When will Joel’s Army emerge? Part I
How long have we heard the prophecies about the Lord amassing a mighty army of wonderworkers, seers and revivalists – a supernatural generation that will prepare the way for His second coming? This is not a new concept. From the onset of the present-day prophetic movement, the emergence of this company of forerunners has been a hot topic. Prophetic voices such as Bob Jones, Paul Cain, Rick Joyner, Mike Bickle, Jack Deere and countless others have heralded the advancement of an end-time generation that would demonstrate signs and wonders like never before in history.
In this series of teachings, we want to look briefly at the Lord’s timetable for the emergence of this army. The modern-day resurgence of this prophetic understanding can be traced back to the Voice of Healing revival in the 1940s and ‘50s. Men like Jack Coe and William Branham saw an entire church rising up to operate in healing, prophecy and the fullness of the gifts and outworkings of the Holy Spirit. They trumpeted the coming prophetic army spoken of by Joel:
Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was of old nor ever will be in ages to come. Before them a fire devours, behind them a flame blazes (Joel 2:2-3).
The Lord thunders at the head of His army; His forces are beyond number, and mighty are those who obey His command (Joel 2:11).
Apostolic faith movements in the latter 19th century foresaw the church coming into the fullness of manifest power. At the dawn of the Pentecostal revival a century ago, Charles Parham said:
At Christ’s second coming the church will be found with the same power that the apostles and the early church possessed. The power of Pentecost is manifest in us. The Christian religion must be demonstrated. The world wants to be shown. Then let God’s power be manifest through us.
In another prophecy, found among the writings of late healing evangelist Charles Price in 1916, and perhaps dating back to 1679, we see a foreshadow of this end-time army:
. . . the most prophetical generation, will the Most High raise up who shall deliver His elect by the force of spiritual arms; for which there must be raised certain head powers to bear the first office, who are to be persons in favor with God, whose dread and fear shall fall on all nations, visible and invisible, because of the mighty acting power of the Holy Spirit which shall rest upon them; for Christ shall appear in some chosen vessels to bring into the Promised Land. Thus Moses and Joshua may be considered types of some upon whom the same spirit will fall, yet in greater proportion! Whereby they shall make way for the ransomed of the Lord to return to Mt. Zion.
There has always been a remnant in the church who have, by faith, foreseen the coming end-time apostolic age. Why? Because it is truth. This is not imaginary. Peter himself saw it on the day of Pentecost, tracing the very words back to Joel, who tells us that the Lord will one day pour out His Spirit on all people (Joel 2:28-29).
What will this generation look like?
This will truly be a company of people who blow the boxes of “church as usual” to smithereens. As Aaron Evans recently said, “God is going to take the book of Exodus and the book of Acts and He’s going to supersize them.” Much can be said about this army of God, and much more will be written, as we have already seen first fruits of its ranks
For our purposes here, I will only highlight a few points about the characteristics of this army. In my book, The New Mystics, we discuss this coming generation in more detail, offering historical precedent for the level of power they will display.
The bottom line is that this company of people will be more intimate with the Lord and display more of his manifest power than any other generation. Miracles like have never before been seen will become commonplace. Healing will become so readily available for the church that just to walk through the doors of an assembly, one will be instantly healed.
As persecution increases, including persecution in the West, some will literally become invincible to it. They will possess the spirit of might like Samson or David’s Mighty Men. These will be similar to many of the “would-be” martyrs throughout church history – some of their bodies were incombustible to flames, survived boiling oil, or continued to live for a time, even after they were beheaded!
Many will understand their authority even over the natural elements of this earth. They will stop tidal waves, speak to objects and command them to move – someone will even literally speak to a mountain, and it will throw itself into the sea.
This is not just a generation that will operate in a gift of healing or a prophetic utterance. They will demonstrate bizarre miracles. There will be mass dead raisings, translations, levitation and other things. This may sound far fetched, but all of this stuff has already happened in the lifetime of Jesus and the apostles. And John 14:12 tells us that greater things than these we shall do, because Jesus went to the Father. The very same Spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead is living in us, so how much more shall we operate in His power? In fact, all of these things have already happened in the church age. But we will see a culmination of miracles in this end-time bridal paradigm that has no Biblical precedent, other than the fact that scriptures tell us all things are possible for them that believe.
This will be the generation of the Sons of Golden Oil – the two lampstands and the two olive trees in Zech. 4 and Rev. 11. They constantly flow with the oil of the anointing, the lampstand representing their continual walk in the fullness of the sevenfold spirit of God. They will be typified by the mantle of Moses and Elijah, the two saints whom Jesus met on the Mount of Transfiguration in Luke 9, when he shone the brilliance of His manifest glory. Moses and Elijah represent the Spirit and the Word, and this is a generation who will walk in the Spirit and the Word full throttle, enabling them to ascend heights like none of their predecessors before them.
God is Waiting on Us
It is imperative that we eliminate a few misconceptions about the timing and emergence of this great supernatural army. For far too long, we have labeled it a “coming” generation – future tense – and for the sake of expediency I often say the same. But this apostolic bride is only “coming” inasmuch as we ourselves are willing to sit around in our grave clothes or hide in the baggage like Saul, afraid to step into our authority as sons of the King.
Most of us are content to sit and twiddle our thumbs, anticipating the release of some divine dispensation – a worldwide lightning bolt that will somehow transition us into the latter days and the start of this generation. But Jesus has already given us everything we need to access His unlimited anointing. Is it possible that He is waiting on us?
I recently had a dream in which the Lord Himself leaned over to me and asked, “When will this generation come?” I was not asking Him; He was asking me. We are not waiting on God to supernaturally bring this revival generation to pass. God is waiting on you and I to become who we already are. To manifest the fullness of the Godhead that already dwells within us.
Romans 8:19 tells us that all of creation also waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed – to manifest who they already are. Nature itself, the very elements of the earth, are longing to be brought into their divine alignment, even as God set Adam over earth as a shadow of Christ over creation. The authority of the Kingdom of Heaven longs to be released on earth, and the earth is crying out for Heaven. Could it be that the lynchpin – the critical link in the chain – is you and I? Is it possible that the only missing piece of the puzzle is for you and I to believe who we already are? Or moreover, to believe who He is within us?
Revival is Now
I am fully convinced that revival is right now for whoever wants it. We can have as much of God as we want. We can operate in any level of holiness, hunger, humility or power that we want. Heaven is fully open and at our disposal. Every veil is torn that separates us from God, and all enmity between us and the Father has been removed through the shed blood of Christ.
There are no excuses for us to be sleeping during harvest time. Proverbs 10:5 says, “He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.” There are no excuses for us not to be operating beyond our natural capabilities. No excuses for us not to operate in the supernatural. Lack of faith is not an excuse, for we can always ask for more faith. Apathy and lack of desire is not an excuse, for we can always ask the Father to rekindle the flame of divine intimacy.
It is awakening time. Time for action. To say we are waiting on God for revival is essentially our pitiful way of blaming Him for the iniquity in our communities and the unregenerate hearts in our own spheres of influence. He has put you and I in the midst of these times and places to be salt and light. If salt loses its saltiness, it is worthless. Many are not seeing revival around them, because there is no personal revival within. Every day should be revival time for you and I. He expects us to extend our own staff of delegated authority. Like Moses, God wants us to stop whining for Him to do something, and instead stretch forth our own rod of power to split the Red Seas before us.
God has equipped us with all the tools we need to make revival happen. In fact, He has given us His very Spirit!
Do you not say, “Four months more and then the harvest?” I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest (John 4:35).
Now is the time. Joel’s Army will emerge with or without us. Our own individual role in this movement will be determined by us, because many are called. The question we have been asking, “How much longer?” is really insufficient, unless we are asking it of ourselves. This is our chance to run with gospel of the Kingdom like no one before us. Let us make the most of our days here and become earth shakers.
In this series of teachings, we want to look briefly at the Lord’s timetable for the emergence of this army. The modern-day resurgence of this prophetic understanding can be traced back to the Voice of Healing revival in the 1940s and ‘50s. Men like Jack Coe and William Branham saw an entire church rising up to operate in healing, prophecy and the fullness of the gifts and outworkings of the Holy Spirit. They trumpeted the coming prophetic army spoken of by Joel:
Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was of old nor ever will be in ages to come. Before them a fire devours, behind them a flame blazes (Joel 2:2-3).
The Lord thunders at the head of His army; His forces are beyond number, and mighty are those who obey His command (Joel 2:11).
Apostolic faith movements in the latter 19th century foresaw the church coming into the fullness of manifest power. At the dawn of the Pentecostal revival a century ago, Charles Parham said:
At Christ’s second coming the church will be found with the same power that the apostles and the early church possessed. The power of Pentecost is manifest in us. The Christian religion must be demonstrated. The world wants to be shown. Then let God’s power be manifest through us.
In another prophecy, found among the writings of late healing evangelist Charles Price in 1916, and perhaps dating back to 1679, we see a foreshadow of this end-time army:
. . . the most prophetical generation, will the Most High raise up who shall deliver His elect by the force of spiritual arms; for which there must be raised certain head powers to bear the first office, who are to be persons in favor with God, whose dread and fear shall fall on all nations, visible and invisible, because of the mighty acting power of the Holy Spirit which shall rest upon them; for Christ shall appear in some chosen vessels to bring into the Promised Land. Thus Moses and Joshua may be considered types of some upon whom the same spirit will fall, yet in greater proportion! Whereby they shall make way for the ransomed of the Lord to return to Mt. Zion.
There has always been a remnant in the church who have, by faith, foreseen the coming end-time apostolic age. Why? Because it is truth. This is not imaginary. Peter himself saw it on the day of Pentecost, tracing the very words back to Joel, who tells us that the Lord will one day pour out His Spirit on all people (Joel 2:28-29).
What will this generation look like?
This will truly be a company of people who blow the boxes of “church as usual” to smithereens. As Aaron Evans recently said, “God is going to take the book of Exodus and the book of Acts and He’s going to supersize them.” Much can be said about this army of God, and much more will be written, as we have already seen first fruits of its ranks
For our purposes here, I will only highlight a few points about the characteristics of this army. In my book, The New Mystics, we discuss this coming generation in more detail, offering historical precedent for the level of power they will display.
The bottom line is that this company of people will be more intimate with the Lord and display more of his manifest power than any other generation. Miracles like have never before been seen will become commonplace. Healing will become so readily available for the church that just to walk through the doors of an assembly, one will be instantly healed.
As persecution increases, including persecution in the West, some will literally become invincible to it. They will possess the spirit of might like Samson or David’s Mighty Men. These will be similar to many of the “would-be” martyrs throughout church history – some of their bodies were incombustible to flames, survived boiling oil, or continued to live for a time, even after they were beheaded!
Many will understand their authority even over the natural elements of this earth. They will stop tidal waves, speak to objects and command them to move – someone will even literally speak to a mountain, and it will throw itself into the sea.
This is not just a generation that will operate in a gift of healing or a prophetic utterance. They will demonstrate bizarre miracles. There will be mass dead raisings, translations, levitation and other things. This may sound far fetched, but all of this stuff has already happened in the lifetime of Jesus and the apostles. And John 14:12 tells us that greater things than these we shall do, because Jesus went to the Father. The very same Spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead is living in us, so how much more shall we operate in His power? In fact, all of these things have already happened in the church age. But we will see a culmination of miracles in this end-time bridal paradigm that has no Biblical precedent, other than the fact that scriptures tell us all things are possible for them that believe.
This will be the generation of the Sons of Golden Oil – the two lampstands and the two olive trees in Zech. 4 and Rev. 11. They constantly flow with the oil of the anointing, the lampstand representing their continual walk in the fullness of the sevenfold spirit of God. They will be typified by the mantle of Moses and Elijah, the two saints whom Jesus met on the Mount of Transfiguration in Luke 9, when he shone the brilliance of His manifest glory. Moses and Elijah represent the Spirit and the Word, and this is a generation who will walk in the Spirit and the Word full throttle, enabling them to ascend heights like none of their predecessors before them.
God is Waiting on Us
It is imperative that we eliminate a few misconceptions about the timing and emergence of this great supernatural army. For far too long, we have labeled it a “coming” generation – future tense – and for the sake of expediency I often say the same. But this apostolic bride is only “coming” inasmuch as we ourselves are willing to sit around in our grave clothes or hide in the baggage like Saul, afraid to step into our authority as sons of the King.
Most of us are content to sit and twiddle our thumbs, anticipating the release of some divine dispensation – a worldwide lightning bolt that will somehow transition us into the latter days and the start of this generation. But Jesus has already given us everything we need to access His unlimited anointing. Is it possible that He is waiting on us?
I recently had a dream in which the Lord Himself leaned over to me and asked, “When will this generation come?” I was not asking Him; He was asking me. We are not waiting on God to supernaturally bring this revival generation to pass. God is waiting on you and I to become who we already are. To manifest the fullness of the Godhead that already dwells within us.
Romans 8:19 tells us that all of creation also waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed – to manifest who they already are. Nature itself, the very elements of the earth, are longing to be brought into their divine alignment, even as God set Adam over earth as a shadow of Christ over creation. The authority of the Kingdom of Heaven longs to be released on earth, and the earth is crying out for Heaven. Could it be that the lynchpin – the critical link in the chain – is you and I? Is it possible that the only missing piece of the puzzle is for you and I to believe who we already are? Or moreover, to believe who He is within us?
Revival is Now
I am fully convinced that revival is right now for whoever wants it. We can have as much of God as we want. We can operate in any level of holiness, hunger, humility or power that we want. Heaven is fully open and at our disposal. Every veil is torn that separates us from God, and all enmity between us and the Father has been removed through the shed blood of Christ.
There are no excuses for us to be sleeping during harvest time. Proverbs 10:5 says, “He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.” There are no excuses for us not to be operating beyond our natural capabilities. No excuses for us not to operate in the supernatural. Lack of faith is not an excuse, for we can always ask for more faith. Apathy and lack of desire is not an excuse, for we can always ask the Father to rekindle the flame of divine intimacy.
It is awakening time. Time for action. To say we are waiting on God for revival is essentially our pitiful way of blaming Him for the iniquity in our communities and the unregenerate hearts in our own spheres of influence. He has put you and I in the midst of these times and places to be salt and light. If salt loses its saltiness, it is worthless. Many are not seeing revival around them, because there is no personal revival within. Every day should be revival time for you and I. He expects us to extend our own staff of delegated authority. Like Moses, God wants us to stop whining for Him to do something, and instead stretch forth our own rod of power to split the Red Seas before us.
God has equipped us with all the tools we need to make revival happen. In fact, He has given us His very Spirit!
Do you not say, “Four months more and then the harvest?” I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest (John 4:35).
Now is the time. Joel’s Army will emerge with or without us. Our own individual role in this movement will be determined by us, because many are called. The question we have been asking, “How much longer?” is really insufficient, unless we are asking it of ourselves. This is our chance to run with gospel of the Kingdom like no one before us. Let us make the most of our days here and become earth shakers.
posted by John Crowder at 11:02 AM
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