Exposition by Max A Forsythe
The
Reformer's Fire
Exposition by Max A Forsythe
The time was 520 BC. The place was Jerusalem. The Jews were attempting to rebuild the Temple after being allowed to return home. As we have seen, there were many problems! The residents of the land were openly hostile and the workmen labored with weapons near. The old timers remembered the glories of the old temple and despised the smallness of the new foundations. Yet, the political leaders encouraged by Haggai and Zechariah, labored on. Eventually the temple and the city were completed against all odds.
As we consider the chapters before us today, we see that there are several types of people involved. There are the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, the priest Joshua and the governor Zerubbabel. Certainly we understand that by this time in the history of God's people, their ability to name their own king was gone forever. Within a few generations, the last of the prophets Malachi would close the Old Testament cannon of Scripture. In time even the priests were to offer the last sacrifices on Mount Zion. Thus, the human prophets, priests and kings of Israel were to meet the end of their authority.
Of course, we know that these human roles were all taken in hand by our Lord Jesus Christ and are administered by Him in heaven for our benefit. And yet, we still have our parts to play in the grand scheme of things. And like the ancient times, you do not have to be a prophet, priest or king to help accomplish God's will.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones reports in his book on Revival how ordinary people can perform the same functions of building up the kingdom entrusted to the people of Haggai & Zechariah's time. In Northern Ireland just three men met together regularly to pray for revival. In New York there was just one man who prayed everyday at noon for revival. In each of those cases, a great revival followed. This is not necessarily a common feature. Some revivals are as small as is the number of participants.
God's greatest acts have been done with small numbers of remnant believers just as in the case of the people who built the Temple which God blessed with the presence of His only Son. You see, there are several lessons to be learned from the way God acts in History. First, he doesn't do things by formula nor method. And that is why people who try to lay down rules and regulations _ are showing a complete misunderstanding of the laws of the spiritual realm. In our day, the Church growth people have their formulas and their plans which even the Unitarian or common cults find successful in attracting their converts.
Second, the people whom God uses to accomplish His work is not predictable. Sometimes God has used men of uncommon ability like Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield and John Wesley. Those names we know full well. But have you heard of James McQuilkin and David Morgan. They were God's agents in the 1859 revivals. One of these was an undistinguished minister with very ordinary gifts. And yet, for two full years the Lord turned him into a lion. In Northern Ireland and Wales where these men worked 150,000 people came to the Lord, joined the Christian Church and stayed.
A third point that we need to consider is the fact that not only can men not produce a revival, they cannot even explain it. A few years ago a noted revivalist returned to Logan County to repeat a sterling performance of a half dozen years before. At the first revival the host congregation experienced dramatic growth. Since some of that growth had disappeared in the meantime, a second revival was expected to renew the congregation once again. The revivalist prayed, he preached, he pleaded and at the end he was very frustrated. He couldn't understand why the persuasive methods used so often before did not produce the desired results. The fact that growth did not occur led eventually to the pastor of the church moving on as well.
Obviously, something must be wrong if church growth could not be produced by tried and true methods. But, what we have to humbly admit is that it is God who gives the gifts of His Spirit, it is God who moves the hearts of people. A little known preacher by the name of John Livingstone of Kilsyth was writing his autobiography at the end of his life. Martyn Lloyd-Jones reports what he read:
"'You know, there was a day, I shall never forget it, in June 1630 ...' He was at a communion service at a place called Shotts. ... They had had their services; they had gone on over the weekend. John Livinstone and a number of others had been spending Sunday night after the services in prayer, and in conferences ...Monday morning came and John Livingstone had been asked to preach ... suddenly he felt that the thing was beyond him and that he was inadequate. And he felt like running away. But suddenly the voice of God seemed to speak to him, not in audible language, but in his spirit, telling him not to do that and that God did not work in that way, and it made him feel that he must go back.
He preached, he tells us, on Ezekiel 36. And he said, 'I had preached for about an hour and a half. Then, I began to apply my message,' and ... the Spirit of God came upon him and he went on for another hour in this application. And as he did so, people were literally falling to the ground, and in that one service five hundred people were converted." That experience happened in that pastor's life one other time as well.
One Sunday while I was in Seminary I preached in a small Presbyterian Church in Illinois. I do not remember the name of it, but I do remember meeting the niece of Wild Bill Hickok who was in her late eighties. Well, after the elders and I had prayer, I went up to the pulpit, not knowing that there was a microphone. Thinking that I had to carry the large room with my voice alone I began to half-shout the call to worship. As soon as the echoes stopped bouncing off the walls I continued in a more normal tone of voice. Later that week I got an excited call from that church's session wanting to know if I was available to serve their congregation. They believed that a miniature revival had broken out in their midst and were wanting to capitalize on that fact by calling a full time pastor.
Since I was already committed to Rushsylvania, Ohio I had to decline. One of my few conservative classmates accepted the call. I am not sure, but I think that that congregation eventually ended up in the PCA. I can take no credit for that revival because I have used that particular sermon at least eight times and only once did the Lord bless the message beyond ordinary.
This brings us to our necessary text today, verse six of chapter four: "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit," says the Lord Almighty.
Let us learn from this verse, that whenever the Lord up builds His true Church it is He who causes the increase. When I was at Presbytery last month I asked that our brethren pray for the addition of one family this quarter as I do every meeting. Slowly over time, the Lord has been faithful in doing just that. Some of us may wish that the Lord might accomplish more in a much shorter span of time. And yet, He is and has been faithful and will continue to be so.
All we have to do is to be like Joshua who was willing to loose his filthy sinful rags so that the Lord might give him the rich garments of salvation. There is also work that must be done, faithfully and then the Lord will provide the increase. May we be patient in our prayers and in our service as we wait for His Spirit to grow His own Church. Amen.
Resources Used:
Baldwin, Joyce.G. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries: Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.
Bently, Michael. Welwyn Commentaries: Building for God's Glory.
Boice, James M. The Minor Prophets: An Expositional Commentary.
Lloyd-Jones, Martyn. Revival.
Places Preached:
Christ Covenant REFORMED (Presbyterian Church in America)
Box 13926 -- Columbus, OH 43213
Joel03a 04 October 92
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