Revival – To Live Again (Part Five)

Biblical Revivals and Awakenings

So far in our series we’ve looked at twelve examples of revival in the Bible:

1. Seth
2. Noah
3. Job
4. Abram
5. Joseph
6. Moses
7. Joshua
8. Judges
9. Naomi
10. Ruth
11. Hannah
12. Samuel

We move next to a great revival for Israel that God brought through His chosen kings.

David’s Revival

When we last saw David, he was on the run from King Saul of Israel. God rejected Saul as king and told Samuel the prophet to anoint a shepherd boy named David. God protected David through many trials and difficulties. Saul and his son were killed in a battle with the Philistines.

David was anointed king of Judah after King Saul’s death. Saul’s son Ishbosheth was anointed king over the remaining tribes of Israel. That began a lengthy war between Judah and Israel. King Ishbosheth was eventually killed and Israel asked David to be their king.

Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and spoke, saying, ‘Indeed we are your bone and your flesh. Also, in time past, when Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them in; and the Lord said to you, ‘You shall shepherd My people Israel, and be ruler over Israel.’ Therefore all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord. And they anointed David king over Israel. David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah. 2 Samuel 5:1-5

As bloody and difficult as this time was for David, God was moving to unite His people and give them life again. Revival can be that way. Things are tough. We wonder whether God is even hearing our prayers. He is. God’s always listening, always working out His eternal plan. We need to learn from the many stories of revival in the Bible and trust God, even when we don’t understand what’s happening around us.

Jerusalem

Jerusalem was God’s choice for His capital city on earth, but He didn’t open that to His people until the right king was in place. Here’s what happened next according to 2 Samuel 5:

And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who spoke to David, saying, “You shall not come in here; but the blind and the lame will repel you,’ thinking, ‘David cannot come in here.’ Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion (that is, the City of David). Now David said on that day, ‘Whoever climbs up by way of the water shaft and defeats the Jebusites (the lame and the blind, who are hated by David’s soul), he shall be chief and captain.‘ Therefore they say, ‘The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.’ Then David dwelt in the stronghold, and called it the City of David. And David built all around from the Millo and inward. So David went on and became great, and the Lord God of hosts was with him.2 Samuel 5:6-10

God used David to build a great city and a mighty kingdom for His people on earth. David, Jerusalem, and Israel are all part of God’s Eternal plan. Remember the Seed of the woman who would one day destroy the seed of the serpent?

When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.” 2 Samuel 7:12-16

Notice the important focus on God’s “mercy.” David wasn’t perfect. His son Solomon wasn’t perfect. None of the kings of Israel were perfect. So, how was God going to establish the “house” and “kingdom” of David “forever?” Through God’s mercy. Don’t miss that point. Revival is always because of God’s mercy. When we pray for revival, we are praying for God’s mercy.

David was a great king, but he was also a sinner. David disobeyed God’s Law and committed both adultery and murder. Both offenses included death sentences, but God was merciful to David and saved his life. However, David paid dearly through personal problems. At one point it looked like David might even lose the kingdom (2 Samuel 15), but God was merciful and rescued David and restored the kingdom to him (2 Samuel 18 & 19). Even as David lay dying, God protected the “house of David” and made Solomon king (1 Kings 1 & 2). David and Solomon are both listed in the human ancestral lineage of Jesus Christ in Matthew 1.

Solomon’s Revival

Solomon was young when he became king over a unified Israel. He did what his father told him and was able to keep the kingdom together under his rule. However, Solomon wasn’t perfect by any means. He had a weakness.

Now Solomon made a treaty with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and married Pharaoh’s daughter; then he brought her to the City of David until he had finished building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall all around Jerusalem. Meanwhile the people sacrificed at the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days. And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places. 1 Kings 3:1-3

That “except” would eventually cause Solomon and the “house of David” a lot of problems in the future, but things began well enough. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on the altar at Gibeon. God appeared to Solomon in a dream at night and said, “Ask! What shall I give you?” Here’s how Solomon responded. Notice the importance of God’s “mercy” in Solomon’s response.

And Solomon said: ‘You have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; You have continued this great kindness for him, and You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours? 1 Kings 3:6-9

Solomon’s response pleased the Lord.

Then God said to him: ‘Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.” 1 Kings 3:11-14

In many ways Solomon was a wise king. You can read through 1 Kings and see that for yourself. Also read the many proverbs Solomon wrote during his life. God used Solomon to build a great Temple for Him to dwell with His people on earth. God blessed Israel richly during much of Solomon’s reign as king.

However, even though God gave Solomon great wisdom, riches, and honor, Solomon had many weaknesses that led him to sin greatly against God.

But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites— from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel, ‘You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.’ Solomon clung to these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as did his father David. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. 1 Kings 11:1-8

God’s reaction to Solomon’s sin? He was angry and told Solomon what would happen to his kingdom because of that sin.

Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, ‘Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. Nevertheless I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen. 1 Kings 11:11-13

That’s exactly what happened. God raised up enemies against Solomon and Israel was torn away from the “house of David” after Solomon’s death. Solomon’s son ruled over Judah, but a man who was not related to Solomon or David ruled over Israel. Every king who ruled over Judah came from the lineage of David, but none of the kings who ruled over Israel were from David’s lineage. How would God ever revive His people again?

Next Time

God sent many prophets to both Judah and Israel to warn the people and their leaders about judgment for their sins against Him. Even though Israel eventually fell to the Assyrians and Judah fell to the Babylonians, Judah did experience some “revivals.” We’ll look at some of them in the next part of our series.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

© Faith and Self Defense, 2023