Revival - Part 3 — Doc Greenway

Now, as we mentioned last Tuesday evening, I want to speak tonight on the expectation of revival. We saw last Tuesday evening that faith is one of the prerequisites for revival, one of the elements that must be recognized, one of the principles that has to be in action.

Faith Must Rest on the Promises of God

And it is also true that faith must have as its focus the promises of God. If faith for revival is centered anywhere else, then our expectation is sure to be cut off. When we talk about faith for revival, we're not thinking of faith in ourselves, surely, but faith in the promises that God has made concerning the great outpouring of his Spirit, which we believe will take place in the near future.

You dare to believe it? Amen. Now, undoubtedly, there are many promises in the Bible concerning revival. And during the time that I've been absent from you, I've been very busy looking out some of these promises, and I've been amazed at how rich the Word of God is in prophecies and promises and prayers concerning this great theme.

But because these are found mainly in the Old Testament, there are some who would have us believe that, therefore, the application of the promise or of the prophecy is to the nation and not to the Church.

Now, those who argue in this way might as well coin a new beatitude, "...blessed is he that expecteth nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.". However, much of the Old Testament teaching, its prophecies, its promises, and even its prayers have a local and literal application to the nation of Israel.

We accept this. But surely this does not exhaust the application of these things. Surely there must be a secondary and spiritual application of what is local and literal in the first place. If this is not so, then a great deal of God's Word is completely meaningless for us.

After all, if all Scripture, as we read, is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, truly furnished unto all good works, then it means what it says.

And all Scripture, therefore, must have some application even to us. Think of this line of reasoning that people seem to advocate when they talk to you in gloomy sort of language about the impossibility of seeing any outpouring in our day.

When they say, well, all these things were spoken in the Old Testament times and therefore they have this dispensational setting and they do not have any application to us. Suppose you were to apply that to the tabernacle in the wilderness.

I wonder how they would feel if you were to say, well, then, the tabernacle, the laver of brass, the golden lampstand, the brazen altar, the table of showbread, the incense altar, all this has no application at all to us.

I can't believe for one moment that they would accept that. They would say at once, but the altar points to Christ, surely, the laver of regeneration to regeneration by the Spirit. The golden lampstand points to the light of the world, the table of showbread to the bread of life, the incense altar reminding us of our intercession before the throne of God.

Surely it has some application for us. And of course, it certainly has. But I believe that just as really, these Old Testament prophecies and promises which relate to revival have an application for us in this day.

Think for instance of the Psalms of David. Imagine a verse like this, for in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion, in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me, Psalm 27, and to say that this doesn't apply to us, it will only apply to the psalmist.

Hudson Taylor was once reading Ezekiel 34, 26, I will cause the shower to come down in his season, there shall be showers of blessing. On this one verse alone, he predicted that God was about to do a new thing, and on the basis of this one promise alone, he claimed his first 100 missionaries and he got them.

But surely, you're not going to say he was out of order. If he was, then he was gloriously amiss, I would say, because he certainly had the reward of his faith. Again, when God speaks to the prophet Isaiah in this way, the Lord shall satisfy thy soul in drought, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not, that's Isaiah 58, 11.

Does this mean that this promise has no application to anyone outside the nation of Israel, and to no time apart from that day and age? How could he believe such a thing? When you listen to the voice of Jesus in the last day, the great day of the feast, when he cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Why? If anyone thirst, he said. If anyone believes on me, let him come. But surely this applies to the nation of Israel, we are told.

And he was crying out to them when he said these words. Well now, if this is so, then in the 39th verse, what's going to happen? But this speak he of the Spirit, says John, which they that believe on him should receive.

For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because the Jesus was not yet glorified. This points to Pentecost, and to the revival that followed Pentecost. Are we then going to say that this only applies to the Jews?

That's ridiculous in the light of New Testament teaching. When you read, As the scripture hath said, as Jesus says, where is the scripture? It has to be in the Old Testament somewhere, you'd say. But there is no recorded scripture that has the words of Jesus as its literal text.

Yet Isaiah 58, 11, from which I've quoted, is certainly one passage which expresses its meaning. And I suppose if you were to couple it with Isaiah 44, 3, I will pour water on him that is thirsty, praise the Lord, and floods upon the dry ground, well then that just would have covered every facet of the Master's invitation.

How foolish it is then to argue in this way, that because these scriptures are in the Old Testament, they have an application only to Israel. They have an application only to that day and age. There is a primary application, there is a literal application, certainly to the nation.

We accept this. But there is a secondary spiritual application to every believer who dares to lay his faith upon that word. Now once you've established this principle, then what a tremendous area opens up to you.

All these Old Testament prophecies and promises, all that is involved in them, becomes your inheritance by faith in the spiritual application which can be made of these wonderful promises. You see, the Apostle Peter certainly did this, didn't he, on the day of Pentecost.

Peter Applies Joel’s Prophecy to the Church

When he took the prophecy of Joel chapter 2, lifted it out of its Old Testament setting, and dared to apply it to the church age, Acts 2, 16 and 17. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.

And it shall come to pass in the last day, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.

Undoubtedly, the latter half of Joel's prophecy from which Peter quoted, has a primary and literal application to the nation itself. And it will take place, it will be fulfilled, when Israel is restored to her own land.

But let's turn to this prophecy for a moment. Joel 2, verse 12 forward. There are certain things I want you to notice here. First, the nation is reassembled, verses 15 and 16. Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and so on.

The people have responded to the voice of Jehovah, and the priests of the Lord are contrite in heart. God has reassembled a nation, verse 17. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, spare thy people, O Lord, and so on.

Surely this is quite literal. The second thing to notice is that the reproach is removed from the nation, verses 18 and 19. Then will the Lord be jealous for his land, and pity his people, and so on. I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen, for Jehovah is about to restore to them the corn and wine and oil, and they shall be satisfied.

Again, it's quite literal. The third thing, the enemy is repulsed, verse 20. But I will remove far from you the northern army, and so on. This is the divine intervention that carries the day for Israel, when the Lord appears as the man of war in the midst of them.

Again, this is literal. Four, the prosperity that they once enjoyed is restored to the nation, verses 21 to 27. Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice, for the Lord will do great things. The pasture lands will grow, the fruit trees will bear again, God promises the rain, the former rain and the latter rain, and as a result, there will be abundance of wheat and wine and oil, pestilence will be removed from the land, there will be a time of plenty for everybody, and they will know that the Lord is in the midst of them.

All this is to be literally fulfilled. The former rain is the rain which prepares the ground for plowing. Then comes the rain, that's Geshun, the heavy winter rain to soak the earth and fill all the cisterns.

Then comes the latter rain, Malkosh, this is the spring rain, filling up the ears of corn, the rain of the ingathering. And so all this is quite literal. Then immediately following, you have this prophecy that relates to the outpouring of the Spirit.

Verses 28 to 32, It shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh. After all this, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, so that quite literally the people will be revived.

When? After they are restored to their land. When worldwide blessing will come through the nation of Israel, restored by God. So you see, Joel's prophecy has not been fulfilled in its literal application.

Yet on the day of Pentecost, Peter takes hold of this prophecy, changes the word afterward and says, In the last day, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh. So under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Peter reveals that the predicted latter rain of the outpoured Spirit is also to apply to the church age, even though it has not as yet been fulfilled in the nation of Israel.

It is to be applied as a promise of God to you and to your children and to all them that are afar off. Even as many as the Lord our God shall call to himself. What a tremendous thing this is. In his sermon from the porch of the temple, Peter challenges his hearers with these words, Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord, and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you.

So before Jesus returns, Peter says, there will be seasons of refreshing, times of revival, and these are to be experienced right throughout the church age from the day of Pentecost until Jesus returns again.

So it's clear that this principle of duality in application does apply to predictions in the Old Testament which relate to revival and to us in these days, praise God. Firstly, the primary and literal application has to be made.

Secondly, a secondary and spiritual application is made to the church. And again I say this opens up a tremendous area in relation to this great subject of revival, does it not? For here is included all the prophecies, all the promises, all the precepts, all the prayers even, that have ever been uttered within the compass of Scripture relating to this great subject.

And all of it may be applied to us in its secondary and spiritual application. And indeed, that's all we want, isn't it? We don't want the literal promises of Israel. But God knows we do want the spiritual fulfillment in our day and age.

Isaiah 35 and the Five Effects of Revival

Now I'd like to look at a comparatively short chapter in the Old Testament, the 35th chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah, just to see how this principle works out. Isaiah chapter 35. In chapter 34 there is a vivid account of how Jehovah deals with Eden, the enemy of God's people who had suppressed him.

And for us it is a reminder that revival is a time when God appears to bind Satan's power for a season and releases his people from bondage. Having dealt with our enemy, God shows then what revival is all about and what it is intended to accomplish in our lives.

And there are five important steps to notice in this unfolding prophecy. First of all, there is a promised transformation. Verses 1 and 2. The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.

It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it. The excellency of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God.

The wilderness, that's the moral wilderness surely, which is the world. The solitary place is the dry, parched, waterless place without springs of water. They shall be glad for them. That is, the world itself will be glad for the saints of God when they are revived because, as the cry was in the Welsh revival, revive the Church and save the world.

The world itself becomes affected when God's people are revived. When the Church, conscious of its need, cries out at last in the language of the psalmist, that God arise, let his enemies be scattered, let them also that hate him flee from him, then the world of sinful men comes under deep conviction by the Spirit of God.

This is a preparatory work of the Holy Spirit in evangelizing the unsaved. Inevitably, revival of the Church means a rekindling of the passion for souls that we all ought to have. Then indeed, the desert shall rejoice and blossom as a rose, if our Satan no longer has the initiative.

But it is handed to the Church, awakened by the Spirit, and we are expected to use that initiative in the salvation of souls. You know, the revival under Wesley meant that instead of an industrial revolution in England, the day was saved for the world.

And so instead of sadness, there is gladness. The wilderness and solitary place shall be glad for them. Instead of ugliness, there is attractiveness. The desert shall blossom like the rose. Literally, the meadows suffer so that the desert becomes like a meadow in its pleasantness.

Instead of depravity, there is glory. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God.

Lebanon's glory was the majesty of her cedars. Carmel's glory was the beauty of her situation. Sharon's glory was the fertility of her land. And yet, although majesty and beauty and fertility, in a spiritual sense, are features of every revival, the true glory belongs to the Lord Himself, not to the transformed people.

Divine Intervention and Mutual Encouragement

For you read, they shall see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God. So there is a promised transformation which takes place when revival is poured out upon the people of God. The second thing, there is a promised intervention, verses 3 and 4.

Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not. Behold, your God shall come with vengeance, even God with a recompense. He will come and save you.

Revival is a time of divine intervention. And I believe that there is an influence then upon the people of God which moves through them to their fellow members in the body of Christ. Here is the effect upon God's people, a deep concern for those who belong to them in the bonds of Jesus.

Now, this is the ecumenical movement with which I am in complete agreement, because behind this is the loving Holy Spirit Himself. Those who are reconciled to God cannot be unreconciled to each other.

This stands to reason, doesn't it? So, here you have the people of God encouraging each other in the things of God. There is an encouragement of service, first of all. Strengthen ye the weak hands. Hands always speak of service.

For although service is limited, yet servants are needed. And because of frustration, because of a lack of confidence, because of disappointment, there are many whose service is not what it should be in the cause of Christ.

But here it is, when God comes in revival, then there is a real involvement with our fellow members and a concern to help them and to encourage them. There is also an encouragement of stability. Confirm the feeble knees.

That is, for those who are wavering because of temptation and trial, encourage them to stand fast, and having done all, to stand. Revival brings a sense of real personal involvement with others in their particular need, with our brethren in Christ, that they may be encouraged to work for God.

And then there is an encouragement to trust. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense. He will come and save you.

The fearful heart is literally the fluttering heart. Remind them, he seems to say, that the battle is the Lord, that He will deal with the opposition, that deliverance is assured. He will come and save you.

Spiritual Sight, Hearing, Healing, and Utterance

Therefore, fear not. Do you know that there are 365 fear nots in the Bible? One for every day. So here is a promised intervention that God gives to His people. Three, there is a promised restoration. Verses 5 and 6, the first part of verse 6.

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an heart, and the tongue of the dumb sing. How lovely these words are, aren't they?

Revival is a time of miraculous intervention and manifestation of the power of God, both physically in healing miracles and spiritually in personal deliverances. The gifts of the Spirit, including healing and miracles, have never been withdrawn from God's Church.

But unfortunately, the Church has withdrawn herself experientially from the heavenly places where alone they can be made manifest. But in times of revival, the Church gets back, not only positionally, but experientially to heavenly places.

And then, indeed, the miracles occur. So the blind shall see, not only physically, but spiritually as well. Eyes will be anointed by the Spirit in revival, and they will see wondrous things out of God's love.

They will see, for instance, the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous. Or as John saw them, like a flame of fire. They will see the ears of the Lord open, not simply unto their cry, but as the word really means, into their cry.

God stooping down into the midst of the cry of His people. They will see the face of the Lord and the glory of the Lord. For the eyes of their heart will be opened when revival comes. They will see the feet of the Lord burning like silver brass, as though they burned in a furnace.

And they will know that He walks with them through the fires of affliction and testing. The blind shall see, and the deaf shall hear. In revival there is a spiritual sensitivity to the voice of the Eternal.

And I am sure that this is a very, very necessary thing, that we should be trained to hear and to know and to recognize the voice of God. When revival comes, there is this sensitivity to God's voice, this awareness that He is speaking, and what He is speaking.

The deaf shall hear. The lame shall leap like the man at the beautiful gate of the temple, leap for joy. In revival times, those who once walked the king's highway with dragging feet, limping along because they were ensnared by sin, now they leap for the sheer joy of deliverance.

They know that God has come in to their situation. And the dumb shall sing. Having regard for the imagery that is used throughout this prophecy, I don't think we have to confine it here simply to singing, but think rather of utterance in general.

You know, I've been told by old men in Wales that during the days of the revival, even the pit ponies had to learn a new language, because when the miners were converted, they no longer cursed and swore at the poor pit ponies.

So, the dumb shall speak as well as sing, and there shall be a new kind of utterance. When the Church is revived, the saints will not merely shout and sing for joy, but they're able to testify, to tell others what great things the Lord has done for them.

And I think this includes utterance in prayer as well. And it may be it's going to take a mighty hard pouring before some people will have liberty and freedom in this area. But here's the promise to the dumb, what a marvelous promise it is.

I remember reading of J. Oswald Smith, who was in one great revival, and he said that he witnessed a scene one night which he would never forget. So many people came forward under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, that the aisles were thronged, and they couldn't get through to counsel these people.

And the men in charge didn't know what to do. And suddenly there was a mighty wave of spontaneous prayer that arose from the whole company, all praying together, confusion, glorious confusion. They were praying to God, and he could hear them.

It doesn't matter who was praying. But this is what happened, tremendous utterance in prayer. And this is what does happen when revival comes. There's a promised restoration to liberty when God pours out of His Spirit upon His people.

Provision as the Outpouring of the Spirit

For there is a promised provision, verses 6 and 7,. For in the wilderness shall waters break forth, and streams in the desert, and the parched ground, the Hebrew is the word shalom, the mirage shall become a pool, that is, a real lake of water, and the thirsty land springs of water, in the habitation of dragons, really jackals, where each lay shall be grass with reeds and rushes, and reeds and rushes demand water in order to grow.

Now as we've seen, revival is symbolized by water gushing up from springs, pouring down in copious showers of rain, flowing out in mighty rivers. And so here water in the wilderness, streams in the desert, pools in the dry ground, springs in the thirsty land.

And I will cause the shower to come down in His season. There shall be showers of blessing, says God to the prophet Ezekiel. Soul thirst for God is slick in revival showers in the rivers of living water.

For in revival it is God proclaiming with great power, Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth. Shall ye know it? I hope we do. I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Holiness, Simplicity, and Security on the Way of Revival

That's Isaiah 43 and 19. And then there is a promised consummation, verses 8 to 10. And a highway shall be there and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for those.

The wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon. It shall not be found there, but redeemed shall walk there. And ransomed with the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their head.

They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. God's objective in revival is to lead His people back into a vital fellowship with His living presence. For the Israelites this meant returning to Zion, but for us it means getting back to God.

The necessity for revival always presupposes a declension, a backsliding from God, a falling away, an estrangement. And it is this that gives rise to the sorrow and sighing which is mentioned here, that sorrow and sighing which is to be swept away by joy and gladness because of Jehovah's presence.

And that's the background here. But for us the application is spiritual. Revival is the way of sanctity. It shall be called the way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for those, that is, for the saints of the Lord.

So as Joshua commanded the people, the Spirit exhorts us tonight, sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in His holy place?

He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. This is a holy way. God says to you and to me, and I will sanctify my great name which was profaned among the heathen, which he hath profaned in the midst of them.

And the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God. And I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. That's Ezekiel 36 and 23. What a promise! Revival is the way of simplicity. The wayfaring men, though fool, shall not err therein.

That is, the wayfaring men, though simple, shall not go astray in it. Because the message of revival is always simple and uncomplicated. It deals with essential things, the plight of man outside the grace of God, the might of God in redemption through Jesus Christ.

These are revival themes. Revival themes have never consisted in embroidered essays on triviality. But it addresses itself to the fundamental needs of mankind. Man's sin, what is it? Man's saviour, who is he?

These are the questions which are answered in the preaching of revival. And so the wayfaring men, though simple, shall not go astray in this fact. Revival is the way of security, verse 9. No lion shall be there, for any ravenous beast shall go up thereon.

It shall not be found there. It is a reminder that in spite of all the objections of uninformed believers who equate revival with emotionalism and ecstatic manifestation, and in spite of the antagonism of Satan himself, who goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, the presence of God is sovereign in revival.

Revival as the Way of Unity

The man who walks the revival road takes heed of the psalmist's injunction. He shall not be afraid of evil tiding. His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. Then revival is a way of unity. The end of verse 9 and verse 10.

Those who experience revival are united by a tremendous experience. The redeemed of the Lord shall walk there. The ransomed of the Lord shall return. This is a descriptive term that fuses together the people of God.

It's bigger than denomination, bigger than any sectarianism, bigger than church membership and all the chivalrous that divide the flock of God. Revival sweeps away the walls of dogmatism, levels the ground of doctrinal overemphasis, removes the blinkers of isolation and exclusivism, if only for a comparatively short space of time.

But it is a uniting experience when we discover that we are brothers and sisters in Christ, that we are all redeemed by the same precious blood and ransomed by the same living Lord. And this is the important thing.

Then we are united in a glorious expression. They shall come to Zion with song. Revival is accompanied by songs of praise and worship. It has always been this way. There were days in Wales when they got into service and the whole service was taken up with spontaneous singing.

No one knew to begin with what kind of a service it would be, of course. But it became a spontaneous expression of song, bringing glory and praise to God and bringing blessing to the people. And revival is a way of unity because we are united with a gracious effusion and everlasting joys upon their heads.

They have learned in revival what it means to have beauty for ashes and the oil of joy for mourning. This everlasting joy upon their heads is a reference to the custom of pouring oil upon the head as a sign of gladness.

Remember how David said, I shall be anointed with fresh oil. And so in the New Testament such expressions as pour out, shed forth, shed abroad are used of the Holy Spirit to describe this glorious effusion of the Spirit of God.

So revival is a time when God graciously anoints His people with the Holy Spirit and with power. As after the day of Pentecost the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and of one soul, so in revival times the people of God are under the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

The oil of gladness is upon their heads and this gracious effusion amalgamates and unifies them. They are united through a precious endowment. They shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

What a wonderful promise this is. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, says the psalmist, we were like them that dreamed. Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing.

This is the time when God fulfills His wondrous promise. I will also clothe her priests with salvation and her saints shall shout aloud for joy. In the first revival after Pentecost, when Philip went down to preach, you remember, in Samaria there was great joy in that city.

So may it be in Hamilton, in Taronga, in Auckland, in all the cities and towns of the North and South Islands of New Zealand, may there be such an outpouring of God by His Spirit that it may be said in every place, and great joy was in that city.

Remember now there is a price to be paid for revival. Don't forget that it is out of the broken kindling of our own submissiveness that revival fires are born. There is a price to be paid for revival.

And next Tuesday night, God willing, I would like to talk about that price. May God bless His Word to our hearts. Let us pray. Eternal God, we thank Thee and praise Thee because Thou hast shown us in Thy Word the wonder of Thy promises relating to this great theme of revival.

We ask only that Thou would enable us by Thy Holy Spirit's power to lay hold upon these promises and by faith to make them our very own, none daring to make us afraid. Prepare our hearts, O Lord, and help us to be willing to pay the price for revival, whatever the cost may be.

We ask this for Jesus' sake. Amen.