There seems to be a lot of people talking about revival lately.
Some people are claiming that revival has already started, as they point to Toronto or Pensacola or Paradise (1). Others say that it's just around the corner - there are just a few things that need to be fixed up in the church before it can happen. Still others say that it's along way off, and that we need to go back to the time of Wesley, Whitfield, Newton and Finney (2) to learn what we must do to bring revival in our day and age.

There's also a lot of different ideas about what 'revival' actually is. Is it explosive growth of numbers, like on the day of Pentecost? Is it a renewed enthusiasm within the church for meeting with God? Is it a visitation of the Holy Spirit, producing signs and wonders? Or is it a purely personal, individual experience? What do you think?

It can be pretty confusing can't it? The temptation is to just ignore the issue altogether and hope that it's not important. But if it's important in God's eyes (and it is), then it's also important that we, as His people, sort out the what, where, when, why and who of revival. And of course, when we're surrounded by so many different, and sometimes conflicting ideas, we must go back to the only sure, objective guide to understanding how God works - the Bible.

The life-giving God

The Bible has heaps to say about revival, even though it doesn't use the actual word. By definition, revival is the giving of life to something that was dead (re=again; vive=give life). I guess you could say that that's what 99% of the Bible is about - God saving people from death, to give them new, or eternal life. Right at the start of the story, we see Adam and Eve, on behalf of every human being that will ever live, facing the consequences of disobeying God - the 'wages of sin is death...'; and at the end of the story we see Jesus, the 'Last Adam', restoring life - '...but the free gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.' (Romans 6:23). Jesus' resurrection is the basis by which people are brought into new life - His resurrection life is given to anyone who accepts that in his death he paid for their sins, in their place. The means by which this life is received is by the work of the Holy Spirit - the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead: 'And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.'

So for a start, we could say that revival has been going on ever since God has been saving people through faith in Jesus (and that goes as far back as Abel - see Hebrews 11:4). God is bringing revival whenever someone passes over from death to life, 'from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of the Son he loves.' (Colossians 1:13)

Yeah, OK, you say. I know that's good in principle. But that's not what we mean when we talk about revival. We mean the sort of thing that happened in the book of Acts. The spectacular stuff. Granted. But we can only understand that corporate, community sort of revival when we understand the basis for any revival - the death and resurrection of Jesus. True revival will always have the cross as the basis and focus of everything that happens.

dem bones, dem bones..

A classic story in the Bible which gives an image of revival is in Ezekiel 37 - The Valley of Dry Bones. To cut a long story short, Ezekiel has this vision of all these dry bones. God speaks to them, and the bones join together (The foot bone's connected to the -- ankle bone, the ankle bone's connected....), forming people, on whom the Spirit came and gave life.

Now, there's lots of things we can learn about revival from this story (and some things have been said about it that, quite frankly, are a load of ballooey), but the key point of this story is found in verse 14 of the chapter: '....Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.' This tells us two very important things about revival:

God does it.

How much can a pile of dry dusty bones contribute to its new life? Diddly squat and zilch. Human beings, let alone dead human beings, are totally unable to do anything apart from God. It is the Sovereign Lord who gives life to the dead, and the dead can only respond when they have received that life (that's why saving faith must be a gift from God. We can only believe in Jesus when we have been born again. It's true - look at John 3.) So that means there's ultimately noting we can do to 'make' revival happen - it's all up to God. All the revival prayer meetings in the world won't make a difference if it is not God's will (but please, don't stop praying just because I said that!) The flip side of that coin, of course, is that if God does intend to bring revival, He will motivate His people to participate in it. But don't ever confuse lots of busy Christian activity with revival.

God does it by His word.

God does everything by His word: He made the Universe by it; He revealed Himself to His people by it; He sent His Son, the Word made flesh, and by him dealt with the problem of sin; he inspired the writers of the Bible to put His word in written form, so that we can read it and hear God speak directly to us today; He speaks to the world through Christians going out and proclaiming the Gospel and calling people into His family. Throughout history, genuine and lasting revivals were all characterised by 1 common thing - preaching, teaching, studying and reading the Bible. Probably the biggest revival of all time - otherwise known as the Reformation(3)- had as it's slogan, 'Sola Scriptura' - Scripture alone. The central reason for these guys protesting against the Church of the day was that they realised that the Bible is all we need to understand who God is and how to enter into a relationship with Him.

This means that anything called 'revival' which is not characterised by people looking to the Bible to hear God speak, is not really revival, no matter what else happens.

Worshipping the bible?

Some people have said that this sort of approach is really idolising the Bible. But it's not. Let me explain, before you stone me. I said right at the start that any revival must have Jesus' death and resurrection as its focus, right? Well, what's the central (and only) focus of the Bible? You got it. It's Jesus. He said it himself in John 5:39: 'You diligently search the Scriptures... These are the Scriptures that testify about me.'

So, to answer the what, where, when, why and who:

What? Revival is God, by His Word, giving new life to the dead - on the basis of Jesus' death and resurrection.

Where? It's been happening all around the world - every tribe, tongue and nation.

When? All the time. Sometimes He does a special work in a given point in history, but always whenever people have been seeking to know Him in His Word.

Why? Well, that's the way God, in His infinite wisdom and grace has chosen to work. We may never understand His reason for revival or absence of revival, but we can rejoice that He is in control.

Who? You.

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Endnotes:
1. Some things have been happening in Churches in these places that are claimed to be revival.(back)
2. These guys were preachers who were involved in revivals which took place in the 18th and 19th centuries.(back)
3. If you don't know what the Reformation is, shame on you. It's an integral and crucial part of our heritage as Evangelicals (now I suppose you're going to ask me what an Evangelical is...)(back)