What is Revival?

What does the Bible say about revival?

The only verse that states the word revival verbatim is found in Ezra 9:8 and this specific verbiage is found only in the New King James translation, where it says, “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.”

This week's podcast, we will explore what the Bible has to say about revival through the eyes of Ezra, a scribe in the days of Israel's return to the promised land to rebuild.

In Ezra 1-3 we learn that:

REVIVAL BEGINS WITH REPENTANCE AND HUMILITY
REVIVAL IS A STIRRING IN THE HEART
REVIVAL RESULTS IN UNITY
REVIVAL IS A FRAGRANT OFFERING TO GOD
REVIVAL KEEPS THE FIRE BURNING

EZRA SERIES:
What is Revival?
Revival is in You
Navigating Roadblocks

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Transcript

REVIVAL

Facebook post by Lee Grady, the director of The Mordecai Project a ministry focused on Healing + Empowering + Protecting Women, he is formerly an editor at Charisma Media.

“SOME CONTEXT FOR THE ASBURY REVIVAL. Asbury University is named after Methodist leader Francis Asbury (1745-1816), who was only 26 when he came to evangelize the American colonies. He became a leader of the 2nd Great Awakening. It’s estimated that he traveled 270,000 miles on horseback preaching and planting Methodist churches. But circuit-riding wasn’t glamorous; prior to 1847 more than half of Methodist circuit riders died before the age of 30 because of animal attacks, exposure to bad weather and the hardships of travel. Their sacrifice was a seed that died in the ground and produced a massive spiritual harvest.
 
 Francis Asbury’s life was marked by white hot spiritual fervor. After being sent to our shores by John Wesley, Asbury wrote: “We must reach every section of America, especially the raw frontiers. We must not be afraid of men, devils, wild animals, or disease. Our motto must always be FORWARD!" Like a modern Joshua, Asbury possessed the land, in spite of his frequent ailments. He never married, perhaps because he knew his sacrificial lifestyle would be difficult for a wife. He was so loved by his Christian brethren that more than 20,000 people followed his coffin when he was buried in Virginia after his death at age 70.
 
 Asbury University is named after this giant of faith. I think it’s fitting that the revival that erupted last week on the campus also reminds us of Francis Asbury. I’m not listening to religious critics who are skeptical of the music being sung at the revival, or worried about “emotionalism,” or which translation of the Bible is being used, or which denominations are represented in the audience. God please forgive us for the cold, heartless Phariseeism that quenches the Holy Spirit. Francis Asbury would have been thrilled to see young people repenting and worshipping Jesus. May this holy fire spread to the world, and may an army of young Francis Asburys be sent out to claim the nations for Jesus.” - this is a Facebook post by Lee Grady

What is revival?

What does the Bible say about revival?

The only verse that states the word revival verbatim is found in Ezra 9:8 and this specific verbiage is found only in the New King James translation, where it says,
 “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.”

At Bountiful Living and in our Christian walk, we should never take a verse and apply it without context, so let’s take a look at why Ezra would ask the Lord to “enlighten their eyes and give them a measure of revival in their bondage.”
 
 Every year our church begins the New Year with a season of fasting and pursuing the Lord.
 In 2022, our pastor preached on Ezra proclaiming a fast [revival] for Israel.
Realizing I had read the book, but never took the time to study it I seized the opportunity to read it along with the book of Nehemiah. These two books of the Bible tell the history of Israel after their captivity by the Babylonian empire which in Ezra’s day is now ruled by Cyrus, the King of Persia. 

Most people are more familiar with stories of Daniel: 
 his fervor for fasting and praying, his ability to interpret dreams and surviving the lion’s den. 
 You may not know that Daniel came to Babylon as a teenager, if you read the text in Daniel chapter one, he was trafficked, a casualty of war. 
 Human trafficking is not a new thing.
 However, because of his intelligence and his appearance and the calling God placed on His life He was placed with his friends in service to the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel went from a servant to being second in command over Persia by the end of his days.  
 The book of Daniel is one of my favorites! 
 There are never enough days to talk about all of the incredible stories in the Bible. 

I am telling you about Daniel before discussing Ezra and Nehemiah it is all part of the grand history of Israel and shows how beautifully God provides, protects and promotes His people.

The book of Ezra picks up near the end of Daniel’s days on earth after Israel spent 70 years in captivity (bondage) – “the consequence for Israel turning away from serving the Lord”

If you look at many of the texts of Israel’s condition it says, “they forgot the Lord and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” The Lord sent prophet after prophet to get them back on track, but they wanted to pursue their way.

You might be asking right about now, why is God’s way the only way?
I heard someone ask on a podcast the other day what all of the Old Testament laws and commands were really about and I found that neither the host, or with the person being interviewed there was no real answer given.
 
Let me try and answer this for you.

The name Ezra means “Help or helper” God sent this prophet to lead Israel back to Judah, to help restore, rebuild all that was lost because of their sin.
 
 REVIVAL BEGINS WITH REPENTANCE AND HUMILITY
In my study Bible one of the notation says that one of the Laws of God was,
“Every 7th year the land was to lie fallow”
 (fallow means the land is left unsown in order to restore fertility.)
This particular LAW is from Exodus 23:10-11 (ESV) it says, “For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, 11 but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard. 12 “Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.”

 Ignoring this law, was not the least of Israel’s sins, but for this specific one, for each sabbath they missed in their 490 years of rebellion – God put them in captivity. He gave them chance, after chance, after chance, but they did not repent and turn from their wickedness. 
 Why would God ask or demand such a thing as rest for the land….you might ask?
 Seems like a silly request…
 
 Let me explain why God wanted them to rest the land. 

I just love studying history and recently learned a bit of our American History I never knew took place, 

The Dust Bowl: which came about in 3 waves throughout 1939-1940

·       Areas Affected: Texas panhandle, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska

·       Many regions experienced an 8 year drought 

·       Consequences of “not resting the land”: human displacement, a long term economic impact

I was studying the book of Ezra after I read the book “The Four Winds” by Kristin Hannah which I am not sure I would recommend, but it left a lasting impact on me of the suffering endured by those directly impacted by the dust bowl was some BRUTAL suffering. 

What we learned as a society from THE DUST BOWL is we must rotate our crops.
 Nutrients are robbed from the soil if you place the same crop in the same land, year after year. 

God’s plan for that law of rest was for our good and also for the good of the soil. 

God understands crops, He understands science, He understands cause and effect.
 God knew how the world was created. He created it.

Many of the laws in the Old Testament that seem ridiculous to us today, had a purpose!
This 7th year of rest, allowing the land lie fallow. 
 It wasn’t to cut in on our crops or profits, but for restoration, for future fertility.
 
 Knowing and understanding things like this, builds my trust in a holy God that only has good in store.
 Like a loving parent, He knows the stove is hot, He knows we shouldn’t run out into the street. 
 His laws are not for restraining us, keeping us from fun, but: 
 God’s Law is for us to dwell in peace 
 to be fruitful, to be healthy, to be holy 
 and not just for our individual self, but for us to dwell with others, 
 to have healthy, loving, safe relationships. His law…was because we are lawless, we needed order.

So if ever anyone asks what those Old Testament Laws are all about, you are now well informed!

Back to this verse in Ezra. ..
 For 490 years God’s people had ignored this statue. 
 The land had missed 70 sabbaths!
 [As prophesied by Jeremiah, just like the Dust Bowl, 
 there is a natural consequence for ignoring God’s ways]

The Spirit of God begins to move in the hearts of men and God surprisingly uses someone who isn’t Jewish, He uses the most powerful man in power at the time, Cyrus, the King of Persia to bless Israel and bless the Lord.

Let’s read Ezra 1:1-4 from the ESV
1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, [it is important to note, this is a fulfilled prophesy]
 the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:

2 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.

5 Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the LORD that is in Jerusalem. 
 
I want to pause to confirm this is how God still stirs hearts today:

REVIVAL, IS A STIRRING IN THE HEART
Asbury had revival in 1905, 1921 and recently in 1970. In an interview I watched on the Intercessors for America website, they interviewed Jeannine Brabon, the person whom the Lord used to birth the 1970 Asbury University revival. She went on to graduate from Asbury University and has served as a missionary for 52 years. 

I also want to want to make a note here and say not everyone left the Babylon, turned Persian empire. Daniel stayed there as a leader and about 60 years after these exiles return to Israel, a remnant would remain in Persia and Queen Esther would ascend to the throne over Persia and save Israelites from genocide.

Picking up in chapter 1 verse 6
 6 And all who were about them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered. 7 Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the LORD that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods. 8 Cyrus king of Persia brought these out in the charge of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. 9 And this was the number of them: 30 basins of gold, 1,000 basins of silver, 29 censers, 10 30 bowls of gold, 410 bowls of silver, and 1,000 other vessels; 11 all the vessels of gold and of silver were 5,400. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up, when the exiles were brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem.”

I am always amazed how the Lord provides for His children. 
 He does something similar when the children of Israel leave their slavery in Egypt as well! 
 He uses the riches of the world powers of the day to bless His people, to rebuild, to restore.

CHAPTER 2, The Exiles Return
We won’t take the time to read this chapter, rather I will summarize to say it lists the names all of the people returning to Israel., it’s text probably reads very similar to a modern-day census: even taking note of the careers of some of these people as priests, singers, gatekeepers, temple servants, 
Ezra 2:64 gives us some specific numbers and states it was 42,360 – counting members of their household this was close to 50,000 people returning to Israel from exile.

REVIVAL RESULTS IN UNITY
 CHAPTER 3 states that as the seventh month came, “The people gathered together as one”
 
 REVIVAL IS A FRAGRANT OFFERING TO GOD
 CREATING AN ALTAR
and in verse 2 one of the priests built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses….So they set up the altar on its foundation, for they were afraid of the people of the land to they offered burnt offering on it to the Lord, burnt offerings morning and evening.
 REVIVAL KEEPS THE FIRE BURNING

Even though the foundation of the temple was not yet laid, they offered offerings to the Lord.

Verse 4 “And they kept the Feast of Booths, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the rule, as each day required, 5 and after that the regular burnt offerings, the offerings at the new moon and at all the appointed feasts of the LORD, and the offerings of everyone who made a freewill offering to the LORD. 6 From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the LORD. But the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid. 7 So they gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and the Tyrians to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had from Cyrus king of Persia.