Lesson 38
What is God Doing in the World?
Part 3
First the Natural, Then the Spiritual
by Ruth Mahoney Swaim
When we talk of moves of God, or revival, we must consider the 'comings of the Lord.' The Bible speaks of four 'comings.'
He comes IN His saints
He comes TO His saints
He comes FOR His saints
He come WITH His saints
Presently He is coming IN us. To form His character and likeness in us. He comes to dwell in us, in our hearts.
His coming in us prepares us for His coming TO us.
This is described in Acts 3;19, 20...times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you. He comes unTO us ...as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. Hosea 6:3
His coming FOR us is commonly called the rapture or the catching away of the church His coming FOR us is to prepare us for His coming WITH us, which we read about in Jude: ..Enoch...the seventh from Adam, prophesied...behold the Lord cometh WITH ten thousands of his saints. Jude 14
COMING TO HIS SAINTS
This teaching is concentrating on God coming TO His saints.
We are now and have been for the last hundred or more years experiencing in greater measure His coming TO us as the rain.
Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the COMING OF THE LORD. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. James 5:7, 8.
Associated with the coming of the Lord is the great harvest time. This harvest cannot be gathered until it has received the early and latter rain. And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh... Acts 23:17. In these last days, prior to Jesus coming FOR us, all flesh will experience the mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Please let me repeat myself. God wants us to be aware of the times and seasons. And He wants us to be aware so that we can labor WITH him. He wants us to be a part of what He is doing.
I return to Matthew 16:1 - 3: ...O you hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky but can ye not discern the signs of the times?
God gives evidences to every generation which indicate what He is getting ready to do. Men and women of spiritual perception and hunger will be able to read those signs and understand God's plan for their time.
Paul speaks of having your senses exercised to discern. Hebrews 5:14.
With spiritual maturity comes discernment. As we grow in the Lord we begin to develop spiritual senses that cause us to know God's purposes and plans so we can cooperate with them.
We need to know what God's seasons are so we can become laborers together with God.
We have in the last two lessons already discussed the restoration of truths and renewals to the church beginning in the early 1300's.
In order to discern the signs of the times you must go to scripture for a principle.
What will give us a clue to what God is doing?
First: I Corinthians 15:46-48 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly.
First the Natural, Then the Spiritual
So, first we look at what is happening in the natural, both in Israel an around the world. Then we look at what God is doing in the church, in His people.
Second: John 13:19 Now I tell you BEFORE it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am He.
This usually involves a change in leadership. When God is getting ready to do a fresh work there is usually a shake-up in leadership. In Joshua 1:2 - Moses my servant is dead, now go in and possess the Land. In Isaiah 6:1 - In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up.
Ministry of John the Baptist: He must increase. I must decrease.
Third: God will speak through His prophets and God will speak to and through His people. The Holy Spirit says seven times in this passage: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Revelation 2 & 3.
Amos 3:7: Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. The Lord has surely been speaking loudly in the prophetic realm and through His prophets for the last forty years regarding the last day harvest and outpouring.
You will begin to hear about it from different sources. The prophets will be speaking it, saints and prayer warriors and intercessors will be speaking of it.
Isaiah 42:9: Behold the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.
Hosea 6:2: After TWO days (which most believe to be the church age) will he revive us; in the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in His sight.
As God measures time two days are two thousand years. ...a day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day. II Peter 3:8
This teaches us that a two-day (2,000 year) Church Age will end in revival and the third day (1,000 years) millennium will follow.
Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: ...His coming forth is as sure as the sunrise...and He shall come unto us as rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. Hosea 6:3.
The FORMER and LATTER rain speak of refreshing, blessing, revival.
God is on the Move
To introduce some of the moves of God before we discuss the parallel of natural and spiritual I will give you some brief church history.
In the early 1900's we have the Pentecostal breakthrough. Commonly known as the Azusa Revival, the Holy Spirit was finally breaking through the barriers of religion and restoring the demonstrations found in the book of Acts with Tongues, Interpretation of Tongues, healings and many signs and wonders.
Early 1900: Pentecost - Azusa Street; Topeka, Kansas - Parham; Welsh Revival
God chose as His instruments a very humble people, the poor and the hungry. There were no established theologians. And they came from many different denominations and movements.
All these movements had similarities in their beginnings:
1. Prayer
2. Persecution and exclusion
3. High conversion rate, strong conviction of sin
4. Oddity connected with the movement.
1920's: Evangelism/Healing; Clarifying Doctrine; Pentecostal denominations being formed and established. Some of the well known ministries which came to prominence at that time were: Aimee Semple McPherson, Charles Price, Smith Wigglesworth, Billy Sunday.
First the Natural (I Corinthians 15:46-48)
Late 1940's 50's
Here is what began happening in the 40's and early 50's in the NATURAL world:
Great increase in knowledge
Nuclear Science
Atomic Age
Breakthrough in medicine; penicillin, antibiotics, miracle drugs, surgery
Beginnings of the computer age
Television and transistor finally released to the general public
John Naisbitt, in the book Megatrends, says 'we moved from an industrial society to an information society. We are drowning in information but starving for knowledge.'
He further states: 'Most Americans spend their time creating processing and distributing information. For instance, workers in banks, stock market and insurance. MIT reported that only 13% of the total labor force was engaged in manufacturing operations at that time.' And this was 1983. I wonder what the statistics are now.
The 1950's also ushered in the information society. Remington Rand was the largest manufacturer at that time of tabulating equipment, calculators, etc. UNIVAC was the first computer used in a national election. Then IBM moved into the picture.
Everything was big. Big cars, big was better. Remember the large fins on the luxury cars? I think they hit their apex around 1959.
We had a baby boom. Medicine was claiming itself as the 'savior of mankind.'
We had medical idols such as Salk and Sabin with polio vaccine.
Scientists were put on a pedestal regarding rockets, satellites, space age.
Astronauts were just entering the picture...our new heroes. Moon landings were being discussed.
Hosea 4:1 - There is no truth, mercy or knowledge of God in the land.
Now let us see what was happening in the church world.
Then the Spiritual (I Corinthians 15:46 - 48)
Latter Rain Movement (special emphasis on healing, Gifts of the Spirit)
New dimensions in the move of the Holy Spirit
Restoration of gifts/ministries
Praise and Worship
Healing - faith
Prophecy
Laying on of hands
Old Testament truths opened up
Revelation of the Word of God
God began showing Himself bigger and bigger
This was the first time I had personally seen such miraculous sustained corporate praise. I then began to understand the following scripture when it talked of Jesus singing praise in the midst of the congregation. I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church (congregation) will I sing praise unto thee. Psalm 22:22 and Hebrews 2:12
Wonderful waves of praise would sweep over the congregation and we would be caught up in His glory just singing and expressing praise to Him in song and in other tongues.
Up until this time nearly every ministry was basically evangelistic. Now depth of teaching began to spring forth. Old Testament truths in types and shadows began to be taught. The door to the teaching ministry was opening up. Gifts of the spirit and miraculous acts of the supernatural were appearing in groups and ministries.
People began to recognize that the Offices of the ministry were for today such as Apostles, Prophets,etc.
God was showing Himself bigger and more powerful. Faith was growing and multiple outreach ministries were expanding. The vision of His 'church' was growing and expanding.
Just as knowledge and medicine in the natural was increasing, so truth and healing were being released in the spiritual.
Some key ministries released at that time were:
William Branham, T. L. Osborne, Oral Roberts, A. A. Allen, Billy Graham.
Major para-church organization coming on the scene were Billy Graham Organization, World Vision, Youth for Christ, Full Gospel Businessmens Fellowship.
So we begin to see that as in the natural with healing, wonders and signs, so in the spiritual. Ministries of healing, signs and wonders, as well as larger and greater outreach were coming forth.
Communication was expanding, the world was getting smaller as expansion became larger. Knowledge was increasing in the world and Spiritual knowledge in the church. The era of the teacher came forth. Bible truths were being revealed.
- - -
In the next lesson we will discuss the era from the 1960's to present. What has been happening in the natural world and what has been happening in the spiritual world. We will also discuss what is coming to the church in the last days.
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