Dear Theophilus:: March 2003

Revival: It's More Than What You Think

Revival. We hear that word a lot. In churches. At retreats. And at times, I think it gets thrown around so much in our circles that we tend to lose sight of what that word really signifies. Revival is more than that blessed feeling - that "spiritual high" - we experience when we return from a Christian conference or a night of worship, where we hum praise songs we've learned on the ride back home. Revival is more than our genuine desire to be more disciplined, to be more consistent in our quiet times, to be more selfless in our service. It is something extraordinary, unusual, and yet sadly, something I have not been a part of, but something I'm desperately longing for.

1. What is Revival?

John Piper says that revival is what happens when the sovereign Spirit "wills to blow on large numbers at one time," where God awakens His people with "fresh intensity" to the truth and glory of God, the ugliness of sin, the horror of hell, the preciousness of Christ's atoning work, the wonder of salvation by grace through faith, the urgency of holiness and missions, and the sweetness of worship with God's people. According to D. Martyn-Lloyd Jones - a pastor at Westminster Abbey during the 1950's and an exegetical expositor extraordinaire - revival is a period of unusual blessing and activity in the life of the Church, where the Spirit descends upon a number of people together, upon a whole church, or a number of churches, cities, or perhaps a whole country - an outpouring "over and above" the Holy Spirit's usual, ordinary work which, in God's sovereignty and grace, He has done to the Church at times during the long centuries of her history.

Indeed, more so than an expositor's words, I believe that looking to the Church's history provides greater insight into what revival truly is. Now, more than ever, we need to read about the past and discover its message: "Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me." (Isaiah 46:9)

A. The First Great Awakening

Morality is slumping. Big time. Drunkenness is pervasive. Women are afraid to walk the streets alone at night. Crime is rampant. Many think that Christianity will be forgotten in America in thirty years. Many more want God out of society. Public bonfires of burning Bibles are not uncommon. A poll was conducted at Princeton and Harvard, showing only a handful of believers on their campuses. A communion mocking Christianity was held at Williams College. And an anti-Christian play was put on at Dartmouth. This was America over 220 years ago (but is it that much different today?). And yet what happened? Jonathan Edwards and the First Great Awakening. Soon came the whole modern missionary movement. How? Through revival.

In commenting on Zechariah 8:20-21, Edwards describes what in fact happened before his own eyes in New England: "There shall be given much of a spirit of prayer to God's people in many places, disposing them to come into an express agreement, unitedly to pray to God in an extraordinary manner - that this disposition to such prayer, and union in it, will spread more and more and increase in greater degrees; with which at length will gradually be introduced a revival of religion - that this being observed, will be the means of awakening others. And that in this manner religion shall be propagated, until the awakening reaches these that are in the highest stations, and until whole nations be awakened."

B. The Revival of 1858-1860

Today is also like 145 years ago, where America was riding a wave of prosperity and felt little need for God and then, the bubble of speculative wealth bursts. Bankruptcies abound. Business and banks fail. Workers are let go. Unemployment skyrockets. The economy tanks. The divide between rich and poor grows. The tension between whites and blacks is greater. Moral conditions continue to deteriorate. The church feels helpless. Despair grips a nation. What resulted? Mission pioneers. How? Through revival.

Jeremiah Lanphier, burdened for New York City's revival, started a businessmen's prayer meeting in downtown Manhattan in 1857. In response to a handbill distributed by Lanphier to advertise the first meeting, only six showed up. But within six months, ten thousand businessmen were gathering daily for prayer, filling every church and public hall in downtown Manhattan. As J. Edwin Orr puts it: "A landslide of prayer began, which overflowed to the churches in the evenings. People began to be converted, ten thousand a week in New York City alone. There was no fanaticism, no hysteria, simply an incredible movement of people to pray."

The greatest revival in New York City spread to New England, then to Chicago - out of which D.L. Moody' s ministry arose - and then to Ulster, Scotland, Wales, England, other parts of Europe, South Africa, and India. An unprecedented surge of missionary pioneers were sent out. Within two years of Lanphier's first prayer meeting, over one million converts were added to American churches at a time when America's population was only thirty million. Effects were felt for forty years.

C. Characteristics of Revival

These accounts - and there are many others - demonstrate several characteristics common to all revivals: (1) God's people, (2) burdened to pray, (3) resulting in a burst in the mission field.

Revival is when God touches His people. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones states: "An evangelistic campaign is the Church deciding to do something with respect to those on the outside. A revival is not the church deciding to do something and doing it. It is something that is DONE to the church - the whole essence of revival is that it is something that happens to the Church, to the people inside. And they are affected and moved and tremendous things happen."

The catalyst for such revival is God-inspired prayer - it is the key that ignites the engine of awakening. A.T. Pierson observes that "there has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer." To Piper, "history testifies to the power of prayer as the prelude to spiritual awakening, revival, and missions advance." Prayer reflects the notion that it is all God. Just Him. We can produce evangelistic campaigns, put on outreach programs, host mega-conferences, but we cannot and never have produced a revival. A revival, by definition, is the mighty and sovereign act of God. It is as independent of man as that. We can do nothing. God, and God alone, does it. If you can explain what is happening in a church or a city or country, apart from God, it is not revival. If you can possibly explain it otherwise, it is not revival.

Revival brings forth missions. History clearly shows that missionary explosions occurred during times of revival. I owe my grandfather's salvation - and in turn his influence on my own parents - to the revival of 1858-1860, because out of that awakening movement arose the first missionaries sent to the "hermit kingdom," known as Korea.

2. Why Do We Need Revival?

Some may respond, after reading about the revivals in the Church's history, by saying "that was then, this is now. It's different. It's worse. That can't happen again." But is not man still the same? How are we any different from our predecessors? Technological advances do not make us any more or less depraved; we are depraved. We are not confronted with new problems in the 21st century because man has not changed (Romans 7:18). And what is equally, and more importantly, true is that God is still the same. He is immutable - He is the same today as He was 145 years ago, 220 years, two thousand years ago (Malachi 3:6). God is from everlasting to everlasting. We worship and pray to the same, powerful God that Moses spoke to, that Edwards preached about, and that Lanphier petitioned. And He is a God who is still jealous for His glory, and for that reason I am calling your attention to the need for revival.

While I've mentioned its characteristics, the primary concern of revival is the glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ. Are we, as a generation, grieving in the Spirit for our Lord's honor? Does the burden of His glory press us to our knees? When we look at the state of today's society are we at all concerned about His name? To what extent do we feel a longing and a desire for the manifestation of God's glory? Or are we simply thinking of it in terms of our church activities, and the "success" of our ministries, or some organization we are interested in?

When we see the moral declination of our cities and country, do we find hope in an almighty God? Or do we just fall into a fatalistic mindset telling ourselves "it'll only get worse"? Are we just waiting for the end of the world to come, or have we taken ownership of our spheres so that His glory may be made known? Are we passive bystanders discounting the remarkable power of our God, or are we proactive intercessors pleading that His limitless power would smash us once again? Have we forgotten what God has done before? Are not the stories of the great revivals of the past, as was the 12 stones set up in Gilgal, God's way of reminding a forgetful people His awesome power? "O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known." (Habakkuk 3:2).

We must begin to plead and yearn for revival. With urgency. With concentration. More so than greater knowledge and understanding of doctrines or catechisms, or improved seeker-sensitive techniques; more so than attempting to reconcile science and philosophy to our faith or trying to influence culture with God-inspired art or policy initiatives; more so than evangelistic campaigns and church programs, we must cry out for an unusual and extraordinary outpouring of His Spirit upon the whole Church. For if God does such a thing again, it will be of such overwhelming force that not only will the Church be awakened and blown away, but those who are not of the Church will be drawn in a way that they are not currently doing, and in a way that we, if left to ourselves, will never be able to do. This is what God has done before. This is what God can do again. All we have to do is ask.

"To learn more about revival and to pray for our nation's awakening come to JAMA 2003 New Awakening Conference, July 1-5, 2003, Atlanta, GA. Be challenged by such speakers as John Piper, Louie Giglio, Ken Davis, and Loren Cunningham and experience worship with Chris Tomlin and The David Crowder Band. There will also be tracks for Missions, Professionals, College Students, and Family. For more information, go to www.newawakening2003.com or e-mail national@jamaglobal.com."