Monday, February 27, 2023

It is the 27th of February 2023 Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org, I’m Dan van Voorhis.

It is a Monday. Time to head to the mailbag. Thank you for all the emails- the volume of questions has picked up recently, and so I have many Questions and a special file for them. We may get an all-mailbag week or a special weekend edition. If I had planned this show any more than a few days at a time, I might have been able to tell you what I’m doing, but I like to stay flexible.

OK- I had three questions on the same topic, two from the same city. The questions came from Wade in Mission Viejo, a regular asker of questions, and from Sam.  Sam actually texted me because he is my friend. You heard him on “meet a real live Presbyterian.”  Sam and Wade live in Mission Viejo- Sam went to an El Toro Bull and went to school with Erin Murphy, who was Tabitha in the original bewitched. Levi also sent me a note asking about the Revivals as well.

In light of the Asbury revival, Wade asked, “Have there been others in America? In other countries? Should we expect another revival soon? How can Christians today help bring about the next revival?” And Sam, a little more to the point, asked, “what are your thoughts on revivals?”

First, as I mentioned before, you can head over to the Freely Given podcast with my friends Gretchen Ronnevik and Katie Koplin- They did a two-part show interviewing me on the revival going on at Asbury and my general thoughts on the topic.

 Ok- so first question, what is revival? It’s not a word in the Bible, and so this might be the first reason some are skeptical. Let me give you two definitions, one from Jonathan Edwards during the first Great Awakening in America in the pre-war colonies and the second from the great evangelical thinker J.I. Packer.  

For Edwards, it was that “It pleased God…to display his free and sovereign mercy in the conversion of a great multitude of souls in a short space of time, turning them from a formal, cold, and careless profession of Christianity to the lively exercise of every Christian grace, and the powerful practice of our holy religion.”

Note the word “great multitude” there. Then Packer wrote: “God’s quickening visitation of his people, touching their hearts and deepening his work of grace in their lives.”

So- the distinction between the two definitions involves scope and size. Does “revival” need size to make it authentic? Well- first, in terms of history, we can go back to the First Great Awakening before the Revolutionary War, the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century, the revivals in the Civil War camps, the revivals of the later part of the 19th-century lead by the likes of D.L. Moody. The Early 20th century revivals happened in LA, Wales, and South Korea, the Billy Graham post-WWII revival, and the Jesus movement of the 60s and 70s.

As I said on the Freely Given podcast, these are examples of God working extraordinarily. And these events play on the modern inventions of media, new forms of communication, and popular events.

How do we know if a spectacle is of God or not? First, what’s in focus? Is it Jesus, repentance, and forgiveness? Or is it a spectacle? And what are its fruits? We can’t answer this right away- even 10,000 conversions on the spot need to be evaluated with time (perhaps this is where the parable of the sower helps us). There is always a danger with mass events that the power of the crowd can overwhelm the best intentions of men and women who want to see God work in extraordinary ways. Wade asked, how do we help bring about true revival? I would say that when we focus on the ordinary, God can use that to inspire movements that elevate Jesus, repentance, and forgiveness. God promises to be with us in the ordinary elements- and the Spirit, as we learn in John 3, moves in ways we don’t always understand- and while “revival” itself isn’t a biblical word- it is certainly a theme in the Bible that God will use the ordinary to enact the extraordinary- whether that be one sinner who comes to faith through repentance and faith or thousands by way of modern means of communication.

Also- I’ve noted that this needs a weekend edition- with so much going on… so watch this space. You can send me your questions at danv@1517.org- thanks, Wade, Sam, and Levi, for the question. 

The last word for today comes from the daily lectionary- a little revival event and one of the more peculiar stories in acts

7 On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting. 9 Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. 10 Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “He’s alive!” 11 Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. 12 The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 27th of February 2023 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man whose preaching would never put anyone to sleep,  Christoper Gillespie

The show is written and read by a man who has fallen asleep a few times at church but stays away from the balcony seats. I’m Dan van Voorhis

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.