At this juncture, I would like to give an additional word on the matter of revival.
The revival revealed in the Minor Prophets can be applied to the family, to the church, to the nations, to the entire human race, and even to the whole universe. In principle, everything and everyone on earth are in the desolation of the two days spoken of in Hosea 6:2.
Since the fall of man, there has been in all of creation an aspiration for revival. Concerning this, Romans 8:20-22 says, “The creation was made subject to vanity, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will also be freed from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans together and travails in pain together until now.” As a result of Adam’s fall, corruption, slavery, and death have come into the whole creation. Today everything is decaying and is under the slavery of corruption. All the things that are under this slavery aspire to be revived.
Man’s fall brought in corruption, and with corruption there is slavery. Because of this corruption and slavery, there is the need everywhere for revival, for restoration. This need can be met only by Christ and in Christ. Christ was resurrected on the third day, and as the pneumatic Christ in resurrection, He is the reality of the third day. Christ, therefore, is the element of the revival for which all of creation aspires. The corruption and desolation can be swallowed up only by Christ’s resurrection.
Unbelievers as well as believers aspire to be revived, to have a new beginning. Everyone wants something new. Only Christ is the renewing factor. Only Christ, who rose up on the third day, is the renewing power. For the whole universe and for all of mankind, Christ is the reality of the third day.
When we received Christ, we received Him as the One who is Himself the resurrection (John 11:25). Immediately after receiving Him, we had a new beginning in our human life. That new beginning was a revival. However, eventually we again entered into a state of desolation and thus needed another revival. This cycle of desolation and revival, revival and desolation, has been repeated again and again.
The way to have the revival we need is to contact Christ, repenting and confessing our sins, failures, and darkness. By doing this we are brought from the desolation of the two days to the resurrection of the third day. Whenever we are in desolation, we need such a revival. We need to come to the third day, and the third day is nothing other than the person of the resurrected Christ with the reality of revival. In addition, we have the outpouring of the Triune God as the consummated, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit, and our spirit responds by being stirred up.
When our spirit is stirred up in response to the outpouring of the Spirit, we enjoy Christ not only as the resurrected One but also as the One desired by all of mankind. He is mankind’s unique need. Everyone, the believers and the unbelievers alike, desires Christ.
The Christ we desire has enacted the new covenant and He, as its surety, is now executing it. Through this covenant God has been allotted to us as our legal portion in Christ, who is the Sun of righteousness with healing in His wings. Apart from Him, we have darkness and unrighteousness, but with Him everything is light and righteousness.
When we have such a Christ, we not only have revival—we have restoration. The millennial kingdom will be a time of restoration. This restoration will consummate in the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem as the center. That will be the ultimate, the consummate, restoration accomplished by the resurrected Christ.