There’s Gonna be a Revival in This
Land:
The distinctive Marks of Revival in
Biblical History
By: R.P. Moore
Baden-Württemberg
July 3, 2017
“For the sake of Your name, O
LORD, revive me. In Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.”
Psalms 143:11
This Psalm has
been one of my favorites for a very long time. But what is Revival? What are
the distinctive markers for personal and corporate Revival? I want to take some
time and look at the Biblical and historical revivals and draw some principles
from those times that marked revival.
This question
was brought back to my attention the other day. I was at an event where a
wonderful choir sang a gospel song and the lyrics in the chorus were, “There’s
gonna be a revival in this land.” It got my attention because it seemed like a
command, and or request for a revival. The implication in the words was that
revival is a foregone conclusion. It got me thinking. Is that true? Is revival
a forgone conclusion for us? I have spent many years serving in the Southern
Baptist denomination. I served in several SBC churches and every year in the
fall those churches had “Revival.” It was often said the same as the song, “We
are gonna have revival.” I always thought that was peculiar. I would ask
really? Are we going to have a revival, or are we going to have an event where
we invite a gospel choir, and an evangelist to preach? I thought often during
those times, can we plan or initiate revival? Is that possible? I think the
answer is no. We have our faithful part to play in seeking God and praying
for revival as the psalmist does, but revival cannot be contrived or
manufactured by man.
Revival is the
sovereign activity of God whereby he renews his people individually and corporately
in vigor, affecting both sincerity of belief and quality of behavior.[1] Revival
furthermore refers to a spiritual reawakening from a state of stagnation in the
life of a believer. Revival is seen in love for God, the fear of God's
holiness, a zeal for His Word and His church, a conviction of personal and
corporate sin, humility, and desire for repentance and growth in sanctification.
Revival invigorates and sometimes deepens a believer's faith, opening his or her
eyes to the truth in a fresh way. For the believer in Christ, revival marks a
new beginning of a life lived in obedience to God. Revival breaks power of the
world, which blinds people to their need for God, and generates both the will
and power to live in the world but not of the world. This more specifically
defines revival, and it gets our thoughts going as to what revival is and how
we can determine its distinct signature.
In the Early
American Great Awakening God poured out His Spirit on Jonathan Edward’s
Northampton congregation. In describing what happened in their church in 1734,
observers said:
It pleased
God...to display his free and sovereign mercy in the conversion of a great
multitude of souls in a short space of time, turning them from a formal, cold,
and careless profession of Christianity, to the lively exercise of every
Christian grace, and the powerful practice of our holy religion.[2]
The Great
Awakening is especially remarkable in the sense that sin and wrath were boldly
preached as seen in Jonathan Edwards famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” These were not kumbaya meetings
where love and peace were preached and people fell over in the euphoria of
moment, but rather fell over in weeping and wailing with desperate signs of
repentance.
I would like to take a brief
sweeping look at the scriptures and the revivals that God granted in biblical
history. Scripture reveals that there were several spiritual characteristics
that preceded revival including repentance humility and obedience (corporate
and private). The characteristics were God’s people longing for renewal in
their lives (Ps 74:22; 80:1-19; 85:6), Revival required that God’s people repent
(2Ch 7:14; 1Ki 8:46-50; 2Ch 6:26-27; Isa 64:1-7; Hos 5:15; Ac 3:19), God’s
people experience a new awareness of sin (2Ki 22:11; Ps
32:3-5), God’s people were humbled or humbles themselves (Isa
57:15; Ps 149:4; Isa 66:2; Mic 6:6-8), and God’s people are revived through God’s
initiative not their own initiative. It is a work of His sovereign plan
and a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit (Isa 59:16; Jer 24:7; 33:6-9; Tit
3:5).[3]
It is clear throughout Scripture and
Christian History that awakening and revival strike people personally in the
supernatural sovereign plan and power of the Holy Spirit. The personal revival
in scripture is described as the experience of inward change (Heb 8:10-12;
Jer 31:33-34; Eze 11:19; Ac 2:42-47), People begin living obedient lives (Eze
11:20; Eph 4:1-3; 1Th 1:7-8), a tangible zeal for God’s work grows (Ezr
5:1-2; Hag 1:12-15), generosity in giving abounds (Ex
36:5; 1Ch 29:6-9; 2Ch 31:3-8; Ac 11:28-30), a true pleasure in worshipping
God arises (Ezr 3:11; Isa 12:1-6), and there is a renewed joy in the LORD (Ac
13:49-52; Isa 35:1-10; Ac 8:5-8).[4] It
is clear that a major theme of revival is regeneration of the carnal man. That
is the Holy Spirit removing the spiritual blinders off of man’s eyes for them
to see the brilliance of Jesus. He makes those who were dead in sin to
regenerate and makes them alive in Christ. There is a sense also that we appeal
to God for revival (Jer 17:14; Ps 51:7-12; 119:34-37). One thing that
cannot be overlooked is the law. God’s law in scripture has
initiated revival. One of my favorite biblical stories is “Good little King
Josiah” who reformed Israel when he found the law in the temple as they were
cleaning and renovating it. Josiah brought Israel back to the worship of YHWH
as the one true God through the discovery of the law. People are revived from
their spiritual stupor, when they discover that they fall well short of the perfect
law,
and realizing that their only hope is in the atonement of Christ they
cast themselves on His mercy and salvation (Rom 3:23-25; 6:23). And as
previously stated the fruit of salvation and revival is that God receives the
praises and obedience of His people.
It is clear in the biblical record
that revival is God’s work and is not a contrivance of man, or conjured up by
emotional stimuli. Man’s emotions are a large part of revival but it is rather
a reaction to the incredible grace and mercy of God. The stirring of affection for
Christ are a large part of the reaction to revival, but are not the cause of or
initiator of revival, but rather a supernatural work of God (Hos 6:2; Ps
80:3,7,17-19; Isa 32:14-17). There were a few revivals in the nation of Israel
under Hezekiah and “Good Little King Josiah” where these kings drew the gaze
away from idolatry to the worship of the one true God. A common theme in
the Old Testament is idolatry. God’s jealousy for his
people is seen in that he requires their sole devotion and worship and will not
stand for idolatry. The Bible says that God is a jealous God. That is usually
perceived as a negative emotion. But as in the case of marriage I would not be
a loving husband if I was not jealous for my wife’s affections. If I were not
jealous for my wife’s affections, I would not be taking our marriage vows
seriously. So also with God. He is jealous for our affections. If God were not
jealous for the affections of His people (His bride the Church and previously
Israel), then He would not be serious about His covenant.
A stunning example of this jealousy
is found in the Old Testament as the people of Israel are about to inhabit
Canaan. The story begins as they are camped at Shittim in Numbers 25. Right
there before Israel enters the Promised Land, the people of Israel “whored”
themselves with the daughters of Moab and they began to worship Baal. It says,
“Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor.” The text in Numbers clarifies that the
worship of Baal and the daughters of Moab clearly had engaged together in the
sin of Baal worship, which included deep sexual sin. God tells Moses to take
all the offending chiefs of the people and hang them. A public punishment for a
public sin. Matthew Henry Comments on how God metes out His justice by saying, “Ringleaders
in sin ought to be made examples of justice.”[5] The
people are weeping and wailing for repentance at the entrance of the tent of
meeting, and the country is seeking to purge themselves from this evil. While
this is happening apparently, there is a national crisis. It is not very clear, but some form of a
plague breaks out killing 24,000 people.
In the midst of this sort of
national revival and crisis something quite appalling happens. A man named
Zimri brings a Midianite Baal prostitute into the camp in the “sight of all the
whole congregation of the people of Israel. While they were weeping in the
entrance of the tent of meeting.”[6]
The people of Israel are repenting, killing the idolaters, and seeking God’s
forgiveness. All of a sudden here comes a brash and arrogant idolater into the
presence of God in the front of the Tent of Meeting, and he brings his
prostitute with him. The text becomes unclear here at this point. The text
explains that he took her into his tent to have sex. But it might have been
much worse. Mark R. Talbot explains in his chapter in the book A God
Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards why the text might be so obscure:
Ronald B. Allen
speculates that this passage’s obscurity may been prompted by the fact that
“the scribes of Scripture found (the actions described here) to be quite
repellant and that the precise nature of the offense was,” consequently,
“softened somewhat through time.” He suggests that we could understand verse 6
like this:
Then a certain
Israelite man brought the Midianite
woman to the Tent (of God) right
before the eyes of Moses and the eyes of all the congregation of Israel; and they were sporting at the entrance
of the Tent of Meeting.
In other words,
what this couple did was to “engage in a sexual embrace in the manner of Baal
worship—right at the entrance of the holy Tent of God,” right in front of
Moses. If Allen is right (and it is worth reading the whole of his commentary
on vv.6-9 to assess his case), then the contempt shown by Zimri and Cozbi “for
the holy things and the word of the Lord...is unimaginable” and Phinehas’s
emotional reaction becomes even more intelligible.[7]
Whether these
two were in front of the Tent of Meeting or not, the act was so egregious that
Phinehas, the priest, the Grandson of Aaron, filled with “jealousy” of the LORD,
picked up a spear, and thrust them both through with it (probably while having
sex). Thus, the plague that had killed 24,000 people stopped. The LORD declared
that Phinehas had turned back the wrath of God so that He did not consume the
people of Israel. Therefore, God makes a promise to Phinehas, “I give to him my
covenant of peace, and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the
covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made
atonement for the people of Israel.”[8]
Let me draw some parallels for you
that you might already have noticed. Phinehas, out of jealous zeal for the
holiness of the LORD and his hatred of idolatry accomplished three things.
First, it established a covenant of peace. Second, it established for his
lineage a perpetual priesthood, and thirdly, his act made atonement for the
people. I want to point out that Christ has also accomplished all three of
these things in his work on the cross. Initially, Christ also had zeal for the
dwelling place of God like Phinehas, “zeal for your house will consume me,” was
the prophecy that was remembered by the Apostles referring to when Christ drove
out the evil moneychangers in the temple. Similarly to Phinehas, Jesus inaugurated
a “covenant of peace” between God and man (Rom 5:1). Furthermore, Jesus
established a perpetual priesthood just as the descendants of Phinehas also
received. The writer if Hebrews says of Jesus, “You are a priest forever, after
the order of Melchizedek.”[9] This
means that Jesus is the perpetual priest for mankind. In comparison to the one
that was imperfect in Phinehas’ descendants because they died, but Christ lives
forever as the perfect priest. Finally, as Phinehas made atonement for sins of
Israel and stopped the plague, so also Christ having “offered for all time a
single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.”[10] Jesus
has also made atonement for us and stopped the plague of sin.
At this point you might be asking
what does this story have to do with revival? I would like to point out a few
things. Initially, I would like to notice that Israel is experiencing a sort of
revival. There is evidence of national repentance, a turning to God away from
idolatry, an emotional response to God in that repentance, a humility before
the LORD, and a public doing away with idolatry to return to the worship of the
one true God. Amidst this story there comes a corruption of Israel turning to
God. An apostasy of sorts, enters the camp to seek to affront the holiness of
this turning to God. It was before the eyes of all the people. And one of those
probably leading in this revival of repentance, Phinehas, filled with jealous
zeal for the LORD cannot stand it. Full of jealousy for the worship of the one
true God, Phinehas accosts the “whoring idolatry” and purges it from their
midst. These stories are plenteous in the Old Testament and they have much
application for us today. A jealousy for the holiness of God goes hand in hand
with revival. A zeal for the Lord must accompany true revival like it did in
this story.
The Old Testament describes other
revivals like the cycle of the judges where idolatry is overthrown and the
worship of the one true God is renewed. The old Testament is rife with renewal
and reforms. We see reforms under Jacob. On the return to Bethel, Jacob ordered
his entire household to put away their false gods and to wash and change their
garments. They did it and Jacob built an altar to the true God. The false gods
were then buried under an oak in Shechem (Gen. 35:1–4). Revival started when
Samuel exhorted the people to put away their false gods and prepared their hearts
to serve the only true God (1 Sam. 7:3–6). Moses led the Israelites often in
renewal. One such occurrence is when complaining Israel saw the mighty hand of
God in the parting of the Red Sea. On the safe passage, across to the other
side of the sea, Moses led the people in a song of praise. (Exod. 14:31–15:21).
Israel experienced revival under King David when the Ark of the Covenant was
brought into Jerusalem for the first time (1 Chron. 15:25–28; 16:1–43; 29:10–25).
On these two occasions, we see the important role that worship through song
plays in the reform of the people back to the worship of God. Renewal often
accompanies a spirit of praise. We see a wonderful reform and renewal at the
dedication of the materials to be used in building the future temple (1 Chron.
29). There was renewal under King Asa. He removed the Sodomites and all false
idols out of the land. He even deposed his own grandmother because of her
idolatry (1 Kings 15:11–15). King Jehoshaphat led a revival when he ordered the
cleansing of the temple and the sanctification of the Levitical priests (2
Chron. 19).[11]
One of the most dramatic reforms and renewals in Israel happened under
Elijah’s leadership. This took place after the contest with the prophets of
Baal on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:21–40). King Jehu led a large-scale reform later
by exterminating all Baal worshipers and their temples (2 Kings 10:15–28).
Jehoiada a godly high priest led the people in a covenant where he called
Israel to forsake their idols to worship God (2 Kings 11:17–20) Under the
leadership of Hezekiah like Jehoshaphat, Israel experienced revival when he
cleansed the temple of God (2 Chron. 29–31). Even wicked kings led reforms. When
wicked King Manasseh became converted, he led his people in a revival by ordering
the destruction of all idols (2 Chron. 33:11–20). Again, we are reminded of
“good little king Josiah.” As a young boy Josiah called the country back to
God. Revival began when the Book of the Law was accidentally discovered during
a temple cleanup event. The public reading of God’s Word had a profound effect
upon both King Josiah and his people (2 Kings 22–23). Much later, after a
remnant returns to Israel, Nehemiah and Ezra lead Israel to God. After Nehemiah
had rebuilt the walls around Jerusalem, Ezra stood by its gates and publicly
read and taught from God’s Word, causing a great revival (Neh. 13). Even the
evil Ninevites experienced revival. Through Jonah’s preaching, they repented
and experienced the deliverance from God’s devastating judgement (Jon. 3).[12]
As we continue into the New Testament we see our first revival taking
place almost immediately with John the Baptist. John preached the imminent
appearance of Israel’s Messiah, warning them to repent and submit to water
baptism (Luke 3:2–18). His message was harsh indeed like Jesus’ message:
He said
therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of
vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping
with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our
father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for
Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree
therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”[13]
Of course, our LORD and savior led in many movements of renewal and
conversion to faith. One such instance was the conversion of the sinful
Samaritan woman. After her encounter with Jesus, she went home and her
testimony prompted a revival in Samaria (John 4:28–42). Through Peter’s bold
preaching of the gospel in early Acts, we read about the great outpouring of
the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2). From there each Apostle spread the
gospel to the ends of the earth. In Acts 8 we read of the strong preaching of
Philip the evangelist concerning the kingdom of God and it produced another
great revival in Samaria (Acts 8:5–12). Paul, the Apostle to the Greeks, saw one
of the greatest revivals occur in Ephesus during his third missionary journey.
I do not aim to dissect every subsequent
revival in history, but to allude to a few of the American revivals, of which I
am most familiar. In so doing, I hope to glean a few principles. The Great
Awakening (1734-1743), in which Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield were very
instrumental, saw God do amazing things in which hundreds of thousands came to
Christ. The Second Great Awakening (1800-1840), which saw millions converted to
faith in Christ, is another example of God pouring out his spirit to revive the
church and people toward faith in Christ. These two are the prominent American
revivals where we see millions coming to Christ and principles of revival can
be clearly seen.
The first and foremost mark of a
true revival is that there is usually acceptance of the gospel message at
unprecedented levels. Secondly, we see in the Bible and in these Great
Awakenings around the world a true repentance and faith in Christ.
As seen in the Old Testament there is a demolition and destruction of idolatry.
This is also seen in other revivals where people destroyed the things in their
lives that drew them away from the worship of the one true God. Anything that
pulled people away from God on the throne of their hearts was destroyed.
Another marker of revival in the Bible and in history is sanctification of the people.
In other words, the people that were swept up in revival became more holy
and began to reflect Christ more and more. This is seen in movements like the
early German pietistic movement. Revivals are usually precipitated by a focus
on prayer
and the result was a missions flame that ignited
afterwards. Anyone that would claim that revival has broken out my first
question is, “what kind of missions advance did/does it produce?” “Did/does it
produce a gospel focused international missions movement?” If no missions
movement was produced as a result, I would question the validity of such revival
claims. Another mark of revival is a renewed focus on God’s word. Any
claim on revival can only be confirmed if the focus lays squarely on the word
of God rather than the experiential emotional elements of supposed revivals.
Other elements are the supernatural working
of the Holy Spirit to take people to spiritual depth (salvation) that
they could not have achieved on their own. Conviction of sin is another mark of
revival so that sinners are despairing in themselves apart from Christ. Conviction
of sin is seen clearly as in the preaching of Jonathan Edwards “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
and the conviction, weeping, and wailing of repentance that followed. I dare
say manifestations
are a mark of revival, because even Edwards himself documented some
extraordinary manifestations of people when they were under the conviction of
the Holy Spirit towards repentance. But I would like to note that these
manifestations recorded by Edwards and previous revivals were a manifestation
that came on people who were under conviction of sin, which led to
subsequent conversion. The “emotional disturbances” that the “Great Awakening”
experienced were first conviction, second humiliation,
which led to regeneration (conversion) of many. Manifestations that took
place in authentic revivals were not for the euphoria of those experiencing the
manifestations. It is not the Holy Spirit’s purpose to
bring us under ecstasy, although wonderful sensations of comfort (He is the
Comforter) and peace may be an outworking of the Holy Spirit’s conviction and consequent
freedom from sin. His purposes are to lead us into all truth, and convict of
sin and righteousness. That is not to say that emotions and affections should
not be stirred up for Christ. Edwards himself wrote extensively about the
Christian and affection.[14]
He wrote about affection and emotion that, “true religion in great part,
consists in holy affections.”[15]
He defined affection not just as emotion either. He defined it as the whole of
us, our values, desires, choices, wills, as well as feelings.
Although manifestations have been biblically and historically recorded
in awakenings, they are in no way the central mark of revival. Furthermore, revival
is not
authenticated because of manifestations and or signs and wonders, but rather an
astonishing number of people repenting and putting their faith in the message
of the Gospel. The primary reason that signs and wonders (or manifestations)
are not an authentication of revival is that they can be deceiving or from
another source other than God (Acts 19; 21; Matt 7:15-23; Deut 13:1-5). Signs
and wonders, just as in Jesus day were used to help people turn their eyes to
the one performing the signs and wonders, namely Christ Jesus himself. Jesus
and all miracles that occur in the Bible serve to point us to the miracle
worker, and his gospel, not the miracles. Therefore, a revival movement or so
called “revival leaders” that seek to validate themselves through manifestations
and the experience thereof, and not the gospel, in my opinion are not genuine
revivals.
In conclusion, The Bible leads us to
understand reform, revival, awakening, renewal, and a turning to God as a thing
that is needed often in history. God through His supreme plan initiates spiritual
awakenings in His sovereign timing to call men to Himself. He works these
moments by the supernatural power of His Spirit and glorious gospel. These
historical revival movements in history, and biblical history, have called men
everywhere to place their faith in the wonderful inexpressible gift of Jesus life,
death, and resurrection. We therefore, ask you, oh LORD, to revive us again,
“For the sake of your great name!”
[1] Manser, M. H. (2009). Dictionary
of Bible Themes: The Accessible and Comprehensive Tool for Topical Studies.
London: Martin Manser.
[2] Edwards, Jonathan, (first published in 1736). A Narrative of Surprising Conversions,
Jonathan Edwards on Revival, Carlisle: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2.
[3] Manser, M. H. (2009). Dictionary of Bible Themes: The Accessible and Comprehensive Tool for
Topical Studies. London: Martin Manser.
[5] Henry, Matthew. (2000). Matthew Henry's Commentary
on the Whole Bible: Genesis to Revelation. U.S.: Hendrickson Pub. 226.
[7] Piper, John, and Justin Taylor. 2004. A God
Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards. Wheaton,
IL: Crossway Books. 221
[9] Hebrews 7:17 (ESV)
[14] Refer to Edwards work Edwards, Jonathan, James Parker,
and Garrat Noel. (1768). A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections,: in
Three Parts; Part I. Concerning the Nature of the Affections, and Their
Importance in Religion. Part II. Shewing What Are No Certain Signs That
Religious Affections Are Gracious, or That They Are Not. Part III. Shewing What
Are Distinguishing Signs of Truly Gracious and Holy Affections. New York:
Boston printed: New-York; re-printed by J. Parker, for Garrat Noel, near the
Merchant's Coffee-House.
