The Best is Yet to Be

A World Destined for Glorious Revival

R.T. Kendall in 1992 refers to, ‘the post-charismatic era’ when government and people in highest places will come on bended knees to God’s people and ask for help.… We are talking about something big…. It will be a time when children will be sovereign vessels, an era when ordinary Christians will be equipped with prophetic gifts…. We are talking about an awakening that reaches areas, people, places that heretofore were impenetrable without the aid of the media and public relations men and the endorsement of high-profile people.

In 1989 Wesley Richards records his conviction: ‘The signs are clear: the countdown has begun to another great outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The best is yet to be.’ (Asian Revival)

These notes from The Revival Study Bible, page 1184, published 2010, spoke to my heart.

Common sense and the Bible say that our most important duty on earth is to learn to love God and one another. Providential History (The purposeful hand of God in the affairs of men and nations) illustrates that we are slow learners!

It appears to me that God has been doing everything He can to help us learn. The vertical relationship between God and mankind is an individual thing, aided by the fellowship of the church and family.

The horizontal relationship between individuals and individuals is, by definition, a corporate thing. We call it civil government.  God’s classwork began long before He inspired the writers of the Books of the Bible. He reveals Himself through the Laws of Nature (Natural Law—moral law seen in creation). Because we did not learn well, that is, we tended to misinterpret the data (the flat earth society), or we simply chose to rebel (the Tower of Babel), God, in His benevolence, gave us the Bible (also called Revealed Law), which is much more difficult to misinterpret!

We discover Natural Law by observation and reason. Both human observation and human reason are imperfect. We learn Revealed Law (the Bible) by study and prayer. Revealed Law is far more authoritative than Natural Law because God dictated it Himself. Note that Natural and Revealed Law are from the same source and will never conflict.

Consider the events in God’s classroom—God introduces himself to Adam, then Eve. They violate His law, and He banishes them from the Garden. They make a baby and family begins.

Multiple families create society. Ordering society produces Civil Government (Genesis 9:6).

Civil Government is a trial and error thing. Both common sense and Revealed Law try to combat human nature on an up and down learning curve through human history. God created a nation to illustrate vertical and horizontal church and civil government. The Old Testament records its history through anguishing trials and errors in the near east and Egypt.

A 400-year Biblical-history gap spans the time between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament. During that time Alexander the Great spread Greek culture out over the known world. There were more efforts to incorporate large civilizations, mostly by unlawful conquest. Finally, Rome succeeded in incorporating the Middle East, Europe, and most of the British Isles. The Providential Scandinavian culture of representative government added to the mix.

During the Roman conquest era, the advent of Christ plants a seed that changes everything! The Bible is translated into common languages. The Bible stimulates an explosion in public literacy. That stimulates, in turn, explosions in the arts and sciences as well as in sound concepts of liberty and government.

The Providential classroom was ready to illustrate the Christian concept of “government by consent of the governed.” America is not a Christian nation because Christians formed it. America is a Christian nation because it has a Christian form, a gift of God.

Trace the development of concepts of civil government on a world globe and you discover part of a great circle. Even the details of major culture changing revivals in America follow the path from New England to Azusa Street in Los Angeles. Teacher God has invested a lot in these lessons. I believe they will be a launching pad for that “something big” that will sweep across the Pacific, Asia, India, and the Moslem world. A baptism in righteousness the likes of which the world has never seen!

Ben Gilmore was a Korean War era fighter pilot, Youth with a Mission evangelist, and political candidate and activist. For the last thirty years or so, Ben has actively pursued and taught America’s Christian history and government. With his dear wife Fran, accomplished scholar and writer, the Gilmores founded ACH Study Groups. These courses prepare Christians to think and act in practical, systematically Biblical, relational terms regarding our civil responsibilities.  Ben also serves as media spokesman for NPI’s new title by Mary-Elaine Swanson John Locke: Philosopher of American Liberty. You may contact Ben at [email protected].   

This essay by published by ACH Study Groups originally appeared as a part of a circular e-newsletter, September 13, 2109. Ben shares his collection of original articles Ben’s Blog “from December 2009 to the present at his website ACHStudyGroups.com.

© 2019 Used by Permission

Nordskog Publishing (NPI) provides articles and essays by select guest authors which we believe have much to offer the Christian community—to motivate Biblical thinking and action. We believe in the market place of ideas within the context of God’s Word. However, we may disagree at points.  Publishing an article does not mean absolute agreement. Therefore, please understand that opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of NPI, nor of its editorial staff.