Real Revival
“This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law. Nehemiah 8:9
Weeping – “One lesson became perfectly clear: Any nation that turns away from its founding principles and repudiates the values upon which it was founded is destined for the ash heap of history.” James Black – When Nations Die.
Sobering words, indeed. James Black investigated ten major civilizations spanning thousands of years of human history. His conclusion: once a culture abandons its founding principles, it begins a process of self-destruction. It rots from the inside out, until one day it collapses. What are the consistent signs of this process? Loss of respect for authority, deterioration in quality of leadership, collapse of education and values, lack of knowledge of history, moral failure, increased promiscuity, increased taxation, economic despair, loss of cultural uniqueness. When these actions and attitudes overtake a civilization, it is doomed to destruction. This was true in ancient Egypt, in Rome, in the empires of Asia and Europe and it is true today. A generation or two after these factors take over the thinking of the populace, the civilization is finished.
Nehemiah brought Israel back from captivity. God dealt very harshly with His people. In order to rid them of their idolatry, He brought the empire to destruction. When Nehemiah returned to rebuild Jerusalem, the people knew that they needed to recover a lost heritage. That heritage was the Law of God. Without it, Israel was nothing but a once-great empire. So, when the Law was read once again in the presence of the people, when the principles of the culture were reiterated and understood, when the people embraced God’s way of living, there was great weeping. Why? Because the enormous tragedy of the captivity became clear. Idolatry was behind it all. They wept because they mourned their sin.
And they wept because God restored them. Now they understood. Now they realized that the Holy One of Israel had not abandoned them. Their great suffering led to revival. This is a revival that would last because the lesson cost so much. Never again has Israel worshipped a false God. But it took total destruction to get the message.
The Hebrew verb bakah means weeping or wailing because of grief, pain, humiliation or joy. The people are experiencing all of this, but Nehemiah instructs them to not weep. Yes, your pain is real. Yes, your joy is real. But today God is honored because you have come back to Him. Today is true revival because the foundation of our way of life has been restored. Today we are once again committed to living as His people. Nehemiah’s message is for us too.
If our nation is to survive, it will need more, much more, than spiritual revival. It will need to return to a whole-hearted adoption of the Law of God. It will need true revival – word and deed in alignment with Him. Otherwise, it’s over. It’s just a matter of time.
Topical Index: revival, law, James Black, nations, weeping, bakah, Nehemiah 8:9
Amen Skip. This aritcle is so needed during this time of unwanted changes and plans to take us away from the freedoms of God and the founding fathers desire to give us His freedom
Lord bring a revival and protect your children.
Thanks SO muich.
Skip … our nation? The United States of America I am presuming!
If I presume correctly then assuredly you either jest in even considering a national revival or are simply being gentle about depicting our ultimate demise.
I by no means think in such terms. What propensity we had as a nation in aligning our culture with that of The G_D of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is long since gone and serious doubts could be raised to even consider a genuine alignment from our onset.
For those that see America in some sort of favorable or meaningful prophetic light …. I am sorry but there is no Scriptural support. In fact Scripture declares that all nations will come against Israel … all nations …. and that would include the good old USA as well.
Besides …. let’s face reality … only a Christian electoral mandate would open the door for any possible revival but then again who would even be so naïve to think that a mainstream Christian movement would want to align our society to Torah? They spurn Torah today within their own culture(s) even without the pressures of the secular world’s tolerance and moral relativism.
The reality is (an assessment) that any revival will be associated with Israel and those people of the nations that call upon the Name of YHVH. We are seeing that revival unfold in these very days … but as we can also see it is not anything that will affect national governments which are rushing headlong towards globalized government. National governments mind you that are ruled by the principalities of the old and dying first creation.
I do agree with Ellen … please Lord bring forth a revival that brings into number the children so that Yeshua will come and bury the old order of creation! And have mercy upon kol haAretz!
Yes, Drew. No manifest destiny and nationalism implied here BUT if there is to be true revival, it will embrace Torah. Anything less is merely improvement.
Doesn’t God punish a nation for the behavior of his people in it, NOT the unbelievers in that nation? What we need to be looking at is the religious SYSTEM and what we are doing there. Any nationwide revival would have to work its way through the so-called believers — in the SYSTEM and outside of it. But to me, that is a more daunting prospect than the secular nation of the USA.
<>
now Drew.. a Christian electoral mandate?? Is this the way revival happens?? Whatever happened to “with G-d all things are possible?” Now, I have to say from the looks of things, “it is gloriously dark” and all the parts and pieces are in place for the judgment of this land, the U.S. of A. As my wife has been saying, “either G-d is going to have to do something about America, or apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.” I have noticed though a pattern of how G-d works. It has been repeated enough times for us to recognize it and to actually expect His deliverance once again. “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not, they are new every morning.. great is your faithfulness” is the reason I can leave my house and drive down the street. We really don’t know the end from the beginning, nor do we know the “mind of the LORD.” The only thing I have to go on is His holy Word which declares He is a G-d who is holy, compassionate,faithful and merciful. The incident at Sodom was not isolated at all but as is all of G-d’s book, instructive in giving us hope. Perhaps G-d will spare us if He can find but ten who are “righteous.” This I do know.. “He doeth all things well” and I can trust Him implicitly to do what is right. I can pray with delight, “Thy will be done” and take comfort knowing He is a merciful G-d. It is my responsiblility to be rightly related to Him and to pray with those who are like-minded, “Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on us.” Do you not feel as I do, it is an opportune time to declare, “Lord, teach us to pray?”
Carl …. my opinion in this matter was expressed as it was to convey that I harbor no false sense of what our nation is or represents in the plan of Adonai. We can and should always pray that Adonai stay the righteous judgment.
I firmly believe in a revival and I do believe that we are in the midst of it right now! Not one that is slated for Yeshua will be lost except for the one who betrayed Him! I will admit that the season may not be completely upon us and there is always time for ebb and flow. Sometimes it is less convenient and more difficult to speak the truth. As you state we are in very dark times indeed …. and He will be merciful to His own children.
My opinion is that there is no looming national revival. In fact a revival implies the emergence of a once prominent movement or ideology. Respective to His ways as set forth in Torah, I would argue that we need not a revival but a complete transformation to something never held in esteem by our nation.
Does anyone believe we will see such national transformations around the globe before Yeshua returns? Does anyone think that we will see such a transformation within our own land? I think it is a fair question!
But to keep the bonds of unity I will also hold onto hope where there should be none! I will pray that my assessment is applicable to a future time frame for the sake of our own countrymen. 🙂
May Adonai bless us one and all!
I share your assessment and your hope. But then I know that God has ways of working that men can never anticipate. So, there is always His way, hidden from us.
But as for our nation (or any nation), I find James Black’s book more than revealing. It is a warning. We are well on the way to collapse. What a shame! May God be merciful.