HEBRIDES REVIVAL, 1949.
Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>
Note: The following is a transcript of a taped message on the Hebrides
Revival. The report was given in 1968 by Duncan Campbell, a preacher
in the Revival. Sections of this appeared in Pray! Magazine's January
issue: "Vision for Revival: Learning from Great Moves of God in History."
By Duncan Campbell.
There are two things that I would like to say in speaking about the
revival in the Hebrides. First, I would like to make it perfectly clear
that I did not bring revival to the Hebrides. It has grieved me beyond
words to hear people talk and write about the man who brought revival to
the Hebrides. My dear people, I didn't do that. Revival was there before
I ever set foot on the island. It began in a gracious awareness of God
sweeping through the parish of Barvas.
Then I would like to make it perfectly clear what I understand of
revival. When I speak of revival, I am not thinking of high-pressure
evangelism. I am not thinking of crusades or of special efforts
convened and organized by man. That is not in my mind at all.
Revival is something altogether different from evangelism on its
highest level. Revival is a moving of God in the community and
suddenly the community becomes God conscious before a word
is said by any man representing any special effort.
Now I am sure that you will be interested to know how, in November
1949, this gracious movement began on the island of Lewis. Two
old women, one of them 84 years of age and the other 82 - one of
them stone blind, were greatly burdened because of the appalling
state of their own parish. It was true that not a single young person
attended public worship. Not a single young man or young woman
went to the church. And those two women were greatly concerned
and they made it a special matter of prayer.
A verse gripped them: "I will pour water on him that is thirsty and
floods upon the dry ground." They were so burdened that both of
them decided to spend so much time in prayer twice a week. On
Tuesday they got on their knees at 10 o'clock in the evening and
remained on their knees until 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning - two
old women in a very humble cottage.
One night, one of the sisters had a vision. Now remember, in revival,
God works in wonderful ways. A vision came to one of them, and in
the vision she saw the church of her fathers crowded with young
people. Packed to the doors. And a strange minister standing in the
pulpit. And she was so impressed by the vision that she sent for the
parish minister. And of course he knowing the two sisters, knowing
that they were two women who knew God in a wonderful way, he
responded to their invitation and called at the cottage.
That morning, one of the sisters said to the minister, "You must
do something about it. And I would suggest that you call your
office bearers together and that you spend with us at least two
nights in prayer in the week. Tuesday and Friday if you gather
your elders together, you can meet in a barn-a farming community,
you can meet in a barn-and as you pray there, we will pray here.
Well, that was what happened, the minister called his office
bearers together and seven of them met in a barn to pray on
Tuesday and on Friday. And the two old women got on their
knees and prayed with them.
Well that continued for some weeks--indeed, I believe almost a
month and a half. Until one night-- now this is what I am anxious
for you to get ahold of - one night they were kneeling there in the
barn, pleading this promise, "I will pour water on him that is thirsty,
floods upon the dry ground" when one young man, a deacon in the
church, got up and read Psalm 24. "Who shall ascend the hill of
God? Who shall stand in His holy place? He that has clean hands
and a pure heart who has not lifted up his soul unto vanity or sworn
deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing (not a blessing, but THE
blessing) of the Lord." And then that young man closed his Bible.
And looking down at the minister and the other office bearers, he
said this - maybe crude words, but perhaps not so crude in our
Gaelic language - he said, "It seems to me to be so much humbug
to be praying as we are praying, to be waiting as we are waiting, if
we ourselves are not rightly related to God." And then he lifted his
two hands - and I'm telling you just as the minister told me it
happened - he lifted his two hands and prayed, "God, are my hands
clean? Is my heart pure?" But he got no further. That young man fell
to his knees and then fell into a trance.
Now don't ask me to explain this because I can't. He fell into a
trance and is now lying on the floor of the barn. And in the words of
the minister, at that moment, he and his other office bearers were
gripped by the conviction that a God-sent revival must ever be related
to holiness, must ever be related to Godliness. Are my hands clean?
Is my heart pure? The man that God will trust with revival - that was
the conviction.
When that happened in the barn, the power of God swept into the
parish. And an awareness of God gripped the community such as
hadn't been known for over 100 years. An awareness of God - that's
revival, that's revival. And on the following day, the looms were silent,
little work was done on the farms as men and women gave themselves
to thinking on eternal things, gripped by eternal realities.
Now, I wasn't on the island when that happened. But, again, one
of the sisters sent for the minister. And she said to him, "I think you
ought to invite someone to the parish. I cannot give a name, but God
must have someone in His mind for we saw a strange man in the
pulpit, and that man must be somewhere." Well, the minister that
week was going to one of our great conventions in Scotland. At that
convention he met a young man who was a student in college and
knowing that this young man was a God-fearing man, a man with a
message, he invited him to the island. "Won't you come for 10 days -
a 10-day special effort? We have had so many of them over the
past couple of years, but we feel that something is happening in
the parish and we would like you to attend."
This minister said, "No, I don't feel that I am the man, but quite
recently there has been a very remarkable move in Glasgow under
the ministry of a man by the name of Campbell. I would suggest
that you send for him." Now at that time I was in a college in
Edinburgh. It wasn't very easy for me to leave but it was decided
that I should go for 10 days. I was on the island within 10 days.
I shall never forget the night that I arrived... We got to the church
about quarter to nine to find about 300 people gathered. I would say
about 300 people. And I gave an address. Nothing really happened
during the service. It was a good meeting. A sense of God, a
consciousness of His Spirit moving but nothing beyond that. So I
pronounced the benediction and we were leaving the church I would
say about a quarter to eleven.
Just as I am walking down the aisle, along with this young deacon
who read the Psalm in the barn. He suddenly stood in the aisle and
looking up to the heavens he said, "God, You can't fail us. God,
You can't fail us. You promised to pour water on the thirsty and
floods upon the dry ground - God, You can't fail us!"
Soon He is on his knees in the aisle and he is still praying and
then he falls into a trance again. Just then the door opened--it is
now eleven o'clock. The door of the church opens and the local
blacksmith comes back into the church and says, "Mr. Campbell,
something wonderful has happened. Oh, we were praying that God
would pour water on the thirsty and floods upon the dry ground and
listen, He's done it! He's done it!"
When I went to the door of the church I saw a congregation of
approximately 600 people. Six hundred people--where had they
come from? What had happened? I believe that that very night God
swept in in Pentecostal power - the power of the Holy Ghost. And
what happened in the early days of the apostles was happening
now in the parish of Barvas.
Over 100 young people were at the dance in the parish hall and
they weren't thinking of God or eternity. God was not in all of their
thoughts. They were there to have a good night when suddenly the
power of God fell upon the dance. The music ceased and in a
matter of minutes, the hall was empty. They fled from the hall as a
man fleeing from a plague. And they made for the church. They are
now standing outside. Oh, yes - they saw lights in the church. That
was a house of God and they were going to it and they went. Men
and women who had gone to bed rose, dressed, and made for the
church. Nothing in the way of publicity... But God took the situation
in hand - oh, He became His own publicity agent. A hunger and a
thirst gripped the people. 600 of them now are at the church standing
outside... And then the doors were opened and the congregation
flocked back into the church.
Now the church is crowded--a church to seat over 800 is now packed
to capacity. It is now going on towards midnight. I managed to make
my way through the crowd along the aisle toward the pulpit. I found a
young woman, a teacher in the grammar school, lying prostrate on
the floor of the pulpit praying, "Oh, God, is there mercy for me? Oh,
God, is there mercy for me? " She was one of those at the dance.
But she is now lying on the floor of the pulpit crying to God for mercy.
That meeting continued until 4 o'clock in the morning. So we left
them there, and just as I was leaving the church, a young man
came to me and said, "Mr. Campbell, I would like you to go to the
police station." I said, "The police station? What's wrong?" "Oh,"
he said, "There's nothing wrong but there must be at least 400
people gathered around the police station just now."
Now the sergeant there was a God-fearing man. He was in the
meeting. But people knew that this was a house that feared God.
And next to the police station was the cottage in which the two
old women lived. I believe that that had something to do with the
magnet, the power that drew men. There was a coach load at that
meeting. A coach load had come over 12 miles to be there. Now if
anyone would ask them today, why? How did it happen? Who
arranged it? They couldn't tell you. But they found themselves
grouping together and someone saying, "What about going to
Barvas? I don't know, but I have a hunger in my heart to go there."
I can't explain it; they couldn't explain it, but God had the situation
in hand.
This is revival dear people! This is a sovereign act of God! This is the
moving of God's Spirit, I believe in answer to the prevailing prayer of
men and women who believed that God was a covenant-keeping God
but must be true to His covenant engagement...
That continued for almost 3 years. Until the whole of the island was
swept by the mighty power of God.
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Source: http://www.gospelcom.net/npc/Campbell.html