Joy IS the Revival!!! (Part 3 of 3)

We often have conversations with our kids and say, "There are blessings that come with obedience." Every child loves (yeah right!) hearing this as it essentially means they are about to be given an ultimatum to obey the parent or choose their own way and reap a punishment.

In Nehemiah 8 part of Joy becoming strength is that ALL UNDERSTOOD the Word of God read and declared over them (8:1-8), ALL REJOICED because the same word that wounded also healed (8:9-12). Today we are wrapping up our 3 part series on Joy and Revival. We will do this by taking a look at what happened in Nehemiah 8:13-18 where the people responded to the Word of the Lord and made little shacks of palm leaves on their roofs to live in for a week.

Sounds about right. Many of you are thinking, "That may be a more suitable space than my house if this Shelter In Place order doesn't get lifted soon." 🤪

So why "celebrate" living in a lean-to, exposed to the elements and totally vulnerable. Furthermore, why would you do this as an entire community? Picture everyone in your town (I live in Tremont) setting up a tent with holes in the roof, not staked to the ground and propped up in their driveway for 7 days. Odd, to say the least. What does it really say about Joy and Revival? Let me make three suggestions:

1. Looking back - the celebration of living in these structures reminds them of their need for deliverance from slavery in Egypt and that God provided! 
2. Looking around - they are now looking around at the rest of the nation (the town of Tremont in tents was my example) who share the same weakness and need for protection and provision. 
3. Looking forward - by living in these makeshift, weak and vulnerable homes they are nurturing a longing for their heavenly and secure dwelling (click the link to II Corinthians. 5). 

The Joy of the Lord is our strength and revival is the result because of the grace of Jesus. In Nehemiah's day that included people understanding the word that had been long since forgotten. However, it doesn't stop there as the people rejoiced in the Word which brought wounding in one hand and healing in the other. 

Consequently, those hands stretched the width of the Cross for you (II Cor. 5:21) and for me so that we could rejoice in a resurrection we could never achieve. 

Finally, this understanding and rejoicing led to obedience. The blessing that comes by way of obedience always points us back to Jesus. It was the JOY set before Him to ENDURE the Cross (Hebrews 12:2). He's the ONE who displayed ultimate weakness at the cross SO THAT by the power of the Holy Spirit he could RISE and offer to us an INDESTRUCTIBLE JOY.  That, my friends, is how REVIVAL begins, with the household of God ignited by Joy to be a light to a dark world!