Revival isn't new!

I am not the most disciplined reader, and my wife reminds me from time to time of the books I have started and not finished. A few months ago I started George M Marsden,Jonathan Edwards - A Life. I stopped and, just this week, started again.

Given the various comments that have been made concerning the work of God in Florida (both for, against, and indifferent), I found it very interesting to read of some of the things that happened in one of the revival seasons in Northampton, Massachusetts. We are not qualified to say whether Edwards would endorse or reject the Florida Outpouring, but it helps to see that revivals, visions and manifestations of the Spirit are not new.


Healing

Marsden writes:

"One of the extraordinary manifestations of revival fervor was that illness almost disappeared from the town."

Now Marsden does add -

"Edwards did not cite this verifiable phenomenon as evidence of the validity of the awakening. Rather, he mentioned it only as a providence in which Satan seemed to be restrained for a time."

Whatever Edwards' interpretation of the events, the fact is - they happened!!! Today we long to see healing on this scale - whole towns, even cities, transformed by the gospel of grace and where the smile of God is such that illness almost disappears!


Many saved

"Edwards could not be sure how many would prove in the long run to be savingly converted, but he had good hopes that within a three-month period 300 townspeople had been so changed... The awakening was especially extraordinary because it affected 'all sorts, sober and vicious, high and low, rich and poor, wise and unwise.'"

We don't need to have low expectations of the working of God - one saved here, one saved there. No - God sent Jesus not to condemn the world, but that the world would be saved through Him. Many saved is part of revival. Many saved is God's purpose for the end of the age.


Great criticism

"New England's Reformed clergy, reflecting something of the spirit of their 'enlightened' times as well as knowing of recurrent excesses within their tradition, were deeply suspicious of 'enthusiasm', by which they meant undisciplined religious fervor. Word spread that the extraordinary transformation of Northampton was just such a fanatical outbreak."

Critics are there in every move of God. Critics were present with Jesus. Critics were present when Peter, and later Paul, preached to the Gentiles. Critics were present when the lone few stood up in the church and declared the deity of Christ in the fourth and fifth century. Critics were present at the Reformation. Critics were present when Whitefield and Wesley proclaimed the good news in the streets and fields.

Interestingly, it is often those who profess to love the Reformers, Edwards, Whitefield, who make the strongest critics of any move of the Holy Spirit today. It seems we are happy to read about God moving in bygone years, but are quick to oppose anything "unusual" in a move of God today - and so reject the move totally. There were imperfections in all these great leaders of the past (Jesus excepted, of course). There were excesses. But God was moving, people were being saved and healed, and families and societies were being delivered from the powers of darkness.


Unusual manifestations

"Timothy Cutler, now an Anglican rector in Boston, wrote to a friend in England: ' The Calvinistic scheme is in perfection about 100 miles from this place. Conversions are talked of, ad nauseam usque {I don't know what that bit of Latin means :) }. Sixty in a place undergo the work at once. Sadness and horror seize them, and hold them for some days; then they feel an inward joy, and it first shows itself in laughing at meeting."

Edwards did comment that some of the ridicule of others were great misrepresentations, so we are not certain that this record of laughter was accurate, or an exaggeration (just a thought here - critics picture the most extreme thing that happens in any move of God, and then speak or write of that as the norm, and so the work is of the Spirit is spoken against on the basis of exaggerated allegations of unusual things that rarely happen, while the reality of the work of the Spirit in saving, healing and delivering is ignored).

Whether Cutler was exaggerating or not, it is clear there were some unusual manifestations. Of course these things aren't proof that God is working - but every move of the Holy Spirit leads to a reaction - some godly reactions and some fleshly ones. I've been told that "all this shouting in revival is irreverent." So the 3,000 in Acts 2 crying out for salvation were irreverent?? There are always manifestations when God is at work. Let God be God!!

Yes, we should use discernment - Edwards did-

"In a few instances Edwards' parishioners had visions that he found 'mysterious' and did not know how to evaluate. Nonetheless, he took great pains to teach them the distinction between true biblically based experiences and undisciplined imaginations."

So even with his great mind and teaching Edwards could not explain everything!! Yet he taught how to discern. We have scripture, we have the Holy Spirit who guides into all truth. Under the power of the everlasting God, it is perfectly reasonable to fall, weep, laugh for joy, shake. In fact it is unreasonable for nothing to happen! Let God be God - and ask Him to guide you! He will - He is good!!


Contagious!

I find it incredible that one of the main criticisms of Florida, and indeed Toronto, has been the fact that people come and then the same things break out in their home churches. We're told "you don't need to go and 'get' revival. God is sovereign, He can send revival to your church." Of course, He can, but revival IS contagious. Marsden writes:

"Northampton's revival fervour was contagious. Skeptical visitors would come to the town and leave impressed or even greatly concerned for the states of their souls. When the court met in Northampton in March 1735, just as the revival was building towards its height, many visitors were deeply affected by seeing the remarkably altered state of the town.

By this time the revival was spreading through the Connecticut River Valley and as far as New Haven and the coast of Connecticut. In many cases, Edwards believed, these awakenings resulted from direct contacts with Northampton."

Whether from direct contact with Florida, Hong Kong, Africa, or a direct and new work of the Holy Spirit - let the glory of God come. Revival isn't new! More, Lord - today!