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Bohemian Revival

Introduction
Part 1 Birth Pangs
Part 2 Birth
Part 3 Maturity
Part 4 Sick unto Death
Part 5 Burial
Part 6 The Hidden Seed
Part 7 Lessons from the Bohemians

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If all we get from our look into the history of the Bohemian revival is head knowledge, satisfaction for our curiosity, or a way to burn time, then we best quit reading. The following lessons have been drawn from this story. There are many more, these are just to help us contemplate.

Lesson 1-Drift

Every movement, even though God begins it, suffers decline and corruption with time, because of the enemy’s wickedness. That is happening now to the Unity of Brothers. Those looking on can see, by comparing the Unity to what it used to be, that what began in the Spirit is ending in the flesh. This is happening because the brothers wanted to avoid persecution and win large numbers of people into the church who were unwilling to make the sacrifices formerly demanded for entry into the brotherhood.

Remember these words from the story? Do you remember them enough to fear them, and take heed to your present condition?

Thomas, Peter, Gregory, Matthias, Rokycana, Luke, and every other character in this story were real people, just like you and I are real people.

And, there are Thomases, Peters, Gregorys, Matthiases, and Rokycanas, and Lucases right now. Some are growing in grace, some are trying to “take the middle road”, and some are compromising their values a quarter of an inch at a time—drifting along, having picked up a form of godliness that satisfies their deadened conscience, but unable to warn them of their apostacy.

The conscience is a good tool, but certainly not fool-proof. Just because our conscience is not screaming does not mean we are walking in the Spirit. We shall not be judged by our conscience in that last, great day: The Word of God shall be our judge.

Each generation of the Unity of Brothers slipped just a little from the proceeding one. Poco a poco we say in Spanish—little by little. The Unity did not become war-mongers and owners of 25-miles-square estates in one week. Each generation of the Big Group only decided to open the door a bit more than the one before it, only to lament and whine when the next generation gave the flesh another couple of inches.

Who killed the Unity of Brtohers?

The first official bishop, Matthias of Kunvald, is one of the culprits.

While it seems that he himself had no desire to live for material advancement or carry the title of Count or Knight, he decided, in his last days, that others could and still be citizens of Jesus' kingdom.

No, Matthias' decision to stand firm on Jesus' teaching would not have made everyone else take it to heart, but it would surely have sent the message to the flock that the wages of fleshly living is still expulsion from the kingdom of light. As it was, Matthias essentially told the Unity of Brothers: “It is better if you do not go to war, but in the end if you do, you shall not surely die.”

Then came Luke. Then Augusta. Then Budowa, with his head sitting on top of a pole for ten years to remind people of the wages of rebellion.

Lesson 2-Applications to Principles

The Unity of Brothers had rules-applications to Kingdom principles. I do not know to what degree they were actually written down, but the bottom line is that there were bounds that one had to stay within if he wanted to be a part of the Unitas Fratrum. These were applications of the teachings of Jesus to their time and place in history.

For example: “No dice-making.”

Was that legalism?

The answer could be yes or no.

If one starts with the rules and tries to live them apart from any principle, they are just so many rules that people will be looking left and right, and up and down, and backwards and forwards, and inside and out, to get around. This is nothing more than old-fashioned, unadorned legalism: examining the law with a magnifying glass to find a loop-hole somewhere, in any shape or form.

Now, take the same rules, only this time look upon them as outward expressions of the principles of the kingdom that have been planted in the heart. The result will be a living expression of the kingdom of God.

Let's work these two different approaches out, concerning making dice.

First, we will start with the man who has not been born of the Spirit, but wants to be a part of the brotherhood. Since he has not the kingdom within, it irks him that he and his friends must give up dice-making.

“What's wrong with that?”

“We cannot go beyond what the Bible says, and the Bible does not say anything about dice-making.”

“Dice-making is a non-essential.”

“Dice are just wood blocks, what's wrong with wood blocks?”

Etc. and etc.

Now, take a group of men and women like the early Unity of Brothers at Kunvald. They are seeking to live by the teachings of Jesus, laying all of their actions up against the Word of God to see how they stack up. There is a fervent desire to do nothing except what pleases their Lord. Remember, they knew more about lordship than what we do: they were living in medieval Europe where lords were lords, and literally were the owners of the serfs in many cases. The lord was owner and decision-maker, not consultant.

So they come up against dice-making as a profession. How does that stack up against holiness and charity? What positive good do dice produce? If dice do produce good, how does that stack up to the evil that they are associated with?

Since dice were primarily used for betting,136 the brothers' hearts were such that they desired to disassociate themselves from dice as far as they could. Dice may have had a good use or two, but why would they want to be the manufacturers of something that has a primary use for evil? The end result was a joyful agreement to not be partakers in dice-making.

From this decision, they moved on to see how better they could put into practice the teachings of Jesus in other areas.

The sum of all this about rules? Church rules in and of themselves are not the problem in hindering revivals. Today, many people are reacting against “rules”, when the rules are not to be blamed. The culprits are the people in the churches who have not the Holy Spirit working within them to live out the principles that the rule embodies.

All churches have rules. It is ridiculous to think of a church without any rules. If you think you or your church does not have any rules, then let a totally naked person preach from your pulpit. If you have no “rule” against that, then let him take all the young girls and openly abuse them in front of all the congregation. So do you have rules? Of course! All churches have rules. Some write them down, others do not.

The Unity of Brothers had some written rules. And they had revival. The lesson for us is that written rules and revival are not mutually exclusive. How the rules, whether written or unwritten, are handled and looked upon does make a difference. The legalistic heart—the heart that is trying to wiggle its way out of dying to self—will not have revival regardless of whether a church writes its rules down or not. The heart filled with God will have revival, whether its church writes its rules down or not. The lack of revival is not therefore to be laid upon church rules, rather the deadness of heart of the members is the culprit.

Lesson 3-Protestantism

Did the Protestant reformation help the Bohemian revival, or hinder it further?

The answer is pretty clear that the Protestants were more of a hindrance than a help. The Protestants are not to be blamed for the decline of Bohemian revival fires: the Bohemians themselves quenched the Spirit by turning from the teachings of Jesus little by little. But instead of admonishing them for this, the Protestants actually pulled the Bohemians further from the gospel. “If you lived like we do” Luther told them in an admiring way, “then what is said of us would be said of you.” Yet in the end, what was said of the Lutherans was said of the Bohemians—and Lutherans, Reformed, and Big Group Bohemians share 27 memorial stones together in the plaza of Old Town Prague. Twenty-seven men died together on the scaffold for armed rebellion.

No one to speak of had ever believed in Luther's version of justification by faith alone—and I repeat no one, not even the Ante-nicene writers of the early church—before Luther came on the scene. “The Scriptures are against you,” Bishop Luke had written to Luther.

Yet, not too many years down the road the Big Group was signing a declaration of faith which contained Luther's doctrine. The only place where the words “faith” and “alone” are together is in James' letter to the church: “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” Somehow, 500 years later, people still say that a man is saved by faith alone.

And what was said of Luther's disciples then, is still being said today of his present disciples. Will we learn?

Lesson IV-Is there hope?

Can God still raise up a people to live like Jesus taught?

Is God still God?

Are we, the Petes, Matts, Gregs, Toms, and Mikes of today made of anything different than the Peters, Matthiases, Gregorys, Thomases, and Michaels of Bohemia?

Let us look at these questions one by one, from last to first.

No, we are no different than our forefathers. While our circumstances are certainly distinct from theirs, our inclinations and temptations are the same. If God could make a glorious thing out of a few run-of-the-mill Bohemians, then He has the same material to work with today that He had in yesteryear.

Yes, God is still God. His power has not diminished in one degree.

That leaves us with only the first question to answer.

Can God do it again?

Perhaps I should ask it this way. What is different now than then? We have the same God, and He has the same raw materials to work with.

Jesus has made the call: “Follow me.”

We now have a choice to make: Follow Him, or not follow Him. It is really that simple; black or white. Either we are following Jesus, obeying Him and aligning our life with His, or we are not.

We may believe all kinds of things about Him. We may believe that He was born in Bethlehem of Judea. We may believe that He was a good man. We may believe that He was the best of men. We may even believe that He was the Messiah. We may even believe that He died on the cross for us.

That is all to no avail if we do not follow Him.

Six hundred years ago some Peters, Johns, Gregorys, Thomases, and Matthiases decided to follow Jesus, not just believe some nice things about him.

The story you have just read is a record of the grace of God that these men and women found by believing on Jesus. Grace to lay down selfish ambitions; grace to share material goods even when there was very little to share, grace to turn the other cheek, grace to be pulled on the rack without denying God or brother, grace to be chased like a wild deer through the forest for not believing in transubstantiation, grace to lay down the sword when an army was marching toward them...

Grace, grace, marvelous grace! Freely given to those who will be foolish enough to lay their life on the teachings of Jesus: Foolish enough to conform their life to Him and His cross!

Yes, there is hope for us! Hope in the same Jesus that graced a bunch of what-not Bohemians with the power to live soberly, righteously, and godly; in this present world.137

Will you follow Him? He has the same grace for you too!

136Dice are not so associated with betting in our day.

137“Present” world, not “future” world!