A
New Thing
By
Carlton Spencer
"Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth." Isa. 43:19.
Although
the “Preacher” came to the conclusion that “there is no new thing under the sun” and we are told that
history repeats itself, yet God, in His sovereignty, delights to intervene in the lives of men and even that of nations and
to demonstrate His power and grace. Since the beginning of time, men have pursued their own way in indifference or rebellion;
but in time of especial need, the Lord has raised up some individual or group of people who would yield to Him, and through
them, He has brought to pass a new thing. This fact can be especially noted in the case of the Israelitish nation.
It
was a new thing for God to take a man from the king's court, send him to the back side of the desert, call him back to service
through a burning bush that was not consumed, demonstrate his power through him to an unbelieving Pharaoh, and eventually
deliver His chosen from oppression. Many other new things followed in quick succession – a sea parting so a nation could
pass through and closing in again on their enemies, food raining down from heaven, water to supply a nation gushing forth
out of a rock, a battle won by a man holding his hands toward heaven, and a nation migrating from one country to another,
and not a feeble one among them. Hallelujah! All these were through a man who had been tried both in the fire and in prosperity,
and who yielded himself in God's hands to demonstrate to all a new thing.
Similarly
the Lord used his successor, Joshua, at Jericho, at Ai, and at Merom. After Joshua, followed a series of judges, notable among
whom were Gideon, Samson, and Samuel. All these were instruments in God's hands “to bring to pass His acts, his strange
acts.”
Not
only was this true of Israel, but God dealt similarly with other nations and peoples through consecrated vessels. Among these
were God's intervention to rescue the righteous out of Sodom, the miraculous ministry of Jonah, and the turning to God of
Nineveh, and humbling of a world ruler through a Hebrew, Daniel.
In
due time there appeared on Jordan's banks a man clothed in goat skins, proclaiming the fact that God was about to do a new
thing. Jesus said of him, “What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?” “A
man clothed in soft raiment?” No, these would be nothing spectacular or new. “But what went ye out to see? A prophet?
Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.” Of him and his successor Malachi spoke prophetically, “Behold,
I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare a way before Me: and the Lord, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to His temple,...
But who may abide the day of His coming? And who shall stand when He appeareth.” It is no wonder then that John was
a voice crying, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.”
To
us again the message is sounded out. God is about to do a new thing. God appointed, Spirit-endowed messengers are proclaiming
the new thing and calling to us today, “Prepare.”
John
the Baptist had a tremendous commission, that of proclaiming the greatest new thing of all time – the Son of God taking
upon Himself the form of fallen, sinful man, bearing man's sin through His vicarious sacrifice, lifting the curse and emancipating
the fallen race through His resurrection from the grave. Hallelujah!
But,
with this the greatest miracle of all time, God did not cease to do ne things. It was not many days after this great triumph
that all Jerusalem was shaken and awakened by a new thing from heaven. Jesus had ascended and had “shed forth this which
ye now see and hear;” but not before there had been genuine heart-searching and importunate tarrying on the part of
the one hundred twenty.
The
days that followed were filled with new things, else what of the lam man's deliverance at the Beautiful Gate, the revival
at Samaria, Peter at Cornelius' home, the revival at Philippi, Paul's shipwreck and revival.
How
thankful we can be that new things did not stop with the conclusion of the Holy Writ. God has continued to show His omnipotence
and love through the present dispensation in the lives of such men as Peter Waldo, Wycliffe, Luther, Wesley, Whitefield (who
reportedly preached to 50,000 people at one time), Finney, Moody, and even men in our day upon whom God has especially laid
His hand. The repetition of Pentecost in this country was in a large sense a new thing in that is was a new move of God for
the end time.
How
often in these end-time days the Holy Spirit impresses the seeking saint with the words, “I will do a new thing, now
it shall spring forth.” Many and varied have been the dealings of God and the revelation of the promised latter day
outpouring. We do well to despise not the voice of God.
In
a day when it seems that the power of the enemy is unleashed to humble the nations by bringing war, bloodshed, famine, and
floods upon the whole globe, will God do less than He has done before? God concludes His programs with the best at the last.
So He will do in this present dispensation. Hallelujah! This age cannot end in defeat, it is the harvest time. What else but
an outpouring of the Spirit of God can prepare the heart for the harvest. This day must and will end in victory. Then verily,
“The plowman shall overtake the reaper” in the doubling up of the Former and Latter Rain and the harvest time.
If
we were to depend upon human energizing or efforts, we might despair, but God said, “I will do.” “I will
cause to come down for you.” “Though the vision tarry, wait for it, for it will surely come.”
In
the third verse following our text, we find the reproof, “But thou has not called upon me, O Jacob.” The sad thing,
in the face of all the end-time promises of God, is that we have miserably failed to seek the face of God, that the promise
might be fulfilled in us. The fact that we are now living in the day of the fulfilling of the promises of God does not guarantee
our participation in them. Many were the saints of God who rejected the present Pentecostal visitation because of unbelief
and skepticism. A still finer line is drawn for participation in the Latter Rain visitation. Every fresh move of God requires
a deeper consecration. If this be the consummation of the preparation for throneship, it certainly must necessitate the greatest
degree of preparation.
What
a blessed promise we find later on in the same chapter, “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine
own sake, and will not remember thy sin.” Truly He is slow to anger and of great kindness toward His people. The provision
includes us all if we will take the way of the cross.
The
processing is on. God now is dealing with the saints who have purposed in their hearts to receive and who with the Apostle
“press toward the mark for the prize...” “Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the
plummet.” He will search out all that is akin to unrighteousness and unbelief, and “Purify the Sons of Levi”
in the furnace of affliction till His image be reflected. The path must be well beaten between Calvary and Pentecost. Continual
cleansing is necessary as imperfections are revealed. The slain Lamb will have a slain Bride.
Let
us by His grace open wide our hearts to the searchings of the Holy Spirit, that we may apprehend that for which we have already
been apprehended by our Lord Jesus. By so doing, we can be instrumental in bringing to pass God's “new thing,”
spoken of by the Apostle Peter, as a “salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
