Revival
In the Bible, the word
"revival" comes from two Latin words: "re" meaning
"again" and "vivo" meaning "to live.” Revival has
multiple meanings, but some of them are as follows:
· A reawakening of spiritual fervor
· A sovereign work of God in which the whole region of many churches, many Christians has been lifted out of spiritual indifference and worldliness into conviction of sin
· Making alive again those who have been alive but have fallen into what is called a cold, or dead, state
Probably one of the most vivid images of revival in the Bible would be Ezekiel 37, the Valley of Dry Bones. One day God took hold of Ezekiel, brought him out to the middle of a valley that was full of dry bones. Then, God asked him, “Son of man, can these bones live?” Ezekiel answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then God commanded him to prophesy to these bones. And he did. As he was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. But there was no breath in them yet. God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy for the second time. So Ezekiel prophesied to the breath, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live!” As he was prophesying, the breath entered into them. They came to life and stood up on their feet as a vast army. From dry bones to great army. That’s revival.
Backslide and Realization
Today’s scripture, Exodus 33, is
also one of the best examples of revival in the Bible. There are generally
particular steps and stages in revival. Before revival comes, there is a period
of spiritual dryness and darkness. You remember how God delivered the
Israelites from the captivity of Egypt, but soon after this, they began to
grumble and complain. After they arrived at Mount Sinai, they got impatient
with Moses and with God. Though they would be happy to enter the Promised Land,
they were not willing to wait on the Lord, take the yoke of obedience, and be
transformed. So they decided to come up with an alternative religion and made
another god – a golden calf. After this, God said to them, “Go up to a land
flowing with milk and honey. I will send an angel before you, but I will not go
up among you” (Ex 33:2-3a).
Then, suddenly the Israelites came to their senses. They realized that they had rebelled and turned their backs on God. They realized they had worshiped a false god. They realized they had grieved their God. The first step in revival is, as we see here, a realization of where we are. Are you satisfied with the condition of the Church? Are you satisfied with your own spiritual condition? There is no hope for true prayer and intercession for revival unless we realize that there is a need. Do we realize that we have left our first love for God? We need to have a deep self-awareness of where we are today.
Repentance
We then must go on to the second
stage in revival, that is, repentance. After the Israelites heard that
God would not go with them, they mourned, and no one put on ornaments (v. 4).
They examined themselves. They realized they were far away from God. They
realized the seriousness of their sin in God’s sight. They mourned and said,
“What must we do?” They took off all their jewelry and turned back to God.
That’s repentance.
We remember the story of the
prodigal son. At first, he thought he was wonderful, he was free, he was in
charge until he found himself in that field with the swine. He came to himself.
He saw himself as he was and turned back to his father, saying, “Father, I have
sinned against God and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your
son.” That’s repentance.
When revival comes, we come to realize that we are “dry bones” and “the slain.” When revival comes, the breath of life enters into us and we come to life, we change our lives, we turn to God. In his book, A faithful narrative of the surprising work of God, Jonathan Edwards shares his own story of revival that he experienced in his town, Northampton, MA, in 1735 this way:
“…the town seemed to be full of
the presence of God: it never was so full of love, nor so full of joy;
and yet so full of distress, as it was then. There were remarkable
tokens of God's presence in almost every house. It was a time of joy in
families on the account of salvation's being brought unto them; parents
rejoicing over their children as newborn, and husbands over their wives, and
wives over their husbands. The goings of God were then seen in his sanctuary,
God's day was a delight, and his tabernacles were amiable. Our public
assemblies were then beautiful; the congregation was alive in God's service,
everyone earnestly intent on the public worship, every hearer eager to drink in
the words of the minister as they came from his mouth; the assembly in general
were, from time to time, in tears while the word was preached: some weeping
with sorrow and distress, others with joy and love, others with pity and
concern for the souls of their neighbors.”
Prayer
Realization of the position.
Repentance. Then the next step is this step of prayer and intercession.
After the Israelites mourned and took off their ornaments, Moses set up a tent
outside the camp, called a tent of meeting. He didn’t set up a committee
to resolve the issue. Rather, he set up the tent, the meeting tent, where he
could go and quietly pray, talking and listening to God. Moses also invited
“everyone” who would seek the Lord to go out to the tent, talk things over with
him, and then wait for him to inquire of God. Then, we see amazing things
happen. When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down from
heaven and cover the entrance. The visible sign of God’s presence came back, as
before. More and more people’s hearts were stirred, and later the whole
congregation of Israel responded, rising and worshiping at their tent door.
That’s revival – the return of God’s people from their backslidings, and a
reawakening of their spiritual fervor and of their first love for God.
Many of us are probably familiar with how the Methodist movement began. It began with the two Wesley brothers and a handful of others. They were dissatisfied with the condition of the Church of England. So they formed what they called the Holy Club, outside the camp. They met together to pray, quietly, unknown, and unofficial. They prayed fervently for spiritual awakening – day by day, week by week. More and more people responded, and eventually the great awakening spread to the entire nation as well as to the church.
Prayer and Revival
As I was meditating on today’s
passage, missionary Adoniram Judson came to my mind. His prayer life always
motivates me to pray more and deeper. At the age of 25, Judson got a vision
from God for mission. He became a first missionary to Myanmar. At that
time (in the early 19th century) Myanmar was considered a closed country, similar
to North Korea today. No religious toleration. All the previous missionaries
had died or left. It took 6 years for him to baptize his first Burmese convert.
It also took 12 years to make 18 converts. But, he prayed through, and through,
and through for Burmese revival with a handful of his people. Slowly but
surely, more peoples’ hearts were stirred. When he died, he left Burmese Bible,
100 churches, and over 8,000 believers. And today Myanmar has the
third largest number of Baptists worldwide. Still many Burmese and missionaries
remember Judson and celebrate “Judson’s Day” in July. Many others’ religious
work and their visions were like footsteps in the sands. They disappeared. But
Judson has engraved his work on imperishable granite.
The secret of its endurance is his prayer life. Judson said, “Endeavor seven times a day to withdraw from business and company and lift up your soul to God in private retirement. Begin the day by rising after midnight and devoting some time amid the silence and darkness of the night to this sacred work. Let the hour of opening dawn find you at the same work. Let the hours of 9, 12, 3, 6, and 9 at night witness the same. Be resolute in His cause. Make all practical sacrifices to maintain it. Consider that your time is short and that business and company must not be allowed to rob you of your God.”[1]
It may sound somewhat radical, but the point is that his daily life, his entire life was shaped by prayer. My prayer is that our life too may be shaped by prayer. My prayer is that our church may become a prayer-shaped church – every mission, every ministry, every decision-making, every leadership, every relationship may be shaped by prayer.
Revival is the sovereign work of God. We cannot make it happen. A sailor has no impact on the wind. But a good sailor knows the wind, and knows how to set the sails when the wind blows. We cannot make wind blow, but we can hoist a sail to keep the vessel before the wind. Let us hoist our sails of prayer day after day after day until God sends the wind of revival to our lives and to our church!
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