Reflections on the 2023 Asbury Revival
Restore us again, O God of our salvation,
and put away your indignation toward us!
Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?
Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,
and grant us your salvation.[1]
Psalm 85:4-7, English Standard Version
The Pilgrimage
On a Saturday morning weeks ago, a group of students studying at the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School gathered together and prayed in preparation for a long drive to Wilmore, Kentucky. I was one of the twenty-seven students on this trip. On the way to Asbury University, we shared about the challenges in our ministries and discussed numerous theological and philosophical issues. Perhaps at this time, the Holy Spirit has already begun preparing our hearts in anticipation of his presence.
When I first arrived on the campus, my heart was filled with excitement for the unknown but my mind was skeptical and even pessimistic about the event. I have never experienced or witnessed a revival. My knowledge of revivals was little to none. Nevertheless, my lack of understanding did not stop me from making premature judgments. If God is omnipresent and omnipotent, why is the power of the Holy Spirit seemingly confined to a particular time and space? Why must Christians come to Wilmore in order to be revived? Is God not working within us in our local churches and seminaries? Having seen how the revival in Asbury gained popularity through streams and videos on social media, I was having suspicions about the genuineness of the event. Are the people really here for the workings of the Holy Spirit? I suspected that some viewed the event as a Christian “festival”. A “festival” of releasing some of the stored tensions from the pressures of the secular world. They perhaps were here for religious ecstasy instead of a communal rekindling of faith. I suspected this gathering to have been more of a social statement than a faith-based fellowship. My pessimistic suspicions stemmed from the realization that the West is declining rapidly. Even if my earlier suspicions were false, is the revival really powerful enough to save the falling west? Just a few days before this trip, many undergraduates at Trinity frantically begin searching for a new school because they can no longer continue their studies there. Trinity is not the first nor will it be the last Christian school to close its college campus. In 2022, Lifeway Research released the annual State of Theology survey showing the shocking result of more than 50% of evangelicals are holding heretical views about major doctrines.[2] Even the country at large was showing signs of unrest and decline. Around the same time as the revival, there was a mass shooting at Michigan State University with three students killed and five injured. Amidst all these noticeable signs of evil, the revival in Asbury seemed more like a dying breath than a rejuvenation.
With these questions and doubts in mind, I was patiently waiting in line to get into the college chapel. The weather was not forgiving. At one point, my legs started to go numb from the cold. None of us expected the line to have been this long. We waited in line for 6-7 hours. The day ended and the night began. The only thing that kept me going was the reminder that “this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”[3] Fully aware of the harsh conditions and the eagerness of people to join in on the worship, the college, and the Salvation Army graciously handed out free drinks, and free food, and placed heaters in various places to keep those waiting fed and warm. Many of the surrounding churches including the seminary chapel and even the lawn in front of the college chapel were live-streaming the service. People who were not able to endure the cold and might not have been able to get into the college chapel were not left out of this experience. After having been told multiple times that we might not have a chance to enter the college chapel through the main line, we decided that it was best for me to go alone through the much shorter under-25 line. At least one of us had to witness in close proximity this “near presence of God”.
On the way up to the other line, I was greeted by two strangers. I asked them about the location of the under-25 line and a brief conversation followed. After having asked about my name and where I was coming from, one of them asked if they could pray for me. It was during this prayer that I experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit. The prayer was not special. The power of the Holy Spirit was not strange or unnatural. But I cried. The crying was not violent but peaceful. It was a response to the beauty of this experience that felt just right. It was like the first wind of Spring. It is not coercive in any way but it is a sure sign that winter had ended and Spring has begun. It was at this moment I grasped an understanding of what a revival is.
After climbing up the stairs, I was finally in the chapel. There was nothing unique or special about the service. The worship was not perfect. The message preached was simple and brief. It was just an ordinary chapel service. But it was from this “ordinariness” that I was able to concretely experience the communion of saints and the one catholic church that Christians have often confessed to believe. There were people from different countries, different ethnicities, different backgrounds, different denominations, different age groups, and different social classes within this small chapel. Despite these differences, the love for God and neighbors was shared and shown towards one another. People were praying, confessing, and singing to God. It was rather spontaneous and loosely organized but not chaotic. Shalom was permeating throughout the chapel and beyond. A taste of the rest in God’s embrace was shared and enjoyed. Leaving the chapel was like leaving a concert. Even after the last notes had been played, the music of the soul still resonated within.
How then should we think?
What exactly is a “revival”? Is revival a miracle or an appropriate use of means from God? Should revivals be judged a priori or a posteriori[4] or perhaps some other way? Is revival only for Christians? Is revival solely a divine operation or does it involve by necessity a degree of human participation? How we respond to these inquiries shapes how we ought to continue our Christian lives.
Suppose that revivals are miracles, then we should only judge them a posteriori. Jonathan Edwards explained that “To judge a priori, is a wrong way of judging of any of the works of God. We are not to resolve that we will first be satisfied how God brought this or the other effect to pass, and why he hath made it thus, or why it has pleased him to take such a course, and to use such and such means, before we will acknowledge his work, and give him the glory of it. This is too much for the clay to take upon it with respect to the potter.”[5] After all, the Spirit “…blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.”[6] Miracles are supernatural not to be understood by the law of cause and effect that governs common events. For instance, it is not common or natural for a dead person to be resurrected. A miracle like such is unexplainable by the laws of biology. Given the nature of miraculous works, Christians should not judge a revival by the cause and effect of means common to this world. Christians should judge a “revival” to be a revival by the effects observed in the same way a person concludes he has been blown by the wind after being blown. Christians should become the “owl of Minerva”[7] in their humble understanding of revivals.
On the other hand, if revivals are the natural fruition of proper Christian living, then perhaps they are not supernatural miracles. For some, bringing forth revivals is not any different from raising crops. Charles Finney supported this idea by stating “In the Bible, the word of God is compared to grain, and preaching is compared to sowing seed, and the results to the springing up and growth of the crop. And the result is just as philosophical in the one case, as in the other, and is as naturally connected with the cause; or, more correctly, a revival is as naturally a result of the use of the appropriate means as a crop is of the use of its appropriate means.”[8] This implies that Christians should “plow” for revivals as farmers expecting a harvest. A revival is still ultimately a work of the Spirit, but when the need for a revival is increasingly apparent, Christians must act appropriately in anticipation of a revival. Finney explained that “a Revival of Religion is indispensable to avert the judgments of God from the church…Christians are more to blame for not being revived, than sinners are for not being converted.”[9] There is a sense of duty on the part of every Christian to show great efforts in wanting a revival. There is no revival because “It is only because you do not want one. Because you are not praying for it; nor anxious for it, nor putting forth efforts for it.”[10]
So should we embrace Edwards’s idea and judge revivals a posteriori? Tim Dwight’s definition[11] of revival indicated a few key features. One of which is the considerable amount of people affected by revivals. This idea is certainly not a foreign one for often revivals are observed to have great social impacts. However, was Dwight right in prescribing this quantitative quality to revivals? Suppose that there is a man living in solitude away from society and was one day embraced by the near presence of God and continued to confess and pray incessantly for a considerable time. Should we judge that this was not a revival because it lacked the necessary social impact a revival should have? What if there were only two affected? What if there were only a hundred or merely ten revived? Let’s expand this inquiry further. Must revivals have Christians speaking in tongues, prophesizing, or casting out demons for them to be true revivals? A revival is only a revival if there are “jerks” and “barks”[12]? Suppose that we deny any of these effects to be necessary for revivals, what is left for us to judge?
Are we safe from errors if we embrace Finney’s idea of revivals as Christian duty? Finney stated that “If it is duty it is possible”, but is it humanly possible? It was in the free and sinless state that humans voluntarily chose to disobey God. Now for the sinful to return to God they have to conquer sin in their corrupted and enslaved state. It is undoubtedly impossible for sinful humans to turn toward God by their abilities alone. This is why salvation comes from Christ and only Christ[13]. If the church is in desperate need of a revival, then the church can’t appropriately seek God without divine help. Can the blind open their own eyes? The simple acknowledgment of sin is already the first fruit of the Holy Spirit’s works.
How then should we think about revivals? After reflecting on my own experience, I am inclined to the idea that revivals are judged with the most certainty by the qualia[14] of the spiritual experience. From the essence of a revival experience is the Holy Spirit revealed. The qualia of a spiritual experience is a type of knowledge about God digested from a near experience of God. The qualia of the experience is unmistakable because it is impossible to be reconstructed by any other experience without the presence of God.
In Frank Jackson’s famous philosophical thought experiment, it was stated that Mary who only had propositional knowledge about the world did not know everything about the world.[15] Mary lacked knowledge about what it is like to see and touch. She knew everything about the science behind the human perception of colors, but she lacked the knowledge about what it would be like for her to see colors. For Mary to know everything about seeing colors she has to see colors personally. Similarly, a revival is a personal and communal spiritual experience of God rekindling hearts. To really grasp what a revival is, one must experience it.
It is not by the effects we make judgments about revivals. Christians are illuminated by the qualia of their spiritual experiences. God effortlessly persuades us in our experience of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, to be rekindled by the Holy Spirit is not to say we should be careless about our faith. On the contrary, the beauty witnessed pushes us upwards in pursuit of growth in faith and understanding. Simply put, God is so beautiful that we naturally come to loathe all sins committed against him and find goodness only in things that bring glory to him.
How Then Should We Live?
Those who have been revived should respond by continuing their journey of faith seeking understanding. Faith seeking understanding is primarily an act of love. We seek to understand more about the faith graciously given because we want to become closer to God. We come to love God even more because we understand more of God’s glory and beauty. Therefore, faith and understanding are a mutually reinforcing cycle that promotes individual and communal flourishing. Additionally, the types of understanding in this act of love are also mutually aspiring. Besides rational knowledge about faith, experiential knowledge (that which has been comprehended from a spiritual experience)[16] is another type of understanding.[17] These two types of knowledge grow one another. The experience of God is digested by the rational knowledge of faith while what has been grasped experientially inspires the mind and corrects the rational understanding. The inspired mind in response dives into the scripture with an eagerness to uncover new truths about God. With new learnings, the mind rediscovers past spiritual experiences to a greater degree which will bring the person closer and closer to the God revealed. Failing to do so would be careless to the rekindled heart. They will become that one servant of the master who “went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.”[18]
Evident in faith seeking understanding is a communal quality. Spiritual growth is promoted through a community of complementary “body parts”. In the same way that the growth of the brain or arms is an insufficient and partial growth of the whole person, Christians should not rely on the growth of one “body part” for the growth of the whole person. This communal aspect of the spiritual journey goes beyond individual faith and points Christian individuals to the necessity of community. If individually we are already a body of many parts, then should we continue to say that the church is unnecessary? If we are reluctant to lose a limb, then should we continue to justify our detachment from the body of Christ? It is not that the Holy Spirit does not work in each individual. The power of God that works in all brings unity not separation to the body of Christ. Only in a community can we come to witness the communion of saints.
Those who have yet to be revived, should receive the revived brethren with open arms and listen with open ears. For all Christians are on a journey of faith seeking understanding and called to love God and neighbors. God may not have started this revival from their hearts but has brought messengers to them from those who have first received this spiritual fire. Past revivals[19] have assured us that the power within these testimonies about Asbury carries through them a spiritual torch that will kindle and rekindle people far beyond the borders of Willmore, Kentucky. With this relaying of the torch, the Great Commission is seen in action once again. People will be converted and “re-converted” by those carrying the fire of the revival. This is how the universal church of Christ grows not only in size but in understanding and love.
Should we just wait idly for the power of the Spirit? It is written “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”[20] Complacency and stagnation are not the ways of the Christian life. Even in times when there are no revivals, we should meditate on the words of God day and night. Not only does this prepare us for revivals but also develops in us a rightly-oriented discernment. As we put on this armor of God, we defend against false prophets and welcome those who have been truly revived. It is not a sin to be skeptical of all “testimonies” about the revival. It is a sin if we reject true signs of the works of the Spirit. Do not let skepticism take control and cloud our judgment. Tim Dwight wrote “Suppose then, that among much Enthusiasm, and many Delusions, there should be some real piety, that among multitudes, who in what is called a Revival are anxious about their salvation, a single man should become a genuine convert, and actually embrace the offer of eternal life…Would not the salvation of this individual more than balance all the evils, which you apprehend from the Enthusiasm in question?”[21] The value of one saved man far outweighs the superficiality of many. Unfaithfulness is common in this world, but a conversion comes at a great price and the rewards are eternal. To stay faithful to God in a sinful state is difficult. But do not lose faith because our hope is rooted in the God who will not forsake us. From these numerous revivals, it is evident that God does not prolong his anger but blesses us with revivals that heal.
Finally, what about the Christians who did not or will never experience a revival? For those who ask this, I ask “what about the Christians who have never seen Christ in the first century?” A revival is not mandatory for faith seeking understanding, but spiritual experiences are necessary to the Christian life. The God we worship is not a proposition or an idea composed of numerous doctrines. The God we worship is the living God who intimately interacts with his creation. Therefore, we receive revivals as gifts of grace underserved. Not only are revivals gifts but a calling. A calling to share the peace of God in earnest confessions and testimonies for the chosen people of God to return once again.
注：
[1]Psalm 85:4-7, English Standard Version.
[2]For those interested see Christianity Today’s articles “The Rise of the Evangelical Heretic” and “Top 5 Heresies Among American Evangelicals”. The link to the State of Theology survey is provided at the bottom of “Top 5 Heresies Among American Evangelicals”.
[3]2 Corinthians 4, English Standard Version.
[4]Meaning judging from before (a priori) or after (a posteriori) the fact.
[5]Jonathan Edwards, Works of Jonathan Edwards Vol. 1: Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of Religion in New England, (Christian Classics Ethereal Library), 1563.
[6]John 3:8, English Standard Version.
[7]Hegel’s idea that philosophical reflections begin after the day has passed.
[8]Charles G. Finney, Lectures On Revivals Of Religion (Heritage Bible Fellowship, Kindle Edition), 4.
[9]Ibid, 13.
[10]Ibid, 20.
[11]”Whenever men in considerable numbers become, within a short period, subjects of piety, religion is, in customary languages, said to have revived. A revival of religion, therefore, means nothing more than that multitudes, in a kind of concert, and within a little time, feel and confess its powers.” See Dwight’s sermon On Revivals of Religion.
[12]Jerks are people jerking their heads due to the power of the Holy Spirit. Barks are the same except they “bark” rather than jerk.
[13]See Anselm’s arguments in Book I of Why God Became Man.
[14]The essence of an experience. A type of knowledge distinct from propositional knowledge.
[15]Frank Jackson, “What Mary Didn’t Know”, The Journal of Philosophy 83, no. 5 (1986).
[16]理性思考versus 感受中悟出的
[17]We see this in music as well. Knowledge about music theories is different from what has been grasped from the music itself.
[18]Matthew 25:18, English Standard Version.
[19]For example, the “Beautiful Fleet” revival in 1995 that began in Wheaton inspired many other school revivals.
[20]Hebrews 5:12-14, English Standard Version.
[21]J.D. Woodbridge, class material on the Second Great Awakening, 8.
Bibliography
Edwards, Jonathan. Works of Jonathan Edwards Vol. 1: Some Thoughts Concerning the Present
Revival of Religion in New England. Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Assessed on 03/24/23. https://www.ccel.org/ccel/e/edwards/works1/cache/works1.pdf
G. Finney, Charles. Lectures On Revivals Of Religion. Heritage Bible Fellowship, Kindle
Edition.
Jackson, Frank. “What Mary Didn’t Know.” The Journal of Philosophy 83, no. 5 (1986): 291–
95. https://doi.org/10.2307/2026143.
Woodbridge, J.D. “The Second Great Awakening”. Material for CH 8000 History of Spiritual
Revivals, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Deerfield, IL, March 2023.
Fairweather, Eugene. A Scholastic Miscellany: Anselm to Ockham. Philadelphia: Westminster
Press, 1956.
Moore, Russell. “The Rise of the Evangelical Heretic”. Christianity Today, published on
September 22, 2022. Assessed on March 24, 2023. https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/september-web-only/heresy-theology-bible-literacy-rise-evangelical-heretic.html
Mcdade, Stefani. “Top 5 Heresies Among American Evangelicals”. Christianity Today,
published on September 19, 2022. Assessed on March 24, 2023. https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/september-web-only/state-of-theology-evangelical-heresy-report-ligonier-survey.html
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