The Definition of Revival in the Old Testament

By Robert H. Lescelius 

Habakkuk lived in a day of spiritual perplexity. Jealous for Yahweh's honor, he cried out over the sins of the people (1:1-4), and the Lord's response was the coming of the Chaldeans to chasten them (1:5ff.). This brought a further problem, for the punishment of Judah would come about through a nation more unrighteous than they (1:12,13). What about the future of the covenant people? He knew that God would not destroy his people (1:12), yet how could he allow such a calamity to befall them by such wicked instruments? Habakkuk waited upon the Lord for the answer, and it came (2:1-3). The judgment of the oppressors is coming; the faithful must wait. The prophet saw that someday the kingdom of God will come, when "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (2:14, KJV). The proud will eventually be judged (whether Chaldean or whoever), but there is life and a future for the righteous. The object of faith is the sovereign God of the universe. "But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him" (2:20).

From the warnings and promises of chapters one and two, the prophet concludes with prayer and praise (Habakkuk 3). The prayer is a heart-cry for revival: "O Lord, I have heard of your renown, and I stand in awe, O Lord, of your work. In our own time revive it; in our own time make it known; in wrath remember mercy" (3:2). Hearing the report of God's ways the prophet fears and calls in earnestness upon the Lord to remember mercy in judgment. "Revive it!" [1] This is the theme of the psalm to follow.

The psalm of Habakkuk 3:3-15 is a majestic and sublime poem, a triumphal song, describing Yahweh's deeds of power in delivering Israel from Egypt and bringing them into the land. In poetic language God is seen as coming down (a theophany, 3:3-7) and overcoming his enemies in battle (3:8-15). The result of such a vision of God is great confidence and joy on the prophet's part (3:16-18). The fact that the psalm was made a part of Israel's corporate worship (3:1,19d) reveals that such a hope of revival is to be the expectant confidence of all the people of God.

Therefore the revival of God's work in the midst of the years involves God doing for his people in the present what he has done in the past. [2] Only by such divine intervention can the work of God survive and advance. Revival is a principle of salvation history, the mechanism of biblical theology. [3] As God's people wait in the present, even though it may be a time of declension and suffering, they can walk by faith and hope in the God of revival.

In Habakkuk we can see the elements that define Old Testament revival. Revival has to do with the life of God's covenant people (2:4) and the quickening of that life in time (3:2).

REVIVAL CONCERNS THE QUESTION OF LIFE 

The Hebrew word used in both Habakkuk 2:4 and 3:2 is the verb chayah. [4] This verb is found 284 times in the Old Testament. [5] In the Qal stem (indicative active) it means basically "to live" (Habakkuk 2:4). In the Piel (intensive active) it means "to preserve life, to quicken" (Habakkuk 3:2), and in the Hiphil (causative active) it denotes "to restore life, to preserve life." The word "revival" has come into the vocabulary of the church's history and life from the King James Version (KJV), which translates the verb "revive" twelve times. [6] It also renders the word michyah, the feminine noun from the same root, "reviving," twice. [7]

The Significance of Life. Most of the uses of the verb have the meaning "to live" or "have life" (Genesis 5:3-30). Included is the thought of the continuation or preservation of life (Genesis 50:20; cf. 12:13; 19:19-20; Joshua 2:13; 6:25).

In the Old Testament, life is seen to be from God: "See now that I, even I, am he; there is no god beside me. I kill and I make alive" (Deuteronomy 32:39, KJV; cf. Psalm 36:9; Numbers 27:16; Job 12:10). Life thus has a theological and ethical association. Habakkuk reveals that "the righteous live by their faith." This is in contrast to the proud, who will be judged. "To live" thus can mean to be under the favor of God. This is seen in Genesis 17:18 where Abraham pleads, "O that Ishmael may live in your sight!" In the context it must carry the idea of Ishmael being included in God's covenant arrangement.

The Spirituality of Life. Life, then, in Old Testament theology, has a spiritual connotation. Kidner notes:

In several places it is not too much to say that "life" means fellowship with God. There is a revealing antithesis in [Proverbs] 10:16, where the statement: "the labor of the righteous endeth in life" is matched by: "the increase of the wicked tendeth" (not "to death," but) "to sin." [8] 

Chayah refers to more than "'the trivial round and common task' and indicates a satisfied and God-orientated life." [9] This fact is documented by Moses, who revealed that Yahweh's purpose for the testing of the wilderness was so they might learn "that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 8:3). The Lord Jesus, in his use of this passage in his temptation, makes it refer to the spiritual quality of life (Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4). Life is more than eating and drinking, physical self-preservation. True life is lived in proper dependence upon God. Thus we see that:

In the Old Testament, life is decided by a right relationship to the righteous standards of the Word of God. Moses placed the people in a state of having to decide between life and death by having the Word of God before them (Deuteronomy 30:15-20). Israel is called upon to choose life "for this word is not a vain thing for you, because it is your life" (Deuteronomy 32:47, KJV). [10]

Revival has to do with a people who are in a living relationship with God. This brings us to the next thought.

REVIVAL INCLUDES THE QUALITY OF LIFE 

It can be noted by what has been discussed already that "the Old Testament speaks of life as the experience of life rather than as an abstract principle of vitality." [11] The Old Testament views life in a holistic sense.

The Qualitative Nature of Life. Life in this qualitative sense was a life under the blessing of God. This is expressed in Leviticus 18:5: "You shall keep my statutes and my ordinances; by doing so one shall live: I am the Lord." Wenham translates it: "He will enjoy life through them." [12] Life in this sense was a life of peace (shalom), meaning "peace, completeness, welfare, health." [13] So it is that Yahweh promised a full life to his people under the old covenant.

The Qualifications Necessary for Life. Such a quality life was conditioned upon a right relationship with God: "by doing so one shall live." This was spoken to a people already in covenant relation with God. It also presumed a proper inward attitude toward the Lord. It was on this basis the blessings of the covenant could be enjoyed.

Kaiser notes that "one of the ways of 'doing' the law was to recognize the imperfection of one's life and thus to make a sacrifice for the atonement of one's sins." [14] Thus repentance means life: "And when the wicked turn from their wickedness, and do what is lawful and right, they shall live by it" (Ezekiel 33:19; cf. 18:21-23).

Seeking wisdom is life: "For whoever finds me [wisdom] finds life and obtains favor from the Lord" (Proverbs 8:35; cf. 9:6; 10:17; 15:24). The fear of the Lord leads to life (Proverbs 19:23), as does pursuing righteousness and kindness (Proverbs 21:21). The Wisdom Literature amplifies the two classes of people in the world: the wise and the foolish, the righteous and the wicked. A conversion is therefore essential for life.

The Old Testament teaches elsewhere as well that there must be an inward conversion before there can be a right relation with God and acceptable outward obedience. Ezekiel called for such an inward change: "Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me and get yourself a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God. Turn then, and live" (18:31-32). Moses had commanded this before: "Circumcise, then the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stubborn any longer" (Deuteronomy 10:16; cf. Leviticus 26:40-42; Jeremiah 4:4; Ezekiel 44:7,9). Craigie explains the significance of the circumcision of the heart:

The metaphor thus aptly employs an act symbolizing the covenant relationship, but applies it to the present moment in a spiritual sense. God's requirement was that his people love him (10:12), but to do this, they required a particular attitude of heart or mind, which - like circumcision - involved decision and action symbolizing obedience. Thus to circumcise the heart is to take an attitude to God which is the opposite of being stubborn (or stiff-necked). [15] 

The Israelite was wholly responsible for his total condition before God. Yet what God demanded he himself only could provide. This he promised to do by his grace: "Moreover, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live" (Deuteronomy 30:6). [16] This is a promise of new covenant blessing and lifestyle (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 11:18-20; 36:25-27). It is evident then that there had to be a remnant under the old covenant regenerated on the basis of new covenant blood, quickened by God, to be able to turn to him in repentance and faith and to live in his favor (Hebrews 9:15; Jeremiah 31:18-19; Psalm 80:3, 7). [17] "Then we will never turn back from you; give us life, and we will call on your name. Restore us, O Lord God of hosts, that we may be saved" (Psalm 80:18-19).

Within the nation of Israel, there was a spiritual Israel, the true circumcision (Romans 2:28-29; 9:6-8). It was spiritual Israel that was able to enjoy the quality life promised under the old covenant. It was upon the remnant that the preservation of the nation depended. Revival for Israel nationally meant the spiritual quickening of those within the nation. Isaiah vividly reveals this, using our verb chayah in the Hiphil, which has a causative force: "For thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with those who are contrite and humble in spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite" (Isaiah 57:15).

This takes us back to Habakkuk 2:4. "The just shall live by his faith" (KJV). He can enjoy quality life even in the midst of a judged nation and calamity. The righteous remnant can pray for the quickening of the work of God, the reviving of the nation (3:2). This leads us to our final main point.

REVIVAL MEANS THE QUICKENING OF LIFE 

There are a number of Old Testament passages that use chayah to speak of the quickening of existing life, or restoration of sick and weak life, and even of resurrection to life from the dead. From these we see that the Old Testament teaches the reviving of the people and program of God by the power of God.

The Reviving of the People of God. Existing life can be revived. There are recorded examples of reviving from sickness (Numbers 21:8-9; cf. Joshua 5:8, "were healed"), from depression of spirit (Genesis 45:27), and from physical faintness (Judges 15:19).

An outstanding example is the recovery of Hezekiah from his terminal illness to a chastened, forgiven, worshiping saint in accordance with the promise of God through Isaiah (Isaiah 38). In this psalm of thanksgiving Hezekiah wrote:

O Lord, by these things people live, and in all these is the life of my spirit. Oh restore me to health and make me live! Surely it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness: but you have held back my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back. For Sheol cannot thank you, death cannot praise you; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness. The living, the living, they thank you, as I do this day; fathers make known to children your faithfulness (Isaiah 38:16-19). 

Life, whether physical or spiritual, can be revived. It is by the word and sovereign action of God that such a reviving is possible.

This brings us to a group of texts that speak of the revitalization of the inner life of the saints of God. There are sixteen in the Psalms: 71:20; 80:18; 85:6; 119:25, 37, 40, 50, 88, 93, 107, 149, 154, 156, 159; 138:7; 143:11. The verbs are in the Piel (intensive active). The NRSV translates them "revive" (three times: 71:20; 85:6; 119:25), "give us/me life" (seven times: 80:18; 119:37,40, 50, 107, 154, 156), "have given me life" (once: 119:93), "preserve my life" (three times: 119:149, 159; 143:11), "preserve me" (once: 138:7), and "spare my life" (once: 119:88). The KJV translates the verb "quicken" (fourteen times) and "revive" (twice: 85:6; 138:7). The New American Standard Bible (NSAB) renders it "revive" all sixteen times, while the New King James Version (NKJV) uses "revive" (fourteen times) and "given me life" (twice: 19:50, 94). The New International Version (NIV) translates it "revive" (twice: 80:18; 85:6),"restore my life" (once: 71:20), and "preserve(s) my life" (the other thirteen times).

The quickening can be individual (119:25, "revive me") or corporate (85:6, "revive us"). The passages are either prayers for renewal of life or acknowledgements of the promise or reception of new life. All of them speak of a fresh infusion of life to that already possessed. Deliverance from physical troubles and afflictions is often the context of these verses, thus the renderings, "spare, preserve my life." But we have already noted the holistic, qualitative nature of life in the Old Testament, thus the preservation of physical life involves a spiritual relationship with the Giver of life.

The verses reveal the following truths about revival. First, revival is needed for recovery from a low condition: "My soul clings to the dust; revive me according to your word" (Psalm 119:25; cf. 71:20; 119:50, 107). The reviving power of God is sufficient to preserve the believer through and out of the lowest circumstances of affliction and trouble: "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me" (138:7, NASB).

Second, revival results in spiritual activity and graces for the saint. These include: (1) prayer and worship: "Revive us, and we will call upon your name" (Psalm 80:18, NASB); (2) joy: "Will you not revive us again, so that your people may rejoice in you?" (85:6); (3) obedience: "Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, and revive me in your ways" (119:37, NASB; cf. 119:88); (4) comfort: "This is my comfort in my affliction, that your word has revived me" (119:50, NASB); and (5) conviction: "I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have revived me" (119:93, NASB).

Third, revival comes through the divine means of the Word of promise: "Revive me according to your word" (Psalm 119:25; cf. 50, 93, 107, 154).

Fourth, revival comes in accordance with God's moral character of holiness and love: "In your righteousness give me life" (Psalm 119:40). "Revive me according to your lovingkindness" (Psalm 119:88, NASB: cf. 119:159).

Lastly, we see that human responsibility is involved, for the psalmist is calling upon God in prayer for this quickening and desires it out of motives of love for him and his Word: "Consider how I love your precepts; revive me, O Lord, according to your lovingkindness" (119:159, NASB).

We cannot help but see the importance of the revitalization of spiritual life from these texts. The Psalms are not just an expression of Old Testament piety but of New Testament devotion as well (Ephesians 5:18-20). May we be "teaching and admonishing one another with [these] psalms" (Colossians 3: 16) concerning the truths of revival and make them the language of our prayers. [18]

The Reviving of the Program of God. Habakkuk, we saw, not only spoke of a living relationship with Yahweh by faith (2:4), but we noted that he also prayed for the reviving work of God by his power (3:2). The verb in 3:2 is in the same form as in the Psalm references just considered (the Piel). That God can and will revive his work can be seen in passages where the same verb is found. The enemies of the restored Jews mockingly taunted Nehemiah's efforts to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem with the question: "Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish?" (Nehemiah 4:2). That is exactly what God was doing at the time. The prophets promised such national reviving: "After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him" (Hosea 6:2). [19]

The verb chayah is used in the Old Testament for the resurrection of the dead (1 Samuel 2:6; 2 Kings 5:7), and it is used to actually describe the raising of the dead in 2 Kings 8:1,5 ("restored to life") and 13:21 ("revived," NASB). The God of the Old Testament is a God of resurrection. Deuteronomy 32:39 sets forth the sovereignty of Yahweh over life and death in a context of his dealings with his covenant people: "See now that I, even I, am he; there is no god beside me. I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and no one can deliver from my hand." When Israel found themselves in a place of national disaster, the result of breaking covenant, they had a covenant-keeping God of resurrection power, who was able and willing to recover them to life.

The vision of Ezekiel of the valley of dry bones confirms this truth (Ezekiel 37: 3, 5,6,8, 10, 14). Note especially verses 10-14:

I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. Then he said to me, "Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, "Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost: we are cut off completely." Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: "I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves. O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and will act," says the Lord. 

From a state of hopelessness and helplessness (vs. 11) the nation would be raised up out of the graveyard of the nations and live again under the favor of God. The nation began in its covenant relationship when the Lord said "live" (Ezekiel 16:6) and will live again by the power of God's Spirit (Isaiah 26:19; Romans 11:15). So it is evident that our word chayah speaks of the promise of renewing (even recreating) of the life of the covenant people of God, even out of a condition of total ruin.

Setting aside, for the present, the question of when and how these prophetic promises would be fulfilled, it is evident that the restoration of the remnant back to the land after the Exile was such a revival in a measure. Ezra so described the return and restoration:

But now for a brief moment grace hath been shown from the Lord our God, to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage. For we are slaves; yet in our bondage our God has not forsaken us, but has extended lovingkindness to us in the sight of kings of Persia, to give us reviving, to raise up the house of our God, to restore its ruins and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem (Ezra 9:8, 9, NASB). 

The word "reviving" we have seen translates the noun michyah, meaning "preservation of life." 2 Chronicles 14:13 finds the word used in a way similar to the Ezra passage, where it is said that "the Ethiopians fell until no one remained alive." The NASB renders it: "So many Ethiopians fell that they could not recover." Ezra was referring to the recovery of Israel by the grace of God, but the thought of life, reviving, is inseparable from it. Revival is a recovering of the covenant people to a place of favor and living relationship with God.

The Reviving by the Power of God. Revival, both personal and corporate, is the teaching of the Old Testament. Habakkuk's psalm (chapter 3) reveals that such reviving comes by the descent of Yahweh in power to deliver his people. The Exodus-Conquest is the pattern for God's reviving work. Isaiah uses similar language in a context of prayer for Israel's deliverance after the Exodus pattern (Isaiah 63:7-64:12). Note especially 64:1-2: "O that you would tear open the heavens and come down ..." May Yahweh come down as he did at Sinai is the plea. God comes down and takes the field in revival. He makes himself known (Habakkuk 3:2) as he manifests his mighty presence.

Ezekiel 37 speaks of the resurrecting work being accomplished by God's Spirit (ruach, "Breath, wind, spirit, Spirit"). God's Spirit is the Quickener (Job 33:4). The Isaiah passage above also makes mention of the place of the Holy Spirit in Israel's deliverance from Egypt and settlement into the land (63:14,10, 11). The restoration of the nation after the Exile connects the Spirit's presence at the Exodus with their "reviving." Note Haggai 2:5: "As for the promise which I made you when you came out of Egypt, My Spirit is abiding in your midst; do not fear!" (NASB). This revival was the work of the Spirit of God in enabling, enlivening power: "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts" (Zechariah 4:6, NASB). If the pattern of revival in the Exodus-Conquest was a work of the Spirit of Yahweh, and the last recorded reviving in the Old Testament was also such a work, then we can conclude that the "reviving of God's work" in between was accomplished by the Holy Spirit. [20]

We noted in that majestic Old Testament passage on the condescending grace of Yahweh (Isaiah 57:15), that revival arrives when the Lord comes down from his place of transcendent exaltation to dwell with the broken and humble. God's dwelling means revival.

The Old Testament God is the God of revival. Revival is a principle of salvation history. According to his sovereign purpose of grace, he condescends to dwell in his manifest presence by his Spirit to make alive and restore his covenant people. He comes down in his reviving power to lift up his broken people and preserve and advance his work in time. In the Old Testament revival is:

An act of God's sovereign grace whereby he imparts a fresh faith-life to the members of the covenant community through the recovery of the original covenant fellowship with God in order that they may be enabled to meet some particular crisis and in order that a basis may be provided for the ongoing experience of that covenant fellowship. [21] 

NEW TESTAMENT SIGNIFICANCE 

How does Old Testament revival relate to the New Testament and especially to the phenomenon called revival in church history? Some see no connection at all; others, a very limited one. The fact of the difference between the old covenant and the new, between Israel as a theocratic nation under the old arrangement and the church in this new age of the Spirit must be considered and not compromised. The differences must be maintained. However, the relation between the two can be seen in considering points in common between them. First, as noted throughout this study, the principle of revival is to be found throughout the Old Testament. God "revives his work," or preserves it, and advances it by coming down to deliver, restore, and revitalize by his presence and power. Just as the Exodus-Sinai-Conquest event meant redemption and covenant relation with Yahweh for Israel in their land, a relationship that was restored, preserved, and continued through subsequent deliverances after the original pattern, so the Cross-Resurrection-Pentecost sequence brought spiritual redemption and life for the church, seated in the heavenlies, a relationship and calling that has been and can still be revitalized, empowered and advanced after the original pattern. We can still pray like Old Testament saints, "Lord, do again what you did in the past!" We can pray, "Pour out your Spirit as you did at Pentecost."

Another link is seen in the word "life." We have looked at the concept of life in its Old Testament setting and have seen how it has led us to other concepts connected with it: justification by faith (Habakkuk 2:4), a new heart and a new spirit (Ezekiel 18:31-32), circumcision of the heart (Deuteronomy 30:6), and the quickening of the Holy Spirit (Ezekiel 37:9,10,14). All of these are promised as blessings of the new covenant to come in Messianic times (Ezekiel 36:25-27; Jeremiah 31:33-34; 32:38-40; Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:16-21; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38;. Philippians 3:3; Colossians 2:11). In the New Testament God has come in the person of his Son with the gift of eternal life (a quality life, John 17:3; 2 Timothy 1:10), a life that his new covenant people can experience abundantly (1 John 4:9; John 10:10). He has come down in the person of the Holy Spirit to indwell, immerse, and empower his new covenant people as the Spirit of life and renewal (John 14:16-18; Acts 1:5, 8; Romans 8:2). The passage that probably expresses the New Testament concept most clearly is Titus 3:5-7, linking it with the Old Testament truths of life and revival:

He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace, we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life (NASB). [22] 

Under the old covenant there was a spiritual Israel within Israel (Romans 9:6-8, the remnant), but under the new covenant all the people of God are spiritual seed (Jeremiah 31:34). The church in the New Testament is a regenerate body united to Christ by the Spirit. The difference between revival in the Old Testament and in the New is that in the Old Testament God quickened the spiritual Israel within Israel and thus renewed the covenant relationship of the nation with Yahweh and advanced his Old Testament program, while in the New Testament God pours out his Spirit upon the regenerate body and renews it. He empowers it to carry out its calling of world evangelism and pours out the Spirit on the world to regenerate sinners through the gospel and make them part of the new covenant body. The language of life and revival are thus common to both, especially through the Psalms (including Habakkuk 3).

A third link is the nation of Israel. Israel is yet promised revival. Ezekiel 37 (the resurrection of the dry bones plus the rest of the chapter; 37:14, 26), Hosea 6:1-3 (cf. 3:4-5), and like passages, promise Israel a living relationship to Yahweh that has not yet been fulfilled. Even the prayer of Habakkuk (3:2-15) has not yet been fully answered, for the earth is not yet "filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (2:14). The promise of a new heart and spirit, the receiving of the Holy Spirit, regeneration, and restoration are all promises to Israel (Jeremiah 31:31-34 [the same people with whom the old covenant was made]; Ezekiel 11:17-20; 36:16-36; Zechariah 12:9-13:1; Isaiah 32:13-17; 44:1-5). Romans 11 promises a future conversion of Israel, a restoration that will have the effect of "life from the dead" for the world (11:12, 15,25-27). The outpouring of the Spirit, promised to Israel, will also include "all flesh" (Joel 2:28-32), meaning Gentiles as well (Acts 2, 10). The church partakes of the soteriological benefits of the new covenant because of the blood of Christ that ratified it (Matthew 26:26; 2 Corinthians 3). Through the cross we enter into the promise to Abraham that all families of the earth will be blessed through his seed (Genesis 12:3; Galatians 3:16).

Now what has this to do with the relationship between the Old Testament and New Testament concepts of revival? The Old Testament clearly prophesies in many places a future revival for Israel under the new covenant (Romans 11:26-27; cf. Isaiah 59:20,21; Ezekiel 16:60-63; 36:26; 37:26). Interpretations of this vary, depending upon one's eschatological position. A historical amillennial position has seen these prophecies as fulfilled spiritually in the "spiritual Israel," the church. With this position the Old Testament truths of revival (Spirit outpouring, regeneration, renewal, etc.) are applied to the church. Many amillennialists today, as well as a growing number of postmillennialists, see a future conversion of Jews in this age, according to Romans 11, and a great ingathering of Gentiles, as well, into the church in what they call the "latter day glory. "This view would see Old Testament revival promises as fulfilled in this age and this should provide high hopes for revival in the church. The premillennialist, especially the dispensationalist, believes that the biblical prophecies demand a more literal fulfillment with a national restoration of Israel in their land, not as added to the church (as in the case of Jews converted in this age [Ephesians 3:5]). In the coming revival for Israel, spiritual Israel and national Israel will be the same (Jeremiah 31:34); the remnant, assembly, and nation will be identical in the kingdom of Christ (Micah 4:6-8). If Israel is yet to experience revival (nationally and spiritually) through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the church can expect it now as well under the saving blessings of the new covenant. According to the Old Testament, revival is a new covenant blessing. New covenant people can and should seek it and experience it.

As the body of Christ, expressed in time in local churches, maintains a fellowship with Christ through an ungrieved and unquenched Spirit (Ephesians 4:30; 1 Thessalonians 5:19), she will know the joy, peace, love, and power of the fullness of God in fulfilling of the divine purpose for this age (Romans 15:13; Ephesians 3:14-21). The church can expect and should pray for outpourings of power from on high in accordance with the Father's good pleasure to advance the cause of the gospel (Luke 24:47-49; Acts 1:8; 2:1-3; 4:31). The revelation of such a God of revival, Old and New Testament, should feed our faith to desire and pray for such revival blessings.

Author 

Dr. Robert H. Lescelius serves as academic dean, Georgia Baptist College and Theological Seminary, Senoia, Georgia. Dr. Lescelius is the author of three books: The Spirit Directed Life, Lordship Salvation: Some Crucial Questions and Answers, and What Is God Like? He is married, the father of two children, the grandfather of three, and the great-grandfather of one. He has previously contributed to Reformation & Revival Journal.

Notes 

1. The verb with its pronominal suffix means, "to revive him" or "revive it." The popular translations render the antecedent as God's "deeds" or "work." The KJV has "revive thy work," NKJV and NASB, "revive Your work," and the NIV, "renew them [your deeds]." The answer to the prayer in 3:3-15 reveals Yahweh's deeds as being that of deliverance for Israel as he overcomes their enemies. Richard D. Patterson comments (Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah: The Wycliffe Exegetical Commentary, Kenneth Barker, gen. ed. [Chicago: Moody Press, 1991],229) "[chayyehu] ('renew them'; lit. 'renew it'): the verb can denote not only giving, calling, or creating life (Gen. 7:3; 19:32,34; Deut. 32:39) but also reviving and renewing life (Ps. 80:18; 85:6 [Heb. 85:7], 119:25) as well as preserving life (Gen. 12:12; Deut. 6:24; Ps. 22:29 [Heb. 22:30]). The reference here points to the redeeming work of God that is rehearsed in vv. 3-15." 
2. "The orientation of Habakkuk's 'prayer' is to the past, as the basis for his appeal to God for present help (cf. Exod. 32: l3; Ps. 77: 11; Acts 4:25- 28). The noun 'fame' (shema) is normally used of secondhand information (e.g., Job 28:22; Nah. 3:19), suggesting a remoteness from the hearer's experience to the persons or events referred to (cf. Job 42:5). The Lord's 'deeds' envisioned here corroborate this sense of remoteness, being associated with his sovereign power and preeminently with his 'work' (po'al) at the Exodus (e.g., Num. 23:23; Psalm 44:1; 68:28; 77:12; 90:16; 95:9; 111:3; cf. vs. 3) - a primary anchor-point of Israel's recollection, faith, and hope, as is the Cross to the Christian. Habakkuk's appeal for 'mercy' (racham) is thus grounded in God's covenantal commitment to Israel, displayed in the events of the Exodus as a whole and sealed at Sinai (cf. Deut. 4:31); it is no wishful or manipulative plea for help, grounded merely on the desperation of the moment" (Carl E. Armerding, "Habakkuk," in The Expositor's Bible Commentary, 12 vols. [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1985]: 7:523-24). 
3. Commenting on the Song of Deborah (Judg. 5), particularly verses 4 and 5, Richard D. Patterson notes the significance of language like that in Habakkuk 3:3ff: "The theophanic material here is paralleled in several places in the Old Testament (cf. v.4 with Deut. 22:1-2a; Ps. 68:7 [Heb. 68:8]; Hab. 3:3; cf. v.5 with Ps. 18:7; 68:8 [Heb. 68:9]; Hab. 3:10; see also Ps. 114:5f). These verses appear to be drawn from a body of old poetic phrases and portions that depict the epic narrative of God's deliverance of his people from their Egyptian bondage, his preservation of them in the wilderness, and his triumphal leading of them into the land of promise" ("The Song of Deborah," in Tradition and Testament: Essays in Honor of Charles Lee Feinberg [Chicago: Moody Press, 1981], 130-31). 
4. Strong's Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible, number 2421. See Brown, Driver, Brigg's Hebrew and English Lexicon, 310-13. 
5. W. E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, William White, Jr., Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, 2 vols. in one (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1985), 1:137. 
6. 6. Four times in the Qal (Gen. 45:27; Judg. 15:19; 1 Kings 17:22; 2 Kings 13:21); six times in the Piel (Neh. 4:2; Ps. 85:6; 138:7; Hos. 6:2; 14:7; Hab. 3:2; twice in the Hiphil (Isa. 57:15). 
7. Ezra 9:8-9. The NASB translates these two uses "reviving" also. The NKJV reads "measure ofrevival" and "to revive." The NIV renders the noun "relief" and "new life," respectively, while the NRSV has "sustenance" and "new life." Michyah is number 4241 in Strong's. 
8. Derek Kidner, Proverbs: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity, 1983), 113. 
9. Michael A. Eaton, Ecclesiastes: An Introduction and Commentary (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity, 1983), 113. 
10. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, 2 volumes (Chicago: Moody, 1980), s.v. 644, "chyh," by Elmer B. Smick, 1:280. 
11. Theological Wordbook, 1:279. 
12. Gordon J. Wenham, The Book of Leviticus, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979), 248. 
13. Vine's, 1 :173. "Shalom is the result of God's activity in covenant (berit), and is a result of righteousness (Isaiah 32:17). In nearly two-thirds of its occurrences, shalom describes the state of fulfillment which is the result of God's presence" (Theological Wordbook, s.v., 2401, "shim," by G. Lloyd Carr, 2:931.). 
14. Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., "Leviticus 18:5 and Paul: Do This and You Shall Live (Eternally?)," The Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 14 (1971), 25. 
15. Peter C. Craigie, The Book of Deuteronomy, New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976),205. 
16. "Just as circumcision of the flesh symbolized outward identification with the Lord and the covenant community (cf. Gen. 17: 10, 23; Lev. 12:3; Josh. 5:2), so circumcision of the heart (a phrase found only here and in Deut. 10: 16 and Jer. 4:4) speaks of internal identification with him in what might be called regeneration in Christian theology. Paul equated circumcision of the heart with spiritual renewal, especially in the Epistle to the Romans. He argued that circumcision has value for the Jew who obeys the law (i.e., keeps the covenant), but as a mere outward physical sign it has no value at all to the disobedient (Rom. 2:15-27). What is required, he said, is inward circumcision, that of the heart and spirit that attests to genuine faith (2:28-29)," Eugene H. Merrill, Deuteronomy, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1994), 388. 
17. Commenting on Heb. 9:15: "for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant," Philip Edgecombe Hughes writes: "The efficacy of this redemption, moreover, extends not only to those who have lived since the advent of Christ but also, retroactively, to those who trusted the promises prior to their fulfillment." Commenting further on "those who are called," he writes: "God who has made provision for the blessings of this eternal inheritance also by his calling guarantees that there will be inheritors to enter into the enjoyment of it, for his calling is always and indefectibly effectual calling." He affirms that this applies to "not only believers of this present age but also believers who lived before the coming of Christ and, greeting the fulfillment of the promise from afar, died in faith (Heb. 11:13)." A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, reprint 1993 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977),367-68. 
18. I am in wholehearted agreement with the defense of the traditional view of revival so ably defined in lain H. Murray's excellent book, Pentecost Today? The Biblical Basis for Understanding Revival (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1998). I do not believe, however, that he has to give up on the possibility of any connection between the Old Testament concept of revival (as I am seeking to demonstrate in this study) and the New Testament phenomenon. He writes: "These texts [Old Testament references to revival] do not provide a biblical basis for the meaning of revival" (93). And again he states, "I accept, then, that the actual word 'revival; like many other theological terms, is not of biblical origin and we must not therefore allow inferences from the English word to control our understanding. Scripture itself must do that" (4). We agree that the Old Testament references using words "live," "life," "revive," and "reviving" are not describing the New Testament outpouring of the Holy Spirit (unless prophesying Messianic times). We are maintaining that the truth of God coming down in sovereign grace to infuse life into his redemptive program, lifting it up, and moving it ahead is an Old Testament principle. We maintain that Pentecost was also such a phenomenon where God the Holy Spirit came down to do his work of regeneration and renewing in this new covenant age (Titus 3:5-7), a work he has continued to do in periodic outpourings throughout church history as Yahweh did in the Old Testament under the condition of the old covenant. Many terms have been taken from the Scriptures and have been given different technical meanings in the science of theology, and "revival" has taken on a life ofits own in this way. We are, no doubt, using it in a technical way in the discipline of biblical theology, but we believe there is a biblical basis for using the word. God moves his program ahead by "reviving his work" (Hab. 3:2) sovereignly and periodically. This is exactly what the traditional view of revival as espoused by our brother Murray maintains. 
19. "Their repentance will lead to their living before God. Life is the viability of the relationship of the nation to the promised inheritance. Its antithesis, death, represents the cessation of a vital relationship with God and the promises made to Abraham and his descendants. We may find this concept of "life" in several places (Deut. 1:8; 16:20; 30:15; Amos 5:14)," Thomas E. McComiskey, "Hosea," in The Minor Prophets: An Exegetical and Expository Commentary, 3 volumes. Edited by Thomas E. McComiskey. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992) 1:88. 
20. Besides the passages in Isaiah (63:10-14) and Haggai (2:5), which read back into the Exodus account the operation and presence of the Holy Spirit, is the record of the Spirit coming upon the Judges to empower their revival movements (Judg. 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 13:25; 14:6, 19; 15:14). The Judges period provides a basis of hope for deliverance for later generations (2 Chron. 15:1-7). 
21. Frederick Paul Zitzman, "Old Testament Revivals," unpublished Th. M. thesis, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia, 1955. 
22. The passage brings together regeneration, sanctification ("renewing"), justification, and eternal life, all connected with the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. See also 2 Cor. 6: 11. We believe revival in its New Testament context and as manifested in church history is an amplification of the doctrine of regeneration. Regeneration is a sovereign work of the Holy Spirit (John 3:8; James 1:18). In revival in the New Testament and historically God has moved sovereignly to regenerate sinners in large numbers, advancing the church in the world by waves of spiritual awakening. The basic principles are the same for the regeneration of one sinner as a thousand. "Renewing" (Greek, anakainosis) "is not a fresh bestowment of the Spirit, but a revival of his power, developing the Christian life; this passage [Titus 3:5] stresses the continual operation of the indwelling Spirit of God," Vine's, 2:524.