Unity was the central theme and one of the great principles set forth in the revival.
Unity and being in one accord has always brought blessing. We could truthfully say in those days that we were in unity. God moved on us to the extent that everybody was talking about our Lord's high priestly prayer for His people, "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me" (John 17:21). We saw this scripture on the walls of churches and homes. In fact it was written on the tables of our hearts. It seemed that our own personal identity was swallowed up in the identity of Christ. We were so in love with our wonderful Jesus, and of course, that meant we loved our brothers and sisters too.
There was never a word about doctrinal differences. We had buried our theological hatchets and were bathing in the sunshine of God's love. The presence of God overruled any bitterness, and we said, "If we do have some differences of opinion, let us table them and remain around Jesus long enough, and in time we will all believe the same and will have the mind of Christ." What has happened in the past, is that we have not sat at His feet to be fully taught but have run off with fragments of truth.
I related earlier how God spoke to my heart about recognizing all of God's children. God was speaking about this very thing in "unity." It will be very difficult today, as it was then with us, to see the big thing that God wants to do in the Church universally, if we do not endeavor to keep the unity. God dealt with the sectarian spirit in us and made us to see that we must recognize other sheep in God's fold.
Passages of scripture that Paul taught in I Corinthians 1:10-13 and 3:1-9 became exceedingly real and many of us had to repent of a narrow sectarian spirit which is divisive. I believe God will have a people that will have a spirit of unity. Sometimes we feel like Ezekiel in chapter 37, verse 3, "Can these bones live?" God made them to live and brought bone to His bone, an exceeding great army.
The 1948 revival came about without advertisement or announcement or any man-made propaganda. Somehow the news spread. We never saw such a variety of cars and license plates before, many from provinces in Canada and states across the border. People drove for miles. They testified, "We did not know quite what was going on, but when we drove through the gate we could feel the power of God." Many had never seen the gifts of the Spirit operate in such accuracy and many had never seen them operate at all. They had never seen such reverence and worship.
There was no display of flesh or an array of preachers on the platform. Purposely the men made a platform six-feet square and about twelve inches high. There was a narrow post with a board nailed on the top large enough to hold your Bible. When anyone got up on that six-by-six platform, it had better be a word from God or you would know it and everyone else would know it as well. A display of flesh is obnoxious to God if it is to promote some dignitary only. Jesus said, "How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?" (John 5:44).
There was such unity of purpose and love that this was what attracted the people perhaps more than anything else. This together with the operation of the Spirit was what convinced them that God was truly with us.