Matthew Henry

  • "the uppermost thought in my mind" ~ James Haldane Stewart and myself

    At the end of 2012, I wrote about the Rev. Nathanael Leonard, who ministered in Plymouth, Massachusetts in the 18th century, and wrote that:

    We were sensible of an awful degeneracy, and kept days of fasting and prayer, year after year, that God would pour out his Spirit upon us; especially on the rising generation.

    James Haldane Stewart

    In like manner, in the following century, the Rev. James Haldane Stewart  (1776-1854) was filled with a similar spirit of grace and supplications "year after year." Stewart, who ministered in London and later in Liverpool, traveled extensively and spoke and wrote frequently in order to stir up believers to pray for the Holy Spirit.

    For eighteen straight years, from 1837 through 1854, Rev. Stewart wrote and published an "Invitation to Prayer on New Year's Day." These annual papers were exhortations to Christ's Church to gather together to pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

    However, it was actually years prior to this time when the Lord first began to impress upon Stewart the necessity to pray for Holy Spirit. In his diary on January 1, 1821, Stewart wrote:

    After reviewing the past year, I may well call it a year of peculiar mercy. In every way I have received blessings from the Lord. Amongst many other marks of His kindness, I would notice .... giving me a blessing on my journey, putting it into my heart to excite Christians to prayer for the Holy Spirit, and blessing me in my endeavours. . . . . . My great desire at present is to carry into effect the uniting of all Christians in prayer for the Holy Spirit. This engrosses all my wishes; at least, it is the uppermost thought in my mind. It seems to me so great an object, that, though I may proceed but slowly, I shall be richly repaid in the end.

    Source:  "Memoir of the Life of the Rev. James Haldane Stewart" by David Dale Stewart, 95-96. (HT for the text: http://books.google.com/books?id=hT4BAAAAQAAJ&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false) // Photo credit: Work found here / PD-100.

    I love the story of Stewart for it is a reminder to us (to me!) that the God who calls us to pray for Him will surely be faithful to equip us (me!) year after year after year after year ... 35 years like Stewart ... or even more!

    I Thessalonians 5:24  He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

    (See also Hebrews 13:20-21; Philippians 2:12-13.)

    To consider that Stewart continued to strive faithfully toward this object for 35 years until the year of his death in 1854 is a testimony to the power of God alone... Isaiah 26:12a ... you have done for us all our works. Psalm 115:1: Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

    It was about five years ago that God first began to burden me to pray for revival in the Church. A year later, as I recounted that calling in my post here, like Stewart, I alluded to Nehemiah's words in Nehemiah 2:12:

    And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. (See Nehemiah 2:9-16.)

    At this point, I can only agree with Stewart that my desire for Christians to gather together in prayer is "the uppermost thought in my mind." If you had asked me over five years ago if I had any such desire at all in my mind, I would have had to honestly reply, "No."

    I find these words of Stewart a great encouragement:

    It seems to me so great an object, that, though I may proceed but slowly, I shall be richly repaid in the end.

    As my eyes have been opened to see more clearly the current state of "Jerusalem" (i.e. - the Christian Church), I am increasingly grieved and filled with an even greater urgency to see believers uniting together in prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit – and yet, all the same, I know that there is great wisdom to my proceeding but slowly, being wary that the work of the Spirit is never accomplished by fleshly devices (think Abram, Sarai, and Hagar!), and I am trusting the Lord will have mercy and pity upon His people and pour out of His Spirit once again in His appointed time. There will come a time when the Lord will arise again for the sake of His name – and surely the foretaste and precursor of His coming is when He begins to burden souls to pray for His return in mercy. Writing on Zechariah 3:5, Matthew Henry reminds us that "When God designs the restoring or reviving of religion he stirs up his prophets and people to pray for it, and does it in answer to their prayers."

    Zechariah 1:12  Then the angel of the LORD said, ‘O LORD of hosts, how long will you have no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which you have been angry these seventy years?’ 13  And the LORD answered gracious and comforting words to the angel who talked with me. 14  So the angel who talked with me said to me, ‘Cry out, Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion. 15  And I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are at ease; for while I was angry but a little, they furthered the disaster. 16  Therefore, thus says the LORD, I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy; my house shall be built in it, declares the LORD of hosts, and the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem. 17  Cry out again, Thus says the LORD of hosts: My cities shall again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.’”

    Almighty God, as You strengthened Your servant James Haldane Stewart year after year after year to stir up believers to pray, strengthen me by Your Holy Spirit to persevere with joy in the good work You have appointed to me – for You alone know how often I feel like the desert owl, the lonely sparrow...

    Psalm 102:1  Hear my prayer, O LORD;
    let my cry come to you!
    2  Do not hide your face from me
    in the day of my distress!
    Incline your ear to me;
    answer me speedily in the day when I call!
    3  For my days pass away like smoke,
    and my bones burn like a furnace.
    4  My heart is struck down like grass and has withered;
    I forget to eat my bread.
    5  Because of my loud groaning
    my bones cling to my flesh.
    6  I am like a desert owl of the wilderness,
    like an owl of the waste places;
    7  I lie awake;
    I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.
    8  All the day my enemies taunt me;
    those who deride me use my name for a curse.
    9  For I eat ashes like bread
    and mingle tears with my drink,
    10  because of your indignation and anger;
    for you have taken me up and thrown me down.
    11  My days are like an evening shadow;
    I wither away like grass.
    12  But you, O LORD, are enthroned forever;
    you are remembered throughout all generations.
    13  You will arise and have pity on Zion;
    it is the time to favor her;
    the appointed time has come.
    14  For your servants hold her stones dear
    and have pity on her dust.

    O Lord our God, may the reforming and reviving of Zion continue to be "the uppermost thought in my mind" until the appointed time comes for You to favor us!

    Psalm 137:5  If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
    let my right hand forget its skill!
    6  Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,
    if I do not remember you,
    if I do not set Jerusalem
    above my highest joy!

  • Extraordinary wickedness leads to an extraordinary call to repentance ~ Joel 2

    Continuing on from my last posts (here and here) about extraordinary prayer based on John Calvin's commentary on Joel...

    Here's Calvin introducing the second chapter of Joel:

         This chapter contains serious exhortations, mixed with threatening; but the Prophet threatens for the purpose of correcting the indifference of the people, whom we have seen to have been very tardy to consider God's judgments. Now the reason why I wished to join together these eleven verses was, because the design of the Prophet in them is no other than to stir up by fear the minds of the people. The object of the narrative then is, to make the people sensible, that it was now no time for taking rest; for the Lord, having long tolerated their wickedness, was now resolved to pour upon them in full torrent his whole fiery. This is the sum of the whole. Let us now come to the words.

        "Sound the trumpet, he says, in Zion; cry out in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the earth tremble". The Prophet begins with an exhortation. We know, indeed that he alludes to the usual custom sanctioned by the law; for as on festivals trumpets were sounded to call the people, so also it was done when anything extraordinary happened. Hence the Prophet addresses not each individually; but as all had done wickedly, from the least to the greatest, he bids the whole assembly to be called, that they might in common own themselves to be guilty before God, and deprecate his vengeance. It is the same as though the Prophet had said that there was no one among the people who could exempt himself from blame, for iniquity had prevailed through the whole body. But this passage shows that when any judgment of God is impending, and tokens of it appear, this remedy ought to be used, namely, that all must publicly assemble and confess themselves worthy of punishments and at the same time flee to the mercy of God. This, we know, was, as I have already said, formerly enjoined on the people; and this practice has not been abolished by the gospel. And it hence appears how much we have departed from the right and lawful order of things; for at this day it would be new and unusual to proclaim a fast. How so? Because the greater part are become hardened; and as they know not commonly what repentance is, so they understand not what the profession of repentance means; for they understand not what sin is, what the wrath of God is, what grace is. It is then no wonder that they are so secure, and that when praying for pardon is mentioned, it is a thing wholly unknown at this day. But though people in general are thus stupid, it is yet our duty to learn from the Prophets what has always been the actual mode of proceeding among the people of God, and to labour as much as we can, that this may be known, so that when there shall come an occasion for a public repentance, even the most ignorant may understand that this practice has ever prevailed in the Church of God, and that it did not prevail through inconsiderate zeal of men, but through the will of God himself.

    Source: John Calvin's Commentary on Joel, Part 4, Lecture Forty-first, on Joel 2:1-11, found at http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/m.sion/cvjoe-04.htm, boldface mine.

    Matthew Henry begins his commentary on Joel 2 with these words (italics mine):

    Here we have God contending with his own professing people...

    It's far too tempting for us as Christians to shut our ears to God's call to us to repent. We look at the world, and we see their sins, but all the while we remain hardened and blinded to our own sins and to our own sinfulness. Amos 3:1 Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt...

    O LORD our God, forgive us our indifference, our stupidity, and our tardiness in considering Your extraordinary judgments upon us. Forgive us for turning our backs upon You, and spurning You and Your ways. Be kind to us, soften our hearts, and give us ears to hear Your warning trumpet being blown before us – Your people who are part of Your Church. At this time, our wickedness is extraordinary; therefore Your call to us to repent is extraordinary.

    By the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have been delivered from slavery to sin, self, the flesh, the world, and the devil. We have been united with Christ in His death and in His resurrection, so we might walk in newness of life, to be separated unto You, to offer ourselves as slaves of righteousness, and to bear fruit to holiness (~ Romans 6:1-7:6) – and yet so often we do not walk as we have learned so in Christ. We have been redeemed in order to be a holy and peculiar people, and yet we walk according to the lusts of our flesh, rather than in Your Spirit. We continue to think and act and speak as if we have never been redeemed. All too often we go back to "Egypt":  we yoke ourselves with the world and imbibe the spirit of this age; we follow the prince of the power of the air, rather than coming out and being separate and showing ourselves to be Your sons and daughters (~ II Corinthians 6:11-7:1). "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" ~ Amos 3:3, KJV.

    May we not be deceived by a false sense of  security and assurance. May we not be lulled into a deadly sleep of presumption. May Your Holy Spirit make us sensible that now is not the time for us to take rest, but to prostrate ourselves before You in confession and repentance for our wickedness. Give us eyes to see and hearts to know and to acknowledge our transgressions, that we might confess our sin as evil, and justify Your judgments against us (Psalm 51). Grant us a godly sorrow like the Corinthians exhibited (II Corinthians 7), so we might prove that we have not received Your grace in vain. Work in us a godly sorrow that produces repentance unto salvation. May our repentance be deep and not superficial. Turn us and we will turn to You with all our hearts. May we rend our hearts and not our garments. May we tremble at Your Word. May our hearts be broken and our spirits contrite.

    Your trumpet is not being blown among the nations – but among Your holy nation. Your trumpet is not being blown in the world – but in Zion, in Your holy mountain. We are Your people called by Your name, and because we have turned away from You, You are pleading with us to turn to You and to rend our hearts and return to You. You are gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love! Though we are unworthy, though we have engaged in extraordinary wickedness, for the sake of Your Son Jesus Christ, for the sake of Your holy name among the nations, because of Your great mercies, we are fleeing to You! Holy Father, may You be zealous for us, pity us, and relent and leave a blessing behind You, for Your mercies in Jesus Christ are extraordinary!

    Psalm 103
    8  The LORD is merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
    9  He will not always chide,
    nor will he keep his anger forever.
    10  He does not deal with us according to our sins,
    nor repay us according to our iniquities.
    11  For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
    12  as far as the east is from the west,
    so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
    13  As a father shows compassion to his children,
    so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
    14  For he knows our frame;
    he remembers that we are dust.

    * * *

    * Please add your PRAYERS below as God's Holy Spirit leads you. *

  • Extraordinary prayer flows from a spiritual sight and heart sense of God's extraordinary judgments

    In my last post, I began to write about extraordinary prayer – specifically about our need for God to pour out His Spirit upon us so we might lament like a virgin (Joel 1:8), to lament "not in an ordinary way" (using the words of John Calvin). In this post, I'm reflecting once again on extraordinary prayer... in particular that extraordinary prayer ought to arise from God's people today because we are living in a day and age in which the judgments of God are extraordinary.

    Joel 1 (ESV)

    12  The vine dries up;
    the fig tree languishes.
    Pomegranate, palm, and apple,
    all the trees of the field are dried up,
    and gladness dries up
    from the children of man.

    13  Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests;
    wail, O ministers of the altar.
    Go in, pass the night in sackcloth,
    O ministers of my God!
    Because grain offering and drink offering
    are withheld from the house of your God.

    14  Consecrate a fast;
    call a solemn assembly.
    Gather the elders
    and all the inhabitants of the land
    to the house of the LORD your God,
    and cry out to the LORD.

    15  Alas for the day!
    For the day of the LORD is near,
    and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.

    16  Is not the food cut off
    before our eyes,
    joy and gladness
    from the house of our God?

    17  The seed shrivels under the clods;
    the storehouses are desolate;
    the granaries are torn down
    because the grain has dried up.

    18  How the beasts groan!
    The herds of cattle are perplexed
    because there is no pasture for them;
    even the flocks of sheep suffer.

    19  To you, O LORD, I call.
    For fire has devoured
    the pastures of the wilderness,
    and flame has burned
    all the trees of the field.

    20  Even the beasts of the field pant for you
    because the water brooks are dried up,
    and fire has devoured
    the pastures of the wilderness.

    Joel 1 (KJV)

    12  The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men. 13  Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.

    14  Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD, 15  Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. 16  Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God? 17  The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered. 18  How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. 19  O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field. 20  The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

    From John Calvin's commentary on Joel (found here):

    He [Joel] here again gives an awful record of God's judgments. Though the heat may burn up whole regions, yet we know that pasture-lands do not soon wither, especially on mountains; and of such cold pastures he speaks here. We know that however great may be the fertility of mountains, yet coolness prevails there, and that, in the greatest drought, the mountainous regions are ever green. But the Prophet tells us here of an unusual thing, that the dwellings of the wilderness were burnt up. Some render "ne'ot" pastures; others, dwellings: but as to the meaning, we may read either; for the Prophet refers here to cold and humid regions, which never want moisture in the greatest heats. Some render the word, the beautiful or fair spots of the wilderness, but improperly. He doubtless means pastures, or dwellings, or folds. "The fire then has consumed the dwellings, or pastures of the wilderness". This was not usual; it did not happen according to the ordinary course of nature: it then follows that it was a miracle. This is the reason why the Prophet says, that it was now time to cry to God; for it did not appear to be fortuitous, that the heat had burnt up regions which were moist and well watered. "The flame, he says hath burnt up all the trees of the field".

    He afterwards adds "The beasts of the field will also cry" (for the verb is in the plural number;) the beasts then will cry. The Prophet expresses here more clearly what he had said before that though the brute animals were void of reasons they yet felt God's judgment, so that they constrained men by their example to feel ashamed, for they cried to God: the beasts then of the field cry. He ascribes crying to them, as it is elsewhere ascribed to the young ravens. The young ravens, properly speaking, do not indeed call on God; and yet the Psalmist says so, and that, because they confess, by raising up their bills, that there is no supply for their want except God supports them. So also the Prophet mentions here the beasts as crying to God. It is indeed a figure of speech, called personification; for this could not be properly said of beasts. But when the beasts made a noise under the pressure of famine, was it not such a calling on God as their nature admitted? As much then as the nature of brute animals allows, they may be said to seek their food from the Lord, when they send forth lamentable cries and noises, and show that they are oppressed with famine and want. When, therefore, the Prophet attributes crying to beasts, he at the same time reproaches the Jews with their stupidity, that they did not call on God. "What do you mean," he says. "See the brute animals; they show to you what ought to be done; it is at least a teaching that ought to have effect on you. If I and the other prophets have lost all our labour, if God has in vain performed the office of a teacher among you, let the very oxen at least be your teachers; to whom indeed it is a shame to be disciples, but it is a greater shame not to attend to what they teach you; for the oxen by their example lead you to God."

    ~ (Calvin's Lecture Fortieth. HT: http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/m.sion/cvjoe-03.htm, emphasis mine)

    Some of you here in the West may wonder why I refer to "extraordinary" judgments of God coming upon us at this time, or as Calvin put it "not usual" and "did not happen according to the ordinary course"... I do so because we are now witnessing that even the lushest pasture-lands, especially on mountains, and those mountainous regions that we have known to be ever green are currently in the process of being burnt up... More specifically, denomination after denomination, as well as congregation after congregation, as well as individual Christian after individual Christian which were once lush and green are now being burnt up... In Joel 2:3, we read these alarming words:

    Fire devours before them,
    and behind them a flame burns.
    The land is like the garden of Eden before them,
    but behind them a desolate wilderness,
    and nothing escapes them.

    Not one of us is immune from this. Let none of us be like the prideful Southern Kingdom who thought they were safe and they would escape the judgment of God, even though they were warned by the words of the prophets time and time again, even though they were warned by the example of the Northern Kingdom taken into captivity years beforehand. Know this: there has been a continuing slide and decline taking place in Christianity. Those who were once renowned for being holy and solid in both doctrine and practice have now become a people of loose doctrine and loose practice, so we can rightly say with the apostle Paul:

    Romans 1:24  For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

    * * *

    Holy Father, the cries of the lowly and brute beasts serve as a right rebuke to us whenever we are at ease in Zion, whenever our hearts are not overflowing with extraordinary prayer to You in these days of Your extraordinary judgments. Our merciful and gracious God, open our understanding as to our own current condition, for apart from Your enlightening us, we will remain blind and hardened and unrepentant and stupid. We long to be like children of Issachar and have a right understanding of the times. For Jesus' name sake, give eye salve to Your people (and particularly to Your undershepherds), so we might anoint our eyes to be discerning and to see these judgments for what they are: as extraordinary and unusual – so our hearts might be broken and contrite as we see the shriveling seed, the desolate storehouses, the torn-down granaries, and the dried up grain, that we might lament with an extraordinary lamentation, for it is the time for us to cry out, to cry out to You, O LORD!

    Regardless of what anyone else is doing, as Your Holy Spirit imparts to us a spiritual sight and a heart sense of Your extraordinary judgments, may our mouths be filled to overflowing with extraordinary prayer to You, O LORD. May we keep our hearts with diligence, for out of our broken, trembling, and contrite hearts our mouths will pray! ~ Proverbs 4:23, Luke 6:45. May our mouths be filled with pants and groans to You, O LORD, as were the mouths of the beasts! May our mouths be filled with cries and calls to You, O LORD, as was the mouth of Joel!

    May we be careful and take heed to the examples of the beasts and of Joel. These things have been written for our example. May we humble ourselves before You as we ought, and rend our hearts, repent of our wicked ways, and turn to You with all our heart. We are Your people bought with the precious blood of Jesus, and we are called by Your name. We appeal to You not because of anything in ourselves, for no good thing dwells in us – but we appeal to Your mercies for Jesus' sake, for You, O LORD, are gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Will You not relent and leave a blessing behind You so that Your name, O God, might no longer be blasphemed, but would be praised among all the nations because of us?

    “... Spare your people, O LORD,
    and make not your heritage a reproach,
    a byword among the nations.
    Why should they say among the peoples,
    ‘Where is their God?’” ~ Joel 2:17

    "If God's ministers cannot prevail to affect others with the discoveries of divine wrath, yet they ought to be themselves affected with them; if they cannot bring others to cry to God, yet they themselves be much in prayer. In time of trouble we must not only pray, but cry, must be fervent and importunate in prayer; and to God, from whom both the destruction is and the salvation must be, ought our cry to be always directed."

    ~ from Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on Joel 1

     

    * Please add your *PRAYERS* below as God's Holy Spirit leads you. *

     

tent_of_meeting

"he called it the tent of meeting..."

I am burdened to pray to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for the reformation and reviving of Christ's church.

The phrase tent of meeting comes from Exodus 33:7: Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp.

This site is devoted to God first and foremost. In all that is done here, my prayer is that God is glorified and His Name magnified and Christ and Him crucified is lifted up so He might be preeminent and God might receive all the praise, honor and glory due His Holy Name. All who have come to a saving knowledge of our Father by grace through faith in the all-sufficient sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ are welcome to enter this tent of meeting to seek the Lord.

This blog is a place for all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to come and seek God's face for revival. My intention is for this tent of meeting to be a holy place where we can enter into PRAYER together to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit leads you, please enter into prayer either here (think of "comments" as prayers) or on your own.

Habakkuk 3:2 O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.

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