Bring Back The King
by Kenneth E. Hagin
2 SAMUEL 19:10-12
10 And Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why speak ye not a word of bringing the king back?
11 And king David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, Speak unto the elders of Judah, saying, Why are ye the last to bring the king back to his house? seeing the speech of all Israel is come to the king, even to his house.
12 Ye are my brethren, ye are my bones and my flesh: wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the king?
We know that the Second Coming of Jesus is the glorious hope of the Church, but let us ask ourselves this question: Can we hasten the event?
One who has just casually read the Bible will say, "No, God is working on a timetable, and when the time comes, Jesus will return— but not until then."
Wrong.
That is not what the Bible teaches at all. That kind of "religious" teaching spills over on us from church teachings we have had in days gone by. It is unscriptural.
In our text we find that Absalom, who had led an insurrection against his father, King David, is dead. King David sends word to his kinsmen in the House of Judah, asking, "Why are ye the last to bring the king back to his house?" He reminds them that they are his brothers—his bones and his flesh.
The questions in this text concerning King David also apply to the greater Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ: Why are ye the last to bring back the king? Ye are my bones and my flesh. Ephesians 5:30 says concerning Jesus, "For we are members
of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones."
Our text also asks another question: "Why speak ye not a word of bringing the king back?" (v. 10). My King James translation reads in the margin, "Why are you silent about bringing the king back?"
Other translations make such statements as: "Why do you keep still about bringing back the king?" "Why are you deaf to the need of bringing back the king?" "Why do you let the matter drag about bringing back the king?" "Why do you lag behind in bringing the king back?" "Why do you procrastinate about bringing the king back?"
All of these meanings certainly are insinuated in the statement "Why do you remain silent about bringing back the king?" (as one marginal note reads).
As we study further, we find yet another translation reads, "Why do you hinder the coming back of the king?" You see, simply by being silent about it, they hindered the coming back of the king.
This is talking about King David, but all of these statements can apply to bringing back our King, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why does He delay? Why doesn't He come? Why does Jesus tarry?
I am going to prove to you from Scripture that it is an absolute fact—whether you realize it or not—that we are largely to blame for the fact that Jesus has not come yet!
2 PETER 3:9-12
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness;
but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
Verse 12 says, "looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God." In my King James translation, there is a numeral by "hasting." What it actually says in the Greek, according to the marginal note, is "hasting the coming."
Well, can we "hasten" the coming of Jesus? Evidently we can. The Holy Spirit wouldn't have told us to do something we couldn't do.
Two other Scriptures pertaining to this subject are:
REVELATION 19:7
7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
1 JOHN 3:3
3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
The hope John is talking about—if you were to examine it closely—is the return of the Lord Jesus.
What can we do, then, to hasten the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Continued on next page
King/from page 2
There are at least three things:
1. We can see to it that we are ready ourselves.
Notice, in references to the marriage supper of the Lamb, the Lamb is the Lord Jesus. His wife, the Bride He refers to, is the Church. She has made herself ready.
That almost sounds like a contradiction, because we know man cannot save himself; it takes the Lord to save him. Nevertheless, there are
things you can do to get ready for this event. You have a part to play.
Did you notice it does not say the Lamb made His wife ready? It says, "his wife hath made herself ready" (Rev. 19:7). There is a God-ward side and a man-ward side. The Bible tells
us to fight the good fight of faith. That's the part we have to play.
Often, people think if God says something is theirs, it is going to happen automatically. No, God gives you His Word so you will know what is yours. But then you have your part to play: You must accept what belongs to you; you must receive what belongs to you.
That is the reason so many people judge after the sight of the eye (or human reasoning) instead of judging righteous judgment (according to what God's Word says). And often people blame God for things He is not responsible for at all. They question why someone got saved or received greater things from God than they did.
In one of my meetings, a man who had been backslidden for 12 years was gloriously reclaimed like the prodigal son of old. Several nights later, he was filled with the Holy Spirit.
One of the church members came whining to me, "I don't understand it! I just can't understand it at all!"
"What is it you can't understand?" I asked.
"Now, God knows I've lived right
all these years," he replied. "I've been faithful coming to church—and I know that fellow hasn't been to church for 12 years! I've been here every time the doors opened. Here he comes back, and in just a night or two God gives him the Holy Spirit. Why doesn't He give it to me?"
(It would be funny if it weren't so pathetic, but they are so deadly serious about it, almost weeping and asking, "Why doesn't God give me the Holy Spirit?")
You see, it is not a matter of God's giving them anything. The Holy Spirit has been here ever since God sent Him to this earth on the day of Pentecost. So it's not a matter of God's giving the Holy Spirit. He didn't give the Holy Spirit to this backslider. The backslider came back home and received what God had for him.
I taught it to the church member, but he didn't believe it. He said, "I just believe when God gets ready, in His own good time, in His own good way, He's going to give me the Holy Spirit."
"Well," I said, "He's not."
I saw him years later, and he never had received. He still was blaming God.
We have a part to play, and God has a part to play, but people blame God for everything.
On another occasion, a backslider came back to God and then got healed. Soon three people from the church asked to have a talk with me.
One of them said, "Well now, God ought not to have healed him—that's all there is to it! He has been wrong all these years!" (They wanted to blame me because God healed the backslider.)
It's strange the ideas people have about God. I know they don't mean to do it, but unconsciously they are lying about God.
While holding a meeting in 1954 in Oregon, I preached one night on
"Laying on of Hands." Then I gave the invitation, and asked the people to line up for salvation and to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
I came to one woman who had come to be filled with the Spirit, and the minute I laid hands on her, I knew all about her. Nobody had told me. I knew it by revelation. (I never allowed pastors to talk to me about people in their churches. I always told them, "The Lord will tell me everything He wants me to know.")
I stopped. I knew the woman would be filled with the Holy Spirit and would speak with other tongues right there in front of the whole crowd. But I also knew this by revelation: When she did, the crowd would "put the brakes on me" if I didn't stop and explain it to them.
Did you know a crowd can "put the brakes" on you? They sure can. They did on Jesus in His hometown of Nazareth. They put the brakes of unbelief on. The Bible said He could there do no mighty work, and He marveled at their unbelief.
So I said, "Now, folks, when I lay hands on this woman and minister to her, she is going to be filled with the Holy Spirit and speak with other tongues."
I wish you could have seen some of those people when I said that. They looked at me in disbelief. Some of their mouths fell open.
I said to them, "Now, I know some of you think this woman couldn't possibly be filled with the Holy Spirit. I don't want to embarrass her, Continued on page 10
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VOLUME XII Numbar 8
MEMBER EVANGELICAL PRESS ASSOCIATION
3
King/from page 3
but I'm going to say this to you. I don't know her. I don't know her name. The pastor here never said anything to me. I don't know if she's a member of this church or not, but I'm sure she attends some.
"I see by the Spirit that she does not live a consistent Christian life. She's up and down (more down than up). She's in and out (more out than in). She lives such a carnal life that nobody has much confidence in her Christian experience."
And the woman said with tears, "Brother Hagin, you're exactly right. I'm ashamed of it, but it's the truth."
So I said to the congregation, "You think because of her past that she cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit.
"While I was preaching about laying on of hands and being filled with the Spirit, I saw this woman in the spirit. I didn't see her physically, because I wasn't looking her way. But she bowed her head on the seat in front of her and said, 'Dear God, I'm just the worst person here, I guess, and I've made such a mess of trying to live the Christian life, but I repent of every sin, and I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. With the help of God,
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I'm going to live right from this moment on.'"
I said, "Sister, did you do that, or didn't you?"
She said, "I did. I did."
I said to the crowd, "I want to ask you a question. When she bowed her head there and said, 'Lord forgive me and cleanse me,' did He forgive and cleanse her, or did He tell a lie about it and say He would, but didn't?"
I made them answer me. "Speak up. Did He, or did He not?"
Somebody said, "Well, now, if she was honest and sincere about it... "
They still didn't want to accept that He forgave her.
I said, "Let's just ask her. Sister, were you mocking God, or did you really mean it?"
With tears she said, "Oh, Brother Hagin, God knows I meant it!"
"Well," I said to the congregation, "I want to ask you something else: Did the blood of Jesus Christ cleanse her from all sin, or did it not? Did He cleanse her from all unrighteousness?"