Will you please turn to the book of Judges?
We will read the whole chapter.
And the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And He said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I swore unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break My covenant with you.
And ye shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall break down their altars. But ye have not hearkened unto My voice: why have ye done this?
Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.
And it came to pass, when the angel of the Lord spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.
And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto the Lord.
And when Joshua had dismissed the people, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land.
And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord that He had wrought for Israel.
And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being a hundred and ten years old.
And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill-country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash.
And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, that knew not the Lord, nor yet the work which He had wrought for Israel.
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baalim.
And they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the peoples that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them: and they provoked the Lord to anger.
And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.
And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and He delivered them into the hands of spoilers that despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.
Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had spoken, and as the Lord had sworn unto them: and they were sore distressed.
And the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those that despoiled them.
And yet they hearkened not unto their judges; for they went a-whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned aside quickly out of the way wherein their fathers walked, obeying the commandments of the Lord; but they did not so.
And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the Lord because of their groaning by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.
And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they turned back, and dealt more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their doings, nor from their stubborn way.
And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and He said, Because this nation hath transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and hath not hearkened unto My voice, I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations that Joshua left when he died; that by them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not.
So the Lord left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered He them into the hand of Joshua.
And then, the last sentence—the last verse of the last chapter—Judges 21:25:
In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
Shall we pray?
Dear Heavenly Father, as we are gathering together in the name of Thy beloved Son, our Lord Jesus, and in Thy presence, we do praise and thank Thee because we have the confidence that Thou art here with us.
Our Father, we do pray that by Thy Holy Spirit Thou wilt open Thy Word to us, and speak afresh to each one of us. Our Father, Thou knowest that we cannot live without Thy Word. We long for Thy Word. Speak to us, that we may live.
We commit this time into Thy hands, and may Thy name be honored. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
We now come to the book of Judges. This book is called the book of Judges because of the characteristic of the time during this period—that is, after the death of Joshua and before the accession of Saul.
God raised up judges in the nation of Israel to deliver them from the oppressions that they had from their enemies, both within and without.
This book of Judges is one of the saddest books in the Bible because it tells us of apostasy and rebellion. Because of their rebellion and apostasy, the wrath of God was upon His people, and He allowed their enemies to oppress them.
Under oppression, they groaned and moaned and cried and wept unto the Lord. And the Lord, in His mercy, raised up judges, or saviors, to save them from the oppression of their enemies.
During the time of the judge, there was peace. But after the judge died, the people went back again to rebellion. Because of that, again God allowed the enemies to overcome them. Then, under oppression, they cried unto the Lord, and again God in His mercy raised up another judge. This just went on and on for hundreds of years—a very sad history.
You know, the book of Judges is a continuation of the book of Joshua. But what a difference you find in these two books.
It is one of the saddest stories you will find in the whole Bible.
But this book is very important to us. It is relevant even to our days. Why? Because we do find there is such a similarity between the history of the children of Israel during the time of the judges and the history of God’s people throughout the centuries today.
God led the people of Israel into the promised land. He promised to give the whole land to them as their possession. But they failed. Instead of possessing all their possessions, they were under oppression by their enemies, both those living among them and those who lived around them. They failed to possess the possession.
Now, brothers and sisters, we all know that, by God’s mercy, He has put us in Christ. In 1 Corinthians 1:30 it is said that by God ye are in Christ Jesus, and God has made Him our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
In other words, you find that it is God—it is the mercy of God—that has put us in Christ. All who have believed in the Lord Jesus have not only Christ in them, but actually we are in Christ.
Now, brothers and sisters, Christ is in you, the hope of glory. But at the same time, you must remember that you are in Christ.
Christ is our promised land. He is the Canaan. He is the land that flows with milk and honey. In other words, you find that as soon as we believe in the Lord Jesus, God has put us in Christ. God has given Christ to us as our inheritance.
All the riches that are in Christ, God has given to us. You remember Ephesians 1:3 says:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
Who has blessed us—not who is going to bless us, but who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
So, in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing that He has in Christ. In other words, at the moment we believe in the Lord Jesus, God has put us in Christ. God has given us all the unsearchable riches of Christ to be our possession.
And all we need to do is to possess them, to take the land, put our feet down, and claim it and enjoy it for the glory of God.
The church should be in great blessing. The church should enjoy all the spiritual blessing that is in Christ Jesus.
But unfortunately, we find that God’s people have also failed. Instead of entering into the fullness that is in Christ, we find in church history through the centuries how God’s people are in deep spiritual poverty.
It is not because God has not promised to give us His blessing. It is because we have not been faithful.
Our hearts, our eyes, are not single unto God. We have other interests. We are distracted. We begin to love other things. We love the world. We begin to walk according to the flesh instead of according to the Spirit.
Because of all these things, you find the enemy has a hand upon us, and God’s people are under oppression many, many times. But thank God.
Through the centuries, you find that when God’s people are under deep oppression and they begin to cry unto the Lord, God will give us a revival. And with a revival there comes a time of refreshing, a time of joy, a time of peace, a time of rest.
Now, it may continue for ten years; it may continue for a hundred years. But unfortunately, you find that again God’s people begin to fall away from following the Lord with singleness of heart.
And God’s hand of discipline again comes upon His people and allows the enemy to oppress us again, to deprive us of our food. And we cry unto the Lord again, and again you find another revival coming, and another time of refreshing. This has been going on through church history again and again and again.
But unfortunately, you find that toward the end of the book of Judges, they had never fully possessed their possession.
So there is quite an analogy between the history of the book of Judges and the history of Christianity—the church of God today. That is the reason why we have to study this book and learn from it the lessons that God wants us to learn.
In this book of Judges, it roughly covers about 450 years. You know, you read Acts 13:20:
And after these things He gave them their land for an inheritance, for about four hundred and fifty years: and after that He gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.
This book covers approximately about 450 years of time. But if you read 1 Kings 6:1:
And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord.
Now here, 1 Kings 6:1 says that after they came out from Egypt, in the fourth year of King Solomon, when he began to build the temple, it was 480 years.
Now, if the book of Judges is 450 years, and from the time they left Egypt until the time that Solomon, in the fourth year of his reign, began to build the temple, it is only 480 years, how are you going to reconcile these two years?
The book of Judges: 450 years. The wilderness: 40 years. Saul became king for 40 years. David was king for 40 years. And now, three years of Solomon. Now you have more than 480 years.
Well, the secret is that God’s way of computing time is different from ours. Historically, physically speaking, time-wise, we know that it is more than 480 years from the time that they came out of Egypt until the time that Solomon began to build the temple.
But from the spiritual accounting, it is only 480 years. Now, if you are interested, I will read a little bit to you, and I hope you will search it yourself.
The wilderness is 40 years. The book of Judges is 450 years. But during the time of the judges, you find the children of Israel were under the oppression of the enemy. In other words, they were not what God wanted them to be.
They were under the oppression of Mesopotamia for eight years; under the Moabites, eighteen years; under the Canaanites, twenty years; under the Midianites, seven years; and under the Philistines, forty years.
Now, of course, there were eighteen years that they were under the Amorites, but that was parallel with the forty years of the Philistines, so we do not count them. If you add up all the years that the children of Israel were under the oppression of their enemies, it comes to ninety-three years.
Then you find Saul, forty years; David, forty years; and Solomon, three years had passed. So you deduct the ninety-three years, and it is 480 years.
Now, brothers and sisters, you know this is the way God computes time. And there is a lesson for us. You remember Moses cried that God would teach him how to number the days, that he might be wise.
Now, we need to be wise to number the days. Many days that are historically, physically, time-wise present are not counted in the sight of God. If they do not contribute to the purpose of God, they are discounted.
Now, that is a serious thing. Brothers and sisters, as a person, as a people, our history may not be as long as our physical years.
You may be seventy years old, but maybe in the sight of God you are only two years. We may be together for twenty years, but maybe in the sight of God it is only eight years. Who knows?
Whatever does not contribute to the purpose of God, whatever does not stand for the testimony of Jesus, these are wasted times. They do not count before God.
And how sad it is. The children of Israel were in the land of promise, and there they were to fulfill God’s purpose. They were to be a testimony of God in the world. But when they were there in the promised land, ninety-three years were completely wiped out because they were not where they should be.
And, brothers and sisters, may this be a lesson to us, that we be wise to count, to number our days, that none of our days are just wasting away.
And you know, in the book of Judges, God raised up altogether thirteen judges. Now, some of the judges judged at the same time; they were contemporaries. And some were consecutive.
In the book of Judges, you find no judge judged the whole land of Israel. A judge might judge some part of the promised land, but not the whole land. Nothing is perfect during the time of the judges.
Do you want the names of the thirteen judges? Sometimes I make it too easy for you, probably. Well, I will read them, and then you find them yourself.
Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah and Barak—they are one—Gideon, Abimelech, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, and Samson.
Now, before we go into this book of Judges, I think there is another thing we need to understand, because it will give you a panoramic view of God’s counsel.
Judges is a transition between theocracy and monarchy. In other words, you find that when God began with His people, it was a theocracy. God Himself was their King. God ruled over them. God brought these people out of Egypt, God brought them to Himself, and God was their King. He Himself ruled over them.
During this time—that is, under theocracy—the most important function is the function of the priests. In other words, under theocracy, priesthood is the most important system because the priesthood is the go-between between God and man.
So you find that under theocracy, it is the priesthood that is most prominent in the history of the children of Israel. But the priesthood failed. The priesthood did not bring people to God, and God was not able to reach His people through the priesthood.
So God raised up judges as an emergency, temporary measure. You know, the book of Judges is not a permanent measure in the economy of God.
In the economy of God, theocracy, or priesthood, is a permanent measure. And then monarchy—kingship. One day, God would raise up kings to rule over the children of Israel as His representatives.
But before kingship was introduced, and after the failure of priesthood, in between God took an emergency measure, and that is judges.
So remember: judges is not God’s permanent measure; it is an emergency measure. Therefore, under the judges you find nothing is perfect, nothing is complete. It is temporary, and it will soon pass away.
But during the time of judges, you find the people were delivered. They had a time of rest, a time of peace. It was a good time. But unfortunately, it never lasted very long.
Spiritually speaking, this matter of judges, or saviors that God raised up from time to time, speaks of revival.
We find that revival does come upon God’s people when God’s people are under oppression, or they are very depressed and very low spiritually. God, in His mercy, does bring in revival.
But remember, revival is not God’s permanent measure. It is God’s temporary work. Now, I will explain that more later on, but I want you to remember this because that is important to understand the Scripture.
Now let us go back to the book of Judges. The book of Judges can be divided into three parts.
From Judges 1:1 through Judges 3:6, that is the first section. It tells us the reason for all their conditions. Why were they oppressed? Why were they in such situations? The reason is given there.
Then, from Judges 3:7 through Judges 16, it gives the history of the children of Israel during the time of the judges.
Lastly, from Judges 17 through Judges 21, it gives us some details of the inner condition of all the people during the time of the judges.
In other words, historically speaking, time-wise, actually the history ends at Judges 16. But Judges 17 to the end gives the inner history, the inner condition, of the children of Israel.
Now, let us go to the first section. The first section tells us the reason for the situation of the children of Israel. And the reason given, you can find in Judges 2.
You know, when the children of Israel first came into the promised land under the leadership of Joshua, you find that no enemy could stand before them. They won battle after battle, they wiped out enemy after enemy, and they were able to take possession of a great number of cities and lands.
Joshua was able to divide the land to all the tribes of the children of Israel. And after Joshua died, you find that the children of Israel continued on possessing their possession.
In the first chapter, you find they asked the Lord who should go first to take the land that had not been taken yet. And God said, “Judah.” So Judah told Simeon, “Come with me. Let us go, and later I will help you to get your possession.”
So you find they began very well. They began well to take their possession. But even in the first chapter, when they were going out to possess their possession, and they seemed to do well in the beginning, you read the first chapter and begin to see weakness already.
Some places, some cities, they could not take. Some land they could not take. Some enemies they could not drive out.
Now remember, God had promised the land to them, and God said no enemy could stand before them. God was with them, and God was faithful. He was well able to drive out all the enemies, that the children might possess their possession.
But why is it that you find the children of Israel, as they went out to possess their possession, were not able to fully possess? Some enemies were too strong for them.
And if you read very carefully, you find that some enemies lived in their midst, and in some places they lived in the midst of their enemies. Immediately, you see weakness shown in the lives of the people of God.
Now why? You have the reason in Judges 2. In Judges 2, you find the angel of the Lord came from Gilgal to Bochim, and He delivered a message to the children of Israel.
Now, brothers and sisters, as you read the book of Joshua, you find Gilgal is the place in the book of Joshua. You know, like Sinai is the symbol of the wilderness, so here you find Gilgal is a symbol of the book of Joshua.
After they crossed the River Jordan, they came to Gilgal. There the children of Israel had the circumcision, and the Bible said the reproach of Egypt was rolled away from them.
Gilgal means rolling, rolled away. Now what does it mean? It simply means that at Gilgal, where circumcision occurred, where the knife was applied, through the working of the cross in their lives, the reproach of Egypt was rolled away.
In other words, the children of God were completely delivered from their flesh through the working of the cross. And now they were in the Spirit, and therefore in the Spirit no enemy could stand before them.
You read the book of Joshua, and you find that they started from Gilgal to go out and fight. And after they overcame, they always returned to Gilgal. Gilgal was the headquarters, and from there they launched out again.
So Gilgal is the place of the cross, where they experienced the victory. But here the angel of the Lord came from Gilgal to Bochim.
Bochim means weepers—weepers—because the angel of the Lord delivered a very stern message.
God said, “Why do you not keep My covenant? Why do you do these things? Why do you leave Me? Why do you begin to mix up with the people? Why do you begin to worship their gods? Why do you do this? And because you do this, I am not going to drive out all your enemies.”
And they wept. They wept because of their weakness.
Now, this can explain the whole book of Judges: from Gilgal to Bochim. Brothers and sisters, whenever we leave the cross, the place of the cross, whenever we leave the place of the cutting off of the flesh, you find that even in the heavenlies we will be defeated.
And that is the reason why they had to weep, because they were defeated.
The children of Israel were not faithful to God. Because of their unfaithfulness, they were weakened before their enemies. The enemies were able to live in their midst, and in certain places they had to live among their enemies.
From time to time their enemies overcame them and put them under great oppression. When they were under great oppression—maybe for eight years, for twenty years, even for forty years—they cried unto the Lord.
And the Lord, in His mercy, sent judges to them to deliver them. But there you find that even when the judge was living, they did not hear the voice of God. When the judge was dead, then they went back again to the same old story. The whole thing repeated again and again.
What a sad story.
Brothers and sisters, there is something that we need to take heed of. You find in the history of God’s people under the new covenant, during those two thousand years, what do you find?
You find church history is just like the book of Judges. In the beginning it seems to be well, but then gradually you find spiritual weakening—weakening because of unfaithfulness to God; weakening because of love for the world; beginning to mingle with the world; weakening because we begin to have other loves, other dependencies, other relationships.
And you find the enemy begins to gain ground and begins to oppress God’s people. God’s people are under great oppression, and they cry unto the Lord. The Lord raises up revival, gives us some great man, brings in some great revival, gives us some refreshing.
But you find these revivals are not universal. You find that here was a revival, there was a revival, but not a revival of God’s people all over the world.
And you find that revivals never last very long. Some may be longer; some are very short. A few years, and it is gone. This cycle continues on.
Unfaithfulness is the reason. God is faithful, but we are unfaithful. Even in our unfaithfulness, God still shows mercy and gives us times of refreshing. But it seems that we never learn.
Now, that is the first section. In the second section, you find a history. During these 450 years, God raised up thirteen judges. When you read these chapters, you find it is a continuous cycle.
It is a cycle of declension, oppression, repentance, revival, and declension, depression, repentance, and revival. You find it is a continuous cycle, a never-ending cycle.
Altogether, there are seven cycles of declension. Now, I will read it to you, just for your help.
The first cycle is found in Judges 3:7-11. They were under the oppression of Mesopotamia for eight years, and God raised up Othniel as a judge. There was peace for forty years.
The second cycle is Judges 3:12-31. They were under the oppression of the Moabites, Ammonites, and Amalekites for eighteen years, and God raised up Ehud to deliver them. Shamgar was contemporary, and the peace was eighty years.
The third cycle is Judges 4:1 through Judges 5:31. They were under the Canaanites for twenty years, and God raised up Deborah and Barak to deliver them. There was peace for forty years.
The fourth cycle is Judges 6:1 through Judges 8:32. They were under the Midianites for seven years, and God raised up Gideon to deliver them. There was peace for forty years.
The fifth cycle is Judges 8:33 through Judges 10:5. They were under the usurpation of Abimelech, under their own people, so there was oppression for three years.
And when the tribe of Dan came and said, “Now, you want to be a priest of a family or a tribe?” Of course, a tribe. So he sold himself to Dan to be the priest there.
Think of the moral condition. It was so low. The people sinned without shame. And yet you find there was self-righteousness there.
The other tribes of the children of Israel thought they were more righteous than the tribe of Benjamin. There was fighting among the brethren, killing each other.
And even the judge was practicing sin. Think of Samson. So you find that this is the inner history of all the time of the judges. That is the inner history.
The people were divided. They fought against each other. And they were under the oppression of the enemy. That was the condition.
No wonder—it is only because of the mercy of God that they were not completely annihilated. But it was the mercy of God that they still existed.
That is the inner history.
Now, brothers and sisters, we need to make some observations. We are not just studying the history of another nation. We want to study ourselves in the light of the book of Judges.
Now, first of all, you find that when Joshua was living, and when the elders with Joshua of the first generation were living, the children of Israel kept God’s commandment. They kept His covenant. They were faithful to God.
But after Joshua died, and after that first generation—the elders who had seen the great works of God, who knew God personally and firsthand—when they died, another generation came forth. They did not know God, nor did they know the great works of God.
Then something happened. You find they drifted away from God. They began to mix with the heathen. They began to worship their idols. They began to do things that the heathen did. Very soon, they found themselves under the oppression of their enemies. They were defeated.
Brothers and sisters, when we read church history, we find the very same thing. God raised up a people like Joshua and the elders. They knew God. They had seen the work of God. They had personal experience of God. They had received revelation from God. They had seen God.
Because of that, you find there was spiritual strength. They were able to enter into the promised land and to possess it, and no enemy could stand before them. They were invincible.
But when the first generation passed away and the second generation came up, they did not have the firsthand revelation that the first generation had.
In other words, with the first generation, it is revelation; but with the second generation, it is tradition. They do not see for themselves. They have only heard of these things. It has become a tradition.
And tradition never delivers. Tradition binds people; it never sets people free. It is revelation that sets people free.
In the beginning, it is organic. The life of the people is an organic life. But now the life of the people becomes organizational.
And when a thing becomes organizational, the life is gone. You know, the more life you have, the less organization you need. But the less life you have, you have to add organization to support it, to maintain it.
Brothers and sisters, what do I mean by the first generation? Now, I do not mean the first generation means those who are now over sixty years old.
What I mean is that the first generation simply means those people who have a personal relationship with the Lord, those people who have seen the Lord, those people who have caught the vision, those people who know the purpose of God, those people who have received revelation.
Now, these are people of the first generation. Brothers and sisters, we never need to go into the second generation. We can always be in the first generation, even though another generation will rise up. They can be the first generation too. There is no need for them to be the second generation.
But unfortunately, we find people will sit back, take it easy. They do not need to fight for it. They just receive what is handed down and think that they have it.
You do not have it. What you have is a tradition. You do not have a revelation. You find yourself without life, and you have to depend on organization. Quite a pity.
And when we come into that kind of situation, the enemy has an upper hand. Do not be surprised or wonder why you become suddenly overcome by the enemy. There is no surprise, because the life is not there.
Second observation. You find that during the time of the judges, the comment of the Holy Spirit over that kind of situation is this: during that time, there was no king; therefore, everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
You know, that was the comment of the Holy Spirit. Why the situation? Because there was no king.
There was no unifying force that bound the people together. There was no direction, no government. Therefore, everybody did whatever he thought was right. Everyone always thinks that he is right, or whatever he does is right.
So that is the situation. You go this way; I go that way. Everyone thinks that what he does is right and what the other people do is wrong. They fight against each other, and of course they are overcome by the enemies.
That is what you think. There is no unity. There is no love. There is no power that really binds them together.
Now, brothers and sisters, is this not the history of God’s people today? You know, as you read the Word of God, you find that we do have a King. We do have a Head. Christ is the Head, and the church is His body.
The headship of Christ—He is our King. He is the One who unites us together. Now, if we hold fast the Head, we will be fitly framed and minister one to another, and the body will build itself up in love.
That is what God has ordained us to be. But unfortunately, you find God’s people today do not hold fast. Everyone is a king to himself or herself.
Instead of holding fast the Head, Christ, we are scattered. We do what we think is right in our own eyes. We fight for what we think is right, and we fight with our brethren.
Is Christ divided? If we see Christ, if we really hold Him as our King, we will be one. And in that unity, there is strength.
But when we are divided, we are scattered. We are doing things according to what we think is right. Then we are the enemy’s prey—easy prey.
Divide and destroy: that is the tactic of the enemy. So, brothers and sisters, here is another lesson we need to learn.
Only when God’s people hold fast the Head, Christ, honor Him as our King, and let Him have complete rule over them—this is what the church is.
Where two or three are gathered together into My name, the Lord said, “There am I in the midst of them.” In other words, when we put ourselves under His name, let Him be our Head, and let His authority be over us, then He is here and we are invincible.
But otherwise, defeated.
The third observation: the book of Judges is a book of revival. If you want to look at the positive side, the positive side is revival. Thank God for revival.
But do you know that revival is not God’s permanent measure? You know, people today are praying for revival as if this is the one thing that the church of God needs. No. We need recovery, not revival.
What is revival? Revival always looks back. We have fallen, so we need to revive and go back to where we fell. That is revival.
Recovery always looks forward—not only to restore all that has been lost, but to push ahead to the full purpose of God.
So, brothers and sisters, we thank God for the revivals that have been sent to the world through the centuries. We thank God for these revivals. These are times of refreshing, glorious times.
But unfortunately, you find one revival comes and another revival goes, and we need another revival. But thank God, sometimes He does send recovery.
Let me illustrate. I believe the Reformation is a recovery; it is not a revival. You find the effect is universal. You find something has been restored and has been brought into the path of God’s eternal purpose. That is a recovery.
I believe the Brethren movement in the nineteenth century is a recovery, because that impact is worldwide, and we find that the truth has been recovered and has been brought forward.
The Welsh revival is glorious, but it is a revival, not a recovery. It affected Wales, part of the world, but not universally. And it does not seem to bring people further on.
So, brothers and sisters, what we need is recovery. We need the Lord to recover us—not only to restore all that has been lost in the past, but to push forward into the full realization of God’s eternal purpose.
And we thank God, He is doing this work of recovery in our days. It is going on, and we need to go on too. So may the Lord help us.
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for Thy Word. May Thy Word pierce our heart, and divide the spirit and the soul, and bring us into that place that can really satisfy Thy heart.
Lord, we do confess how unfaithful we are. But we do praise and thank Thee for Thy faithfulness to Thyself and to us. We thank Thee for Thy mercies that Thou hast shown us.
And, our Father, it is our cry that we may not only be revived, but that we may be recovered. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.