The Hour and the Message
By W. A. S.
WHAT gave to Luther’s voice the power to ring through all Europe with the message of reform? It was not only that the message that he cried was true, but the time had come for the message to be heard. The hour of reform had struck. The Holy Spirit gave to the Reformer’s message a power to stir the pulse of mankind because the time was ripe for the Reformation. It was the same as in the days of John the Baptist. When the Baptist cried his message in the wilderness, all Jerusalem and Judea and all the regions round about Jordan were stirred mightily. The “fullness of time” had come, and God’s purpose could no longer be deferred. So, after the sixteenth-century Reformation, when Protestant Christendom had fallen into formalism and was ready to die, there came a message which rang again through the world with soul-awakening power. It was the great revival under Wesley, Whitefield, and their fellow workers. The time had come for a revival, and the fullness of the time gave power to the message born of the need of the hour. It was because the hour so long foretold was come that the advent warning swept through the world with the speed of angel heralds in the ‘44 movement. And now, with the final signs of the great day of God breaking all about us, the hour has come for the final message of preparation for the coming of the Lord to speed through the world until every ear shall hear the call. The time is at hand for the witness to be borne. God’s Spirit is poured out to give to the message the power to convict hearts. In the unentered portions of every field, hearts are being prepared to give heed to the cry. It is a new time. It is the last hour. Eternity is so near that every moment of time vibrates with the intensity of heaven. The hour, the most critical in all earth’s history, gives to the most solemn message an urgency and a power that must carry it quickly to the ends of the earth. It is a glorious hour and a glorious message. The very fullness of the time has come. Let the keynote of the message ring out.