Repentance Must Preceed Revival
By Jesse Raley
In Second Chronicles 15:12-15 we read the secret of a most remarkable revival that took place in Asa’s reign over Judah: "And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul…. And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets. And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought Him with their whole desire; and He was found of them: and the Lord gave them rest round about.” (Read also Jeremiah 29:11-13.)
"With all your heart” is a big expression and demand upon us. It means no idols ”“ we seek and worship only the true and living God. Perhaps that is our test; we have not offered Him all our heart and all we are and have.
Revival calls for a complete turn from sin ”“ forsaking our wicked ways. One has written, "No Achan must remain unrebuked and unrepentant in the camp or Ai will not fall. It will pay us to reread the seventh chapter in the Book of Joshua as a great lesson on revival. Joshua’s prayer was desperate: ‘O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt Thou do unto Thy great name?’ (Josh. 7:8-9).
"It is God’s honor that is at stake as well as ours. And still the answer comes to us as it came to Joshua many years ago: ‘Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing’ (v. 11). No victory can be expected while sin is unconfessed. Repentance must precede revival. God cannot do His mighty works while wickedness prevails within. ‘Neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you’ (v. 12). Only when the offence is removed can the battle be won. That is how it must always be. Unless God’s people are prepared to turn from their wicked ways the door to revival is closed. Let Psalm 139:23-24 be the cry of our soul ”“ ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.’”