02.07. Chapter 7
Chapter 7. The Message to the Church--The Object Lesson in Wales--The Place of Calvary in the Awakening
He that believeth [into] Me . . out of the depths of his life shall pour torrents of living water. John 7:38, old Syriac. As we review the story given in the preceding pages the Pentecostal character of the Awakening in Wales is unmistakably clear, and we are encouraged to believe that the wider fulfilment of Joel’s prophecy is at hand. Undoubtedly we are in a new era of the world’s history, when we may expect supernatural workings of God such as have not been known since the days of the primitive Church.
Dr. Cynddylan Jones points out that the question "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed ?" is in the forefront to-day! It is a question loudly ringing out to the Church of God through the Awakening in Wales, with tremendous consequences to the world dependent upon its being truly faced by the people of God. It is the call to the Church, at the close of the dispensation, to arise and receive the Pentecostal clothing of the Spirit which is her birthright, and her need for effectual witness to Christ in the world. What God has done for Wales is an object lesson of what He is prepared to do for His people in every land, if they will seek His face, and obey the conditions for His Pentecostal working. This does not mean that the Holy Spirit will manifest Himself in exactly the same outward form as in Wales, nor sweep in seventy thousand converts in two months everywhere; but undoubtedly if true members of Christ in every nation, including missionaries among the heathen--be they few or many--were each to receive what God means by a baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire, "signs and wonders" would follow in diversities of workings, according to the circumstances and conditions of the various lands. It has been truly said that the world cannot be "revived," for it is dead! A "world-wide revival" therefore means the quickening of the people of God into abundance of life. Were this to come about in every land the ’’overflowing stream of the breath of God would quickly "sift all nations" (Isaiah 30:28), and make its own channels everywhere.
But let us turn to Wales for light upon the laws which govern the Spirit’s working so that the children of God may intelligently know how to co-operate with Him for the fulfilment of His purposes.
The object-lesson that stands out the clearest, and speaks the loudest, to the Church of God, is the fact that the Spirit of God moved upon the unsaved in converting power as soon as the Christians in a particular church, or specific meeting, were in harmony with God.
The instances we have given emphasise this lesson. We see how in one church after two weeks’ prayer, when the Spirit dealt secretly with the professing Christians (as they afterwards testified), and as soon as all were right with God, the Spirit fell upon the public service, and large numbers of unsaved spontaneously arose and pressed in to the enquiry room, without any invitation! In another church we see that the Spirit of God could not work until the Pastor obeyed Him, and personally dealt with the hindrance among his officers, although it meant to him anguish of heart and many tears to obey. We find also in the crowded meetings in various places how the Revivalist was given by the Spirit of God sensitive knowledge of the hindrances to His working. How strange the "block," and cold the service, until the (1) curious spirit, (2) unreal spirit, (3) contentious, or unforgiving, spirit was removed, and how quickly these departed when confession was made, or prayer poured out to God, and how mightily the Holy Spirit would at once fall upon the people, and souls yield to Christ. Again, in the work in North Wales we see how whole districts were stirred after the Christians were brought into full surrender to God, and, entering the Spirit-filled life, were knit in perfect unity and fellowship with each other. "Bend the Church and save the world" is truly the message for today.
In past years God has been using great leaders; special instruments, called out and led into close fellowship with Him to receive His messages for the people, as He used Elijah, Isaiah, Daniel, and others; but it was not so at Pentecost. Then for the first time God brought a company of people so into union with Himself, and each other, that He could speak through, and flow out of, a number of souls as one. And on the Day of Pentecost the Lord’s ideal--" that they may all be one; even as Thou Father art in Me and I in Thee "--began to be fulfilled, and shown to the world. At Pentecost the Spirit of God broke out upon the multitude, through a united company of people, all prepared by prolonged prayer--and nothing unites like prayer--and yielded wholly to Him.
The object-lesson in Wales shows that God works in the world when His people are right with Him. In brief, the members of Christ must be brought by the Spirit into full union with the Risen Head, and with each other--" in one Spirit were we all baptised into one body "--so that the Spirit of life may pour out into the world. In the darkest, loneliest, furthest corners of the earth, the most isolated child of God may share in the world-wide blessing, as the life-currents from Him who is Life eternal circulate freely throughout the Body of Christ, and overflow in exuberance of life on to the world lying in the shadow of death.
"Church of God, awake!" is now the call at the close of the dispensation. Oh, may all be given anointed eyes to see the vision! The secret is open before the people of God. The Spirit flows out upon the world as the people of God are brought into harmony with Him. And the work in Wales shows us that He does not wait for the Church as a whole thus to fall into line, but He will break out through single congregations, or specific gatherings, as they are brought into one accord with Him. In preparation for the rushing mighty breath upon the land, He dealt, as we have seen, with Pastors and people, lifting whole congregations into a spiritual sphere, and bringing large numbers of church members of all ages into the Spirit-filled life.
May God go on to work deeply until, in this day of His power, the whole Church of God in Wales bears the marks of Pentecost, and the overflowing stream of the life of God flow on and on throughout the world, wheresoever it can find channels; channels of individual souls asking for the baptism of fire, and refusing to account the earnest of the Spirit which they have received in Easter Day blessing, as the clothing from on high given at Pentecost; and channels of churches, or groups of believers, seeking with one accord the outpoured Spirit as given to the company in the upper room in Jerusalem.
Again we learn in Wales from this same object lesson the meaning of atmosphere--a surcharged atmosphere. How mightily the Spirit works when the atmosphere is clear; how easy to speak and to pray when the Spirit fills the atmosphere! And this also is Pentecost, for in the upper room that day the rushing mighty breath filled the house, together with the believers, who were then environed by the Spirit, as well as indwelt by Him. It is this characteristic of the clothing, or environing, or covering, of the Spirit, which distinguishes the Pentecostal experience from the Easter Day blessing of "receiving the Holy Ghost." In other words, the Spirit upon for service, as the Spirit within for life. Souls thus environed in God carry with them, so to speak, their own "atmosphere," and quickly know an atmosphere wherein the Spirit is hindered or grieved. We have thought much of changed people, but how little have we understood the power of a changed atmosphere wherein the Holy Ghost may freely work. "There was no result in individual blessing, but a changed atmosphere" may be said after a Convention--yet this is the supreme thing after all, for in the cleansed and cleared atmosphere the Holy Ghost is able to work out His fullest purposes in souls.
Again, as we look to Wales, we see the place the Holy Ghost gives to Calvary, and we may be perfectly sure that no overflowing stream of life will come where the people of God are not in agreement with Him in His estimation of the death of His Son. As we recall the conditions preceding the first Pentecost, we cannot forget that CALVARY WAS A TERRIBLE FACT to each one of the little company in the upper room. There is no Pentecost without a preceding Calvary. The fire that touched Isaiah came from off the altar--Calvary. The fire that fell in answer to Elijah’s cry came on the sacrifice on the altar--Calvary! "To-day there is one hill more effectually in sight than Snowdon--a hill ’without a city wall ’--and as that hill comes more and more into sight crowned with its redeeming Cross, at times what bursts of song, at times what hush of awe." "What seems to me to lie at the heart is the unveiling of the Cross." "Unchanging Love as it shone and shines from the throbbing mysteries of the Cross." "The Cross stood unveiled and thousands looked, and men and women smitten with the grief and triumph of Calvary rise . . . writes one about the work in Wales. Yea, the Church is "bent" by the revelation of Calvary, and the Holy Ghost in Pentecostal power bears witness to the Cross. Nought but the supernatural working of God could have broken men at the feet of the Lord in the very city where He was crucified as an apparent criminal! And to-day, whilst men were discussing theories of the atonement, the supernatural witness from heaven was no less needed, and, blessed be God, has now been given. The world has seen before its eyes that the preaching of the Cross is in very truth the dynamic of the Gospel, and is the energy of God to actually and really save men from the bonds of sin. And what is of still greater consequence, the Church of God has been rallied, as by a voice from heaven, to the banner of the Cross. "We have been critics of the Bible when we should have been devotees. We have preached Christ as an ideal of sacrifice, but have left out His atonement for sin," said a well-known minister at a Conference in London; "Now, thank God, there is a return to the Book, and to Calvary;" and another said, "The Revival has brought us back to the Cross of Christ.’
We see, too, in Wales, the attractive power and the all-sufficiency of the Gospel to meet the needs of men. No "means of attraction" are necessary when the Holy Ghost fills and presides over the Church.
If these things are so, some will say, "This awakening in Wales should shake the world!" Yea, and it will shake the world within the limitations we see following the first Pentecost. If we carefully read the story in the Scriptures we find first 3,000, then 5,000, then "multitudes of men and women" added to the first few who met in the upper room. The Spirit-filled company grew, and the Holy Spirit presided over them in such intense reality that any sin was at once dealt with, so that "great fear" came upon the Church, and the people, as they realised the holiness of the God in their midst. The witnessing Church filled Jerusalem with the sound of their message, but by no means did all Jerusalem receive it! Many were unwilling to yield, and unprepared to let God have His way and upset their traditions. The "tidal wave" broke out in Jerusalem, and at once swept in all who would yield, but it must flow on to the world outside. That it could not do so without Spirit-filled souls is shown in that, at this point, the Lord had to permit a persecution to scatter His "channels" far and wide, and as they went the rivers flowed on to the nations.
This is a pattern for us as we look at Wales to-day. The Spirit of God has swept through the Principality, and gathered many into the Kingdom--yet by no means has all Wales yielded to the Lord! The day of visitation will end, and the mighty tide pass on, as it passed in a comparatively short time from Jerusalem, leaving behind, as it did then, members of the Church to give their witness, and continue the work of the Lord.
In closing, we cannot too earnestly urge upon the people of God the solemnity of this present visitation--we cannot hear about it, or come in contact with it, without effect upon our spiritual lives. God has shown to His people that He can work the same as at Pentecost in an unbelieving age. Will His people heed the lesson? Or will they turn away, and say, "Oh, yes, in Wales, but not here!
Let me ask my reader personally, "Have you received your Pentecost?" Is it true of you that out of the depths of your life God is pouring torrents of living water? If you answer, "I have sought, but no change has come," I would ask "Is Calvary real to you?" Calvary in its full-orbed meaning of Christ crucified for you, and you crucified with Christ! Again we would repeat, there is no Pentecost in spiritual experience without a preceding Calvary. We have not known our Pentecost because we have not known the full meaning of Calvary. We parted with our sins as the Spirit unveiled the Christ dying for us, but we have kept ourselves, and hence made no room for the Holy Ghost. We may "repent"; confess Christ, and seek to obey the Holy Ghost; yea, ask in faith, and believe we receive; but if we leave out the crucial condition of the Cross--which is the meaning of Peter’s words "be baptized" as interpreted in their spiritual significance by the apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans, "Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were BAPTIZED INTO HIS DEATH"--we may know some measure of the Holy Ghost in possession of the life, but not the torrential power of Pentecost which the Lord foreshadowed when He said, "Out of the depths of his life shall pour torrents of living water," (Old Syriac rendering).
And how may this be? Jesus stood and cried saying--" He that believeth into Me--out of--shall flow rivers . ." "At that day--the Day of Pentecost--ye shall know . . ye in Me and I in you." "Oh soul, yield thyself wholly to Me in a faith that will not keep back aught from Me, and the Eternal Spirit shall plant thee into My death," so shall I become thy life, and out of the depths--the deep springs of thy inner life--shall flow rivers, rivers, ankle deep; knee deep; loin deep; yea, even "waters to swim in," which shall bear thee, and submerge thee, as they sweep on and on and on, and "everything shall live whither the river cometh."
"And He showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God, and the Lamb." (Rev. xxii. i).
The hidden springs of the Awakening in Wales lie deep in the heart of God, thence breaking out to a dying world through the Cross of Calvary. 0 wondrous Cross!
"On the Mount of Crucjfixion
Fountains opened deep and wide;
Through the floodgates of God’s mercy
Flowed a vast and gracious tide;
Grace and love, like mighty rivers,
Poured incessant from above,
And heaven’s peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love."