从天上赐下的复兴
令人愉快的高山
经文
彼得前书一3-12
3愿颂赞归与我们主耶稣基督的父神！他曾照自己的大怜悯，藉耶稣基督从死里复活，重生了我们，叫我们有活泼的盼望，
4可以得着不能朽坏、不能玷污、不能衰残、为你们存留在天上的基业。
5你们这因信蒙神能力保守的人，必能得着所预备，到末世要显现的救恩。
6因此，你们是大有喜乐；但如今，在百般的试炼中暂时忧愁，
7叫你们的信心既被试验，就比那被火试验仍然能坏的金子更显宝贵，可以在耶稣基督显现的时候得著称赞、荣耀、尊贵。
8你们虽然没有见过他，却是爱他；如今虽不得看见，却因信他就有说不出来、满有荣光的大喜乐；
9并且得着你们信心的果效，就是灵魂的救恩。
10论到这救恩，那预先说你们要得恩典的众先知早已详细的寻求考察，
11就是考察在他们心里基督的灵，预先证明基督受苦难，后来得荣耀，是指着甚么时候，并怎样的时候。
12他们得了启示，知道他们所传讲（原文作服事）的一切事，不是为自己，乃是为你们。那靠着从天上差来的圣灵传福音给你们的人，现在将这些事报给你们；天使也愿意详细察看这些事。
信息分享
让我们继续来思考复兴的主要目的，它不是要令圣徒变得完美，而是要唤醒沉睡的人。罗伯茨（Emry Roberts）说：「培养基督徒的美德，建立正确和健全的基督徒品格，是牧师和教师在神的祝福下的工作。」虽是这样，但在复兴中，人们可以强烈地感受到崇高和喜悦的感觉。
让我们来听听一个曾经历复兴的人的体会：「1904年12月22日星期四的晚上，那些如同烈火般的信息，将永远铭刻在我心底！我永远没有办法描述那天晚上的感受！我只能说，我感到圣灵好像一股光的洪流，令我颤抖。我看见耶稣基督，我的本性在祂脚前溶化。自星期四晚起，我甚么也没有做只是对自己唱『耶稣的爱』这首诗歌。今天我感到自己属于每一个人。啊！基督的爱扩阔人的心怀。」
有人对复兴的批评是，这种高涨的情绪不能持久，我对此十分同意。那些期望可以持续以这种亢奋和狂热来生活的人是错误的。但是这并非表示这种感受是没有用的。一个支持复兴的人形容这些经历说：「我感受我好像是在令人愉快的高山上行走，而在山上我们可以看到锡安山。我们需要以信心而不是以眼目前行。在我们朝圣的旅程中，能够看见天上的圣城，并预尝它的幸福和喜乐，这真不是一件小事。」
「基督的爱扩阔人的心怀」
进深研究
弗三14-21；赛十二2；约十五11，十六20-28；诗十六11
1. 我们要怎么做才可以满怀喜乐？
2. 保罗的祷告是甚么？
祈祷
天父，我对复兴的渴望日益加增，我明白只有您的介入，才能让教会并全世界都归向您，求您应许这事可以很快实现，奉耶稣基督的名字祈求，阿们。
Heaven-Sent Revival
The Delectable Mountains
Bible reading:
1 Peter 1:3-12
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,
5 who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care,
11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.
12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
Message
We continue considering that the primary purpose of revival is not to bring saints to perfection but to wake up the drowsy. "The cultivation of Christian virtues, and the building of sound and sane Christian character," says Emry Roberts, "is the work, under the blessing of God, of the pastor and the teacher." Sublime and joyous feelings, however, have their place, and these are felt most keenly during revival.
Listen to what one person says about his experience of revival: "Thursday night the 22nd December 1904 will be inscribed in letters of fire on my heart for ever! Don't ask me to describe what I felt that night - I can never do it! All I can say is that I felt the Holy Spirit like a torrent of light causing my whole nature to shake. I saw Jesus Christ - and my nature melted at His feet. I have done nothing since Thursday night but to sing to myself that hymn: 'O, the love of Jesus'. And today I feel I belong to everybody. Oh how the love of Christ expands a man's heart."
We readily agree with the critics of revival that such an elevated emotional state cannot last, and it would be misguided to expect that one could live continuously in the fever of such exaltation. This does not mean, however, that there is no point to such feelings. One supporter of revival says of such experiences: "They are like a walk on the Delectable Mountains from whose heights we are given a glimpse of Mount Zion. We have to walk generally by faith and not by sight but on our pilgrimage it is no small thing to catch a glimpse of the heavenly city and to know a foretaste of its felicity and bliss."
"How the love of Christ expands a man's heart' "
Prayer
O Father, day by day my appetite for revival is being whetted. I see that only an invasion from heaven can produce the impact to turn both the Church and the world in Your direction. Grant that it may come soon. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.
Further study
Ephesians 3:14-21
Isaiah 12:3
John 15:11; 16:20-28
Psalm 16:11
1. What do we need to do for our joy to be full?
2. What was Paul's prayer?
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