Will it be a Cave, or a Cathedral?

I believe that it was Vance Havner who said, “Every revival begins in a cave, and ends in a cathedral.”  It is a succinct way of saying that no great move of God is going to last.  History proves that this is the truth.  Long ago I watched film by Luis Palau entitled, “God Has No Grandchildren.”  It was about the 1904 Wales revival.  The Wales revival was so powerful that the populations of entire cities were saved.  Jails were unused, pubs were closed from lack of customers, and the police force was idle.  So accustomed were the animals to vulgarity that miners and other ones had difficulty getting their horses and mules to respond.  Years later, Palau went to Wales to discover how the revival had fared and found only symbolic remnants.  Among the remnants were churches that had become pubs now frequented by drunken soccer fans.  Linked arm in arm, they swayed back and forth while singing their team’s victory song to the tune of “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”

We should not be surprised today at the many denominations that appear on the brink or in the clutches of full blown apostasy.  Neither should we desire to stay in those denominations in order to retain the trappings.  The people of God who are determined not to sink into the mire of compromise and sin do not get to keep the “cathedral” when apostasy arrives.  As always, they must go back to the “cave” and start all over.  The common mistake is for the remnant to believe that when revival dies they will somehow keep the “cathedral” and all its earthly benefits.  They are convinced that against all odds they will manage to fan the flames of revival back to life.  Unwittingly, they shift the focus of the battle from defending and maintaining the truth to fighting for rights to the “cathedral”.  The question looms; if they were not capable of keeping spiritual death from coming in, how are they now strong enough to force it out?

Truly, God has no grandchildren.  Every generation needs its own revival.   I’ve come to the conclusion that a true revival needs a “cave”.  There is something about faith that makes it work best from the point of need rather than from a position of sufficiency.  It may well be the reason why God calls “the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty”(1Corinthians 1:27).  Apostasy seldom if ever breaks out in a “cave”.  But faith thrives there.  We are stripped of our sufficiency in the “cave”.  It is a place of recognizing and understanding our inadequacies and our dependency upon God.  The “cathedral” is quite otherwise.

But how does revival die?  Is it simply because we move from the “cave” to the “cathedral”?  Of course not.  As revival bears fruit, and souls are added, the “cave” becomes too small and inconvenient for us.  We gradually move into the “cathedral” singing “Victory in Jesus” as we go.  Everything is fine until the generation upon whom revival had fallen passes on.  Generation cedes control to generation until a generation (usually the third one) takes control that never knew God supernaturally.  They know much about God, but they have no relationship with Him.  The proof is that the leaders of that generation always attempt to know God through unbiblical means and methods.  They insist with absolutely no biblical evidence that it is not the way the ancestors would do it, that God has commissioned them to do it differently.  We are seeing that paradigm today as denominational leaders delve into Contemplative Spirituality and other pagan practices while claiming a greater experience with God.  Shamelessly, they court demons, dismantle every godly landmark, discard sacred truth, and call it new and improved Christianity.

Of all people who stand before God on Judgment Day, I would not want to be the ones who refused to revisit the “cave” and that killed revival in the “cathedral”.  Those people always surface when the fire of revival grows lukewarm or cold.  It is proof that no matter how evil, how bizarre, how apostate, or destructive Satan’s plan is, there are always people standing ready to accept the job at the price offered.  All they need is the support of enough people to secure their positions.  The truth is that there are always enough lukewarm or cold professing Christians to give them authority over the masses.

Today, God is sending out a call; “Would you forsake everything to follow Me?”  Satan is also sending out a call; “Will you join me in uniting the world’s religions?”  The people who were born in revival answer “yes” to God’s call.  Their answer requires full surrender.  The ones that were born in the religious doldrums of Laodicean lukewarmness are excitedly answering Satan’s call.  Their answer requires compromise.  It is the classic and time-honored battle between the “cave” and the “cathedral”, between the old paths and a way that seems right unto men (Proverbs 16:25).  Every true Christian has to decide if they can let go of the “cathedral” and, as Elijah did, meet God in the “cave”.  It’s a simple but often difficult choice; requiring one to wash with tears of repentance the glitter of the “cathedral” from his or her eyes.

When Lot’s family were fleeing God’s judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah, the only factor that could prevent their complete deliverance would be to look back.  Lot’s wife could not help herself and was destroyed. It is the same type of choice true Christians have to make today.  Will we stay in the “cathedral” and die, or will we with total abandon to God flee from its apostasy and soon to arrive judgment and not look back?

Vance Havner made another statement that is relevant here.  He said, “I was born in the fire, and I’m not about to die in the smoke.”  I pray, “Father God, kindle in us a fiery heat that burns out the chaff and every other thing that hinders Your will in our lives!”  If He is calling us to meet Him in the “cave” again, then to the “cave” we must go.  It is there that we will hear His still, small voice and receive a fresh commission.  In the “cathedral” we will only join the march of those that have aligned their compasses to the path of apostasy.