Last week I sent out some thoughts on revival. This morning I gathered with some other gentlemen from my church discussed those thoughts. In our conversation we talked about what a revival is like and if we had ever witnessed or been part of a reviving move of God. I will not share things from that discussion, but as a follow-up to it (and last week's thoughts on revival) I did want to share part of a message I once preached on the topic based on the text of Isaiah 57:15: "This is what the high and lofty One says -- He who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite." It contains more thoughts on revival from others (not just mine) and a factual account of the things that actually happened during the First Great Awakening in New England in the 1730's - 40's. If nothing else, I hope it makes you think. Better yet, I hope it makes you pray that we might soon see another expression of such divine, holy and reviving grace. Where water has once flowed, it can flow again. Enjoy.
What Does "Revival" Look Like?
“John
Babcock, writing of a service in his church during the revival that swept
through Virginia in the 19th century could say: “The death-like awe of
silence and solemnity sometimes seemed as if it were the hem of the robe of His
glory waxing all but visible in our midst.” It’s an unfortunate
misrepresentation to suggest that all revivals result in outbursts of excited
fervor. They do not. When the presence of God comes upon a
congregation, what often pervades it is a sense of His holiness and
majesty. One feels the eerie sense of a spiritual presence that is so
awe-full, so holy, so Other, that a quiet hush comes over that place and people
are glued motionless to their seats. They can hear themselves breathe.
They listen to the beating of their hearts. Even their thoughts seem
loud. Soft weeping throughout the congregation is often the only sound
heard.
When
the Spirit comes in power people often begin to weep as the God they have often
maligned, taken for granted, and dishonored by their sin, apathy, and unbelief,
enters the sanctuary in a tangibly sensed way. The people feel it.
Many are overcome by a fear of the Lord and a deep conviction of sin as God
fills that place with a conscious sense of His holy presence, power, purity,
righteousness an soul-exposing light. That’s one of the ways you can tell when
“God shows up” and His manifest presence fills a room to convict, convert,
comfort, or bring people to earnest life-changing repentance. It gets
really quiet. Things becomes very still. Everyone is motionless.
People stop coughing, clearing their throats, and shifting in their seats.
Why? Because they sense the presence of God in a way they don’t (or
haven’t) at any other time.
And
don’t get me wrong. God is always present – at all times, and in all
places, whether we sense it or not. But sometimes, for reasons known only
to Him, He chooses on certain occasions, or for certain seasons, to make His
presence so tangibly known to us that we actually sense His presence in our
midst in an undeniable way. That’s what revival is. A powerful
visitation of the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity and whose name is
Holy (Isaiah 57:15). God, so to speak, rends the heavens and comes down
to visit His people (Isaiah 64:1).
George
Whitefield on one such occasion wrote: “I was so overpowered with a sense
of God’s love, that it almost took away my life.” The experience of God’s
presence - His Holy Love was so powerful it almost killed him. D. L.
Moody testifies of a similar experience. Jonathan Edwards called them,
“special seasons of mercy” or “extraordinary effusions” or “outpourings of the
Holy Spirit.” That is the essence of revival God comes in a
new and fresh visitation of His presence, sometimes in unspeakable holiness resulting
in a hushed death-like stillness; other times in love so consuming and
overpowering that a person nearly loses consciousness; and still other times in
joy so euphoric and captivating that we feel it will carry us up into paradise
that very moment (and we wish it would)! A joy so freeing, peaceful and
pleasurable that the soul is enraptured - feeling spiritually ravished by God.
“When
people,” writes Iain Murray, “burdened with a sense of guilt, come to complete
deliverance through faith in the atoning work of Christ, and when the love of
God fills the hearts of believers, then joy is irresistible. The greater
his knowledge of the benefits purchased by Christ, the greater the degree of
joy, liberation, and gratitude to God he receives.” And what causes
it? The Holy Spirit comes upon a person and convinces them that the
Gospel message is really true! Not that it would simply be nice if it
were true, but that it is true! Christ purchased it all. He lived
the perfect sinless life we could never live, and died in our place as the
substitute who took our punishment upon Himself, and on the basis of trusting
in that Gospel and that Saving One, we are freely forgiven and put in right
standing with God (Isaiah 53 & 55)
Jonathan
Edwards recorded this account of the revival that swept through Northampton,
MA, at the start of the first great awakening in America in 1734. He
writes: “The Spirit of God began to set in in an extraordinary way... The news
of it seemed to be almost like a flash of lightning upon the hearts of young
people all over town... In time, a great and earnest concern about the great
things of religion and the eternal world became universal among persons of all
ages and degrees. The noise among the dry bones waxed louder and
louder. All other talk but about spiritual things and eternal things was
soon thrown by. All the conversation, in all companies, and upon all
occasions, was upon these things only, except for what was necessary to carry
on ordinary secular business. People’s only concern was to get into the
Kingdom of God, and everyone appeared to be pressing into it. The work of
conversion was carried on in a most astonishing manner, and... souls did, as it
were, come by flocks to Jesus Christ... In 1735 the town seemed full of
the presence of God - never was it so full of love, nor of joy, and yet so full
of distress (in the unbelievers) as it was then. There were
remarkable tokens of God’s presence in almost every house... The Lord’s
day was a delight. Worship services were beautiful. The
congregation was alive... and every hearer was eager to drink in the words of
the minister. From time to time people were in tears as God’s Word was
preached; some weeping with sorrow and distress, others with joy and love; and
others out of concern for the souls of their neighbors.”
It
was a move of God’s Spirit so powerful it spread from Massachusetts to
Connecticut and then clear down the east coast - all the way to Georgia.
Everyone sensed the presence of God as the High and Lofty and Holy One who
inhabits eternity broke in upon the consciousness of people in a way so real
and tangible that even unbelievers felt His presence in their midst.”
I
would love to share more historical accounts of revival. Like the Moravian
revival of 1727, the Wesleyan revival in England around the same time, the
revival among the Indians through David Brainerd, the 2nd Great Awakening in
America, and many others, including the Azusa Street Revival and two others in
more recent years at Asbury and Wheaton colleges. But time and space do not
permit it. That will be up to you to research n your own!
With
continued prayers for you all, Pastor Jeff
