As believers in Christ who see what is in God’s heart and how He wants to end this age, we look to the Lord for a new revival that will turn this age from the age of the church to the age of the King with His kingdom.
What we see happening in Judges and in 1 and 2 Samuel is also seen in church history and today in Christianity.
What the Lord is after is not yet another great revival with a great revivalist, just as in Judges and then in 1 and 2 Samuel He was not after a great man who would save the children of Israel and judge them during the days of his life.
The Lord wants to gain a dispensational instrument, an instrument that will end this age and bring in the age of the kingdom.
And the way we can cooperate with the Lord is not by making great promises to Him that we will do this and that to Him; rather, it is by our being open to Him to enjoy Him, spend time with Him, and be one with Him in all things.
The only way we can enter into and live in the reality of the Body of Christ to be the bride of Christ to close this age is by persevering in prayer.
His eyes have left the church in general and are now set on the kingdom; He wants to gain some who are according to His heart and who pray for what He desires.
What is most important to the Lord today is not another great revival or some spiritual giants who are eloquent and smart to speak the word of God and bring many to God.
The history of Christianity is filled with such ones who were used by God during the days of their life, but there was no continuation nor was there any way to bring those touched by their ministry into the blending life and fellowship of the Body of Christ.
The Lord really wants to gain the Body of Christ today in reality, the overcoming ones who give themselves to Him for His purpose and care for what is in His heart.
He wants to gain many who are like Hannah, those who are inwardly motivated by the God who operates behind the scenes so that they would pray one with the Lord for what is in His heart.
This doesn’t mean that we should first be mature in the Lord and very advanced with Him so that we are qualified to be His overcomers.
Rather, we should simply open to Him, touch Him, be absolutely open to Him to have His heart’s desire infused into us and echo His heart’s desire back to Him for Him to have a way to do it in us and through us.
However, in this age in which there is a supermarket of Christian churches, when there’s a church that satisfies each one’s need, and the meaning of the word of God is diluted, the Christian practices are degraded, and the fellowship in the Body is absent, where is the group of people who open to the Lord and allow Him to motivate them to pray? May we be such ones.
How the History of Israel in Judges and 1&2 Samuel Typifies the History of the Church and what God desires to Gain today
If we read the book of Judges we see many cycles of the same things happening: the children of Israel trusting in God, forsaking God, being defeated by their enemies, and repenting to God in their misery.
Then, God raises up a judge who delivers them from the hand of their oppressors, but when the judge dies, they return to their evil ways and again became corrupted (Judges 1:1-2; 2:11-3:11).
This cycle is repeated seven times in Judges. And this is what we see in Christianity throughout history as a cycle.
For many years the church has just been repeating the history of Israel under the judges.
The judges came in and ruled over Israel when they were at their lowest point, and they helped deliver the people of Israel.
But when they died, the people of Israel fell into the hands of their enemies again.
This shows us a principle: the people of God cannot govern themselves, for they can’t be independent of God as their king nor can they be independent of Satan at the same time.
They either have to bow to the authority of God or be under Satan’s power; there’s no compromise nor is there a middle road.
When God’s people are not under God’s control, they wholly lost their position as God’s people.
Similarly in the history of the church, we see that, when the church reached a low state, God would prepare a man of His choice, put His Spirit upon him and commission him.
Then, this one would function and speak, and the church would be revived.
But then, after a period of time, the church would go down again, and the Lord had to raise up another man to do the same thing.
There has been a cycle of degradation, revival, and then degradation again throughout church history.
What does the Lord want to do today? Does He want yet another revivalist that will help His people come out of degradation, do a great work for Him, and then degradation comes in again?
What do we pray for the Lord to do today – another great revival to move God’s people and get them out of degradation, a great work from God?
Do we want to repeat the history seen in Judges or do we pray for the Lord to bring in the greatest revival, the final revival, that will result in ending this age?
We have seen the need for revival under Luther and then the deadness that followed, with the Lutheran churches.
We have seen the revival through Wesley and of the backsliding that followed, and we know of the great tide of life brought in by Darby and the other Brethren and of the degradation that followed.
All these years in church history we have seen that the church has just been repeating the history of Israel under the judges.
What should we hope for and pray for now? Should we pray for the next big revival with a great character who is charismatic and eloquent and powerful?
Or should we seek the Lord’s feeling concerning it and realize that His eyes have left the church and are set on the coming kingdom?
May the Lord enlighten us to see that He wants to gain a corporate dispensational instrument today who is one with Him to not bring in a great revival in the traditional sense but end this age and bring in the age of the kingdom with the King, Christ.
Just as in the time of 1 and 2 Samuel, God wants to bring in the kingdom of God with Christ, the King; His thought is not that the church would remain in a cycle of backsliding and revival but that Christ would return with the kingdom.
He doesn’t need any more revivalists (typified by the judges) but the Nazarites (typified by Samuel) who bring in the king (typified by David) with the kingdom of God.
Lord Jesus, bring us into a realization of what You intend to do today. Save us from merely desiring to have a revival here with a revivalist that would help the church get out of degradation. Cause us to see that Your eyes are set on the kingdom. May the desire of Your heart be the desire of our heart; may Your heart’s intent become ours, and may we be one with You in what You want to do today. Oh Lord, may Your kingdom come! May our life and work contribute to the hastening of Your return! Amen, Lord, make us the Nazarites of today who cooperate with You to bring in the kingdom of God with the King!
Looking to the Lord for a New Revival that will Turn this Age to the age of the Kingdom
If we read church history with the view of God’s eternal economy we will realize that the church has just been repeating the history of Israel under the judges.
Today, however, Go wants Samuels, the overcoming Nazarites (see Num. 6:1-9 with the footnotes in the Recovery Version Bible) who will bring in Christ, the real David, as the reigning King with His kingdom of one thousand years. In this kingdom the overcomers will “shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matt. 13:43).
In Malachi it says that the Lord is the Sun of righteousness; the fact that the overcomers will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father means that we are being Christified, being made the same as Christ in life, nature, and expression, but not in the Godhead.
We are in the process of being deified, fully Christified, to be His duplication; we will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of our Father.
We should not hope for a revival that matches what we have seen in the past but rather, we should look to the Lord for a new revival that will turn this age to the age of the kingdom with Christ, the king.
May we look to the Lord for something new, a new revival that will turn this age from the age of the church in the midst of the satanic chaos to the age of the King with His kingdom for one thousand years.
The Lord is not after a great revival but a new revival, a revival that will end this age and bring the Lord back.
For this, He is operating behind the scenes to motivate His people to pray.
He may even cause some of His people to become unsettled, even provoked, so that they pray for the Lord to end this age; this becomes their need as they are joined to the Lord in His need.
Today we may not be at the stage in which we can ask the Lord to come back, for we are not desperate enough; however, the Lord is working in us and around us to the effect that some will desperately pray.
He is after the manchild, the Nazarites, those who are one with the Lord to end this age.
May some of us be today’s Hannahs and pray that the Lord would keep us on the line of life for the carrying out of His economy so that we may be the Hannahs and Samuels of today to hasten the Lord’s return.
As we remain on the line of life, the Lord will have a way to both inwardly motivate us and outwardly gain our cooperation so that we may pray the prayers that result in the bringing forth of the overcomers.
What have we done in this respect, that of praying to bring in the kingdom? What are we doing today in order to be produced as the Lord’s overcomers?
Do we look to the Lord for a new revival that will turn this age to the age of the kingdom with Christ the King?
Are we praying prayers that result in the bringing forth of the overcomers? Are we praying the prayers required to produce us as overcomers?
Sister M.E.Barber had an eager expectation that the Lord would return, even as she would turn the corner while walking on the street.
May we be such ones, those looking to the Lord for a new revival that will end this age and bring in the kingdom of God.
Amen, may we bring this to the Lord and ask Him,
Lord Jesus, what are You doing today on earth? What is in Your heart concerning us, the church, and everything that’s going on? We look to You for something new, a new revival that will end this age and bring in the kingdom age. Amen, Lord, may Your heart be duplicated in us so that we really pray the prayers You need for the overcomers to be produced. Bring in a new revival, Lord, that will turn this age from the age of the church in the midst of the satanic chaos to the age of the King with His kingdom of one thousand years! Amen, Lord Jesus, we open to Your inner motivation and producing. Produce us as Your overcomers. Produce in us what You are after to meet Your need!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 46, pp. 1177-1178, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of 1 and 2 Samuel (2021 winter training), week 2, entitled, The Hannah Ministry.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Sanctify me absolutely, / Take my life and have Your way. / Overcome in me, give me victory / Through Your life and end this age. / I need You, but You need me too, / To do what You want to do. / Rekindle all of my love for You, / To be a voluntarily consecrated one. (Song on, Consecrated One)
– Eating gives the manchild birth, / Eating brings the Lord to earth; / Eat Him now midst all the dearth— / Overcome! / Be the manchild Christ requires, / Thus the church that He desires, / Then the Bride that He admires— / Overcome! / Overcome! Overcome! / Overcome the degradation of the church! / All your working lay aside, / All the teachings that divide; / Eat the Lord whate’er betide— / Overcome! (Hymns #1274)
– Lord, shine Your light on us today / That we may fully go Your way; / Anoint our eyes and let us see / So You can have recovery. (Hymns #1274)
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