What's Going On?
In 1 Chronicles 12:32 a group of men are described in this way: they were “men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to time.”
They understood the times, and this understanding produced clarity of purpose.
What are the times we’re living in? Much could be said about our times. But I want to highlight something I think few of us are thinking about: the possibility that we’re on the edge of renewal and revival in our culture.
Consider the small radar blips that keep hitting the news. NPR ran an article last December titled, “Ohio State University Football Players are Leading a Religious Revival on Campus” where the author describes “thousands” who gathered to hear the star football players “give testimony about their Christian faith.”
Carolyn Morris-Collier, wrote an article called “The ‘Surprising Rebirth’ at Oxford: Perspectives from a Graduate Student.” She begins with this statement: “Five years ago, I would have been embarrassed to say I was a Christian here at the University of Oxford” and then one paragraph later: “The cultural mood might just be shifting. Conversations about faith, once taboo or marginal, now feel relevant.”
Brett McCracken and Patrick Miller call it a “vibe shift.” Over 5 million people watched Christian apologist Wes Huff on Joe Rogan last month. Wall Street Journal published an article titled “Elon Musk’s Walk with Jesus.” Actors Russell Brand and Denzel Washington were recently baptized. Bible sales - after hitting an all-time low in 2020 - believe it or not - are now booming. Some have noticed that droves of young men are converting to Eastern Orthodoxy. Conservative psychologist of internet fame Jordan Peterson released a series of videos discussing the gospels. What’s with all this sudden interest in spiritual matters?
I am not suggesting all of these things are true, biblical, Godhonoring expressions of Christianity. But I think McCracken is right when he suggests that we’re seeing “the shift of a culture that has recognized itself on the precarious brink of moral and aesthetic collapse and is now pulling back.”
What does this mean for us? Church, I believe this means we ought to pray earnestly for true revival. The cultural compost rot we’ve seen in the last decade is the nutrient rich soil where the seeds of revival can spring. We ought to pray that as it becomes clear that the secular world is empty, multitudes turn to Christ, churches are filled, and the gospel spreads to the nations. In 1966, Time Magazine published “Is God Dead?” Just five years later, in 1971, the magazine’s cover read, “The Jesus Revolution.”
Let’s pray for another revolution. A Bible revolution, where the mighty, life-giving Word unveils the true majesty of our God and his Son Jesus Christ, bringing countless multitudes to salvation. Will you pray for a revival with me?
