Rebuilding Home: 13 Days in NehemiahSýnishorn

What happens when religion turns into revival?

Dead religion happens when people do spiritual things without the life of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said this is what happens when people say and sing things with their lips that they don’t truly believe in their hearts. Jesus also routinely rebuked religious leaders for worrying about how they looked on the outside as they religiously performed for the approval of people but did not deal with their inward sinful hearts that hated Him and plotted His murder.

Dynamic revival happens when God the Holy Spirit does powerful work for, in, and through people. In a season of revival, there is a genuine hunger for God’s Word, fresh love for God and hatred of personal sin, and life in the Spirit poured out. Generally, an unusually high number of people become new Christians, and old Christians become awakened to new life in the Spirit.

Thus far in Nehemiah, we have seen a tremendous struggle between two sides of a battle. On one side, Nehemiah’s prayer and planning culminated in the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem, repopulating of the city, and regathering of God’s people for revival worship. Opposing Nehemiah was a well-organized group of enemies and critics who did not want God’s people to gather to worship God freely. Ultimately, this was spiritual warfare, and the fight was so intense because God’s plan for revival was so immense. In Nehemiah 9, there is a tremendous outpouring of the Word of God and devoted prayer of godly leaders. Convicted of their sin against a good God, the people repent of their sin, turn from their dead religion, and experience a dynamic revival. Curiously, repentance includes both turning from their own sins as well as the sins of previous generations of their families. In this, God’s people teach us twin truths neglected in our current culture. First, we are not merely individuals but also members of families which have shaped us for better and worse. Second, rather than denying the sin in our families or using that sin as an excuse for our own sin, God, in His kindness, welcomes us to repent of personal and family sins. In reading this repentant prayer, the words “you” in reference to God and “they” in reference to sinful people highlight the goodness of God and the wickedness of people.

This prayer was preceded by a sermon that lasted upwards of six hours from Ezra, followed up by Bible training for men, and concluded with Bible studies that lasted upwards of three hours. As a result of reading the Scripture, God’s people are compelled to pray. These twin disciplines of Scripture and prayer are how God speaks to us and how we speak to God. The prayer, which many consider being the longest in the Old Testament, is a summary of events from creation to Abraham and Moses in the first five books of the Old Testament (Pentateuch) that they had been studying for many days.

Throughout this prayer, God’s character remains in constant sharp focus, quoting God’s self-explanation in Exodus 34:5-7. These verses are referenced more than any other section of Scripture throughout Scripture and were likely stated from memory, which is a good idea for us as well.

In this prayer, we learn that there is only one God. He alone is our creator, sustainer, savior, covenant maker, faithful, righteous, miraculous, glorious, powerful, judge, provider, leader, lawgiver, provider, gracious, forgiving, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, enduring, teacher, conqueror, child giver, enemy crusher, homemaker, business blesser, food giver, chastiser, prayer hearer, savior sender, prayer answerer, sin forgiver, prophet sender, great, mighty, awesome, righteous, and altogether perfect in all He does.

In this prayer, the people and their forefathers are declared presumptuous, stiff-necked, forgetful, ungrateful, idolatrous, blasphemous, needy, incapable, fat, lazy, disobedient, rebellious, law-breaking, prophet-murdering, evil, disobedient, stubborn, wicked, sinful, and distressed in various English translations.

In religion, people judge one another. In revival, people judge themselves. True repentance in our life is different from four kinds of counterfeit repentance:

1. Mere Confession – had God’s people only confessed their sins without truly repenting, they would have agreed that they were guilty of sin but not changed their behavior.

2. Worldly Sorrow – 2 Corinthians 7:10 says that “worldly grief produces death.” Worldly sorrow feels bad for sin but does not embrace Jesus’ death as our “man of sorrows” who “carried our sorrows” so that we can move from sorrow to salvation, forgiveness, new life, and joy.

3. Self-Righteous – proudly self-righteous repentance confesses other people's sins while neglecting their own. Jesus’ story of the self-righteous versus the unrighteous man in Luke 18:9-14 is the perfect example.

4. Religious Repentance – is motivated by an attempt to manipulate God for a blessing and feeling sorry for getting caught in sin or sorry for the consequences of sin, but not the sin itself. It seeks to pay God back by feeling bad, wallowing in shame, guilt, and condemnation, while the gospel is about Jesus taking our shame, guilt, and condemnation so that we are no longer under such things. Religious repentance falsely believes that if we do not punish ourselves for our sins, then God will be angry and punish us. Jesus was punished to forgive our sins and rose to give us new life, and so the biggest problem with religious repentance is that it focuses too much on the sinner and too little on the Savior.

There can be no progress in the Christian life without ongoing real repentance. Luther launched the revival known as the Protestant Reformation by nailing “The Ninety-Five Theses” to the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral in Germany. The first sentence said, “Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ…willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”

Before the Church can revive the world, God needs to revive the Church. We cannot invite people to repent of their old life in the flesh and live a new life in the Spirit if we are not experiencing it for ourselves. Perhaps the greatest revival preacher in American history, George Whitefield, modeled this very truth by spending time each evening repenting of his sin before God, then getting up the next day to preach repentance to fellow sinners.

Question:

What role did sound Bible teaching play in this revival of Nehemiah 9? How are you doing learning God’s Word?