Reformation to Revival 500 Years of God's Glory by Matthew Backholer - Chapter 1 Understanding Revival

Then the Lord said, "I have pardoned according to your word;

But truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord" (Num 14:20-21).

What is Revival?

Revival is an incredible outpouring of the Holy Spirit that touches Christians and non-Christians. Revival is for.the glory of God and the honor of His name. It is then for the Church, the body of Christ so that they can be revived by the Holy Spirit and live holy and upright lives. At the same time, non-Christians, can come under deep conviction of sin, surrender their lives to Jesus Christ and live for Him in holiness and righteousness. During revival, people gain an awareness of spiritual things, a solemn awe of God, a reverence and holy fear. Christians are revived and quickened, sinners are saved and communities are changed and become God-fearing.

An awakening is a revival that is larger in its extent, often covering a country or across a people group and may continue for a number of years which results in a change affecting the moral makeup of society, to the glory of God. An example is Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preaching on Exodus 33:18-23 said of Moses desiring to see God's glory, "That's a perfect description of revival; it's a glimpse of the glory of God passing by. God who is there in His glory, comes down, and pours out His Spirit, as we look on to feel and know that the glory of God is in our midst."

Differences between Effective Evangelism and Revival

J Edwin Orr, renowned revival historian said, "In times of evangelism, the evangelist seeks the sinner; in times of revival, the sinner comes chasing after the Lord." In evangelism, the focus is on the evangelist or preacher and many who profess Christ soon fall by the wayside. But, in revival the focus is on God, and the vast majority of those who confess Christ stay true to Him as abiding fruit. "The key factor in revival is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit resulting in the revival of the Church. The revived Church then engages in evangelizing the enquirers and in teaching the disciples to follow in the reforming of society."

In effective evangelism, God may bless the work and people will respond to the call of repentance and give themselves to Jesus which sometimes leads to revival or an awakening, but in revival, there is an overpowering presence and move of the Holy Spirit to repent and to sincerely get right with God, often causing them to break down under the guilt of their own sin and pouring out their hearts to the Almighty.

Controversy in Revival

In any revival there will be physical phenomena, bodily manifestations/ movements as the Holy Spirit touches a person in convicting power as well as other supernatural events which affect a person bodily. The Devil will try to influence people, Christians and non-Christians, as he is an infiltrator and imitator causing the kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of Light to clash. Since the beginning of Christianity, enemies of the cross of Christ have denounced godly people believing them to be under the influence of the evil one. Jesus was labeled as Beelzebub (chief of demons) and later crucified. Stephen was stoned and Paul was beaten and imprisoned. Yet, though the Devil can transform himself into an angel of light, he cannot transform someone's character to be more Christ-like nor encourage them to do so. This is only the work of the Holy Spirit working within the convicted believer who has decided to fully give him/her self to Christ Jesus and to surrender their will to the Holy Spirit.

The real judge of any revival or visitation of the Holy Spirit is this: Does it line up with Scripture? Is God being glorified? What is the fruit? Are Christians being revived and sinners being saved? Is Christ and Him crucified alone for the atonement of our sins being preached? Is there repentance and forsaking of our sins? Are Christians walking in the fruit of the Spirit and growing in the grace of God? In times of revival, the fundamental truths of Jesus' eternal Son-ship, the virgin birth, His sinless life, His death, resurrection, ascension, second coming and the judgment coupled with Heaven and Hell; alongside repentance, God's grace, the new birth, faith in Christ, His shed blood and total consecration are always preached. Jesus said in Luke 11:20, "But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the Kingdom of God is come unto you." Jesus gave His disciples and subsequent disciples the same commission to preach the Good News, to make disciples, to heal the sick and to cast out demons (Mark 16:15-18). "And being assembled together with them, [Jesus Christ] commanded them [His disciples] not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, which, He said, 'you have heard from Me. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now" (Acts 1:4-5).