It all starts with God
A Biblical View of Revival - Part 1
by James Pool, OneCry National Prayer Director
Have you ever tried describing the unique beauty of a precisely cut, high-quality diamond? With every turn of the gem, a new facet of light and design emerges.
This same experience happens when we look intently at biblical and historical revival. For the Christian, every view of God’s supernatural work in reviving His children reveals an inspiring glimpse into His compassionate glory and power.
Over the next several months, our goal is to examine some of the key facets of that for which so many are praying—revival and spiritual awakening!
The best place to start is with God, for revival always seems to be present in His loving heart. Throughout the pages of Scripture, God is seen calling His children into an intimate love relationship with Himself.
The Greek word for “know” used in John 17:3 expresses this so clearly; when Jesus was praying to the Father, He said, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
Knowing God and His Son is so much more than just discovering and agreeing that the biblical details about His existence, character, and actions are true. When this particular word for “know” is used, it indicates that at some point in time, a genuine love relationship between God and an individual begins and then continues growing and maturing throughout that person’s lifetime.
God desires that both today and throughout eternity, His followers experience the same kind of personal intimacy with Him that He experiences with His own Son. Jesus again underscored this high level of intimacy when He said in John 14:20-21, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who . . . loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”
And once again in His high-priestly prayer of John 17, Jesus continued accenting God’s divine plan of intimacy when He said in verses 22-23, “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”
The apostle Paul certainly understood this oneness with God. He defined the goal of this divine intimacy in Romans 8:29-30. “Those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”
In other words, God is calling His children into this glorious love relationship in order to transform them into the image of His Son. When God’s called followers live in the fullness of this Spirit-filled relationship, like Jesus, they will bear the kind of spiritual fruit that proves them to be God’s children and brings Him the greatest amount of glory (John 15:8).
So why is revival always in God’s heart? God so longs for this intimacy with His children that when they depart from Him through disobedient sin or neglect, He cannot idly stand by and watch His beloved followers hurt themselves or bring dishonor to the covenant relationship He has established with each and every one of them.
In Psalm 85:6, the psalmist indeed asked the right question: “Will You not Yourself revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?” For individuals and groups of Christians, God alone is the author of revival—the only One who can take earthen vessels and fill them anew with the treasure of heaven (2 Corinthians 4:7).
Now, if all of this is true, and God alone is the One who brings revival into the lives of His children, how does He go about bringing this to pass? What does He do to get His children to cooperate with His plan?
We’ll answer these questions in Part 2 of this series next month!