Table of Content
What is revival then? Christmas Evans (1766-1838), a Baptist pastor who was known for setting up a strong Baptist community in North Wales, UK; he defined revival as: "Revival is God bending down to the dying embers of a fire that just about to go out, abd breathing into it, until it bursts again into flame." (Quote: Christmas Evans, Welsh Revival Preacher)
How did revival come to Jerusalem in the book of Nehemiah? When Nehemiah wrote chapter 1 of Nehemiah, the city was in ruin. Indeed, after the rebuilding of the wall of the city Jerusalem; revival also came along, which was seen in Nehemiah chapter nine. The Jews returned to the Lord from their backsliding conditions, and laws of Moses were once again embraced by the people. Repentance was noticed when the people confessed their ancestral sins and their personal sins.
INTRODUCTION:
The book of
Nehemiah opens with a description of a tragic event in Jerusalem.
“In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year,
while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah
with some other men, and I questioned
them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about
Jerusalem. They said to me, ‘Those who survived the exile and are back in the
province are in great trouble and
disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned
with fire.’” (Nehemiah 1:1-3 NIV)
Nehemiah
took the trouble to enquire the returnees on the condition of Jerusalem. The
people were in trouble and in disgrace, and the walls and gates of the city of Jerusalem
were broken.
The wall
had been broken down by the Babylonian invasion in 586 B.C. Two groups had
returned from captivity to Jerusalem over the last one hundred years. There is
no historical evidence that the wall of Jerusalem had been rebuilt before
Nehemiah arrived. The Jews attempted to
rebuild the wall but was opposed and King Artaxerxes gave a decree to stop
building the wall as recorded in Ezra, “Now
issue an order to these men to stop work, so that this city will not be rebuilt
until I so order” (Ezra 4:21 NIV).
“All truth is parallel”[1]
(Quote Morris Cerullo).
The desolation
of the physical state also reflects their spiritual bankruptcy. Therefore, the book
of Nehemiah is not restricted to the rebuilding of the physical state – about
building walls and gates; instead the book of Nehemiah is also dealing with the
reviving of the hearts and minds of the people to love and obey God, about
confessing their sins and returning to a relationship with their Lord.
Indeed, after the rebuilding of the wall of the city Jerusalem; revival also came along, which was seen in Nehemiah chapter nine. The Jews returned to the Lord from their backsliding conditions, and laws of Moses were once again embraced by the people. Repentance was noticed when the people confessed their ancestral sins and their personal sins.
How does
revival apply to modern day local church? A local church is both an
organization and an organism. As an organization, a local church has its
organization structure based upon the practice of its denomination. As an
organism, a local church will go through 4 cycles: birth, growth, aging and death. Revival will
be relevant when a local church is at the 3rd and the 4th cycle, i.e. when a
local church is aging and facing death caused by membership reduction,
division, strife, unconfessed sins etc.
Thus, a dying local church requires revival so that the dying embers of
fire can re-ignite into flame again.
The book of
Nehemiah chapter one shows us three
pre-requisites for revival to fall into a community.
The three
pre-requisites for revival is universal in application, both for the past and
the current. It applies to Nehemiah’s rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem and
subsequent revival in Nehemiah chapter 8 and 9; it also applies to any aging
and dying local church, so that its embers of fire can once again catch into
flame.
#1 PRE-REQUISITE FOR REVIVAL - BROKENNESS
When Nehemiah heard about the
deplorable condition of Jerusalem from the returnees, he wept and mourned
before the Lord, “When I heard these
things, I sat down and wept. For
some days I mourned and fasted and
prayed before the God of heaven.” (Nehemiah 1:4 NIV) Why
did he weep and mourn? This was because he was totally humbled by the
desolation as he was helpless to address the predicament. He fully realized
that the current king was the one that decreed a stop building the walls. With
the decree to stop building the walls, it was impossible to reverse the
decision.
He knew that by his own strength, he couldn’t do anything to rebuild the walls. He understood of his limitations, and he was bankrupt spiritually to do such a project. He was fully humbled by his limitation. His mourning and weeping reflected an innermost heart condition called brokenness, and brokenness is also described by another term in the bible as “contrite heart”. Another element of Christian walk closely related to brokenness is humility. In fact, brokenness and humility are twin brothers, they are inseparable and they often appear side by side in the scripture.
This is the one I esteem, he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.” (Isaiah. 66:2 NIV)
Another
instant where humility and brokenness appear hand in hand is also in the book
of Isaiah:
“For this is what the high and lofty One says—he who live forever, whose
name is holy: I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit
of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.” (Is 57:15 NIV)
In fact, 2 Chron. 7:14(NIV) spells out the number one condition for reviving the land is humility, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land”. However, there will be no true humility unless one is totally broken. These two elements in our Christian walk are intertwined and inseparable.
A broken person is not only a humble person, his human spirit is also crushed in the process. “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in the spirit.” (Ps. 34:18 NIV)
Thus, brokenness can be defined as “the crushing and humbling of the human spirit to repentance, and as a result, being completely yielded to the Lord by dying to self and pride.”
Revival always begins with brokenness as the famous writer Roy Hession puts it: “To be broken is the beginning of revival. It is painful, it is humiliating, but it is the only way.” [2]
In the light of the above definition of brokenness, we can understand now why Nehemiah responded upon hearing the bad report concerning the deplorable condition of Jerusalem with “weeping and mourning”. Even though he was a close aide of the king, he was helpless as far as being able to reverse the decree of the king was concerned. He knew very well of the consequence of those who opposed King Artaxerxes.
Many have misunderstood about brokenness. Allow me to introduce you a book written by Nancy Leigh DeMoss understand false and true understanding of brokenness.
Let’s begin false understanding of brokenness first as defined by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. Depressive countenance is not brokenness, “For example, some people think of brokenness as always being sad or gloomy. They assume it means having a downcast countenance. They imagine that broken people never smile or laugh. How could a broken person possibly be happy or at peace? In reality brokenness brings a release, which produces a deep sense of joy and peace.” [3] Introspective behavior to check whether you have committed sin is not brokenness, “Other think of brokenness as being morbidly introspective: ‘Oh, woe is me! I’ve confessed every sin I can possibly think of, but surely there must be something I’ve missed’”. [4] Shedding of tears by emotional people is not considered as brokenness. Yet another considers “brokenness conjures up the image of the shedding of tears – having a deeply emotional experience…Unfortunately, countless people have shed buckets full of tears and yet have never experience a moment of true brokenness.” [5]
We have deliberated what brokenness is not, let’s look at the true meaning of brokenness as defined by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. Brokenness is not a feeling; rather it is a choice, an act of the will. “Brokenness is the shattering of my self-will – the absolute surrender of my will to the will of God.” [6] The shattering of self-will is best illustrated by the breaking of the self-will of a stallion, “when we speak of a stallion being ‘broken’, we don’t mean that someone physically breaks its legs; we mean that the horse’s will has been broken – that it is now compliant and submissive to the wishes of its rider. In the same sense, true brokenness is the breaking of my self-will, so that the life and spirit of the Lord Jesus may be released through me.” [7]
“Brokenness is the stripping of self-reliance and independence from God. The broken person has no confidence in his own righteousness or his own works.” [8]
“Brokenness is the softening of the soil of my heart – it is the breaking up of any clods of resistance that could keep the seed from penetrating and taking root.” [9] This is in accordance to the prescription given by Prophet Hosea, “Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness on you.” (Hosea 10:12 NKJV)
Brokenness is a sacrifice acceptable unto the Lord, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart – these, O God, You will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17 NKJV) Both David and King Saul sinned against God. King Saul disobeyed Samuel’s instruction to wait and he went ahead and offered up sacrifice without permission. Whereas King David committed adultery cum murder by his fit of passion. King David came to God with total repentance, and he was called as the man after God’s heart. However, King Saul who committed a “lesser sin” but did not repent. He rationalized his disobedience and endeavored to cover his sin and he did not show any sign of repentance. His reaction originated from his pride and unbroken spirit. This caused his kingdom to be taken away from him.
God loves brokenness. God will entrust his kingdom to people with brokenness and who are poor in the spirit:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 5:3 NIV)
Thus, for a local church to seek revival, a change of heart condition both for the leaders and the congregation are essential. Without true brokenness and humility, the visitation of God’s Spirit to revive the broken hearted would not take place.
#2 PRE-REQUISITE FOR REVIVAL – SEEKING GOD
As a broken and contrite person,
Nehemiah resorted to fasting and prayer to enquire of the LORD on matter
pertaining to the desolation in the city of Jerusalem: “When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I
mourned and fasted and prayed before
the God of heaven.” (Nehemiah 1:4 NIV) Nehemiah’s fasting and prayer should
be read alongside 2 Chron. 7:14 as the Jews were very familiar with the
covenantal promise set forth when the temple was dedicated during the reign of
King Solomon: “If my people, who are
called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek [H=1245] my face and turn from
their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and
will heal their land.” (2 Chro. 7:14 NIV)
I choose “seeking God” as the second pre-requisite for revival instead of prayer. This is because “seeking God” is the end; whereas prayer and fasting are means to meet the end. Just as Daniel put it: “And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek [H=1245] by prayer and supplication, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.” (Dan. 9:3 KJV)
How to define “seeking God”. Let us use scripture to define scripture.
“One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek [H=1245] after, that I may dwell in the house of Lord all
the days of my life, to behold the
beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in
his temple.” (Ps. 27:4 KJV)
“Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek [H=1245] the Lord.” (Ps. 105:3 KJV)
“And ye shall seek [H=1245] me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” (Jer. 29:13 KJV)
“Evil man understand not judgement: but they that seek [H=1245] the Lord understand all things.” (Prov. 28:5 KJV)
Seek [H=1245], “baqash” in Hebrew (pronunciation: baw-kash). Strong defines it as “to seek, require, desire, exact, request”.
In the light of the study on the original meaning, and how the word is used in the scriptures, seeking God is defined as:
“Now issue an order to these men to stop work, so that this city will not be rebuilt until I so order. Be careful not to neglect this matter. Why let this threat grow, to the detriment of the royal interests?” (Ezra 4:21-22 NIV).
As the king’s close aide, Nehemiah fully understood the consequences of going against the king’s decree. Nehemiah addressed God as God of heaven, the great and awesome God. Realizing God as the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, God was of course above all kings, above all hindrances and above all obstacles.
Another area of seeking God in Nehemiah’s prayer life was that he sought God’s faithfulness against the Israelites’ unfaithfulness. He did not rationalize the dilemma of the Jewish people. In fact, he identified himself as part of the problem of his ancestors and acknowledged his participation though he was not personally involved in the transgression, “We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses” (Neh. 1:7 NIV). He did not end his seeking of God by acknowledging the Israelites’ unfaithfulness, rather, he built his prayer in seeking God’s faithfulness when the Jewish people did return to God, “But if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name. They are your servants and your people whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand.” (Neh. 1:9-10 NIV)
The third area of Nehemiah seeking God was to seek God’s answer against the “answerless-ness”. Nehemiah did not put things into his own hands, he learned to wait upon the Lord. Waiting upon the Lord could be a tiring exercise as the dawn was far away. However, Nehemiah learned to enjoy fellowshipping with God as he waited upon Him, “O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name.” (Neh. 1:11 NIV) Nehemiah prayer is in line with Psalm 37:4 for answered prayer. “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4 NIV) Nehemiah began his request in seeking in the month of Kislev (9th month), and God only answered his request in the month of Nissan (first month, the following year). Nehemiah indeed was a student of persistent, earnest and persevering prayer. Four month of continual seeking and building close fellowship with God eventually resulted in receiving a positive answer when the king enquired about the matter.
What is the lesson to learn in seeking God? We often come to God with our shopping lists. It is as though we are filling up all information in the cheque, and God is only required to sign on it.
However, the correct perspective of seeking God will be to go to God with a blank cheque; enquiring Him to fill in the details according to His will. We declare to Him that we are bankrupt spiritually to deal with the enormous challenges ahead, “For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but eyes are upon you.” (2 Chron. 20:12 NIV).
#3 PRE-REQUISITE FOR REVIVAL – REPENTANCE
To develop the third pre-requisites,
we have to read Nehemiah 1:6b-7 side by side with 2 Chron. 7:14. As I have
stated earlier on in the second pre-requisite for revival, the Jews were
fully aware of the conditions for
healing of their land based on the covenantal promise spelt out in 2 Chron.
7:14.
“I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.” (Nehemiah 1:6b-7 NIV)
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chro. 7:14 NIV)
When we examine the above two verses
on confession of sins, it appears that repentance is the key, and repentance
must precede confession of sins. However, both terms always appear hand in hand
in scriptures. Revival always comes with true repentance and confession of
sins.
When sin is allowed to run
unchecked, it puts us in danger of having God’s hand against us as individuals
or as a church.
In revival, God will deal with our
sins first. Nehemiah learned to get right himself with God, “I confess the sins…, including myself…”
(Nehemiah 1:6b NIV). In revival, conviction of personal sins will be very
strong as quoted by Henry Blackaby, “When
Holy God draws near in true revival, people come under terrible conviction of
sin. The outstanding feature of spiritual awakening has been the profound
consciousness of the Presence and holiness of God.” [10]
Throughout the scripture, conviction
of own sinfulness precedes personal revival. Isaiah after seeing the vision of
God, he said, “woe to me…because I am a
man of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5 KJV). Peter after witnessing the great
catch, he said to Jesus, “Depart from me;
for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Luke 5:8 KJV) Thus when revival falls on
an individual, he will not be exempted from a strong conviction of sin.
Now, there is a dilemma, doesn’t the
scriptures promise that all our past, present and future sins have been taken
care of at the cross? “When you were dead
in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you
alive with Christ. He forgave us all our
sins.” (Col. 2:13 NIV) “Forgave” is a past tense here. It’s absolutely
true! Positioanlly, all our sins are forgiven and thus Paul addresses you as
“saints”, “Paul, an apostle of Christ
Jesus…to the saints in Ephesus” (Eph. 1:1 NKJV). However, God will remind
us of our unconfessed sins in revival. The purpose to confess these unconfessed
sins is for conscience purpose, that only through confession of sins that the
conscience will be cleansed, “If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
(I John 1:9 KIV) Thus, confession of sins will render our conscience
cleansed regularly. Otherwise, our built-in alarm system will be numb and that
is bad for righteous living.
Other than repentance from personal
sin, Nehemiah also repented from the corporate sin. “I confess the sins we Israelites…committed against you” (Nehemiah 1:6b
NIV). When confessing the corporate sin, he used the first person pronoun
(I and we), instead of third person pronoun (they). He used the first person
pronoun three times in Nehemiah 1:6-7. This implied that Nehemiah considered
himself as part of the problem, and there was no excuse for him but to get
right with God. Nehemiah was not the only to confess the corporate sins of
Israel, his predecessors Daniel and Ezra prayed similar prayers (Dan. 9:5-8,
Ezra 9:5-7). Why should Nehemiah be responsible for the sins committed by his
ancestors one or two centuries ago?
The need for Nehemiah to confess
corporate sins and asking God to heal the land can be understood, “But if they will confess their sins and sins
of their fathers…I will remember…my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember
the land.” (Lev. 26:40-42 NIV). Are we not in the New Testament? Are we
still bound by the Mosaic covenant? Doesn’t scriptures say that we are freed
from the curse of the law, “having
cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross?” (Col.
2:14NIV)
Of course we are free from observing
the Mosaic covenant. However, the confession of corporate sin is still required
for God to bless a local church. The unconfessed corporate sin affects the
health of a local church. However, it does not affect our personal relationship
with God as a member of the Body. As Christians, we individually responsible to
God for our spiritual walk, and not dictated corporately as the Israelites. For
the Israelites, the sin of Achan brought judgment to the whole nation (Joshua
chapter 7). This corporate judgment will not apply to the local church in the
New Testament.
Though corporate judgment does not
occur on individual member, the risen Christ does reserve His impending
judgment on an unrepented church, “If you
do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place
(Rev2:5 NIV). Unfortunately some people develop a false theology that God
won’t judge a backsliding local church. Henry Blackaby writes a stern warning
on this kind of false theology: “Some
people have developed a false theology they believes releases them from any
personal accountability for sin once they are saved. They argue that God does not punish those who
are redeemed and are covered by the blood of Jesus. They suggest that when God
looks at them, he only sees Jesus.” [11]
The above false theology was refuted when the risen Christ warned of impending
judgment on the church at Ephesus if they did not repent (Rev. 2:5). On the
topic of corporate repentance, Henry Blackaby states that “churches must repent of their corporate sins much as individuals do.” [12]
You can read in-depth discussion on this topic at chapter 10 “God’s People
Cry Out in Repentance” in “Fresh Encounter” written by Henry & Richard
Blackaby.
How does the unconfessed corporate
sin affect the health of a local church? When sin prevailed in a local church,
the hedge that protects a local church will be broken. When the hedge is
broken, the evil one will attack the local church, “and whoso breaketh a hedge, a serpent shall bite him” (Eccl. 10:8
KJV). A broken hedge will render the devil the legal right to attack a
local church. No wonder Paul admonished the Ephesians not to give the devil a
foothold, “and do not give the devil a
foothold” (Eph. 4:27 NIV).
Not only unconfessed corporate sin
results a local church having a broken hedge liable to demonic attack,
unconfessed corporate sin will constitute a bad DNA that will affect the health
of a local in successive generations. As Henry Blackaby observes, “Some churches, it seems have had
immorality, divisiveness, or lack of faith passed on in their DNA” [13].
Just as bad DNA will affect the next generation in living organisms, bad DNA in
a local church will affect the successive generations unless they are
confronted and removed.
Therefore, when we are seeking God
for revival, it is time for us to do a post-mortem of our past to see if there
is a broken hedge in our midst the renders the “poisonous snake" the ability to
inject poisonous venom to the body. If we find a broken hedge in our midst, we
must close it up. To close up means we
need to change practices or even require reconciling with individuals or groups
from the church’s past. And if we find that we are having a bad DNA which is
affecting the successive generations, we may need to amend certain church
practices so that the bad DNA can be remove.
CONCLUSION:
As we are seeking for revival, what is the end result of revival? Spiritual awakening will be the end result, and many souls will be swept into the Kingdom of God in revival. “…unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”(John 12:24 NIV) Are you willing to let your kernel fall to the ground and die?
[1] Morris
Cerullo, Proof Producers (World Evangelism, Inc. San Diego, California
1984), page 25.
[2] Roy
Hession, The Calvary Road (Living Books for All, Kowloon, Hong Kong
1981), page 1.
[3] Nancy
Leigh DeMoss, Brokenness (Moody Publishers, USA 2002), page 49.
[4] Ibid., 49.
[5] Ibid., 49.
[6] Ibid., 51.
[7] Ibid., 51.
[8] Ibid., 51.
[9] Ibid., 52.
[10]
Sermon Central, accessed on 12th Dec, 2022 4.02pm, https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/101295/holy-spirit-by-dr-larry-petton
[11] Henry
& Richard Blackaby, Claude King, Fresh Encounter (B&H Publishing
Group, Nashville, Tennessee), page 119.
[12] Ibid., 129.
[13] Ibid., 27.
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