Asa is one of the five kings whom God used to bring revival to the southern kingdom of Israel. The northern kingdom never had a revival. They had nineteen kings, and all of them were bad. There's not one good one in the lot. Of the twenty kings over Judah, ten of them could be called good, and five of them were outstanding. These kings were Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Hezekiah, and Josiah. During their reigns there was a period of reformation, which was incubated in a time of revival. There is a similarity among all the kings, but there are also some striking differences.
Now at this great assembly which Asa had called in Jerusalem, they entered into a covenant with God to seek Him with all their hearts.
That whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets [2Chron. 15:13-14].
All Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the Lord gave them rest round about [2Chron. 15:15].
If we seek the Lord with your whole heart, He will be found of us. We have seen that the first bridge to revival is a knowledge of the Word of God.
Now we come to the second bridge which is scriptural separation. The word separation is one of the most abused words in Christian circles. Asa here is practicing scriptural separation:
And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron [2Chron. 15:16].
This is indeed interesting -- his own mother was engaged in idolatry! Notice that she wasn't just a friend of people who were idolaters, but she herself was an idolater. This is the reason Asa removed her from the place of influence.
But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days [2Chron. 15:17].
Asa could have removed these high places, but he did not. He went only part way with God -- and yet God used him. How gracious God is!
Many people consider themselves separated and roundly criticize everyone else in the ministry whose methods are different from theirs. This is not scriptural separation at all. Separation is not an attempt to straighten out every individual and try to force men whom God is using to conform to your pattern. That is the narrowest form of bigotry.
What needs to happen is to get separated from ourselves -- that would really be separation! If you want revival, the place to begin is with yourself.
We need to get in a room by ourself, draw a circle right around us, and say, "Lord, begin a revival, and let it start inside this circle."
Real revival will never happen without a return to the Word of God. There is no detour around the Bible. There is no substitute for it. The great spiritual movement in the days of John Wesley, was built around the Word of God. Wesley read the Bible in three languages every morning! Dwight L. Moody and the great spiritual awakening in his day led to the great Bible institute movement, one of the greatest movements in the study of the Word. It is dying out today. Why? Because they are getting away from the Word of God. We need more than just a superficial familiarity with the Word of God. We need more than an artificial vocabulary of the right words. Revival does not depend on an activity, nor on a service, nor on a method. It requires a real knowledge and love of the Word of God.
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