Bruce Wilkinson, 7 Laws of the Learner: Law 7a revival

The Law of
Revival
Pages 415-448
Sunday 21 November 2010

The essence of the Law of
Revival is these 3 words:
“Revive the heart”
The teacher should
encourage an ongoing
personal revival in students’
lives

What do you think of
when you hear the
word revival, what is
revival?

when you hear the
revival?
Anazao - literally
“again-to live”

when you hear the
revival?
Anazao - literally
“again-to live”
Used of the physical
resurrection of
Lazarus, Jesus and
our future bodily one

when you hear the
revival?
Anazao - literally
“again-to live”
resurrection of
Lazarus, Jesus and
Spiritual revival is
the bringing back
to a full life a
Christian who had
been spiritually
alive but has
slipped back into
sin and rebellion -
that is what this
law refers to

when you hear the
revival?
Anazao - literally
“again-to live”
resurrection of
Lazarus, Jesus and
the bringing back
to a full life a
Christian who had
been spiritually
alive but has
slipped back into
sin and rebellion -
that is what this
law refers to
Revival is seen in the
parable of the
prodigal son - left his
fathers house, lived
in rebellion, came to
his senses, repented,
was restored to full
harmony with his
father.

when you hear the
revival?
Anazao - literally
“again-to live”
resurrection of
Lazarus, Jesus and
the bringing back
to a full life a
Christian who had
been spiritually
alive but has
slipped back into
sin and rebellion -
that is what this
law refers to
Revival is seen in the
parable of the
prodigal son - left his
fathers house, lived
in rebellion, came to
his senses, repented,
was restored to full
harmony with his
father.
Most teachers would
not expect, or teach,
for this

1 The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he
came to him, he said, “There were two men in a
certain town, one rich and the other poor.2 The
rich man had a very large number of sheep and
cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except
one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it,
and it grew up with him and his children. It
shared his food, drank from his cup and even
slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
Revival Model:
2 Samuel 12:1-15

4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the
rich man refrained from taking one of his own
sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler
who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe
lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared
it for the one who had come to him.”
5 David burned with anger against the man and
said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the
man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that
lamb four times over, because he did such a thing
and had no pity.”

7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!
This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I
anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you
from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s
house to you, and your master’s wives into your
arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all
this had been too little, I would have given you
even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of
the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You
struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and
took his wife to be your own. You killed him with
the sword of the Ammonites.

10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart
from your house, because you despised me and
took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’
11 “This is what the LORD says: ‘Out of your
own household I am going to bring calamity on
you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives
and give them to one who is close to you, and
he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight.
12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in
broad daylight before all Israel.’”

13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned
against the LORD.”
Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away
your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But
because by doing this you have shown utter
contempt for the LORD, the son born to you will
die.”
15 After Nathan had gone home, the LORD
struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to
David, and he became ill.

Commandment
Prove
Confront
Point-out
Commissioned
Prepare
Consequences
Perils
Confession
Profess

Step 1: Commissioned 2 Sam 12:1a
The Lord sent the teacher,
Nathan, to the student, David.
Commissioned - to be given
authority or powers, to carry out
a task.
Preparation is in the heart of the
teacher - they need full
assurance they are doing the will
of God
Commissioned
Prepare

Step 2: confront 2 Sam 12:1-9b
Nathan had a clear
perspective of where he
needed to go and how to
get there.
The student has to
recognise they have a
problem, the teacher brings
them face-to-face with this.
Nathan led David through 3
discoveries to see this:
Confront
Point-out

1. Confront through telling a
parable v.1-6
David ended up prejudging himself
2. Confront through describing
the nature of God v.7-8
When we turn our backs to God in
our hearts and minds we forget the
nature of God
3. Confront through listing
speciﬁc sins v.9-10
Despise the Lords commandment,
killed Uriah, taken his wife, killed
him, despised Me,...

Wilkinson suggests when you
confront Christians over their
sin:
1. Use biblical words to
describe what they have done
- adultery, lie, homosexuality,
stolen...
2. Do not move beyond step
unless they admit their sin -
if they do not see it pray God
will help / convict them - they
have to admit their own guilt.
The greatest challenge here is
fear of man

Step 3: Commandments 2 Sam 12:9a
What has Scripture
commanded us to do? If
God’s boundaries have been
crossed repentance is
necessary. Teachers have to
show the boundary that has
been crossed - and that is
deﬁned in the Bible.
Disobedience = rebellion =
despising God’s
commandments, [v.9, Matt
6:24]

“Revival must include the sinners
repentance from breaking the will
of God as well as the heart of
God”
First they have broken the
command of God = guilt, then
show they have broken the heart
of God = grief.
If a student gets to this stage and
still will not repent what is next?

Step 4: Consequences 2Sam 12:10-14
The goal of the process is
restoration of the person.
Conviction of sin might take
place at any stage - but if it
doesn’t this stage is essential.
Disobeying God people forget
2 things:
1. The seriousness of it
2. The consequences of their
behaviour for themselves, to
others and to the Lord.

Consequences are the harmful
results of sin, for David this was:
The sword shall never depart, an
adversary from your own house, take
your wives, lie with them in the sun,
before all Israel...
Jas 5:19-20 My brothers and sisters,
if one of you should wander from the
truth and someone should bring that
person back, remember this:
Whoever turns a sinner from the error
of their way will save them from
death and cover over a multitude of
sins.

Nathan used 5 categories of
consequence:
1. To ourselves
2. To our immediate family
3. To the Christian community
4. To the non-Christian community
5. To the Lord God
Wilkinson suggests that with our
students we use sanctiﬁed
imagination here - we need to
change the idea of the beneﬁt of sin
to biblical reality - essentially we
balance the pleasure and the pain -
bringing them to repentance

Step 5: Confession 2 Sam 12:13
Confession - making
known to others one’s
error or wrongdoing
This is the pint of
swinging from rebellion
to revival.
In the Revival Method we
shall see actions which
lead students to full
restoration.

Revival Maxims

Maxim 1: Revival is spiritual restoration
and is the teacher’s responsibility
Wilkinson suggests this is the
maxim he had most difﬁculty
with in the whole book.
His problem was in believing
the teacher could not be
responsible for revival as
revival is a sovereign act of
God - he concludes this was
false human logic - and he
went back to the Bible to
resolve it.

...if my people, who are called by my name,
will humble themselves and pray and seek my
face and turn from their wicked ways, then I
will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin
and will heal their land.
2 important words - if...then - a condition
followed by a promised result - he then
studied the verse further:
2 Chronicles 7:14

then I will
hear from heaven,
and I will forgive their sin
and will heal their land
God’s promise to act
God’s 1st promise
God’s 2nd promise
God’s 3rd promise
The results of fulﬁlling the ﬁrst half of the
verse

The people who can fulﬁll
the conditions
The 1st condition
The 2nd condition
The 3rd condition
The 4th condition
if my people, who are
called by my name,
will humble themselves
and pray
and seek my face
and turn from their
wicked ways,
What are the conditions for God to send
revival?

His conclusion is that God says here revival is
dependent on us not God
So if revival has not occurred then it is because
of us not God - we were not doing what God
had requested of us for revival to come. God
was ready to send revival whenever we fulﬁlled
these four conditions.
He examined the 4 conditions and decided
that all 4 could be fulﬁlled by him - he had
been looking for a way out, an excuse, and
found none!

Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin,
you who live by the Spirit should restore that
person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also
may be tempted.
2 conditions:
1. Be aware another person is overtaken in a sin
2.when we go to that person ensure there is no
major known sin in our own life hindering HS in us
Restore - a command, not a suggestion - get
involved, take ownership, get moving!
The results we see here - the method is up to us.
Galatians 6:1

Maxim 2: Revival is only possible for
those who have ﬁrst experienced the
second birth
First get born again,
then backslide,
then get revived

Maxim 3: Revival is not a completed
event but a continuing experience
True revival is not an
annual event or meeting
but is sought continuously.
Wilkinson suggests it is
seen in its truest sense
each time a believer
repents - 1Jn 1:9.
Therefore there is always a
need for revival

Maxim 4: Revival can occur in the
life of an individual, group or nation
God does not send revival in
one way - biblical history
and church history show
revival has taken place in
many areas, through a wide
variety of people and means,
they ﬂourish at some times
and seem absent in others.
“God sends revival to
anyone who meets his
conditions”

Maxim 5: revival always requires true
repentance and the forsaking of
known sin
Revival is required only because of
sin - it is sin which has to be
addressed for revival to occur.
First the student removes
themselves from sin -ve.
Secondly they turn to their Saviour -
+ve.
Behaviour and full obedience must
be aligned in the students life

Maxim 6: Revival always results in
seeking and serving Christ with renewed
fervency
If repentance is real fruit will
be seen - internal change
leads to external change. 3
signs of revival:
1. Heart of sincere gratitude
to the Lord
2. New fervency in seeking
Christ
3. A heart t serve the Lord

Maxim 7: Revival reestablishes life’s
proper priorities
Real revival is a deep process
which results in a believer
realigning with God, the world
and himself.
When things are put right with
God other things come into
line - God is enthroned again
- then our personal life comes
into order, and ﬁnally, life with
others.

Bruce Wilkinson, 7 Laws of the Learner: Law 7a revival

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