Revivals

A revival is the moment when a covenant people who have drifted into foreign worship turn back to Yahweh — the gods are put away, the house of Yahweh is cleansed, the law is read again, the people swear themselves once more to the God of their fathers. It is initiated sometimes by a king, sometimes by a priest, sometimes by a prophet, and sometimes by a foreign city. Its outward signs are an idol smashed, a wall rebuilt, a fast proclaimed; its inward sign is a heart that returns. The pattern repeats from Jacob at Bethel to John in the wilderness of the Jordan.

The shape of the turning

Revival in scripture begins with putting away the foreign gods. The pattern is given household by household before it is given nationally: Jacob telling his house, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you⁺, and purify yourselves, and change your⁺ garments" (Gen 35:2). It is given as covenant law before Israel ever enters the land — the altars of Canaan are to be broken down, the pillars dashed in pieces, the Asherim cut down (Ex 23:24; Ex 34:13; Num 33:52; Deut 7:5). When Moses comes down from the mountain to a calf-worshipping camp, he burns the calf, grinds it to powder, and makes the people drink it (Ex 32:20). Whenever the pattern recurs — under Joshua, under Samuel, under Asa, under Hezekiah, under Josiah, under Manasseh — it carries the same verbs: take away, break down, cut down, hew down, put away.

Joshua makes this the closing demand of his life: "fear Yahweh, and serve him in sincerity and in truth; and put away the gods which your⁺ fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt; and serve⁺ Yahweh" (Jos 24:14). Lamentations names the same movement in distress: "Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Yahweh" (Lam 3:40). Hosea gives it as a liturgical formula: "Take with you⁺ words, and return to Yahweh: say to him, Take away all iniquity, and accept that which is good" (Hos 14:2).

Joshua at Gilgal

Israel's first revival on the land's own soil is a circumcision. The wilderness generation has died; their sons, born during the forty years, have not been circumcised. At Yahweh's command Joshua takes flint knives and circumcises the nation a second time, and the place is named Gilgal — "rolling away" — because, Yahweh says, "This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you⁺" (Jos 5:9). The reform precedes the conquest: the people are made whole before they fight (Jos 5:2-9).

Samuel at Mizpah

After the ark has rested twenty years at Kiriath-jearim and "all the house of Israel lamented after Yahweh" (1Sa 7:2), Samuel sets the condition: "If you⁺ are returning to Yahweh with all your⁺ heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you⁺, and direct your⁺ hearts to Yahweh, and serve him only" (1Sa 7:3). The sons of Israel put away the Baalim and the Ashtaroth and "served Yahweh only" (1Sa 7:4). Samuel gathers them to Mizpah, where they draw water and pour it out before Yahweh, fast that day, and confess, "We have sinned against Yahweh" (1Sa 7:6).

Elijah at Carmel

Elijah forces the question Israel has been refusing to answer: "How long do you⁺ go limping between the two sides?" (1Ki 18:21). When fire falls on the drenched altar, the people fall on their faces and cry, "Yahweh, he is God; Yahweh, he is God" (1Ki 18:39). The prophets of Baal are taken to the brook Kishon and slain there (1Ki 18:21-40). Sirach remembers the same prophet as the one "written as ready for the time, To still wrath before the fierce anger of God, To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, And to restore the tribes of Israel" (Sir 48:10).

Asa's covenant assembly

Asa "did that which was good and right in the eyes of Yahweh his God" (2Ch 14:2). He took away the foreign altars and the high places, broke down the pillars and hewed down the Asherim, "and commanded Judah to seek Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment" (2Ch 14:4). His mother Maacah he removed from being queen because she had made a horrible image for an Asherah, and he cut it down and burned it at the brook Kidron (1Ki 15:13).

The Spirit of God comes on Azariah the son of Oded, who meets Asa with a word: "Yahweh is with you⁺, while you⁺ are with him; and if you⁺ seek him, he will be found of you⁺; but if you⁺ forsake him, he will forsake you⁺" (2Ch 15:2). Asa "took courage" at the prophecy; he renewed the altar of Yahweh that was before the porch (2Ch 15:8). He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, with those who had fallen to him out of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon. They sacrificed seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep, and "they entered into the covenant to seek Yahweh, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul" (2Ch 15:12), swearing to Yahweh "with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets" (2Ch 15:14).

Jehoiada and Jehoash

Athaliah's massacre has nearly extinguished the line of David, but Jehoshabeath has hidden the boy Joash in the bedchamber (2Ch 22:11). After seven years Jehoiada the priest sends for the captains of hundreds, brings them into the house of Yahweh, makes a covenant with them and shows them the king's son. He then "made a covenant between [the Speech of] Yahweh and the king and the people, that they should be Yahweh's people; between the king also and the people" (2Ki 11:4-17). The people of the land go to the house of Baal and break it down — "his altars and his images they broke in pieces thoroughly, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars" (2Ki 11:18) — and the priest appoints officers over the house of Yahweh. Joash "did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh all the days of Jehoiada the priest" (2Ch 24:2). Jehoiada's chest at the door of the house, with its bored hole for the silver, funds the temple repair (2Ki 12:9).

Hezekiah's reforms

Hezekiah inherits a kingdom whose father Ahaz has cut up the vessels of the house of God and shut up the doors of the house of Yahweh (2Ch 28:24), making high places to burn incense to other gods in every city of Judah (2Ch 28:25). The new king "did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that David his father had done" (2Ki 18:3). He removes the high places, breaks the pillars, cuts down the Asherah, and breaks in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made — for the sons of Israel had been burning incense to it — calling it Nehushtan (2Ki 18:4). "He trusted in [the Speech of] Yahweh, the God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor [among them] who were before him" (2Ki 18:5). "For he stuck to Yahweh; he did not depart from following him" (2Ki 18:6).

The temple is the next site. Hezekiah's Levites sanctify themselves and go in "to cleanse the house of Yahweh" (2Ch 29:15). Then the king sends letters to all Israel and Judah, even to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to Jerusalem to keep the Passover. Some of Asher and Manasseh and Zebulun "humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem" (2Ch 30:11). When the assembly is finished, all Israel who were present go out to the cities of Judah, "and broke in pieces the pillars, and hewed down the Asherim, and broke down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all" (2Ch 31:1).

Sirach summarizes the reign in a memorial: Hezekiah "fortified his city By bringing water into the midst of it" (Sir 48:17), saw Sennacherib stretch out his hand against Zion (Sir 48:18), and "did that which was pleasing to the Lord, And was strong in the ways of David, Which Isaiah the prophet commanded" (Sir 48:22). He is grouped with the only kings of Judah who did not deal corruptly: "Except David, Hezekiah, And Josiah, they all dealt corruptly, And forsook the law of the Most High,-- The kings of Judah, until their end" (Sir 49:4).

Manasseh's humbling

The most surprising revival belongs to the worst of the kings. Manasseh is taken to Babylon in chains, and "when he was in distress, he implored Yahweh his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers" (2Ch 33:12). Yahweh hears his supplication and brings him back to Jerusalem; "Then Manasseh knew that Yahweh he was God" (2Ch 33:13). The reform follows the conversion: he takes away the foreign gods and the idol out of the house of Yahweh, all the altars he had built in the mount of the house and in Jerusalem, and casts them out of the city (2Ch 33:15). He builds up the altar of Yahweh, offers peace-offerings and thank-offerings on it, and commands Judah to serve Yahweh, the God of Israel (2Ch 33:16).

Josiah and the book of the law

Josiah comes to the throne at eight years old (2Ch 34:1), the king for whom Yahweh's word had spoken three centuries earlier — "a son will be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and on you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places that burn incense on you" (1Ki 13:2). In his eighteenth year he sends Shaphan to the house of Yahweh, and the workmen begin the repair (2Ki 22:3-9). When the book is found, the reform is total. The king commands Hilkiah to bring out of the temple every vessel made for Baal and for the Asherah and for all the host of heaven, and burns them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron (2Ki 23:4); the pillars are broken in pieces, the Asherim cut down, their places filled with man's bones (2Ki 23:14). "Moreover the spiritists, and the wizards, and the talismans, and the idols, and all the detestable things that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah put away, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of Yahweh" (2Ki 23:24). He keeps a Passover at Jerusalem (2Ch 35:1-23). "Josiah took away all the disgusting things out of all the countries that pertained to the sons of Israel, and made all who were found in Israel to serve, even to serve Yahweh their God. All his days they did not depart from following Yahweh, the God of their fathers" (2Ch 34:33).

Sirach's epitaph for him is the longest of any reform-king's: "The name of Josiah is as sweet incense, That is well mixed, the work of the perfumer. The memorial of him is sweet in the palate like honey, And as music at a banquet of wine. For he was grieved at their backslidings, And caused the vain abominations to cease; And he gave his heart wholly to God, And in days of violence he showed kindness" (Sir 49:1-3).

Nineveh

Revival is not confined to Israel. Jonah enters the city with a single sentence — "Yet forty days, and Nineveh will be overthrown" (Jon 3:4) — and "the people of Nineveh believed [the Speech of] God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them" (Jon 3:5). The king rises from his throne, lays aside his robe, covers himself with sackcloth, and sits in ashes (Jon 3:6); his decree extends the fast even to the herd and the flock, and binds the city to "turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in his hands" (Jon 3:8). "And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil which he said he would do to them; and he did not do it" (Jon 3:10).

Ezra and Nehemiah at Jerusalem

After the return, Ezra prays and makes confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God; a very great assembly of men, women, and children gathers, and the people weep intensely (Ezra 10:1). The covenant is made: "let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law" (Ezra 10:3). Nehemiah cleanses the chambers of the house of God and brings back the vessels with the meal-offerings and the frankincense (Neh 13:9), and shuts the gates of Jerusalem against Sabbath traffic (Neh 13:19). Sirach's roll-call of the fathers ends with him: "Nehemiah, glorious is his memory. Who raised up our ruins, And healed our breaches, And set up gates and bars" (Sir 49:13).

Penitential prayer for revival

The Psalter and the prophets carry the prayer that the historical revivals only partly answer. "Restore to me the joy of your salvation; And uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways; And sinners will be converted to you" (Ps 51:12-13). "Turn us again, O God of hosts; And cause your face to shine, and we will be saved" (Ps 80:7). "So we will not go back from you: Quicken us, and we will call on your name" (Ps 80:18). "Will you not quicken us again, That your people may rejoice in [your Speech]?" (Ps 85:6). The cry for quickening — for being made alive — runs all through Psalm 119: "My soul sticks to the dust: Quicken me according to your word" (Ps 119:25); "your [Speech] has quickened me" (Ps 119:50); "Quicken me, O Yahweh, according to your ordinances" (Ps 119:149); "Quicken me, O Yahweh, for your name's sake" (Ps 143:11).

Habakkuk's plea is the verse the historical revivals stand under: "O Yahweh, I have heard the report of you, and am afraid: O Yahweh, revive your work in the midst of the years; In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy" (Hab 3:2). Hosea's third-day formula sets the same hope eschatologically: "After two days he will revive us: on the third day he will raise us up, and we will live before him" (Hos 6:2).

Prophecies of poured-out Spirit

The reform-pattern is given as a future certainty. Isaiah ties the next revival to the Spirit's outpouring: "until the Spirit is poured on us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is esteemed as a forest" (Isa 32:15). Joel sets it as a sign of the latter days: "I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your⁺ sons and your⁺ daughters will prophesy, your⁺ old men will dream dreams, your⁺ young men will see visions" (Joel 2:28). Micah sees the nations themselves come up: "Come⁺, and let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths" (Mic 4:2); they "will beat their swords into plowshares" (Mic 4:3); Yahweh will "assemble that which is lame, and… gather that which is driven away, and that which I have afflicted" and make them a strong nation (Mic 4:6-7). Zechariah hears one city's inhabitants saying to another, "Let us go speedily to entreat the favor of Yahweh, and to seek Yahweh of hosts: I will go also" (Zec 8:21); "many peoples and strong nations will come to seek Yahweh of hosts in Jerusalem" (Zec 8:22); "ten men will take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, they will take hold of the skirt of him who is a Jew, saying, We will go with you⁺, for we have heard that [the Speech of] God is with you⁺" (Zec 8:23).

The wilderness blossoming

Isaiah 35 is the umbrella image for the pattern: a desert turning into a garden under the coming of God. "The wilderness and the dry land will be glad; and the desert will rejoice, and blossom as the rose" (Isa 35:1). "Strengthen⁺ the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees" (Isa 35:3). "Say to those who are of a fearful heart, Be strong, don't be afraid: look, your⁺ God will come [with] vengeance, [with] the recompense of God; he will come and save you⁺" (Isa 35:4). "Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then will the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the mute will sing; for in the wilderness will waters break out, and streams in the desert" (Isa 35:5-6). "And a highway will be there, and a way, and it will be called The Way of Holiness; the unclean will not pass over it; but it will be for [the redeemed]" (Isa 35:8). "And the ransomed of Yahweh will return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy will be on their heads: they will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away" (Isa 35:10).

John the Baptist

The pattern returns at the Jordan with the same Isaian text. "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make⁺ ready the way of Yahweh, Make his paths straight" (Luke 3:4); the word of God comes to John in the wilderness (Luke 3:2), and he goes into all the region around the Jordan "preaching the baptism of repentance to remission of sins" (Luke 3:3). The crowds ask, "What then must we do?" (Luke 3:10), and the moral demands are concrete — share what you have, collect no more than is appointed, extort from no one by violence, accuse no one wrongfully (Luke 3:11-14). The summons is "fruits worthy of repentance" (Luke 3:8).

The Samaritans

Revival is also a single conversation outside a Samaritan town. The woman leaves her waterpot and tells the men of the city, "Come, see a man, who told me all things that I ever did: can this be the Christ?" (John 4:29). They come out, and "from that city many of the Samaritans believed on him because of the word of the woman" (John 4:39). When they meet him, they ask him to stay, and he stays two days; "many more believed because of his word; and they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of your speaking: for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Savior of the world" (John 4:41-42). The fields are already white to harvest (John 4:35), and the harvest is what is gathered into eternal life (John 4:36).

Restoration of Israel

The revival pattern resolves, in the prophets, into the restoration of Israel itself. "I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning: afterward you will be called The city of righteousness, a faithful town" (Isa 1:26). "I will set up an ensign for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth" (Isa 11:12). "Speak⁺ comfortably to Jerusalem; and cry to her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned" (Isa 40:2). Jeremiah hears the answer to the prayer: "Return, you⁺ backsliding sons, I will heal your⁺ backslidings" (Jer 3:22); "I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds, says Yahweh" (Jer 30:17). Hosea: "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for my anger is turned away from him" (Hos 14:4). Micah: "[His Speech] will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities under foot; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea" (Mic 7:19). Zechariah: "My cities will yet overflow with prosperity; and Yahweh will yet comfort Zion, and will yet choose Jerusalem" (Zec 1:17); "I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them back; for I have mercy on them; and they will be as though I had not cast them off" (Zec 10:6); "there will be no more curse; but Jerusalem will dwell safely" (Zec 14:11). Malachi closes the canon's restoration line: "Then will the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant to Yahweh, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years" (Mal 3:4). Sirach prays the same thing forward: "Gather all the tribes of Jacob, That they may receive their inheritance, as in days of old" (Sir 36:11).

The life that is given

Behind every revival in the historical record stands the prayer that Yahweh would give what no king or priest can manufacture. The Psalter calls it being quickened. Jeremiah calls it healing. Hosea calls it being raised on the third day. John records what Jesus says to the same: "For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he will" (John 5:21). "It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I have spoken to you⁺ are spirit, and are life" (John 6:63).