Why Jesus came to save sinful humans
In 1904 a 26-year-old Christian man named Evan Roberts was used by God to bring a revival to the country of Wales that sent shockwaves around the world.
Since the age of 13 Roberts had prayed, and so for half his life he’d sought earnestly for more of God. God’s will was chief among his desires. He did not seek glory for himself, or chase girls, or any of the many distractions of his day. He saw the eternal perspective.
Yielded to God as he was, Roberts prayed in the now legendary Welsh revival that witnessed people turning to God upon the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In the process, bars lost lots of patrons, prostitutes were unemployed, family members reunited and healed old rifts, children spent time in Bible study and prayer, the police had almost no crime to deal with, and Bibles were sold out for a few years.
Lest one reading this think Roberts is being glorified here, the glory is God’s. The truth behind the phenomenon known as the 1904-1906 Welsh Revival was God was doing something, and the Word of God says God is always on the lookout for anyone who will turn to Him with their whole heart.
2 Chron 16:9 – For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.
How Does This Apply To Us?
This article is not an appeal for Pentecostal or Charismatic theology. What it does assert is if people will dare to believe God to enable them to know a kingdom of God experience not just in word, but in power (1 Cor 4:20), we can learn from where God did show Himself strong before.
Although the Welsh revival and others subsequently fizzled quickly, they did demonstrate that God’s Spirit and power remain as they are told of in the Bible, and did not “cease” after the first century.
God’s unchanging desire is a church wholly yielded to Him as revealed by His Word and Spirit which Jesus would build (Mt 16:18), following the apostles’ doctrine (which the Charismatics and Pentecostals of today do not fully follow).
The New Covenant in the Blood of Jesus Christ was given with full power to the first Christians as recorded in Acts 2. The apostles carried forth a mandate and Spirit-given vision of Jesus to form authentic bodies of believers that would live lives such as the world had never seen.
Imagine if there were 10 men and women today banded together in one Spirit-given vision with the character and dedication of purpose of Evan Roberts who were dead to their own desires inherited from the world, and who sought God at His feet.
Imagine if there were 10 men and women who had the character and nature of Stephen (Acts 6) who was the first recorded martyr in the Bible.
Imagine if they were so yielded to Him that He could direct them to speak and act according to very explicit commands from within their spirits so as to make them weapons of righteousness in His hands.
Imagine how a community of 25 such people could impact the world. Imagine if there were 100 such people. Imagine more! How would such people impact the unbelieving world yet dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2) and cold to Jesus the savior?
In Acts 2, it says God added 3,000 new converts immediately to the church on the day of Pentecost. And, it says, He continually added daily those who were being saved.
Among these many people unconfused about what it meant to be a Christian, many notable people were raised up. In the power of God, and living lives by faith that could be forfeited in martyrdom, the Bible says they did indeed impact the known world powerfully.
When God does something, results happen. The Christians so pliable in God’s hands did not beat their head against a wall with shallow speech trying to convince skeptics Jesus is the way. They did not tire themselves out trying to argue with people with words that fell on deaf ears while their lives were a contradiction.
Their simple task was to believe in the awesome Almighty God, and rest in full confidence that what He had deposited in them was ability to know and keep the spirit of His will. They were kept by the power of God, and the goal of the apostles was that they should continue from that explosive starting point and be “living epistles” (2 Cor 3).
God’s goal from the beginning was His people could live lives showing forth a character that the ordinary person on the street would immediately know was otherworldy – of the kingdom of God!
Anything less than that today falls short of the God we say we serve.
Be clear: God is far more than an individual person’s “personal savior.” Although it starts with that, and God does appeal to how we may gain and be blessed from turning to Jesus, His plan is to form a people unto Himself to give Him great glory such as the world has rarely seen.
This picture is an order of magnitude beyond how many today conduct church, and the vision they teach of what church is, and what the Christian life ought to be.
The proof of this statement is in the results, Jesus said a tree is known by its fruits, not hype and powerlessness with a form of godliness that denies the power thereof.
1 Peter – 2 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,[a] 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,
“Behold, I lay in Zion
A chief cornerstone, elect, precious,
And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient,
“The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone,”
8 and
“A stone of stumbling
And a rock of offense.”They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.
9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
Peter said in verse 5 “you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
Paul in Ephesians 2 said something very similar (because they were moved by the same Spirit who had a mission to build Jesus’ assembly).
Ephesians 2 – 19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
God’s intent was they be far more than the words that came out of their mouth. Far far far more!
2 Cor 3 – 3 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? 2 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.
The phrase “tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart” is a clear reference to the New Covenant promise of Ezekiel 36:26 —
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
The Christian person was now empowered by God’s own Spirit and given a new heart!
God promised also to provide for a people now His, His own special people, His own children by adoption.
Eze 36 continued —
28 Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. 29 I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you. 30 And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations.
Note, this was to be a beginning for the individual disciple. Although forgiven in Christ Jesus at the cross, God came to make us spiritual. Truly holy unto the Lord in a way the Old Testament Jews could never know for they had not the Holy Spirit.
The Bible clearly shows it is possible to worship God, even do all miracles, and yet be carnal –
1 Cor 3 — And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? 4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?
Christianity is Not About Us
Christianity is first about Jesus. Though God loves us so very much, He also is a God of righteousness, and His will from the beginning was His people show forth His glory.
He wanted to right a great wrong and do it with beauty and grace.
1 Pet 1:16 – 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
Heb 12:14 – Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord …
Holiness is separation to the Lord, and it includes being kept in His power to walk clean lives just like Jesus walked (1 Jn 2:6).
This would be accomplished by turning them away from their iniquities.
Iniquities are ingrained sin patterns of the flesh yet in a person who comes to Jesus that formerly they were blind to –
Acts 3 – 24 Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days. 25 You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ 26 To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”
Coming back to Ezekiel 36, God makes clear at the root of His motivation is to restore that which sinful rebellious man did. This was turn its back on Him, and even blaspheme and profane His name.
Ezekiel 36 – which shows a prophetic warning for us today – shows how the disobedient and fleshly Jews (God’s people) brought reproach on God, and at least fell very short of what was possible if they had truly sought God.
Eze 36 continued –
31 Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations.
Note this prophecy applicable to us today takes place after they are saved and given the new heart and new spirit!
Note they continue to seek God to purify them, make them of one mind, and see things with His eyes and trust Him in all things.
Those are conditions God places on us if we expect Him to come through in full power. We are called to believe – everything He has said! — including that He is good, and if we hearken to His voice, He will come through beyond our wildest imaginations.
And, as stated, God gave us Jesus with the goal also to restore HIS GREAT NAME —
Eze 36 continued – 32 Not for your sake do I do this,” says the Lord God, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!”
It was NOT for their sake that He did this, He said. On another level of truth, God does say He gave Christ for us, but a prime dictate is a restoration of all righteousness.
And so, continuing further, the New Covenant prophecy tells us what God’s eternal will was. An eternal will means it is still true TODAY!
Eze 36 continued – 33 ‘Thus says the Lord God: “On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will also enable you to dwell in the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt. 34 The desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by. 35 So they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ 36 Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it.”
The cleansing from all iniquities promise is after the new spirit and salvation. It is the purifying process of holiness referenced above in Acts 3:26.
God who loves us wants us to live in an actively clean spiritual existence that is as the spiritual garden of Eden. This is Christ’s true church made of “living stones” (1 Pet 2) who love the Lord with all their heart, mind, strength and soul, and love their neighbors as themselves.
What Can We Learn From This?
All people who name the name of Christ, when they become a Christian do so on the condition that they flee carnality, and worldliness, They say they will accept His Lordship by His Spirit, His will, and this is His will.
If it does not happen, they are showing by their actions they have not submitted, are yet living well below what God bought and paid for on the cross.
If they live much like the world, and speak and act like the world, it shows the degree they have truly followed Jesus.
These strong above two statements can be made if we understand God is almighty, He keeps His promises, and is well able to do so.
Some, by their actions may also show they yet need much more light (God’s revelation) of who He is in them, and who they are in Him.
They may show also they have only a small understanding of what the Christian faith is supposed to be – what God wanted, and what He yet wants.
The testimony of one man, Evan Roberts, shows what is possible for those who turn to Him with no other agenda than to seek God’s glory.
Sadly, the Welsh revival did not last. This was just a taste of what more could be if people will repent and seek God.
May he or she who has ears to hear be able to hear!
May you believe in an awesome God who is well able to do far more than you have known!
1 Cor 2 –
9 But as it is written:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
You will only know as you purpose to seek God with your whole heart.
Peace to you!
