I want to speak from Song of Solomon chapter eight, verse five, about the last day's wilderness church. In the last days before Christ returns, before judgment falls on nations that have vacated truth and embraced perversion and lies, mercy still triumphs over judgment. It does not mean judgment does not come. It means mercy still triumphs. Anybody who wants to come to Christ is able to do so. Anybody who desires to be free can be free.
I personally believe that there is going to be a church in this last day that will be a victorious church, a God-filled people, a people on a mission to bring redemption which is the only mission of Christ in the earth. The mission of the church is not to be personally comfortable or to gather wealth. The church's mission is to be empowered by the Spirit of God and to go into this world and make a difference. And by the grace of God, this last day will have a church.
In Song of Solomon, the writer puts it this way: “Who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved?” He saw a bride coming out of a dry place, leaning on the Bridegroom. This is a picture of what we are going to see in these last days, a church coming out of wilderness places, leaning on Jesus Christ, a worshiping church with life and joy, a church empowered by the Holy Spirit to do things that can only be done by the Spirit of God.
The wilderness is the place in between where we used to be and where we are called to be. It is between our past and our promised future, between self-focus and an others-focus, between poverty and provision, between fear and faith, between human effort and divine enablement. Israel spent a long season there, far longer than they were supposed to. They were set free by the sovereign power of God from that which was determined to hold them captive, just as God came and set many of us free from alcohol, lust, fear, or whatever it was. It was not by any work of righteousness that you or I have done. It is the blood and the mercy of God that brought us out of where we used to be, and it is His Holy Spirit that takes us where we cannot go on our own, making us into what we could never be by ourselves.
Now, it is unfortunate, but many people choose to die in the wilderness. They come out of captivity, start coming to church, sing the songs, get momentarily stirred, but never really move into the fullness of what God has for them. In Joshua chapter five, all the men of war who had come out of Egypt had died in the wilderness along the way. I believe the majority of people in America over the last two or three decades, in some measure, died in the wilderness. And because of that, immorality abounds and confusion is at almost every level of society. We abdicated the role God gave us as the body of Christ, to be salt and light that living testimony in the marketplace, in the workplace, everywhere we go.
But God found another generation. This is another Joshua moment, where people are going to come out of the wilderness and go into the place of promise. There must be a mark on you, a mark that separates you from the pursuits of those who choose to live only in what this world has to offer.
In Ezekiel chapter nine, verse four, when the society of Ezekiel's day was about to be judged, God sent an angel and said, “Go through the midst of the city and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.” Make no mistake about it, America is under the judgment of God right now. And the mark God puts on His people is on those who are not part of this present apostasy, who walk through their day sighing — God, the things I see, the things I hear, I cannot be part of this. Not because we are powerless against it, but because the touch of God has come into our lives. If you are sighing and crying, as I do, my cry is not “God, get me out of here.” My cry is “God, use me to make a difference. Use my life for your glory. Jesus Christ, I want your name to be glorified again.”
This is also the mark of those who are no longer content with an infrequent or casual relationship with Jesus. The bride says in Song of Solomon chapter five, “I sleep, but my heart is awake. It is the voice of my beloved.” And in verse four, “My beloved put his hand by the latch of the door, and my heart yearned for him.” I do not want to just hear His voice and feel His presence in little bits here and there. God, I am not content just to be stirred on Sunday. I want you in my home on Thursday, in my heart at my kitchen table on Friday. I want your presence with me every day. I am not satisfied living without you.
In Song of Solomon chapter three, the bride rises in the night and goes searching through the city: “I sought him but did not find him.” She asks the watchmen, “Have you seen the one I love?” You can go from church to church and listen to message after message, but He does not want to be found there. He wants to be found at the very center and core of your heart and your affections. Scarcely had she passed by them when she found the one she loved. She held him, and she would not let him go.
In Matthew thirteen, Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, and when he found one of great price, he went and sold all that he had that he might possess it. When you find the pearl of great price, suddenly there is a desire in the heart: I do not need this anymore. He got rid of everything that was an encumbrance to him, that he might possess that which he had been looking for all his days. That is the mark of those who let go of everything except Christ and His calling on their lives.
In Revelation chapter three, there is a church that is rich, increased with goods, and had gotten in her heart that she had need of nothing, unaware of her true spiritual condition. To this group He said, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock, and if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me.” The mark that God is putting on this last day's church is in the minds of those who will open that door, who will overcome their reluctance and fears and move beyond the lukewarmness around them.
Jesus Christ Himself brought three friends into the Garden of Gethsemane with Him, but Scripture says He went a little farther. That is the mark of those who will be used by God in the last days, the desire to go just a little farther. Not because I am better than anybody or have a deeper skill set, but because I hear His voice calling me. I hear His knock on the door, so I am going to get up. Everyone else might be content with money in the bank and beautiful songs on Sunday. But I hear him knocking on the door of my heart, and it is the man, it is the woman, who gets up and opens that door and says, Jesus, come in and sit down with me every day of my life. Lead me, guide me, guard me, help me. Use my life for your glory.
We had a great spiritual awakening in New York City in 1857. Jeremiah Lanphier and friends started a prayer meeting that eventually swept the city and swept the country. What a lot of people do not know is that the stock market had just collapsed when that prayer meeting started. There were lines in the streets of New York with suits and briefcases looking for food and soup. We pray “God, send revival,” but are we ready for the whatever when we say “Lord, whatever it takes”? God is already putting the right things in place to take away people's confidence in anything in this world and turn them back to Him. The answers to prayer do not always look the way we thought they would come. It is a difficult day that is ahead of us, and I thank God for it because mercy still triumphs over judgment.
Now, back to where we started. “Who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved?” That is me. That is you. I am the one not going to live in the wilderness any longer. I am the one not content to live in a dry place. By the grace of God, I am going to be everything that God wants me to be, go where He wants me to go, and speak what He asks me to speak when I get there. I will not be leaning on my own understanding or my own abilities or my failures in the past. I will be leaning on Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
By night I sought him. In the city I sought him. I turned to people and messages and asked if they had seen him, but then I found him. He revealed himself to me, and I would not let him go.
If today you can hear him knocking at the door of your heart, it is because He has marked you. That mark is no longer a physical thing. It is a mark of hunger, a mark of desire that God puts in the heart. God will have a church that glorifies His name on the earth in this last day. A people supernaturally empowered by the Holy Spirit, who lay hands on the sick and they shall recover, who have authority over powers of darkness, who walk in words of wisdom and words of knowledge. A people who walk in the pathway that God has set before them, who praise Him every day of the week.
So here comes your part. Who is this coming out of the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? The only answer can be, as Isaiah once said, “Lord, here am I, send me.” It is me, God. I am not living in the in-between places anymore. I have found you, and I am coming out leaning on you.