Derek Thomas on Revival

From this week's First Epistle, the weekly newsletter of First Presbyterian Church Jackson, MS.

UNDERSTANDING THE TIMES

Prophet Isaiah's Prayer by Dr. Derek Thomas

At the end of the magnificent "Christ-centered" prophecy of Isaiah, the prophet glimpses the new heavens and new earth (Isa. 65:17; 66:22; cf. 2 Pet. 3:13; Rev.21:1). He sees things as one day they will be when this creation, currently groaning under duress (Rom. 8:19-23), will be transformed. Shortly before that, he utters a cri de coeur for the present world: "Oh that You would rend the heavens and come down" (Isa. 64:1).

This is a prayer that God would come down and make His inescapable presence as the Holy One, mighty and majestic, known. Other ways of saying this in the Bible are that God "awakes," "arises," "visits," and "draws near" (see Psa. 44:23-26; 69:18; 80:14).

What happens when this prayer is answered can be seen in the many revivals of true religion through the centuries, and in essence it is this: God's Word comes home to the heart in a fresh, corrective, controlling way so that Christians find themselves reading it, pouring over their Bibles as never before, eager to know what God is teaching them. Eager, too, to do whatever Scripture commands, their hearts filled with renewed gratitude to God's grace in the gospel.

With this prayer comes a renewed love for holiness; Believers find themselves humbled as never before: sin has taken hold of them afresh, but with conviction comes a fresh sense of gospel grace - grace is truly amazing once more and the affections are stirred again to praise and adoration.

Where do we see this in Scripture? Try the narratives of awakening under the Asa, Hezekiah, Josiah, and Ezra for starters (2 Chron. 15, 29-31, 34-35; Ezra 9-10; Neh. 8-10). Then turn to prayerful psalms that envision something over and above the ordinary (e.g. Pss. 44, 67, 80 and 85). Then browse the history books of the lives of such folk as Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, John Wesley, Robert Murray McCheyne, and you will see that what Isaiah longed for has been a reality in the past.

God can do so today - turn our sluggish hearts to a rediscovery of the living God in such a way that churches are full once more - full, that is, not of social Christians attending because society expects them but who, in reality, find the labor arduous and wished that they could be elsewhere. When revival comes there is an awareness of God's presence, a responsiveness to Scripture, a sensitivity to sin, a joyful amazement at the generousness of the gospel, and a liveliness in church activity.

Pie in the sky? Only if you think Isaiah was whistling in the dark.

Pray for revival - a genuine, biblically shaped revival. But only if you want to change from what you are now. what you are now.