Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.  2 Chronicles 7:14

Ezekiel was a priest who had been carried away by King Nebuchadnezzar and forced to settle in Tel Abib on the Chebar Canal in Babylon.  As this man grew older, he grew both hungry for God and lonesome for his homeland that we know as Israel today.

God revealed Himself to Ezekiel and told Him of great things which were in the future for Israel.  He explained, “The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.  He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry.  He asked me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?'” (Ezekiel 37:1-3).  Talk about having to answer the Teacher!  What do you say when God asks you a question?  Dead bones are lifeless, hopeless, and finished.

Yet–and this is what Ezekiel knew, God alone can reverse the hopelessness of dead bones–and wisely, very wisely, Ezekiel answered, “O Sovereign LORD, you alone know!”  Good answer!  He passed the test.  Then God told him to prophesy that breath would enter them, tendons would be attached, then flesh, then life.  Re-creation!  It was a picture of Israel’s restoration.  It is also a picture of what God does individually and corporately when He chooses to revive His people.

While revivals–genuine spiritual renewals born of the Holy Spirit–have been milestones of the church from the days of the book of Acts to the present, they are the exception, not the normal, day-by-day, year-by-year sort of thing. Question: Is it possible that in the immediate future, God may again bring revival to His people around the world, possibly a last rejuvenation of His own before Christ returns?

Ezekiel called God, “Sovereign.”  He knew that God answers to none, and that He is the one who responds to the cries of His people, asking Him to revive them and to restore them to the place of joy and service they once had.

A history of revivals shows that while a Sovereign God revives His people, they come in response to the cries of His people.  Long ago God outlined the conditions which are necessary for revival.  He said, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Are revivals simply displays of emotionalism and fanaticism?  No, they are displays of repentance, a searching for God, and the desire to be rejuvenated spiritually.  Often, they are sparked by the simple heart-cry of someone who wants a deeper relationship with God.

In the early 1900’s a revival swept the little country of Wales, and it was birthed in a prayer meeting as an 18-year-old girl stood to her feet and said, “I do love Jesus…”  Starting to weep, she repeated those words, then sat down unable to speak.  In the 1960’s a spiritual awakening began at the FEBIAS College of the Bible, when missionary Chuck Holsinger spoke in the chapel and said, “The love of God, I cannot understand it,” and like a tidal wave which came from above, something swept over the students, who were confronted with the reality of God’s presence, and what should have been a 50-minute service became an all-day prayer meeting that began something with far-reaching consequences.

“My church is like that valley of dry bones!” you may complain.  Right, but do you hear the still voice of God asking, “Can these bones live?”  How you answer certifies whether you are part of the problem, or indeed can be part of the solution.

Resource reading: 2 Chronicles 7:1-22