It’s Time for Revival
When we consider the state of our world — full of fear, frustration, overreaching government, faithlessness, clamoring media, vicious politics, neighbors set against neighbors, restrictions, job losses, illness, and deaths — would you say we might come away a little defeated? Many things in the news every day get us down. That was true even before the onslaught of the virus!
We see a world largely ignorant of God. When religion comes up in the news, the online comments fill up with scornful derision. Bible-believing churches work at evangelistic impact, but precious few souls come to repentance and faith. In a wider sense, including all those churches under the umbrella of fundamentalism or “broader evangelicalism,” the church produces very little influence in our lost world. We are barely able to make an impact on social or political issues, and then it is often only by including non-evangelicals for added political weight. When it comes to spiritual impact, well… just forget about it! It isn’t happening.
Have I said enough to get you down? I was listening to a sermon on revival this night while out walking. The preacher said a lot of things of like my brief paragraphs above, except he said it longer and more forcefully! He had this effect on me: “Yeah, I need revival.” I need the kind of revival that renews my communion with God, bolsters my faith in the world, and leads me to proclaim the Lord’s name and His salvation boldly, without fear. I suspect you might need that kind of revival as well.
What is revival?
We’ve heard of historical periods of revival, especially in America, but occasionally in other places as well. Sometimes these revivals swept across a wide area, turning men and women back to God and increasing at least the outward influence of Christian churches, at least for a time. Sometimes revivals touched smaller areas, or perhaps only one church. Students of history with a heart for the Lord Jesus earnestly hope for similar “awakenings” in our dark days. Yet at the same time we are wary of manipulating or manufacturing a fraudulent facsimile of revival. We desire the Lord to work in lives and bring the revival.
As I was listening to the message mentioned above, I considered my own ministry and personal spiritual life. I’ve served in the same church for thirty-six years. We’ve seen a trickle of conversions and (thankfully) can report that many of these folks have grown and continue to serve the Lord. Yet I wish there were more. I wish my own spiritual life were such that the Lord could better work through me to reach others in my town. I need revival, and I think I can say, revival must start with me.
Interestingly, though we use the term “revival” in Christian circles, it never appears in our English Bible. I can search across versions in my Bibleworks software. There are some twenty-nine English versions loaded in my program, not one of them has the term “revival.” However, the word “revive” does show up, and I think it can help us understand revival.
Every instance of “revive” in our Bibles occurs in the Old Testament. All these references translate a form of the verb “to live” from the Hebrew. Most of them are in the Psalms and most of these are in Psalm 119. (Note: the kjv sometimes translates with “quicken” instead of “revive.”) All the references but one focus on one thing: spiritual revival. That one reference is a metaphor, we can leave it aside in this study.
The Psalms contain many prayers, we find no surprise when we see that “revive” is often a matter of prayer in these references. Let’s look at a few of them.
Ps 80.18 Then we shall not turn back from You; Revive us, and we will call upon Your name.
Ps 85.6 Will You not Yourself revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You?
Ps 119.25 My soul cleaves to the dust; Revive me according to Your word.
Ps 119.37 Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, And revive me in Your ways.
Ps 119.40 Behold, I long for Your precepts; Revive me through Your righteousness.
Ps 119.88 Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, So that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth.
Ps 119.107 I am exceedingly afflicted; Revive me, O LORD, according to Your word.
Ps 119.149 Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness; Revive me, O LORD, according to Your ordinances.
Ps 119.154 Plead my cause and redeem me; Revive me according to Your word.
Ps 119.156 Great are Your mercies, O LORD; Revive me according to Your ordinances.
Ps 119.159 Consider how I love Your precepts; Revive me, O LORD, according to Your lovingkindness.
Ps 143.11 For the sake of Your name, O LORD, revive me. In Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.
Hab 3.2 LORD, I have heard the report about You and I fear. O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years, In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy.
What conclusion can we make from these prayers?
First, revival is personal. The Psalmist prays for himself. “Revive me, O Lord.” The need for revival is individual, personal, and importunate. The Psalmist doesn’t pray for the nation here. He doesn’t pray for others. He prays for himself. This is where revival begins, in my own heart – if it begins at all.
Second, revival is divinely granted, not personally manufactured. I don’t work up revival by Five Secret Steps. Or Ten. Or One Hundred. No, revival comes from the Lord. The Psalmist looks in the right place. He asks the Lord to revive him. He completely depends on the Lord to grant revival.
Third, especially in Psalm 119, revival is according to God’s Word and/or God’s lovingkindness (God’s loyal love for his people). The Lord promises life to those who serve him. The Psalmist calls on God to fulfill his Word. The Lord has the spiritual interest of his people in his heart. The Psalmist calls on God to keep his covenant with himself.
One of the revival passages isn’t a prayer. It’s a revelation, a declaration of God’s purpose.
Isa 57.15 For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.
The passage is a familiar one, but pause to consider what it says. The High and Holy God, who exists far above his creatures, also dwells with the humble worshipper who comes to him in humility and contrition. The High and Holy One condescends to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.
The word of the Lord gives us some confidence. The Lord is the source of revival, and he promises to revive the contrite and lowly.
Will the Lord revive our nation in these dark days? We can’t answer that.
But we can ask the Lord to revive us. A revival of one. It’s a start.
Don Johnson is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.