Intro to the End Times is a series walking through some of the key themes of the story of Jesus’ return from a historic premillennial perspective, with special focus on knowing the heart of Jesus as we partner with God through the most dramatic chapter of human history.
Throughout this series, we’ve looked at topics from why we should study the end times and God’s ultimate objectives to some of the nuts and bolts like the timeline and the judgments. Right now, we’re in a series-within-a-series looking at some of the big things God is doing in the church during this period. In the last post, I highlighted how He’s protecting the church, and now I want to talk about something that’s deeply dear to my heart: the global end time prayer movement.
The Tabernacle of David
Scripture is filled with promises of a global prayer and worship movement woven throughout the story of the end times. Amos 9:11 says: “On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David… and rebuild it as in the days of old.” (NKJV) The phrase “that day” is a common phrase referring to the end times.
The tabernacle was birthed out of David’s desire to create a dwelling place for God (Ps. 132:1-5, 2 Sa. 7:2-3). He hired 4000 singers and musicians, as well as 4000 gatekeepers, to serve God in the tabernacle as their full-time occupation. This full-time staff of Levites kept constant prayer and worship arising before God 24/7 (1Ch. 9:33). Throughout the history of Israel, whenever the people fell into sin, the pattern of worship established in David’s tabernacle was forgotten. Whenever revival came and the people returned to the Lord, the Davidic worship was reinstated.
This verse in Amos 9:11 promises that in the final generation before Jesus return, God will once again establish the spirit of the tabernacle of David as the template for worship all over the earth.
From the Ends of the Earth
The Bible is full of prophetic promises of the entire earth singing worship to God in the final generation. Before I had an end-times lens, I used to think this was merely poetic language, maybe saying that God deserves this to be true or it would be nice if this were true. But no, these are actual prophecies that there will be a global worship movement before Jesus returns. Many verses like this are even very clearly placed within end-time passages.
“For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.”
(Malachi 1:11)“They lift up their voices, they sing for joy; over the majesty of the Lord they shout from the west.Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord; in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise, of glory to the Righteous One.”
(Isaiah 24:14-16)“Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea…the coastlands…the desert and its cities…the villages…the mountains. Let them give glory to the Lord…”
(Isaiah 42:10-12)
The verse that really got me was Luke 18:7-8. I was doing a meditation assignment one night in the prayer room, and I was super confused until the spirit of revelation hit and suddenly my entire life made sense. (I blogged about that moment in 2013.)
“And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? …when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
(Luke 18:7-8)
This verse isn’t asking whether there will be any Christians on earth. In this context, the kind of faith Jesus is looking for when He comes is faith expressed in day and night prayer for justice.
Day and night prayer is an integral part of the story of His return.
This is what we call the prayer movement. All over the world, right now in our generation, God is raising up thousands of praying communities dedicated to night and day prayer until He comes. Some of those will be 24/7 and many will not, but all are consumed with giving Him as much worship as they possibly can and partnering with Him in intercession for His kingdom to come.
End Time Impact of Our Prayer and Worship
So what are we actually praying for, and what impact is it having? Here are eight key purposes of the end time prayer and worship movement. (You can refer also to the earlier post on God’s ultimate objectives, because all of those are released in partnership with the church in prayer and worship.)
1. Prepare the Bride
When He comes, Jesus is going to have a pure and spotless bride who has “made herself ready.” (Re. 19:7) The Body of Christ will be fully mature in love and ready to be equally yoked to Him for eternity. We pray biblical prayers for God to strengthen the church, and as we center our lives around His presence we ourselves are transformed!
2. Clear the Atmosphere
Step 1 of spiritual warfare is always worship. As we enthrone God in our praises (Ps. 22:3), we push back the kingdom of darkness and make way for God to do whatever He wants to do.
3. Minimize or Avert Judgment
In His holy justice, God does release judgment on the earth, and the Bible promises many end time judgments. We can’t pray the entire Tribulation away, but there are some judgments that don’t have immutably set limits. Would God in His mercy lessen the judgment or even send blessing instead if we fast and pray? (Jo. 2:12-14)
4. Release Judgment
At the same time, during the Tribulation, there will be some judgments that we are partnering with God to release! At that time, we will be able to use the book of Revelation like an inspired prayer manual, telling us exactly what God plans to do next so we can agree with it (Re. 6:10).
5. Release Revival
As the darkness gets darker, the light will get brighter. We’re contending for the full outpouring of the Spirit prophesied in Joel 2:8-32 that leads to a global harvest of salvation. Jesus can’t and won’t return until every tribe and tongue has received a witness of the gospel (Mt. 24:14; Re. 5:9, 7:9, 14:6).
6. Salvation of Israel
One particularly unique aspect of this revival is the mass salvation of Israel. God has not forgotten His promises to them, and He will redeem them and bring them into a revelation of their Messiah (Ro. 11:25-27). Jew and Gentile, we partner with this yearning of His heart for His people.
7. Establish Mercy Bubbles
Okay, the Bible doesn’t actually say “mercy bubbles”, but it does very much suggest that there will be some specific locations that are uniquely shielded from the full force of the judgments (Re. 12:14), like the land of Goshen was during the plagues in Egypt (Ex. 8:22-23). Sometimes we call these “cities of refuge” after the concept in Numbers 25. This will be specifically related to the house of prayer, as God has promised to uniquely shelter His people in His house (Ps. 27:5).
8. Hasten Jesus’ Return
2 Peter 3:12 says we can actually “hasten the day of the Lord”. As we move forward the purposes of God that have to happen before Jesus appears in the sky (Mt. 24:14), and as we do Revelation 22:17 (“The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.'”), we can actually move up that Day on the calendar. I like to wonder, how many milliseconds can my lifetime of prayer speed up the moment of Jesus’ return?
It’s Happening!
This end time prayer movement is already happening right under our noses! Hundreds of houses of prayer exist already in the USA, and thousands around the world. Currently, there are only three places I know of in the US doing 24/7, but many more are being faithful on a smaller schedule and reaching for more. (For a very quick and very incomplete list, go to @fragrancearise on Instagram and scroll through the accounts I’m following, including many Burn 24-7 chapters, 24-7 Prayer communities, and other expressions of the prayer movement worldwide.)
Thirty years ago, prayer communities that were thinking about things like the tabernacle of David, night and day worship, and the end times were few and far between. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a sovereign move of God exploded across the earth, and we are living in the fruit of that explosion today, with many more explosive moments yet to come.
This short audio series on the history of the prayer movement, from Brad Stroup at The Prayer Room, always gets me fired up. If you’re interested to learn more and have your heart stirred, I highly recommend it.
