EASTER WEEK and PROPHECY

The first Easter week was a week in which prophecy abounded. It was a week in which both long standing prophecies were fulfilled and fresh prophecies proclaimed. Jesus was intimately involved in both fulfilment and proclamation, utterly endorsing the crucial role of prophecy in God’s revelation of his purposes.
Right at the beginning of Easter Week (Palm Sunday) Jesus quite deliberately rode into Jerusalem on an ass, knowingly fulfilling Zechariah’s prophecy, “See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey” (Zech 9:9). The crowds, moved by the Spirit, acknowledged the event with cries of “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord”. God had spoken through his prophet by the Spirit and he was now fulfilling it centuries later.
Later in the week (Good Friday) the detailed prophecy of Isaiah 52-53 was fulfilled in the crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus did not initiate this event though he clearly knew what it signified and embraced it. This prophecy of Isaiah contained not merely an extraordinary description of the crucifixion but a very clear explanation of what precisely it meant. The clarity of both the description and the explanation is breathtaking, and leaves no doubt as to the fact that Jesus took on the judgment of God for sin and for our sake. Neither, by the way, should we overlook the fact that the same passage in Isaiah astonishingly points both to the resurrection and the ascension.
When we turn to the powerful prophetic pronouncementsthat Jesus made about the future, we find that some had their focus on the Jewish nation and the inevitability of judgement, since in rejecting him it rejected “the time of God’s coming” (Lk 19:41ff). These pronouncements came to pass in the succeeding decades. We find his other pronouncements had their focus on essential features in human history before his return in glory (Matt.24). Two millennia of history have endorsed his words, and future history will further endorse them.
The words of Micah resonate loudly around these prophetic events; “Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets” (Mic. 3:7). God does this in order to establish our faith as we see prophecy fulfilled.

May God give you a rich Easter.


Bob

To make a comment: click on word “comments” below, write your comment in the white box which appears and add your name and e mail address (if you wish), choose “select profile”, click “anonymous” and then continue

WORLD PRAYER CENTRE CONFERENCE

I’m sorry this column is a day overdue. The reason is that I have been at the World Prayer Centre annual Prayer conference at Swanwick (see link) There is nothing quite like a prayer conference for lifting the spirit and making ground in the Kingdom!
One strand that came out of the conference was very relevant to the blogs of the last two weeks, namely the very dark background that we frequently find to revivals. So this column is just a comment on that strand.
Eddie Lyle (Open Doors) led us at one point in a very informative, passionate and sobering time of intercession for the persecuted church. Much of the focus was on the Middle Eastern countries and the appalling oppression, hatred and violence that so many Christians faced because of their faith. We were left in no doubt of the cost of their discipleship, nor of our responsibility to them. At the same time he noted some of the extraordinary supernatural manifestations of the presence of Jesus to many Muslims in that region, leading them to faith. Later on a mission leader on a direct link from the U.S. gave a startling and fuller review of those manifestations across the Middle East. They are astonishingly akin to the revelations that we find in Acts. There are dreams of Jesus; there are manifestations of Jesus in terms of light; there are angelic manifestations; there are direct instructions given to people to go to particular places at a particular time (cp. Ananias to Paul) and there are spiritual visions. They are widespread. The consequence of this kind of activity is powerful and deep conversion. We are witnessing revival in New Testament terms, apostolic revival in the most closed and difficult and least evangelized areas of the world.
Putting these two parts of the strand together we get to a place of heart rending intercession yet profound praise.
The fact is that in some of the most appalling situations in the world of the 21st century God is at work in the deepest manner possible. We have a century of huge blessing ahead, whatever else may take place.

Bob

To make a comment: click on word “comments” below, write your comment in the white box which appears and add your name and e mail address (if you wish), choose “select profile”, click “anonymous” and then continue

NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN

Last week’s column was about the massive revivals that happened in the cataclysmic twentieth century, and was intended as a reminder that catastrophic judgment does not preclude great mercies from God. That’s the hope for this century – the only hope!
Whilst I was writing it I had also wanted to write about one of the greatest revivals in the USA and the background to that – it takes us back a century to the nineteenth century and shows us that the twentieth century experience was not really new. There was no room, however, so this week I offer what is to me that very fascinating story (very briefly!)
In 1857 a city missionary in down town New York opened his church daily for businessmen and mechanics to meet for prayer. He was prompted to do this by a revival in Canada. Within six months 10,000 business men were gathering daily for prayer. Many other churches were by then involved. Within two years a million converts were added to the American churches. The fire had spread. No part of the nation remained untouched by fervent prayer, and every part experienced some ingathering of converts. It was a massive “prayer revival”. It soon spread to the United Kingdom and produced similar results – a revival as extensive and lasting as the Evangelical revival of Wesley’s time (the 18thC).
What was particularly fascinating for me was the appalling context of this revival. The early 1850s was a time of general disillusionment with religion after some wild apocalyptic preaching. It was a time when America had begun to get rich and self sufficient but it was also a time when a great panic swept away the giddy structure of speculative investment. Banks failed, railroads went into bankruptcy and vast numbers were thrown out of employment. The collapse was protracted through the 50s. By the late 50s there was hunger and despair. There’s nothing new about our generation!
After the revival the context was even worse – the nation descended to Civil War. This broke out in 1861 and lasted until 1865. The American Civil War has been described as the “bloodiest conflict in American history”. Three million men were involved and more than 21% lost their lives – a much higher proportion than in any of the armies of the First World War . More died of disease than battle. The devastation and destruction was enormous, not to mention the bitter racial legacy it left. Yet even that conflict was a scene of rich mercy – some 100,000 Confederate soldiers were converted during the war.
So once more, it’s the story of catastrophic judgement intermingled with the grace of God. It’s a great encouragement to us to use Habakkuk’s prayer, “Lord, in wrath remember mercy”.
You can read a great deal more about this in J.Edwin Orr’s book, “The Fervent Prayer”.

Bob

To make a comment: click on word “comments” below, write your comment in the white box which appears and add your name and e mail address (if you wish), choose “select profile”, click “anonymous” and then continue