Biblical Revivals and Awakenings

So far in our series we’ve looked at twenty-one 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
  21. Isaiah

You can read the previous study where we introduced the prophet Isaiah and his ministry to Judah during the 8th and 7th centuries BC. We will continue with Isaiah’s prophecies as God sends him to the kings of Judah. Remember, we’re looking for insights to revival.

Isaiah and King Ahaz

Ahaz, also known as Jehoahaz, became king of Judah about 735 BC. He may have been a co-regent with his father Jotham prior to his father’s death a few years later. It might be that King Jotham was ill and needed Ahaz’s assistance to rule. The Bible doesn’t specify how Jotham died, but he was only in his early 40s when he passed away.

Ahaz was not a good king. In fact, he was one of Judah’s most evil kings. Here is some evidence for that claim from the history of Judah.

Historical Background

In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God, as his father David had done. But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel; indeed he made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel. And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree. 2 Kings 2:1-4

We also read in 2 Chronicles 28 that King Ahaz made molded images for the Baals, burned incense in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and burned his children in the fire.

Pekah was king of Israel from about 752 – 732 BC. His 17th year would have been about 735 BC. That matches with Ahaz co-reigning with his father in Judah. Pekah was the second to last king of Israel prior to Assyria’s victory. Hosea prophesied during his reign, which we covered in a recent study.

Ahaz was 20-years-old when he began reigning with his father, so he would have been about 23 or 24 when his father died. Ahaz reigned for a total of 16 years in Jerusalem. Isaiah and Micah prophesied during his reign. We’ll look at Micah’s prophecies in a future part of this series.

King Pekah of Israel and King Rezin of Syria went together to Jerusalem to make war with Judah. 2 Chronicles 28 says that God delivered Ahaz into the hands of the kings of Syria and Israel. King Rezin carried away “a great multitude of them as captives, and brought them to Damascus.” King Pekah of Israel “killed one hundred and twenty thousand in Judah in one day, all valiant men, because they had forsaken the Lod God of their fathers.” Israel took “captive of their brethren two hundred thousand women, sons, and daughters; and they also took away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria.”

However, a prophet by the name of Oded went to Samaria and said this to the leaders of Israel:

Look, because the Lord God of your fathers was angry with Judah, He has delivered them into your hand; but you have killed them in a rage that reaches up to heaven. And now you propose to force the children of Judah and Jerusalem to be your male and female slaves; but are you not also guilty before the Lord your God? Now hear me, therefore, and return the captives, whom you have taken captive from your brethren, for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you.’ Then some of the heads of the children of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against those who came from the war, and said to them, ‘You shall not bring the captives here, for we already have offended the Lord. You intend to add to our sins and to our guilt; for our guilt is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel.’ So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the leaders and all the assembly. Then the men who were designated by name rose up and took the captives, and from the spoil they clothed all who were naked among them, dressed them and gave them sandals, gave them food and drink, and anointed them; and they let all the feeble ones ride on donkeys. So they brought them to their brethren at Jericho, the city of palm trees. Then they returned to Samaria. 2 Chronicles 28:9-15

Even though Israel returned the captives to Judah, King Ahaz of Judah sent messengers to the king of Assyria (Tiglath-Pileser) and asked him to save Ahaz from the kings of Israel and Syria. Ahaz paid Assyria’s king with gold and silver that were in the Temple and King Ahaz’s house. Assyria’s king took the money, went up to Damascus, Syria, carried its people captive to Kir, and also killed King Rezin. (2 Kings 16)

God Sends Isaiah to Ahaz

That historical background is helpful as we look at the next chapter in Isaiah. It includes some important information about the downfall of Israel and the future revival of Israel and Judah.

Then the Lord said to Isaiah, ‘Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-Jashub your son, at the end of the aqueduct from the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller’s Field, and say to him: ‘Take heed, and be quiet; do not fear or be fainthearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and the son of Remaliah. Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have plotted evil against you, saying, ‘Let us go up against Judah and trouble it, and let us make a gap in its wall for ourselves, and set a king over them, the son of Tabel’— thus says the Lord God: ‘It shall not stand, Nor shall it come to pass. For the head of Syria is Damascus, And the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken, So that it will not be a people. The head of Ephraim is Samaria, And the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If you will not believe, Surely you shall not be established. Isaiah 7:3-9

God told Isaiah to tell Ahaz to be quiet and “not fear or be fainthearted” about King Pekah or King Rezin. Isaiah’s prophecy included an important piece of information – “Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken, So that it will not be a people.” Ephraim is another name for Israel as the Northern Kingdom – “the head of Ephraim is Samaria, And the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son.”

Another quick historical note that might help. 2 Kings 15 is important to understand the line of succession for Israel toward the end of its days as a nation. The Northern Kingdom began to fall apart and there were many conspiracies and assassinations from the middle of the 8th century until the end of Israel as a people in 722 BC.

  • King Jeroboam II ruled Israel from the early to middle parts of the 8th century BC.
  • King Zechariah ruled in Samaria for just six months.
  • Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against King Zechariah and killed him in front of the people.
  • King Shallum ruled for just one month.
  • Menahem became king after assassinating King Shallum. Menahem ruled Israel for ten years, but was really a puppet of the king of Assyria. King Menahem gave King Pul a thousand talents of silver to help strengthen Menahem’s control over the Northern Kingdom.
  • Menahem’s son Pekahiah became Israel’s king after his father died. King Pekahiah ruled the Northern Kingdom for two years until Pekah the son of Remaliah, an officer of Pekahiah, killed the king in his house.
  • King Pekah ruled over Israel in Samaria for 20 years. The king of Assyria captured many cities in the Northern Kingdom during Pekah’s rule and carried the people of those cities captive to Assyria.
  • Hoshea the son of Elah led a conspiracy against King Pekah and killed him. King Hoshea ruled over the Northern Kingdom until the Assyrians conquered Israel and removed the people from the land.

As for the prophecy concerning, “Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken, So that it will not be a people” –

Reckoning from B.C. 736 as the probable date of the prophecy, the sixty-five years bring us to B.C. 671. At that date Assyrian inscriptions show that Assurbanipal, the “Asnapper” of Ezra 4:2-10, co-regent with his father Esarhaddon, had carried off the last remnant of the people of Samaria, and peopled it with an alien race (Smith’s Assurbanipal, p. 363). This completed the work which had been begun by Salmaneser and Sargon (2Kings 17:6). Ephraim then was no more a people. Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

The next thing we read in Isaiah 7 is God telling King Ahaz of Judah to “Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God.” Azah responded by saying, “I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!” God then told Ahaz that He would give the king a sign. The sign God gave Ahaz is one of the best-known prophecies in the Book of Isaiah –

Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. Isaiah 7:13-14

This would be the first of many prophecies concerning the great revival for Judah that would come through the Messiah at a future time. Remember that the primary theme of the Bible concerns the Seed of the woman destroying the seed of the serpent. Here are other examples from the Book of Isaiah. The full prophecy begins with Messiah’s birth, and includes His death, resurrection, and Eternal rule.

For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Isaiah 9:6-7

There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears; But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist … And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious. Isaiah 11:1-5, 10

Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked— But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors. Isaiah 53:1-12

Isaiah’s prophecies concerning the coming of Messiah to save His people are woven among other prophecies concerning the futures of Assyria and other enemies of Judah and Israel – including Babylon. God said He would deal with them in His time. You can read more about those prophecies throughout Isaiah.

Revival always comes in God’s timing. He calls on His people to believe Him, obey Him, and worship Him. We can experience revival in our lives and congregations as we do that.

Next Time

Remember the “high places” that no kings of Israel or Judah would remove? We’re going to meet a king who finally obeyed the Lord and see the great revival that followed in the next part of our special series, Revival – To Live Again.

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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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