I Heard the Armies of the Lord Roaring Through the Sky
Jesus has all power in heaven and earth, but we have to touch Him by faith.
Don’t think you will get anything if you doubt. The Lord Jesus never did anything without faith on the part of someone. You can never have faith without meeting His conditions. When you meet the conditions of surrender and obedience, He will drop the faith right down in your heart; it is the gift of God. Jesus will not do anything today without faith. You must have not only faith in God, but you must have the very faith of Jesus Christ, the faith that Jesus Himself had. When God said a thing, He knew that God was going to do it; and that is the faith that He will give to you. All the miracles that He ever did were through the faith of someone. When Jesus turned the water into wine, it was through the faith of His mother and the servants. She said to them, “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.” There was a need and she expected Him to do something to meet that need. He said to the servants, “Go and fill the water pots to the brim.” The servants had faith to prepare the water pots, knowing that Jesus was going to do something.
Peter walked all right while he had faith, but when he doubted he began to sink. Jesus rebuked him, not because he was doing something so great as to be presumptuous, but because he did not have faith to walk right on. The centurion had great faith. He did not feel that he needed to have Jesus come to his house. He said, “I know that you have the power to heal with a word. Speak the word, and my servant will be healed.” Jesus was surprised at such faith, and He healed the servant.
We read of a father whose child was dying. He went a long journey to find the wonderful Nazarene. Jesus said to him, “Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe.” The father said, “Sir, come down ere my child die.” As the man talked with Jesus, as he got near to Him, he believed. Jesus put him to the test and said, “Go thy way, thy son liveth.” The man started off, and he did not have the witness till the next day when he got home. He did not urge Jesus to go home with him because he felt sure that the Lord had kept His word; and on his way home the servants met him and said, “Thy son liveth.” The son was healed, but not perfectly strong yet. If he had been, he would have run out to meet him. The father asked at what hour the fever left him. They said, “At the seventh hour.” The father wanted to know the hour that he might give God the glory. It was at the same hour when Jesus spoke the word to the father that the fever left his son and he began to amend. This healing was brought about by the faith and obedience of the father. He believed God, though he did not get the witness til he got home.
When Lazarus was raised from the dead, it was through the faith of Martha. That is a most beautiful picture of what God can do through faith. Jesus loved those two sisters and Lazarus. It all rested with Martha whether or not that brother should be raised from the dead. He said, in substance, “If you will only believe my word, you are going to see something marvelous.” But Martha was not through yet. There was a stone to be rolled away. It may be that you have a stone to be rolled away before your child can be healed, or before you can get your baptism.
According to the custom no one would dare to touch that stone but by order of the family. So Martha had to cooperate with Jesus when He gave the order. But at first she objected and said, “Master, by this time he is offensive.” Just as though the master did not know His own business! He looked at her and said, “Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? How is it that you are so forgetful, Martha?” Then she got her eyes on Jesus and looked away from the corpse of Lazarus. I seem to see her step forth like a queen giving the order to roll the stone away.
Jesus lifted up His eyes and thanked His Father that He had heard Him and that He knew that He heard Him always. He wanted the unbelieving people to know that His Father heard Him that they might see and believe. Beloved, do you want to be healed, or do you want to be baptized with the Holy Ghost that God may be glorified, that men and women may see the mighty miracles that He does and believe God? He said to His Father, “Thou hearest me always,” and He will always hear your prayer if you believe God. Then Jesus went forth and cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” And the dead came back to life, and many saw this mighty miracle and many believed. What a happy time they had as they went back to that home and took supper together.
When that sick man was carried up to the roof, do you not think that took some faith on his part, as well as on the part of those who carried him? How the finger of scorn was pointed at them all along the road. But the sick man did not expect to be carried back. They broke up the roof and let the man down in the midst before Jesus. “And when he saw their faith He said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.” He forgives all and heals all. Ring the bells of heaven, for thy sins are forgiven. Then he said, “Arise, and take up thy couch, and go unto thine house.” The man knew he could not arise, but as Jesus spoke the word, he made the effort in faith, and “immediately he rose up before them.”
The very minute you begin to exercise faith, God begins to work. Do not come up here to have prayer offered for your healing unless you expect to be healed at once. Forget your disease and look at Jesus. Do you believe that God is going to take it away? Well, then, clap your hands and shout victory. It is faith and obedience that bring the healing. It is not long prayers but it is the look of faith. When you see the people begin to clap their hands and look for Jesus to come in, you see a change come into their faces. If you give your sickness to God, you have not got it. When He tells you to arise and walk, you will have to do it and show your faith by your acts like a well person.
We say to them, move your feet, move your hands by faith. We want your whole body set free. If you do not think God is going to do something, don’t come up here. That palsied man did not expect to be carried back. He walked back and carried his bed. As the disease begins to go, the virtue of Jesus begins to come in. So this man had faith to rise up and carry his couch. He had to take God at His Word and so have you. You see him standing there, healed, moving his hands and moving his feet, and making a great noise praising the Lord just like an old “crank”! Some of you would not do that after prayer was offered for you, but you would make a beeline to get right back in bed! But he did not forget what the Lord said, to carry his bed, as well as to rise up and walk. He felt like jumping over the bed. He did not say, “Don’t ask me to run until tomorrow. Don’t ask me to carry my bed for they will laugh at me, and I will never hear the last of it.” I suppose he was shouting for joy like a crazy person. He broke up the meeting, but it was Jesus’ meeting, and He did not say, “Stop making that noise,” but He said, “Let him alone.”
Faith comes by hearing the Word. When Paul was preaching at Lystra, there was a cripple who had never walked. Paul perceived that he had faith to be healed. God is waiting for someone to have faith so He can get a chance to work a miracle. Paul said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.”
If you will venture the leap in faith, the Lord will catch you. Most people do not have faith in God. God smiled His approval on the Son of God by confirming His Word with signs and wonders. God baptized Jesus with the Holy Ghost and fire, also the disciples on the Day of Pentecost; so when God baptizes you with the Holy Ghost and fire, signs and wonders will follow. There is no limit to His power if we believe Him. The winds and the waves obeyed Him, and the fig tree was withered by His Word. He said that they who believed on Him could pluck up the sycamine tree by the roots and cast the mountain into the sea and even do greater things than He did on earth because He went to His Father.
The time has come for greater things, beloved. On the Day of Pentecost, the greater things began. On the Day of Pentecost He did something that had never been done before; many miracles had been wrought, but the disciples had never spoken in tongues. They were gathered together praising God the best they could when the Holy Ghost came upon them in a fiery baptism and spoke through them in new tongues; this was what broke up the unbelief in many of the Jewish people. They were amazed and said, “What does this mean? How hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born?” And here is a beautiful point, “We do hear them speak in our tongue the wonderful works of God.”
That was what brought three thousand people to their knees that day. God had said, “In the last days I will pour out my Spirit; I will pour out a cloudburst of power and glory upon My people. They shall speak with new tongues, they shall prophesy, they shall cast out devils.” Don’t be tired of hearing people speak in new tongues; don’t call anything common or unclean that God does. It is the Holy Ghost let down from heaven. The Word says, “With stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
I have seen hundreds healed in one day. God is showing the people the double cure of Calvary, for soul and body. Every time you hear God speaking through someone in tongues, it is the voice of God saying, “Get ready.” The Great Tribulation is going to break sooner than you think. The Word says that in the last days knowledge shall be increased. Think of the wonderful inventions in these last days.
The saints also are getting knowledge of what is coming. Great troubles are coming, tidal waves, earthquakes, etc. We warned San Diego when we were there. They wanted us to stay another month, but God did not lead us to do so, and the storm broke the very day we left there. So the Lord does warn His children. I have known the Lord to turn aside storms and cyclones in answer to prayer, and I have known Him to do mighty miracles.
When we were holding meetings and it was so hot and dusty, several times we have asked God to send the rain to lay the dust and to cool the air so the people could come, and God has sent rain just around the locality. One time He led me to have meetings out in a wilderness, where we were five miles from the nearest railroad station. I did not know what God did this for, but I did know one thing, and that was that God wanted to show forth His power and glory. A great mass of people came, and the Lord led me to take that text, “What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?” There were a number of Jewish brethren there, and I said, “That rain was in answer to prayer. Did you have any rain at Mt. Pleasant?” They turned pale as they realized the power of God.
The very earth was shaken with the power of God at Muncie, Indiana, where we were holding meetings. A great mass of people were there, and they had to stand, as we could not provide seats for them. They would fall against each other under the power of God. At two or three places God sent the sound of His armies in the tree-tops. The Lord said, “You must have more power among these people.” I said to them, “We must have more of the power of God here. I am never going to preach another time to this people till God comes in power that you have never seen. Those of you who will take this stand and stay with me till the Lord comes in power, get down on your knees by me here.” They began to be frightened. But I said, “If you do not come and wait on God with me I will go away.” They did not want me to go away, so they came and got on their knees.
When you get down before God with such a determination as that, you do not have to wait very long. I would keep quoting Scripture and the power of God settled down upon us, and there was a holy awe. Some infidels laughed but they were frightened enough before we got through. Then we heard a sound in the tops of the trees, a sort of roaring. Some thought it was a great storm coming, but the Lord told me to look up and see the moon and stars shining. There was no sign of a storm. I gave a shout and said, “It is the armies of the Lord. Hallelujah!” I don’t remember all that happened, but God came in great power. Some of the people were frightened, but I said, “Stand your ground. The Lord will strike you down under His power in your homes if you run away from this meeting.” The people began to get converted all over the country. You remember how David heard “the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees” when the Lord went forth to fight for him against his enemies. Are we waiting to hear from heaven today?
God is going to do great things in these last days. We are living in very solemn times, and God is doing His strange work of judgment. Jesus is coming soon, and we will need to trust God to hide us away from the coming storm. The Son of Man is near, even at the doors. Awful tribulation is coming. The signs and wonders that He is now giving confirm the message that the last days are upon us. The damning sin of unbelief is all around us. But God is even raising the dead, here and there. A woman was dead, and the Lord gave me the prayer of faith; and in that big congregation I commanded her to come back to life in the name of Jesus.
Get on the whole armor of God. Have faith in God, simple faith that will ask no questions. Keep low under the blood of Jesus. He says, “My people shall never be ashamed.” Terrible times are coming even in this land. Everything will be shaken except the people of God who are hidden away in the secret place of the Most High. If you do not take the warning messages that have been given here, I will witness against you in that day. “Let no man take your crown.”
“Hold fast till I come,” Jesus says. We will go up to meet Him in the clouds. Now may God seal this message for His glory.
