What Is Revival? Nehemiah 10

WHAT IS REVIVAL? NEHEMIAH 10

Some of you are familiar with that old hymn written by Robert Robinson in 1758, with verses added by Martin Madan in 1760 called “Come Thy Fount of Every Blessing”. Verse 3 of that old hymn says,

“O to grace how great a debtor

daily I’m constrained to be!

Let that grace now, like a fetter,

bind my wandering heart to thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

prone to leave the God I love;

here’s my heart; O take and seal it;

seal it for thy courts above.

Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love;

There is, within our nature, the tendency to cool in our affections, and our love for God. It is very easy, to begin to take God’s love, His protection and His provision for granted. There is a reason, time and time again, we find recorded through the pages of the Bible, prayers for renewal and revival.

{ In Psalm 85:6 we read,

> Psalm 85:6, “Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?” Or,

> Habakkuk 3:2, “O Lord, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O Lord, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.” Or,

> Psalm 80:18, “Give us life, and we will call upon your name!” Or,

> Isaiah 57:15, “Thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.’”

Look at the history of Israel in the Old Testament and you find one king leads the nation to follow and obey God, and the Lord pours out His blessings and protection on the nation. Then another king arises who forgets the Lord and leads the people to worship other gods and the nation falls apart. Another God-fearing king comes to the throne and the Lord’s blessings return, only to have the next generation forget the Lord and the nation again falls into judgment.

In the New Testament, even though we’re covering a much shorter time, we find churches whose passion for the Lord has already begun to cool. So we find the apostles writing the churches to encourage them to get their priorities right once again.

> Hebrews 5:12 “Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God.” Or,

> Hebrews 12:12, “Lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint.”

So, this is a church that is already drooping. It is already dragging. It has gotten tired already and needs reviving. In Ephesians 3:16-19 Paul writes;

> Ephesians 3:16-19 [I pray] that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” {Interview with John Piper, “What is revival and where do we find it?”}

Revival is a sweet thing. Those are sweet times. But when does revival occur. How can we tell if it’s real?

In the book of Nehemiah we have seen God doing a work among the people of Israel. Under Ezra’s leadership, the temple has been rebuilt. Under Nehemiah’s leadership, the city has been cleaned up, walls have been rebuilt, the gates have been rehung, some of the people have returned, and some of the houses have been rebuilt. It is obvious God is doing something there, but has revival taken place? Not yet. Just because God is blessing doesn’t mean God is pleased or that revival has come.

We can look at many people in our country and others who are doing very well, materially. They make a lot of money and have a lot of fancy toys, but that doesn’t mean they are walking with the Lord or that He is pleased, and on the flip side, in spite of what some false teachers may claim, a lack of material prosperity also does not mean the Lord is displeased. We remember that none of the apostles ended up prosperous. Paul was bi-vocational, and worked as a tent-maker to help support himself. Prosperity and financial well-being doesn’t mean you are right with God.