Reflections on Revival and Reformation, Part 2 of 3 - Secrets ...

12
Following the Flow
You see, the Reformers were able to
follow the sequence of events in Daniel
7 and they could clearly discern that the
little horn rose immediately after the Roman
Empire had been broken up by the
barbarian invasions. They understood that
the restrainer (the Roman Empire) of II
Thessalonians 2 had been taken out of the
way by the barbarian invasions and that
the papacy had taken its place. They clearly
saw that the Church had become the
harlot of Revelation 17 and had set up the
abomination of desolation mentioned by
Jesus in the prophecy of Matthew chapter
24. Dr. Leroy Edwin Froom explained the
importance of Bible prophecy as a catalyst
in the message of the Reformers:
“In Germany, Switzerland, France, Denmark,
Sweden, England, and Scotland
there had been simultaneous and impressive
declarations by voice and pen that
the Papacy was the specified Antichrist of
prophecy. The symbols of Daniel, Paul, and
John were applied with tremendous effect.
Hundreds of books and tracts impressed
their contention upon the consciousness
of Europe. Indeed, it gained so great a
hold upon the minds of men that Rome, in
alarm, saw that she must successfully counteract
this identification of Antichrist with
the Papacy, or lose the battle.” L. E. Froom,
The Prophetic Faith of our Fathers, volume
2, pp. 484, 485
The understanding of Bible prophecy
provided the mandate for the Reformers
to preach the pure gospel and to unmask
this system that had perverted the Scriptures
and adulterated the apostolic gospel.
Thus the Reformers attempted to bring the
church back to the present truth that was
preached by Peter and the apostles after the
Day of Pentecost. They knew why God had
raised them up and what their mission was.
No Plan to Leave
It was not Martin Luther’s plan to leave
the Roman Catholic Church. His intense
desire was for the Church to return to
the apostolic faith that Jesus is [1] our
righteousness, that [2] His once-for-all
death is sufficient and that [3] He now
intercedes for those who claim the benefits
of His life and death. But when the
Church rejected the message and persecuted
those who were proclaiming it, the
Church fell into total darkness. God was
giving the papacy a golden opportunity
to return to the apostolic faith and preaching
but she rejected that opportunity.
Because the papacy fell into incurable
apostasy, the Reformers called people to
leave the apostate Church and join the
Protestant movement where the genuine
gospel of righteousness by faith was
preached. Thousands upon thousands embraced
the message of revival and entire
countries were lost to the papacy. Thus an
understanding of the prophecies of Scripture
provided the impetus for the Protestant
Reformation to thrive and proliferate.
Pastor Stephen Bohr