Inside the Tent of Meeting, the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. — Exodus 33:11a
A study of the great revivalists of history will reveal one unmistakable fact. Each woman or man who would be used mightily by the Lord to draw many to Jesus had a profound personal encounter with God first that would forever change the trajectory of their lives. This is certainly true of Charles Finney.
Last week, we left Finney returning from the woods where he had just given his life to Jesus, miraculously leaving all his guilt and despair behind. What happened next to the young attorney was extraordinary, and would indelibly mark his life with the personal presence of God. Charles Finney had a face-to-face encounter with Jesus.
Having no appetite, he returned from the woods to the empty law office at dinnertime. Charles decided to take down his viola, beginning to play and sing some hymns and sacred songs. As soon as he did, tears came to his eyes. It was as if his heart had turned to liquid within him. Every word filled him with emotion to the point that he finally put up his instrument and stopped singing.
FACE-TO-FACE ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS
As night set, Charles said goodnight to his colleague, Judge Wright, who had been involved in moving books and furniture from one office to another all that evening. Charles described what happened at that moment:
“I had accompanied him to the door; and as I closed the door and turned around, my heart seemed to be liquid within me. All my feelings seemed to rise and flow out; and the utterance of my heart was, ‘I want to pour my whole soul out to God.’ The rising of my soul was so great that I rushed into the room back of the front office, to pray.
There was no fire, and no light, in the room; never the less it appeared to me as if it were perfectly light. As I went in and shut the door after me, it seemed as if I met the Lord Jesus Christ face to face. It did not occur to me then, nor did it for some time afterward, that it was wholly a mental state. On the contrary it seemed to me that I saw him as I would see any other man. He said nothing, but looked at me in such a manner as to break me right down at his feet…I fell down at his feet and poured out my soul to him. I wept aloud like a child, and made such confessions as I could with my choked utterance. It seemed to me that I bathed his feet with my tears; and yet I had no distinct impression that I touched him, that I recollect.
I must have continued in this state for a good while; but my mind was too much absorbed with the interview to recollect anything that I said. But I know, as soon as my mind became calm enough to break off from the interview, I returned to the front office, and found that the fire that I had made of large wood was nearly burned out.
FILLED WITH WAVES OF LIQUID LOVE
But as I turned and was about to take a seat by the fire, I received a mighty baptism of the Holy Spirit. Without any expectation of it, without ever having the thought in my mind that there was any such thing for me, without any recollection that I had ever heard the thing mentioned by any person in the world, the Holy Spirit descended upon me in a manner that seemed to go through me, body and soul. I could feel the impression, like a wave of electricity, going through and through me. Indeed, it seemed to come in waves and waves of liquid love; for I could not express it in any other way. It seemed like the very breath of God. I can recollect distinctly that it seemed to fan me, like immense wings.
No words can express the wonderful love that was shed abroad in my heart. I wept aloud with joy and love; and I do not know but I should say, I literally bellowed out the unutterable gushings of my heart. These waves came over me, and over me, and over me, one after the other, until I recollect I cried out, “I shall die if these waves continue to pass over me.” I said, “Lord, I cannot bear any more”; yet I had no fear of death.” *
From that moment on, Charles became an evangelist. He never practiced law again. His life was utterly transformed by this encounter with Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon him. Now he was committed to preaching the Gospel of Jesus. Finney went on to become the effective revival evangelist of the Second Great Awakening and the president of Oberlin College (1851–1865), which was actively engaged in the abolition movement to end slavery.
May the story of Charles Finney encourage you to pursue your own encounter with Jesus. The world is longing for you to meet Jesus personally and live your life out of the overflow of His presence. This week, in your First 20, may you meet Him face-to-face.
Our God Hears,
AJ
*Quotes taken from “God’s Generals: The Revivalists,” by Roberts Liardon.