218
May 1929
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
slain from the foundation of the world. There was an eternal necessity of the cross; “The Son of man must be lifted up” if the sons of Adam are to be delivered from the penalty, power and presence of sin. How ignorant is man’s estimate of sin when com pared with the plain statements of inspired truth! And how inadequate and foolish the remedies now offered by stupid men in comparison with the atoning death of the Son of God! The new theology deals only with the natural man in his present standing and state; but experience teaches that this man, educated and cultured to the highest degree, becomes the fullest expression of arrogant pride, with a love of power that leads to high-handed rebellion against God. Education cannot change the fiber of a man’s life or the quality of his soul. It develops the soul’s powers, and therefore often increases his capacity for evil. Ideas given to a boy may lend tools for treacherous vil lainy, while ideals will lift him toward the stars. The modern remedies offered for sin deal not with the question of God’s infinite holiness, nor do they provide for a guilty conscience, or the ceaseless cravings of the im mortal spirit. As long as the ages roll, spelling out through the centuries the deep counsels of God, and revealing the true destiny of man, so long shall the divine method ,of putting away sin remain the only possible remedy for man’s ruin. III. W ells of M iraculous P ower S topped U p Finally, it may be affirmed without fear of contradic tion that the wells o f miraculous power .have been stopped up by the Philistines of the twentieth century, and need to be dug out once more. The rationalistic teachers of the present time who deny the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures, must needs go a step further and eliminate the miraculous element from the Word of God. This position is taken in order to be consistent, but consistent with what? With a false conception of God, of truth, and of life. These men are blinded by their own feeble light, and when the blind lead the blind the result is always disastrous. According to the rationalistic view, Adam and Eve were not historical creatures created by God for the pur pose of launching a race of moral beings who would ful fill His eternal counsels and carry forward the divine plan of “the age times.” These modernists teach that the waters of the Red Sea were not piled up on either side to allow Israel, Jehovah’s peculiar treasure, to pass through in safety, beyond the persecution of the Pharaohs. Joshua, who prefigured the mighty commander Jesus, did not speak to the sun and moon in the valley of Ajalon and bid them stand still until Jehovah’s people had avenged themselves on their enemies—an event entirely consistent with all we know about God! These blind guides would have us believe that the fish never swallowed Jonah, although it is a well-known fact that there are fish in the sea with throats large enough to swallow a man with the •ease that a man would swallow a gnat. And for the same reason that Jonah was not resurrected from a watery grave, Jesus never rose from Joseph’s tomb by the miracu lous power of the divine Spirit. From the very beginning of the Christian era, oppo sition to the truth has been the work of the “father of lies,” who is devoted to the task of deluding and damning the world. When the mighty truths concerning the risen, glorified Christ were preached in the early centuries, the ■church grew like a tree planted by the rivers of water, and the world felt its power and prestige. And in every age
where some hero of the cross consecrates himself to the task of digging out the old wells of saving truth, as did Calvin, Luther and the Wesleys, there have been reforma tion and renewing. If there is at the present time a dearth in the churches—a lack of moral tone and spiritual life— the explanation will be found in the fact that some of the old wells of eternal truth have been closed up, and new cis terns, broken cisterns that can hold no water, have been offered as a miserable substitute for the living, saving, satisfying streams that flow from the Rock of Ages; “for with thee is the fountain o f life; in thy light shall 'we see light.”
The Revival B y R ev . R obert L. S elle (Methodist Pastor, Rogers, Ark.)
ID EVIVALS do not come by chance or unexpectedly. They come unlooked for and unexpectedly to some people but are always looked for and expected by others, the ones who have prevailed with God in fervent effectual pleadings and intercessions for an outpouring of God’s Spirit and power. Any church or neighborhood may have a revival of the Pentecostal type as recorded in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. But in order to have such a revival, now as then, the necessary conditions for such a manifestation of God’s presence and power must be met, and they can be met as easily now as they were then. When revival conditions are met the revival can not be prevented. If we knew the history of revivals as it is recorded in the Book of God’s Remembrance we would see that every spiritual awakening had its beginning in the heart of some saint or saints who were near enough to the heart of the Saviour for Him to place the burden for souls upon them. He did it. They willingly took it. They worked together under the same yoke. Earnest prayer; soul cry to God for the salvation of the lost; continuous intercession, for the one thing; fast ings mingled with prayer as the Spirit led; refusing to be comforted except in seeing souls converted to God with faith in the people in the Bible, and in God, and with travail of soul for the salvation of the lost, was the path of revival preparation traveled by some child of God pre ceding the revival. The pastor or evangelist gets credit for a revival when it really belongs to some one whose name may never be connected with it at all except in the record on the pages of the Book of Life. Some of the most successful pastors and evangelists are men and women who have no ecclesiastical credentials, no advertising matter for distribution telling what they have done and what they can do, but are quiet before God, shut-ins it may be, who have a passion for souls inspired by the Man of Gethsemane; and it is their daily meat and drink to plead with God in intercessory prayer for the salvation of the lost. It will be interesting “when we shall know as we are known” to see the history of the revivals we have known and to see the saints who touched the hem of God’s power in prevailing prayer which started the revival. May some one in every state in the Union, in Canada, Mexico and other countries who reads these lines catch the vision of opportunity to be a co-worker with Christ in bringing about the revival that is most needed in the com munity to save lost souls; and seeing the opportunity, it may be that they will be willing to yoke up with Him for
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker