What seems now to be a lifetime ago I led a trip on a tour of Israel. In Jerusalem we went to all the major New Testament spots like the Garden tomb and the upper room. When the bus arrived at the Upper Room location our guide told us that we had just fifteen minutes to look around and then we had to vacate the area so that the next tour party could enter. We entered the vaulted chamber, looked around and listened to the guide’s explanation of the day of Pentecost experience. She finished speaking and headed off towards the exit. Just then someone started singing and soon we all joined in. The guide stopped and looked back impatiently at us. I can’t adequately describe what happened next, but it was as though the Holy Spirit poured out His anointing on all of us. Our voices soured in songs of adoration and tears streamed down our cheeks. Then the words of the song faded and instead a glorious harmony of tongues immerged as we joined as one in singing in the spirit. I don’t know how long we were in that place, but it was well over half an hour yet the next tour party had not arrived. When the singing subsided I looked over at our guide, a secular Israeli, and saw her standing with her face heavenward and tears coursing down her cheeks.

What happened that morning was what could be described as a corporate anointing. No one in that room was unaffected by what the Holy Spirit was doing, not even the guide. I will never forget the wonder of it.

In times of revival, corporate anointing is common. Crowds of people travelling from one village to another are stopped in their tracks and fall to their knees in prayer, repentance, and worship as the Spirit of God comes upon the entire company. Church services go on for hour after hour and not one person leaves the building for as long as the anointing of the Spirit is upon them.

Revival is not an individualistic thing. True, individuals are indeed revived but the experience of revival is a corporate phenomenon. Groups, church congregations, and sometimes whole geographic areas are affected as God pours out His anointing.

“Lord God, as in the days of Acts, as in the days of Roberts, Campbell, Wesley, and Lake, so O Lord in our day, will you not pour out your anointing on your people?!”

‘Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. So there was great joy in that city.’ Acts 8:4-8[/su_note]

I have learned that I can do nothing of eternal significance without the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes I have preached a sermon which I believed should have rocked the worlds of my listeners, but they have been more or less unaffected. Of course I get the odd, “that was very, very nice” comments but I have come to interpret ‘very, very nice’ as ‘interesting but unchallenging’. At other times I have preached a simple message that I don’t think is spiritual rocket science yet people have sat weeping as they listen. The difference can only be the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

A church that is relevant to it’s community

A church that is not anointed will, at best, be interesting but spiritually irrelevant to its community. An anointed church can, and should, challenge and transform its local community. Revival brings great anointing to the people of God but that Holy Spirit anointing MUST impact the secular community. True, revival is a ‘church’ thing. God sends revival to the church, but the ultimate result of that revival must be a reformed community.

I hesitate to use the word ’reformed’ because a segment of the church has appropriated it to describe their particular doctrinal biases. However, it’s a good and noble word and so I use it to label the transformation in values, morals, ethics, and spirituality that must be the ultimate product of any true revival. 

A revived church must result in a reformed society. If this is not the result of revival, then we should be questioning the legitimacy of the revival itself. What do you think? Is it enough to send out teams of ‘trained’ people onto the streets with simplistic tracts? Is the ‘fruit’ of revival merely a hilariously horizontal congregation? Or is the true fruit of revival a secular society deeply impacted by eternal realities and a sense of the presence of God?

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