One of the first messages that came at the very beginning of this present church age is found in the book of Acts: Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing (notice the phraseology: “seasons of refreshing” because as we approach this hour of walking with God those seasons will flow unceasingly) from the presence of the Lord; and that he may send the Christ who hath been appointed for you, even Jesus: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things (The same Greek word has been translated: restoration, restitution, and establishment. So it could be read: “the establishment of all things,” or “the restoration of all things,” or “the restitution of all things”), whereof God spake by the mouth of his holy prophets that have been from of old. Acts 3:19–21.
This great message of the Kingdom, and especially of the restoration, was the theme underlying the message of every prophet from the Old Testament on. God has been speaking since the world began, telling how His plan would end. Down through the centuries this has been the sustaining force for many believers who lived with unbearable problems, yet they had faith that God was going to do something special for them.
One man, closer to our time, who had that faith within his heart was Smith Wigglesworth. He was a prophet indeed, speaking by mighty miracles, signs, and wonders. He is called “the apostle of faith” in his biography. He constantly spoke about this day. God had given him visions and the revelations of this end-time walk, and also the knowledge that he would die before it began. He died about a year before this walk began to come forth exactly as God had shown him it would.
This man did astonishing things through the miracle of faith. When God first met him in Wales, he was a plumber’s helper who could not read or write. After God met him he traveled all over the world. On numerous occasions he raised the dead. In answer to prayer, he grew a complete third set of teeth that remained flawless until the day he died. In the latter years of his life he had to walk almost entirely by faith. In spite of having had those visions and promises, he went into a period when his ministry was eclipsed because of the physical agony he was under. But he held fast for his healing, refusing medical help. He said, “All my life I have trusted God and preached to others the word of healing, and I have an obligation before God to continue believing Him as long as I have breath.” Two or three years before he died his disabilities cleared up.
His testing during those years must have been similar to that of the apostle Paul. After Paul had preached to others and established many churches, he languished in jail year after year, almost forgotten, but still witnessing. He said he was bound, but the word of God was not bound. The same was true of Smith Wigglesworth.
Men in other generations have had to live with the promises for this hour. Some have come up to their last years and their last breath, trusting the Lord. Hebrews 11:13 describes it in this way: These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and greeted them from afar … They hailed the promises and visitations of God that they perceived were coming. We are not hailing them from afar; we’re greeting them because they are looming up before us. This is a beautiful time.
Like the stars and other heavenly bodies, the promises of God have seemed to be light-years away, but suddenly, Whoom! they are with us. They have ceased to be future and have become part of the past and the living present. The Lord said it would be this way. Peter preached it when he said, “The heavens will have to contain Him” (Acts 3:21). It’s as though there were a strain upon the heavens to contain Jesus until the time of that restoration, the time of the establishment of all the things the prophets have been speaking of. Every prophet who ever had a vision to see, everyone who looked through the telescopic sight of revelation had seen these things afar off and prophesied about them. It was as though the Lord was yearning to come forth in the great Parousia when His presence would be manifested. We are in the time of that presence now. This is the time of the restoration of all things, including the restoration of miracles, signs, and wonders.
Within a short time we will hear about prophets who have come and are raising the dead, doing miracles, signs, and wonders. But remember that the Ishmael (the false) manifestation always comes before the Isaac (the true): the false prophets who would deceive the very elect are in the earth right now. They are already laying a foundation, building their Satanist churches. They will do signs and wonders to turn the heart of an apostate Christianity toward the supernatural. Don’t be dismayed. God has already caused the true gift to come forth, but He is holding it in reserve in the sense that it is not fully revealed. It is in manifestation, but it is not coming forth in its fullness or in a way that the world can see it. Satan will make his pitch first, and if it were possible he would deceive the very elect, as Jesus prophesied. But it is not possible. We stand ready for the great restoration, the great establishment. We stand ready to prepare our hearts now for tomorrow!
If you were taking a trip tomorrow, you would prepare for it today by packing your suitcase and purchasing your ticket. That is what we’re doing. A glory trip is coming and we’re getting ready for it. God is searching us out, digging out those things that could be seeds of future defeat, like hidden rocks lurking beneath the surface of the waters that could cause us to sink in a moment of storm. We can’t allow any hindrance to reside within our being, because in these days we are being called into the campaign. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. (II Timothy 2:4). Don’t get entangled. Don’t get snared by anything that would set you aside. These snares are like the thorns that sprang up in the parable of the sower and the seed. It was good seed and it was good ground, but the thorns sprang up and choked out the word. The cares of life, riches, and many things entered in.
I cry to the house of God for simplicity: simplify your life; set it in order. Get rid of everything that complicates it at the present time and get ready to do what God wants. It thrills me that a number of ministries have found God prevailing upon them to do this. At the beginning of the walk, one of the ministries listened to the word and determined to simplify his life. His family did without things rather than buy them on time. The day finally came when he called me long distance and said, “God spoke to me that I’m going to Honolulu.” God had spoken the same word to me that day. Within a short time he was pastoring in Hawaii. There was nothing holding him back. He had held himself in readiness. He had no financial entanglements such as time payments; nothing was standing in the way. As a result a genuine, apostolic, prophetic ministry has come forth in the name of the Lord.
God is again speaking to a number of our brothers in the same way. Because they believe the confirmed word spoken over them, they are setting all their affairs in order, readying themselves for full-time ministry. Some have simplified their lives by selling their homes and moving into apartments or mobile homes. Some professional men are arranging their schedules to be free for ministry most days of the week. Some wives are preparing themselves for jobs in order to release their husbands for full-time work in the walk. I could go on at great length giving examples of how men and women are simplifying their lives in preparation for what God chooses to do through them in the end time.
There will be a thousand churches. The burden of these churches is hovering over us. As a body of people we are preparing to feed them tapes, cassettes, video tapes, and to send ministries who can visit them and minister to them. Do you see what God is doing? Everything is being prepared. This is not in a theoretical stage; it is in execution. God is changing people’s lives, working them around. They’re ready to move.
All of these changes are ready to come to pass and yet there are many who have wanted to do these things and have not been able. There are many who in the past saw the vision, had it burn in their hearts, but refused to pay the price. But the men we have now are those who have stood still and have allowed God to probe deep. He has brought the deep heart-searching. I’m not saying that they are perfect, but they do have their hearts set to respond to what God says must be done. And we have a host of young men who are ready to follow Him with all their hearts. It’s time for us to enter in right now.
God has one order of the day: “Prophesy the word. Declare it. Bring it into view.” First we shall perceive it in our spirits, but very soon we shall see it with our eyes. Prophesy it into view. Prophesy it into the realm of the natural. Prophesy what seems to be a vision afar off and behold, tomorrow you will be able to see it and touch it!