Revival and renewals have been happening throughout history and across geography. God has given awakenings from Iraq’s Ninevite awakening in the eighth century (BC) to Korea’s Pyongyang Revival in the early twentieth century (AD). But can public sin undo a renewal like the YRR movement?
We have to start by remembering that with every awakening, like all visible professions of faith, our interpretation of events is limited. We do not see as God sees. Apparent visible success can be much more mixed than we anticipated. As well, fears of decline can be more highly exaggerated by us, while God has many who have not bowed the knee to Baal (1 Kings 19:18, Rom 11:4).
Jesus taught us that various spiritual states can show visibly potential spiritual life, but that only the lasting, fruit-bearing life reveals the “good soil” (Mt 13:1-23, Mk 4:1-20, Lk 8:4-15).
Jesus himself experienced the reversals of having people follow him visibly, but who “turned back and no longer walked with him” (John 6:66). Of course, Jesus spoke about Judas, but he included all those who followed for a season but didn’t remain.
Paul understood this visible reversal. He had many people join and then abandon his Lord’s mission so that when Paul was put on trial nobody was there to stand up for him except, as Paul noted, the Lord himself (2 Ti 4:16-17).
Accepting the Mixed Legacy
So when renewals and revivals come, there will be seasons of delight and disillusionment. Such season ought to be anticipated. They have occurred since the days of our Lord’s earthly ministry and the early days of the church under the apostles care. There is a big difference between the disillusionment from seeing an end to visible successes and being brazenly disillusioned with God.
Should We Be Agnostic About Renewals?
Another approach always pops up in answer to the question of delight versus disillusionment. The alternative approach is to be sort of agnostic about seasons of renewal and revival. People who take on this approach refuse to acknowledge an awakening because they are a bit cynical and not wishing to be disappointed. With this approach, people may hear good reports, and they act like they don’t exist, or don’t matter.
Being agnostic about renewals tends to be fearfully passive and moribund, or suspiciously shrunk down to the safest unit possible– yourself. Like Elijah, there can be a lack of self-awareness with this approach since God is doing many unseen things all the time (cf. 1 Kings 19:18). This approach tends toward dead orthodoxy (that is therefore unorthodox), ‘the frozen chosen’, and the death of missions.
Productive Not Parasitical
In Michael Allen’s book, he contrasts the two ways that reform can take place. He says that reforms can take place productively or parasitically. I found this distinction very helpful. When we consider reformation, revival, and renewal, we always want to be seeking productive change, not parasitical change. A renewal is parasitical if it is merely feeding off of the spiritual productivity of a previous renewal. If the calls for change are parasitical then they are bound to bring serious spiritual decline. An example of this is how the Second Great Awakening was largely parasitical on the miraculous events of the First Great Awakening.
If the renewal we seek is productive we can hope for better. The good of a previous renewal can be built upon, while the errors and sins of the mixed legacy can be sifted, recanted and repented of.
An example of a productive renewal is what has been called the Young, Restless and Reformed (YRR) movement or the reformed renewal. The reformed renewal has had a productive growth for over half a century. It began after WWII, rose alongside of neo-evangelicalism, and took over the conservative wing of the evangelical movement. Now at a peak, the Young, Restless and Reformed are not so young anymore. All along, there has been a largely productive renewal that has occurred. Now the mixed nature of the renewal is starting to be recognized as visible success has not guaranteed enduring faithfulness. But on the whole, the stream represented by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, JI Packer, John Piper, John MacArthur, Albert Mohler and Mark Dever has been a productive renewal.
Gratitude for Renewals and Revivals
When we recognize the mixed legacy of renewals and revivals, we can give thanks to God for what they are, not what they are not. Revivals are not heaven on earth. We shouldn’t treat them like that. Revivals have not ushered in global Christianization, so we shouldn’t act as if they will.
But we can give thanks to God for the good soil and lasting fruit of those who are truly saved in the midst of renewals. We can be filled with gratitude for what God has done, and hold fast to the gospel of Jesus Christ as the abiding source of all good kingdom work.
With that kind of gratitude, we will be expectant of the Holy Spirit to bring new awakenings and new transformations as the ingathering of God’s people continues, awaiting the consummation of our renewal unhindered before the face of God for eternity. The affliction of reversals won’t even compare. Instead, we will come to realize that “this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Cor 4:17).