The Preacher
The Preacher
It was a hot summer evening in southeastern Alabama in July, 1948. The crowd wandered in to sit in wood folding chairs in rows under a tent. The tent was on a grassy spot near the edge of town on the highway in and out of the town of about 800 to 1,000 people, depending on who was counting. The town had three churches, a Baptist, a Methodist, and a Church of Christ. The revival meeting was due to start around seven. There was a wood platform at one end of the tent about eighteen inches high and it had a small pulpit stand for the music leader and the preacher to use during the service. There was a small volunteer choir of ten people from the three churches warming up to sing in a few minutes.
It was getting darker as the hot sun was melting below a row of ancient oak trees lining a fence about a hundred yards west of the tent. The grass had been mowed and you could smell the fresh cut Bermuda grass that covered the field where the tent sat, which could hold around 75 people. The mosquitoes, gnats, and other bothersome pests were circling near the tent waiting for the crowd to get seated.
There was a young man passing out fans from the local funeral home for the ladies to wave at various speeds to stir air to their face and distract the mosquitoes. The cardboard fans had a picture of a sunset and the name of the funeral home, Peaceful Rest Mortuary, along with the telephone number, 483, and the address, 122 Oak Ave. The humidity held the heat and was suffocating preventing the fans from bringing much relief.
This was the last night of the revival meeting. The preacher was a traveling evangelist, who had a circuit of small towns in the South, where he would hold these meetings during the Spring, Summer, and Fall until the weather turned cold. The preacher was in his 50's and was at the peak of his ministry. His wife and young son traveled with him and she played the piano for the meetings. He had a small upright piano, which he loaded in his trailer he pulled behind an old truck his son drove. The preacher had an old car he drove behind the truck and trailer driving from town to town. The preacher also carried the tent in the trailer. It was made of sturdy canvas with a roof type shape, held up by wooden poles in the ground, and then side flaps they used or not depending on the weather. This night the flaps were not being used so that any breeze that might blow could help relieve the heat.
The young son started passing out old ragged songbooks called “Great Songs of the Church” up and down the aisle to anyone who wanted one and encouraging people to share. The song leader was a young man, a volunteer, who led singing at the local Methodist church. After prayer with his wife and son, the preacher, Bible in hand, stepped up onto the platform and sat down in a ladder-back wooden chair with a woven cane seat.
The song leader moved to the pulpit, welcomed the people, and announced to the audience that the first song of the night in the hymnal would be number 88, “I Love to Tell the Story.” The leader looked at the choir, raised his right hand, and the piano began with a few untuned tinkling notes of prelude, then the choir and crowd sang, “I love to tell the story of unseen things above, of Jesus and His glory”... and then singing on to the chorus, “I love to tell the story, twill be my theme in glory to tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love.” Traditionally, they sang verses one, two, skipping verse 3, and then singing verse 4. The song leader introduced several of the people on the platform before heading into the second song, number 94, “I Was Sinking Deep in Sin.” And, next the preacher’s wife sang a solo from her piano, “Though Your Sins Be as Scarlet” bringing tears to some of the women’s eyes when she sang the chorus, “Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.” Next was the “love offering” with old Folger’s coffee cans being passed up and down the rows with coins and wrinkled dollar bills being dropped in as they passed.
And then, the preacher rose slowly from his chair, limping like Jacob of old, and placed his Bible on the podium. First, he said, “Let us pray” and the crowd bowed their heads. The preacher began, “Dear Father God, I thank you for these people that have come here tonight by your will and appointment. Give me your words to speak. I pray that the Holy Spirit will come with fire tonight and bathe this place in holiness and love, so that no person shall escape Your blazing eye and Holy Spirit examination, that shall penetrate our conscience to convict of sin and righteousness, to cause the lost to fall down before the King of Heaven, Jesus Christ, in repentance and a plea for mercy and grace to save and to cause the back-sliding believers to be revived and renewed to their first love and fall before the Lord for a fresh filling of your mercy, love, and power. In the Mighty name of Jesus I pray, Amen.”
When the preacher finished the prayer, He started to open his Bible and begin his traditional fiery sermon on the final night of the meetings; however, he stopped and just looked at the faces of the people, who were waiting for the expected barrage of words about sin and judgment, hell and damnation, that would pierce their hearts like arrows shot from a bow. This preacher was famous over his area of the South for hard sermons centering on sin and judgment, a burning hell, and fierce condemnation of sins of the flesh. That is why there were usually many more women there, than men, because in that time period, the men seemed to have more trouble with those sins. There was many a man there that was being dragged by their wife to the meeting, so he could get a good dose of that preaching.
Finally, after what seemed like a long time, the preacher closed his Bible and said to the congregation, “I was going to preach a message tonight on this final night of our meetings about the fires of hell that are burning at this very moment, with the flames licking their chops waiting for sinners to be cast into them. However, I was taking a nap this afternoon and the Lord gave me a dream. In the dream, I was in my bed when an angel came and stood at the foot of the bed and said, ‘Arise o’ preacher and come with me. Here take my hand in your hand.’ And, I did so. The angel appeared as a tall man in a robe but I couldn’t see any wings. There was a softness about his appearance, that made him look as if there was a thin cloud around him. As I raised up and took his hand, I blinked and then the angel and I were in a city at night and the people around me were wearing different clothing. The angel told me we were in Jerusalem during the time Christ was there. I could not tell if I was bodily there or in the spirit.”
“It was dark and we were in an area of small apartments that were close together and other buildings that were more than one story. Suddenly, a group of soldiers appeared heading for the center of town. The soldiers had a man under arrest and they were pulling him forward bound at the wrists. The angel asked me if I knew who the arrested man was that had just passed. I said, ‘I could not make out his face.’ The angel replied, ‘that was the Master’ and it was as if my heart stopped. I said, ‘Are we in Jerusalem at Passover at the time of Jesus’ passion?’ The angel said, ‘you have said.’ The angel touched my hand and then we were in a courtyard of the High Priest of the Jews. There was a fire, since it was cold, and there were Roman soldiers and slaves warming around the fire, while Jesus was before the High Priest being questioned. The angel pointed to a man and told me that he was the Apostle Peter. He had made his way into the area and was waiting and warming himself at the fire. One of the slave girls asked Peter if he was a disciple of Jesus and accused him of being with Him. Peter denied being a disciple of Jesus to her. The angel had me look at Peter’s face, but when I did, all I could see was that it was my face, not the face of Peter. I looked away in shock and asked the angel to take me away from there.”
“The angel took my hand and we were instantly in a crowd of Jews in an open area below a building with an elevated open porch where a Roman official stood. The crowd of Jews and others were shouting and excited as the official was saying things about Jesus and asking if they wanted to release Him or a criminal named Barrabas. Almost all were shouting, ‘release Barabbas, not Jesus.’ The angel told me that the official was Pilate and then pointed toward one of the men shouting to release Barabbas. I was shocked when I saw my face on him and I looked away asking the angel to get me out of there. But the angel refused and in a short while Pilate brought out Jesus, wearing a crown of thorns to stand beside him. Pilate said, ‘I find no guilt in this man’ but the men, and the man with my face cried out, ‘Crucify Him, Crucify Him.’
“I felt sick and was near fainting. The angel touched my hand again and suddenly we were standing on a hill and I saw a wooden cross laying on the ground with a man laying on the cross, as they were driving large nails in his hands and feet to put him on the cross. I asked the angel if this was Golgotha, the place of the Skull, and he nodded yes. Laying on the cross was Jesus with the crown of thorns on His head and blood dripping from the wounds of the thorns and from His having been beaten with many lashes. The nails were being driven in and you could hear the metal clang of the hammer against the nails, as they sank into his hands and feet. The angel said, ‘look at the soldier who is hammering in the nails.’ I did as I was told and saw that the face of the soldier was my face. This was more than I could stand and I fainted and fell to the ground.”
“When I regained consciousness and the angel picked me up, I saw that Jesus was already lifted up on the cross between two other crosses with men on them. It was also dark but the sun was beginning to shine out of the darkness. I saw that Jesus had just taken His last breaths and was dying. When His head finally dropped in death, I saw one of the soldiers take a spear and pierce His side with it and out flowed blood and water. The angel made me look at the face of the soldier and it was again my face. The angel then took my hand and instantly I was in my bedroom and I woke up.”
“Why am I telling you about this dream in such detail,” asked the preacher. “I think it is important to realize that what the Lord, through the angel in the dream, was showing me was that I, in a sense, did participate in the crucifixion of Jesus because it was my sin that caused Him to have to suffer, go to the cross, and die. Obviously, I was not actually physically there in those scenes leading to the crucifixion and the cross itself. But, I might as well have been there and doing those things because my sin caused the need for the crucifixion, just as if I had actually personally participated in the act itself. It was my sin, and your sin, that caused His suffering and His death on the cross. The angel could have caused me to see your face on Peter’s face or your face on the soldier’s face, who pounded the stakes into Jesus hands and feet or pierced His side with the spear.”
“I believe the Lord was showing me that I need to identify with the lost and the sinners because even though I’m saved by the blood of Jesus, I still sin, like we all do, and I need to come alongside in sympathy with those, that are in such need of the mercy and grace of our Lord who suffered worse than us and died our eternal death so we could be with Him forever. Jesus, as God and man, was the only person in the world qualified to take our place. It was God in Christ, who came into the world to identify with all sinners, without actually becoming a sinner in Himself. On the day before Jesus went to the cross, he prayed in the garden asking God if this cup could be removed from Him, but then He said, ‘yet not my will but Thine be done.’ The cup he was referring to was the cup of evil of all our sin and all the evil brought into the world by Adam’s disobeying God and taking into his body the evil of the fruit forbidden by God. On the cross, Jesus was drinking down the rancid putrid cup of all evil and becoming all sinners so that the punishment for all of this sin and evil in the world could come to a final and complete satisfaction of God’s wrath and anger against all sin and evil. By the death of Christ in this manner, God was able to pour out all His wrath and judgment against our sin upon the innocent Jesus, as us and for us.”
“So, brothers and sisters, you have heard what Jesus suffered for you, and as you, and for me, as me. We know that after his death on the cross, He was buried in a nearby tomb for three days and then God raised Him from the dead. The resurrection showed that His payment in death, as your and my penalty was accepted by God so that God’s wrath against sin was satisfied, and He was bodily raised from death receiving a resurrected physical body that was similar but different in certain respects. Jesus had new and different abilities after receiving this resurrection body, which is the type of body we will receive when the believers are raised from the dead upon Jesus’ return to earth for the beginning of His kingdom on earth for a thousand years.”
The preacher then asked,“What should your response be, if you have never come into a relationship with Jesus Christ and accepted what He did for you? First, you must realize your sinful state and need for Jesus, even if you think you are a good person. None are good enough. The Bible says that, ‘All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.’ This was speaking of Jesus. When you decide that it is true that you are lost and need a savior, this is called repentance. You then must receive in faith what He did for you, believing that Jesus’ death for your sins occurred and that He was bodily resurrected to give you new resurrection life. The Holy Spirit enters your spirit when you trust in the Lord for your salvation and your spirit is renewed, born again, and you have a new kind of life in you. The Bible says in John 3:16, that God loved the world so much, that He gave His Son Jesus to take your place in death for your sins, so that whoever believes in Him receives eternal life. But, it’s not just a belief that the cross and resurrection occurred, although this is a basic part of believing. Believing in Him means that you trust Him to save you like someone would sit down in a chair trusting the chair to hold them up and not collapse. And you, so to speak, sit down in Jesus trusting Him to save you and give you eternal life to live with Him forever. If a person refuses or fails to trust in Jesus like I said, then when that person dies there remains nothing for them but the judgment of God against their sin of refusing so great a salvation, which will finally result in being cast into everlasting fires of hell with the devil and his demons.”
“What foolishness this is to refuse so great an invitation to salvation. If you are worried about what entering into this relationship with Jesus will cost you or impact your life, you should realize that the Holy Spirit entering into you, because of your trust, will also work in your life to produce the will of God in your behavior and life, so that you will never be alone in the relationship of Jesus being Lord of your life. And you will receive a new desire and power to serve and obey Jesus as the Lord of your life. As to your sins and life as you move forward in Christ, He meets you where you are and lifts you up into a greater level of life and existence.”
“We are now going to give an invitation to each of you that wants to receive Jesus Christ as your savior tonight to come down to the front to me and we will pray to the Lord. We will ask our brother song leader to come and lead us in hymn number 131, “Just as I Am” without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me.”
The preacher’s wife started playing the song, as the people began to sing and the preacher stood at the front with his Bible in his left hand and his right hand outstretched toward the audience, pleading with them to come now. No one came forward until the first chorus and then one young man stepped out in the aisle and quickly walked to the front and took the preacher’s hand. The man had tears running down his cheeks and blurted out to the preacher, “I’m a sinner, I know it and I’m going to hell, help me, help me.” The preacher led him over to the edge of the platform and they both bowed on their knees. The preacher led the man through how to be saved and then the man prayed asking Jesus to save him. After this man was seated in a chair smiling and thanking God, the preacher began greeting the next person in the line of four or five others waiting to talk with him. Several others came to the front wanting to rededicate their life to the Lord and the preacher laid hands on them and prayed over them, asking the Holy Spirit to fill them and stir up the embers of the fire of their love for Jesus, that once blazed in them.
After the preacher had finished with all of the decisions, he thanked the people who had come that night and the other nights of the meeting. He then expressed his love for them and ended with this blessing over the people, “I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ that you will hear the word of God and receive its power to reveal your needs and open your will to obey God, accepting His mercy and grace to heal those areas, so that you can be whole and healthy in your body, soul, and spirit in Jesus Christ. Amen.”
When the service had ended and the people had wandered off into the night, the preacher sat exhausted on the edge of the platform with his shirt wringing wet with sweat. He was wiping his face and head using his handkerchief with his coat beside him. His wife came to him and took his hand putting her arm around his shoulder as she sat down beside him. She whispered in his ear, “Thank you for this great sermon about how all of us have sinned but God loves us anyway. I have never heard you preach a better sermon. I love you.”
Early the next morning, while the summer sun was low in the east and had not reached its peak of heat, the preacher and his son began taking down the tent, folding it carefully, and then they loaded it into the trailer. The wife was gathering all of the loose items and putting them in the truck or trailer. As she was picking up all of the song books, she looked up at her son loading the tent. He was almost grown and six foot tall, thinking what a fine man he was becoming. She looked at the preacher, who she had loved for thirty years of living on the circuit with him. She realized that even during those hard times of the loss of a baby and her almost losing her faith over that, all was worth it because of the love God had given her for them and His faithfulness in bringing her through it into peace and victory over all of it.
Before the three of them started their drive, they held hands praying for protection on their trip to the next town and for the Lord’s will to be done that day in their lives. The son was driving the truck and pulled it onto the highway. The preacher and his wife in the old car followed the truck onto the highway, as they headed to the next town on the schedule to begin another revival on Monday. As the preacher shifted the old car into high gear, with a big smile on his face, he said to his wife, “I love you, Dear. Thank you for your love and support all these years. This is the life, my dear wife.” She just smiled and patted his shoulder as they continued on the road to the next town and the life the Lord had given them.
