Intro
What the world needs now is revival. In times of revival the effectiveness of the church skyrockets. The wind of the Spirit lifts the believers to greater heights of service, the world is evangelized, and the moral climate of society is changed. The question asked of God in Psalm 85:6 is: ‘Will You not revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You?” Revival always produces renewed strength and exceptional joy among God’s people.
I was born again in the aftermath of the Pentecostal Revival and have participated in two revivals: the Jesus Movement in the late 60s/early 70s and the Brownsville Revival in the late 90s.i I was not a key leader in either of those revivals, but I was transformed by personal experiences during those seasons. Revival lifted me into greater love for Christ and thrust me into more fruitful ministry. This message is provided because the Beatitudes provide important counsel on how God’s people can position themselves for revival.
WHAT IS REVIVAL?
There is both an element of God’s sovereignty and a factor of Christian receptivity in the outbreaking of revival.ii God is the supreme commander in charge of timing and strategy.iii But he is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him so that attitude of heart matters.iv And that is what the Beatitudes teach us about posturing for revival.
“There is no cheap grace in revival. It entails repudiation of self-satisfied complacency. Revival turns careless living into vital concern . . . exchanges self-indulgence for self-denial. Yet, revival is not a miraculous visitation falling on an unprepared people like a bolt out of the blue. It comes when God’s people earnestly want revival and are willing to pay the price.”v
Revival is wonderful, but revival is costly. Revival is not for lazy people. During the Brownsville Revival, I watched people more consecrated than me minister night after night to those who came to be renewed and empowered by the manifest presence of God in the meetings. Over and over lay people cleaned bathrooms for thousands who came to the meetings. Pastors, teachers, and evangelists poured themselves out to the people night after night. If you want revival for entertainment purposes, you’re on the wrong track. Revival is a costly endeavor, but it is worth it beyond words.
Revival shakes the status quo and is often disturbing before it is refreshing. The first time my wife, Jeanie, and I attended the Brownsville Revival we immediately came under conviction. That surprised us because we were faithful pastors living an upright life. But in revival the intensity of God’s holiness is felt at a heightened level.
If “revival” is not accompanied with strong conviction of sin, it is not true revival. “In revival, The Spirit of God like a cleansing flame sweeps through the community. Divine conviction grips people everywhere: the strongholds of the devil tremble and many close their doors, while multitudes turn to Christ!”vi Michael Brown writes,
“What is revival? It is God ‘stepping down from heaven’ and baring his holy arm. He comes and acts and speaks. There is a holy Presence and a word on fire. God is in the midst of His people. The Lord is shaking the world. That is revival! It is a time of visitation.”vii
The fear of the Lord is an essential part of true revival. Revival is not thousands of Christians in a stadium singing Kum ba yah. While that may be a good thing, it is not revival. In his account of the Hebrides Revival, Duncan Campbell reported,
“This supernatural illumination of the Holy Spirit led many in [the Hebrides] revival to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ before they came near to any meeting connected with the movement. I have no hesitation in saying that this awareness of God is the crying need of the Church today. ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,’ but this cannot be worked up by human effort, it must come down.”viii
The need of the church today is not better methods and improved technology.ix Those may be helpful, but they are not essential. And without that which is essential, they matter very little. The Holy Spirit alone can bring eternal life into the soul. The Holy Spirit alone can transform a self-absorbed sinning creature into a child of God dedicated to the glory of God.
What the church needs is a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit like the early church experienced. Many are seeking clean entertainment at the church when we should be seeking empowerment for the spiritual battle between light and darkness. Years ago, A. W. Tozer observed, “That this world is a playground instead of a battlefield has now been accepted by the vast majority of fundamentalist Christians.”x “We’re in a war—a spiritual war, a cultural war, a moral war—but we often lose sight of it, choosing to play, to simply get on with the business of our lives rather than the fight. Life in this world casts a spell on us, and we live and die just like the people of the world live and die. Our values as believers are barely distinguishable from theirs!”xi
Martin Lloyd Jones emphasizes the need for the Holy Spirit in his understanding of revival. “The essence of revival is that the Holy Spirit comes down upon a number of people together, upon a whole church, upon a number of churches, districts, or perhaps a whole country. That is what is meant by revival. It is, if you like, a visitation of the Holy Spirit, or another term that has often been used is this—an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.”xii
James Stewart is correct when he says, “Revival is a new discovery of Jesus.”xiii Not the discovery of a new Jesus, but fresh revelation of the Christ. For he is “the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8). Modern quests for “another Jesus” are sorely misguided. Progressive Christianity’s pursuit of a revised Christianity is heresy. But we need fresh revelation of the One who laid down his life for our salvation and rose from the dead for our justification (Rom. 4:25). This same Jesus is at the center of any true revival.
Having briefly explored the nature of revival, we will now see how the qualities Jesus taught in the Beatitudes are attitudes that attract revival. Of course, when revival comes, these characteristics are advanced in believers’ lives as a result of God’s activity. But our focus now is how we may draw near to God so that his presence is manifested in our midst.
WHAT QUALITIES IN THE BEATITUDES ATTRACT THAT REVIVAL?
One characteristic of revival is the weighty manifestation of God’s presence.xiv The promise in James 4:8 is: “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”xv Revival is a season when God draws near to his people with an exceptional manifestation of his presence and rapid advancement of his kingdom. When the condition stated in the first part of this verse are met, the fulfillment of the second part is certain.
How are we to draw near to God? The Bible answers this question with explicit statements (Heb. 10:22) and examples both positive and negative. On the negative side, what happens when people come close to God in wrong ways? When the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines in 1 Samuel 5, they drew near to God by drawing near to the Ark which represented God’s presence. But the result was judgment, not blessing.xvi What would have happened to an Old Testament Jew who brashly walked into the Holy of Holies? He would have instantly died. King Uzziah tried drawing near to God without a requisite fear of the Lord, and he was struck with leprosy.xvii Drawing near to God with the wrong attitude of heart is not only ineffective, it can be disastrous. Those examples illustrate that fact. There is a right way and a wrong way to approach God.
How should we draw near to God? Certainly, we must come to God through the blood of Jesus. Christ alone gives the only acceptable access to God.xviii But Christians may fail to enjoy intimacy with God simply because they do not understand how God’s kingdom operates. For example, “God resists the proud” (James 4:6). If we do not humble ourselves before God, we hinder our intimacy with God. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps. 111:10). Without a deep regard for who God is, it is impossible to live close to him. In our approach to God, we must be poor in spirit.
Poor in Spirit
The first beatitude is the most essential because on it rests all the other beatitudes. The poor in spirit bow humbly before God recognizing their utter dependence upon him. The byword of the Welch Revival was “Bend me, Lord; Bend me.”xix Those people discovered the blessedness of being “poor in spirit.” If you think you deserve revival, you will not have it. If you feel your deep need for God, then he can work in your midst.
Isaiah 57:15 declares the relationship between humility, God’s presence, and revival. “For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” The haughty are not revived. The self-righteous are not revived. The broken and contrite are revived in the presence of the Holy One.
The church world is often surprised by where revival breaks out and the people God uses in revival. When Philip told Nathaniel about the move of God in Galilee through Jesus, Nathaniel’s response was: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” That’s not where Nathaniel expected God to move. That’s not how Nathaniel expected God to move. Revival was not taking place where Nathaniel thought it would, and it was not taking place the way Nathaniel thought it would happen.xx Philip’s response to Nathaniel is priceless: “come and see” (John 1:46). Come see for yourself!
At the beginning of the twentieth century, God advanced the Pentecostal Revival through an uneducated, one-eyed black preacher named William Seymour. With all the sophisticated reverends in America, why did God choose this most unlikely of all candidates? I want to suggest to you that God found a man who was “poor in spirit.” The place God did this was in a “horse stable on Azusa Street” on the wrong side of the tracks.xxi The river of God runs in the valleys, not on the mountain peaks. And being poor in spirit is the first qualification he looks for.
One of the dangers we face when living for the Lord for a long time is a subtle development of spiritual pride.xxii We have walked faithfully with the Lord; we have served him and served others; we have denied ourselves at times; we have fought a few battles and endured a few trials for his name’s sake. If we’re not careful to give God the glory for that, we can easily develop an entitlement mentality. And that entitlement mentality will disqualify us for revival. It has happened to many through the centuries. “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time” (1 Pet. 5:6).
Those Who Mourn
The second beatitude first and foremost deals with a person’s attitude toward sin. “Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted” (Matt. 5:4). Some of that comfort may even in the form of revival. Those who mourn are so distraught over their sins that they repent. They are sorry for their infidelity toward God. Therefore, they turn from the sin and to God for mercy.
In his sermon at the temple, Peter told the people, “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19). A cavalier attitude toward sin grieves the Holy Spirit.xxiii Hardness of heart and an unwillingness to repent of sin is an obstacle to revival. A sincere mourning over sin invites “times of refreshing.”xxiv It puts people in a receptive mode for God’s comfort and renewal. There is a clear connection here between mourning and revival.
James called sinning Christians from a state of levity to a mourning over their sin. In James 4:8-9 he wrote, “Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.” There is a time for joy and festivity, but it is after we repent, not before. Revival typically begins with contrite mourning over personal sin and repentance toward God. Then the mourning extends to mourning over sin in the church and in the world. This attitude of heart prompts intercession that invites God’s intervention.
Stephen Hill was the lead evangelist in the Brownsville Revival. In his book Time to Weep, he describes the tears that flowed as God filled his heart with compassion for the lost and
a longing to “see sinners drawn to the Lord just by sensing His [God’s] presence.”xxv His quote of Henry Ward Beecher alerts us to the importance of mourning in our pursuit of revival.
“Astronomers have built telescopes which can show myriads of stars unseen before; but when a man looks through a tear in his own eye, that is a lens which opens, reaches into the unknown, and reveals worlds which no telescopes, however skillfully constructed, could do; nay, which brings to view even the throne of God, and pierces the nebulous distance where are those eternal truth in which true life consists.”xxvi
“Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning” (Ps. 30:5). Before the dawning of revival, there is mourning over sin: mourning over one’s personal sin, mourning over the sinfulness of the church, and mourning over the sin in the world.xxvii “Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted” (Matt. 5:4).
The Meek
“Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5” They may also inherit revival. Complete fulfillment of this promise will occur in the eschaton. But God gives an earnest of this inheritance in this life.xxviii An outpouring of the Holy Spirit is a rich reward.
We learned in our study that the key factor in meekness is surrender to God. The stiff-necked, rebellious attitude has been broken, and the person delights to do the will of the Father. He is meek toward other people because of his ability to trust God with outcomes. But he is first meek in his relationship with the Lord. The surrendered soul wants the will of God above all else. He is just as willing for God to use someone else in revival as himself so long as God is glorified.
But God uses the meek in revival because he can trust them. First, he can trust them to not mishandle the glory of God. A significant element in revival is the glory of God. When God’s glory comes down people are revived. But interacting with the glory of God is a delicate matter. When Uzzah took hold of the Ark (representing God’s glory), the anger of the Lord was provoked, and God struck him dead.xxix Meekness toward God is a prerequisite for carrying the glory of revival.
Secondly, God can trust the meek to treat people with meekness. As Jesus ministered in the power of the Spirit, he did it with meekness toward people. A bruised reed he did not break and a smoking flax he did not quench (Matt. 20:20). God cannot put revival into the hands of proud people who will mistreat people.
Ambitious people often want revival with a subtle, hidden desire for self-promotion. This grieves the Holy Spirit and disqualifies for revival. You can pray all night and go on extended fasts, which are good things to do, but if the heart is not surrendered to God and his ways, the breakthrough will not come. The Pharisees of Jesus’s day prayed often, and they fasted twice a week (Luke 18:12). Revival was all around them, but they did not experience it. Revival is entrusted to those who are trained in the school of humility and meekness.xxx
Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness
Who gets revived? Who gets refreshed? Who gets filled? Those who hunger and thirst for the right thing. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.” Motive for revival is important. In my personal observations over the last 60 years, the most common reason Christians want revival is to feel better. They want the refreshing that comes with revival. Certainly, that is part of it. But if you are not desiring to advance in righteousness, you may not get filled.
I got saved in 1962 during a move of God. The leaders of that Pentecostal church knew how to invite the presence of God into the service through heart-felt worship. I personally benefited from that. But the end-objective was almost always to simply get refreshed and feel better. That is certainly a good thing, but the refreshing should lead to character development and evangelism. The leaders in that church did not deal with a lot of personal sin issues. They had some superficial rules that they adhered to: no make-up or jewelry for the women, no dancing, no movies, etc. Those legalistic external rules actually deflected attention away from more fundamental issues of unrighteousness that needed to be addressed.xxxi
In this beatitude, Jesus makes righteousness the target. The text does not say Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for an emotional lift. It does not say Blessed are those who hunger and thirst to feel better. It does not say, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for a bigger, more successful church. Motive matters. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.”
In his quest for revival, Ron McIntosh wrote,
“Hunger is the true missing link. . . . Hunger is not a mental craving to see the spectacular. That is merely a ‘soulish’ desire. True hunger is an appetite for God that becomes a driving force. It is divine yearning for what is missing in life. It becomes a driving force to see anything that is not like God touched by His hand and transformed. It is this hunger that is one of the prime prerequisites to revival.”xxxii
In his study of past revivals, McIntosh observed,
“Hunger is the one dominating characteristic I saw emerge from accounts of all the great revivalists. They were desperate for God to do something. They were hungry for God to be what they knew Him to be. They were divinely starved for the lost to be saved, the sick to be healed, and the oppressed to be set free. They longed for the joy of the Lord. They felt a burden that only a manifestation of the heart of God could relieve.”xxxiii
Hunger will motivate the Christian to get up in the middle of the night and pray. Hunger will drive the disciple to seek the Lord for more of the anointing in his own life. Hunger will prompt intercession for the lost. In his song “Asleep in the Light,” Keith Green challenges the lethargic church to holy action. He asks,
“How can you be so dead whey you’ve been so well fed” Jesus rose from the grave, and you—you can’t even get out of bed!”xxxiv
Hunger will get us out of bed and into the prayer meeting. And it is the hungry who get filled. It is the hungry who experience revival. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled” (Matt. 5:6).
The Merciful
“Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy” (Matt. 5:7). The merciful give mercy out of appreciation for the mercy God has shown them. They obtain more mercy as they give what they have received. Mercy is a hallmark of true revival. While uncompromising toward sin, true revival moves God’s people to proclaim the good news of Christ and invite sinners to receive the same mercy as they have received.
Revival is a heightened expression of God’s mercy. As seen in the early church, lethargic believers are awakened, the sick are healed, the demonized are delivered, the lost are saved. God is extending his mercy to people during revival.
God cannot trust revival to unmerciful people because the ones he longs to reach through revival need mercy. Merciful people are moved with compassion toward the sinning multitudes. The Pharisees sat back in their comfort zone and criticized the common people. In their attitude of superiority, they did not lift the burden of sin and addiction off the sinner’s back. As in the Story of the Good Samaritan, they walk right by the person in need.
Mercy invites the sinner to participate in the party/revival. Mercy reaches the hand down into the pit and pulls him up out of the mire. Mercy gets his hands dirty to help those unable to help themselves. The personification of mercy was Jesus who stepped down out of heaven and sacrificed himself on the cross for sinners. Without mercy, revival cannot be sustained.
In Isaiah 58 God corrected Israel for their superficial religion that failed to fulfill the second great commandment: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:39). The fast that God has chosen is full of mercy:
“Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh?” (Isa. 58:6-7).
Now hear God’s promise to the merciful:
“Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, 'Here I am'” (Isa. 58:8-9).
That is a good description of revival. The light of God shines brightly. Healing is in the air. Righteousness prevails. The glory of the Lord shines. And prayers get answered.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall experience revival.
The Pure in Heart
The pure in heart are undivided in their loyalty to the Lord. Their heart is steadfastly set on serving him and doing his bidding. That’s the kind of people God can trust with revival. The doubleminded want revival one day and want the world the next. Revival is something too precious to put into the hands of such fickle people.
We have mentioned it before, but we must say it again: Motive matters. When praying for revival the petitioners should say to the Lord, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; 24 And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps. 139:23-24). It is easy to want a good thing for the wrong reason. And when the motives are impure, it is difficult to get prayer answered. So, as we pray for revival, we submit ourselves to the searchlight of the Holy Spirit so he can cleanse us of any obstruction in the heart.
Jeremiah 17:9 warns, “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?” If we fail to have revival, it is more likely an issue in our own heart than the devil. A healthy caution toward our own heart is wise. Martin Luther said, “I am more afraid of my own heart than I am of the pope and all his cardinals. I have within me the great pope—SELF.”xxxv
But God is searching for those with a pure heart. And they are the ones that are positioned to receive revival. “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him” (2 Chron. 16:9). The Hebrew word translated “loyal” is shalem which means complete, at peace, whole, or full.xxxvi In other words, the heart is pure.
The hypocrite, the religious legalist is not positioned for revival. The pure in heart are. For God looks on the heart, and when he sees that uncompromised loyalty to him, he will reward it.xxxvii “Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8). And sometimes they see God in revival.
Some of my most precious encounters have occurred during seasons of revival. Revival is a good time to see God because it is a season when he is manifesting himself to his people. I believe in diligent study of God’s word, and every subjective revelation must be tested against that inspired revelation. But I have experienced more revelation in a moment’s time during a spiritual encounter with Christ than in years of Bible study. I can fully relate to this old Puritan’s experience.
“It was on a barren road, and he sat down by a well to drink a little water with the bread that he carried in his pocket as his meal. And there, suddenly, the Lord Jesus Christ came to him, and gave him manifestations of himself. And this man said that he learnt more during that one brief experience than he had learned in fifty years of reading, and studying, and of meditation.”xxxviii There is a knowing in one’s spirit that personalizes the revelation in Scripture in such a way that one’s convictions of those truths become absolutely steadfast.xxxix
“Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8).
The Peacemakers
“Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God” (Matt. 5:8). Peacemakers serve as ambassadors of Christ (2 Cor. 5:20). They bring the gospel of peace to those who are in rebellion against God. And God sends revival to reach those in rebellion against him. His love, his compassion, his mercy compels him to do so.
He does not entrust revival to those who will hunker down in the four walls of their church. The gospel must not be confined is such a way. Revival comes to empower the Great Commission. It does not come to make people more successful in their ministry. It does not come to make lukewarm Christians more comfortable. It comes to stir them up to fulfill the Great Commission.
There are two basic reasons why those who carry revival must be peacemakers. First, revival includes evangelism. It requires people who will carry the gospel of peace to those living in sin. As ambassadors of Christ, revivalists must have a passion for the reconciliation of sinners to the Lord. This effort must be done with “gentleness and respect” (1 Pet. 3:15 NIV). The peacemaker has been conditioned by God to proceed in that way.
Secondly, God sends revival to whosoever will. When God entrusts revival to a leader, he is entrusting significant influence to that person. If that individual is narrow and sectarian, he will restrict the influence of the revival. Revival does not come to promote a person, a church, a denomination, or even a movement. God’s love is too big for that.
God wants peacemakers who will call the whole body of Christ into renewal. Peacemakers are intent on keeping “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3). They are not obsessed with personal preferences. They are not bigoted, sectarian, or small-minded. They extend God’s love to all and are not willing that any should perish.xl Unlike the elder brother in Luke 15:28, peacemakers rejoice in the reconciliation of sinners to their Heavenly Father. They delight themselves in the loving unity of God’s people (Ps. 133).
“Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God” (Matt. 5:8).
Those Who Are Persecuted for Righteousness’ Sake
A prerequisite for participating in revival is a willingness to be persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for it will happen. The greater the influence, the greater the persecution. Revival disturbs people. And when they are disturbed, they often lash out at the messenger. Look at John the Baptist’s life. Look at Jesus’s life. Look at Paul’s life. They all experienced heavy persecution.
Is your commitment to Christ an all-out commitment? Rachel Scott was the first person killed in the 1999 Columbine High School mass shooting. The evidence indicates that she was “targeted by shooters because of her religious values.”xli She understood persecution even before laying down her life. In her journal she wrote,
“I have no more personal friends at school. But you know what? I am not going to apologize for speaking the name of Jesus. I am not going to justify my faith to them, and I am not going to hide the light that God has put in me. If I have to sacrifice everything, I will. I will take it. If my friends have to become my enemies for me to be with my best friend, Jesus, then that’s fine with me.”xlii
When a person has that kind of commitment to Christ, he or she is ready for anything: ready for martyrdom, ready for revival, ready for the persecution that revival may bring.
When the kingdom of light invades the kingdom of darkness, many get saved and many get mad. “A holy life is a voice; it speaks when the tongue is silent and is either a constant attraction or a perpetual reproof.”xliii If you are not prepared to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, you are not ready for revival.xliv
God is looking for those who are so committed to him and his cause that nothing will deter them. Not only are they set to endure persecution, but they will rejoice in it, knowing that they are pleasing the Father. So, the Beatitudes conclude with this admonition from the Lord.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt. 5:10-12).
ENDNOTES:
i Of course, there have been many less profound times of refreshing along the way. But revival has an intensity about it that takes believers to new heights. Prodigals are brought home and faithful disciples are brought up to new levels of consecration during revival. The aftermath of the Pentecostal Revival that broke out at the dawn of the twentieth century continues its impact throughout the world. “Researchers estimate this movement to now include 669 million people — or one in four Christians globally — making it the fastest-growing movement in the history of Christianity.” Doug Clay, “What is Pentecostalism?” Assemblies of God News, Sept. 30, 2020. Accessed at https://news.ag.org/en/Features/What-is-Pentecostalism.
ii Revival always includes an element of God’s mercy (Hab. 3:2), for it is something that cannot be earned through prayer, fasting, or any other religious activity. It is one thing to prepare oneself to receive and another to earn the gift. Revival does not come to religious people who think they have earned it. That’s why Habakkuk’s request for revival concludes with the words, “remember mercy.”
iii “Revival is God’s military tactic that concentrates His resources for a vital blow at a crucial moment.” 9. Ron McIntosh, The Quest for Revival: Experiencing Great Revivals of the Past, Empowering You for God’s Move Today! (Tulsa, OK: Harrison House, 1994), 9.
iv Cf. Heb. 11:6.
v Christianity Today (April 9, 1965) as quoted by Winkie Pratney, Revival (Lindale, TX: Agape Force, 1983), 19.
vi Owen Murphy, When God Stepped Down from Heaven (Dixon, MO: Rare Christian Books, n.d.), 1.
vii Michael L. Brown, From Holy Laughter to Holy Fire: America on the Edge of Revival (Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image, 1996), 235.
viii Duncan Campbell, The Lewis Awakening as quoted by Michael L. Brown, From Holy Laughter to Holy Fire: America on the Edge of Revival (Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image, 1996), 234.
ix Even in his day, J. Hudson Taylor said, “We have given too much attention to methods and to machinery and to resources, and too little to the Source of Power, the fill with the Holy Ghost.” J. Hudson Taylor as quoted in Michael L. Brown, Revolution! The Call to Holy War (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2000), 294.
x C. S. Lewis, This World: Playground or Battleground? (Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, 1989(, 5-6 as quoted by Michael L. Brown, Revolution! The Call to Holy War (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2000), 266.
xi Michael L. Brown, Revolution! The Call to Holy War (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2000), 266.
xii Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Revival (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1987), 100.
xiii Duncan Campbell, The Lewis Awakening as quoted in Michael L. Brown, From Holy Laughter to Holy Fire: America on the Edge of Revival (Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image, 1996), 186.
xiv The Hebrew word kabowd (Strong #3519) in 2 Chron. 7:1-3 carries the idea of weightiness. “We may take as a working hypothesis that ‘weight’ is the central meaning [of the root] of which the other uses are applications.” Willem VanGemerson, gen. ed., New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997) s.v. “3877: kbd” by C. J. Collins, 577. In revival settings, I have sensed the weightiness of God’s presence in the spiritual realm.
xv All Scripture quotes are from the New King James Version unless indicated otherwise.
xvi Cf. 2 Chron. 26:16-21; Acts 5:1-11.
xvii 2 Chron. 26:16-23. Ananias and Sapphira were in a revival setting when God’s presence was being manifested in an exceptional way. But their hearts were not right, and the consequence for them was catastrophic (Acts 5:1-10). I have personally seen events similar to this and the result is a heightened respect for God’s authority and holiness (Acts 5:11).
xviii See John 10:7-10; Heb. 10:19.
xix Roberts Liardon, God’s Generals: Why They Succeeded and Why Some Failed (Tulsa, OK: Albury Publishing, 1996), 84.
xx Philip probably expected this move of God to be in Jerusalem where the religious leaders were conducting their services.
xxi Roberts Liardon, God’s Generals: Why They Succeeded and Why Some Failed (Tulsa, OK: Albury Publishing, 1996), 139-140, 142. Evan Roberts was another good example of this. Liardon, God’s Generals, 79-94. The disciples Jesus chose were not influential priests. Instead, he chose common fishermen and even a tax collector.
xxii Cf. Rev. 3:14-22.
xxiii Cf. Eph. 4:30.
xxiv The “times of refreshing” will be fully realized during the Millennium. But the kingdom of God breaks in on people when they repent, thus releasing times of refreshing. See Stanley M. Horton, The Book of Acts (Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing, 1981), 56-57.
xxvStephen Hill, Time to Weep (Orlando, FL: Creation House, 1996). 25.
xxvi Edna Dean Proctor and A. Moore, Life Thoughts, Gathered from the Extemporaneous Discourses of Henry Ward Beecher (New York: Ford, Howard & Hulbert, n.d.), 20 as quoted in Stephen Hill, Time to Weep (Orlando, FL: Creation House, 1996). 24.
xxvii Ezra 10:1-2; Isa. 22:4; Jer. 9:1; 13:17; Lam. 1:16; Hos. 10:12; Joel 2:17.
xxviii Eph. 1:13-14.
xxix 2 Sam. 6:1-7. A full explanation of this text is beyond the scope of this study. But the presence/glory of God must be handled with meekness. David erred in in the decision to carry the Ark on a cart when God had instructed that it was to be carried on the shoulders of the Levites (Ex. 25:12-15). Leaders of revival must do things God’s way and not seek a better means. David’s lack of full submission to God’s instruction indicated a lack of meekness that was later repented of (1 Chron. 15:13-15). But Uzzah’s expression of self-will was also a lack of meekness. The meek are first and foremost surrendered to God. They are careful about self-assertion no matter how good the intentions may seem to be.
xxx In this teaching, when I talk about revival coming to people postured for it, I am not referring to those who are lost or those who will be restored during the revival. I am referring to those to whom God entrusts revival. When revival comes, people who are not properly postured for it will receive benefit from it. But the leaders of a revival must be characterized by the qualities taught in the Beatitudes. Otherwise, they will misuse the authority of that revival and thwart its purpose.
xxxi Legalism tends to do that. Jesus confronted this problem in the Pharisees of his day (Mark 8:34).
xxxii Ron McIntosh, The Quest for Revival: Experiencing Great Revivals of the Past, Empowering You for God’s Move Today! (Tulsa, OK: Harrison House, 1994), 153.
xxxiii Ron McIntosh, The Quest for Revival: Experiencing Great Revivals of the Past, Empowering You for God’s Move Today! (Tulsa, OK: Harrison House, 1994), 154.
xxxiv Keith Green, “Asleep in the Light” as quoted in Michael L. Brown, Revolution! The Call to Holy War (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2000), 146.
xxxv Andrew Bonar, Memoirs and Remains of the Reverend Robert Murray McCheyne (Edingurgh: Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier, 1881) as quoted by Stephen Hill, Time to Weep (Orlando, FL: Creation House, 1996). 21.
xxxvi Strong’s OT:8003.
xxxvii Cf. 1 Sam. 16:17.
xxxviii Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Revival (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1987), 85.
xxxix Cf. Acts 2:17.
xl Cf. John 3:16; 2 Pet. 3:9.
xli “Remembering Columbine victim Rachel Scott,” Today, April 17, 2009. Accessed at https://www.today.com/popculture/remembering-columbine-victim-rachel-scott-wbna30015785. In the book, Rachael’s Tears,” her parents explain how Rachel, as a Christian, had previously reached out to her killers and why they think she was targeted.
xlii Rachel Scott as quoted in Michael L. Brown, Revolution! The Call to Holy War (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2000), 246.
xliii Archbishop Robert Leighton as quoted in Michael L. Brown, Revolution! The Call to Holy War (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2000), 166.
xliv Cf. 2 Tim. 2:3; 3:12.
