Somebody HAS to do what Peter did and declare the Glory and the Power of God – and through this will come salvation! Verse 21: Whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord, shall be saved! If we call on the Name of the Lord we shall be delivered from sickness, from sin, from fear…
The Church today needs that kind of salvation! The Church is constrained by fear. The Church needs to see the Power of God. Because, whosoever – in the Church – will really call upon the Name of the Lord, they will see the Power of God revealed! O God, open our eyes, give us a vision – and let us see Your Glory, in Jesus’ Name! Amen!