Such is the state of our modern world that we long for God to send revival of religion upon us all. The greatness of societal decline, allied with spiritual weakness of so many churches in the Western world, burdens the soul and constrains us to cry in our hearts to God to visit us again with an outpouring of His divine and heavenly grace.
What do we mean by a revival of religion? It is an outpouring of His Holy Spirit upon a community, church or even nation. The effects of a religious revival are a reflection of what happened on the Day of Pentecost, as recorded for us in Acts chapter two.
Some of the events which occurred on Pentecost in Acts 2 were unique to that day and will not be repeated. This is especially true of the gift of speaking in ‘tongues’, or in foreign languages. This gift, given to the early church leaders, was because they needed to preach to men and women from many foreign countries, the names of which are found in Acts 2.
The New Testament age began on Pentecost, and with it began the colossal task of taking the gospel of Christ to ‘all the world’ (Mark 16:15). To do this the Apostles of Christ and their assistants needed to have the miraculous gift of speaking fluently in the languages of the nations to which they took the gospel of salvation.
It is a mistake to suppose God gave this gift to Christians in all ages. The gift of ‘tongues’ ceased about the year 100 AD. By that time a start had been made to plant the church in various nations round the Mediterranean sea. These nations, mentioned in a New Testament, comprised people who spoke Greek, Latin and other languages.
Revival occurred in Jerusalem at Pentecost. By revival we mean that God’s Holy Spirit gave great power to the gospel which was preached. Many began to scoff at the phenomenon of revival at first (Acts 2:13). But before long multitudes were ‘pricked in their heart’ (Acts 2:37) and began to cry out for forgiveness and salvation, saying, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ (Acts 2: 37).
Revival is a supernatural work of God by means of which He convicts great numbers of people of their sin. As a result they cry out for forgiveness and sincerely seek to be shown the way of salvation by Christ. In Acts 2 we read that in one day three thousand souls were brought to a profession of faith in Christ (Acts 2:41).
The events of Pentecost are typical of what God’s work of grace brings about in revival. People ask for baptism upon profession of their faith. There is unity, love and spiritual joy among church members and there are new members added ‘daily’ to the church (Acts 2: 42-47).
One of the important features of revival is that preaching is powerful and awakens careless sinners to realise the realities of the unseen world: sin and its sinfulness, God and His holiness, Christ and His power to save the soul and thereby make us into new men and women by His grace.
God has sent down revival to bless and increase His church on many occasions. It is important to remember what God has done in the past. In 1548 in England so many came to church to hear Latimer preach that the pews cracked under the weight of the crowds! Great blessing similarly occurred in New Jersey, USA in 1745 during the ministry of David Brainerd. In 1799 when John Elias preached in the Isle of Anglesey (in Wales) the whole congregation was spiritually and morally transformed ‘from Sodom to a sanctuary’, as it was said.
One of the most wonderful of all the revivals of the past occurred in the year 1859-60. It began in Canada, came to America, had a profound influence on Northern Ireland, brought thousands of people in Scotland to a saving knowledge of Christ and brought incalculable spiritual blessing also to other countries. For example, in London about this date C. H. Spurgeon admitted a thousand new persons into the membership of the Metropolitan Tabernacle.
A revival is not a humanly-organised evangelistic campaign. It is a sovereign work of God in which the Holy Spirit is graciously at work convicting and converting sinners.
Many other revivals have occurred in the past. But the evidence is enough to stir us to see how extremely important the subject of religious revival is – and how relevant to our own dark and cloudy day.
God is well able to again send revival to our needy countries. But it is imperative for us to see and to feel in our heart of hearts the profound need we have for God to do His great work of awakening again in our own time. Perhaps we should lay to heart this humbling text which God gives us: ‘Ye have not because ye ask not’ (James 4:2).
There are so many sad influences in modern society which seek to shut out truth and godliness. New and unbiblical ways of thinking have crept into home, work, school and church. These new ways of thinking have made society blind to the danger of sinning against God. Marital faithfulness, our God-given sexual identity, our need to prepare for death, judgement and eternity – all these things have made our present-day society blind to what we all most need: pardon for sin, a new heart, hope of heaven, acceptance by our Maker and Judge in the day when Christ shall judge us all.
How can our nations be brought back to what they once were in times when church-life was vigorous and the Bible was in every home? Surely the answer is just this: Revival. O let us cry out to God night and day and say, ‘O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years’ (Habakkuk 3:2).
