Asbury and revival

 

I started this blog in 2020 out of a burden for revival.  But my interest in revival goes back to 2003 when I first read Why Revival Tarries by Leonard Ravenhill.  Since then I have given a good part of my spare time to the study of revival.  It is something I have longed for, hoped for and prayed for.  So when I first learned that revival had come to Asbury Kentucky I was eager to learn more.  Naturally, I wondered, is this the real thing?  And that is precisely what many others are wondering still.  Some have already written it off as empty emotionalism.  Others have suggested it is demonic rather than Christian.  And still others have welcomed the "Asbury revival" as a genuine move of God.  So which is it?

I have hesitated to weigh in for a number of reasons.  First, it seemed prudent to give it time.  It was Gamaliel who wisely said. "Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:  But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God. (Acts 5:38-39)"  Second, I haven't been to Ashbury; and social media isn't a reliable source of much.  Third, many others have already weighed in.  So rather than comment on Asbury, I have chosen to answer 5 questions related revival.

First, what is revival?  

Revival - as Richard Owen Roberts defined it - is "an extraordinary movement of the Holy Spirit producing extraordinary results."  In revival God steps down and time stands still - God seems to be everywhere.  Of course God is already everywhere, but in revival God's manifest presence is keenly felt.  God draws near, and His people - confronted by His holiness, majesty and beauty - are broken by their sin, brought to repentance, and turned back to their first love.

Revival is primarily a work within the Church.  Though many are saved, the conversion of lost sinners is a byproduct of what is happening among the people of God as they are renewed in faith, love and zeal.  In revival God's people are awakened, backsliders are recovered, the lukewarm become zealous, and the faithful find God's love freshly shed abroad in their hearts.  All speak of it as a season of refreshing from God's presence.

Second, is revival really necessary?  

I have heard a number of good men suggesting that we really don't need revival.  In fact, some disparage all talk of revival as unnecessary and unhealthy.  These men remind us that we have the means of grace and should be content with the ordinary way in which God builds His Church and sanctifies His people.  These men are typically inclined to prefer Michael Horton's Ordinary over David Platt's Radical.  The problem, of course, is that what this generation calls "ordinary" a previous generation would have called "lukewarm."  What this generation considers normal Christianity a previous generation would have considered backslidden.  

But is revival really necessary?  John Bonar offered this answer: "Why what do people mean [that revival is something we can do without]?  what is a revival but multiplied conversions?  What is a revival but living Christianity?  If we can do without conversion; if we can do without Christ; if we can do without regeneration; if our children can do without these, if our friends and neighbours can do without these, then may we do without a revival.  But if conversion is necessary; if regeneration is necessary; if salvation is necessary, then is revival necessary.  Ah!  my friends, we have not understood what it is for souls to perish: we have not understood what is the meaning of the souls of our children perishing - of the souls of our neighbours perishing - of unconverted men and women and children dying in their sins, else we would not cease to pray and to labour, till the windows of heaven were opened and the Lord 'rained righteousness on the people, and saving health on all our families (see Revival of Religion: Addresses by Scottish Evangelical Leaders delivered in Glasgow in 1840, published by Banner of Truth).'" 

John Macnaughtan, a Scottish preacher and contemporary of John Bonar, said "when there are few conversions under the ministrations of the church, and souls are perishing around her, unpitied and unhelped - when there is an evident suspension or withdrawment of those spiritual influences that are alone efficient to convince or to comfort; when there is a visible defection from acknowledged principle, or from attained piety - a cold, lukewarm formality, usurping the place of a generous, devoted, living Christianity, we say a revival is required; and every believer who grieves when the Spirit is quenched, or the great salvation is neglected, or the commands of Christ are contemned, or the glories of the latter day are retarded, is bound to utter the prayer - 'Wilt thou not revive us again - O that thou wouldst rend the heavens, and come down.'"

In his book Revival Richard Owen Roberts explains that revival is needed whenever there is backsliding.  He then offers 25 evidences of backsliding (with commentary on each).  Here I will name just eleven of them.  

• First, "When prayer ceases to be a vital part of a professing Christian's life, backsliding is present."  
• Second, "Almost all backsliders demonstrate a sense of satisfaction with the truth already in their possession."  
• Third, "When earnest thoughts about eternal things cease to be regular and gripping, it should be like a warning light to the backslider."  
• Fourth, "When the services of the church lose their delights, a backslidden condition probably exists."
• Fifth, "When pointed spiritual discussions are an embarrassment, that is certain evidence of backsliding."
• Sixth, "When sports, recreation and entertainment are a large and necessary part of your lifestyle, you may assume backsliding is in force."
• Seventh, "When aspirations for Christlike holiness cease to be dominant in your life and thinking, backsliding is there."
• Eighth, "When you can hear the Lord's name taken in vain, spiritual concerns mocked and eternal issues flippantly treated, and not be moved to indignation and action, you are backslidden."
• Ninth, "When you become content with your lack of spiritual power and no longer seek repeated enduements of power from on high, you have backslidden."
• Tenth, "When there is no music in your soul and no song in your heart, the silence testifies to your backsliding."
• Eleventh, "When your tears are dried up and the hard, cold spiritual facts of your existence cannot unleash them, see this as an awful testimony both of the hardness of your heart and the depth of your backsliding."  Roberts adds, "If your prayerlessness does not cause the tears to flow, are you not being confronted with the evidence of your backsliding?"

So, is revival necessary?  Surely you cannot help but answer, "it is! - O that thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down!!"  

As you read through just 11 (of Roberts' 25) marks of backsliding were you not convicted?  I wonder how many readers found not just one but several evidences of backsliding in their hearts and lives.  Reader, are you backslidden?  Just one of these marks is evidence that you need to be revived!  And what about the Church around you?  Are there not evidences of a backslidden Church on every side?  Surely, you cannot read these marks without crying out to God, "Wilt thou not revive us again?!" 

Third, what should we make of the intense emotions that sometimes accompany what is called revival?  

Actually, every revival has been criticized for what has deemed emotionalism.   It was John Bonar who in the 19th century made this observation about what he called 'agitation' and 'bodily convulsions':  "Why, the wonder is that these should occur so seldom: When we think of eternity - of all its interests bursting on the astonished soul - bursting on it all unprovided, the wonder, I say, is that any assembly can at any time hear and think of these things without agitation.  To complain that such agitation leads to tears and outcries is to complain that we are human beings."  In other words, we should not be surprised to find people emotional in revival.  To imagine anything else from an awakened people is to imagine the possible.  Of course there will be tears and groaning and shouts of joy.  We should not wonder to find such things.  We should wonder, as Bonar says, that such things are so seldom seen among the people of God!

Fourth, should we expect revival among the heterodox?  Should we expect revival among Arminians, for example?  Could a Wesleyan school experience revival?  The short answer is yes.  Revival often comes and works unexpectedly.  There are many who think that revival must always operate a certain way.  Unless every 'i' is dotted and every 't' is crossed they want nothing to do with.  I know of no revival that would satisfy such men.  Every revival in history has been unusual.  And every one of them has left a significant part of the broader Church feeling uncomfortable.  There are those among us who are always insisting it be done "decently and in order."  They are for order and liturgy and forms and rules - usually Robert's - at the expense of the operation of the Spirit and sometimes at the expense of Scripture.  Such men speak of revival but usually reject it when it comes.   God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.   Knowledges puffs up.  We should not be surprised if God passes by those of us puffed up by our knowledge to visit instead the lowly.  The fact that God would visit a Wesleyan school does not trouble me in the least.  If He is visiting them time will tell the story of a multitude of backsliders recovered and hundreds swept into the kingdom.

Fifth, what are the marks of revival?  

Here I will name just 5.  

• First, tremendous conviction over sin.  Roberts writes, "When revival comes, an intense spirit of conviction will be felt immediately.  Conduct that has always seemed acceptable will appear unbelievably wicked."  
• Second, repentance from our backslidden condition.  
• Third, holiness.  
• Fourth, a return to our first love.  "Prayer" Roberts says "which may have seemed drudgery prior to revival will become pure delight... When the allotted time for prayer is up, instead of gratitude that the chore is over, there will be sorrow that the time has passed so swiftly.  And why is this so?  Simply because the Christian has fallen in love."
• Fifth, solemnity in worship.

Conclusion

Time will tell whether the "Asbury revival" is a genuine work of God.  Based on what I have seen and heard from a distance I think I can say that there are good reasons both for caution and thankfulness.  For myself I cannot help but feel convicted by what seems to be a genuine appetite for prayer and worship.  The fact that they are found each day early at prayer and long at prayer should come as something as a rebuke to us all.  Beyond that I am happy to leave the whole matter with God.  If this work is genuinely of the Lord we will soon know it by its fruits.