A Formula for Revival

Introduction

Nineveh was a large city for its time. The Bible says that it took three days to walk from one side of the city to the other. Having learned his lesson about running from God Jonah rose up and immediately went to Nineveh to preach repentance.

When the people heard the preaching of Jonah, they believed his preaching and repented of their sins. This was a city-wide revival that reached from the top all the way to the bottom. The Bible says that the people believed God. A fast was proclaimed and eventually became a decree from the king for everyone to be in sackcloth, to fast, and to pray for forgiveness. They were hoping that God would turn from his sentence of destruction upon their city.

This chapter gives us a clear formula for revival in any circumstance.

The Preaching of God’s Word

Jonah 3:2 “Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.”

Jonah 3:4 “And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”

God gave Jonah a second chance to obey just like he was giving Nineveh a second chance to turn from their sin toward the one true God.

Revival in any community requires the clear, unadulterated, faithful preaching of God’s Word. It will not be the most popular message for people to hear, but it will be the one they need to hear. The Bible does not say what God told Jonah to say, but we do know what God’s command to Jonah was, “preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.” Today, we have the Holy Scriptures and we are supposed to preach the Word of the living God. Preached faithfully, many will reject this preaching, criticize this preaching, and persecute those that preach it. The response to the preaching is not our concern or our responsibility. To preach it is our mission and his command to us. The response is up to the hearers.

In Nineveh’s case God knew the hearts of the people and that they would be receptive to the message. Rarely does a revival involve everyone who hears the message, but revival is possible if we faithfully proclaim the Word of God.

A Belief in the Message

Jonah 3:5 “So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.”

Revival happens when the Word of God is preached and when the hearers believe the message. Belief in the Word of God is necessary to produce revival. Many people have sat through faithful Bible messages and remained unmoved by what they hear. Week after week they hear the Word of God preached, but it remains unimportant to their lives.

One of the leading cause of destruction within the church is apathy. Nothing seems to move them. The Word of God is as if it fell on deaf ears. The Bible repeatedly says, “He that hath ears to hear let him hear.” Will you respond when you hear faithful Bible preaching? Will you respond to the message that God has for you? Will you repent when there is conviction in your heart?

A Response to the Message

Jonah 3:5–9 “So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?”

The people did not just believe the message that Jonah preached unto them, but they responded to the message. From the king down to the peasant they put on sackcloth and ashes, they fasted, and they prayed. The revival spread throughout the city. They cast themselves upon the mercy of Jehovah God. They sought his mercy and his grace in their lives. Preachers preach the message and some people that listen to the message, some people are apathetic to the message, some people reject the message, and then some believe the message and respond. How have you handled the preaching you hear? How have you responded to the message that is preached?

Until the people of God choose to believe the message and respond in sackcloth and ashes; in other words until the people choose to repent there will be no revival.

Conclusion

We need revival in our country. We need it as badly or worse then the people of Nineveh. We need faithful Bible preachers to proclaim the message of God to the world. We need the people of God to repent of their apathy, of their sin, and of the way they have strayed from the teaching of the Word. We need people that will hear the preaching of God’s Word, hear the Word, believing the Word, and responding to the Word with repentance toward God.

This is and always will be God’s formula for revival; Bible preaching that moves people to believe and repent