What is Revival—and is it Happening at Asbury? By Dr. Craig Keener

 By Craig Keener

February 16, 2023

“I thought you were praying for revival. What are you doing downstairs?”

With those words, my wife summoned me from my basement last Wednesday evening, where I was working on a very long book and neglecting what was happening on the campus of Asbury University. I teach at neighboring Asbury Seminary. And if you’ve following the news, you know that people have been streaming to the university—and now the seminary—to witness and experience what some are calling revival.

After my wife’s prompting, she and I quickly headed to the back of Asbury’s Hughes Auditorium to pray. We found the worship service that started that morning had neither stopped nor declined. On Saturday, we found seats in the balcony. The university’s 1,489-seat auditorium was packed.

On Sunday, the spirit of worship felt deeper, and I felt more aware of God’s awesome holiness.

By Tuesday, Feb. 14, long lines waited outside the auditorium, where amplifiers allowed the music to be heard. When I finished my evening class at the seminary, the overflow crowds had filled the seminary’s Estes Chapel, which seats 660, its McKenna Chapel, which seats 375, and spilled over into the building shared by the local United Methodist and Vineyard churches. (I was informed that had already begun the preceding night.)

Some voices in social media are hotly debating whether this should be called a revival or not. Since the term is an extrabiblical one, my thinking is, “Who cares what we call it? Let’s celebrate what God is doing!”

Different events labeled revivals in the past few centuries have looked different—from dramatic weeping to dramatic joy, from massive conversions to empowerment for missions, leading to even more conversions.

Calvinists dominated the First Great Awakening, the Hebrides Revival, and the West Timor Revival. Wesleyans dominated the Second Great Awakening, the Azusa Street Revival, and the 1950 and 1970 Asbury Revivals. Witnesses from the West Timor Revival reported a sound like a rushing wind. Witnesses from the revival at Pandita Ramabai’s orphanage in India reported tongues of fire. Miraculous signs accompanied evangelism in the Shandong Revival.

Why should an infinite God fit our boxes?

What we find in the Book of Acts are outpourings of the Spirit (for that wording, see Acts 2:17-18; 10:45, but other terminology, like the Spirit falling on or filling people, is also used).

In Acts 2:17-18, Peter describes their new experience of the Spirit as prophetic empowerment to speak for God. In 4:31, God fills petitioners with his Spirit for boldness to continue speaking for him. Other collective experiences appear in 10:44, 13:52, and 19:6—not to satisfy our merely historical curiosity, but to whet our appetite.

One characteristic Luke reports in connection with the first two outpourings is concern for the needy (2:44-45; 4:32-35). This observation suggests that these outpourings involved not simply an initial emotional experience (though some did—see 2:13!) but a deep, long-range impact in how Jesus’s followers treated one another, related to what Paul calls the “fruit” of the Spirit.

During the First Great Awakening, Jonathan Edwards noted visions and “manifestations” such as falling to the ground and weeping. He also noted that, while some manifestations were human responses to the work of God’s Spirit, some were imitations or worse. The long-term fruit of the revival, he pointed out, is about how we live.

A week into what is happening at Asbury may be premature to talk about long-range fruit. That said, if this latest phenomenon fits the pattern of previous Asbury revivals, we may expect a generation of laborers raised up for harvest. Some of the revivals noted above lasted for several years or even decades. Continuous worship at earlier Asbury revivals have sometimes lasted just a week or two, yet with profound effects that fit a pattern in the history of revivals on college campuses in the U.S.

The history is extensive. By 1823, most U.S. universities and denominations set aside a day of prayer for colleges. This tradition fell away through much of the twentieth century. But this year, a concerted day of prayer for colleges has been scheduled for Feb. 23, with Francis Chan leading a simulcast. The host campus for this Collegiate Day of Prayer, in honor of the 1970 Asbury Revival, is Asbury University.

This was not in the gospel choir’s mind on Feb. 8 as they simply kept worshiping the Lord. But at least some of us suspect it’s providential.

What is happening at Asbury began spontaneously and unexpectedly. But spontaneity does not mean lack of preparation. Anna Gulick, a French professor at the university during the 1970 revival, reported that many students had begun praying among themselves before cries of repentance broke out in chapel. Similarly, people within the Asbury community have been praying for decades that God would get the campus ready.

Connection with prayer is a common (though not universal) characteristic of both corporate and individual experiences of the Spirit in Acts (see Acts 1:14; 4:31; 8:15; 9:17). When I teach on this theme in Acts, I first highlight Jesus’s promise in Luke’s first volume that God will answer prayers for the work of his Spirit (Luke 11:13).

A number of new seminarians over the years shared that the Lord showed them revival coming. Zach Meerkreebs, who preached in the original chapel service that hasn’t stopped, mentioned that he felt something like this coming a year ago.

I meant to be supportive of these expectations. But as years passed, I wondered if an outpouring of the Spirit would happen on any significant scale while I was still here.

Others, however, such as visiting scholar Hong Leow, remained vocal and insistent. Hong prayed and fasted for such prolonged periods that I grew concerned for his health. Last week, he flew back to witness the fruit of his prayers.

Hughes Auditorium feels like a holy place at the moment. But in Scripture, God’s people are his temple. Whatever other places might be special to us in some respects, we are his most sacred place, and we don’t have to be near campus to welcome and honor God’s presence.

When I first visited Asbury Seminary to interview for a position in late 2010, I peeked into the university’s vacant auditorium. My eyes fell on the words emblazoned indelibly on the high, back wall of the sanctuary, “Holiness to the Lord.” At that moment, I felt a wave of the Spirit, like some special vestige remained from the earlier outpourings. But despite the currently filled auditoriums, it’s not about the place. It’s about holiness to the Lord.

Any reader of The Roys Report, Christianity Today or even secular media knows that a lot goes on in the name of Christianity that isn’t very Christian. The same is true in the history of revivals. God is God, but people are still people. One generation’s unique behavior during some revival can become the next generation’s tradition—and the following generation’s legalism. Some claims of revival are attempts to stir up emotion or create hype. And those who want a name for themselves often hijack movements that God initiates among the lowly.

It’s no surprise, then, that there are threats to the integrity of what is happening at Asbury. Some may come for hype or to seek attention for themselves, though hopefully they will leave with something different.

Administrators, campus ministry staff, and student leaders have been working overtime, sometimes on little sleep, trying to guard the movement’s integrity and focus. The leaders don’t want the focus to be about them or about Asbury. When President Kevin Brown addressed the assembly on Saturday evening, he prefaced his powerful comments by indicating that he was almost afraid to speak, lest he interrupt the holiness of God moving among the students.

And that is the correct posture to take because this is not about us, but about Him and His holiness. He alone is worthy of honor. He has made his presence felt. And in his presence, no flesh may boast.

Dr. Craig S. Keener is Professor of Biblical Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. He has authored numerous books including Miracles Today: The Supernatural Work of God in the Modern World (2021, Baker Academic).

Some Context For The Asbury Revival

  

(This post was copied from Lee Grady’s Facebook page. “Asbury University is named after Methodist leader Francis Asbury (1745-1816), who was only 26 when he came to evangelize the American colonies. He became a leader of the 2nd Great Awakening. It’s estimated that he traveled 270,000 miles on horseback preaching and planting Methodist churches. But circuit-riding wasn’t glamorous; prior to 1847 more than half of Methodist circuit riders died before the age of 30 because of animal attacks, exposure to bad weather and the hardships of travel. Their sacrifice was a seed that died in the ground and produced a massive spiritual harvest.

Francis Asbury’s life was marked by white hot spiritual fervor. After being sent to our shores by John Wesley, Asbury wrote: “We must reach every section of America, especially the raw frontiers. We must not be afraid of men, devils, wild animals, or disease. Our motto must always be FORWARD!” Like a modern Joshua, Asbury possessed the land, in spite of his frequent ailments. He never married, perhaps because he knew his sacrificial lifestyle would be difficult for a wife. He was so loved by his Christian brethren that more than 20,000 people followed his coffin when he was buried in Virginia after his death at age 70.

Asbury University is named after this giant of faith. I think it’s fitting that the revival that erupted last week on the campus also reminds us of Francis Asbury. I’m not listening to religious critics who are skeptical of the music being sung at the revival, or worried about “emotionalism,” or which translation of the Bible is being used, or which denominations are represented in the audience. God please forgive us for the cold, heartless Phariseeism that quenches the Holy Spirit. Francis Asbury would have been thrillled to see young people repenting and worshipping Jesus. May this holy fire spread to the world, and may an army of young Francis Asburys be sent out to claim the nations for Jesus.”

Christianity Was Not - "Made in America!"

 "For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened." - (Romans 1:21 ESV)

Some argue the violence in America is the result of gun ownership. Others blame it on the lack of prayer in public schools. These are arguments for the current culture wars in America. A war of words, thoughts, and ideologies. Scripture teaches that people become arrogant when they refuse to acknowledge their Creator - spiritual darkness and violence increase. 

 "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." - (Ephesians 4:30 ESV)

The United States is experiencing spiritual evil, desensitizing us through exposure to images and ideologies of violence and perversions. God is - grieved by so much sin.

During the nineteen sixties, the U.S. experienced a spiritual invasion from the east. We are all 'gods' was what the eastern mystics told us. That view of spirituality combined with self-centered western materialism makes for a bad combination. 

The new 'priest' of society are those who control education, politicians, extreme environmentalists, the news media, and the entertainment industry. Many of their ideas form the minds of the American public. And science has the final word on everything in the western world - while the biblical worldview - is ignored.

A Christian worldview does not reject 'real' science because God gives knowledge to the world through many different sources. But followers of Jesus understand that the supernatural cannot be proven scientifically.

Those from the "majority world" outside of the western world have a greater understanding of spiritual - realities - both good and evil. Christianity was not - "Made in America!" It is an eastern religion that teaches the true nature of reality. God came to live among his creation as a Jewish man. He existed in eternity past with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. One God in three distinct Persons. What other religion has a god who came to live with those he created? Christianity is perceived as - just another religion - by those who have not encountered the living Christ. Following Jesus is not one of many ways to enter heaven - he is the only way.

"Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." - (John 14:6 ESV)

Holding to a strictly scientific, naturalistic, anti-supernatural worldview grieves the heart of God. We saw the results or the fruit of this atheistic worldview from the Nazi and Communist regimes of the twentieth century. Will we ever learn?

Education and passing better laws can be helpful, but until the human heart is changed, we are only putting a band-aide on a terminal wound. 

Religion without the love of Christ does not work either. That is the reason Jesus told Nicodemus, "you must be born again." When Jesus returns to the earth to set up his kingdom - those that follow him will experience the Utopia that so many long to obtain.

 But until His return, we must share the life-transforming truth that only Jesus Christ can give. 

 

The Anvil - A Prophetic Picture

 "I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure. I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, 'These are my people,' and they will say, 'The LORD is our God.'" - (Zechariah 13:9 NLT)

"These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold--though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world." - (1 Peter 1:7 NLT)

"Anvil - a heavy steel or iron block with a flat top, concave sides, and typically a pointed end, on which metal can be hammered and shaped." - Online Dictionary

During a prayer meeting a few years ago, I had a mental picture of an Anvil. This was a time of intercessory prayer for our Church and our community. We were engaged in spiritual warfare. I believe God communicates through mental images and impressions to encourage us. I don't think every thought or picture that pops into my head is a message from God to the Church!

 But for me, it seems like a good picture of what many believers need to think about, especially in times of intense spiritual attack. God uses the testing of our faith to strengthen us and forge us into vessels for his purposes. Without trials and testing, we become weak and spiritually ineffective. All bodybuilders know that growth comes from resistance. So, spiritual growth requires us to resist the world, the flesh, and the devil.

 

Fire is a metaphor used in various ways in the Bible. God uses the fire of his holiness to purge sin from us. He uses stressful circumstances to purify our hearts and to make us battle-ready. Our battles are not with people but with worldviews and ideologies that clash with the Kingdom of God. In the Old Testament, God told Israel to drive out enemies from the land he gave them. Some wonder why He didn't destroy all of Israel's enemies for them. But, I believe God wanted his people to grow stronger by obeying his commands and learning how to fight for freedom based on his covenant commitment to them.

As New Testament believers, our enemies are spiritual beings. We must be diligent to drive them (demonic strongholds) out of our lives. We must help others experience freedom, also. The attacks never stop, but our goal is to become stronger as we grow dependent on God. In a sense, we become a weapon forged by the Master's hand that he uses to drive out spiritual darkness.

A Journey Into The Past - Merry Christmas

 

(I’m the little guy on the right with my friend Billy on the left. I wrote the article in 2008. My Dad passed away in 2007. Mom passed away in 2015, and my older sister in 2021.)

Christmas 2008

My earliest memories are of my family living on Lewis Street. Those memories from my early childhood there are special. I had three close friends, Billy, Mike, and Carol. We were the same age except for Billy, who was a year older. So as far back as I can recall, our gang and I met in our front yard on Christmas morning to compare presents. One year the boys and I all had cowboy outfits, and another year, football uniforms. But my favorite Christmas - we all got Army uniforms. We were all decked out in our uniforms and prepared for war! We played war games in those days fighting the ‘Japs’ and Germans (We didn’t know what political correctness was!) Occasionally when the guys pretended to have fought the enemy all day long, Carol would pretend to be our nurse.

In the early sixties, we lived in what seemed to be a “Leave It To Beaver” world. Our Moms stayed at home with us - families had one car (I remember our 63 Chevrolet) and one black and white television. We played hard back then until the streetlights began to come on, until I heard my Mom say,” Bobby, come in - it’s getting late!” During the summer months, we caught lightning bugs. Usually, I was getting scared by then because many times we told ghost stories while sitting on the sidewalk. I miss those simple days. 

I watched the first episode of Batman on television with my friend Mike, and I also remember the first episodes of The Adams Family and my favorite, Combat!

I woke up this past Christmas Eve morning feeling nostalgic. I miss my Dad and my old friends. So since my wife was cooking that morning (she’s a Proverbs 31 woman!) I decided to go to Broad Street, get a cup of coffee, and walk around downtown Gadsden. That’s where we shopped before we had a Mall, Walmart, and all the other new stores. We had a movie theater downtown where all the action was. There’s still one Variety Store that we shopped in when we were growing up, the name has changed, and it still has that same smell of varnished wooden floors and popcorn. I took a stroll on those sidewalks that had been a part of my formative years. And while enjoying the cool air and Christmas music - I reflected on the past.

Somehow I felt I was starting a journey back in time, so my next stop had to be at my old Elementary school, which I had attended until the second grade. I pulled up at the school only to realize I hadn’t looked down those halls since I left in about 1965. I just stared - it was like going back in time. The halls looked the same as I remembered. I could see my first-grade classroom, but the playground seemed much smaller than I remembered.

There was no stopping now - I had to visit Lewis Street. It was not my first time returning to the Lewis Street Baptist Church and looking at our old house. But this time was different. I drove slowly behind Lewis Street and gazed into the woods - where we played behind our house. There was a large flat rock near the woods that we kids believed the devil lived beneath! In those days, we had great imaginations because all we had to do was to play outside. No video games!

As I turned the corner to Lewis Street, I stopped the car and stood for a few moments taking in all the memories at the corner of the woods, where I had spent so much time so many years ago. I looked to the left where the ” Little Store “had been, at least that’s what we called it. The store was expanded and eventually made into a diner.

 I drove slowly past my old Church across the road from my old home. Carol and Mike lived on the other side of the Street from me. Billy’s home was next to mine. I could feel the memories. I don’t think I’ve ever looked so intently at our old house as I did that day.

The large lot we had played football on was not as big as I had remembered as a small child. My old house was for sale again. Oh, how I would have liked to have gone inside. The memories just kept flooding into my soul. As I turned left on Nunnelly Avenue, I remembered as if it were yesterday how I had somehow slipped out of the house unnoticed and ridden my tricycle to Nunnelly. I can still feel the horror as my Dad drove up and put me and the tricycle in the car. He was angry, and that was the worst spanking I ever got! I didn’t ride my tricycle back there again!

My first memories of Church, Sunday school, and Vacation Bible school happened at the Lewis Street Baptist Church. The Church was across from our home. My first thoughts about God and the prayers I prayed were in that neighborhood. That’s where I learned how to make and relate to friends. God doesn’t want us to live in the past. But there is something spiritual about remembering and honoring those formative moments and people from our past.

(To all those that are feeling lonely right now and missing loved ones – hang onto the good memories and Merry Christmas 2022.)

Jesus is Knocking on The Door of The American Church

 The LORD is trying to get the attention of the American Church. He is speaking clearly. His warning is much like the warning to the Church at Laodicea. His word is clear but are we listening? What I mean by "we" is the Church as a whole. There is always a remnant that self-sacrificially does the LORD's work. I know many that are.

The Church in Laodicea was prosperous and seemed 'self-sufficient.' The city was known to have a problem with its water supply. Unlike some of the surrounding towns, which had an abundance of cold and hot water, they had lukewarm water that was disgusting.

Jesus likened their spiritual condition to their lukewarm water supply. In no uncertain terms, it made Jesus puke! 

Jesus is knocking on the door of the American Church - to reveal our blindspots to us. He loves us and has given us an abundance of resources. Our prosperity has blinded us to our lack of spiritual depth. Many are satisfied with being entertained and have become complacent about the needs of the world around us. I am guilty of this. 

I believe the Church in America is experiencing the discipline of the LORD because he loves us. He is calling us to recognize our spiritual poverty. Political power and excessive materialism cannot be our goal. It's time to wake up and regain our ability to see and hear what Jesus is saying. He desires us to repent so - that - we can bless the world and have intimate fellowship with him. 

Hear His call:

To the Church in Laodicea

 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.

 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!  So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” - (Revelation 3:14-22 ESV)

To Decree Or Not To Decree? That Is The Question

 Over the last few years, I have become concerned about some well-known charismatic preachers and their practice of "decreeing things." They teach that we can decree things like who should be president and energy independence for the United States. 

The main verse they use for this teaching is Job 22:28 KJV which says, "Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways."  The proclamation of Truth with our mouths is a biblical practice. But, to decree something, because we desire it does not guarantee we will have it.

 In Hebrew, the word for "decree" is (gazar, "to cut"), in the sense of deciding a matter."  (Net Bible Second Edition with notes.) The ESV version uses the word "Decide." 

When you read Job chapter 22 in context, this verse is about Job's intimacy with God and answers to his prayers.

I contacted three highly respected biblical (Charismatic) scholars on this issue. I chose not to include their names because these were private messages. The first quote is lengthy:

(1) "It concerns me. A lot depends on what one means by “decree.” If it only means that we are declaring as truth something the Bible clearly promises or asserts, then it is ok. For example, if one “decrees” that God will overturn the curse on creation and redeem the natural realm (Romans 8:18ff.), then good. That is simply making known what God has promised he will do. Countless other examples could be cited, such as the final judgment on Satan (Rev. 20:10ff.). 

 

 But if by “decree” someone means that by saying certain words with great passion and “faith” the thing stated will come to pass, there are problems. We have no basis or grounds for decreeing things that God himself has not previously revealed as certain. When people “decree” in this sense it comes perilously close to the Word of Faith heresy, the idea that simply by believing something and speaking it out we create or bring to pass some reality that isn’t explicitly endorsed in Scripture.

Again, it all depends on what these people think they are accomplishing by their “decrees.” I can “decree” that whoever believes in the name of Jesus will be saved, but I can’t “decree” that a particular unbelieving pagan will be saved. Maybe he will. Maybe he won’t. But that is something not in my power to know or decree. It is only God’s to determine.

 My fear of people issuing “decrees” is that it feels presumptuous and arrogant. And what happens to that person’s faith and confidence in God when what they “decree” doesn’t come to pass?

 Be sure that these people aren’t developing their concept of “decree” on the basis of Robert Henderson’s books, primarily his Operating in the Courts of Heaven. It is a horrible book." 

(2) "I think such commands are to be done at God's leading, for something we know to be God's will and have enough confidence to do so. But merely "decreeing" things we want seems just a newer version of "positive confession," which has the wrong object to its faith."

(3) "...the practice is not of God at all. It is how they claimed Trump would win!"