Seeking Revival
King Josiah
When my children were little, they always had on dress-ups. My son, sandwiched between two sisters often was found in more princess attire than prince. He wanted to play with them so they dressed him up right along with them, and even accessorized him with tiaras and jewelry.
I’ll always remember the day he came into the living room dressed as Cinderella with his chubby toes sticking out of his sister’s plastic slippers. Soon after, my mom hit the costume sales and got him every male super hero costume she could find.
All kids love to play dress-up. We like to pretend to be someone we are not and live like kings or queens for the moment. If you read through the Old Testament, you will find one such child that did not have to pretend. Do you remember King Josiah? He was a mere eight years old when he became king.
Cleansing And Restoration
2 Chronicles 34 tells us that when he was sixteen, he inquired with God, and did right in the eyes of the Lord. At twenty years old, Josiah cleansed Judah from all things that were not honorable to God. He tore down Asherah poles, idols, and altars to Baal.
After cleansing the land, he began having the temple restored. He wanted to restore Judah back to God. While they restored the temple, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the Lord (2 Chronicles 34:14 NIV). Josiah was doing what he felt led by God to do, but we can presume they did not follow or know God’s law at this point. With the generations falling further from God, this generation had not heard God’s law.
After finding the Book of the Law, they took it to King Josiah, who tore his robes at hearing the words. He said, “Great is the Lord’s anger that is poured out on us because those who have gone before us have not kept the word of the Lord; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written in this book” (2 Chronicles 34:21).
King, Prophet, And Priest
King Josiah sent word to the prophet Huldah for her to inquire the Lord for him. Remember, before Jesus, there were three positions: a king, priest, and prophet. The king was the leader of the people. The prophet spoke to the people on behalf of God and a priest spoke to God on behalf of the people. Jesus came to fulfill all three positions. He is the King of kings, our priest or intercessor, and prophet.
The prophet Huldah heard from the Lord and shared a message of the destruction God had planned for the people of Judah. She then said, “Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what he spoke against this place and its people, and because you humbled yourself before me and tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the Lord.Now I will gather you to your ancestors, and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place and on those who live here” (2 Chronicles 34:27-28 NIV).
Once Josiah heard this, he gathered all the people together to tell them of all he had learned and then heard from the prophet. The people responded by pledging to live in accordance with God’s Word.
Old Testament Revivals
This is known as one of the Old Testament revivals because we find people coming face-to-face with God and changing inwardly, and then changing their actions and living in a way that would bring God glory.
I love the progression here. God began to move in the heart of one man, Josiah. He drew him close and moved him to remove all the false idols in the land. Then God revealed His Word to Josiah, the Law. As we read in the last post, at the reading of God’s Word, people are moved. Josiah repented and was humbled before God. Remember, all recorded revivals start with repentance.
From Josiah’s heart change, he shared with everyone in Judah what he had learned, and from there, all of them returned to the ways of God. God only needs one heart to change for revival to spread.
A Culture Of Revival
What happens in the heart of someone before revival spreads? We will take a hard look inward and see where God might want a heart change. Where might He be calling for repentance and from there we will look at how we can then go forth to live out the great commission of ‘making disciples of all nations (Matthew 38:19).
I once heard someone ask why most of us have not seen revival and the person responded with, “We don’t want it bad enough.” That really hit me hard. I have desired to see revival in every city I have lived in, but there are still things in the way. We have idols we need to move. There are still things of this world that are still more important to us than seeing revival. That may be hard to hear, but it‘s true.
I encourage you to go through the five lessons on a culture of revival. It’s only available in the online community. Come with a heart open to what God may want to do in you. It may be hard, but oh, can you imagine what God might do if we all came to a place of complete repentance, and seeking and asking for revival fire to fall?
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