The Holy Bible is full of occasions that reveal things that happen in a revival, whether personal or collective. We will see in this Bible study what revival brings in the lives of the children of God and its results in practice.
1) True revival brings with it the fear of God! 🙇♂️
Revival is the manifestation of God’s presence in the hearts of his people, and that manifestation brings with it the fear of God! This fear, in turn, makes us recognize His holiness and how much we need to fix ourselves, abandoning our sins, that is, our transgressions against His word and teachings.
We can recall the scene where God brought the Israelites out of ancient Egypt and brought them to Mount Sinai. So there He descended with thousands of the heavenly saints to speak with the people (Deut 33:2).
He was bringing the Israelites a revival after many years of slavery (Deut 30:16). God was making Israel a nation with its own Law, ruled by the Author of the universe.
So, one of the first things that happens in a revival, is the awakening of the fear of God in our hearts!
And the fear of Him causes us a certain apprehension about sinning, that is, it makes us fear and reflect before acting contrary to His will and principles. Let’s prove this in the verses below:
All the people experienced the thunder, the lightning, the sound of the shofar, and the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they trembled. Standing at a distance, they said to Moshe,
Exodus 20:15-17 CJB
– “You, speak with us; and we will listen. But don’t let God speak with us, or we will die.”
Moshe answered the people,
– “Don’t be afraid, because God has come only to test you and make you fear him, so that you won’t commit sins.”
Therefore, if we are crying out for a revival, let’s cry out asking God to generate in our hearts fear for Him, so that we respect Him, as well as His commandments.
2) The regret; one of the main things that happen in a revival.
Sin is what separates us from God, according to Isaiah 59:2. Therefore, of the things that happen in a revival, repentance of sins is practically the main one, for repentance is the beginning of the change to a life with God!
Therefore, anyone who wants to approach God through revival must want to turn away from their own sins!
Come close to God, and he will come close to you. Clean your hands, sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded people! Wail, mourn, sob! Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into gloom! Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
(Jacob [James] 4:8-10; cf. 2Ch 15:2; Isa 1:16; Zech 1:3)
But what is regret anyway?
It is commonly heard, especially in the evangelical religious world, that repentance is a deep regret for sins or evil committed, and the consequent desire to abandon this evil. However, in the original biblical language, Hebrew, it is not merely that.
In the biblical text in Greek, which is very popular, we find the word μετανοεω (metanoeo), or “metanoia”, as it is better known. This word appears in Mt 3:2, for example, where in common biblical translations we read: repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. According to Strong’s Bible Dictionary, the Greek word means “to change the mind, i.e., to repent; to change the mind for the better, to amend from the heart and with regret past sins.”
But in Hebrew, the word that defines this “repentance” is Teshuvah.
This word comes from the root שוב (shuv), which basically means to return, to come back, being identified in Scripture in texts such as Gen 14:16 and 16:9.
This brings a much deeper meaning to a revival and the so-called “repentance”. For it does not merely mean feeling sorry for a certain mistake and stop doing it, but it symbolizes a true and committed return to God!
That is, it is a complete change of life in which the repentant person is actually returning to obedience to the Creator.
In this way, the message of Mt 3:2, which we read above, would be more precisely: return to God, because the kingdom of heaven is at hand!
Teshuvah, or returning to God, consists of committing one’s life to learning His words in order to practice them, adjusting oneself and doing the will of the Creator. Wouldn’t that be one of the main things that happen in a revival?
Therefore, if there is any movement being called “revival”, where only emotional manifestations with songs are seen, but without a deep commitment to return to God, his word, his teachings, commandments and principles, perhaps we cannot really call it “revival”.
3) In true revival, the Word of God is desired and magnified 📖
I keep my feet from every evil way, in order to observe your word.
Psalm 119:101
Complete Jewish Bible
The above verse from the psalm comes in direct agreement with the two previous topics in this Bible study about the things that happen in a revival.
First, the fear of God comes into our hearts, causing us to recognize our transgressions and the need to make amends with Him. After that comes repentance, the willingness to return to God’s ways. This is evidence that real revival is happening within us! And then, naturally, comes the desire to read the word of the ETERNAL (God), and with that comes biblical knowledge and the consequent desire to practice the same word. This is what happens to the one who is really being revived.
All these are evidences of the things that happen in a revival truly coming from God, moving sincere hearts!
The psalmist turns away his feet from every evil way, that he may keep and obey the word of God without falsehood.
What is a revival for, if not to bring human beings closer to God through reconciliation with their own Creator? It certainly gives the repentant a new life through obedience to His word (cf. 2 Cor 5:17-20; Eph 4:17-24).
After experiencing the first two things that happen in a revival, knowing and constantly putting into practice the third, the other two begin to happen naturally, let’s see what they are.
4) Seeking God constantly is part of genuine revival!
“My heart said of you, ‘Seek my face.’”
Psalm 27:8
Your face, Adonai, I will seek.
Complete Jewish Bible
Seeking God basically means walking in fellowship with Him, in accordance with His will (cf. 1 John 2:4-6). This consequently requires reading, studying and obeying His Holy Word, as well as nurturing a life of constant worship, praise and prayer (Luke 18:1).
But it is essential that the three previous steps take place before this one, because to be in communion with God, it is obviously necessary to be reconciled with Him! In this way, He will bless your reading and direct your knowledge correctly (cf. Proverbs 2:1-7).
If you find it difficult to read the word of the Eternal often, you can follow the reading of the weekly portions of the Torah, which the people of Israel do every year, just as the Messiah himself did (cf. Lk 4:16); that way, you will always have biblical content to read and study. Also, sign up for our newsletter to receive an email notification every time a new Bible study is published.
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5) In a true revival, believers become filled with the “Holy Spirit” 🕊
Of course, we couldn’t forget to talk about this topic, and maybe some readers already imagined that it would be on the list. But we also need to talk about what it is to be filled with the “Holy Spirit”.
First of all, we want to point out that to receive the Spirit of God it is necessary to obey him! That’s exactly what Acts 5:32 says. Therefore, if a person, or a group of people, claims to be experiencing a revival and thereby being filled with the so-called “Holy Spirit”, but is not willing to obey God and His word, we see no reason to such a person says that he is really being enliven by Him…
Second, we need to explain, even briefly for now, what “Holy Spirit” is, so that there is no confusion.
If we read the Bible in the language in which the prophets actually wrote it, we will find the expression “ruach hakodesh“, where “ruach” literally means “wind, blow, breathing”, and “kodesh” holiness/saint. See for example the text of Isaiah 63:11 in the Hebrew-English interlinear.
Therefore, when saying “Holy Spirit”, the biblical text in the original language does not refer to a person or a deity, as many people imagine.
In fact, God Himself makes it clear in Scripture that it is a sin to create other gods and worship them alongside Him! See Exodus 20:23, Deuteronomy 5:7; cf. Luke 4:8.
But it is also obvious that the biblical text is not literally meaning “wind/breath of holiness” when it uses the term “ruach hakodesh“. So what we have to do is, starting from the original meaning of the biblical word and analyzing the context in question, find a word that best defines what the biblical author means. Also, the word in the translation language must not lose connection with the original meaning, because that would be dishonest!
And when consulting interpreters of the Hebrew language among the people of Israel, the term generally used to translate “ruach hakodesh” is “inspiration of holiness”, since to inspire means to insert air into the lungs, and figuratively it means “to be influenced/ qualified,” or something similar. We have as a biblical example of this the text of 1 Sm 19:20-23, where messengers of King Saul, as well as the king himself, receive divine inspiration and begin to prophesy. But other translation alternatives would be “holy presence” or “holy emanation”.
Finally, what does God’s holy inspiration do in believers in a revival?
We can highlight the events of Acts chapter 2 as an example of this. There, under the influence of the inspiration of holiness, Simon, together with his friends, makes a speech about Yeshua, called “Jesus”. With such a sermon Simon convinced approximately three thousand people that Yeshua was the Anointed One (the Messiah or the Christ). See Acts 2:14-41.
Simon was enabled by the inspiration of God to preach such a message. Afterwards, each of those brothers remained united in communion, worship, prayer and praising God daily (see vs. 41-47). Are these not the evidences of true revival?
And to finish…
Paul, the emissary (apostle), is a good example of the 5 things that happen in a revival.
He experienced the first 4 stages and then he was filled with the inspiration of holiness, and he preached the word of the living God with much power and even some miraculous signs. Let’s see a short summary of his experience:
- In him (in Paul) the fear of God was generated, when he recognized how much he had sinned against Him by persecuting His Son (Acts 9:17-20; 1 Tim. 1:12-15);
- He repented of his sins after acknowledging them (Acts 26:9; Phil 3:7-8);
- Paul, whose original name is Shaul (Saul), turned his feet from the evil path he was treading and submitted to learn more from the disciples of the Lord (Acts 9:19; Gal 1:18);
- After that, he constantly sought God along with other brothers (Acts 13:1-2);
- Finally, he was filled with the inspiration of holiness to fulfill his calling (cf. Acts 13:9,10).
Finally, Saul was actually revived by God as he poured out his heart to Him when he met the Master! He became obedient, full of anointing, love for the brothers and wisdom in the word of God.
Through the story of Saul (Paul) we can have a clear example of the things that happen in a revival.
Some people may not understand you when they see a revival starting to happen in your life, as it did in that emissary’s life. But don’t give up, strengthen yourself in the Lord and in his word! (see Acts 9:21,22)
Just like Saul, Simon and so many others, we can seek and submit to God, be filled with his inspiration and experience true revival in our lives!
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