HOW OR WHERE DOES A REVIVAL BEGIN?

HOW OR WHERE DOES A REVIVAL BEGIN?

No one acquainted with the history of God’s people on the earth but knows that though there have been continual declensions, yet in His goodness they have been succeeded by revivals. It is interesting and helpful to note the way He revives His work.

The first great fact is that He continues to work among the people, or line of testimony, where the failure occurred. When man’s sin brought on the flood, God did not revive His work outside of Seth’s line. The line of testimony, Noah, was the one chosen to revive His work. “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord”. When failure ensued at Babel, God called out Abram, though Shem’s family was involved in the common ^[p. 208] failure; yet the blessed God called out one of his offspring — one in the line of testimony, in order that through him He might revive His work; and however great the failure afterwards, God never gave up Abraham’s family, until they, as a nation, gave Him up. In like manner, God has never given up the church though her failures and declensions have been manifold, but He continually has revived His work in their midst. But though God continues to work with the same line, I do not find that He works in the place where the failure has occurred; for instance Bethel becomes Bethaven, and the candlestick was taken from Ephesus. At all events, we see that He continued in spite of every failure with Israel, until they had no cloke for their sin; until they had sinned against the Holy Spirit. And He is still reviving His work in the church, until it becomes so nauseous that He must spue it out of His mouth. Though Jacob’s deceitful course led to the break-up in Isaac’s time, yet it was through Jacob, when he was broken down, and not any one else, that the revival came. And when Jacob’s sons sinned, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites, it was through Joseph, the dearest to Jacob, that the revival came. I deduce from this that it was the one next to Jacob, and the one most in the mind of God, and in the testimony, who was used of God, when really cast upon Him.

Again, when Israel had been many years in bondage, God revived His work. Where did it begin? In Moses’ parents, where there was godliness, and faith in God. All Israel is to be blessed and relieved, but the revival begins in the faith of the parents, who hid their son because they “saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment”. Now this is the second mark. The first, we have seen, is that God continues with one line, until it has been proved utterly reprobate. The second is, that He works where there is faith in Him that He will effect His own purpose in contradiction to the world’s sway and dictum all around.

^[p. 209] Again in the day of provocation, the Lord did not cast away Israel, but Joshua of the tribe of Ephraim and Caleb of Judah, who stilled the people, were the chosen of God to revive His work. They were small in the eyes of men, but true to God’s purpose, which is always indispensable in the man for the crisis; and it is interesting to note that Joshua was of the favoured family, the house of Joseph. Through all the history of the kings we find the same principle. God did not forsake David’s line, but He revived His work, where there was faith, and true purpose to maintain the testimony of the time. When Christ came, though the wise men acknowledged Him, He connected Himself with the poor, lowly and faithful ones in Israel who sought Him. Simeon and Anna, in the temple, true to the testimony, are the beginning of the revival of that hour. He did not forsake Israel even when they said, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him”, and cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him”, until the nation had condemned itself in the stoning of Stephen. And then the Lord imparted the light, inaugurated by Stephen, to Saul of Tarsus who was consenting to his death. I mean He carries on the light.

When a breach occurred between Paul and Barnabas, through the dissimulation of Peter, the Lord went on with Paul, because he was faithful to His glory, and the light which he had received. Silas accompanied him, and Timotheus is given to him at the moment to fill the blank occasioned by the departure of Barnabas. Thus in the history of the church at any time, it will be found that the Lord succours and supports those who follow on in faith, in the line of His highest interests, or testimony at the time; to the end it is “he that hath an ear, let him hear”. A hidden sin may lead to the discomfiture of the whole company, as it was with Israel in the case of Achan; but God still used Joshua, because he was true to His highest interests; and thus every break-up, sad for the moment, clears the company of the troubling element; and leaves the blessed God at ^[p. 210] liberty to go on with those who are true to the testimony to which He has called them and who swerve not from the light which He has committed to them.