The Midnight Cry:
A Prophetic Witness to the Church Today

* * *

4
A Dream From God About the Coming Revival

A Dream from God, given 7th September 1998: Dream of Waiting for the Revival

In this dream we went to see what was going on elsewhere. There was a 'show' being staged nearby so we went there for some entertainment. Many people were gathered waiting for the show to begin. They were engrossed in conversation with each other. A man in the row in front of us said this was the best show on earth. We wouldn't be disappointed!

What was strange was that all the seats in the audience were not facing the stage. The stage was on the right hand side, and all the seats were looking forward. They were facing the wrong direction. I was curious to see what was going on behind stage. I could see that a good-looking middle-aged woman with black hair was in charge. There were a number of pretty girls behind stage, waiting for the start of the performance, practising their dance movements.

We waited and waited. Some two hours passed and nothing happened, but the audience didn't sense that something was wrong. They simply carried on talking, fellowshipping amongst themselves.

The Meaning of the Dream

Waiting for the show.
The Church is waiting for revival, but most people are looking in the wrong direction. Centre stage is not going to be where they think it is!

People are engrossed in conversation.
They are preoccupied with interaction amongst themselves. Most Christians -- even Spirit-led folks -- are oblivious to what is taking place outside the immediate sphere of their own denomination, church, or fellowship.

The stage is to the right.
The fact that revival is going to appear to your right means that it is coming from the more 'conservative' wing of the Church. The Charismatics (excuse the pigeon-holing), who have been used so powerfully up till now, will find it hard to believe, but their 'show' is nearly over. As was prophesied in 1906 in the Azusa Street revival -- "in the last days of the Pentecostal movement there will be an overemphasis on power and praise" -- those words are being fulfilled before our eyes now. This heralds a new emphasis on God's agenda. To redress the balance in worship and Spirit-led tradition, God is going to bring back some needed 'conservatism' to the Church, which has gone off too much on a tangent to the left, overemphasising the power and praise aspects of the faith.

What do I mean by 'conservatism'? In one word OBEDIENCE. Obedience to what God lays down in His Word. Obedience to His commandments in a fundamental, inflexible, but highly practical way. Obedience to all the precepts, commands, statutes and judgements as God gave them to Israel (excepting, of course, the sacrificial rites and washings which, as we know from Hebrews, have been superseded by Christ's substitutionary sacrifice). Obedience to fundamental biblical law -- for this is the basis of Christian discipline and discipleship. I am not talking about a return to legalism, or a reversion to ritualism. I am talking about an unwavering adherence to the law of God which was David's (Ps 119:40,97) and Paul's delight (Rom 7:12). Realism has been disappearing from many segments of the Church because of a lack of biblical discipline in Christian living. God is saying there is a need to look to the right for a return to the fundamentalism of the early Church when it possessed the faith once delivered. But most of the Church has lost this direction. It is looking in the wrong direction. It needs to look more to the 'right'.

The coming revival will cause people to look to the right once again, because it is from that 'side' of the Church that the greatest miracles will appear in the days ahead. Raising of the dead is on God's agenda, now, for this end time. I do not mean those who have just passed away and are resuscitated minutes later. I am talking about resurrecting the dead who have been gone for days, weeks, months, and even years!

And these miracles will first be seen in parts of the Church which are presently unacknowledged, or regarded as fanatical or even 'legalistic', because of their biblical (doctrinal) persuasion.

The majority of true believers are 'missing it' in their discipleship. They are looking too much to the 'left'. Their emphasis on grace has caused their sight to be taken away from the 'conservativism' of obedience in practical Christian living. God will re-focus their attention. The stage is being set right now for the coming revival, and the action will be to their 'right'!

Elijah raised the dead (1 Kings 17). He challenged the whole nation of Israel to reject the religious status quo. His stand was 'conservative'. It emphasised obedience to God's law. There is no other basis for true discipleship in Christ. Grace nowhere negates responsibility in disciplined Christian observance of God's revealed precepts. God requires an uncompromising obedience from us in the spirit. But He also requires that same commitment to the letter of His commands, for there can be no substitute to any of His commands. The letter of His commands is often neglected or denied by scurrilously deceptive 'doctrine' which undermines this basic level of obedience.

While Spirit-led Christians understand and accept the imputed righteousness of Christ, they neglect the practical righteousness which is an equally essential commodity. That aspect of obedience provides a practical discipline which is essentially lacking in most of the current charismatic sector of the church. This imbalance will be re-dressed in the coming revival.

Behind the curtain there is a black-haired woman, preparing young girls for the show.
The coming revival will be a 'show' -- a spectacle to behold -- the greatest show on earth! While its participants will be 'charismatic' [the black-haired woman was given me in a previous dream, and may well also here depict the 'charismatic' church, as God showed me previously], but new 'players' will be on stage, younger in many respects than the one who has gone before them. The dark hair may also depict the Gentile part of the church, which God is reviving in various parts of the world at the moment.

The next move of the Spirit will come from where you do not expect.

At the risk of sounding arrogant, God has shown me from where it will come and who some of the central characters may well be. He has given us several dreams about this, but can a prophet 'blow his own trumpet' before his time comes? No. And even when he does do his bit for the Lord, how many will believe him? Relatively few. It is possible that you also, reading this, will not believe me or take much notice. Are you looking in the wrong direction, too? Do you only listen to revelations received by the prophets who have your approval or recognition? Such is the manner of most at this time.

I do not come with the endorsement or commendation of men, but with that of God alone. Is it for this reason that most reject me and my words.

Malcolm B. Heap, October 1998