Genesis 2 tells the story of the formation of the first man, Adam, which provides a foundation for the rest of the Bible. If we believe that “thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created” (Revelation 4:11), then we know man’s purpose for life. Otherwise, we are left adrift on a sea of unknowing. No Christian should have to wonder why he is on this earth, because God has told him in the Scripture. Nor should he have to wonder what his purpose in life is.

The first verse of the Scripture declares God’s creation of the earth, a manifestation of God’s great power. Many times, studying or reading the Scriptures, we tend to focus on our responsibility and position in the world; however, the Scripture gives an abundance of information about God, and we need to understand God and His character if we desire to fully grasp our responsibility toward Him.

Matthew 4 records an interesting element of the devil’s assault on Christ. “Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” (Matthew 4:5-7) This temptation happened on an exalted part of the temple itself, the building that was supposed to be for the worship of God. In this case, however, the devil ended up trying to use it to further his cause.

When I first started this website, I wrote quite a bit specifically about revival, although I haven’t done it so much lately. In this article I would like to return our thoughts to this important topic.

The first thing that I want to point out, something that we often fail to recognize, is that revival is always focused on God. We can have miracles, tongues, excitement, study, a large show of hands, or any of a large number of other things, but if God is not being exalted, we don’t have revival, because our Christian faith centers around God, not man. The gospel of God brings Him glory. “Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.” (I Peter 2:12)

The author of Hebrews used the Old Testament story of Esau to provide a powerful warning for our day when he said, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” (Hebrews 12:14-17) The story of Esau’s birthright gives us a dramatic word of caution, showing us the awful results of failure to esteem spiritual treasures at their true value.

When this passage describes Esau as profane, the word doesn’t necessarily have the connotation of cursing and swearing that it has today. But the passage seems to make it clear that the word refers to the lack of respect Esau gave to the value of his birthright.

This article is part of a series.

In the Old Testament, people were not expected to be completely focused on God to be a member of God’s Kingdom; after all, beyond a few issues, God’s Law did not actually cover much of a person’s life, unless he happened to be a priest, Levite, or prophet. Those who were not in these groups, yet wanted to live in a way that was more focused on God than the ordinary, could become a Nazarite, but this tended to be a temporary thing, performed only for a specified period. Evangelism outside the Israelite nation appears to have hardly even been considered. For most of those who wanted to live a life of service to God, there basically remained only one option—enter the national scene, in government or the army.

Job said, “Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.” (Job 19:29) It’s among the most simple truths of the Bible, yet it is probably ignored by more people than any other—there is a judgment. God will judge the earth!

When Moses was going to make the tabernacle, God warned him, “And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.” (Exodus 25:40) He was telling Moses to be sure that he didn’t change things around, making them different than the pattern God gave him. This pattern was somewhat complicated, and God wanted Moses to make sure that no one changed it.

Sometimes a term becomes so associated with a particular group that it is almost impossible to think of the term without the group entering our minds. For example, upon hearing the term tongues in its religious sense, many of us automatically think of Pentecostalism. When someone mentions tongues, or when we read about them in the Scripture, we think of the tongues of Pentecostalism. It’s hard to think about tongues in any other way. The same thing has happened with predestination.

Revival is a word that is never mentioned in the Bible. Revive and reviving occur nine times in the Old Testament, and never in the New Testament. Yet the concept is definitely spread across the entire Scripture. There are a number of dictionary definitions, but when we speak about revival in a Scriptural sense, it basically means that we are dead or weak, but God infuses new life and strength into us and empowers us. “Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?”