Whatever else you might say about Jonathan Edwards, he certainly heads the list with an especially "God-sized vision" of spiritual awakenings. As he studied Scripture, Edwards saw how God acts with sovereign grace and awesome power. But Edwards's vision was also shaped and strengthened by experience. His Narrative of the Surprising Work of the Spirit of God, published in 1737, described an amazing event. Northhampton, Massachusetts, and neighboring towns in Connecticut River Valley had been blessed by "a special dispensation of God's providence." Townspeople recognized the very "presence of the Lord" in their midst. According to Edwards, God's presence transformed the spiritual life of the town.
Edwards rejoiced as the work of the Holy Spirit sept beyond the Northhampton town limits. But Edwards did not attribute the spread of the awakening to any planning by the New England clergy. Rather, he regarded the revival as surprising, even though he and other ministers had seen revival before and prayed for it expectantly.... The stories (in previous chapters of the book) may stretch our vision of God's powerful and gracious work in the past [and] may also stir us to pray that God will pour out his Holy Spirit once again in great power in our own day.
Yet maybe you remain unconvinced. We don't see revivals like this in the West today. Most of us have ever participated in a major spiritual awakening. So we may conclude that they simply do not happen, at least not where we live. Our experience (or lack thereof) trumps biblical teaching and historical example. What is more, few evangelical leaders call on us to remember the reviving work of the Spirit of God in our land. Where are the voices crying out in the wilderness, imploring the children of Israel to remember God's prior acts of faithfulness and power?....
Someone who lives with a God-sized vision affirms that gaining knowledge of God precedes gaining knowledge of man. To acquire this knowledge of God, we turn to Scripture. There we see Christ, and in reflecting on Christ, we gain more knowledge of God the Father. As Martin Luther observes, Christ is a mirror of our heavenly Father's loving heart.
Yet this Father will also judge according to his own standards of righteousness, not ours. This God holds the nations in his hands. He alone empowers our ministry. We must not depend on methods, cultural exegesis, strategies, and techniques (helpful though some of them can be) as our end-all approach to doing ministry. We desperately need to depend on the power of the Holy Spirit in our day-to-day lives. A God-sized vision helps us to understand that the Lord really does love us and care for us. He provides for us. The doctrine of God's providence gives us both courage and comfort....
According to Edwards, a true revival exalts Jesus Christ, provokes Satan, prioritizes the Bible and inspires love. But there are other traits that revival stories share in common. If we will see revival again in this day of diminished expectations, we would expect to hear about these shared traits that can be traced throughout the history of spiritual awakenings.
Persisting in Prayer
Often, at least a handful of faith-filled believers engaged in heartfelt prayer for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in order to experience revival. Sometimes they prayed for years before they saw revival. Others were driven to pray almost as a last resort. They had tried and failed to do ministry in their own power. They realized the task before them was too huge or that their efforts using various means and methods had failed. They finally acknowledged they could not continue to serve without the Lord's blessing and power.
Repenting of Sin
When God's presence becomes evident in a revival, repentance from sin swiftly follows. Awareness of God's holiness impels believers under conviction of the Holy Spirit to seek Christ's forgiveness Sins's horror becomes unbearably evident. The sin could be as simple and insidious as pride and trust in our own efforts. But God could be waiting for us to confess before he reveals his plans. There is a danger, however. Sometimes public confession becomes a twisted sort of spiritual one-upmanship to see who can reveal the worst sin. Confession must be followed by humble pursuit of God's sustaining grace and ongoing accountability. But make no mistake, true revival will expose sin you never noticed. The process will be bitter, but God's grace will soon taste sweeter than ever before.
Preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ
During the transatlantic awakening of the eighteenth century, John Wesley, George Whitefield, and Jonathan Edwards preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to whoever would listen, whether in churches, open fields, or town squares. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, their preaching breached man-made defenses. They emphasized the doctrine of justification by faith alone, which they believed had been lost in much Anglican preaching of their day. They understood that hte gospel is "the power of God unto salvation" (Rom 1:16).
Acknowledging God's Authority in Humility
Christians throughout history have emphasized the importance of walking humbly before God and neighbors. Edwards noted that humility not only helps to keep the Devil at bay, but also clears one's vision. He knew that the Lord often used humble believers to lead spiritual awakenings. Gripped by the Gospel, the exalted Christ and not themselves.
By contrast, Edwards identified pride as the primary error that clogged the advance of awakenings. Pride, a stubborn enemy of God, was the first sin that came into this world and will be the last one to leave. Those who are eager to see the Gospel advance are particularly prone to pride. A humble person whom God chose to use in ministry could become proud about success and popularity, succumb to a criticial spirit, and in turn lose the Lord's full blessing. Edwards's insights on spiritual pride in particular deserve serious consideration.
A humble Christian is more apt to seek reconciliation with estranged brothers and sisters in Christ and to say in a heartfelt manner, "I am sorry." Reconciliation between antagonistic Christians often seems to open the door to revival. We recall that after Jonathan Goforth sought reconciliation with another missionary, even though Goforth felt he was in the right, revival broke out among the Chinese with whom he was ministering. Nursing personal grudges can diminish our fruitfulness in ministry.Spiritual pride is very apt to suspect others; whereas a humble saint is most jealous of himself, he is so suspicious of nothing in the world as he is of his own heart. The spiritually proud person is apt to find a fault with other saints, that they are low in grace, and to be much in observing how cold and dead they be, and crying out of them for it, and to be quick to discern and take notice of their deficiencies: but the eminently humble Christian has so much to do at home, and sees so much evil in his own heart, and is so concerned about it, that he is not apt to be very busy with others' hearts; he complains most of himself, and cries out of his own coldness and lowness in grace, and is apt to esteem others better than himself... and can't bear to think that others should bring forth no more fruit to God's honor than he.
Serving God with Boldness
With a firm belief in God's care, many revival leaders fearlessly entered perilous circumstances. They were not content to serve as chaplains to the status quo. This holy boldness, granted by the Spirt, gains strength when we remember what God's strong arm has done in the past. The Lord is not intimidated by Chicago or Cairo or any other city or country. He really does hold the nations in his hands. History tells the story. Nations rise and fall, but the Lord endures forever. Christ is building his church.
Revival, in fact looks a lot like the church's normal activities as explained in Scripture. The revived church worships, prays, preaches, and evangelizes. Only they do so with a heightened sense of God and greater capacity to embody and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection for sinners. Their Christ-centered exuberance in worship and boldness in evangelism attracts critics but appeals to many others. A deeper understanding of God's holiness leads to repentance and humility that may seem uncomfortable at first but ultimately foster meaningful community.
"This is what God can do. This is what God has done," Martyn Lloyd-Jones said. "Let us together decide to beseech him, to plead with him to do this again. Not that we may have the experience or the excitement, but that his great name may be glorified and magnified among the people.
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