The Revival We Need and the Unregenerate Church Members We Have
The churches that seem to be the strongest often have many members who have worked through earlier deceptions about their conversion to arrive at a solid assurance with God. The probing was occasioned by learning that spiritual life in the individual produces noticeable change. The exploration into whether or not they actually have spiritual life altered everything.
In the early 1700s, between 75 and 80 percent of American people attended church meetings regularly. Yet huge numbers among them were unconverted. It was among these people that Awakening doctrines had their greatest effects. In other words, wherever people gathered, within or outside the colonial church buildings, the principle leaders were addressing church members who needed Christ.
What truth, among the many emphasized, had the greatest influence on unconverted church members in The Great Awakening? And who are the unconverted church members in our context who may also need this truth?
The Great Awakening’s Emphasis on Regeneration
When George Whitefield was asked why he so often preached, “Ye must be born again,” he replied, “Because ye must be born again!”
Regeneration, or the new birth, was the prevalent issue of the Great Awakening of the 1740s. As Joseph Tracey said:
This doctrine of the “new birth,” as an ascertainable change, was not generally prevalent in any communion when the revival commenced; it was urged as of fundamental importance, by the leading promoters of the revival; it took strong hold of those whom the revival affected; it naturally led to such questions as the revival brought up and caused to be discussed; its perversions naturally grew into, or associated with, such errors as the revival promoted; it was adapted to provoke such opposition, and in such quarters, as the revival provoked; and its caricatures would furnish such pictures of the revival, as oppressors drew. This was evidently the right key; for it fitted all the wards of the complicated lock.[1]
This doctrine has repeatedly been at the heart of awakenings.
By “regeneration,” we mean the giving of life to dead souls as a sovereign work of the Holy Spirit. Berkhof says it is “that act of God by which the principle of the new life is implanted in man, and the governing disposition of the soul is made holy…and the first holy exercise of this new disposition is secured.”[2] The Lord lived and died for his own, and as King, gifts our dead souls with new life resulting in sight, belief, repentance, and holiness.
J.C. Ryle said in so many words that the awakening preachers of that time believed in an indivisible union between authentic faith and holiness. He writes, “They never allowed for a moment that any church membership or religious profession was the least proof of a man being a Christian if he lived an ungodly life.”[3]
The attention to this truth, fed by their earlier Puritan theology, brought great conviction and massive numbers of conversions when preached and taught with the unction of the Spirit in times of revival. Where it did not bring conviction, it brought anger. Whitefield, who himself was written against in over 240 tracts of various types,[4] said that when you heard middle colonies’ preacher Gilbert Tennent (and his brothers) you were either converted or enraged. According to Gillies’ quoting of Prince in Historical Collections of Accounts of Revival, Tennent is said to have preached in this way:
Such were the convictions wrought in many hundreds in this town by Mr. Tennent’s searching ministry; and such was the case of those many scores of several other congregations as well as mine, who came to me and others for direction under them. And indeed, by all their converse I found, it was not so much the terror as the searching nature of his ministry that was the principal means of their conviction. It was not merely, nor so much, his laying open the terrors of the law and wrath of God, or damnation of hell (for this they could pretty well bear, as long as they hoped these belonged not to them, or they could easily avoid them), as his laying open their many vain and secret shifts and refuges, counterfeit resemblance’s of grace, delusive and damning hopes, their utter impotence, and impending danger of destruction; whereby they found all their hopes and refuges of lies to fail them, and themselves exposed to eternal ruin, unable to help themselves, and in a lost condition. This searching preaching was both the suitable and principal means of their conviction.[5]
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What Is the Beatific Vision?
The main way we are to think of the beatific vision is God has made Himself visible in the most perfect way that human beings are capable of apprehending, that is, in Jesus Christ. For example, the New Testament speaks about seeing the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
The beatific vision is the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise that we will see God. That is the essence of it. Then, we have to ask, “What does Jesus mean by seeing God?” We have to say that it is not a matter of physical sight for the simple reason that God is invisible. He is the invisible God. Many Christians tend to think that when we die, we will see God because He will become visible. However, He is not going to change because we die. This is the sheer mystery of His being. He is not the kind of being who is in His own nature visible. But, He makes Himself visible.
John Calvin has a beautiful way of speaking about creation as the invisible God putting on the clothes He wears to go outside so that we can see what He is like. I think that is part of what it means for us to see God. We see Him in this world, and we will see Him more fully in the world to come.
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Alopen and the Missionary Monks of the Church of the East
Convinced by Alopen of the validity of the Christian faith, Taitsung ordered the building of a monastery and the translation of some Christian papers the monks had carried with them. By 638, just three years after Alopen’s arrival, at least 21 monks were active in China. In the course of time, Persian monks (who became fluent in the languages of the places where they settled) translated the New Testament and portions of the Old Testament into Chinese. Being highly educated, they also produced Christian literature that appealed to the Chinese nobility. For example, Jesus Messiah Sutra, the main text produced by Alopen on instigation by Emperor Taitsung, described Christ’s incarnation, life, death, and resurrection, endorsed monotheism, and attacked idolatry.
In 635, Emperor Taitsung (598–649) of China found Christianity so impressive that he wrote: “The meaning of the teaching has been carefully examined; it is mysterious, wonderful, calm; it fixes the essentials of life and perfection; it is the salvation of living beings; it is the wealth of man. It is right that it should spread through the empire.”
He had first heard about Christ from a Persian monk, Alopen, who walked all the way to the capital of China (today’s Xi’an) to bring the gospel to the Chinese. He was probably sent by Patriarch Ishoyahb II of Baghdad, who also sent missionaries to Iran, Afghanistan, Ubzekistan, and India. Most likely, Alopen had been ordained a bishop because he was able to appoint men to pastor the churches he founded. What little we know about his arrival in China and the history of the work that followed is recorded on a monument erected in Xi’an in 781 and discovered in 1625.
The Church of the East
Alopen was one of the many missionaries of the so-called Church of the East, a church that flourished well before the Roman Emperor Constantine I recognized Christianity in the west. Like other missionaries to the east, Alopen probably traveled along the Old Silk Road, a route followed by merchants. Carrying only a staff, a satchel, and a copy of the Scriptures, these missionaries stopped in monasteries other monks had built along the way. In fact, Timothy I (727-823), one of the most influential patriarchs of the Church of the East and great promoter of missions, used the simple life of these monks as an example to shame a bishop who wished to retire in comfort in Baghdad.
The Church of the East first blossomed in Edessa (now Urfa, Turkey) and in the renowned theological school of Nisibis (today’s Nusaybin, Turkey), where the famous poet Ephrem[1] served as deacon. It continued to thrive in what is now eastern Turkey and Iraq.
It’s often known as the Nestorian Church, even though its connections with Nestorius are tenuous at best. The name is probably due to the fact that this church refused to recognize the 431 Council of Ephesus where Nestorius was condemned for his views of the two natures of Christ. For the most part, however, the reason for this refusal was cultural rather than theological. It was a way to assert the church’s independence from the Byzantine Empire. (While it’s true that Nestorianism spread to the eastern regions, many scholars agree that defining the Church of the East as Nestorian is unfair).
The Church of the East held its first official council in 410. In 424, it declared its independence from the west. The official language of the Church of the East was Syriac (a form of Aramaic), one of the first languages in which the Scriptures were translated. By the eighth century, this church had spread over much of Asia and Arabia, becoming the most widely spread church in the world.Read More
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Lessons Learnt From Illness and The Gospel’s Healing Balm
The inner witness of the Holy Spirit confirms this promise of Scripture to my soul, but the gospel does more than just offer out that future promise of healing; it also works as a soothing-balm for the wound of sin until that final perfect restoration is realised. The Holy Spirit works through the gospel to our souls in the now, helping to alleviate – or soothe – many of the symptoms of sin that cause us so much current suffering.
The time has come for my monthly medication delivery for the small handful of incurable illnesses (by modern medicine standards at any rate) that I now possess in my body. This month, as I placed the near two carrier bags full of tablets down by my bedside cabinet, I noticed my Bible sitting nearby and my mind turned to the promises of healing within the gospel.
In my near-decade as a preacher, and despite those many gospel-declarations being proclaimed from out of my own sickly body, I think that I have only ever preached on those gospel promises of healing once, from Romans 8:23. Even then, I think that the gist of that message was very simply: “Sufferings within this current time is normal. During these sufferings there are groanings within for the perfect future. These groanings are a reminder of the hope that we have for the future.”
I have often thought upon Romans 8:23 (and the similar message from 2 Cor. 5:2, 4). The reality is I have experienced this groaning from within (both audible and silent) far more than I have ever let on. Why, then, haven’t I preached more on those promises of healing within the gospel? After all, we all suffer, and there are many, many others who suffer from various types of illnesses in similar ways to myself.
The reason for this, I think, is that while I have a lot more experience of illnesses, and the suffering caused by those illnesses, than I would have ideally liked[1], what do I know about a perfect freedom from all of sin’s effects? The fact is, I know nothing about that. What I do know about, however, is the feeling of the morphine hitting the right spot when hospitalised due to Crohn’s flare ups, and that, at any rate, feels pretty good!
I know nothing of freedom from the effects of sin – I can scarcely even remember, by this point, of freedom from the effects of illness – but the Holy Spirit that God has given to me as a groaning witness within knows what this perfect future redemption of our bodies will be like, and He is telling us that it is going to be so, so good! In fact, it will be so good that even the worst “sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18).
Knowing that, we are left with a great hope. We can now listen to those wondrous examples of miraculous healing by Jesus and His disciples and, rather than feel a sense of bitter jealousy and dejection, we can be excited by what it is store for all of the children of God – and by grace we have been saved!
There are certain illnesses that can even be used to tell the story of the gospel’s promises. Say, for example, with large wound in the arm that has also picked up an infection. The doctor will give you antibiotic medication to fight the infection, but this medication does not bring an instantaneous cure to that infection. What it does bring, however, is the promise of that cure (assuming that the correct kind of antibiotic has been given). Knowing that the suffering caused by the infection should soon be over certainly offers us a hope within the suffering that helps to strengthen and hearten our inner spirits.
Chances are we still might not actually feel any sense of that cure coming within the first few days, so, in the meantime, the doctor may have given us a cooling balm to alleviate some of those surface level symptoms of an infected sore, such as a tormenting itchiness!
In Old Testament times, the region of Gilead was associated with healing balms. It was used by the prophet Jeremiah as a metaphor for the gospel message, a metaphor taken up by many gospel preachers ever since. There is something about this that it is so, so important and helpful for us to know:
The gospel message of the salvation in Jesus Christ offers out the promise of a perfect redemption of our bodies – redeeming it from all of the awful effects of sin, including illness and disease. More than that, as a child of God saved by God’s grace, the gospel does not just offer out that promise of redemption from illness and disease to me (as well as all of the other awful effects of sin, of course), but it tells me that this future physical redemption of the body is absolutely certain (as well as the spiritual redemption of the body too, praise God!).
Knowing that this is true is a wonderful comfort, and the inner witness of the Holy Spirit confirms this promise of Scripture to my soul, but the gospel does more than just offer out that future promise of healing; it also works as a soothing-balm for the wound of sin until that final perfect restoration is realised. The Holy Spirit works through the gospel to our souls in the now, helping to alleviate – or soothe – many of the symptoms of sin that cause us so much current suffering.
This is true spiritually, of course (think about the how the gospel helps to alleviate those feelings of guilt and shame associated with past sins, despite the fact we continue to commit more sins), but this is true of our physical sufferings, of our illnesses and diseases, too. The gospel may not offer physical relief in the same way a physical soothing balm would, but it certainly does help us in those battles that are physical, as well as those that are spiritual.
When the gospel is preached to Christians, the Holy Spirit is working within, applying its soothing balm upon our wounds. Maybe your wound was caused by a seemingly losing battle with besetting sins. Maybe your wound was caused by a seemingly losing battle with illness. Either way, the gospel does not just promise the future redemption from those things, but it also applies a much-needed soothing balm for those wounds to help us in the now too.
Preachers, keep preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, even if you are preaching to the converted! That same good news message that once saved us will continue to help us until we come to meet with our precious Lord face-to-face. The Holy Spirit within continues to use the gospel of Jesus Christ for our good in ways past our finding out, leading us over and again to Jesus Christ, the Great Physician, working to ever deepen and strengthen our union with Him.
[1] Deliberate understatement!
Matthew Prydden is an itinerant preacher from Wales, Reformed, Calvinistic, and Evangelical. This article is used with permission.
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