Fellowship with the Ignorant and Idol Worshippers in Revival
The Lord says, firstly to me, then to us, “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” (Matt 7:5), then, “every high priest chosen…is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness… you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood” (Heb 5:2; 1 Pet 2:9)
Introduction
That repentance is a gracious gift is fully biblical (Acts 5:31; 11:18; 2 Tim 2:25), but how can such extreme grace be reconciled with the increasingly confident revivalist atmosphere building in Perth. An atmosphere of expectation ignited by the coming World Prayer Assembly (WPA) in October, and more generally by “the 2023 Asbury Revival”. A mature prophetic perspective (Amos 3:2), the purpose of this article, will take into account distortions of past supernatural moves of God (https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/modern-europe/ancient-history-middle-ages-and-feudalism/enthusiasm), without denying their authenticity. The Lord has this week been stripping me of some of my prejudices about what he cannot do. As the godly Paul remained in communion (1 Cor 1:4-9) with ignorant, idolatrous Corinthian Christians (1 Cor 8:7; 10:19-21), and the near heretical “foolish Galatians” (Gal 1:6; 3:1 cf. Matt 5:22), the Lord’s Spirit is challenging me to a similar breadth of grace. To expound this surprising grace, I need to go back to my experiences in Argentina in 1995, a trip searching for keys to revival fully funded by friends and completely unsought. My mind has been taken back to that time as the Lord has been searching my heart (Rom 8:27) and imparting deep and disturbing clarity. I have not been seeing ignorant Christians as Jesus does! (If I was not a teacher-prophet my life would be a lot easier!)
Lessons from Argentina
From the moment I stepped off the plane in Buenos Aires something was radically different. I sensed the voice of the Holy Spirit in a way I’d rarely experienced before and every question I asked of the Lord was answered, through scriptures, by the witness of the Spirit, or through a conference speaker. It was a remarkably prophetic time. More enduringly, I alone was given unusual opportunities to be “fathered” by the Japanese saint Rev Paul Ariga, an exemplary model of confession of corporate sin and profound humility. He surprised me by praying over me what he saw as the secret of revival, “The mystery is Christ in you the hope of glory.” (Col 1:26). The Spirit was testifying that the indwelling Christ rather than power was the key to sustaining the open display of God’s glory in the world (John 15:26). “Revival is all about Jesus”. Most importantly were my nightly unsolicited experiences of repentance where I found myself broken and grieving over personal sin with loud and profuse crying. (I learned to shift to the bathroom to weep so as not to awaken my travel companion.) All these experiences of God were for his future coming to WA (Rev 3:20). It was not all that positive, however.
The End (outcome) of Revival
Before leaving Argentina, I met with a young couple close to the action. They were very concerned that the revival was broad but not deep. The whole country knew about people falling over “under the power” in church meetings but the structures of culture were not being transformed. Their fears have been proven correct. If Pentecost led directly to the conversion of the Roman Empire (Acts 2:5; Col 1:6), and if the Protestant Reformation and Azusa St have borne fruit across the world, the “awesome Argentina revival” (https://thestandard.org.uk/the-blog/item/the-awesome-argentina-revival), along with the North American Toronto, Pensacola, and Lakelands “revivals”, never matured in Christ. Argentina was the first Latin American nation to legalise same-sex marriage (2010) and corruption there is normal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_Argentina), plus we know about the moral state of North America. Will grace triumph in the sort of revival you are we praying for (Rom 5:15)?
Ignorance of Sin and the Cross
The Old Testament sharply distinguished between unintentional and deliberate sin (Lev 5:18; 2 Chron 28:13). Hence the psalmist confesses without shame, “I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.” (Ps 73:22). Paul can testify, “though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” (1 Tim 1:13-15 cf. Acts 3:17). This extravagant salvation flows from the cross where Jesus prayed. ““Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”” (Luke 23:34 cf. Eccl 5:1). Praise God, the more we know of the Lord the fewer our conscious sins. Though in confusion many have claimed to have done so, I have never met anyone who has committed the “eternal sin” (Mark 3:29. Cf. 1 John 5:16-17). When the Lord cried out in anguish, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34), he was dying both for both intentional and unintentional sins, for the sins of the knowledgeable and those of the ignorant (2 Cor 5:21). Ignorance of the law is no excuse before human court, but “in Christ” we are “invincibly ignorant” of the many sins and idolatries in our lives. These are the first things revealed when the Spirit moves in power in revival. I need now to become even more personal about my faith journey.
Grace upon Grace
The older I get the more I realise “grace upon grace” (John 1:16) has been the story of my life. Martyn Lloyd Jones testified, “99.9 percent of our troubles as Christians is that we are ignorant of God”, and I used to say to my first-year theology classes, “I assume you are ignorant of the things of the Lord.” But what I said next, “but you are not responsible before God, because you have been badly taught.”, I have never fully believed, until now. Today I publicly confess my sin (James 5.16; 1 John 1:9), that in my long struggle to prove myself as someone superior to the silly fool and idiot my parents labelled me as, I have taken far too seriously the bad theology and ignorant idolatries of fellow Christians. Such things I could see even in the hearts of already forgiven sinners and leaders at the launch of the WPA this week. I expect to keep teaching, prophesying and correcting brothers and sisters to embrace the fulness of “Christ in you the hope of glory”, but anticipate my accuracy will intensify in helping the ignorant and wayward people to flourish through repentance within an atmosphere of exceptional grace (Matt 7:5). This was my experience in Argentina, and the same can happen in Western Australia.
Conclusion
With total confidence in God’s powerful supernatural resurrection of his Son, Paul proclaimed to the pagans, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”” (Acts 17:30-31). In the light of such great things, and believing that every move of God is characterised by a particular divine fruit: love, joy, peace… or action: evangelism, deliverance, preaching, testimony etc; I anticipate the coming of the Spirit to Perth will be characterised by an extraordinary revelation of the knowledge of God in Christ (2 Cor 4:6). The Lord’s Spirit is saying to me that the call to revival is a call to ENJOY the knowledge of God in all things, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Hab 2:14). The time is coming when all our ignorance and idolatries are forever taken away by God’s eternal ravishing in love. “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1 Cor 13:12). PTL Hallelujah Amen