What is the Vision of Revival? Isaiah 54:1-3, The Eternal Covenant of Peace

¹ “Sing, O barren one, who did not bear;

    break forth into singing and cry aloud,

    you who have not been in labor!

For the children of the desolate one will be more

    than the children of her who is married,” says the Lord.

² “Enlarge the place of your tent,

    and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out;

do not hold back; lengthen your cords

    and strengthen your stakes.

³ For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left,

    and your offspring will possess the nations

    and will people the desolate cities.

The background of our Isaiah reading is the Israelite exile. Isaiah compares Israel to a childless woman without husband or home. Yet this is exactly what God is going to restore to her. She will have her husband back—the husband being God. She will have children again—the children represent her future. And she will have a home—the place God said he would come and be with his people.

What is God’s vision of revival for his people? Let’s explore his word. In verses two and three of Isaiah 54 we see God’s Command to Grow and Go:  ² Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. ³ For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.

God longs for his chosen people to grow and go home. Similarly, he longs for his church to grow and go into the world. First we must grow: Strengthen your stakes he says—strongly ground your church. We grow through worship, prayer, Bible study, fellowship groups, and Sunday School. How many of you attend a Sunday School class? The question is, are we committed to strengthening our stakes for more than 3 Sundays a year?

Second we must go: God calls us like Israel to be a light in a dark world, to birth and raise more children, to reproduce just like Jesus did and just like Jesus commanded us in Mark 16:15: Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.

Bill Easum makes three important points in his book Unfreezing Moves (pp. 18-19):

• One of the earliest names of Christianity was “The Way.” Long before Christianity became known as a “faith to be believed,” Christianity was a way of life that resulted from redemption in Christ. To be a Christian means to live as Jesus lived, to join him in the mission field.

• One of the problems Christianity faces today is that too much of the focus has been on the needs of the institution rather than on the task of embodying the spirit of Jesus.

• To be on the Way with Jesus means to be ready, willing, and able to go wherever Jesus leads us.

That means we need a wide vision because the vision of Jesus is for the entire world.  Go to all people and all nations he says. He doesn’t say concentrate on three or four zip codes in Houston. He doesn’t say perfect your worship space, parking situation, and budget before you begin. He simply says go . . . and preach the good news.

A church that does not go and preach the good news is a disobedient church.  It is a church like the Pharisee who loves comparing his navel to others. Faithful congregations may or may not grow. But like the tax collector, they know they are dependent upon God’s mercy. Therefore, they are able to give themselves away for the sake of the mission of Jesus.

Israel was not faithful to God’s vision, so they were taken into exile. The Episcopal Church as a whole is on the brink of exile because it has not been faithful to God’s vision. However, today is today and tomorrow is ahead of us. Therefore, we must align ourselves with God’s vision today or perish tomorrow.

Billy Graham said: “The evangelistic harvest is always urgent. The destiny of men and nations is always being decided. Every generation is crucial; every generation is strategic. But we are not responsible for the past generation, and we cannot bear full responsibility for the next one. However, we do have our generation!”

Enlarge your tent, stretch your curtain, lengthen your cords, spread out, do not hold back, go and preach the good news to your generation.