REVIVAL,

1. Isaiah 64

2. A small boy went to church with his father one
morning. That night before he went to bed he
knelt down and said his prayers. He said, “God,
we had a great time at church today. Wish you
would have been there.”
All too often this is the case. We go to Church but
the presence of God is not evident in His power
and Glory.
In that case we need revival. Isaiah chapter 64 is
a plea from the prophet Isaiah for revival among
the people of God.
In this text I see THREE facts about revival.

3. WHAT IS REVIVAL? VERSE 1.
“Oh, that You would rend the
heavens!
That You would come down!
That the mountains might
shake at Your presence.”

4. Isaiah cries out to God, “Oh, that You
would rend the heavens! That You would
come down!”
This is revival. Isaiah knew that God was
everywhere. He knew that God sat on
the circle of the universe, that no temple
could house His presence.
He was pleading with God to manifest
His presence among His people, make
Himself known, and make Himself real
again.

5. We need to experience the powerful
presence of God in our services.
We need to be like Jacob and cry
out, “surely the Lord was in this
place and we knew it not.”
All too often our services can have
all the right things in it, yet not the
power of God in the midst.
Revival is the presence of God
among His people once again.

6. WHAT DOES REVIVAL LOOK LIKE? VERSES 1-2.
“Oh, that You would rend the heavens!
That You would come down!
That the mountains might shake at Your
presence--
As fire burns brushwood,
As fire causes water to boil--
To make Your name known to Your
adversaries,
That the nations may tremble at Your
presence!”

7. We have mountains in the church and in our lives.
Have you ever heard the expression, “We have
always done it this way?” Those mountains get
shaken up when God visits the church in revival.
How about those mountains in your life? How
about those things you do not want to change or
do not think you could ever change? God shakes
them up and turns us and our churches upside
down.
This is why many do not want revival. They would
rather play church than have God visit the church
and shake them up. Shake us up God; shake us up
for our own good and for Your glory!

8. 1. A Shaking.
He says, “Mountains might shake at Your presence.”
When God shows up things are shaken up.
When God gave the law at Sinai the earth quaked.
When Christ returns the bible says that the stars are going
to be shaken out of the heaven.
When He stands to judge the Earth Mountains will be
levelled.
God shakes things up when He shows up.
Here Isaiah says mountains are shaken at His presence.
What are mountains? A mountain is a large earthen
fixture that you and I can do nothing about.
When people are asked why they climb mountains all
they can say is “because it is there.” It cannot be moved,
so you might just as well climb it, or take a picture of it.

9. 2. There is fire.
Isaiah says, as fire burns brushwood, as fire causes water
to boil.” God is spoken of in the bible as being a
“consuming fire.” What is the importance of fire?
A. Judgment.
When God judged in the bible he judge often by fire.
Sodom and Gomorra were destroyed by fire. The
complainers of the Old Testament were consumed by
fire, the prophets of Baal, etc... When God shows up in
revival there is a great since of our sin and failure. Sin is
judged and repented of.
There is great judgment of sin and repentance among
God’s people when the fire of revival comes upon a
church.

10. B. Refining.
Jesus in Malachi is referred to as the
Messenger who is like unto a refiner’s
fire, and He will purify the sons of Levi.
The fire of God is a refining fire, it
consumes the sin.
When God shows up little things are
confronted in our lives and taken care
of. Christians begin to be concerned
about even the slightest sin as God’s
presence refines.

11. C. the Holy Spirit is Fire.
John the Baptist said, one will come after me who
will “baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire.” The
Holy Spirit’s ministry is associated to fire in the
Bible.
Paul said we can quench the fire of the Holy Spirit.
When revival comes the Holy Spirit blazes upon
God’s people, for He is the presence of God in the
Church.
He renews passion for Christ and people.
He makes worship come alive, and He empowers
witness.
Blaze Spirit Blaze set our hearts on fire.

12. 3. Fear.
Isaiah says in verse 2, “That the nations
may tremble at Your presence!” There is
a great sense of fear when God shows
up. What ever happened to the fear of
God in the Church and in the world?
The fear of God comes upon us when
God visits the Church.
Even so come upon us Lord Jesus!

13. WHAT CAN WE DO TO GET REVIVAL? VERSE
7.
“And there is no one who calls on Your name,
Who stirs himself up to take hold of You;
For You have hidden Your face from us,
And have consumed us because of our
iniquities.”
What can we do to speed up revival? Or can
we? Isaiah outlines THREE things we can do
to hasten God’s presence among us.

14. 1. Fervent prayer.
He says, “There is no one who calls on
Your name.” This describes a desperate
plea to God for His presence and help.
James says, “You have not because you
ask not!”
We like Isaiah must begin to cry out to
God for personal revival. Notice that
Isaiah says, “No One.” Revival begins
with the individual.

15. 2. Wake ourselves up.
The prophet says we must “stir ourselves, or
wake ourselves up.”
Many church members sit and wait for a
preacher to stir them up with a fiery
sermon, or a wonderful testimony, or a
moving song.
God says, quit waiting to be moved, and
move yourself, wake yourselves up. Wake
up to the state of our sleepy Christianity;
wake up to the lateness of the hour.

16. 3. Lay Hold of God.
How do we do this? Easy! Make a bold
move toward God. Discipline yourselves to
pray and:
Seek God even when you do not feel like
it.
Go to church, even when you do not feel
like.
Repent and confess sin, even when you do
not feel like it.
James says if you “draw near to God; He
will draw near to you.”

17. Who will commit themselves
to fervent prayer and bold
movement toward God in
commitment with the
expectation of experiencing
the wonderful POWERFUL,
manifest presence of God in
His Church?