Revival

There have been many prophecies about a coming movement of God. In meetings everywhere Christians are praying for God’s presence to fill their churches and homes. This morning’s lesson parallels this very same desire; the return of God’s presence to His people. I will be looking at an Old Testament event, the return of the ark of the covenant, as an illustration for the return of God’s presence to His present day people.

In the Old Testament, God’s presence resided in the ark of the covenant. The first questions to answer is, how did His presence get “lost”? It was stolen by an enemy of the Israelites. At the time the ark was stolen by their enemy the Philistines, Israel was a country that was not following after God’s ways. The Lord had seen that the priests did not honor Him (1 Sam 2:30). The spiritual leaders were not in communication with the Lord and “The word of the Lord was rare, there were not many visions.” (1 Sam 3:1). Poor leadership, and people prone to going their own way resulted in a country that could not defend itself against their enemy. And so, in a terrible battle and with the loss of many lives, the ark was stolen (1 Sam 4:11).
Today, people are not our enemies, such as the Philistines were when they fought with Israel and stole the ark. Nevertheless, we do have an unseen enemy who seeks to overcome us. Jesus said that satan comes to “steal and kill and destroy . . . “ (Jn 10:10). Our enemy takes advantage of complacency and insincerity so that he can steal from us. To prevent loss or harm we are admonished to be alert and self-controlled so that we will know how to pray, and how to resist our enemy. (1 Pet 4:7 & 5:8-9).

When David became King he sought to bring the ark back to Jerusalem so that God’s presence would once again reside with His people in Israel. David’s rule as king was centered on restoration of all that was lost to Israel, and completion of her destiny. This was accomplished by conquering Israel’s enemies and obtaining all the land promised by God. David wanted all that belonged to the Israelites restored, and that included the ark of the covenant.

David’s first attempt to retrieve the ark failed. He later realized that he couldn’t accomplish this important recovery using his own methods. His discovery gives us insight into the basis for revival and the return of God’s presence to His people. We see that David’s success was founded on three new insights; restoring people to their calling, seeking the Lord for how the event should be accomplished, and requiring God’s ministers to be consecrated.

David realized that he could not ignore the calling on people’s lives by using others to do what they were called to do. He told the Levites that the prior attempt at carrying the ark into Jerusalem failed because it was they, the Levites, whom God had chosen to carry the ark (1 Chron 15:2 & 13). Though David had chosen men he thought were qualified to carry the ark, during their first attempt these men were rejected, and one slain. God’s message to David was clearly that He did not want to follow David’s way of doing things, but wanted David to follow God’s way of doing things. So today, many moves of God are hindered by those who ignore God’s chosen people and who try to carry the presence of God themselves, or to use men of their own choosing. As leaders, we must pray to determine God’s chosen people for the job of “carrying” the presence to the people. These may be intercessors, Sunday School teachers, or famous evangelists. Let us be sure that God is doing the choosing, and not we ourselves.

The second thing David told the Levites was that he failed by not inquiring of the Lord how He, the Lord, wanted the ark to be moved (1 Chron 15:13). The chapter continues by showing that David’s second venture to get the ark involved many men who celebrated the transportation of the ark. Although the Levites were to physically carry the ark, there were singers, musicians, and many others who accompanied this movement. In our present day we should see many people involved in the bringing of God’s movement back into the church. When we lack in those who celebrate, sing, play music, and other forms of worship, we fail to fully glorify God’s returning presence.

The third thing king David implemented before the successful venture to retrieve the ark was consecration of the Levites. Even though David brought the Levites into their calling of carrying the ark, he required them to consecrate themselves first (1 Chron 15:12). To be consecrated is to be set apart for a task that one is dedicated to, and requires sincerity. The sincerity of the Levite’s hearts would show a reversal of the apathy and self-serving that caused the spiritual stagnation preceding the theft of the ark. We should not presume that just because God’s presence was once amongst us He will come again. Those things that caused our enemy to overcome us personally and corporately need to be removed. We all with sincere hearts must consecrate ourselves to our own callings, daily. We each are called into the priesthood of God, and though some will carry God’s presence into our meetings, all of God’s people have a place alongside His presence.

I began this lesson with the common knowledge that we desire and are praying for God’s presence; His Manifest Presence. There are those who still remember revivals where that presence lingered, and some in our present time have also experienced this. In times past, revivalists would have a meeting where they turned the hearts of people to God through repentance. These revivalists were spiritual leaders who brought the presence of the Lord not to a tent, but to dwell in the hearts of men. Unlike the men of the Old Testament who had become apathetic, these men had a vision and a word from God. The revivalists did not expect the Lord to superimpose His presence over the ways of men, but led men to submit to God’s ways. Many of them carried God’s presence alone, and not in concert with other believers because the nature of their calling was to travel, doing the work the Lord called them to do.

God’s desire is not just to visit us with His presence, or to give a little “taste” through an evangelist or revivalist. God’s desire ultimately is to live among us (Rev 21:3). Though one day this will be fulfilled, the promise indicates that He will bring His presence among us again, in our life-time. We see the Lord restoring to His people all He intended us to have, little by little as we overcome our enemy. When we come to the point of no longer letting our enemy steal from us, we are just beginning on our journey to retrieving the presence of God. We must follow the steps outlined in this lesson to successfully restore the presence of the Lord to God’s people; 1) using the people God has chosen instead of choosing them ourselves; 2) seeking the Lord on how he wants us to do what He wants us to do; and, 3) requiring consecration of those carrying God’s presence, and all manner of people involved in the restoration process. Amen, come Lord Jesus, come.