"I remember thee" - GOD

With unspeakable affection God laments for His darling, "I remember thee!". Jeremiah, enamored with the vision, was weeping with God! Do you know the feeling? Jeremiah was divinely-unctionized when he heard the Word of the LORD command him: "GO and CRY in the ears of Jerusalem" (Jer. 2:2)! 

Can you hear it? Can you imagine it? Jeremiah's cracking voice CRYING OUT! His syllables long and enunciated, his tones exuding the emotional trauma of a brokenhearted God! In Jeremiah, the Eternal Father was crying out: "I REMEMBER THEE!". Oh, my reader, are you moved to wonder what God was remembering? 

The Lord was remembering when Israel, through her liberation and exodus from Egypt, was first espoused to the Lord. This "first espousal" to God was holy-romantic in that then, in the heart of Israel, there was no greater love but God! This first espousal made - God - Israel's "first love" (Rev. 2:4). This "first love" was wrought within Israel's heart by God's saving power, not their own, and they, being "constrained" thereto, were led into "first works" (2 Cor. 5:14, Rev. 2:5) which God recalled as, speaking to Israel, "the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after Me in the wilderness". This love compelled them to GO after God! My reader, what about you? Do you remember how you WENT after GOD? 

Do you remember with what "love", with what "kindness", with what tender affection you, at first, were compelled to GO after GOD? These were the days when you were drawn to Christ by His saving power (John 6:44)! And now, my reader, if you are truly regenerate, let Jonathan Edwards remind you of the love of your espousal, the kindness of your youth, when you first went after God, and in so doing, consider this: does God REMEMBER YOU with lamentation and sorrow because, alas, that is how you were and not how you are!?

the temptation now seemed to lie on that hand, to neglect worldly affairs too much, and to spend too much time in immediate exercise of religion. This was exceedingly misrepresented by reports that were spread in distant parts of the land, as though the people here had wholly thrown by all worldly business, and betook themselves entirely to reading and praying, and such like religious excercises. 

But although people did not ordinarily neglect their worldly business; yet religion was with all sorts the great concern, and the world was a thing only by the bye. The only thing in their view was to get the Kingdom of heaven, and every one appeared pressing into it. The engagedness of their hearts in this great concern could not be hid, it appeared in their very countenances. It then was a dreadful thing amongst us to lie out of Christ, in danger every day of dropping into hell; and what persons' minds were intent upon, was to escape for their lives, and to fly from wrath to come.All would eagerly lay hold of opportunities for their souls; and were wont very often to meet together in private houses, for religious purposes: and such meetings when appointed were greatly thronged." 

"...the town seemed to be full of the presence of God: it never was so full of love, nor of joy, and yet so full of distress, as it was then. There were remarkable tokens of God's presence in almost every house. It was a time of joy in families on account of salvation being brought unto them; parents rejoicing over their children as new born, and husbands over their wives, and wives over their husbands. The goings of God were then seen in the sanctuary, God's day was a delight, and his tabernacles were amiable. Our public assemblies were then beautiful: the congregation was alive in God's service, every one earnestly intent on the public worship, every hearer eager to drink in the words of the minister as they came from his mouth; the assembly in general were, from time to time, in tears while the word was preached; some weeping with sorrow and distress, others with joy and love, others with pity and concern for the souls of their neighbors. 

Our public praises were then greatly enlivened; God was then served in our psalmody, in some measure, in the beauty of holiness. It has been observable, that there has been scarce any part of divine worship, wherein good men amongst us have had grace so drawn forth, and their hearts so lifted up in the ways of God, as in singing his praises. Our congregation excelled all that ever I knew in the external part of the duty before, the men generally carrying regularly, and well, three parts of music, and the women a part by themselves; but now they were evidently wont to sing with unusual elevation of heart and voice, which made the duty pleasant indeed." - Jonathan Edwards

My reader, are such experiences as Edwards described but memories of the past? Memories which were, but are not now? Perhaps God is now looking upon you - His darling - with the lamentable cry: "I remember thee"! My reader, He remembers what you have forgotten! Memories which are now dim, can you remember? Oh, how Great a Light has dimmed! How Bright a Light once shined! - the spiritual sweetness that was once so excellent and life-altering that you "suffered the loss of all things", all worldly things and worldly lusts, counting them as an object of vomitous disgust! And now, that which you did count as "DUNG that you may win Christ" (Php. 3:8) has become enjoyable to your taste! That which was so poisonous to the body and vomitious to the taste is now endurable, delectable, and energizing! What happened? How came this great FALL? 

The world, like a defiled, disease-saturated harlot lingered in your view... do you remember? She lingered long enough that she caught your eye, and then your glance. She turned your head, and then suddenly, your heart! Woe to you, my reader! You became an adulterer against God (James 4:4)! My reader, if God is saying to you, "I remember thee", then you should remember what He is remembering, and so, "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent" (Rev. 2:5). You have "FALLEN", my reader! And you need help!

In Christ, let Charles Spurgeon remind you of what it is to FALL from God! 
First one must remember, then repent. 

tarries in the poor clay, the rescued man opens his eyes, sits up, and speaks, and those around him rejoice that he has revived. A young girl is in a fainting fit, but after a while she returns to consciousness, and we say, "she revives." The flickering lamp of life in dying men suddenly flames up with unusual brightness at intervals, and those who are watching around the sick bed say of the patient, "he revives"...

A true revival is to be looked for in the church of God...It is a sorrowful fact that many who are spiritually alive greatly need reviving. It is sorrowful because it is a proof of the existence of much spiritual evil. A man in sound health with every part of his body in a vigorous condition does not need reviving. He requires daily sustenance, but reviving would be quite out of place. If he has not yet attained maturity growth will be most desirable, but a hale hearty young man wants no reviving, it would be thrown away upon him. Who thinks of reviving the noonday sun, the ocean at its flood, or the year at its prime? The tree planted by the rivers of water loaded with fruit needs not excite our anxiety for its revival, for its fruitfulness and beauty charm every one. Such should be the constant condition of the sons of God. Feeding and lying down in green pastures and led by the still waters they ought not always to be crying, "my leanness, my leanness, woe unto me." Sustained by gracious promises and enriched out of the fullness which God has treasured up in his dear Son, their souls should prosper and be in health, and their piety ought to need no reviving. They should aspire to a higher blessing, a richer mercy, than a mere revival. They have the nether springs already; they should earnestly cover the upper springs. They should be asking for growth in grace, for increase of strength, for greater success; they should have out-climbed and out-soared the period in which they need to be constantly crying, "Wilt thou not revive us again?" For a church to be constantly needing revival is the indication of much sin, for if it were sound before the Lord it would remain in the condition into which a revival would uplift its members. A church should be a camp of soldiers, not an hospital of invalids. But there is exceedingly much difference between what ought be and what is, and consequently many of God's people are in so sad a state that the very fittest prayer for them is for revival. Some Christians are, spiritually, but barely alive. When a man has been let down into a vat or into a well full of bad air, yea do not wonder when he is drawn up again that he is half-dead, and urgently requires to be revived. Some Christians—to their shame be it spoken!—descend into such worldly company, not upon such unhallowed principles, and become so carnal, that when they are drawn up by God's grace from their backsliding position they want reviving, and even need that their spiritual breath should as it were be breathed into their nostrils afresh by God's Spirit.

When a man starves himself, continuing for a long time without food, when he is day after day without a morsel of bread between his lips, we do not marvel that the surgeon, finding him in extremities, says, "This man has weakened his system, he is too low, and wants reviving." Of course he does, for he has brought himself by low diet into a state of weakness. Are there not hundreds of Christians—shame that it should be so!—who live day after day without feeding upon Bible truth? shall it be added without real spiritual communion with God? they do not even attend the week-night services, and they are indifferent hearers on the Lord's day. Is it remarkable that they want reviving? Is not the fact that they do so greatly need it most dishonorable to themselves and distressing to their truly spiritual brethren?

There is, a condition of mind which is even more sad than either of the two above mentioned; it is a thorough, gradual, but certain decline of all the spiritual powers. Look at that consumptive man whose lungs are decaying, and in whom the vital energy is ebbing; it is painful to see the faintness which suffuses him after exertion, and the general languor which overspreads his weakened frame. Far more sad to the spiritual eye is the spectacle presented by spiritual consumptives who in some quarters meet us on all hands. The eye of faith is dim and overcast, and seldom flashes with holy joy; the spiritual countenance is hollow and sunken with doubts and fears; the tongue of praise is partially paralyzed, and has little to say for Jesus; the spiritual frame is lethargic, and its movements are far from vigorous; the man is not anxious to be doing anything for Christ; a horrible numbness, a dreadful insensibility has come over him; he is in soul like a sluggard in the dog-days, who finds it hard labor to lie in bed and brush away the flies from his face. If these spiritual consumptives hate sin they do it so weakly that one might fear that they loved it still. If they love Jesus, it is so coldly that it is a point of question whether they love at all. If they sing Jehovah's praises it is very sadly, as if hallelujahs were dirges. If they mourn for sin it is only with half-broken hearts, and their grief is shallow and unpractical. If they hear the Word of God they are never stirred by it; enthusiasm is an unknown luxury. If they come across a precious truth they perceive nothing particular in it, any more than the cock in the fable, in the jewel which he found in the farmyard. They throw themselves back upon the enchanted couch of sloth, and while they are covered with rags they dream of riches and great increase of goods. It is a sad, sad thing when Christians fall into this state; then indeed they need reviving, and they must have it, for "the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint." Every lover of souls should intercede for declining professors that the visitations of God may restore them; that the Sun of righteousness may arise upon them with healing beneath his wings.

When revival comes to a people who are in the state thus briefly described, it simply brings them to the condition in which they ought always to have been; it quickens them, gives them new life, stirs the coals of the expiring fire, and puts heavenly breath into the languid lungs. The sickly soul which before was insensible, weak, and sorrowful, grows earnest, vigorous, and happy in the Lord. This is the immediate fruit of revival, and it becomes all of us who are believers to seek this blessing for backsliders, and for ourselves if we are declining in grace.

If revival is confined to living men we may further notice that it must result from the proclamation and the receiving of living truth. We speak of "vital godliness," and vital godliness must subsist upon vital truth. Vital godliness is not revived in Christians by mere excitement, by crowded meetings, by the stamping of the foot, or the knocking of the pulpit cushion, or the delirious bawlings of ignorant zeal; these are the stock in trade of revivals among dead souls, but to revive living saints other means are needed. Intense excitement may produce a revival of the animal, but how can it operate upon the spiritual, for the spiritual demands other food than that which stews in the fleshpots of mere carnal enthusiasm. The Holy Ghost must come into the living heart through living truth, and so bring nutriment and stimulant to the pining spirit, for so only can it be revived. This, then, leads us to the conclusion that if we are to obtain a revival we must go directly to the Holy Ghost for it, and not resort to the machinery of the professional revival-maker. The true vital spark of heavenly flame comes from the Holy Ghost, and the priests of the Lord must beware of strange fire. There is no spiritual vitality in anything except as the Holy Spirit is all in all in the work; and if our vitality has fallen near to zero, we can only have it renewed by him who first kindled it in us. We must go to the cross and look up to the dying Savior, and expect that the Holy Spirit will renew our faith and quicken all our graces. We must feed anew by faith upon the flesh and blood of the Lord Jesus, and so the Holy Ghost will recruit our strength and give us a revival. When men in India sicken in the plains, they climb the hills and breathe the more bracing air of the upper regions; we need to get nearer to God, and to bathe ourselves in heaven, and revived piety will be the sure result.

When a minister obtains this revival he preaches very differently from his former manner. It is very hard work to preach when the head aches and when the body is languid, but it is a much harder task when the soul is unfeeling and lifeless. It is sad, sad work—painfully, dolorously, horribly sad, but saddest of all if we do not feel it to be sad, if we can go on preaching and remain careless concerning the truths we preach, indifferent as to whether men are saved or lost! May God deliver every minister from abiding in such a state! Can there be a more wretched object than a man who preaches in God's name truths which he does not feel, and which he is conscious have never impressed his own heart? To be a mere sign-post, pointing out the road but never moving in it, is a lot against which every tame heart may plead night and day.

Should this revival be granted to deacons and elders what different men it would make of them! Lifeless, lukewarm church officers are of no more value to a church, than a crew of sailors would be to a vessel if they were all fainting and if in their berths when they were wanted to hoist the sails or lower the boats. Church officers who need reviving must be fearful dead weights upon a Christian community. It is incumbent upon all Christians to be thoroughly awake to the interests of Zion, but upon the leaders most of all. Special supplication should be made for beloved brethren in office that they may be full of the Holy Ghost.

Workers in the Sunday-schools, tract distributors, and other laborers for Christ, what different people they become when grace is vigorous from what they are when their life flickers in the socket! Like sickly vegetation in a cellar, all blanched and unhealthy, are workers who have little grace; like willows by the water-courses, like grease with reeds and rushes in well-watered valleys, are the servants of God who live in his presence. It is no wonder that our Lord said, "Because thou art neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth," for when the earnest Christian's heart is full of fire it is sickening to talk with lukewarm people. Have not warm-hearted lovers of Jesus felt when they have been discouraged by doubtful sluggish people, who could see a lion in the way, as if they could put on express speed and run over them? Every earnest minister has known times when he has felt cold hearts to be as intolerable as the drones in the hive are to the working bees. Careless professors are as much out of place as snow in harvest among truly living Christians. As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes are these sluggards. As well be bound to a dead body as forced into union with lifeless professors; they are a burden, a plague, and an abomination. You turn to one of these cold brethren after a graciously earnest prayer-meeting, and say with holy joy, "What a delightful meeting we have had!" "Yes," he says carelessly and deliberately, as if it were an effort to say so much, "there was a good number of people." How his frostbitten words grate on one's ear! You ask yourself, "Where has the man been? Is he not conscious that the Holy Ghost has been with us?" Does not our Lord speak of these people as being cast out of his mouth, just because he himself is altogether in earnest, and consequently, when he meets with lukewarm people he will not endure them? He says, "I would thou wert cold or hot," either utterly averse to good or in earnest concerning it. It is easy to see his meaning. If you heard an ungodly man blaspheme after an earnest meeting, you would lament it, but you would feel that from such a man it was not a thing to make you vexed, for he has only spoken after his kind, but when you meet with a child of God who is lukewarm, how can you stand that? It is sickening, and makes the inmost spirit feel the horrors of mental nausea.

While a true revival in its essence belongs only to God's people, it always brings with it a blessing for the other sheep who are not yet of the fold. If you drop a stone into a lake the ring widens continually, till the farthest corner of the lake feels the influence. Let the Lord revive a believer and very soon his family, his friends, his neighbors, receive a share of the benefit; for when a Christian is revived, he prays more fervently for sinners. Longing, loving prayer for sinners, is one of the marks of a revival in the renewed heart. Since the blessing is asked for sinners, the blessing comes from him who hears the prayers of his people; and thus the world gains by revival. Soon the revived Christian speaks concerning Jesus and the gospel; he sows good seed, and God's good seed is never lost, for he has said, "It shall not return unto me void." The good seed is sown in the furrows, and in some sinners' hearts God prepares the soil, so that the seed springs up in a glorious harvest. Thus by the zealous conversation of believers another door of mercy opens to men.

When Christians are revived they live more consistently, they make their homes more holy and more happy, and this leads the ungodly to envy them, and to enquire after their secret. Sinners by God's grace long to be like such cheerful happy saints; their mouths water to feast with them upon their hidden manna, and this is another blessing, for it leads men to seek the Savior. If an ungodly man steps into a congregation where all the saints are revived he does not go to sleep under the sermon. The minister will not let him do that, for the hearer perceives that the preacher feels what he is preaching, and has a right to be heard. This is a clear gain, for now the man listens with deep emotion; and above all, the Holy Spirit's power, which the preacher has received in answer to prayer comes upon the hearer's mind; he is convinced of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment to come, and Christians who are on the watch around him hasten to tell him of the Savior, and point him to the redeeming blood, so that though the revival, strictly speaking, is with the people of God, yet the result of it no man can limit. Brethren, let us seek a revival during the present month, that the year may close with showers of blessing, and that the new year may open with abundant benediction. Let us pledge ourselves to form a prayer-union, a sacred band of suppliants, and may God do unto us according to our faith." - C.H. Spurgeon

Will you confess the truth, my reader? Will you cry out..."I have flirted with the world and it took me! I have become a madman, spiritually insane! I have lusted for swines food and consumed the heaven-hated pleasures of the world, when at one time I was gloriously saved, raptured in Divine-love, and utterly satisfied! Oh God! Forgive me! Redeem me yet again!" 

My reader, what you remember now, LAY IT TO HEART! Lay it to heart until holy anguish, "godly sorrow" (2 Cor. 7:10-11), and weeping do prostrate you at the feet of your Jealous Husband - "For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God" (Ex. 34:14). Spurgeon's heart abominated the experience how, for some, the love of God's Bride turns lukewarm, but he was just an ambassador, a written epistle, which exhibited the very heart of God Himself. It is Christ, not Spurgeon, Who cannot endure an adulterous Bride. It is Christ, not Spurgeon, Who will, on the irrevocable high-plane of ETERNITY, vomit and spew out lukewarm Christians into hellfire (Rev. 3:16, Lev. 18:25)! Therefore let us take the more earnest heed! Those sins which Christ will abominate, will you remember them? Will you hate them? Will you answer your Jealous Husband as He sternly CRIES?

"Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God...Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up." (James 4:4, 4:8-10). 

My reader, what does it mean for "our hearts to mind Zion's breaches"? 

These men were called "the Covenanters", therefore we can expect they had certain biblical insights about what a Covenant is: how it is firstly engaged, and then subsequently, how it is verified or nullified. Let us consider this topic in the following order. 

1st) The Abrahamic Covenant
2nd) The Davidic Covenant
3rd) The New Covenant

The Abrahamic Covenant

These are rich and glorious words given to a beloved people (the Exodus Generation)! Nevertheless, what happened to these words, promises, and oaths? What happened to the Exodus generation? My reader, stagger at this! God said - THERE WAS A "BREACH"! 

The Davidic Covenant 

A perfect heart strives and presses to obtain (Php. 3:14), fulfill (Rom. 8:4, Gal. 5:14, James 2:23), and lay hold (1 Tim. 6:12, 19) on the promises of God. Do you have this mind toward the promises of God in the New Testament? Saving faith is objectively defined by a carefulness to fulfill the Covenant's conditions. We cannot affirm anyone that he or she savingly believes in God, while yet, the present behavior in which they do walk in is blamed by one of the conditions of the Covenant. 

Solomon sought after that which was promised to be “fulfilled” and “performed” (1 Kings 8:15-20), as if he had to “lay hold upon” that which was freely promised and freely given to him (1 Tim. 6:12). To lay hold upon the promises of God in the Davidic Covenant, Solomon prayed for that which was “promised” to be “verified”; more specifically, verification means - God does indeed “keep” that which was promised, instead of breaching it (2 Chron. 6:14-16, 1 Kings 8:22-26). Maintaining a “perfect heart” was Solomon’s most vital concern (1 Kings 8:54-66); otherwise, he knew - God would BREACH the promises. 

The verse above does prophesy of a day when God does “build” and “raise up” the Davidic Covenant, because for now, as you can see in Psalm 89, the Davidic Covenant is “fallen”, utterly broken with “breaches” (breaks), and thus... it has crumbled into “ruins” (Amos 9:11-12). The Davidic Covenant is the second major and eternal Covenant that God did breach. When the Abrahamic and Davidic Covenants were breached, the people of God were thrust into a holy bewilderment. Psalm 77 reflects on the salvific work of God in the Abrahamic Covenant, when at that time, all such “favour” (77:7), “mercy” (77:8), “promise” (77:8), and “grace” (77:9) were no more. The psalmist who wrote Psalm 77 exudes the painful experience of when the God of the Bible is overwhelmingly absent. Pressing upon his soul is the overwhelming feeling that God has hidden Himself. Do you ever wonder where the God of the New Testament is? 

It is a damnable sin for pastors and preachers to fail to say – “Where is the LORD?” (Jer. 2:8). The Spirit-filled psalmist said, “I remembered God, and was troubled,” but most people don’t remember the God of the Bible as He has testified of Himself in the plain accounts of scripture – by doctrine, deed, and historical example. Most people worship an imaginary, self-invented, self-conforming god, a god they made up in their own mind. Children have imaginary friends, and adults have an imaginary god. In Jeremiah 2:8 men failed to say, “Where is the LORD,” because they didn't remember the God of the Bible! In backslidden generations which span for years of time, if all this time is spent in the absence of God’s great glory and promise, it is then that the righteous are troubled and the wicked are at ease. Where is the biblical God of the 1st century today? This is a troubling question… now look carefully at the prayers of this psalmist (written above), and you will see that remembering God is remembering the deeds of His mercy, favor, promise, grace, and tender mercies; thus he recognizes that the absence of God’s famous glory in these wonderful works is the angry casting off of the people of God. 

God was confronting the psalmist of Psalm 77, and therefore he was troubled, and when this biblical, hidden, and holy God confronts you, you too will experience the same “enlargement of heart” (Ps. 119:32) with a divinely set hope in the written word (Psalm 119:49). There will be no hope put in men to change the hardness of your heart, but God alone. Under the intense conviction of a Covenant made void, you will cry to the Sovereign for help and hope, “incline not my heart to any evil thing” (Psalm 141:4), “And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in Thee. Deliver me from all my transgressions” (Psalm 39:7-9). “Turn Thou me, and I shall be turned; for Thou art the LORD my God” (Jer. 31:18). “Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for Thou art my praise” (Jer. 17:14). “Turn us again, O God, and cause Thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt Thou be angry against the prayer of Thy people? Thou feedest them with bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure” (Psalm 80:3-5). “Return, we beseech Thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine; and the vineyard which Thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that Thou madest strong for Thyself. It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of Thy countenance. Let Thy hand be upon the man of Thy right hand, upon the son of man whom Thou madest strong for Thyself. So will not we go back from Thee: quicken us, and we will call upon Thy name. Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause Thy face to shine; and we shall be saved” (Psalm 80:14-19). 

“LORD, Thou wilt ordain peace for us: for Thou also hast wrought all our works in us” (Isa. 26:12). The Covenant is there in word, but the performance thereof is absent. The very means of salvation, the instrumentality of His ways and works, these things are gone. It is impossible to replicate the workings of God. There is subservience in the people under the sovereignty of God. They do recognize that God is the Potter and they are but clay. When a Covenant is breached, the people are rejected of God, and therefore the two are only reconcilable by the free will of God.

Further Applications Which Lead into the New Covenant

After having read the text which I have just written above, I urge you to consider the great length God has taken to teach us (via scripture) about the doctrine: the Breaching of God’s Promises. At first hearing, it sounds so heretical…and yet, are the scriptures being taken into consideration? Like, for example, when God said that He would break His Covenant (Ezek. 16:59, 17:18-19, Zech. 11:10-11). Or, for example, when Jeremiah cried out in desperate prayer, saying, “break not Thy Covenant with us” (Jer. 14:21)! Such scriptural language needs to be added into our vocabulary, or, into our theological lens by which we view potential experiences with God. Why is it that we never pray Jeremiah’s prayer? Do we think we better than he? 

Scripture provides vast explanations on how and why God does send retributive deceptions upon the souls of men, deceptions wherein He reflects their unjust deeds back upon them. This reflection (or repayment) is an attribute of justice (see Lev. 24:19-20). Justice is alive horizontally (man-to-man) and vertically (God-to-man). Oh my reader! How pertinent is it for us, that we understand the activity of God’s justice!? We NEED to understand the principles of God-to-man justice (see Psalm 18:25-26, Prov. 1:24-29, 2 Chron. 15:2), and also, with it, the correlating deceptions which accompany it (via deceptions: Psalm 125:4-5, 81:12, Hos. 4:17, Prov. 14:6, 28:5)? 

“Therefore He said that He would destroy them, had not Moses His chosen stood before Him in the BREACH, to turn away His wrath, lest He should destroy them.” – Psalm 106:23

God explicitly spoke of breaking His Covenant (as formerly cited), and God specifically breached many Covenants (as formerly cited), but furthermore going on... many other promises of God have been likewise broken (or breached) in the justice of God’s wrath – the Lord being bound thereto because of the trespasses of His people. For example, when God killed Israelites from a particular tribe, the word BREACH was used to describe the annihilation (Judges 21:15, & see also the promises in Deut. 28:3-4). When God killed a good-intentioned man who was seeking the establishment of salvation (so he thought), it was written that a BREACH was made (2 Sam. 6:8, 1 Chron. 13:11, 15:13)... but why? What do these things mean? The manifest action of God’s wrath is, by essence, a hindrance of the promises of God’s mercy, which means that, by operation, it is the accomplishment of the opposite of a promise (a breaking of the promise instead of the performance of a promise). Thus it happened over and over again: a breaching of God's promises of salvation and grace! This happened to promises which pertained to, for example, success and victory at war, and this resulted in great loss and destruction before Israelite enemies. We must understand, my reader, that these losses exist because there was a spiritual BREACH of the promises of God (a breach which could have been filled by the means of intercession, like in Psalm 106:23, but the breaches were left unfilled). Had the promises of God been performed such losses would have been IMPOSSIBLE! The spiritual breach of God’s promises do consequence the physical manifestation of God’s wrath – and this is how the breach of Israel’s defensive fortifications transpired (Ezek. 13:5, 9-10, 11-16, 22:28, 30-31, Isa. 30:13, 5:5, Psalm 80:12, 89:40). We can see how, evidently, in these various ways, the promises of God were being breached (see Chapter 11, section 3, "Life - City & Nation"). It for this reason the word "breach" is used, over and over again. 

“And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the BREACH, the restorer of the paths to dwell in.” – Isaiah 58:12

“In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the BREACH thereof; and I will raise up the ruins, and I will built it as the days of old: That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by My Name, saith the LORD that doeth this.” – Amos 9:11-12

So also, looking deeper, the nation of Israel can be viewed in perspective of the Temple (see Chapter 11, the section: "Life - The Temple of God"). So also, the nation of Israel can be viewed in perspective of a single Person (see the subsection of the hyperlink above, called “wound for wound”). By viewing Israel's promises and salvation from these two separate angles, correlating breaches are explicitly or figuratively applied. By following the former link you will find a detailed explanation of “wound for wound” as it relates to the breach of promise, but for now, at the moment, a scripture that serves as an example is: “Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the BREACH of His people, and healeth the stroke of their wound” (Isaiah 30:26). Here, "the breach" and the "wound" are seen as parallel characteristics, communicated by two distinct metaphors. 


According to scripture, only false prophets denied that "breaches" were a potential experience for Israelite promises, therefore under their preaching the people never learned to avoid them. A denial of this truth (breaches in their New Testament applications) will turn men into modern day false prophets. A lifestyle oblivious to God’s breaches is the most murderous characteristic active in the work and ministry of Old Testament false prophets (see Lam. 2:6-9, Jer. 30:12-13, Micah 1:8-9, Isaiah 30:26, 1:6-7, Ps. 10:5-6, Jer. 6:7-8, 14, 8:11, 15, Hos. 5:13, Jer. 30:11-18, 33:6-7). If we become like these men were (false prophets), we will not be able to detect the operations of God’s wrath to any degree at all, which means that we will not be able to detect if God's promises have been breached to any degree at all. Therefore, we will live (by prayer or preaching) irrelevant to the dire necessity of intercession: the redemptive act which fills the breaches. All saints are called to the work of intercession by nature of their spiritual vocation as priests in Christ (see Rom. 8:26-27, 1 Pet. 2:9, Mk. 11:17, and "Groaning Which Cannot Be Uttered"). A failure here will result in the modern expression of what was written, “There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines” (Jer. 30:13). Or in other words, God said, “And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the headge (the wall), and stand in the gap (the BREACH) before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. Therefore have I poured out Mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD” (Ezk. 22:30-31). At such a time as this, the Temple of God is destroyed (and the Temple was and is the emblem of salvation, or, the emblem of the promises of God: see Lev. 26:31, 1 Kings 8:27-30, 43, Deut. 12:2-7 [and it was the place where God’s name dwelt: Deut. 14:23, 16:2, 17:8, 18:19, 26:2]). When there was a loss of the promises of God (in their performance), the word BREACH was used (breaches which were physical and spiritual in their manifestations: 2 Kings 22:5, Isa. 58:12, Amos 9:11-12,  2 Chron. 34:8, 10, Lam. 2:13-14). Because BREACHES were characteristic of promises being lost, true prophets agonized over them in great lamentation (see Jer. 4:19-22, Isa. 63:17-18, 64:11, Jer. 10:19-20, Dan. 9:16-19, Neh. 1:3-4, 2 Chron. 29:5-10, Lam. 2:6-9, Jer. 15:18, Hos. 6:1, Jer. 14:17-15:1)... and woe to us if we are utterly without this experience! Woe to us if, in fact, we stand in the modern day expressions of these old-time breaches (only in their New Covenant applications)… and yet we live oblivious to them! Woe to us, for then we are the false prophets of today! 

The New Covenant

Breach #1) Stripped of Power and Success at War
Breach #2) Spiritual Famine or Spiritual Desertification 


Stripped of Power & Success at War: God blessed the people by giving them unconquerable armies and impregnable fortifications (Lev. 26:6-8, Deut. 28:6-7), and He cursed the people by disarming them of their battle-skills (“The battle is the LORD’S”), and contra-wise He blessed their enemies so that, when they attacked Israel at God’s beckoning, Israelite fortifications were breached and their defenses overthrown (Deut. 11:22-25, 28:25-26, 49-50, 52, 32:30). Now what, oh man, do you disbelieve that God, in His wrath, would leave His New Testament people so that they, being rendered defenseless at God’s absence, are conquered by their enemies who seek their life? (For a detailed address of this biblical reality see Life – City & Nation (chapter 11, section 4) & Personification & Anthropomorphism (chapter 12, section 1)).

Old Testament: 1 Sam. 17:47, Jer. 17:5, & Ps. 31:20, 62:5 [the battle is the Lord’s], Ps. 119;114 [hiding place and shield], Ps. 61:3 [shelter and strong tower], Ps. 18:1, 10 [fortress, buckler, and high tower], Ps. 127:1 [watchmen], Hos. 9:12, Ezek. 21:5, Ps. 17:13-14 [the Lord joining the opposing army which fights against Israel]

New Testament: 1 Pet. 2:11 [war against the soul], Rom. 7:23 [warring], James 4:1 [wars], 1 Tim. 1:18 [warfare], 2 Cor. 6:7 [armor], 2 Cor. 10:3-6 [war, weapons, & strongholds], Rom. 13:12, 1 Thess. 5:8, Eph. 6:10-19, & Rev. 12:11 [armor, weapons, wrestling, & the secret of victory], 1 Cor. 9:26, 1 Tim. 6:12, & 2 Tim. 4:7-8 [the fight is for eternal life], 1 Pet. 4:1 [soldier-like readiness to suffer], 1 Cor. 15:32 [fighting beasts], 2 Tim. 2:3-4 [a soldier-like lifestyle].

Terrifying Conclusion: God has delivered His Old Testament people over to tribute, captivity, and annihilation, and is there no New Testament servitude and captivity to avoid (2 Tim. 2:26, Gal. 3:1, 5:1, 7-8), no war to fight in, no battle to win, or no overthrowing annihilation to escape (Rev. 13:17, Rom. 8:13, Eph. 6:12, 1 Jn. 5:4-5, Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26, 3:5, 12, 21, 21:7)? What? Do you disbelieve that God, in His wrath, will raise up devils to rob us of our weapons of righteousness, inundate us until we remain without skill or success to win the battle, making us tributaries to worldly wisdom (1 Cor. 3:18 [being deceived to think worldly wisdom is true wisdom], 1 Cor. 4:8-10 [being deceived to oppose apostolic doctrines and ways, i.e. normal & scriptural Christianity], James 3:15 [being deceived to fellowship with and walk in devilish wisdom instead of God’s wisdom], James 1:26-27 [being deceived so that our religion is vain])? If we do not recognize the war, learn the skill to fight the battle, reckon the eternal consequence of success or loss, discern the identifiable conditions of temporary defeat, and discover the means to restore success, surely my brethren, we will perish! We must be of the number that “waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of aliens” (Heb. 11:34)! Behold it, oh man, your longstanding foes upon the battlefield! The battle rages, oh man, and the cries of your fallen comrades do sound from the carnage of dead men! “He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches” (Rev. 2:11)! Oh my brethren, “thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment” (Lam. 2:14)! How, you ask? By misapplying promises to the people of God when, at present, they are disqualified from their performance (see Life – City & Nation (chapter 11, section 4)). 



Spiritual Famine or Spiritual Desertification: God blessed the land with prosperity by sending rain (Lev. 26:4-5, Deut. 7:12-14, 28:3-5, 8, 11-12), and He cursed the land with famine by withholding rain (Duet. 28:16-18, 23-24, 33, 38-42, 48, 51). Now what, oh man, do you disbelieve that God, in His wrath, will withhold spiritual rain from His New Testament people? Spiritual Famine or Spiritual Desertification (chapter 16, section 3)

Old Testament: Amos 8:9-13 [famine], Isa. 5:6, 44:3 & Joel 2:23 [the Spirit of God is rain], Isa. 41:17-18 [pools and springs], Isa. 35:6-7, 43:19-20, 49:9-10 [streams, pools, and springs invading wilderness’ of dragons], Ps. 46:4 [river], Isa. 13:20-22, 34:10-15 [deserts, the dwelling place of devils].

New Testament: Acts 2:15-21 [the Covenant beginning is an outpouring of rain, this is applied as prophesied in Joel 2:28-32, this is applied in parallel types in Ps. 68:9, 15-20, applied in Eph. 4:7-13, & recollected in 1 Cor. 1:4-8], Heb. 6:7-8 [rain is a present-continuous salvific experience recorded and interpreted in Heb. 6:4-5], John 7:38 [rivers of water invade deserts of dryness], Lk. 10:19 [devils inhabit deserts], Heb. 6:8 [men can become desert-lands of thorns and briers, which is an inviting habitation for devils, see Jn. 13:27], James 5:14-20 [rain-releasing effects can be wrought by effectual prayers of New Testament intercessors, and here, in James 5:17-20, the rain restores the fruitfulness of NT Israelites who were caught in rain-less days, and upon the release of rain the erring brethren, fruitless and inhibited because of a personal spiritual famine, are restored from their “err from the truth”, thus fruitfulness springs forth from their decertified souls; a desert wasteland experiences restoration!].

Terrifying Conclusion: “Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with you. And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these things unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours. Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not: Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it? But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone. Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.” – Jer. 5:18-25

"O LORD, give us real grace in our hearts to mind Zion's breaches, that is in such a low case this day, and make us to mourn with her, for Thou hast said, they that mourn with her in the time of her trouble shall rejoice with her when she rejoiceth..." - Fair Sunshine 

"'Oh, that preachers would preach repentance, and professors would exhort one another to mourn in secret, and together, because of their sin, and with their mourning would believe, for these are very consistent together...'" - Fair Sunshine 

"Do we not need a very much greater conception, of how tremendously valuable a true expression of the Church is to the Lord - it's priceless! May the Lord give us more of this anguish for the Church as a whole, and then it will be precious to Him." - The Revival Hymn

"Your words have been stout against Me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against Thee? Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts? And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon His Name. And they shall be Mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that Day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not." - Malachi 3:13-18 

For further studies on how all of this affects the New Covenant, see The Condescension of God; see Chapter 3: The Abrahamic Covenant; see Chapter 6: The Davidic Covenant: Seeking a Performance of the Promises. 

RELATED SERMONS: 
The Davidic Covenant & The Everlasting Throne - S.M. 
The Prophet Like Unto Moses - S.M. 

Morning "quiet times" were a heartless perusal through scripture for many, that is, until the late generation heard the exasperated cry of Ravenhill! This man was different. He arose to withstand lukewarmness by 8 hours of prayer a day at the height of his ministry! Can you believe it? Hear it in his voice. Ravenhill preached with bitter pain and strong commands, and it made the proudest pastor bow in shame.

Powerhouses of human intelligence were denounced as powerless, seminaries were made to feel cold and godless like as a cemetery is lifeless, and classroom religion felt unclean, appalling, and sour! Why? Men congregated to hear Ravenhill pray, weep, and preach, holding their breath in awe. "I can read the map in the back of my Bible, and weep," he cried! God's people who were divided by theological and doctrinal disagreement could all agree to this: Leonard Ravenhill was a voice sent by God! 

A Peculiar Burden

Contrary to most preachers of past generations, he was burdened... not for the lost, merely, but for the Church. Certainly, he prayed for a move of God that would sweep sinners into the Kingdom by the thousands! But he argued that this glory is ordained to come from the lamp - The Church - whose flame is now flickering, sickly, and nigh unto termination. Therefore, in summary, this was Ravenhill's burden: SAVE THE CHURCH and you will SAVE THE WORLD! 

"...Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it; That He might sanctify and 
cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" 
- Ephesians 5:25-27

Ravenhill was most famous for communicating his burden for the Church by addressing her as "The Bride of Christ". Everything that he sought after was often communicated through this spiritual and metaphorical lens. He was obsessed with the promises of God given to the Bride, who will, as scripture states, make "herself ready" (Rev. 19:7), and Ravenhill was utterly persuaded that she was then, for a long time, UNREADY, UNHOLY, and IMPURE! 

The Bride's Qualifications

Leonard had an "understanding" in which God "enlightened" him - with a revelation - and it was of "the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints" (Eph. 1:18), and because he saw this, he felt what was truth, truth which most don't even believe: that it is a crime to be poor when Christ is rich; to be weak with Christ is strong; to be impotent with Christ is "exceeding greatness" of "power" (Eph. 1:19); to be drowning when Christ was overcoming. He understood that these things, and things like them, were purchased by the blood of Christ! Therefore, a life without them is a crime against God! What Ravenhill saw in "the Church" today was an exceeding contradiction to what he saw in scripture. 

The Bridal Qualifications 
-Determine- 
The Eternal Destiny of Individuals

“The Christian must say 'NO' to the whole world system which is but damnation frosted with the glitter of success and illuminated with scientific luster. He remembers that it is worm-eaten with depravity and has God's sentence of death upon it.” - Leonard Ravenhill

“A very remarkable thing happened…”, Duncan reports. While kneeling in straw among the barn of a farm house, “The Young Man” arose and read Psalm 24:3-5...

Then "The Young Man" looked at the Church ministers who were gathered there to pray, and he said...

Then "The Young Man" began to pray aloud, and said...

Then the Young Man fell on his knees among the straw, and suddenly, three of the elders fell into a trance! When this happened in the barn, a power was let loose which shook Lewis, Duncan exclaims! The result - “God seemed to be everywhere!” Some of you know these events well, but who knew them more than the God-chosen microphone of the revival, Duncan Campbell? You see, Campbell was branded with a holy poverty, a self-hatred, a confession of sin and a longing, for he knew that he, at that moment in time, was hindering God's gracious flood-tide of revival glory. Campbell, who appeared to be branded with no greater impression, remembered what was upon God's heart the moment that revival broke out. God revealed it to his servant, a prophet, who Duncan does not give a name whereby we might know him, only that he is "The Young Man". When God showed "The Young Man" the secret of revival's absence, revival broke out, and "The Young Man's" words seem to be the entire focus of what Duncan now seeks. Do you remember - Campbell, rich in Scottish ascent, speaks forth the anointed words...

Three Noteworthy Observations

What Actually Happend

The Deciding Message of God

The Most Astonishing and Appalling Conclusion
(The Need For Biblical Reformation)

The Father God, at initial salvation, is He "who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son" (Col. 1:13). He hath brought us so nigh, it is not blasphemy to declare, God has "raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:6)! Shocking! We are not there in bodily presence, but through a saving union with Christ we are, spiritually and lawfully, with Him where He is, being enabled to relate to God by and through Christ. In a spiritual and lawful way we are "dead, and [our] life is hid with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3). "Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or Who shall stand in His holy place" (Ps. 24:3)? This is a question of eternal consequence! And again, "who shall abide in [God's] Tabernacle? Who shall dwell in [God's] holy hill" (Ps. 15:1)? The answer: We, the regenerate, blood-bought, crucified, and resurrected multitude, by the perfection of Christ's sanctifying powers, have already (spiritually and lawfully) "come unto Sion, and unto the city of the Living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels" (Heb. 12:22)! We are, in Christ, ascended up Mount Zion and standing in His holy place! In Christ we have been given, instantaneously, suddenly, and miraculously, "clean hands and a pure heart", and all that remains for us to do is - as we have received clean hands and a pure heart, even so, we should walk in them, or in other words, "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him" (Col. 2:6).

To abide in Christ is to, of necessity, abide in "the holiest" place of heaven (Heb. 10:19), and again, staggeringly, upon the very throne of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:6)! Accessing the free-powers from this place of POSITIONAL GRACE, we are enabled to have power to overcome the world (1 John 5:4, John 16:33). We are able to overcome the world because, namely - Christ Jesus already overcame it! - and He is above it right now, "Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in the that which is to come: And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all" (Eph. 1:21-23). Therefore in Him - we too! - "tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy" (Lk. 10:19)! "And nothing shall by any means hurt you", the Victor of humanity declares (Lk. 10:19)! Oh saints - reckon it so! - you are already clad in a Divinely manufactured armor, you are, namely, "in the Lord", "in the power of His Might", because of where the grace of God has spiritually and lawfully positioned you! Therefore Satan, who fell from Heaven like lightning, will "flee from you" (Jas. 4:7)! Only one condition remains so that you will be unconquerable in your ability "to stand" (Eph. 6:11, 13)...my reader, by faith you must "put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ" who hath ascended Mount Zion in victory, and there - in Him - stand still and abide (presently and progressively)! Revival is the unfathomable expression of God's power - "the power that worketh in us" (Eph. 3:20) - and when we are rightly related with the Lord we become God's "Divine channel" - "channels only" - through which God's causes His "exceeding greatness" (Eph. 1:19) to rush upon and overflow from us! God's people are lead to this climactic experience by a present-continuous right relationship with God. We must be, as The Young Man said: "rightly related to God". We must be, in other words, savingly related to God, and then nothing will interrupt the floods of revival power! Can you imagine it!? Revival floods which are "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us" (Eph. 3:20)! 

Duncan Campbell reported the wondrous Revival of the Isle of Lewis to the world. Today, via the internet, these recordings are listened to across the world! Duncan argued that this work of reviving grace was in fulfillment of specific conditions - condition which, when they are met, put God in a holy obligation to perform the promises of His Covenant. These conditions are found in one primary text of scripture in which Campbell continually cites. He affirms to us, as a Divine-witness of revival, that a similar revival can be experienced if indeed, now, we meet these very same conditions outlined by his primary text. Namely, one must meet the conditions of Psalm 24:3-6! 

What I desire for my reader to see is: though other fulfillments of this promise can be shadowed in time, the apex of this passage is finally fulfilled at the final salvation of God’s people, and what is so terrifying is, Duncan preached this text as conditions for Revival merely, but he left the people unaware that these conditions are, biblically and contextually speaking, conditions for final salvation, so the people imagine a revival experience that is eternally insignificant for their own souls, they vainly justify themselves without such manifestations, they do not demonstrate whole-hearted sacrifice to pursue such nearness to God, and they come to believe that revival is only for the salvation of lost souls! But, my reader, God is signifying that these conditions are for the final salvation of regenerate souls! And if the saints will obtain this final standing before God, it is because they have been enabled to initially and present-progressively stand with God on the holy mountain of Zion (Heb. 12:22-23). How does one know if he is presently and progressively standing upon Mount Zion? According to Psalm 24:3-6 & Revelation 14:1-5, you must have – “clean hands,” “a pure heart,” a denial of “vanity” and false swearing, “not defiled with women,” as “virgins,” as one that does “follow the Lamb withersoever He goeth,” having no “guile” in the mouth and “without fault” before the Throne (to be applied in physical and spiritual interpretations where necessary, for example: 2 Cor. 11:2-4, James 1:26-27, 4:4, 2 Cor. 7:1). Are you one of those “who shall ascend the Hill of the LORD” so as to be finally saved? Then you must presently and progressively abide in such a character of blamelessness – personally for sure (Eph. 4:12), and God willing, corporately (Eph. 4:13) - and if the corporate body is enabled to reach this stature of perfection, then at last, the world will see "the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" manifest through His local Church (Eph. 4:13)! "Take heed therefore how ye hear" (Lk. 8:18). 

"Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded" - James 4:8

A crime against God which renders a man unclean in hands and an impure in heart, is no small sin! God jealously declares, such a man is an "enemy of God" (James 4:4), an "adulterer" (James 4:4), a "sinner" (James 4:8), who needs to set his entire heart upon the only course of hope and reconciliation with God. My reader, restoration does not come by a mere confession of sin, or some "sinners prayer" for backslidden Christians! Nay! God commands such a man to continue in affliction, mourning, weeping, and heaviness for an undetermined amount of time - simply because of the fact that his offended God has called HIM an enemy. God calls such a man to humiliate himself before the eyes of the Lord, if haply, at the time God ordains, the man might be lifted up again into the experiential, present-progressive grace of God! Read the pointed words of God - The Judge - and let us conform ourselves to the Book's narrow way! God has directed us to a sure way of escape, and let us choose it, and not another! 

"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up." - James 4:7-10

"O LORD, revive Thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy" - Habakkuk 3:2

Qualification: I, of course, do not assert that such a widespread move of God (like the Lewis revival) is a mark that we, His individual people, are savingly related to Christ, but it is a mark that we, as an entire people, are savingly related to Christ (see the promises of Ephesians 4:11-13 in context with John 17:20-26). The bottom line is, we need to reform our ideas and convictions unto the biblical standard of salvation and revival. 

What is the eternal destiny of those who are Spiritually Sleeping? 

In this generation, whose voice but Ian Paisley's is more clearly heard booming in the memory of multiplied thousands of individuals, when he said: 

Paisley is indeed decrying the spiritual lethargy which has paralyzed the Church...and yet, the Church still sleeps! Why?! After listening to "The Revival Hymn", most are gripped with awe. Such unctionized words are able to make the stiffest sleeper flicker with holy alertness and sobriety, and yet it seems, momentarily, the Church rolls over and passes out. God help us! Bear with me, my readers, as I attempt to give an answer. 

"The Revival Hymn" opens up with Ian Paisley's denouncement of spiritual sleep, and all that is heard afterward (from Ravenhill, Campbell, Tozer, etc.) is generally lumped together in the same burden - we need to wake up - but I fear that men are not able to wake up because it is still unclear to them exactly what Spiritual Sleep is. The message of "The Revival Hymn" is clear, but it is so general, so vague, that men are left with the feeling that WIDESPREAD and SWEEPING revival which apprehends the unconverted public is the goal. Revival is an operation of God which happens within the regenerate Church, who, according to Ian Paisley, is largely sleeping - therefore they must be awakened again. Revival is "to be made alive again", and in the metaphor of choice for Paisley it would be rendered, "to be awakened again". If Ian Paisley is right, then we (the regenerate Church) do stand in need of a personal awakening because we have fallen asleep, and at one time, because of our Great Salvation, we WERE awake, watchful, and alive. What about you, my reader, are you sleeping? Do you need personal revival? 

Do you remember how you stayed awake at night, wondering in awe, determining to expend yourself as a seeker after your Lord? Do you remember when you felt as though God was EVERYWHERE, how your heart was scarcely absent from holy love and holy fear? Do you remember when you felt as a beggar, suddenly made rich, and your heart panted with insatiable satisfaction in Christ? Do you remember when you met The King, The Messiah, when your heart energetically shouted His praise? Do you remember when your heart was His harp, when your mind was full of Divinely authored melodies - when they played, they played all throughout your duties, and all throughout your days (Eph. 5:19)? Do you remember how your heart burned, how you were sore amazed, how you longed for men to know Christ's Lordship for the glory of its EXPERIENCE!? Do you remember when you were not so callused, so used to tragedy, when you were indignant to interrupt Satan's mad tyranny over sinners? Do you remember when you were vigilant, exploding with zealous vows and ejaculatory prayers, if haply, God giving you AMAZING grace, the shadow of your vain lifetime would be worth something for eternity? Do you remember when you were awake, and alarmed, because eternity's brightness will SHORTLY bring this whole world of darkened sinners to an unhappy and tormenting halt!? Do you remember when you felt unworthy to "die daily" (1 Cor. 15:31), enthralled to labor (Acts 20:24), and "rich toward God" (Luke 12:21), when the The Great Commission was a hallway of gold with doors of silver!? Do you remember when personal crucifixion was a "reasonable service" to you (Rom. 12:1-2)? Do you remember when religion was a whirlwind of glory in your heart, how that, you knew not how, but that you were taken in the power of its "WIND" (John 3:8)? Do you remember how, at one time, you were at loss for words of how enjoyable God is, and how you excitedly quoted the scripture - "joy UNSPEAKABLE and full of glory" (1 Pet. 1:8)!? "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent" (Rev. 3:5). 

My reader, what saith the scripture? 
What is the eternal destiny of those who are Spiritually Sleeping? 

Ian Paisley spoke correctly - it was "The Church" which was SLEEPING, and the wake-up call was to them, but since "The Revival Hymn" did not successfully answer such questions like - What is spiritual sleep? How do we tell if we, personally, are spiritually sleeping? And what happens if we don't wake up? - the recording ends with the hearers at a loss for direction. Still drowsy from the long sleep, they become like virgins without oil for their lamplight, and without oil, how will they stay awake in the dark night of this world? "They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them" (Matt. 25:3). "The Revival Hymn" was like a flash of lightning that aroused multitudes into sudden consciousness, but we need the lights turned on, to stay on, till our eyes adjust to the light. We are too used to the darkness of sin, to iniquity abounding, to the love of many waxing cold, to the wretchedness of night! For most, emotions are seldom invigorated by holy visions of revival! Most are, rather, lost in the entertainment of their finite dreams...sleeping to all that is God, alert and affectionate to all that is vanity! Oh God have mercy!

None of these questions are clearly answered in "The Revival Hymn", so the hearer is left in a condition - not unmoved, but still in bed. The hearer is convicted of sin, but uncertain of the actual sin which needs to be repented of, and consequentially, uncertain of the fruits of righteousness which verify God's Divine acceptance of their repentance. If a man does not know what revival is, he does not know what sinful behavior (in heart or actual deed, in omission or commission) needs to be changed, therefore the hearer leaves with a false sense of security even though personal repentance and personal revival are yet out of hand. God would not give personal peace to the man who lacks personal revival, who is at present, spiritually asleep. God's trumpet-loud CRY to such a man is, "Awake thou that sleepest, and ARISE from THE DEAD, and Christ shall give thee LIGHT" (Eph. 5:14)! Jesus Christ is both Life and Light, and spiritual damnation is both death and darkness - therefore this charge in Ephesians 5:14, also quoted by Ian Paisley, is addressing a matter of eternal consequence in the life of a regenerate believer! Leonard Ravenhill recognized the woeful "false security" which hinders biblical revival. He said, "I believe that one main barrier to revival is false security." My reader, if your lamp has gone out because you have no oil, "go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves" while you still have time (Matt. 25:9). This is, by interpretation, forsaking foolishness and simplicity; it is learning wisdom and circumspection - to the end that you "make your calling and election SURE" (2 Pet. 1:10). My reader, I beg you, be SURE that you are awake, ready, watching, and received when "The Bridegroom cometh" (Matt. 25:1-13)!

My reader, let's face it! How many listen to "The Revival Hymn", and then walk away with a "false security"? It is because they don't really know what revival is - personally and corporately, and also on what grounds one would be condemned without it (Rev. 2:26, 3:2) or justified with it (James 2:24). "Many of us have no heartsickness for the former glory of the Church because we have never known what true revival is. We stagnate in the status quo and sleep easy at night while our generation moves swiftly to the eternal night of hell. Shame, shame on us!" - Leonard Ravenhill 

"God hath given them the spirit of slumber" - Romans 11:8 

"For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, 
and hath closed your eyes..." - Isaiah 29:10 

My reader, did you know that God can, by Divine decree, put you to sleep? It is one thing for God to, as He said, "pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh", but it is another thing for God to, as Isaiah 29:10 states, "pour out upon you the spirit of deep sleep"! These two are, most certainly, not the same spirit, for one is LIGHT and the other is DARKNESS; one is LIFE and the other is DEATH. Therefore how valuable is the promise, "and Christ shall give thee LIGHT"...but we must meet the condition - "AWAKE thou that SLEEPEST" (Eph. 5:14)! My reader, has Christ given you light? 

When God puts a man to sleep, He sends them an evil spirit, "the spirit of slumber", and henceforth they have "eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear" (Rom. 11:8). How terrifying! My reader, what if God, from Sovereign heights, included you in the number when He said - "Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway" (Rom. 11:10). My reader, this is a spiritual "FALL" (Rom. 11:11), a spiritual "cut off" (Rom. 11:22), a spiritual blinding (Rom. 11:7), a spiritual "casting away" (Rom. 11:15) if, when a man falls asleep he does not wake up from it! And we are in "The Last Days" - in which it was prophesied, "THEY ALL slumbered and slept" (Matt. 25:5). Do you want to be awake? Do you want to be wise? Do you want to be prepared with an oil-laden lamp for the "midnight" hour of your trial (Matt. 25:6)? My reader, count the cost.

"I am persuaded that these hidden powers and possibilities will be revealed only to humble, prostrate Christians, hungry for God and willing to shout from the housetops what God is saying in these days of religious chaos." - Leonard Ravenhill 

For more on the topic of Spiritual Darkness, alongside other spiritual metaphors which symbolize the need for personal revival, please continue reading in The Condescension of God. 

Related Sermons: "Spiritual Darkness" - by S.M.

Many people pray for revival, but how many have taken the time to study the scripture to discover exactly what it is? Generally speaking, most consider revival to be like a forest fire: chaotic and uncontrollable by humanity, and yet, having its beginning and continual existence under the government of God. We would do well to know exactly what it is, so that, God willing, when such a fire burns among us, we might be able to identify it. Furthermore, we should search out if there are any means of grace whereby we could inflame and aggravate a revival's flames to greater vehemence! A burden so predominant on the heart of God as revival - should we not expect there would be scriptural instruction as to its beginning, continuance, and absence? 

According to scripture, it is one thing to be accepted by God at initial salvation, but it is another thing to seek after a final acceptance on Judgment Day, which is in other words, final salvation (all forms of salvation are accomplished by grace through faith, and evidenced by deeds). Likewise to this, it is one thing to be made ALIVE in God at initial salvation, but it is another thing to maintain present progressive LIFE in God so as to be found ALIVE in God on Judgment Day. Revival means to be made alive again, therefore it can only be done in those who were already made alive in Christ once, but at present, evidently, they need to be made alive again. It is, therefore, an operation of God which is done upon the regenerate believer in Christ who has backslidden into a damnable condition, and it is not an operation of God which is done upon the unconverted, false professor of the Christian faith. 

Revival = To Make Alive Again 

"I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall judge the QUICK [LIVING] and the DEAD at His appearing and His kingdom" - 2 Timothy 4:1

"Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the QUICK [LIVING] and the DEAD."- 1 Peter 4:5

There scriptures do expound and amplify the meaning of revival through a host of of other terms which do all serve as synonyms. Each word does declare the same exact Divine operation in its initial experience and present progressive attainment. Some of these synonyms can be seen in the chart below. 

This chart is exhaustively addressed in The Condescension of God. As I close this blog post, please consider an excerpt from one of the chapters pasted below: 

Revival cannot be eternally insignificant, for it is directly related to the WRATH of God. I say again in another way, it has everything to do with the MERCY of God unto salvation. When you pray for revival, do you pray – “in wrath remember mercy” (Hab. 3:2)? The synonyms of revival are formerly listed in the four categories we are mapped to examine, including the five senses of the gospel we have already examined, and more specifically this category called “perfection” we are addressing now: falling from personal revival is also a falling from perfection as a Christian (Col. 1:28-29, Eph. 4:12, 2 Cor. 13:9, 11), which is falling from perfecting works in Christ (Rev. 3:2, Heb. 13:21, 2 Thess. 2:16-17), perfected holiness (2 Cor. 7:1), perfected faith (James 2:21-22, 1 Thess. 3:10), and as John addresses it, perfected love (1 John 2:5, 4:12, 17). Likewise as falling from personal or corporate revival, to fall from perfection is to, at present, incur the just penalties of reprobating and casting-away wrath (2 Cor. 13:5), though God will give a space of time for repentance that you may potentially but not certainly escape it. 

Revival is the reestablishing of perfection when, at the present time, the saint has sinfully fallen from it. Being found in the midst of the troublous conflict of imperfection, it is then that David cries out for revival, saying, “Thou wilt revive me”, and by this he pointedly means, “Thy right hand shall save me”. Salvation and revival are biblically synonymous! David clearly has his eyes of hope upon saving “mercy” and therefore prays for it, saying, “forsake not the works of Thine own hands”. By this he means himself. The supplication to God could be otherwise rendered, “O forsake me not utterly” (Ps. 119:8). This scenario of high crime, desperate need, present trouble, and eternal consequence is - let the reader understand - the hour of need for REVIVAL! Every biblical saint that ever strove for revival did so under the same emotional press and salvific aim. Revival is a reestablishment of salvation and mercy in the midst of salvation-interrupting wrath, a wrath which is, potentially, able to be infuriated until the man of God is forsaken; otherwise the wrath is pacified because salvific revival interrupts the conflict of wrath in however it was manifesting and pursuing the individual or corporate body. This wrath-interrupting, saving work of God is altogether understood as God perfecting the saints, or as David said, “The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me” (Ps. 138:7-8).