A Solemn Assembly

Gird yourselves and lament, ye priests
Howl, ye ministers of the altar.
Come, lie all night in sackcloth.
Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly.
Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land
Into the house of the Lord,
and cry unto the Lord.
Joel 1:13-14

Every year as November rolls around, we look forward to Youth Bible School. It is always a great spiritual blessing to all of the brothers and sisters here. Each Bible School has its own unique flavor because God works in so many different ways. This year was no exception. We noticed from the Sunday before the classes began that there was revival in the air. The students arriving early were full of expectations in the Lord. I remember hearing some of the ministers say, “If it starts on this high note, where will it end?”

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Dangers in Revival

The moving of the Spirit in revival has been preceded by many prayers from burdened Christians across the Church. There are anxious souls who have prayed long for revival in our time.

Some of these have revealed in tears how they had hoped almost against hope that they might witness mass revival. May the Lord bless and renew all those prayer warriors who are holding on to God for a mighty revival in our time which will sweep the unsaved into the Kingdom and restore or renew those whose first love has been lost.

But there is need also for caution.

It has been rightly said that revivals are dangerous. To deny this is an extreme position as also it is to refuse to recognize the good. For example, there is danger that revival will create or intensify division. The revivals of the last two hundred years, though great sources of blessings, were divisive...but who would therefore conclude that revivals like these of the past were not needed? The churches at that time were due a mighty shaking. Some were willing for it. Others were not. Division was the result.

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The Church Must First Repent

The occurrence of the word “Repent” in the messages to the Seven Churches is truly remarkable. The word repentance—in the mind of the average Christian—is connected with sinners and not with professing Christians. And yet the word used throughout the New Testament in the presentation of the Gospel message to sinners is exactly the same word repeated by our Lord in His messages to the Seven Churches.

The word “Repent” occurs over seven times in these seven messages. It is omitted from two of them—Smyrna, the poor, persecuted Church—for a church in persecution is generally a purified one, and Philadelphia, the loyal Church, the Church that had kept the faith. The noun “metanoia” (repentance) is defined variously as a change of mind, a change of heart, a change of attitude, or a change of direction.

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