For Your Light Has Come
It had been a quiet time in Northampton. Life had been going on as usual. The town was in a spiritual slumber. Jonathan Edwards (1703–58) had been the pastor for eight years, and an imperceptible number of persons had made a public profession of faith.
The town viewed religion as a thing to do because that was the way it had always been. There was very little spiritual life; religion itself was only an exterior.
Suddenly, in late 1734 and early 1735, the spell was broken. The people of Northampton became concerned with holiness and the spiritual state of their souls. And as Edwards noted, “all other talk but about spiritual and eternal things was soon thrown by.”
The town changed. The taverns were abandoned; the homes were filled. Public worship was enriched. The preaching of the Word was blessed. The singing of psalms was enlivened.
The people of Northampton started to meet Edwards at his home for spiritual counsel, to discuss holy things, and to give a public profession of their newfound faith. There was one month where as many as 30 people a week were being admitted to the Lord’s Supper.
The Hindrance
Revival is the doing of religion, and religion, in the true sense, is simply the love and fear of the Lord.
But our hindrance to the love and fear of the Lord is sin. It drives us away from Him and His means of grace. The Spirit cannot abide with sin, so we, believers, may have the light of God’s countenance withdrawn from us.
Our prayers will not be answered; our worship will not be accepted; our preaching will not be blessed.
Sin hides our light. It takes the flame and diminishes it down to a single ember. We are, in these times, not much externally attended with the grace of God, and because of this, the mission of the Church comes to a halt.
When we sin, we are not following the true religion, and it is not being improved by us; it harms its peace and purity.
As William Arnot (1808–75), the Scottish Presbyterian, said:
“We are not reviving religion; we are caricaturing it, and holding it up to the scorn of the world.”
Fellow Believers and the Advancement of Christ’s Kingdom
Repentance brings an end to the ruin of religion. When we truly repent, the life of religion seems to grow again like flowers in a wasteland. Our hearts turn from the sight and odiousness of sin, confessing the wickedness of what we have done. We then will see the beauty of the things of God again.
When there is repentance, Christ is honored, and His kingdom advances. Repentance brings us back to right standing before Him; we are practicing true religion again.
But repentance is hard. We are unable to do it of ourselves; we must have the Spirit. Thankfully, He has given us means. And one of the best means He has given is other believers.
When we have only embers of faith, we may look to the lives of other believers and be stirred up to new faith, to new affections, to growth in grace. Their zeal and strength of faith may keep us alive, and they may be the means of repentance and revival.
Seeing others in full flame encourages the ember to grow. This gives rise to our repentance, causing us to leave behind what we are currently engaged with, to run after the things of God with a newfound fear and love of God.
The Prelude
Jonathan Edwards (1703–58):
“The beginning of a revival of religion will naturally and necessarily be attended with a great many difficulties of this nature; many parts of this reviving church will, for a while, be under great disadvantages, by reason of what remains of the old disease, of a general corruption of the visible church.”
—Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of New England (1740)
These are the times we are in. There is corruption and sin throughout the Church. But this is where the Church ends up every time before revival comes.
In this sad time of waywardness and disobedience, this may be a strange and hopeful sign that revival will come. In a mysterious act of providence, there is where the Church “needs” to be.
With the Church in this position, God may do His mighty work. Then there will be believers who see sin and are disgusted by it, who will want revival and repentance, to have the Church turn from her ways. That is why looking to and communing with other believers will be the way that revival is brought about.
Iron will sharpen iron, and churches will repent together, returning to the truths of God. God will do wonders with His remnant in bringing about revival.
Find the remnant and emulate them in their holiness.