Intensification

Intensification

The Church Age is unique. Unlike the age of Israel before us, we have no formal priesthood (i.e. the Levites) to represent us to God. In union with Christ we are a “royal priesthood”; we represent ourselves (1 Peter 2:9, 1 John 1:9). We are not under the Mosaic Law (Galatians 3:23-25; 4:19-31). We are indwelt by God’s Spirit so that we might be conformed to the image of Christ. Conformity to Christ results in the fruit of the Spirit, against which there is no Law (Galatians 5:22-23). There are many other contrasts between the age of Israel and the Church age, but there is one principle, one distinctive, unique to our generation: The principle of Intensification. As one author put it,

The feature of intensification is inherent in all realms; the physical and the spiritual. In nature, harvest is the intensification of a process. The end is but the full outworking or development of what was inherent in the beginning. We are living in an age when, in every realm, this process has reached an enormous proportion.

Sin, lawlessness, and deception have always been with us. They are from the beginning. But in our age, called the “last time” (1 John 2:18; 1 Peter 1:20; Jude 1:18) and the “last days” (Hebrews 1:2), we draw ever closer to the establishment of Messiah’s kingdom and the final dethronement of the “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4). We know from Revelation 12:12 that the closer we get to the end of this age, the greater becomes the wrath of Satan, and the more intense his attacks on God’s people (whether physical, emotional, or spiritual).

In Ephesians 6:12 Paul says we “wrestle” against principalities and powers, against the rulers of darkness in this world. In the original ‘wrestle’ is a description of intense conflict, not mild conflict. As the time of the coming of the Christ draws near, the conflict between the people of God and the forces arrayed against us intensifies. Demons go insane (maybe I should say ‘insaner’). We saw the intensity of the attacks against Christ in His humanity. The church is the body of Christ, and as such, faces a similar conflict, especially for those in the church who intend to go on to God’s full thought for their lives. Each step forward is met with fierce resistance. The greater our spiritual advance, the greater the antagonism against us. We are at war. And in the church age, that war is the hottest battle in the history of mankind.

The forms this war takes against the saints are varied. The primary form (which has always been at the top of Satan’s list) is deception. As bad as sickness, persecution, and all we see in Job and other Biblical examples are, the most effective and lasting way to neutralize the spiritual impact of God’s people is to deceive them.

We see deception beginning early in the Church Age. In our generation deception is global and is greatly intensified in both saturation and subtlety. There are many truths we simply don’t understand anymore. Our thoughts are clouded and distracted. The key principles and concepts of the teaching of this dispensation are a mystery to us. But what’s really scary is that we believe we are fine (we would say there’s always room for improvement of course, but overall, we believe we’re doing great),

Because you say, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and do not realize that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind.
Revelation 3:17

Do we even consider it possible that verses such as this could apply to us? Jesus isn’t talking about material poverty when He says the Laodecians are “poor”; He’s talking about spiritual blindness. Of course these verses were addressed to the church in Laodecia and we all know about them. We couldn’t be as closed or as blind as the Laodecians, or the Galatians, or the Hebrews, or the Corinthians, or . . . . could we? Why do we think we’re not equally at risk?

This age of intensification is a spiritual battle for the minds and hearts of the people of God. It is the time when all of us are on the frontlines of spiritual conflict. What did we think war would be like?

As Bob Dylan said, “When you gonna wake up . . . and strengthen the things that remain?” There is a slow train coming and when it arrives the spiritual condition of each of us will be revealed in truth. There will be no more hiding, no more playing church, and no more self-justification. Those eyes which are “as a flame of fire” (Revelation 1:14) will pierce to the depths of our souls and expose the life (or lack thereof) that resides within each of us. “Let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober.” (1 Thessalonians 5:6)

One other area of intensification should be looked at briefly in this context. In Revelation 12:12 we are told that at some point in the near future Satan will be unleashing “great wrath” upon the earth “knowing that he has but a short time.” This coincides with our Lord’s teaching in Matthew 2421-24 (and similar passages) that stress the exponential intensification of spiritual warfare and deception which will characterize the final generation. Satan appears to be both aware and unaware of his pending doom (a symptom of insanity?). As the time of his judgment draws near, his anger increases, as does his assault on the Body of Christ. Our wrestling against principalities and powers will increase significantly as we come nearer to the close of this age. One implication of this reality is shown in the following,

It is true that the true children of God are going through a time of intense trial and testing spiritually in these last days; everywhere it is so. Why? Because the Lord must have something against which hell is impotent and by which He demonstrates to the universe that strength of His might which causes to stand and withstand, having done all to stand. If one were asked what the last issue for the church in this age is, I would say that it stands, and that is saying a tremendous thing. Oh, you say, that is surely limiting things, are you not expecting much more than that? Progress,, advance, sweeping movements?

The intensification of the conflict will be so overwhelming that the church will have its work cut out in the end just to stand, but its standing will be its victory. Just to be able, through testing, trial, when everything is blowing round you like a blizzard; when everything is dark, mysterious, and even God seems far away and unreal, and faith is tested and you are being assailed on the right hand and on the left, and there is every reason outwardly for giving up, falling down, surrendering, lowering your standard. Just to stand and not be moved in your faith is the greatest possible victory in the final generation.

As our Lord Himself stated in Luke 18:8, “. . . when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” I am certain the Holy Spirit will be graciously using a number of God’s children to accomplish wondrous things in the world at the time of the end, but for many of us, holding on to our faith and standing firm in the midst of the most intense spiritual battle of all time, will be the great test – and the great victory for those who do stand.