Revival – To Live Again (Part Nine)

Biblical Revivals and Awakenings

So far in our series we’ve looked at twenty 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
13. David
14. Solomon
15. Jehu
16. Elijah
17. Elisha
18. Jonah
19. Amos
20. Hosea

We move next to God’s prophetic warnings to Judah through the prophet Isaiah. What can we learn about revival from Isaiah?

Isaiah’s Revival Lessons

Isaiah prophesied to Judah (Southern Kingdom) during the rule of four kings over a period of several decades from the middle of the 8th century BC to the early part of the 7th century BC.

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Isaiah 1:1

Isaiah may have also been alive with Manasseh began to rule. Ancient tradition about Isaiah’s death is that King Manasseh had him killed by sawing him in half. Though the Bible doesn’t tell us how Isaiah died, Hebrews 11:37 does mention that one or more Old Testament figures were “sawn in two.”

Isaiah also prophesied during the final years of Israel and mentions the demise of the Northern Kingdom many times in his lengthy writing (Book of Isaiah).

Isaiah is also well-known for his prophecies concerning the Messiah who would save Israel. A large portion of the Book of Isaiah addresses the coming of the Christ – “the Branch of the Lord.”

The Kings

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 

King Uzziah ruled Judah for 52 years. The name Uzziah means “my strength is Yah.” According to 2 Chronicles 26, Uzziah became king when he was 16 years old. His reign of 52 years would have made him about 68 when he died. His reign is thought to have been from 792 – 740 BC.

King Uzziah “did what was right in the sight of the Lord” during the early years of his rule. Judah prospered under Uzziah (also known as Azariah). King Uzziah had a large army of fighting men (307,500 soldiers) who went to war by companies led by 2,600 chief officers. The army was well-equipped with shields, spears, helmets, body armor, bows, and slings to cast stones. Skillful men made devices that would be on the towers and corners to shoot arrows and large stones. God helped Uzziah militarily against the Philistines, the Arabians who lived in Gur Baal, and the Meunites. Even the Ammonites brought tribute to Uzziah. The king built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate, and at the corner buttress of the wall. King Uzziah built towers in the desert, dug many wells, had a lot of livestock, and had farmers and vinedressers in the mountains (2 Chronicles 26).

We know that King Uzziah was faithful to God for many years. The Bible says Uzziah “sought God in the days of Zechariah.” Zechariah was the king of Israel for only six months, so that narrows the window to about 753 BC. God made Uzziah prosper, “as long as he sought the Lord.” However, that didn’t last much longer.

Uzziah’s fame spread far and wide and he became proud. Pride, as we know from the writings of Uzziah’s ancestor King Solomon, comes before a fall. Uzziah’s fall from favor with God was stunning.

But when he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. So Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him were eighty priests of the Lord—valiant men. And they withstood King Uzziah, and said to him, ‘It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed! You shall have no honor from the Lord God. Then Uzziah became furious; and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense. And while he was angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead, before the priests in the house of the Lord, beside the incense altar. And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and there, on his forehead, he was leprous; so they thrust him out of that place. Indeed he also hurried to get out, because the Lord had struck him. King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death. 2 Chronicles 26:16-21

Becoming a leper was a serious problem for any Jew (see Leviticus 13 & 14). King Uzziah had to live the rest of his life in an isolated house, and was “cut off from the house of the Lord.” 2 Kings 15 adds that King Uzziah’s son Jotham “was over the royal house, judging the people of the land” during the time of Uzziah’s isolation as a leper. Co-regencies were not uncommon in ancient times, and the fact that Uzziah had to be in isolation for the rest of his life necessitated Jotham’s reigning from the king’s house in Jerusalem. Jotham probably began his co-regency about 748 BC and his solo regency about 740 BC. 2 Kings 15 says Jotham ruled a total of 16 years in Jerusalem.

The end of Uzziah’s life was sad. The Bible says he was buried in a “field of burial which belonged to the kings,” because he was a leper. Other kings of Judah had been buried in the royal tombs in Jerusalem, but Uzziah was buried in a field.

One other thing King Uzziah (Amaziah) did not do during his rule was remove “the high places” in Judah. The people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. That is another revival key. It’s not good enough to do what we think is good enough. Total obedience to God’s Word is what is required and destroying the “high places” where the worship of false gods took place was one of God’s requirements (e.g. Numbers 33:51-53; Deuteronomy 12:1-3). That’s one of the reasons we read so often in the Old Testament that Israel and Judah did not remove (take away, destroy) the high places. It explains why God was so angry with His people.

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ‘You shall have no other gods before Me. ‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Exodus 20:2-4

The people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. They were breaking God’s Law and the king didn’t stop them. Powerful, long-lasting revival cannot come until God’s people and their leaders remove “the high places” in their lives that come between them and true worship of God.

Uzziah died about 740 BC, and Jotham became the sole ruler of Judah for another eight years. God called Isaiah to prophecy the year Uzziah died. I mention that because Isaiah would have been a witness to both Uzziah’s greatness and his personal and professional fall. He would have also witnessed Jotham’s rule as a co-regent with his father.

Jotham began his co-regency in the second year of King Pekah of Israel. Jotham was 25 years old and reigned a total of sixteen years. According to 2 Kings 15, King Jotham did what was right in the sight of the Lord, but still didn’t remove the high places. During his reign, Jotham built the Upper Gate of the house of the Lord. We learn from 2 Chronicles 27 that King Jotham built extensively on the wall of Ophel, built cities in the mountains of Judah, and fortresses and towers in the forests. Jotham defeated the king of the Ammonites and received tribute from them. “So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God” (2 Chronicles 27:6).

King Jotham died in his early 40s (25 years old + 16-year reign). The Bible does not say that Jotham died in battle or that he was assassinated, so his death was probably from natural causes. Jotham’s son Ahaz became king after he died. We’ll learn more about Ahaz as we look at Isaiah’s prophecies.

The Prophet

Isaiah wrote in what we know as the 6th chapter of his Book that in the year King Uzziah died he saw the Lord sitting on His throne. Isaiah said the train of His robe filled the Heavenly temple. Isaiah saw special angels called seraphim and heard them cry out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” The posts of the door were shaken by the voice of the angels, “and the house was filled with smoke.”

Isaiah’s reaction was certainly understandable:

So I said: ‘Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts. Isaiah 6:5

One of the seraphim had a live coal that he took with tongs from the altar. He flew to Isaiah and touched his mouth with it, and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged.” Isaiah then heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Isaiah’s response was, “Here am I! Send me.” Isaiah became a prophet on that day.

God told Isaiah to go to the people and tell them, “Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.” That’s what the people of Judah had been doing for many years. Isaiah asked God how long He wanted him to say that to the people. God’s response?

Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, The houses are without a man, The land is utterly desolate, The Lord has removed men far away, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. But yet a tenth will be in it, And will return and be for consuming, As a terebinth tree or as an oak, Whose stump remains when it is cut down. So the holy seed shall be its stump. Isaiah 6:11-13

While Jotham was a good king of Judah, his son Ahaz was a bad king. Isaiah doesn’t mention any specific prophecies to Jotham, but he does speak about Ahaz. Isaiah also prophesied to Ahaz’s son, Hezekiah, who was a good king.

The Prophecies

The prophecies we read in Isaiah 1 – 4 show how angry God was with His people. Here are some examples:

Alas, sinful nation, A people laden with iniquity, A brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, They have provoked to anger The Holy One of Israel, They have turned away backward. Isaiah 1:4

Hear the word of the Lord, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the law of our God, You people of Gomorrah: ‘To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?’ Says the Lord. ‘I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, Or of lambs or goats. Isaiah 1:10-11

For Jerusalem stumbled, And Judah is fallen, Because their tongue and their doings Are against the Lord, To provoke the eyes of His glory. The look on their countenance witnesses against them, And they declare their sin as Sodom; They do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought evil upon themselves. Isaiah 3:8-9

The Lord stands up to plead, And stands to judge the people. The Lord will enter into judgment With the elders of His people
And His princes: ‘For you have eaten up the vineyard; The plunder of the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing My people And grinding the faces of the poor?’ Says the Lord God of hosts. Isaiah 3:13-15

Woe to those who rise early in the morning, That they may follow intoxicating drink; Who continue until night, till wine inflames them! The harp and the strings, The tambourine and flute, And wine are in their feasts; But they do not regard the work of the Lord, Nor consider the operation of His hands. Isaiah 5:11-12

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight! Woe to men mighty at drinking wine, Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink, Who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away justice from the righteous man! Isaiah 5:20-23

Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, And the flame consumes the chaff, So their root will be as rottenness, And their blossom will ascend like dust; Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the anger of the Lord is aroused against His people; He has stretched out His hand against them And stricken them, And the hills trembled. Their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still. Isaiah 5:24-25

Notice the last line – “But His hand is stretched out still.” God loves His people and wants to revive them – give them life again. God includes the promise of future revival if His people will return to Him and do what is right in His eyes. Here are a couple of examples from the same chapters of Isaiah:

Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the Lord, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured by the sword’; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Isaiah 1:16-20

And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem. When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning, then the Lord will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering. And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain. Isaiah 4:3-6

Evangelists and revivalists have quoted from these two sections of Isaiah for many years. That’s because they speak so clearly to the need for revival and how God revives His people:

• Wash yourselves
• make yourselves clean
• Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes
• Cease to do evil
• Learn to do good
• Seek justice
• Rebuke the oppressor
• Defend the fatherless
• Plead for the widow
• Come now, and let us reason together

Next Time

God promises that He will revive His people again, but as we will see in the next part of our series revivals often don’t come until after a time of tribulation.

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

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