Revival Prepares the Way
Isaiah 30:18-29
May 24-25, 2025
As we have seen, the great theme of the Book of Isaiah is revival, because they had gone after the Gods of the world, Gods of the nations around them. They're very flesh-oriented kinds of gods, you know? In the darkest days when Israel had gone the farthest away from God, God would send the most powerful prophets to remind them of god's greatness and to call them home, to call them back, to call them to revival. What's interesting, is what we've seen, is that God alternates between grave warnings of danger, and pursuing the gods of the world, and the glory of what God could do in their lives if there would be revival.
We see it over and over in that way, and Chapter 30 is one of those declarations of glory. These words ring out over Israel to stir any heart that would listen. There was some, of course, with ears to hear, heart to understand, but the most important of all would be the king himself. It speaks, of course, of the importance of leadership, as anyone knows who's been in leadership, the significance of that influence is very important to understand. Because if the king turned his heart away from God and used his position in power to pursue fleshly indulgence and fleshly desires, the whole nation would face and suffer great consequences because of that.
If the king had a heart after God and used his position and influence for revival, all the nation would be blessed. Chapter 30 is one of those powerful declarations that God used to stir one of Israel's great revivals. In fact, in the history of Israel, it was, perhaps, the most important of Israel's revivals. We could call it Hezekiah's revival. Of course, studies of revivals are fascinating. There are many books written on the history of revivals. There have been great revivals in our own modern days, even. For example, a couple of years ago, there was a movie that came out, maybe you saw the movie, we played it here, Jesus Revolution.
It was about a revival that happened in the '60s in the Jesus movement, the hippie movement. We love to think about it and pray about revivals. This was one of Israel's greatest revivals, Hezekiah's. Hezekiah was 25 years old when he became king. When someone is 25, they're old enough to have seen what's right and what's wrong in this world, and to know enough to choose their own way. This is important because Hezekiah's backstory, the story of Hezekiah's life, is very important. Hezekiah's father was one of the worst kings of Israel there in the south, one of the worst, and yet he was one of the best.
What about one of the greatest revivals? What a contrast was that? Because Hezekiah was there. He saw what it was, how bad things could turn when a king pursues worldly things. He saw his father bring Israel to the brink of ruin and destruction. He was there when he saw his father bring idols of the world, not only into Jerusalem, into the temple itself. He closed the doors, the devils brought the idols there. He saw with his own eyes his father, one of the worst kings of Judah in the south, offered one of his own sons as a sacrifice to Moloch.
We would then presume that something arose in Hezekiah. You might call it a righteous indignation. Maybe you've understood that. When you see something that's not right, like something arises, like, "This isn't right. Enough is enough." Like, "If this doesn't change, if this doesn't turn around, it will lead to disaster." Now, his father may have been a very terrible influence, but his mother was not. She was the daughter of the High Priest, and her name was Abijah. Now, we love the name Abijah, because it's the name of our granddaughter.
In fact, one time when we went to Israel and we brought Abijah with us, we were going through customs, passport control in Israel, and of course, we gave the passport, and they looked at her passport and they said, "Oh, this is a Hebrew name." She's like, "I know." She was so proud of that. It's a great name, Abijah. That was Hezekiah's mother. You must never discount the influence of a mother. I would say the same. I know many of you would say the same, also. I attribute a lot to the example and influence of my mother. What a contrast it was. My father, many of you know my story, was alcoholic, and angry, and cantankerous, and abusive, and yet here's my mom who was gentle, and kind, and peaceful, and spoke wisdom.
She made sure that we got to church. In the midst of all this chaos and dysfunction, there was this rock. I remember after she passed, we were going through some of the drawers and such, and we found these little spiral notebooks. We found one after the other, all filled with handwritten notes that she had made when she was listening to pastors on the radio. Just writing notes, and over and over. So many of them. What a Godly example. Then, of course, there was Isaiah, he was living during the time of Hezekiah's life. Perhaps, would it be possible that Abijah made arrangements that Isaiah could be a mentor to Hezekiah? We don't know, but we know he was there.
No doubt the declarations of glory that Isaiah proclaimed caught the ear of Hezekiah. No doubt those promises took hold of his heart, and he could understand what could happen if there were only revival in Israel. Now, the same is true for everyone today. These promises found here in this declaration of glory, give hope to anyone with a heart to receive the promises that God would do if only there was revival in the heart. Great words for us. Let's read it. We're in Isaiah 30. We'll begin reading verse 18, and as I said, we'll cover the other verses around this during our Wednesday verse-by-verse study.
I. How Blessed are All who long for the Lord
Isaiah 30:18. "Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you;" Now, this is a great start to his declaration. If you could only know God's heart. He longs, He yearns to be gracious. It's important to know God's heart in this, because many people, they have it wrong about God. They think that God's always angry. Isaiah wants them to know, do you not know God longs, He yearns to be gracious to you? He waits on high to have compassion on you. The Lord is a God of justice. How blessed are all of those who long for Him. If that same longing is in you, that you would long for God, this is revival.
Then he says, in verse 19, "O people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you." When you're in distress, when you're in that trouble, you cry out to God, He will listen, He will answer. "Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher, will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher." In many ways it speaks, it references to when the Lord, the Teacher of Israel, would walk among them.
Then he says this, very famous verse, I love quoting it. "Your ears will hear a word behind you, 'This is the way, walk in it,' whenever you turn to the right or to the left." He will be your Teacher, and He will guide you in the way of greatest blessing. This is revival. God is moving with you in the course of life. Then he says, I love this next verse. "You will come to a point in revival, you will come to the point where you will defile your graven images that are overlaid with silver, and your molten images plated with gold. You will scatter them like an impure thing, and you'll say to them, 'Be gone. Get out of my life.'" This is a really important understanding of revival.
Now, in those days, they would have these little idols like a statuette, you might call it. Maybe 18 inches, 2 feet or so. The artisans would make them and cast them with silver or gold, very valuable. They were made in the image of whatever God you wanted to buy, Shamash, Mulgi, or Baal, whatever. They would set it up in their house and think, "Oh, thy God of whatever is in my house." He says, "No, you'll come to a point where you'll understand that this is such an offense. This is not good. This is not glory. This is not of God. Your eyes will see it, and then you'll take that thing and you'll destroy it. You'll scatter it like an impure thing. You'll say to that thing, 'Get out of my life.'"
Oh, this is good. This is revival. Then he says, "Then He will give you rain for the sea, which you have sown in the ground, and bread will come from the yield of the ground, and it will be rich and plenteous. On that day, your livestock will graze in a roomy pasture. Also, the oxen and the donkeys, which worked the ground, will eat salted fodder." It's like a special luxury to have salted fodder. You know how it is? You like salt on your omelet. They like a little salt on their fodder. It's a luxury. He says, "That which was winnowed with shovel and fork. Then on every lofty mountain and on every high hill, there'll be streams running with water on the day of the great slaughter when the towers fall." This is all good things.
"Then the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun. The light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day that the Lord binds the fracture of his people and heals the bruise, even when he has inflicted it." The hand of God, the favor of God. Then interestingly, for two verses, he speaks about the nations. The rebellious God rejecting nations, he says about them. "Behold, the name of the Lord comes from a remote place, burning in anger, dens in smoke, lips filled with indignation.
His tongue is like a consuming fire, and his breath is like an overflowing torrent, which reaches to the neck. To shake the nations back and forth in a sieve." If you've ever sifted flour in a sieve, you know the process. You shake back and forth to remove the impurities. He said like that. "I will shake the nations and put in the jaws of the peoples, the bridle, which will lead to the ruin. This he says to the nations, the God rejecting, rebelling world."
Then he says back to Israel, verse 29, "You, not you, you'll have songs in the night like when you keep the festival." In other words, you're singing and rejoicing will continue long into the night. Such joy that will be. "Gladness of heart like when one marches to the sound of a flute to go to the mountain of the Lord, to the rock of Israel." Oh, that's a glorious declaration. That's a call to revival. Insights that God would have for us today, starting with verse 18. How blessed are all who long for the Lord.
If you can only see it, the prophet proclaims, that God longs, yearns to be gracious to you, waits on high to have compassion on you. How blessed are all who long for Him. There is that revival. The heart of revival is in that yearning, that longing, that desired desiring. You see it throughout the Bible. Something happens in the heart of the one that's stirred by the moving of God on the soul. There's a desiring. You see it, how beautiful is the glory, and you long for it.
For example, in Job, you remember the suffering that Job endured. Yet he said this in Job 19. "I know that my redeemer lives." Though he suffered so much, he knew he held strong onto this, "I know that my redeemer lives." I know that at the last, He will take His stand on this earth. "Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh, I will see God. Whom I myself will behold and whom my eyes will see and not another."
Then he says, "Oh, how my heart yearns within me. I know my redeemer lives. I will see with my own eyes. Oh, I cannot wait." There is this yearning, this desiring. That's revival. That's beautiful, genuine, sincere revival. Then there's David, Psalm 42. It's famous. David writes, "As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs for you, oh God." David understood what many do not understand; the beauty of the Lord. The desire of God's presence in your life.
He says, "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before him? I cannot wait." Now, revival is not just something that happens in the stirring of the soul. Yes, that is very important. If it's true revival, it will impact how the life is lived. Faith moves the man to move. Revival moves the heart to move. You see it in the life of Hezekiah. There was in him a great stirring, a great longing. God used Hezekiah then to bring about this great revival because he then was moved by that revival to take action.
He cleansed the temple, he restored the priesthood. He kept the word of the Lord, which God had given to Moses, and he did not repeat the sins of his father. Now, this is a powerful testimony. There are some who believe that there are such things as a generational curse that determines the course of their life. In their mind, they do not have a choice. The outcome has been determined before they were even born.
They are simply living out that which was given to them, to which I say, how convenient. Let me just say that if a generational curse determined the course of my life, it failed. It wasn't a generational curse that determined my course, it was the blessing of my Father in heaven. There is something far greater at work than a generational curse, it's called revival. It's called the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Can we give God praise?
See, in other words, God can do a new work from one generation to another. The sins of the father do not have to be repeated. If you've had a father that was less than a good example, then let the sins of the father end right here and right now. This I know is true. Growing up, I could see all the dysfunction and the results of alcoholism, and the consequences of all the dysfunction. I remember, of course, my mom's influence. There was a spiritual arising in me such that I came to a point where I said, "God, no more. Let this thing end right here and right now, and let it end with me. It will not go to the next generation. My children will know better things than that." Amen.
God can do a new work. Then, of course, the influence of Abijah, his mother, the daughter of Zechariah, the high priest. A godly mother can bring such influence on her children. All you got to do is compare Abijah to Jezebel and see the influence. Jezebel, we know. The wicked Jezebel. I tell you what, I have dedicated many babies in the course of many years of ministry. I have never yet once dedicated a baby named Jezebel. Never. Everybody knows the meaning of that name.
Abijah, it means God is my father. That's the meaning of the name. When my daughter chose that name, she chose it because of what it meant. It sounds wonderful, true. What it meant, God is my Father. See, this is a powerful understanding because that is how God breaks that generational influence in a person's life. Looking back, I knew, I thought as I looked at my life, that because of my father and the poverty and the dysfunction and all this, I thought I had every disadvantage in life.
Everything was against me because of all of this, because of who my father was. Then God's answer broke through. I will be your Father now. Whereas before, you may have had every disadvantage, but if God is your Father, you have every advantage in life now. Romans 8:31-37, "What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" Hey, if God is your Father, God is for you. In all of these things, we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. It is the triumphant life because of who God is in your life. Then there's this aspect of revival.
A. “This is the way, walk in it”
He will be your teacher. He will be your guide in the course of this life, to lead you in the way of greatest blessing. This is the way, walk in it. Your ears will hear it. Verse 21, "The Lord will be your teacher, your ears will hear a word behind you, 'This is the way, walk in it,' whenever you turn to the right or to the left." There are so many points of turning, which you make a decision, this or that. The word of the Lord to you is, "Don't go that way. Don't turn down that road. That is the path that leads to trouble and destruction and difficulty. No, this is the way. This is the way, walk in this."
Maybe we can see it from this perspective. How many people have done something really stupid in your life? Don't raise your hand. Don't. No, no. Don't raise your hand. No. Here's my point. How many people have done something really, really stupid, and you're like, but you knew that God told you not to do it before you did it? Now we can raise our hands. See. Many people have this understanding. I know God was telling me, "Don't do it." I know it. I knew God was speaking to my heart, "Don't do it," but I did it.
See, it says of Hezekiah, he did what was right in the sight of the Lord. Compared to what? Compared to what was right in his own eyes. In other words, if there was a difference between what was right in his own eyes versus what was right in God's eyes, he would go with God. This is a key to life's course of how you walk the path. Proverbs 12:15, "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel." Of course, a fool thinks he's right, but a wise man considers. A wise man does not want to take the turn that will lead to a path of trouble and difficulty. He will consider and pray, and listen. Wow.
All you got to do is look at what caused the final downfall of the northern kingdom of Israel. Why did they fall? Because they would not hear the voice of the Lord their God. He sent some of the most powerful prophets to them, yet they would not hear. Why? Why didn't they want to hear the voice of the Lord? After all, we know this, First John 5:3, "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome."
This is a great verse. This is the love of God, you move by the love of God, and you'll see that his commandments are not burdensome. No. I'll tell you what, the way of the transgressor is a burden, the way of the sinner is hard. You want trouble? You want more trouble you can handle? You pursue the way of the world and sinfulness. No, you cannot have the influence of Molock and Baal, and Astaroth. Why were they so intrigued by these gods? Because they were permissive.
They were permissive to the desires of the flesh, but the desires of the flesh are poison to the soul. You cannot have revival when the soul is being poisoned. God wanted them to see that if they gave the flesh permission to do whatever it wanted, the price would be very high. God was trying to spare them. The suffering, the hardship, the misery, the emptiness. The flesh was never meant to be the master. The flesh makes a terrible master. By the way, the god, Baal, the name means master. It's in the name.
It's never meant to be the master because it doesn't consider. It doesn't think about the future. It doesn't care about the consequences. It only cares about the pleasure of the moment, but God does care. God does have concern for you, for your future. He wants to give you a future, a blessing. God cares. Jeremiah 29:11, we love that verse, "For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare," that means good, "and not for calamity, to give you a future." God says, "I want to give you a future, man. I want to give you a hope. I do care."
I think about this, when my kids were in their teens, I had several conversations with them about why they needed a parent that would say no. When you're in your teens, you want to go there, you want to do that, you want to do this, and we could see like, "No, no, no, these are not good. These things, these influences, and these places and these people, no, no. It's not good. You need a parent that can say no to you." Well, of course, they would resist it.
I remember one particular conversation when one of them was being particularly insistent, and I was meeting that resistance with my own resistance. Then the teenager said, "When I'm a parent--" Okay, here we go, "When I'm a parent, I'm going to give my kids anything they want." I said, "Ha, and that right there, my friend, is why you need a parent right now." Because if you give your kids anything and everything they want, I tell you, it will give you heartache the rest of your life, because it will ruin their lives.
B. You will say to the impure thing, “Be gone!”
Because then notice what he shows us in the next verse, verse 22, "And then you'll say to that impure thing," this is revival, "--you'll say to that thing, 'Be gone.'" Notice verse 23, revival stirring, a great yearning in your heart. Then, he says, then you'll see it. You'll see it for what it is. Your eyes will be open. You'll understand what you did not understand before, and you'll see that thing, that thing in your life, that hidden secret thing, is standing in the way of all that God desires to do that's good and glorious. You don't want anything standing in the way of this glorious revival that God is doing.
You see that thing and you say, "Be gone. Get out of my life." That is victory. That is the day when revival is taken on. That is the day when you're turning this thing around. It reminds me of Isaiah 29, just one chapter before, where he said it so powerfully, put his finger right on it when he said it this way, "Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the Lord and whose deeds are done in a dark place. Then they say, 'Well, who sees? Who knows?'" Then God says, "You turn this around."
I don't know, I love that. I just love the straightforward, straight-up way that God says it, "You turn this thing around." That's what revival is. That's what repentance is. You come to the place where you don't want it anymore. You don't want anything standing in the way of all that God is doing that's beautiful and joyful and glorious. Interestingly, one of the things that Hezekiah did as part of his revival was to destroy the bronze serpent that the people burned incense to. The bronze serpent has a long history. It goes all the way back to Moses. Moses is the one who made this thing. The people had turned it into an idol, a thing to worship, a thing to burn incense to. This is in 2 Kings 18:4. Hezekiah removed the high places, broke down the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherah, and then he broke in pieces this bronze serpent that Moses had made for until his days, the Sons of Israel burned incense to it. He called it Nehushtan. Now, in Hebrew, Nehushtan means it's just a piece of bronze, people. That's what it means. They worshiped the thing. They burned incense to the thing, made an idol of the thing.
Now, the bronze serpent has a long, rich, and beautiful history. It was meant to be a symbol of a powerful truth, but they turned it into this idol thing. What's interesting is that it points directly to Jesus. Now, it's a very interesting part of this revival. Go back to the history when Israel was in the desert in those 40 years. They were at a point grumbling, complaining about this food, wasn't enough water. They loathed that manna, even though manna was a provision of food, and it was like a miracle every morning. It even tasted good.
It tasted sweet like coriander seed with honey, yet they loathed it, grumbling. It says that fiery serpent slithered into the camp, biting, latching onto them so they cried out, "We were wrong. We sinned. Moses, what shall we do?" God told Moses to make a fiery serpent out of bronze, set it on a standard, a pole, and lift it up. Anyone who would look to that bronze serpent on that wooden standard, anyone who looked to it would be healed. By the way, in our modern days, the medical symbol today is a serpent on a pole.
One day, a Jewish leader by the name of Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. We had that conversation. It's in John 3. You might say, "John 3? Isn't that where John 3:16 is found?" Right, but the context of it is very important. In that conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus said this, John 3, we start at verse 14. "As Moses lifted up that serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in him have eternal life." Jesus says, "As Moses lifted up that serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up," a serpent, "so that any who believes will have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him." We know John 3:16, one of the most famous, if not the most famous verse in the Bible, but the verses before it add such a depth of understanding to it. "As Moses lifted up the serpent, so the Son of Man must be lifted up."
Now, some would find this to be quite provocative, maybe even offensive. "Do you not know what a serpent represents? Do you not know that it is like evil? You dare to say that my Lord and Savior is to be identified as a serpent?" Well, I didn't say it. Jesus said it. When he said it, he was giving to us a great insight at understanding. It has everything to do with whether a person has eternal life. Anyone who looks to the serpent, which represents sin, there on the cross, there on the standard, that wooden pole, will be healed. It has everything to do with eternal life.
2 Corinthians 5:21, "He made him, who knew no sin, to be sin in our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in him." Now, to some even, that sounds provocative. "Jesus became sin?" Yes, this is how he won for us our eternal salvation. Because he says, Romans 6:23, that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ, Jesus our Lord. In Christ, Jesus our Lord. The wages of sin is death. He died to pay the wages of our sin.
Romans 6 goes on to say, "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? Therefore, we have been buried with him through baptism into death. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly also we shall be in the likeness of his resurrection." You might say that when Jesus was lifted up, like the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, that he would look to him.
It means that God takes the sins. All of our sins were taken and placed on the cross of Jesus Christ so that you might say, "When Jesus was there on the cross, that my sin died that day." Your sin died that day. Paul said, "How can we, who died to sin, still live in it?" When did you die to sin? When Jesus died on the cross for my sin, my sin died that day, and your sin died that day, and he whom the Son sets free is free indeed. God did that. Amen?
Amen. Amen. Galatians 2:20 says it even more, "I have been crucified with Christ. My sins were crucified with Christ. It is no longer I now who live, but Christ lives in me." He did not remain in the grave. He was raised in victory on the third day. He defeated death for me. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. All right, back to Isaiah 30. We see this in regards to this aspect of revival; that revival is the way of greatest blessing.
II. Revival is the Way of Greatest Blessing
Notice verse 23. After all that he sent, "The Lord longs to be gracious to you," and "How blessed are those who long for him. When they hear a word behind them, 'This is the way, walk in it.'" Then they come to that place where they say to that thing, that secret thing in their life, "Be gone, get out of my life. I don't want you anymore." This revival is stirring and such that what follows is greatest blessing, "He will pour rain on the seed which is on the ground and bread from the yield of the ground. It will be rich and plenteous. On that day, your livestock will graze in roomy pasture."
See, if God is your Father, you, first and foremost, have a relationship to God himself. See, above all things, God himself is the greatest blessing from revival. God is, first and foremost, what you have now that God does on the soul is first and foremost. Then, if God is your Father, you have every advantage in life. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you. He will be a father to you like no earthly father could ever be. His hand will be on your life. It will be the hand of favor. It is the path of greatest blessings.
A. God is inviting you to revival
Then he says, "Now, God is inviting you to revival." Now, part of Hezekiah's great revival was that he decided that he was going to celebrate a feast, the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days, Passover is in it. They had neglected this feast for so many years that he decided, "We're going to--" He cleansed the temple and he set up the priest again and he said, "We're going to have the feast, the Unleavened Bread Feast with the Passover. We're going to do it," and he says, "We're going to do it like they haven't done it since the days of David. This is going to be glorious."
Then he says, "We're going to invite everyone to come from the south, the Beersheba, all the way in the north, to Dan, even in the northern kingdom of Israel. We're going to invite them all to come." He sent messengers to all of Israel and wrote letters of invitation to everyone in the north, even to come. It's a call. "We're going to celebrate. We're going to have a feast for seven days. Come to Jerusalem." Then as part of it, notice 2 Chronicles 30:6, part of that letter, he says, "O, Sons of Israel, return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that He may return to you, to those of you who escaped and who are left from the hands of the kings of Assyria. For the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him."
The couriers, they passed from city to city, but many of them laughed. They laughed them to scorn, and they mocked them. It's true even today, many people reject God even while they're going through great troubles. Israel in the north had already been defeated by Assyria. Many were taken captive, dispersed amongst the nations, and yet still they mocked, still they laughed, but not all. 2 Chronicles 30 says, "Nevertheless, some men from Asher and Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves, came to Jerusalem. The hand of God was on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king had asked them to do according to the word of God."
B. Revival is the joy of the Lord
They had this feast, the seven-day feast that was so glorious, so wonderful. Now, when they had finished it, they said, "Let's do it again," which of course is not in the Word that they would have to do it again. He said, "No, it was so good. Let's do it again," so they did it again. Another seven days of feasting and rejoicing. That brings us to this: Revival is the joy of the Lord. Notice verse 29, "You will have songs as in the night when you keep the festival, you'll sing late into the night with such joy. You'll have gladness of heart, like when one marches to the sound of the flute as you march to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." It's a great part of revival. You must know the joy of the Lord is your strength.
Now, that verse, that phrase, it comes from a time later in the history of Israel after they were defeated and destroyed by the Babylonians and then exiled to Babylon for 70 years. When those 70 years were completed, they were allowed to return to restore and rebuild the Holy City. As they were digging through the rubble of the temple, someone found a copy of the Word of God. They brought it to Nehemiah, who read it. He had not had a copy of the Word for years. No one had been reading it. Nehemiah read it and realized that these people must hear this.
He gathered all the people together in a great assembly there in Jerusalem. He set up a platform for the priest to stand before the people and read to them the Word of God. They stood there all day long as the priest read the Word of God over them. When they heard it, they began to weep and to mourn because they could see it. Now, they knew and they understood the cause of their ruin lay in their own hearts. They saw the beauty of God and the ugliness of men. They saw the glory of what once was, glory they no longer had. They wept, mourned. Nehemiah stood up on the platform and he said, "No. Stop."
This is Nehemiah 8:9, "Do not weep. Do not mourn. No. This day is holy to the Lord your God. For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law." He said to them this, "Look, go home and eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, give portions to him who has nothing prepared, for this day is holy to the Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. You must know the joy of it. Go home."
Eat of the fat, that means take a big fat steak with lots of fat on it. That's what is really flavorful and good. I'm not giving you this as health advice, I'm giving you this as biblical advice. "Eat off a fat steak and drink of the sweet." These are expressions of celebrating and feasting. This is a holy day to the Lord. This is a day of rejoicing. Go eat of the fat, drink of the sweet. That's why we serve donuts on Sunday mornings.
It's a holy day to the Lord. Eat of the fat, drink of the sweet," but what was He saying to them? Stop feeling sorry for yourself. That's what they were doing. Look what we lost. Look what we've suffered. Also, needlessly. Stop. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and celebrate what God is in your life, what joy there is in your life because of this revival, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." Let's have joy indescribable. Let's have peace that passes understanding. Let's understand the glory of God.
Must have the joy of the Lord is a very deep part of revival. Taste and see that the Lord is good. The Lord is good. You must know it. It's part of revival. You must have it, the joy of the Lord. Many do not understand the beauty of the Lord. Must have the joy indescribable. Peace that passes understanding. God is love who dwells amongst us with love poured out. Must know the joy. Without it, there cannot be that depth of revival that God desires. Must know it. Must have it. Must know the joy of the Lord. It is your strength of revival.
Let's pray. Lord, thank you so much for inviting us to revival. Oh, how you yearn to be gracious. You called us that we might yearn for you, that we might long, for that which God does is beautiful and joyous and glorious. That you would open our eyes to see how beautiful is the wonder of God's presence and how ugly is this thing that you would say to this thing, "Get out of my life. I don't want you are standing in the way. This hidden secret thing is standing in the way. I don't want this anymore. I want glory. I want revival. I want true, authentic, genuine revival. I want God to be my Father. I want the joy of the Lord to be known to me. I want to taste and see that the Lord is good."
Church, is that your heart, your prayer, your desire, would you raise your hand as a way of just expressing that to God? That's my desire. That's what I want. I want true, genuine, authentic move of God. Let there be a revival in my heart. I want to know the glory and the beauty, that joy that I know is the strength of my faith. Let it be God in my heart. May it be, in Jesus' name, and everyone said. Can we give God praise and glory and honor?