- “A Word.” When the Lord speaks to us through a gift of the Holy Spirit we use the Bible term, calling it “a word” instead of a message. The ten commandments are called ten words (Exod 34:28, Deut 4:13, see margins); “A word in his mouth” (Num. 23:16); “The word of God came to Nathan” (1 Chron. 17:3); and to John (Luke 3:2).
- “The word coming”, “the word has come”, “the Lord has said”, “the voice of God”, “the spoken word”, are all used in this book for the word of God now being spoken through the gifts of the Holy Spirit by those in whom the gifts lie, who are God's vessels set in the Church. Example: as when we say, the Apostolic Faith Church name was given to this work by the Lord. In Acts 13:2 “the Holy Spirit said, Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work”.
- “The plan and order of the Lord”, means the new latterdays' Church, with all the offices and gifts in action. Also it takes in the order of the household - the office of a husband and the place of the wife.
- The Apostolic Faith Church has “the plan and order of the Lord” for the last days. We occasionally use interchangeably, for this Church the names, the Latter Rain Church or the Church of the Manchild. Later some distinctions may arise in these names, which we do not now see.
- By the “New” is meant the Latter Rain or Manchild movement, bringing in the new era. The “Old” denotes the state and order of the Church and world, as they have existed in the past.
- A.V. stands for the Authorised Version; and R.V. the Revised Version of the Bible.
Pentecostal Meetings Commence In Emmanuel Hall
Emmanuel Hall was finished and dedicated 5th November, 1908, with only £32 debt, which was paid off by gifts made without any collection being taken. The dedication services were attended by many of the foremost Pentecostal leaders of the country. The power and presence of God were manifest in a very marked way in blessing and healing. One young man - Frank Trevett - who was in rapid consumption - many of his relatives having died of the disease - came to Bournemouth on the verge of the grave, having been sent here by the doctors from the Midlands, as the only hope for a few days more of life. He had heard the outpouring of the Spirit preached, and seeing a notice of the meetings, he dropped in, having a desire to get the baptism of the Holy Spirit before he died; he was soon among the seekers. When the Holy Spirit came upon him, he spoke in tongues, and was instantly healed. Later he received a certificate from a well-known consumption specialist that there was no organic disease in his body. Pastor Boddy stated in his paper, Confidence, at this time, that this was the first Pentecostal building erected in the British Isles.
Every night meetings were held in the Hall, and a great work was done, that became well known among the Pentecostal assemblies throughout the country. Winton is a suburb of Bournemouth, a modern seaside summer resort of 85,000 people (in 1908), beautifully located on the south coast of England, thirty miles west of Southampton, one of England’s great sea-ports. It is a very attractive spot, and many people needing a change and rest spend their holidays here. Many Pentecostal people, and seekers for the baptism, were especially led to come to this place, that they might have spiritual as well as physical benefit, which helped to give influence and prominence to the work. Brethren from across the seas came. One brother, a missionary from America, on his way to Africa in 1911, stopped here for a time, and, in a space of three weeks, counted sixty persons who came seeking their baptism, and got it, pleading the Blood and speaking in tongues. It was a common saying, in those times, that the work was a running conference. Because of the standing the work had, the writer was directed by two prominent Pentecostal leaders in London to come here in 1910, that he might get his baptism, as he was not succeeding in getting through into the experience where he was. He was told that he would undoubtedly get through into the baptism in Hutchinson’s meetings; they seemed to be noted for warmth and power. In coming, the writer can testify that he received a wonderful baptism.
In answer to prayer - and, we confidently say, we believe that it was through a great deal of soul travail before God on the part of Pastor Hutchinson for the gifts of the Holy Spirit to be set in the Church - a very remarkable gift of interpretation of tongues was manifested in a sister. The Holy Spirit spoke through this gift in a strong and most convincing way. In the spring of 1911, word came through tongues and interpretation for Pastor Hutchinson to attend a conference in Holborn Town Hall, London, and that before going he was to make arrangements to purchase the ground the Hall stood on. He asked a banker, if necessary, would he allow him to draw £100 for the purchase of the ground - which he agreed to do; nevertheless, Pastor Hutchinson told him probably he would not need the money. At the time he had not the slightest idea where the £100 was coming from. He had not asked for any gifts of money or materials, or taken any collections for the building or running expenses of the work. All literature, including the Showers of Blessing, was then sent out free, the Lord always sending the sum needed when the proofs were in the hands of the printers. The Pastor kept a free-will offering box at each of the two doors of the Hall; he preached the giving of the one-tenth, and free-will offerings unto the Lord, with no personal appeal for a salary or help to be given him. He left himself, the best he knew how, in the hands of the Lord.
When at the London Conference, Pastor Hutchinson was seated as one of the Pentecostal leaders, on the platform. He had a message to give; but after speaking a few minutes he was requested not to proceed further, without any explanation why, which was a great blow to him. His meetings being blessed and prospered of God, the Enemy began to circulate false reports about him and his work. One of the reports was that he had sacrificed a goat, offering the blood unto the Lord, evidently because he made much of the Blood of Jesus. He was told later that objections to him had arisen because he believed the word coming through the gifts of the Holy Spirit was the word of God. After Pastor Hutchinson was stopped, the Holy Spirit gave the following word: “Oh My people, My people, why have you forsaken Me? Why have you forsaken the way of the blood?...the blood line reaches from earth to heaven,” etc.. This word came in a well remembered voice of lamentation, through a lowly sister, a visitor at the time from Amsterdam, Holland, who scarcely knew anything of the conditions that existed, nor why the Lord should so speak through her. This sister and her husband were highly esteemed by all the Pentecostal brethren because of their humble, helpful, Spirit-filled ministry. Along about this time, the word came through the gifts that there would be a blood line of division drawn, but it was not then known what meaning God had in it, and many wondered.
The writer sees now that God had a purpose in his being in the London meetings for eight months, in 1909-10, followed by a similar length of time in those at Bournemouth, that he might experience the workings of the Holy Spirit under bondage and in a place of full abandonment to Him. The remark was often made to him, by some of the saints in London, that they felt a bondage of the Spirit in their meetings, which he felt himself, and, being a seeker after the baptism, it created a hopeless feeling of getting the blessing there. The writer was walking in a state of great suffering in the cry of his soul after God, undergoing much opposition and persecution. A missionary from the United States, whom he knew, on his way to a foreign field, making a little stay in London, preached in one of the afternoon meetings. He was on fire with the Spirit, and the writer was set aflame with increased yearnings for God to come quickly with the outpouring of the Spirit and the sign of tongues. This brother, after speaking, left the meeting to resume his journey, and the writer followed him to the train, sorrowing, in such distress of soul, he could hardly endure seeing him leave, being drawn to him by the Spirit of power and freedom that rested on him. The brother, on parting, in a deploring tone, said, “You will never get your baptism in these meetings.” He was so moved in interest for the struggling one he left at the station, that he wrote a letter back to him, when he got out on the water, encouraging him to hold on. No one, only God, or those He has called to pass through similar experiences, knows the sufferings that the writer was undergoing; he was going through a crucifixion with Christ, in an awful death. Some brethren whom he met, in the Spirit would feel his pain, and be greatly moved by God towards him in most tender compassion and support. In it, he was made sensitive to things that burdened and grieved the Holy Spirit.
How can the bondage in the London meetings be accounted for? Good men had them in charge - men who were evidently doing a great work in their field of labour; and no doubt there was great blessing in the beginning of their Pentecostal services. It appears they failed to break from the old dead forms, and to swing out by faith, abandoning themselves wholly to God, and so the Spirit’s operations were hindered; He could not take them forward into His fulness. There seemed to be no faith for the operation of the gifts, beyond the mere sign of tongues for the baptism. Any special movement of the Spirit in lifting a meeting out of bondage can be sung down, and this seemed often to be done. Disturbing persons in meetings then had to be controlled; but this does not account for the bondage of the Spirit. In this new movement of God, it is well we look over the field, and consider these things in the light God throws upon them.
In the meetings at Bournemouth, in the new operations of the Holy Spirit that were coming, Pastor Hutchinson’s policy was to let any manifestation run, that he did not understand and had to deal with, until it was quite clear whether it was prompted of God or not. As an instance, when prophecy first began to be manifested with great groanings, some who had stood thus far in the work, went out in a group, and said, “It is never God.” In great travail the Pastor held on at nights, sometimes into the early morning hours, and saw the birth of prophecy when unbelief had vanished. In this way manifestations of self were also clearly discerned and separated from the real. Whatever efforts Satan makes to blind and deceive seem especially to be made in the beginning of a new movement of God; it was so with Moses when he first went before Pharaoh, and the magicians appeared with their “imitations of Moses’ miracles” (through the gifts we are told they were “imitations”), which were quickly swallowed up, and they were brought to an end of their deceptions, confessing that the work of Moses was the finger of God. So, as we hold steady, all false things are swept away.
Pastor Hutchinson-Dennis says that as time went on, more than once it seemed all was lost. They found themselves on the deep all night in the darkness, rowing in the teeth of heavy storms. Like the disciples, they were constrained to cry out, “Master, carest Thou not that we perish?” God permitted awful circumstances to arise through the “voice of God” in the gifts being heard, and the use of it, that tested Pastor Hutchinson and his family to the death. But he did not run away from it, as Moses endeavoured to do from the serpent; at God’s command, he seized hold of the trouble with a firm grip, and it became a rod in his hand. Every advance made from one gift or office to a higher one was attended by a real crisis, a severe test of faith that seemed on the verge of ruin. In the test of holding on to the light that was coming, regardless of cost, God came in time to save him from sinking, giving His approval, and confirming him with a new understanding of what the fulness of the Latter Rain was to be. So many things that seemed impossible difficulties that came up in the work, which Pentecostal leaders ran from, saying they were serpents or evil spirits, have, through the Pastor’s faithful stand, been turned and made to open up God’s plan and purpose.
God today will work as of old; the false will go down before the genuine. Paul, speaking of the last times, says, “Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was” (2 Tim 3:8,9).
Rejected By Man; Accepted By God
When the meeting in the Holborn Town Hall, in which Pastor Hutchinson was rejected, came to a close, a few sympathisers made arrangements for him to hold a service in one of the vestries of a Baptist chapel. On his way thither, a gentleman at his side, who in a consoling tone was deploring the unpleasantness he had met with, placed a piece of paper in his hand, which, on looking at afterwards, he found to be a cheque for £100. It seemed as though the Lord said to him, “Rejected by man; accepted by God.” Like the blind man Jesus healed, who testified with faith in Jesus so strong that the Jews cast him out of the Temple, and it happened he found Jesus on the outside (John 9:34-38), so our brother found Jesus waiting outside for him, with £100 to comfort and heal his wounded heart. Verily the good Samaritan found him who had been robbed and wounded, and poured in oil and wine, and took him on his own beast, and cared for him. It is evident our brother’s spirit and words of faith in the Blood of Jesus, in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and in what God was doing and going to do, was too strong for them, and they were not able to move forward with him on to the ground God was calling him to take by conquest, and hold as his possession. This was clearly a Divine seal of guidance and approval at the hour the blow came. How can it be explained if he was not on the right road and in the right spirit? “Surely,” one might say, “he was not sent there to deliver a message.” Undoubtedly he had the burden of the Holy Spirit heavily upon him, but God let it be crushed in him, having sent him there to be rejected and to receive His Divine approval.
Is this not so? Let us be as just before God as Nicodemus sought to be with Jesus, though the Pharisees did not like it and tauntingly asked, “Art thou also from Galilee?” (John 7:48-52). I am not of Galilee, yet I would be a Galilean - yes, a Jew. I am not a Briton, yet I would be a Briton. I am of America, yet I would be an American. As Paul the Jew was to the Gentiles, so would I be all things to all men, that I may by all means save some, especially at this time of God’s new movement in the world’s history, when strong national and clannish spirits will have to go down and melt as never before, in God’s melting-pot, into oneness in Christ: I refer specially to the people of God. The fires of God are hot, and all one has to do is to stay in His crucible and be melted down; he may crackle, sputter, and bubble, but he will get rid of much wind and deadly fumes, and become a calm, restful, molten mirror, reflecting the Divine image: verily a precious treasure will he become, giving joy unto the heart of his God. Life is too short to dilly-dally or confer with flesh and blood. If we follow Jesus, let us follow Him; eternal issues are before us. We seek the truth and facts as they will be unveiled at the judgement bar of God. We would know His reasons for the course He is taking, where it is our privilege to know, for we follow Him. We would know where God moves, to whom He is speaking, and on whom He is setting His approval; for He surely is working somewhere, and working out something special in these awful times, that He wants us to know all about, and that it behoves us to enter into with all our hearts. Let it be seen indeed that we will tread down our own flesh into the dust, to get God and the revelation He has to make at this time when the world is undergoing a great change.
THE WORD THROUGH THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT CLEARLY FULFILLED
We would ask further: Why did not our brother get £25, or £60, or £80? Why did he get just £100? Answer. The Lord spake through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, ordering His servant to purchase the ground, to give him an understanding of His will, that He might put himself in a state of expectancy, and be ready to receive and pay the money at the time appointed - this was evidently the meaning of the word. Had he not believed the gifts, and acted upon them, he would not have gotten the money. Why did the Lord permit him at this time to face, as one of the reasons for his rejection, the fact that he believed the word through the gifts of the Holy Spirit to be the word of God? It seems strange that God at this time sealed his faith in the spoken word with the £100 promised through the very gifts these brethren were rejecting. While he was not looking for the money to come at this convention, yet had he been, after he was sat down he would have said, “My hopes are spoiled. Who, here now, would give to me?” But in face of these adverse winds, God brought him through to the goal. Remarkable coincidence! Was all this purely accidental? Here we see many pieces all fitting together, like panels and pieces in the framework of a door. Yet are we to say there was no Designer - no Nazarene Carpenter that fitted them together? When I believe a door just happened into existence, then I will believe all this was spontaneous generation. While Pastor Hutchinson had a heavy heart of sorrow on his return - for an angular stone he was, unfit for their building - yet there was running around in him a real divine joy underneath it all.
Pastor Hutchinson, on receipt of this money, saw at once the meaning of the word to prepare to purchase the ground. On his return, this sum of money was used for this purpose, exactly covering the cost. Was it not a little like the money Peter got out of the fish’s mouth, that apparently just met the need? Soon after this, the rest of the ground, facing on the two streets, was purchased and paid for, making a total ground cost of £580 for nearly one acre of ground. Before this last piece of ground was bought, at a cost of £480, it had been advertised for sale, and prospective purchasers had come to look it over. The Lord had said, through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, a long time before this, that this ground was His, and would belong to the Church. Emmanuel Hall was at the back of it,and the sale of this ground to anyone else would have fenced it in beyond any hope of expansion. It was the most valuable and important of all the ground that has been purchased; in fact, it was indispensable. “Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations; spare not: lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes,” was a fitting word at that time. Out over this ground the cords of faith were run, and fastened to stakes firmly set. The brethren knew they were not to be idle, but wide awake and on the alert, and indeed they were most earnest in prayer; they walked over the ground by day and night, pleading the Blood of Jesus for its possession. Then surveyors came to measure it up, seemingly with the idea to purchase. The brethren now became so burdened they got desperate, and had a Tuesday of fasting and prayer. Elder A.J. Seal, an architect, now Building Constructor in the Church, having just been baptised with the Holy Spirit, prophesied that before the end of the week the ground would belong to the Church. On the Saturday of the same week, a gentleman came here from a distance, with whom Pastor Hutchinson had only a slight acquaintance. He gave him £480 to purchase the ground; the transfer was made at once, and the word of prophecy fulfilled. Since then, four adjoining residences, and the grounds attached, have been purchased; also an additional acre and a half of ground next to these: making a total of three acres, all lying together. A local house builder desired to purchase the one-and-a-half acres for the erection of houses, but the owner would not sell; when approached by Pastor Hutchinson, he agreed to sell at once. Every portion of the ground has been faithfully prayed over, and God has spoken through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, long before the purchase of the different pieces, of His purpose to add them to the work. On this ground a large Bible School and Missionary Training Home are to be erected; also a larger building for the meetings, and other buildings necessary for the work.
It is quite remarkable how these different sections of ground have come into the Pastor’s possession. He has not schemed or pushed to get them; they have come easily and naturally into his hands, like ripe apples falling ready to be gathered. There is a ripening of God’s purposes and plan in our life work, that we, by moving with faith along, in His order and time, gather the fruits of unto ourselves with rejoicing, as truly as a tiller of the soil gathers the ripened harvest in its season. A farmer gathers his own crop; no man can take it from him. So God permits no man to take from a true-hearted servant of His that which He has for him. Abraham, in the kindness of his heart, told Lot to take his choice of the land - to go either to the right hand or to the left, which meant that he would take the second place. It was all Abraham’s, yet he had no quarrel with Lot; he had no fears. Lot looked with an earthly vision, and Abraham with a heavenly vision (Gen.13:10,14). Lot lost all, and Abraham gained all, according to God’s plan and promise. It does not do to have a fleshly vision in any of these things, for if we do we will run amuck and be burnt out, as Lot was out of Sodom. May God keep us clearly visioned and divinely motivated. As God has worked in the past in providing for this work, so He will continue to work, moving on hearts to meet the great demand of the work that is to be done.
Apparent Losses In Christ Turned To Hundredfold Gain
When Pastor Hutchinson stood on the ground with only nine pence in his pocket, and asked the Lord for the plot the Hall stands on, he had a friend with whom he had met in prayer early of mornings for about three years, who left him on account of his getting the baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. This friend intended to buy this piece of ground and the plots around it, and to build houses at the front for rent, and a Hall at the back for Pastor Hutchinson to hold meetings in; this was before the outpouring of the Spirit with the sign of tongues commenced. He had actually paid £30 down to seal the transaction, but not receiving our brother's testimony and pressing into the experience himself, the Lord evidently was not having His way, and He let the whole of the friend's under-taking to drop out of existence. God, in leading us from one stage to another of spiritual attainments - into the baptism, and on with Him into the fulness of the Latter Rain inheritance - seems at times to let these advances work our ruin. He breaks up our plans, with all their human dependencies, and even our brotherhood relationships, and throws us out alone entirely on Him Who stands waiting and seeking opportunities to enter in through these doorways - that are rents in our hearts made by His painful sunderings - and reveals Himself more fully to us, not only as our spiritual Head, but as the Great I AM, the Ever-present Planner and Financial Supporter of all our work and life. We may never have gotten our business affairs fully into His hands, and in business matters He may have seemed to be afar off, but He works to bring us into sensitive contact with Himself as the One Real Presence, right at hand, Business Manager of all our affairs. In these advances it is blessed to feel the pulsations and throbs of new life from God in greater strength and fulness as they come flowing through us; they are realities only known by experience. By them our knowledge of God is increased; we are awakened and quickened into new life and action; we consciously enter into greater security and rest in Him, having greater assurance of faith for all things in life, which makes our joy and triumph more real and complete. So God works with those who seek to follow and trust Him fully, to perfect that trust, and make it an actual experience in life, so that there will be no timidity and fear when men fail and world-disturbing uncertainties arise; then the soul may calmly rest in full reliance on Him Who never fails. After God proves a man by taking away human plans and supports, He comes forward Himself with better plans, even plans that are greatly enlarged and are divinely certain of success - no guesswork about them; and with them He brings to the soul a richer and more blessed relationship with Himself, giving complete soul freedom and independence in Him. Pastor Hutchinson, in venturing out upon God, soon found Him working to get full posssession of him. The Lord let this friend, with his plans and money, step out of his life, that He might step in to change and perfect everything. We see he not only got the property at the back for his use, but the Lord made him the owner of it and of all the ground afore named. Had the friend built the hall, he would have been the owner of it, and held it under his own restrictions. While the loss of this friend seemed great and bewildering at the time, it was turned to an hundredfold gain in this life and an eternal gain in the manifold workings of God for good to the souls of men. Behold how great an advance God made in the life of our brother, working for him far better than he knew, bringing him up out of a little, dependent, helpless, cramped state, to one of enlarged prosperity and independence, with faith for all God's offices and gifts. Alternatively, we can see how great would have been his losses had he been satisfied with merely a living wage back in the old church-state of things. The very thought of being there now, he says, produces a shrinking, sickening feeling, for he realises he would have been a pauper even in the ministry, compared to the wealth of experience and riches of grace that have come to him as he walked along with God in the light He has given. So God would bring us out of Moab like He did Ruth - if we have a similar heart covenant with Him - and bring us into a home of wealth and near relationship with Christ, our Boaz and rich relative. It is surely good for us, even though the trip be hard for the flesh, made in poverty and very slowly along the way, upholding a Naomi in the infinity of her old age. “He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Pastor W.P.Roberts, of London, lately said to the writer that it was a marvellous work indeed that God had done in Pastor Hutchinson's life in the past ten years, since he got the baptism. This is true. It would require a large volume to describe the course of training God has taken him through during these ten years. God has worked fast in a very heavy course, that could not well be added to, for we know that it has been all the human could stand. Jesus Christ has been the great Teacher. While He is considerate and merciful, yet He takes His scholars on with Divine faithfulness, pressing them through to the end, preparing them for the revelation and the new day. Many things that God has done will be told in their proper places as the work goes on.
The Divine Call And Setting In Office Of The Chief Apostle
A number of Pentecostal assemblies in England, Scotland, and Wales, agreeing on some essentials, became joined together in brotherly fellowship in a way that God recognised, and He began to speak through the gifts of these different assemblies the same things on the order and plan of His Church for the last days, that they should become united into one body, and have a chief apostle over them, whose office was to be that of a general superintendent, and through whom He would work in a very special way. Further, the word came that this Latter Rain organisation should be called The Apostolic Faith Church. These assemblies were some 150 to 600 miles apart; and the fact of the Holy Spirit speaking the same thing in the different churches was remarkable and very impressive, and had great meaning among the brethren, greatly strengthening their faith in the gifts and in the movement God had on hand. The Lord gradually led up to the place where He could speak of the head office, and told whom He had chosen to fill it, declaring that all the offices and gifts of the Holy Spirit that were in the early church should be restored again in great power and fulness in this Latter Rain period. Through the grace of God, these brethren had the Christian character and humility to submit and carry out the word, bringing the assemblies into one body under one head.
In the fall of 1912, a memorable meeting was held in Belle Vue Chapel, Swansea, South Wales, when many brethren from different parts declared their allegiance to the revelation God was giving, and the choice of the Lord in Pastor Hutchinson as their leader. The Pastor, up to this time, knowing the plan of the Lord, was very careful not to go to any meeting unless desired and the Lord had sent the travelling expenses. At the following Bournemouth Convention, August, 1913, this office became more clearly defined and established.
Pastor W.O. Hutchinson was chosen and set in the office through the operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit moving and speaking through a period of eighteen months or more. The members of the assemblies naturally shrank from the very name of prophets and apostles, and the Lord had to work slowly, and prepare the way to bring these offices into the church. We have been made to marvel at the wonderful Divine way He moved, so slowly and easily leading along to the acceptance of the offices and the word coming through them, for we soon saw we could not accept one and not the other. While we were timid and afraid, and naturally drew back, the Lord never left us. He remembered our frames, that we were dust, and led us along with such loving-kindness that our hearts are filled with tremulous feelings at the thought of His wonderful forbearance. In it all, we have had some new glimpses of Him, the Holy One, which calmed and confirmed us in the way. And what could be more touching and helpful than to see Him unveiled before us, so high and holy, so kingly in His bearing, yet with such infinite patience, gentleness, and lowliness of being, officiating in His priestly office on our behalf, bearing with our weaknesses and imperfections! Yes, we have seen Him, crowned with the golden wealth and beauty of all the graces in their perfection, glimmering in their richness and perfect setting on His head, ministering to us! Wonderful Jesus! This inspiring revelation of Himself, in its softening and melting effect, has been given us in the turmoils and pains of our transition life, to help us through. The disciples, after Christ's ascension, thinking of their fears over the course He took with them, probably loathed the memory of their frailty, and wept oft, thinking of His Divine compassion manifested towards them. So may it be with us all again.
Pastor Hutchinson in no sense pressed himself forward into the office he now holds; he manifested no ambition for the place; indeed, there was danger of his drawing back, and he was exhorted through the gifts, over and over again, not to do so. While the word came in other assemblies that he was chosen for this head office, it came in his own also, and the Pastor knew God’s will concerning him. The movement of the Spirit was very strong in the brethren, and especially the prophets among them, in declaring the office he was called to fill, yet he was slow to move. He was backward in coming to the front as the chairman of a conference held here at his own place in August, 1913, even though he was the convener at the call of the Lord. A word came at this time through a humble sister with the gift of prophecy. She was busy in her working dress in the morning in the Missionary and Visitors Home nearby, when she felt a strong movement of the word of God in her - so strong she did not stop to change her dress, and could not resist running - as some do when the Spirit of God is upon them - to the Church office, where the Pastor and two or three brethren were together. Contrary to her usual restrained manner, she pressed her way into their presence, and, kneeling down, poured out the word of the Lord; the shorthand writer being present, took it down as it came, from which we give the following, which is typical of the word that was coming.
August 7, 1913.
“Yea, yea, saith the Lord, in very truth, I, the great God, yea, the great God of Israel, am in the midst of ye, yea have I not spoken unto ye in that I have said that I have chosen one that shall stand forth, yea, in Mine own place, saith the Lord, chosen, yea, and that one is thee, Mine Anointed;1 for in very truth as it came through the mouth of another,2 art thou chosen as an apostle, saith the Lord ... Therefore fear thou not to take thy stand ... And yet again, saith the Lord, I choose another and not thyself, to give forth the word, yea, to make known the plan,3 even the plan of the Most High God; and truly, truly, saith the Lord, set in their places are they by Mine own hand; therefore speak thou unto them. Said I not even in the midst of ye, before the gathering together, that I would reveal unto ye My plan, yea, truly hath it in a little measure been made known unto ye ... therefore, as My chosen servant stand thou, remembering that unto thy God thou shalt give an account of these; therefore, be faithful unto Me, and being faithful unto thy God, thou shalt be faithful unto those put into thy care ... and I, the Lord thy God, stand in the midst, yea, and give unto thee words of wisdom; and power shall be thine, saith the Lord, from Mine own hand, for verily, verily, My choice is it, and not thine. Therefore give thou this word unto them, that the Lord thy God hath chosen thee, and no seeking of thine own was it, saith the Lord; but I, the great God, appointed thee to be as a shepherd unto them, and they shall go forth and be shepherds unto others, saith the Lord. Yea, yea, saith the Lord, but greater things, greater things shall be made known in the midst of ye, for much, yea, much hath been given unto those gathered, and as they go away they shall rejoice in the great light that hath been given unto them. Yea, and for thee, Mine anointed, the work shall be lightened as they step forth in their God, knowing of a very truth that God it is, and not the hands of man that worketh thus. Yea, yea, saith the Lord, I have spoken in the midst that they may know My plan, saith the Lord, even a little of My plan concerning the Church and the ruling of it. Yea, verily, verily, saith the Lord, great things are coming upon ye; yea, great things are coming, saith the Lord. Therefore ye that are chosen of the Most High God, prepare ye yourselves; and let this that the Lord giveth ye bring thee down, bring thee down; for no man, saith the Lord, that exalteth himself shall be exalted of the Lord, but brought low; but he that is humble of heart, saith the Lord, I will exalt even before the people. Therefore remain ye, saith the Lord, in a servant's place; yea, remain ye humble; and I, the Lord your God, in very truth will bring to pass all that I have spoken unto ye.
Yea, yea, saith the Lord, hard times, hard times hast thou seen; yet, yet in very truth have I not, the Lord thy God, stood with thee, yea, and by thee, and ofttimes and at all times delivered thee, yea, delivered thee from those that would surround thee, yea, and almost persuade thee to draw back; yet let it not be, let it not be. Close thyself off, saith the Lord, from such that would come and persuade, yea and speak fair words unto thee. Close thou thyself off, saith the Lord, shut thou thyself in, for God it is Whom thou trusteth, and God it is that hath delivered, and will deliver, yea, and will at all times be thy strength, and give unto thee all that thou needest ... therefore look thou not about thee and wonder, for the Lord thy God is a great God, yea, He filleth all space; and though thou seest not about thee, yet in very truth thy God, Who is with thee, knoweth all, yea, He knoweth all, and He worketh for thee, even as thou knowest not, Mine anointed. Therefore again, saith the Lord, stand thou forth in the midst of My people, and proclaim, yea, proclaim unto them in very truth the God of Israel standeth in the midst, and He will Himself work and bring to pass all that He hath promised.”
Footnotes:
- Let us first consider the Great Anointed One, “the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus” (Heb. 3:1). Christ, in the Greek, means the anointed (of God), the same as Messiah in the Hebrew (John 1:41). “Jesus, Whom I proclaim unto you, is the Christ” - is the Anointed (Acts 17:3). All of God's children who are baptised with the Holy Spirit have an unction or anointing from the Holy One (2 Cor. 1:21; 1 John 2:20,27), and may be so addressed by the Lord; but the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit rest on those in the chief offices of God's appointment, that He would have us recognise. There is something in the language of the Holy Spirit which points out, primarily, that the apostles are the anointed of the Lord. In praying for His anointed, the word seems to make it include God's chosen leader, God's plan, and all those who are in it, who form the body of the anointed. They are all baptised into one Spirit, and drink of one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13). When the Holy Spirit is referring to the first apostle in our midst, He says, “Mine anointed,” or “the anointed of the Lord,” and thus we know which chosen servant present is referred to. Secondarily, there are some God appoints to exceptional places of special importance, whom He calls His anointed, probably one like Cyrus, who filled a national office, who is God's agent to work out His will and answer the prayers of His people, whether he knows God or not. God calls Cyrus by name, and “My shepherd,” and “His anointed,” two hundred years before he was born. “Thus saith the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him ... For Jacob My servant's sake, and Israel Mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name ... I girded thee, though thou hast not known Me” (Isa. 45:1,4,5).
Cyrus had in him to do the great thing to which God called him, to return the Jews and to rebuild Jerusalem. In this case of Cyrus, we see how God may address some one as anointed in whom a gift lies, or a great work is to be done, that is not yet made manifest. Much is being spoken through the gifts of the Holy Spirit about God’s anointed in connection with the return of the Jews to their own land.
- One of the foremost brethren in this conference, while preaching, who had come out with a strong spirit of conviction, and declared Pastor Hutchinson’s office.
- See Glossary at front of book.
As time went on, the Lord enlarged upon the office through the gifts, setting forth its great importance and meaning. It would take a large volume or two of printed matter to give all the word* (see Glossary at the front of the book) that has come from time to time through the gifts of the Holy Spirit in regard to the office. There are repetitions of some truths in different forms, as found in the four Gospels, and in Ezekiel and other prophets, which are always needful, that the meaning of what God proposes to do may be fully and strongly set forth before human beings. No greater Divine emphasis could be put on this movement of GOD than what has come here; the word indeed is full and complete. The word has come with great refining heat that has burned through and through all the churches; in this it bears the stamp of God, for it is God's word only that searcheth the deep and hidden parts of man's being. The word of the Lord has come often to the Pastor and the people - especially in the conferences held in the Churches in the different parts of the British Isles - about the office, its high place before Him, and the place of recognition it is to have in their midst. Again and again the word has come that He was not setting up a man, but setting up an office, that the people are not to see the man, but the office. This is a hard lesson to learn for all of us; but as we learn, we become more enlightened, assured, and restful. Let us rejoice and believe God, having our hearts in submission to Him, and open to receive all the blessings He has to come to us through the gift of this office of apostleship, and through all the other gifts which He is now choosing to operate through.
Since the church has been formed, the Holy Spirit, in the Headquarters Church, has given some important words, through prophecies and interpretations, that are classed as “teachings.” These being taken down in shorthand, are run off on a duplicating machine, and sent out weekly to the different churches; they have proved a great blessing to many.
The Lord has spoken many times of this work of His, comparing it to a tree, saying the Root is here at the Headquarters Church; that man is not the root, but that He Himself is the root; that as the sap or life of the tree flows up to the branches, so His word will be manifest in the root first, and then ascend to all the assemblies, and each twig or member will thus be nourished. This has special reference to the word of revelation that is coming in the movement, and not to the Divine life of the Spirit. He has declared that the tree will grow and its branches spread over the world. This has led to a tree being chosen as the emblem or crest of the Church. It is shown standing out on a hill, with the light of the new day breaking in the background; on it will be found the Latter Rain fruits in their season. The endless chain encircling the tree, crossing at the rear, is the power of the Word and the Blood that will bind all people together in one body. Quite a word has come in regard to it, saying that the links will be forged in the heat of Divine love, etc..
We know how Jesus said, “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His Blood, ye have no life in you. ... upon this, many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him.” There was something in them that was not right, that was easily offended, and the Lord spake the word as part of His message to the world, and that they might depart and take their own course. Yet there was sorrow in it for our Lord, and for the disciples, too; it must have been a great trial to them to look around and see their numbers being cut down, until there was such a few of them left. The Lord would have us suffer something of a similar experience of the kind with Him today, now that He is bringing in a new revelation and order for His Church.
As Pastor Hutchinson has travelled in the way that God has called Him, there have come along those who have joined themselves unto Him, professing the greatest feelings of brotherly love and sympathy. They were evidently overawed with the sense of the presence of God in the work, and preached strongly on it, and, after many months of fellowship, could not find words of commendation too strong in expressing their faith and approval of the work, even causing the Pastor to fear lest they were not well enough established to give such strong testimonies. Some of these departed from the work, causing great suffering. When the first preacher fell away, in the early history of the work, big tears rolled down the Pastor's cheeks, and he asked his assistant if he thought the work would go to pieces. He answered emphatically, “NO!” We can see in this the long way that God had to bring him forward before he could stand all kinds of separations and failures of men. Later on, when the word was coming freely, God foretold of separations that would come through some falling away in different places, and this was before there was any sign of such a thing.
Some brethren outside of the English membership, who came into the work, went out, desiring to be independent; they did it in the face of strong words of exhortation, formerly spoken through the gifts in use among themselves, declaring that in no wise should they separate from the movement at Bournemouth; that in it was the plan and order of God for them. While they claimed to believe the word, they thought that new conditions had created a change in God's plan for them. The writer believes that a heart desire for independence sprang up in them, and with it arose the will of man in its free moral agency, that God, as a rule, does not oppose, and He opened the way and let them take their own course, which will surely prove to be one of great cost to them. It was a severe ordeal for the Pastor and for all the Church, for they were a much loved brotherhood; and as for them, the future will reveal all its meaning, for God will not have it hidden, in that it so vitally involved His movement and broke the unity of the faith He was bringing about. These brethren have been zealous and abundant in labours, and some, we are assured, will return again to what they know is the plan of God. This is self-evident; God's plan and higher offices had to be dropped by them; the apostleship among them became merely nominal - could not be otherwise out of God's plan - and the union God had formed of the different British peoples was broken; which was a victory for Satan in the very beginning of the movement God was making to bring into one body of people of all classes and nations. This falling away being foretold, prepared the Church in a measure for the trial, and showed the will of God under the conditions that had arisen. The prophecies on the apostleship and plan, given through those who have gone out, being the spoken word of God, and will remain in the records of the Church - a memorial to God of the truth of His spoken word, and as a witness against those who departed.
When Esau failed, the word of prophecy in his father regarding him dropped from a higher to a lower plane; the birthright or plan was lost. Wherever human ambitions, gratifications, or biases arise in hearts, God's higher plan of experience and usefulness is lost. For a time we see Esau flourished, as also did Ishmael, who had twelve sons, princes, one generation ahead of the Isaac lineage of twelve patriarchs through Jacob. Apparently neither Ishmael nor Esau saw anything outwardly in their day in the Isaac and Jacob line that they wanted; in this case, centuries told the story which of them had the Word or Divine Seed; but in these days the periods of God's workings will be short and quick. When God moves, the flesh drops into its own place of insignificance, and the Spirit rises to His throne of power and glory. People falling away from the movement ordinarily is very discouraging, but the light of the Holy Spirit soon being given on the departure of these, showed how God was refining the ore, testing and proving the steel for the framework in the building He was putting up; so instead of creating doubts, faith was confirmed in the course God was taking in preparing the leaders for the work. We saw, too, that these experiences were indispensable in the beginning of a work of this kind, for the important lessons and drills God had to give could not be learned any other way. In Dowlais, Wales, in the large steel works, we saw machinery moving tons of hot metal, and blast furnaces in action, that burned and blew out the base, worthless particles in the ore, making quite a display, throwing them high in the air, a showery fountain of sparks that dropped back on the ground black, worthless cinders. The good ore stayed in the furnace, too heavy for the blast to blow out. While the volume of the metal was greatly reduced, there was no loss, but gain, in that the weak, light particles that hindered the affinity and strong union of the good were removed out of the way, so that the strong molecular cohesion of the good was formed that was capable of standing heavy weights and strains. The steel in the bars and rails produced underwent chemical analysis and heavy pile hammer tests - the latter we witnessed - that determined their standard strength and fitness for a new construction work the government then had on hand. Just as we saw this ore being transformed into valuable metal, so we have seen God dealing with the metal that is naturally weak in man, changing it into strength and power for good, to be used in a new construction work of His kingdom. Instead of bringing many people in, so far the Church has been a fiery smelting and reduction work, that in this formation period we see to be the highest Divine seal or proof of God in it that it could carry.
The Judas Spirit Still Abroad On The Earth
(At one time, the Holy Spirit, speaking on this spirit of betrayal, said to Pastor Hutchinson, “I put it off until thou wast able to bear it.”)
One of the hardest things to bear in God's school of adversity is to have a beloved brother who has stood at our side in hearty co-operation and sympathy, in whom we confided - and it seemed a well-placed confidence - to break away from us, and become a strong and bitter assailant of our very life and the calling of God in it; this is a bitter portion indeed to drink. God permitted the Pastor to have something of an experience of this kind, in the turning away of some for whom he had laboured night and day, as it were, even taking upon himself liabilities that in some cases reached nearly £100, in which he manifested true brotherly love and the burden-bearing nature of the Christ. His experience is expressed in the mournful notes of what David felt and foretold in the life of Christ in the following passages:
“For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer. And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.” (Psalm 109:4,5).
“But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled myself with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom. I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother” (Psalm 35:13,14).
“For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him. But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company ... As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me... He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me: for there were many with me” (Psalm 55:12-18).
It is hard to have our good returned to us in evil, but it is God's experience with men, that He wants us to feel and know in a measure; by it, He takes us down deeper into Himself, into the realm of His suffering love, and we partake more of His Divine nature.
Even for the world these experiences are hard to bear. We have a picture of it in Julius Caesar, as he was rushed upon by his assassins, with daggers, to stab him to death. He saw among them his old familiar friend, Brutus, coming at him with his dagger, and he cried out, “Et tu, Brute! and thou too, Brutus!” Then sank his heart at the ingratitude and murderous spirit he saw had risen up in his friend. Mark Antony, pointing out the different wounds in Caesar's dead body, called special attention to the wound Brutus made, saying, “This was the most unkindest cut of all.” And so it was: for Brutus was Caesar's friend, and Caesar loved him. It was the least and last expected cut of all; the heartlessness of it startled Caesar, and quite overcame him. Aye, and to what doth this old world drift? And shall a brother, who carries aloft the Word of the Cross, strike? Yes, it must needs be so, and in his heart meaning the stroke to be unto the death! It is the Via Dolorosa - WAY OF SUFFERING of Christ to Calvary over again! Evil is still abroad, and will display itself in its most subtle and deadly forms, even to the end. It worked itself into the midst of our Lord's chosen and most intimate followers, and broke out in one of them, striking at Him unto death in that darkest of hours that found Him in Gethsemane's agony and blood; it was the hour and power of darkness; then the betrayer struck his blow, sealing it with a kiss. An angel had descended from heaven, and strengthened the suffering Christ for what He had to meet. Brutus carried no cross and dagger - simply a dagger. But now the spirit of the age holds high the Word of the Cross in one hand, claiming to be a friend and brother, while in the other it wields a gleaming edged weapon of death, that it fiendishly strikes and sinks into hearts, and water and blood flow in its wake - water of flowing tears follow streams of fresh outpoured blood - the Christ-heart expression of suffering and sorrow is in it all. The blood of dying millions flows out on the battle-field, and so many homes, afar and near, weep over their life and heart losses. Evil clothes itself in good. Verily the time of the Antichrist is at hand, when evil will fully head up in him, and be slain by the brightness of our Lord's Coming.1 These convulsions and rendings of hearts and nations on the earth, have their counterparts in a more significant and terrible conflict that is now raging in the heavenlies between the forces of good and evil. Lo, in the midst we behold the Lamb of God, Who died for the defeat of these raging powers of darkness; so the final triumph of the good is assured. Yet it seems strange that God always lets the evil struggle with the good, and it seems at times to its destruction, but the good always rises from the dust, as Christ arose, with a hundredfold increased power.
1. Reference 'His Coming' is fully dealt with in the Appendix.
The new thing God does is always assailed by evil, but, being genuine, will stand the worst that Satan can do, and by the ordeal its power for good is multiplied. No great work of God will escape its blanching power, that left the white form of Christ suspended in the darkness of Calvary; verily His Body, the Church, must undergo the whitened effect in suffering with Him, in death to the world and its powers, that it may be glorified and reign with Him. When we are permitted to stand by and see the struggle between the evil and the good, we come to see where the Divine Spirit is patiently suffering and enduring, and where the Evil One is in his hatred and evil designing, that is as manifest as a serpent's twist and wily movement of body that cannot be hid. These sights have a great effect upon us, humbling us and causing us to cling unto the Lord, as we think of him of whom Jesus said, “It had been good for that man if he had not been born.” On one occasion the writer was in the presence of the Pastor, and he felt the approach of Satan, and the great hatred he bore towards God's Apostolic Office and the one chosen for it. The effect of this was like a cold arctic blast going through one's being; it created a trembling fear and a cry, “My God, deliver me from the Evil One!” For a moment, in this overshadowing of evil, there was an awful realisation of what it meant for Satan and his hellish hatred to get possession of a person, and what Judas must have felt against the Christ when Satan entered into him. God has thus, in revelation and through His Word and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, given us to see that this movement of His will stir up the malignity and antagonism of the powers of hell; and we know it would not be the movement of God if these evil forces were not awakened into new and fierce opposition.
One thing God has used to press Pastor Hutchinson forward for the gifts has been the great bodily suffering He has called him to pass through. He has been kept alive by a miracle of God; this he knows full well, and it has built up his faith, and led him to a judicious preaching on Divine healing, with the usual blessings of God on his congregation that attend a ministry of the kind. Sixteen years ago, army physicians said they would not give “twopence for his life.” His heart was in a terrible condition and at times he had collapses that looked like death. His wife has stood at the foot of his bed, expecting him to breathe his last any moment. On one occasion of this kind, as they were looking to the Lord, the Holy Spirit moved with a trembling pulsation inside of him, which was repeated, pulsation after pulsation of life, stronger and stronger, coming as from another - even from Jesus Christ Himself - and entering into him, until he felt himself coming back to a normal state.
For some all-wise purpose, God has seen fit for him to walk as in the presence of death, yet in Christ he has had life. By faith in the Blood of Jesus, death has been kept from entering his home. In it all, God has given him periods of strength, in which to go on and work very hard, and bear up under many burdens and much opposition. Not only has God saved him from death, but his wife has been delivered from a sore affliction that had been on her all her life, and his eldest daughter also, who was delicate for fourteen years, has been blessed with the healing touch of the Lord Jesus; she is now the wife of Pastor James Hutchinson-Dennis, and the mother of three healthy children. In these very dark and heavy afflictions, God has worked with a strong hand, turning and shaping things in Pastor Hutchinson's life very far from anything he ever thought of or expected. It seems that God uses afflictions to crush out resistance - even when we cannot see any resistance in us - and to make us pliable, so that He, the Divine Potter, can form us into vessels of His own choosing.
It was Divinely ordered that Job's afflictions should double his wealth: and he must have been greatly refined and beautified in God's furnace, causing people to marvel at the transformation, even though the Lord had formerly called him a perfect man. As truly as God reigns, as we keep in His hands, He will make our afflictions to double our spiritual wealth. “The patience of the saints” (Rev. 13:10) must be wrought out in us; we must endure hardships as good soldiers, knowing if we endure the chastening of the Lord, and despise it not, then we are sons whom He loves and would make partakers of His holiness (Heb. 12:5,6). In the fiery heat of His furnaces, strong, worldly, driving natures are slowed down; restful, child-like faith and simplicity of life spring up; the straying of the heart is corrected: in all of which man rejoices and praises God for the work He has done in him. The Psalmist said:
"Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I observe Thy Word ... It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I may learn Thy statutes ... I know O Lord, that Thy Judgments are right, and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me" (Psa. 119:67,71,75).
Through afflictions we see the Psalmist was led to the discovering of the word of life. Afflictions embrace bodily sufferings as well as all other kinds of trouble and sorrow. They have been used to broaden and strengthen the backs of some of the baptised saints to carry heavy spiritual burdens and to suffer with Christ in the dark Gethsemane of this world's present war and sorrow. Prayer for the afflicted in body at times seems unavailing; if they are being taken through a course of refining and training, God will finish His work in them, and then answer the prayers. In this way He works out a great transformation in the deeply hidden parts of man's being; and so we believe He has been moving and working in the life of our beloved brother.
“Passing Through The Depths With God”
Not only does God work to transform men through trying ordeals in the natural life, but He takes them through heavy experiences in the spiritual with the powers of darkness, that are strong and mighty reality. In the last few years, these experiences have been very heavy - the oppressive sense of these forces have been all that the saints could stand. In them they have learned to know what it means to suffer with Christ, to pray in heavy soul-travail of the Holy Spirit; they have felt something of the mighty throes and convulsions of the hidden, mysterious forces where, in God's Divine operations, evil is defeated, and He brings forth a new spiritual as well as natural state on the earth. The Pastor, and the brethren with him in this work, have been heavily involved in experiences of this kind, that cannot be written or explained to the natural man. David describes an experience of this kind, in Psalm 18:3-6, where he prays for deliverance; and he tells how the sorrows of death and hell compassed him about, and says:
"In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before Him, even into His ears."
This cry had not an immediate answer; it is followed by ten verses of what seems quite a long delay of passing events that are terrible happenings. God comes in wrath against the evil powers that block and hinder Him in working out an answer to prayer. The earth shakes and trembles, there is darkness and thick clouds, hailstones, coals of fire, thunders and lightnings manifold. God bows the heaven, and comes down wrapt in the thick darkness as His pavilion; He rides upon the wing of the terrible storm. He bursts forth in His brightness; He utters His voice; He discomfits the enemy. He rolls back the darkness, and the channels of water appear, and the foundations of the world are made bare at His rebuke. In the delay here given, we see God is mightily at work; eighteen times is He referred to in the ten verses. This is a Divine picture of the present spiritual and natural world-life of man, in which we are undergoing a great change.
But we would like to have the answer to our prayers in verses 16-19 follow immediately our prayer in verses 3-6, without all these trying ordeals to be passed through. We do not like the turbulent waters, the blackened heavens, the heavy thunder, the fierce lightnings, and the earth quaking; it looks like one would perish, but God does not fail to uphold His child in this terrible passage. We would prefer to have this chasm bridged from verses 6 to 16, and we would like to have a covered and lighted bridge at that. Alas! we would suffer great loss, and the world too. Had not Job made this passage, his priceless book would never have been written and found a place in the Bible. Great were the preparations of God in him for the unfolding of God to him. Job at last looked up and said, “I had heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eyes seeth Thee, wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Verily these stormy passages are special birth places of God's revelations. Without them it seems that God would not be so wonderfully revealed, the faith and courage of the saints would not be called into action, the voice of God would not be heard speaking, and His almightiness would not be displayed in such a striking way. His answer here to prayer is like a new world rolling out of darkness into the light of day; a new thing is born in the night of pain. These heavy ordeals are wrapt up with tremendous Divine issues in them. With what joy David was able to say (verses 16-19):
“He sent from above, He took me, He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy ... He brought me forth also into a large place; He delivered me, because He delighted in me.”
Such indeed have been the great ordeals in the spiritual; such the heavy operations in the natural; such the deep experiences, with their mysterious depths too great to fathom: yet through them mortal men have passed - we wonder how, when the good and evil were involved in awful conflict, and it seemed the spiritual and natural worlds were sinking back into primeval chaos and darkness. The soul travail and soul emotions that are in them cannot be written; the inspired pen in the above Psalm describes them only in symbolic forms. It is amazing that God takes men through the midst of them alive; and yet He does, even through the depths on dry ground. Only so can those speak who have been called and gone through them. They fain nothing of themselves in it all; they are laid in the dust before God. He has so dealt with them in the depths that, like Daniel, they say, “There remained no strength in me; for my comeliness is turned into corruption.” Yet Daniel was preserved; Abraham, in his great trials and horror of darkness, was preserved; and David and Job. The disciples passed through the depths at the time of the crucifixion; pain and unfathomable mystery was about them; yet in it was God Himself, moving to the redemption of a lost world: they were saved. Israel was preserved passing out of Egypt through the midst of plagues and darkness, with firstborn dead of man and beast on every side, and water floods high above them. So God's preserving power has saved from the overflowing water-floods of the present great ordeal.
Lo, in it God has brought to the birth a new life, never seen on the earth before. The bonds of slavery in the land left behind are broken off: the old state of things is gone. We have entered a new land, and have a new possession, that means a new day and a new life for us. Out of the bed of the Jordan, so miraculously crossed, we bring forth twelve stones, at the command of the Lord, and build a memorial of deliverance on its banks, and praise the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; and so let the name of God be praised now and for evermore.
The Lord God omnipotent reigneth,
Let the earth rejoice and all therein is.
When He comes with clouds “every eye shall see Him” not the human eye but the eye of the soul; not ethereal rain clouds but the thick clouds of the Day of God. It will affect every living being on the earth. But when the angels announced ‘This same Jesus shall so come in like manner’ every eye did not see Him ascend, therefore His coming with clouds is another phase of His coming personal presence, i.e. His coming in power and great glory to and in the nations of the world. To the watching Christian He comes in His personal presence to revive, to quicken and to bring to life, to ‘catch up’ with Him; the restoration of the Holy Spirit Baptism in our life time has much to do with this. Bishop Woodward says “God is personal, therefore it is to be expected that He will reveal Himself, not in the works of nature, but in man. (Not in clouds of the sky, earthquakes, thunder and lightning, flaming fire or trumpet blasts, but in persons. It is therefore a personal coming, an appearing in and through men.) We do not deny His coming because we thus believe.”