Acts 3:19-21 Repent you therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out… Such times — I. ARE NEEDED. Spiritual life is dependent on direct Divine agency. But as there may be life without health or vigour, so in the believer and the Church there may be real life but great languor, and when such is the case times of refreshing are needed. This Divine influence is often compared to rain, etc. (Isaiah 35:1; Isaiah 44:3; Ezekiel 34:26; Isaiah 61:11), and the result of its exertion is fertility and growth. 1. Personal piety will be deep and personal activity energetic. These are here connected because they should never be separated. Piety without activity will degenerate into spiritual selfishness; activity without piety will be formal and mechanical. As spiritual life generally begins in the closet, it is there that it will be invigorated and revived. As the healthy man requires more sustenance and has a larger appetite than the invalid, so there will be a craving for spiritual food. As in health we crave for the fresh air of heaven, so we shall often ascend the mountain-top of communion with God. And this revived piety, taking cognisance of eternal realities, will prompt to corresponding activity in the cause of Christ. As such times are the result of spiritual influence, by that influence the love of Christ will constrain to holy and individual devotedness. 2. Domestic piety will be more manifest. If the flame of closet devotion be dim, that of the family altar cannot be bright; but when times of refreshing come the members of the household will catch the spirit of devotion, and those for whom parents have long prayed will give evidence of spiritual life. Here, perhaps, more than anywhere are such times to be desired. Worldly amusements, literature, principles, conformity, have in too many instances sapped the foundations of family religion. 3. Social piety will be revived. What dulness and formality there often is in our Church organisations and gatherings, and what a falling off in consequence. But get a season of refreshing, and the pastor will speak direct from the mount of communion a message from God, and Church officers and members, instead of availing themselves of any trifling excuse, will eagerly throng to the services and zealously work all the departments. Equally great will be the change in the habitual converse of Christians. Out of the fulness of the heart the mouth will testify of spiritual things. 4. Sinners will be converted and added to the Church. This has always been a characteristic of such seasons. Witness Pentecost, e.g. II. MAY BE EXPECTED. We are not left in doubt as to the ultimate triumph of the truth. Christ yet will draw all men unto Him. But Christ works by agents, and since the success of the gospel is in proportion to the vigour of the agents, we are led both by the nature of things and the Divine promises to expect a renewal of spiritual invigoration from time to time. And as the fruitful showers of one year will not suffice for the next, but each has its own supply, so we are led to expect for each generation, and for each believer in his successive phases of experience and work, fresh supplies of reviving grace. And the recurrence of such seasons may be expected from the analogy of the past. They have always been sent when the Church's need has been great. It was so after the Exile (Haggai 1:14), in the days of the Baptist, at Pentecost, in Italy under Savonarola, in Germany and Switzerland, at the time of the Reformation, in America under Jonathan Edwards, etc. (Isaiah 51:9). III. MUST BE SOUGHT. While we refer their recurrence to the sovereignty of God, yet He has indicated the course which we have to pursue. "I will yet for this be inquired of by the House of Israel to do it for them." But if we regard iniquity in our hearts the Lord will not hear us, "Repent ye, therefore, that the times of refreshing may come." This exhortation is needed by dead Christians as well as dead sinners. IV. WILL CHANGE THE WHOLE ASPECT OF THE CHURCH. There will be — 1. Clearer knowledge of Divine truth. 2. More manifest spirituality. 3. Greater joy. (R. C. Pritchett.) Parallel Verses KJV: Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; |
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