A Blood Covenant for Sovereign Revival

The Heavenly Father has established an unfailing covenant for a sovereign revival in His New Testament church. Every great awakening in America, Great Britain, Africa, South America, etc., past or present, is set in this covenant. While I am a classical Pentecostal, most great visitations from God have occurred among non-Pentecostals. Yet in the process of those awakenings, Pentecostal powers became wonderfully accepted. Revival without the manifestation of Holy Ghost ministry and gifts is impossible. Yet, the New Testament model for these Sovereign events had to be Biblically maintained or the revival ended in confusion and emotional foolishness.

A perfect model for this covenant of divine visitation is found in the Book of Acts. It is a blood covenant and cannot be disannulled. Every time one person or more humbles himself or herself before God, refuses to doubt what the Master has said, and waits in travail for a lost world, totally separating themselves from known and hidden sins, a sovereign visitation will occur. The blood covenant of the Father by His Son cannot be broken unless we break it or fail to believe to the time of its manifestation. Our covenant with Him cannot be fulfilled on our timetable, but on His Divine Watch. His divine Plan is perfect and most worthy of our absolute rest and faith.

The sovereign model of a Biblical awakening clearly started on the Day of Pentecost. It continued throughout the whole Book of Acts. As you move from this great book into the epistles, you see the evidence of a Holy Ghost empowered church turning the world upside down and establishing the great doctrines of this New Covenant that Jesus had established. The Book of Acts is our model for the church. We dare not turn from this model to human schemes and sociological ideas. Paul clearly warned us not to depart from this established plan. He said, “Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God” (II Corinthians 4:1-2).

One of the most beautiful moments in the Book of Acts is seen in chapter four. The leaders of the church had been put in prison after the miracle of the lame men at the Beautiful Gate. The Jewish leaders were angry with the Apostles, but afraid of the people. The city was shaken and over three thousand had already been converted to Christ. The Jewish leaders threatened the apostles and commanded them to preach no more in the name of Jesus. These men, full of the Holy Ghost, had no fear of their enemies or threats, but were totally convinced that the Kingdom of God would prevail. The threats of these vicious leaders only served to set their faces toward God and to make them completely dependent on the promised covenant. The promise of the Holy Ghost had come and He would triumph in the church.

Let’s look at this text, “And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. And now, Lord, behold their thr eatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that will all boldness they may speak thy word, By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus" (Acts 4:23-30). What a statement of the covenant relationship these men had accepted.

First, they confessed their faith in God. “Lord thou art God which hath made heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is.” Then, they declared the covenant that David had spoken in prophecy of this very moment in human history. “Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ” (Acts 4:25-26). It is imperative that we see their confidence in the connection between Pentecost and this prophesied covenant. They knew that this covenant of victory over every power they might encounter was already guaranteed. The Holy Ghost had given these words to David concerning Jesus Christ and His death and the effect it would have in the world. They were going to experience a Sovereign move of God over all powers of human government and resistance because David had prophesied and it was already being fulfilled.

I can almost hear Peter, James, John, or one of the other disciples, standing up in the market place or the Jewish temple and reading Psalm Two as a sermon text. Let’s listen in, as they must have read this text in either the Greek or Hebrew language: “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. As k of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Psalm 2:1-9).

God had spoken and these men were taking the country by storm. Let the heathen rage or their own rulers take counsel against the Lord or the “Anointed One.” They were His anointed and they said, “Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us,” and cast away their cords they did! It is beautiful to look by faith at the way they acted in total surrender and faith to the Word of God. The more the powers of Rome or the Jewish leaders stood against these Holy Ghost filled preachers or witnesses, the more effect they had. Multitudes were being saved and supernatural miracles were abundant.