The history of spiritual revival in King Josiah’s day is inspiring because it occurred during a time of great idolatry that was, well, probably worse than today. Though God had shown Josiah that judgment was coming to the land, nevertheless, a local spiritual revival occurred among those who were open to it before the final fall of Jerusalem occurred.
The apostle Paul prophesied of a “falling away,” an apostasy in the last days (II Th 2.3), and basically we are living in a post-Christian society. Nevertheless, God can send down a spiritual revival at any time and place and He’s not dependant on any world statistics or base support. I heard a sermon a long time ago by Jon Courson on this theme in II Kings but had renewed interest when I considered how applicable it is for us today. The following seven steps outline the revival that occurred in Josiah’s day:
1)
Repair damage to the house of God – Workers began joining together to repair the house of God (II Kings 22.5). This is important physically, but more important spiritually. In the NT, individual believers are referred to as living temples of God. (I Cor 3.16) The Church body is also referred to as a temple of living stones (I Pet 2.5). Personal healing is a step towards revival as is renewed love in the body of Christ as a whole. I Peter 4.8 says
"Above all things put on love." Love should be first on the list. Without love everything else is meaningless. In Ukraine, where I'm a missionary, there’s deep bitterness between many Ukrainians and Russians, even in the church. President Yushchenko recently said
“There is no forgiveness and there will be none” referring to Stalin's infamous Bykivnya slaughtering ground.
2)
Rediscover the word of God – The scriptures had been lost but were discovered by the priest, Hilkiah (22.11). Previous kings Manasseh and Ammon tried to destroy the scriptures, much like governments and institutions today that are trying to eradicate any mention of God or the scriptures from society. But the word of God was studied and read and love for it grew.
3)
Repent of sins – When the word of God was studied Josiah repented (22.11). Like Daniel, it may have been more for the sins of his nation than for his own sins (Dan 9.5). Repentance means more than just feeling sorry for sins; it means changing direction and following God wholeheartedly.
4)
Request guidance from the Holy Spirit – Our relationship with God is not based on a formula but on a dynamic interaction. We are to seek God’s specific will for our lives. Verse 13 shows Josiah’s request and verse 16 shows God’s answer to spare Josiah from the coming judgment. In turn Josiah continued to take steps towards revival.
5)
Respond Outwardly – As the word of God was being taught people responded in tangible ways. They were not “closet believers” but were willing to take a stand for God and His word (23.3).
6)
Remove all idols – One of the main responses of true repentance is the removal of any and all of the idols in our lives. Josiah had the idols burned (23.6) and this exemplifies God’s jealous love for us like a consuming fire (Deut 4.24). An idol is anything which vies for our attention or affection over and above our devotion to God. Examples may include money, career, family, comfort, pleasure, etc.
7)
Revival’s result is Jesus – In the fruition of the revival, we see the Passover celebrated as the most remarkable one in the history of all the judges and kings (23.22). The Passover is a picture of Jesus’ redemption and our present day “communion” practice is an affirmation of His continual presence in our lives. In spiritual revivals there is a return to the basics.
Comments (7)
The great spiritual revival in Josiah's day began with his own personal
revival. In Revelation Jesus admonishes the church to return to her
“first love” (Rev 2.4-5). Is Jesus the first and highest love in your
life as Savior and Lord or are there other things vying for the throne
of your heart?
Other things still vie for the throne of my heart but he has been stripping them to show me how much more glorious He is, so He might take the rightful place of being my first and highest Love.
Do you believe that God can send a spiritual revival in
your church and community that has a great impact on society?
Yes! I have seen Him stirring and moving and I am praying for revival to continue in my own life and in my church and community and throughout the U.S. and to the ends of the earth!
@naphtali_deer - "Other things still vie for the throne of my heart but he has been stripping them to show me how much more glorious He is, so He might take the rightful place of being my first and highest Love."-- That's a good point that the things of the world vie for all of our hearts constantly. I'll tweak the text a little to rephraze the question.
"Yes! I have seen Him stirring and moving and I am praying for revival to continue in my own life and in my church and community..." -- That's interesting, where do you live? How is your church and community being impacted?
Good teaching!!!! We do want revival to continue. Thanks for subscribing.
Heather
I read an interesting article about the Lakeland revival, "Life After Lakeland: Sorting Out the Confusion"
@templestream - I live in Madison, Wisconsin. What I've seen not only here but also in some people I've met on Xanga/Revelife, are people (including myself) who have been saved for years but have recently come under conviction of sin are as a result are seeing the grace of God and the glory of God in a way they'd never seen before. They have an increasing desire to be holy (by the power of the Holy Spirit), and are hungering and thirsting more and more for Christ. They are tired of the church being impotent and doing business as usual.They are looking for solid teaching and real meat. At this point there are some people gathering for prayer, but it's mostly affected individuals, so I have been praying for a greater movement to rise up in the churches, particularly in those churches that are not always so open to the work of the Holy Spirit. On campus, God has been working in some of the campus ministries there in new ways. I am praying it would continue to spread and grow to many, many more people, particularly within my church.
very nice =)
personally, I'm currently in a 1-3 stage (all together, go me =P) but our church is taking a stand in Toronto =) thanks to our AMAZING pastor =)
He's called a bunch of pastors together and all these churches take part in the W24 that you read about on my blog, as well as the Global Day of Prayer, and all the pastors pastor each other and keep each other accountable and whatnot =) (we just hear snippets of that obviously...things like "at our last meeting we felt a call to do ____________" no details as that would cause MAJOR trust issues =P)
at my university (3hours away from Toronto, BOOOO) Campus Alpha is starting up, and I'm a part of it =P YAY! it seems like where I am, God is preparing his people for a HUUUUUUGE revival....rather than us BEING in a revival right now...it's super exciting =D
I just went over to read the article on Lakeland. What I said there was basically that we are called to respond to the hunger that the Holy Spirit has put within us and not lose heart. There probably will be more of these excesses as people begin to catch fire. But most likely our zeal will be interpreted by the world as being wildfire anyway. The effect that spiritual hunger has is a desire for the Bread of Life. Nothing else satisfies. It doesn't take long for the sheep to realize what is good food and what is not. Our part in all of this is the same as always...to proclaim the gospel .
It's going to take a dedication to Christ and credibility in our commitment to Him as well as complete openness and obedience to the Holy Spirit for true revival to grow in us. Others will catch fire as we burn in our passion for Him. We can't look around to see if anyone is following....