What Is Revival? The Greatness of God, Isaiah 40:9-11

⁹ Go on up to a high mountain,    

O Zion, herald of good news;

lift up your voice with strength,    

O Jerusalem, herald of good news;    

lift it up, fear not;

say to the cities of Judah,    

“Behold your God!”

¹⁰ Behold, the Lord God comes with might,    

and his arm rules for him;

behold, his reward is with him,    

and his recompense before him.

¹¹ He will tend his flock like a shepherd;    

he will gather the lambs in his arms;

he will carry them in his bosom,    

and gently lead those that are with young.

In verses 9-11 the Fourth Voice says : Look at God.

How can we know God and what he says? Isaiah simply directs us to, look at God.  Behold him. He is gentle. He is our defender. God is active. Perhaps we see this best on the cross. Jesus actively pursued the cross to defend us from Satan, and yet he was gentle. He said of himself, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” At the cross of Christ, we see the unfailing pursuit of God’s righteousness intersect with his equally unfailing and gentle love. We know revival is coming when our lives are focused on God.

Perhaps the most amazing aspect of God we see in Isaiah 40 is that God is a power-sharing God. Verses 29-31 say, The Lord gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah has been concentrating on the whether we have a right view of who God is. Now he asks, “Do we have a right vision of what God wants to do with our lives?” What does he want to do with your life?

Nicky Gumbel writes, “To those who hope in the Lord . . . and are walking in a relationship with him, he makes this astonishing three-part promise.”  First, they will soar on wings like eagles. Everett Fullam puts it this way: Eagles do not fly—if you mean by that the flapping of wings to propel them from one place to another. They have an inborn ability to discern wind currents. They do not go anywhere until the right breeze comes along. When it comes, they just let go, borne aloft by the wind. . . . eagles have the ability to lock their wings in place. All they do is to ride the wind. Other birds are afraid of storms. Eagles love a storm. It carries them higher and higher and higher. Do you want to be an eagle Christian?

“Eagle Christians,” says Gumbel, “do not serve by the grit of their teeth or sweat of their brow. It is service by the power of God through the wind of the Holy Spirit—discerning His purpose and then going with it, not trying to get Him to bless your mess.”  Unless we do God’s work in his strength, we shall flap our wings in futility.

The second promise is in verse 31: “they will run and not grow weary.” God empowers us for the long run. He is the everlasting energy source. He is the energizer God.

And the third promise is “they will walk and not be faint.” God enables us to move forward in spite of opposition and difficulty.

Revival is the work of God our leader. You and I are called to be followers. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we are like eagles. We have that second nature whereby we can feel the wind of God and catch the wave as the Spirit leads us into new places of significant ministry in healing, evangelism, outreach, and service.

God works with and through his people. Even though revival is from God, we do have a part to play. The question is: Will God use me?  I’ll tackle that subject next. But before then, I have a revival verse for you from 2 Timothy 1:7, “God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.”

We have access to power because God is a power-sharing God. We have access to love because he first loved us. And we have access to self-discipline because God’s Spirit lives in us.

Is revival coming? You bet it is! Therefore, don’t be timid. Behold your Father God; be bold in Christ because his Spirit lives in you. Therefore, we can say with the psalmist, “Revive us, O God, and we will call on your name.” (Psalm 80:18)

I'm taking some time away, but I'll be back in mid-November with a bit more on REVIVAL.