DECEMBER 10TH, 1921
DECEMBER 10TH, 1921
MY DEAR BROTHER, — I am sorry that you have had a difficulty with regard to the paragraph in the little volume on Genesis (page 202) to which you refer. I certainly had no thought of putting off the Lord’s coming. I rather intended to call attention to that blessed work of God by which it is being brought spiritually near to many hearts at the present moment.
I think if you will be good enough to read the paragraph again you will see that the subject which is being dwelt upon, as suggested by Genesis 26, is that of spiritual revival. And, in connection with this, attention is called to the fact that at the end of the Revelation the Spirit and the bride are found in concert, saying, Come. And it is said that on the side of divine working everything is moving to this end.
It was ever true from the standpoint of what is presented in Scripture as the hope of the saints that the Lord might come at any moment. This was as true five hundred years [p. 115] ago as it is at this moment. The promise was there just as it is for us. But all the virgins slumbered.
We have now to take account of a further fact. Not only is the promise of the Lord’s coming presented in the fullest and clearest way in Scripture, but God has actually intervened in the way of revival. We must recognise a divine and spiritual movement such as is suggested by the midnight cry, and the subsequent awakening of the virgins and trimming of their lamps. And all this in view of the virgins being “ready” when the Bridegroom comes.
That what people call the Reformation was the beginning of this revival I suppose few spiritual persons would question. And it has continued and deepened ever since, until in the last century the truth of Christ’s headship and of the presence of the Spirit was revived, giving back to the faith and affections of the saints the peculiar and distinctive place of the assembly. All this has been in view of the development, through divine working, of moral state and bridal affections in the saints. And God is carrying on this blessed work, as well as calling sinners in grace to the knowledge of Himself as a Saviour God.
The recognition of this does not surely put the Lord’s coming off, but it awakens a deep and intelligent interest in what God is doing at the present moment in view of His coming. And, indeed, it is only as that blessed reviving goes on in our souls that the coming of the Lord is spiritually near to us. Many thousands now profess to hold that the Lord may come at any moment, but it needs divine revival to make this blessed hope a divine and effective reality. And it is a comfort and encouragement to see that God is specially working in the way of revival. It moves the heart with desire to be found in the current of what He is doing. One would wish all saints to be conscious that they are living in a time of wondrous revival, that their exercise might be to get the full gain of it.
I have no doubt that the present revival has remnant character, but the remnant, viewed properly, includes all that is for God, and what God is doing in reviving grace and power has, I believe, “all saints” in view. All that is given from the Head is really for the whole body, and nothing less, and it should be regarded in this light. How far all — or indeed any of us — have been affected by it is another matter, and one of exercise for both conscience and heart. But we cannot tell [p. 116] how God can spread abroad what is of Himself, and give it a place in the hearts of His saints. It is like a stone dropped into a pond which makes widening circles to the very circumference. I suppose there is scarcely an exercised saint anywhere who has not benefited in some way by what was ministered through J.N.D., though many of them have never even heard his name. As cherishing the thought of the assembly one would not in one’s affections limit the blessed reviving which God is granting to anything less than the whole body. It is intended in divine love to affect all saints.
I do not think I need add more. I trust these few remarks may tend to remove any difficulty which may have been in your mind.
With love in the Lord Jesus,
Yours affectionately in Him,
December 10th, 1921.