Revival In America pt. 3

 

In Song of Solomon 5:2-8 we are given a vivid portrait of much of the Church’s response to her Groom, Jesus.

I sleep, but my heart is awake;

It is the voice of my beloved!

He knocks, saying,

“Open for me, my sister, my love,

My dove, my perfect one;

For my head is covered with dew,

My locks with the drops of the night.”

In verse two of this passage we see the Church being awakened by the Bride. The Bride is asleep but the Master awakens her heart with the power of His voice, a divine defibrillation if you will. He speaks to her from the inside out. Then He knocks, beckoning her to open up to Him and let Him to love her. He announces that He is covered with dew. He is, in fact, the Anointed One; the Messiah she has been waiting for all along. But then she responds saying,

“I have taken off my robe;

How can I put it back on again?

I have washed my feet;

How can I defile them?”

My beloved put His hand

By the latch of the door,

And my heart yearned for Him.

And my hands dripped with myrrh,

My fingers with liquid myrrh,

On the handles of the lock.

From the start the Church expresses that responding to her lover, Jesus is an inconvenience. The Master is calling for her to leave the comforts of her bed and meet with Him in places that will cause her to wear the right attire and soil her feet with the places they will tread together. But Jesus does not give up on her. He places her hand by the latch of the door. This speaks of signs and wonders that are wrought by His hand that, hopefully, will prompt her to draw near. She does not initially respond to His lovely voice, though it booms and knocks on the door of her heart. But then as signs and wonders increase she feels a yearning stir within her knocking off any residue of a religious spirit. “And my heart yearned for Him”. In the yearning and longing she finds herself touched with the Master’s aromatic Presence. She had found the place where He had been now He was moving on. She had found evidence of a great move of Jesus but because of her procrastination and inability to discern His worth she was late; His Presence had moved on:

I opened for my beloved,

But my beloved had turned

Away and was gone.

My heart leaped up when he spoke.

I sought Him, but I could not find Him.

I called Him but He gave me no answer.

The Lord is merciful but there are times when we can surely miss our visitation. The Bible tells us to seek the Lord while He may be found (Isaiah 55:6). On more than one occasion I have seen the Lord give second chances to local fellowships and even individuals only for them to ignore His call and choose a life of revering only where He has been as opposed to where He is and where He is going. But again, the Master is merciful. Repent. Turn to Him and He will turn to you.

 When the Church ventures out into the world to find her Jesus through unsanctified means the world responds in kind.

 

The watchman who went about the city found me.

They struck me, they wounded me;

The keepers of the walls took my veil away from me.

I charge you,

O daughters of Jerusalem.

If you find my beloved

That you tell Him I am lovesick.

 

One thing I have found to be true about Jesus is that He is not insecure. He completely knows His own worth. So when He extends His invitation for us to be with Him intimately and we refuse Him, reject Him or treat Him in a common manner many times He will be silent in hopes that sincerity and a true heart of love will return to us. The Lord has been betrayed many times and He knows how it feels to be rejected. Let us allow the yearnings of our heart for Him move us in action towards Him and what He wants.

The yearning inside our hearts for Jesus attracts Heaven in such a way that it responds with His judgments establishing righteousness in the earth. 

“My soul yearns for You in the night, in the morning my spirit longs for you. When Your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.  – Isaiah 26:9

This verse does not indicate a break in thought but a continual truth poured forth. Our yearning and longing for the King draws Him near. When the King of Glory comes, His Kingdom reality always comes with Him. The very longing that we have for Him lays the ground work for His righteousness to be established in the earth. Changes in the world begin with loving Jesus.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” – Matthew 5:6

In this beatitude Jesus promises that those who hunger and thirst for what is truly right will be filled. He blesses them and guarantees that this will become a certainty; the satiation of the human heart by all things just and true.

This longing and lovesickness for Him prompts us to worship. This yearning in our hearts awakens us to holy desire. He has fashioned us to receive Him intimately. We are the very Bride of Christ!

It is with awakened hearts eager to love Him that we raise from our slumber. It is with hungry souls and thirsty spirits that we cleave to His side. We are forsaking all others to be with our first and true love. He is the River of Heaven who satisfies.

“You visit the earth and water it,

You greatly enrich it;

The river of God is full of water;

You provide their grain,

For so You have prepared it.

You water its ridges abundantly,

You settle its furrows;

You make it soft with showers,

You bless its growth.

You crown the year with Your goodness,

And Your paths drip with abundance.

They drop on the pastures of the wilderness,

And the little hills rejoice on every side.

The pastures are clothed with flocks;

The valleys also are covered with grain;

They shout for joy, they also sing.”

-Psalm 65:9-13

The River of Heaven, Jesus Himself, is coming in fullness among His people to revive us; to awaken our hearts and to bless us in ways unimaginable. He is crowning our years with goodness. He is visiting with us in truly supernatural ways. He is watering the entire land that all the seeds He has planted as the Lord of the Harvest may grow. He is resuscitating us placing His mouth upon our mouths, His hands in our hands, His eyes upon our eyes just as Elisha did with the Shunammite mother’s son (2^nd Kings 4:18-37).

We were made to love You Jesus. You are the River whose streams make glad the city of God and every stream that flows from You will return back to You. What You have spoken will not return void!

“There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

The holy place where the Most High dwells.”

-Psalm 46:4