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1. Is corporate revival really necessary?
If by "necessary" you mean that Christians cannot obey God, preach the gospel, pray, and make disciples as our Lord commanded, the answer is a resounding no! The church has clearly known blessing and help without revival. But revivals are still desirable and should be prayed for by the church because they display the glory of the gospel with the greatest effects to the watching world. Revivals are not God's only means of advancing the church, but they are a wonderful means of blessing that should be desired by His people--especially when they have endured long periods of drought and lifelessness.
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It is important to consider several important questions that flow out of AN URGENT APPEAL. These are typical of the questions that repeatedly surface when the subject of revival is presented.
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2. If corporate revival does not come, should the church despair?
Not at all. How can those who know and love Christ as their Lord ever despair? We should recognize that judgment may well affect much of what is being done by the church in our time, yet we must still rejoice that "our names are written in the book." Even sorrow and chastisement can be mixed with joy through the filling of the Spirit. It must be understood that revival is never a panacea for the church. It is, however, a sovereign interruption that brings health and greater blessing to the work of the church.
3. If God is the sole author of corporate revival, then what is the point in becoming informed and exercised about this subject?
To say that we do not cause God to bless us is not to say that God does not bless us through biblically ordained means that must be used to accomplish His sovereign purpose. It is an unshakable truth taught throughout Scripture that we are utterly dependent upon God for all life, both physical and spiritual. However, we are never to passively wait for God to bless us, but rather we ought to pursue His blessings in complete dependence upon Him as the author and giver of every good and perfect gift (cf. James 1:17). Because He is such a great and awesome God, nothing is "too hard for the LORD"(Gen. 18:14). Our times are desperate, the hour is late, judgment clearly hangs over us, but no obstacle is too great for God.
4. Where is the Holy Spirit when there is no revival?
Jonathan Edwards might well have been the greatest theologian of true revival in church history. He wrote: "Though there be a more constant influence of the Spirit attending His ordinances, yet the way in which the greatest things have been done has been by remarkable effusions, at special seasons of mercy." Does the present prolonged delay of "remarkable effusions" indicate that the Holy Spirit has ceased to work? Are we at a significant disadvantage when revival tides are out? Our answer has a great bearing on how we live during those times when true revivals are scarce.
We are best served by understanding several basic truths revealed in Scripture about the present ministry of the Holy Spirit. We have the promise of Christ that the Spirit indwells His disciples (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7). Our Lord refers to the Spirit as "the helper," a word that emphasizes the Spirit's direct role in encouraging, helping, and counseling. The Holy Spirit assures believers that they are the children of God (Romans 8:14-16) and that God loves them (Romans 5:5). He also assures them that Jesus indwells their lives with His presence (1 John 4:13) and that God's power is at work in them (Galatians 3:5). He makes Christ known to believers experientially (1 Corinthians 2:10-12) and assures them of final victory in Christ on the last day (2 Corinthians 5:5; Romans 8:11, 15-17, 23).
Further, believers have peace given by the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17; cf. again John 14:15-19). This "peace" is a divinely given sense of well-being and contentment in all circumstances. The Holy Spirit floods believers' minds with the truth of God (Ephesians 1:17-18) and convicts them of their need to change and grow in the grace of God (Romans 8:5-9). He also gives believers gifts for spiritual ministry (1 Corinthians 12:4-6; Romans 12:6-8).
The absence of "remarkable effusions" does not mean that any of these ministries of the Holy Spirit are hindered in any way. As important as it is to pray for true revival, believers must never lose sight of this simple fact--God is actively working in every believer and in the church whether or not He grants wide-scale awakening. Believers should give thanks for the Spirit's powerful present ministry while continuing to ask that God "rend the heavens and come down" (Isaiah 64:1) in a remarkable season of revival.
5. But what part do we actually have in corporate revival?
Divine freedom never negates human responsibility. We can and must act in obedience to God. The mystery of the seeming tension between divine freedom and human responsibility must not be solved by rational syllogisms and logical inferences. We must obey as if everything depended upon them and pray knowing that the results depend upon God. Therefore, the first place to start in seeking God for revival is by removing all personal hindrances to real revival. Our personal sins grieve the Spirit (Ephesians 4:30) and our collective sin quenches His work among us (1 Thessalonians 5:19). God is not pleased with our sins, and we must confess them and forsake them. If deadness and lack of real blessing characterize our assemblies, we have need to come to grips with the fact that the reason lies within us (Psalm 32).
We must also pray. We have biblical examples as well as biblical and historical precedent for such prayer. The divine commandment of God to His people is to pray. Both personally and corporately, believers should plead with God to reveal lukewarmness of their condition (Revelation 3:16).
Who of us can read Revelation 2-3 and not conclude that our Lord is speaking these penetrating words to the contemporary church? Who would not agree that it is we who "have forsaken our first love" (Revelation 2:4) and we who "have a reputation of being alive, but . . . are dead" (Revelation 3:1). The counsel of Jesus to the lukewarm congregation in Revelation 3 is: "I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see" (3:18).
If we would spend time getting a true picture of our need--"wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked" (3:17)--we would run to Christ and ask Him to enter the door of our church afresh (3:20). The picture of Christ outside the church is a haunting image of a present reality.
6. Can I experience personal revival even if God is not pleased to send a great revival to multitudes?
There is no reason whatsoever for any believer to remain in sin or to live a life of frustration and spiritual deadness. At the same time, suggesting that there are formulas that, if followed, will inevitably bring revival is a prescription for massive failure and profound frustration. The believer should always confess sin, seek after God with the whole heart, pray for the empowering of the Holy Spirit, and implicitly trust Christ every day. As we draw near to God, He has promised to draw near to us. However, to put demands upon God regarding how He must bless or use our lives is unbiblical.
7. Does our understanding of the future and of the coming of Christ have anything to do with the urgency of our concern for revival?
Christians have agreed on the essential elements regarding the biblical doctrine of the end times for two thousand years-for example, that Christ will personally return at the end of this present age, that the resurrection will take place at this coming, that the judgment will follow, and that heaven or hell will be the ultimate destiny of every person who has ever lived.
At the same time, there have also been areas of disagreement regarding some of the details related to the scenario of the end. The three major debated views are known as premillenialism, amillenialism, and postmillenialism. There are still Christians who hold each position today, and each interpretation has experienced a period of ascendancy during different eras of church history, especially in America. While it is important to note that no major historic confession of faith or creed of the Christian church has ever made these debated points a test for genuine orthodoxy, it is clear that these views have exercised a major influence upon the church's interest in revival over the last three centuries.
Premillenialists view the Apocalypse in a future sense and believe that the events described in Revelation are yet to happen. However, prophecies of darkening world conditions do not preclude expecting revivals from God. In times like ours, when spiritual declension threatens to slow world evangelism, revival can still be seen in the Premillenialist system as an aid to complete the mandate given to the church to "go into all the world and preach the gospel."
Amillenialists view the present church age as the fulfillment of the millennial period referred to in Revelation 20. They also take a number of the prophecies which futurists limit to Israel and apply them to the church. In this system, revival could simply be seen as a greater manifestation of the Holy Spirit's ongoing Kingdom work.
Postmillenial thought differs from the other two major views in that it asserts that Christ's return will follow the period of "millenial blessing." Often this view has been satirized by those who accuse postmillennialists of believing that "things will get better and better until Christ returns." However, postmillennialists hold a strong hope for revival, not because they believe that world conditions will progressively improve, but rather because they believe world conditions do not have a determinative role in what a sovereign God might be pleased to do in revival at any point in human history. The darker the moment the more glorious might be the light of reformation and revival. Thus, this system can easily accommodate the idea of revival and apostasy running side by side until the day of the Lord.
One does not need to adopt any one of the above schools of prophetic interpretation to believe that "hope" for a great revival is actually grounded in Scripture itself. The vast majority of biblical commentators believe that no one view of prophecy necessarily precludes the possibility of real revival, either locally or internationally. Prophetic views need never diminish calls to prayer and hope for revival.
8. What is the nature of Spiritual Warfare during corporate revival?
The invasion of the Holy Spirit into a corporate body of believers in revival is nothing less than an all-out assault of the kingdom of God upon the forces of the kingdom of darkness. These demonic forces may be manifested through various Satanic strongholds, deceptions, and hindrances established in the hearts and minds of God's people through their disobedience, unbelief, and compromised allegiance to Christ.
We are told by John the Apostle that "the Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8). This is no less true than when the Spirit of Jesus (Acts 16:7) is poured out upon His people in revival and upon the unregenerate in a spiritual awakening. Therefore, revival is a true power encounter. There is a collision of kingdoms where captives are liberated and new recruits are called forth from death and to serve and give homage to Christ the King (Acts 26:18; Colossians 1:13).
Our prime responsibility during these times of heightened spiritual combat in revival is not to develop an undue focus and fascination with our enemy and his counterfeits, but to thoroughly know the true characteristics and qualities of a genuine work of the Spirit of God. It is here, in the midst of the heightened activity of the Spirit of God, that the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, is our most effective weapon (Ephesians 6:17). In any war there will be wounds and casualties. But, we can reduce the damage in the next great revival battle by preparing ourselves, like the apostle Paul, in the art of kingdom warfare "in order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his schemes" (2 Corinthians 2:11).
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