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Andrew Murray
Andrew Murray (1828 - 1917). South African pastor, author, and revivalist born in Graaff-Reinet, Cape Colony, to Dutch Reformed missionary parents. Sent to Scotland at 10, he studied at Aberdeen University and Utrecht, Netherlands, returning ordained in 1848. He pastored in Bloemfontein and Worcester, later moderating the Dutch Reformed Church’s Cape Synod. In 1860, he sparked a revival in the Orange Free State, preaching to thousands across racial lines despite apartheid’s rise. Murray wrote over 240 books, including Abide in Christ (1882) and With Christ in the School of Prayer, translated into dozens of languages. His emphasis on holiness, prayer, and divine healing influenced global Pentecostalism. Married to Emma Rutherford in 1856, they had eight children, four becoming missionaries. He founded theological seminaries and the Huguenot College for women. Despite chronic illness, he traveled to Europe and America, speaking at Keswick Conventions. His devotional works remain widely read, shaping Christian spirituality across denominations.
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Andrew Murray emphasizes that judgment must start within the house of God, as seen in the prophetic vision of abominations in Jerusalem. He highlights that God is aware of the sins committed by His people, and His anger is directed towards those who take His grace lightly. The sermon stresses that the closer one is to God's holiness, the greater the accountability for sin, and that God's love for His people demands a response to His judgment. For believers to effectively witness to the world, they must first submit to God's judgment and allow the Holy Spirit to work through them.
Judgment Must Begin at the House of God if We Are to Be Witnesses to the World
After God’s declaration in chapter 7 that he would judge his people, he takes the prophet in chapter 8 to see all the wicked abominations that were being done in the house of God in Jerusalem. While the men who committed them said, “The Lord seeth us not,” God saw, and felt, and was angry. And so in chapter 9 the prophet hears the command given, to go through the city and smite, and slay utterly without mercy old and young. And then the word came in, “And begin at my sanctuary.” The higher the privilege, the greater the sin. The nearer to God’s holiness and its judgment. The more God loves us as his people, the more jealous he is of our sins. From the very nature of things, from the very nature of God, and of our relation to him, it cannot be otherwise. Judgment must begin at the house of God. God’s people must be subject to it, must yield themselves to it, if they are to be witnesses to the world of God’s saving power, if through them the Holy Spirit is to convict the world of sin. (Excerpted from The Coming Revival, by Andrew Murray , pg. 43)
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Andrew Murray (1828 - 1917). South African pastor, author, and revivalist born in Graaff-Reinet, Cape Colony, to Dutch Reformed missionary parents. Sent to Scotland at 10, he studied at Aberdeen University and Utrecht, Netherlands, returning ordained in 1848. He pastored in Bloemfontein and Worcester, later moderating the Dutch Reformed Church’s Cape Synod. In 1860, he sparked a revival in the Orange Free State, preaching to thousands across racial lines despite apartheid’s rise. Murray wrote over 240 books, including Abide in Christ (1882) and With Christ in the School of Prayer, translated into dozens of languages. His emphasis on holiness, prayer, and divine healing influenced global Pentecostalism. Married to Emma Rutherford in 1856, they had eight children, four becoming missionaries. He founded theological seminaries and the Huguenot College for women. Despite chronic illness, he traveled to Europe and America, speaking at Keswick Conventions. His devotional works remain widely read, shaping Christian spirituality across denominations.