The Culture of Hope Founded on Faith

The Need for Revival

Throughout the Old Testament books of Ezekiel and Hosea, the national failure of Israel is described by two prophets from two different eras. Ezekiel wrote during the Babylonian captivity describing Babylon as the tool of God’s judgment on His people. Hosea wrote more than a hundred years before, prophesying the Babylonian captivity. Both explain that Israel had failed politically and religiously because they had repeatedly strayed in their worship and their allegiance to God. Hosea especially wrote of God’s repeated attempts to lovingly draw His people back into fellowship with Him, using the analogies of wife and sons to demonstrate the gracious and merciful love He has for us.

Both prophets wrote about the arrogance and contempt of the
people against God. In addition their worship practices were polluted by
everything from mere incorporation of pagan rituals into the prescribed worship
of God, to outright idolatry and the depraved rites involved in the worship of
false gods. The forms of their sin included the sacrifice of their children to
Molech and sexual perversion in the name of idols of mere wood and stone.

The Babylonian captivity was only part of the judgment of God on Israel. “You
have plowed wickedness; you have reaped iniquity; you have eaten the fruit of
lies: because you did trust in your way, in the multitude of your mighty men”
(Hosea 10:13). Sin in the Bible is only the beginning of more sin. More sin
becomes the judgment for sin. But Hosea does not leave us hopeless: “Sow to
yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for itis time to seek the LORD,
till he come and rain righteousness upon you” (Hosea 10:12)..

Romans 1:22-32 graphically describes the progression from
sin to sin-as-judgment:

“Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image
made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and
creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the
lusts of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. They
changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature more
than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up
unto vile affections, for even their women did change the natural use into that
which is against nature. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural
use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another, men with men working
that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves that recompense of their
error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over
to a reprobate mind to do what should not be done, being filled with all
unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of
envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God,
despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without
understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable,
unmerciful– who, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such
things are worthy of death, not only do the same but have pleasure in them that
do them.”

If that sounds like today’s news, it is. The world is ruled by the prince of
the power of the air, Satan. We cannot expect the world to be righteous when
the master of the world is the epitome of unrighteousness. We live in a culture,
like the ancient Israelites, which embraces the arrogance of Sodom and the child
sacrifice of Molech in worship of selfishness and choice. But, as children of
God, we are empowered by God to live righteous, holy lives just as our Old
Testament and New Testament predecessors of faithful ones did.

We are also called to preach the gospel to everyone. It is our job. Like the
Israelites of old, however, we tend to let our convictions become watered down
by desensitization and to lean towards acceptance of the sin around us. For
example, there are many churches today who have allowed religious practices that
dishonor God in elevating unbiblical precepts into their worship and their
doctrine. And many “Christians” fail to recognize the difference because of
ignorance of what the Bible really says. We need revival in this evil day.

Revival is not about
the people who don’t know God, even though they ultimately benefit by it. Revival
is about the renewal of God’s people to holiness, solid biblical values, and consistent
walking with God. Revival only begins with fervent prayer by many Christians
with the same desire to see God’s people exclusively seek His face again. It is
only then that we will see an outpouring of God’s grace on our land because of
the many people who will come to Him as a result of the transformed lives of
God’s revived people…Oh Lord, bring your people to fervent relentless prayer and
revive us again!