Reflection on: Seeking Revival

Last week, I sent a copy of Incessant Theology to Rev. A. Howell, my wife’s grandfather to whom the book is dedicated, and he sent me back a card thanking me for it. He mentioned in this card that he thought my book would be very useful in this time when ‘many are seeking revival’. This got me thinking; is revival something that happens because people seek it? Or is it something that happens because God wills it to happen?

Option A) Does God decide to being about revival and so send a fresh ‘wave’ of the Holy Spirit upon the church? The church isn’t particularly seeking or wanting revival, but the event/s is/are so overpowering and so clearly ‘of God’ that they soon get on board and enjoy a fresh period of seeing many come to faith, many come into the church, many healed and many return to Christ.

Option B) The church is unsatisfied with what they are experiencing at the moment; few or no people coming to Christ, few or no healing, people leaving the church, etc. In light of this, they cry out to God to change the tide and after days or months or decades or praying and fasting and heartfelt prayer, they begin to see revival.

The problem with discerning which of these is the case is that there isn’t a Biblical map for ‘revival’. To ‘revive’ something means to give life back to it where there had ceased to be life. You can revive someone who has drowned; you can’t revive someone who is fully alive.

In the Bible, although it ends with Revelation depicting a troubled time for the church, the church is ultimately vindicated because Christ is victorious. Acts and the epistles show us that churches can need tweaking (or a good metaphorical kicking), but we don’t see any examples of churches needing to be revived. Jesus in Revelation 2:5 tells the Ephesian church that is they don’t return to the ‘love that had at first’ then He will take away their lamp stand. Does this point to a sovereign ‘if you don’t do or not do X then I’ll end your church for you’?

Bethel Church in California talk of wanting to raise up ‘a generation of revivalists’. This heavily implies that revival is based on something that the church does in order to convince God that revival is worthwhile. I am uncomfortable with this idea, as it puts the ball squarely in our court as needing to do something or be something in order to get God to act. This is both quite contrary to the nature of the Gospel (we cannot do it on our own and NEED God to intervene) but also leaves us with the question of ‘how do we go about it?’ There is no Biblical precedent for how to ‘seek revival’, so it leaves us somewhat in the dark.

However, the other option is that revival is something that happens every now and then (‘once every 70 years I was once told’) and that we have to just wait until God thinks it’s a good idea and sends revival. In which case, why worry about it? This gives us with a woeful view of the situation, essentially leaving us saying ‘Revival will come when it comes. This might be in our lifetime, it might not, but who cares? Maybe this generation is a write-off in God’s eyes.’ This view of God puts His sovereignty at odds with His Biblically revealed character; a God of love who wants His children to come home.

Could the right answer not be ‘both’? Can we implore God to send revival, but at the same time trusting that He knows best? Surely this is the nature of prayer; I ask my heavenly Dad to act, trusting that He will act in the way He sees best, even if I am baffled as to His reasoning. The very essence of the word ‘revival’ means to give life back to something. This does not have an implication of going forward into uncharted territory, nor of something that is a continual state, but rather of going back to something that has previously been given. The Community; the Spirit; the Word (note the alphabetical nature of this list; we cannot say that one is of more worth than another) If we love people, believe the Bible and follow the Spirit then revival will come, one way or another.