Why do we need revival? Part 4

Are you ready for what God has in store for your future? I firmly believe this: God has a wonderful plan for your life! I also believe that the devil has his plans, too, and that he doesn’t want to make it easy on you.

Why should he?

You are a threat to the kingdom of darkness, and he knows it. I hope you know it, too. So we shouldn’t be too surprised when, even as faithful followers of God, we face adversity. A time of revival might just be God’s way of getting you ready for facing down your enemy, the devil.

Remember, Jesus went straight from being filled with the Spirit at his baptism into a time of testing by Satan. (Keep reading to the end for a key insight on what God might be up to in our expectation of a national spiritual awakening.)

Not all adversity we face as individuals, or even as a nation, is a result of being a threat to the devil.

Sometimes we have to endure the consequences of our own poor decisions. Sometimes we step outside the kind of living that God will bless, and we get ourselves in big trouble. That was certainly the case with the nation of Israel, as we see over and over in the Old Testament. Most of the “revivals” we see in the Old Testament, as I’ve mentioned before, happened after Israel got into trouble through rebellion against God. They would cry out to God, and God would bring restoration.

One of the great Old Testament revivals was different, though. It didn’t come after judgment against Judah; it came before judgment. You would think that revival would come along to avert God’s judgment, but not in the case of Josiah’s reform, that we read about in 2 Kings chapters 22 and 23.

At this point, Israel had been divided and the northern kingdom of Israel had already been conquered and taken into captivity. It was only a matter of time before the same would happen to the southern kingdom of Judah. After a succession of evil kings, King Josiah led the nation into a surprising time of covenant renewal with God. This came about upon rediscovering the Book of the Law during the process of cleansing the land of idol worship and restoring the Temple. Yet, within just a few short years after Josiah’s death, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded the land and carried the people into exile.

Why such great reform or revival, only to be followed by the judgment that resulted from a history of disobedience to the Lord?

I’m convinced that the revival wasn’t sent by God to avert judgment or adversity, but to prepare Judah for testing and judgment. Without this season of revival, the people would not have had the spiritual leadership and the focus on the word of God that would sustain them during their years of exile in Babylon. Because of Josiah’s revival and the exile that followed, the Jewish people, for perhaps the first time since the reign of King David, were a nation totally consecrated to God.

How might this apply to us today?

Well, some people believe that America is too far gone for there to be a revival—that we are ripe for God’s judgment. Others believe that the only way to avert God’s judgment is for America to experience a spiritual awakening. I truly hope that’s the case. But it could be that neither view is correct.

Here’s the key insight I said I would give:

We could actually experience revival and judgment (or the consequences of stepping outside God’s blessing) close together. God may send revival to equip the Church to exert strong leadership and influence during a time of trouble yet to come. I’m not predicting this, but we should be ready for any eventuality, shouldn’t we?

Whether it’s a matter of judgment or just opposition from the devil, we know that times of testing are going to come. Such times are part of life in this fallen world. We need to be fully prepared to offer the leadership that a world in trouble will need.

Even if there are no crises on a national scale, people all around us face troubles all the time. A revived Church will be the most capable for pointing people to the One who can bring true peace. We need revival.

The series continues! You can go back and read Parts 1, 2, and 3 or read the next post in the series, Part 5, here.

Pastor Ed’s Notes:

Photo by Carolyn V on Unsplash