WHAT IS REAL REVIVAL?
On February 8, 2023, events on the campus of Asbury University, a 133-year-old historic holiness college in Wilmore, Kentucky, continue to capture the attention of Christian and secular new agencies. Social media outlets have further spread the word of what is being taken as a student-led genuine spiritual revival - something exceedingly rare even on conservative Christian college campuses in 21st-century America.
Let's begin with the word revival. From a secular view, revival can be defined as "A restoration to use, acceptance, activity, or vigor after a period of obscurity or quiescence." https://www.wordnik.com/words/revival.
From a Christian view, a revival has always been understood as a turning back to God in humility and repentance.
It is interesting (and somewhat astonishing) to learn that the word revival is rarely found in any of our English translations (historic or modern).
We find it translated only once in the Old Testament: "And now for a little while grace has been shown from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and give us a measure of revival in our bondage" (Ezra 9:8) from the New King James Version published in 1982).
In the New Testament we find it once: "Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of revival may come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19) from the Weymouth New Testament first published in 1903).
The word revival in most other translations is rendered as "refreshing."
However, the word revive is more often used to translate the intent of a revival 19 times in the Old Testament, but none in the New Testament.
Perhaps the most instructive verse is "Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, So that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth" (Psalms 119:88 NASV).
Now, if we understand revival in a Biblical context, we can accept it as a movement of God upon the hearts of His people whereby the Holy Spirit is drawing them to repentance, and holy living. It's not complicated.
Yes, theologians see a difference between an evangelistic effort in which the lost are called to salvation and a revival in which the converted are called to return to their first love, but the two are one in that the goal of each is essentially the same. Furthermore, the lost may be saved during times of revival, and the saved may be brought back to their first love during an evangelistic effort.
A real revival has two components: a beginning and a goal.
A real revival begins with the recognition of Jesus as Lord. The Apostle Paul said it this way: "Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, 'Jesus is accursed; ' and no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit" ( I Corinthians 12:3 NASV).
A real revival is characterized by lifting up Jesus as Lord. Whether it breaks out on a college campus, at a weekend meeting in a local church, or in the deep privacy of one's spirit, if it focuses on the Lordship of Jesus, it is real.
There is one thing the world, and the prince of this fallen world will never promote, and that is the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
The goal of real revival is holy living. Will everyone who experiences revival repent and move on to a life of holiness? No, not everyone, but without revival whether corporate or individual, how can the wayward be brought to genuine repentance and subsequently return to growth in the grace of holy living - kept for the Master's use?
Jesus makes this clear in what is often termed the Parable of the Sower. "Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God" (Luke 8:11 NASV). "But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance" (Luke 8:15 NASV).
I believe in real revival. My wife and I were "saved" during a local church revival service. We repented, accepted Jesus as Lord, and have since that moment persevered. Not by personal power, but by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit empowering us to persevere with joy unspeakable and full of glory!
So, do I believe the revival emanating from the campus of Asbury University is real? Because it proclaims Jesus as Lord, it cannot be otherwise.
Will the goal be realized? Yes, as far as those who have repented remain true to their Lord with "an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance" (Luke 8:15 NASV). "For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness" (I Thessalonians 4:7 KJV).
"Revive us again, fill each heart with thy love. May each soul be rekindled with fire from above" (W.P. Mackay 1867).
THAT IS REAL REVIVAL!
