By Ralph W. Harris
Four spiritual giants of the late 19th century anticipated and
hoped for the Pentecostal revival which swept around the world in
the 20th century.
For 30 years, 3,500 newspapers published DeWitt Talmage’s
sermons weekly. In 1890, Talmage challenged believers with the opportunities
before them in a published message entitled, "The Last Decade
of the Century." He wrote, "The 19th century is departing.
After a few more steps, it will be gone into the eternities."
He said that often throughout history the closing decades of centuries
have been marked by unusual developments and achievements. "I
am glad [the new century] is not to come immediately, for we need
a new baptism of the Holy Ghost to prepare for it."
This remarkable statement was made some 10 years before the outpouring
at Topeka, Kan., which launched the Pentecostal revival.
Also significant is a statement by S.D. Gordon in his book, Quiet
Talks About Jesus, copyrighted 1906 – the year the Azusa Street
revival began in Los Angeles.
Gordon, writing about the tongue’s power, said, "The
tongue is the index of man’s whole being. Through his tongue
his whole being is revealed. There is no stronger indication of
mastery over one’s powers than in control of the tongue. …
"The first evidence of God’s touch in the remaking of
man on that memorable Pentecost day was upon his tongue," he
concluded.
A. J.
Gordon's The Ministry of the Spirit spoke of "a
revival or pure and undefiled religion in the churches, and
... through them in the world that the age would close with
a worldwide Pentecost." |
F.B. Meyer wrote, in the introduction for A.J. Gordon’s
The Ministry of the Spirit, of the need for "a revival
of pure and undefiled religion in the churches, and such marvelous
results through them in the world that the age would close with
a worldwide Pentecost. And there are many symptoms abroad that this
also is in the purpose of God. Nothing else can meet the deepest
needs and yearnings of our time."
Andrew Murray wrote a preamble to the chapter on "The Enduement
of the Spirit": "To the disciples, the baptism of the
Spirit was very distinctly not His first bestowal for regeneration,
but the definite communication of His presence in power of their
glorified Lord. Just as there was a twofold operation of the one
Spirit in the Old and New Testaments, of which the state of the
disciples before and after Pentecost was the striking illustration,
so there may be, and in the great majority of Christians is, a corresponding
difference of experience. …
"When once the distinct recognition of what the indwelling
of the Spirit was meant to bring is brought home to the soul, and
it is ready to give up all to be made partaker of it, the believer
may ask and expect what may be termed a baptism of the Spirit. Praying
to the Father in accordance to the two prayers in Ephesians and
coming to Jesus in the renewed surrender of faith and obedience,
he may receive such an inflow of the Holy Spirit as shall consciously
lift him to a different level from the one on which he has hitherto
lived."
In these early days of 2000, each of us needs to answer the questions
that were being asked at the beginning of the Pentecostal century:
Am I as fully yielded to God as I once was? If not, what will I
do about it?
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15
reasons for the initial success of Pentecostalism:
- A
world conditioned to expect the supernatural.
- Christians
previously prepared to expect manifestations of the Spirit.
- Emphasis
upon experience, not just doctrine or church.
- Pentecostals’
self-image as a revitalization movement within the Christian
church.
- Early
thrust toward nominal Christians and lethargic believers
rather than to the unconverted.
- Appeal
to the common people.
- Taking
initiative in going to people rather than waiting for them
to come.
- Use
of mass meetings to create a sense of belonging to a community.
- Effective
use of newspapers/periodicals to spread the Pentecostal
message.
- Democratic
tendency with no discrimination.
- Emphasis
upon divine healing.
- Meeting
people’s needs.
- Conviction
of early adherents that God had raised them up for a special
work.
- Tremendous
spirit of sacrifice.
- Principle
of establishing indigenous churches.
From
Azusa Street and Beyond, L. Grant McClung Jr., editor.
North Brunswick, N.J.: Bridge—Logos Publishers, 1986.
Reprinted with permission.
|
Ralph W. Harris
was editor of the Sunday School Curriculum and Literature Department
at the Assemblies of God Headquarters and later editor of The Complete
Biblical Library published by Gospel Publishing House. He lives
in Springfield, Missouri.
