Revival (Repentance 2)

For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. (Luke 15:24)

I want us to use the prodigal to look at what results from genuine repentance, that is the revival of the relationship sin had killed.

The argument is the same. There was nothing to build on concerning the prodigal’s relationship.

His departure from his father’s compound and authority had effectively killed his relationship to him.

He therefore had nothing to heal since it was dead and buried.

What he needed is a new relationship established.

But as we saw with repentance, many of us seek to pump up those dead relationships with the hope that we will refire what had waned without realizing the folly and futility of the whole thing. Doing that is like trying first aid in the mortuary.

When we need revival, we are not talking about refiring our passion for the things of God. We are calling on God to create in us a new thing; a new love and passion.

We have nothing to build on but God’s mercy and reviving power.

Sadly, most of the people talking about revival boast about their being alive. They still believe their passion for the things of God is fine and just needs a small push. No wonder nothing changes however many revival activities they may have.

The first qualification of revival is a confirmed death.

We have heard of drunks who were mistakenly taken to morgues because they appeared dead.

But were they dead? Of course not.

The good thing is that some of them were able to see their spiritual death and cried to be revived in that direction.

Before you start arguing, allow me to give a few other scriptures.

Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. (Isaiah 6:5)

For Isaiah to be revived, he clearly saw his depravity. And I hope you realise that he was already a prophet when he was saying this.

Go ye, enquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us. (2Kings 22:13)

Again, you will see that Josiah was repairing the temple when the scriptures were found. He was not minding his own business when he saw his need for revival as we have also seen with Isaiah.

When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. (Luke 5:8)

We also see Peter seeing his wretchedness after he had offered Jesus a platform for preaching and performing a miracle.

What am I saying?

It is only in our deadedness that we can be able to see our need for revival. What I mean is that we must be clearly able to see how dead we are to qualify for revival.

You can’t revive a living thing.

We are deceiving ourselves when we are praying for God to revive us before we see and acknowledge our death.

From the three people I have mentioned, it is only the spiritually awakened that can clearly their death and thus their need for revival.

Others will continue shouting revival in their liveliness.

It is like the prodigal confessing that he has been reaccepted by his father before seeing how completely he had disconnected from him.

I am sure he battled that deception for a long time before finally seeing the futility of the same in the eyes of the prevailing circumstances.

My father loves me unconditionally. My father will accept me unreservedly. My father knows that I am sorry for my shameful and wasteful conduct. I am the son of my father. And many other positive confessions.

I am also sure that David battled the same thoughts and probably made similar confessions after his sin.

That is why repentance takes time. We fight the most to make our sin look less serious than it is. We fight the fiercest to convince ourselves that it is not as big a deal as others may think or even the Bible says.

We forget that we are not the ones that set the standards we have breached. We forget the fact that we are the ones in need of forgiveness and restoration.

We are the ones who left home. We are the ones who left the marriage. We are the ones who left school. We are the ones who left whatever it was we had betrayed.

It is therefore foolish to even imagine we have any right to be accepted.

It is water under the bridge, only that we broke that bridge into pieces in our breach and we have no capacity to rebuild it since it does not lead to our compound but to the compound we deserted after desecrating.

We are pleading with the offended to rebuild the bridge and allow us to use it to get into his life. He is not the one in need of that bridge.

He therefore determines whether there even needs to be a bridge in the first place, let alone whether we will need to be allowed to use it.

Allow me to say something else concerning repentance and revival.

It originates with God and not man.

Let me explain.

Someone has to see God for who He is and what He represents to be able to see his wretchedness.

I will always defend my choices and actions because I was not forced to sin.

Using me as the standard will always seek to justify me.

That is why people look for verses to defend their sin instead of confessing.

Isaiah had to see God to see his wretchedness. Josiah had to see God’s standards to see his fallenness. And Peter had to see Christ’s power to see his sinful nature.

You may realise that nobody preached to them. It was the presence of God that painted their sin clearest.

This means that there is only one type of preaching that can bring about revival. And it is the preaching that paints God clearly; His nature, His attributes, His holiness, His jealousy, His hatred for sin, His love, etc.

The preaching that builds kiosks around His love and mercy and leaves out His other attributes has no capacity of bringing about revival. Preaching dwelling on His Rapha and Jireh and leaves out His Tsidkenu and Kabowd psyches people to hope without changing.

You can’t truly repent if you have not encountered God and seen what He is like. You can’t repent is you do not have His standards in your heart and mind.

Those are the same terms when we use when talking about revival.

Any student of revival will tell you that.

Repentance is what we do when we encounter God. Revival is what results after God restores the relationship our backslidden nature broke.

That is what was done to the prodigal.

He was restored into a new relationship.

A ring restored his authority.

Washing removed the stench of his rebellion.

A gown restored his honor.

And the party indicated his restoration into the family.

But that was able to happen because he had finally confessed to have died to his father so that the father more or less created a new son from the old.

That is what revival is.

The tragicomedy that our generation calls revival is actually a stench in God’s nose.

Will we look up to God to allow Him to define revival to us? Will we seek to know Him enough to repent after rejecting our self-justification for so long?

Do we really agree that we are not worthy to be called His sons?

Or is our independence fighting to force God to accept us on our terms?