"HE HATH TORN US"
by
Michael Clark
________________________________________________
A
few years ago in '96, I visited Bobby Conners' church in Bullard, Texas,
where a brother named Larry Randolf from California was the guest speaker.
The Holy Spirit was really ringing my bell as Larry spoke. I don't
remember all that he said, but I felt a strong spirit of repentance and
contrition come over me. I kept saying, "Lord rend me, tear me, expose my
heart." Then I heard Him say, "I have torn you, but now I am healing you."
That was when I leaned over and asked a brother named Hollis Vaughn, "Where
in the Bible does it say, 'He has torn us'?" He told me to look up
Hosea 6:1. It reads as follows:
Come, and let us return to the LORD; For He has torn, but He will
heal
I believe that the Lord was saying to me through these scriptures
that
before true revival can come to the Church, we must be torn and
stricken and truly "rend our hearts not just our garments..." (Joel
2:13). Until we truly see just how wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and
naked we really are, we won't ever rend our hearts, and we will not call
out to Him to heal us. I believe the Lord has prepared and is
preparing prophets to hew the Church. These men and women will
be those who themselves have been carved out by God, and have rend their
hearts, purging themselves of all the dross of self-righteousness, and self
elevating pride. These will be those who weep for the lost state of the
Church and identify with her shallowness and sin.
I also believe that this season, the third millennium since the
birth of Christ, is the acceptable year of the Lord. Two-thousand
years ago our Jesus was born to suffer and die. We know that a thousand
years is as
a day to the Lord (2 Peter 3:8). He says in verse two above, "After
two days will he revive us: in the
third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. (Hosea 6:2,
KJV). I believe we are in that third
day. This is a type of the death and resurrection of Christ, but it is also the
path of all who would follow Him.
Colossians 3:4 says, "When Christ [who is] our life appears, then
you also will
appear with Him in glory." I believe that the fruit of this
final revival
is going to be a bride that the Bridegroom is worthy of. She will
consist of those wise virgins who those who heed the warning in Revelation 3:18.
"I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire,
that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the
shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye
salve, that you may see." The Church for which Christ returns will be a
glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle, but there must be a tearing and
rending, gold tried in the fire, first. Jesus is not coming back for a bride
that is a self-indulgent, spoiled brat.
Most of today's church in the west is enamored with the gold of
this world
instead of the gold of His righteousness which comes only by allowing Him
to refine us in His fire. Many of her leaders are parading around in "the
Kings new clothes" sewn from threads of
pride and
arrogance by a satanic tailor instead of the required wedding garment of a
broken and contrite
spirit. And because they say they see, they are truly blind (John 9:41).
I can't help but be reminded of Isaiah 4:1 when I look about
Christendom today. "And in that day
seven women
(the church [Rev. 1:20]) shall take hold of one man (Jesus), saying, 'O We
will eat our own food (wealth) and wear our own apparel (self-righteousness);
Only let us be called by your name, To take away our
reproach (We will allow Him to be our Savior, but not our Lord)."
He is calling out to us to intimately "know" Him (Hosea 6:3&6 [Hebrew -
yada). See
also Matt. 1:25, and Matt. 7:23 ,Luke 1:34, Luke 10:22,
Luke 16:15, (Greek - "ginosko"). Both of these words, yada and ginosko
translated "know, knowledge or knew" in the scriptures imply not only a
head knowledge but an intimate relationship with that which is known (See
W.E. Vine's exposition on ginosko).
We hear about the Holy Spirit being poured out like the rain on all
flesh, but it appears that there must first be a heart rending and an
intimate knowing on the part of those who seek this rain. Those in
the upper room before Pentecost had more than a Sunday meeting
level of commitment. A cross-less Christianity will not prepare us for
what
God wants to manifest in His Church, which is His Son and nothing less!
Jesus said,
"The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and
chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day."
Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let
him deny
himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever
loses his
It seems that all we have left of the former revival rains is the
early morning fog that burns off with the heat of the day (Hosea 6:4).
"Oh God, send us a true heart rending revival that prepares us for the
blast of satanic heat that is coming upon us. Hew us once again with the
words of your prophets, men and women of integrity, who will not be turned
away from their mission by those who threaten to withhold official approval
and financial support, men and women of integrity who's kingdom is not of this
world. Send us those who speak your words and who look to
you only for their approval and support."
In God's timing the evening is always before them morning.
The darkness
always comes before that Light that Shines from the east even to the west.
Joel
prophesied,
Blow the trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred
assembly;
Gather the people, Sanctify the congregation, Assemble the elders,
And I will restore to you the years which the swarming locust has
eaten,
the locust larvae, and the stripping locust, and the cutting locust, My
great army which I sent among you.
And you shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name
of
The word "afterwards" in verse 28 above has been the most
overlooked word by modern revivalists. After what? Doesn't the
context of
both of these passages in Joel and Hosea support the fact that first we
must be hewn and brought to a place where we see the sin sick state of
today's church and our part in its decadence? God first calls out
to us to fall on our faces in true repentance and torn hearts, and only then
does He pours
out the promise of His Spirit. Doesn't it also appear that this final
outpouring is accompanied by great natural disasters and a promise that
everything
that can be shaken will be shaken? Is it not just a remnant that answer
His call to true repentance? Joel continues,
And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out
My
Spirit in those days.
And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and
fire
and pillars of smoke.
The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood,
Before
the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.
And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the
LORD
Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be
deliverance, As the LORD has said, Among the remnant whom the LORD calls.
We cannot continue to read these verses about the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit in our selective self-deluding way. If we do, it will cost us dearly
because we will not prepare our hearts for the coming Bridegroom.
We have been so many foolish virgins who have been singing our version of
"The World Owes Me a Livin'," when we should be seeking from Him that
precious oil for our inward lamps. The night that precedes the Bridegroom's
appearance is coming upon us all. (Matthew 25:1-13).
I can not help but see today's western church when I read
Jeremiah's words regarding the fallen state of Israel.
To whom shall I speak and give warning, That they may hear? Indeed
their
ear is uncircumcised, And they cannot give heed. Behold, the word of the
LORD is a reproach to them; They have no delight in it.
Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD. I am weary of holding
it
in. "I will pour it out on the children outside, And on the assembly of
young men together; For even the husband shall be taken with the wife, The
aged with him who is full of days.
And their houses shall be turned over to others, Fields and wives
together; For I will stretch out My hand Against the inhabitants of the
land," says the LORD.
Because from the least of them even to the greatest of them,
Everyone
is given to covetousness; and from the
prophet and the priest,
everyone deals falsely.
They have also healed the
hurt of My people slightly, Saying, "Peace,
Thus says the LORD: "Stand
in the ways and see, And ask for the old
paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for
your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'
Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, 'Listen to the sound of the
Yes, I expect a glorious fulfillment of these precious promises in Hosea 6 and Joel 2 of a Holy Spirit revival in our day. This is the chosen hour, but first we must rend our hearts and call out to God to heal us and purify His bride in the furnace of affliction before the return of the Son.
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