An Explosion of Bible Sales
Did you happen to catch the December headline which read, “Bible sales surge in 2024.” Yes, the Bible is the all-time bestselling book … but 2024 caused an explosion in Bible purchases. In fact, by the end of October, Bible sales surged 22% compared to the same period in 2023.[1] 22%! That is a huge number!
How do we account for these surging sales? A Wall Street Journal report suggested several possibilities: (1) Rising anxiety. Has anyone felt anxious, or known someone who struggles with anxiety, this past year? (2) A Search for Hope. As American culture has grown more secular, more post-Christian, people are unsure where to place their hope. In a post-pandemic world, with soaring inflation, and broken institutions, people wonder if there is any hope. They are looking for it. (3) Finally, the WSJ suggests the rising sales could be attributed to HIGHLY FOCUSED MARKETING and design. It could be, perhaps, that Bible publishers are tapping into the felt needs of a generation … but we also need to be careful. We should not reduce the power of God’s word to sheer marketing.
I want to camp on this last point for a few moments. Yes, I know we live in a marketing age. Yes, we do want to get the Gospel message out. Yes, because of social media marketing the Gospel message can spread quickly. However, we have to be very careful that in our marketing of the Bible and the Gospel we don’t obscure their full message and meaning. For example, the same article I referenced about the surge in Bible sales, also notes a well-known 2021 study from Arizona Christian University, which found that of the 176 Million American adults who call themselves “Christian,” only 6% have a true Biblical Worldview. 6%!!!
Good night! Do you see the disconnect here?! What’s ironic is that study found the MAJORITY of self-identifying Christians reject CORE Biblical teachings … including the existence of the Holy Spirit! How do you have a revival without the work of the Holy Spirit?
So, I think our culture is longing for something more … a revival of sorts … but we have to ask ourselves—is this longing for an EMOTIONAL HIGH? Or a CONFESSIONAL REALITY?
Here is what I mean. We live in an emotional culture. Marketing images, movies, music … they all play to our emotions. Social media is a powder key of emotions, which drives our fears, anxieties and anger. We get offended very easily. Our attention spans are short and we are rushing to the next high. That is the cultural moment. In contrast, a confessional reality is something that is deep and real.
To make a modern comparison, “worldly sorrow” produces a DEEP FAKE repentance. What is a deep fake? “Deepfakes are images, videos, or audio which are edited or generated using artificial intelligence tools, and which may depict real or non-existent people.”[2] They appear real … but they aren’t—they are FAKE! There is a famous Deep Fake of President Obama created by researchers at the University of Washington. The researchers were able to make the video say anything. These episodes can resemble the Orson Wells “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast. Before images were prevalent, people believed everything the heard on the radio. It was called a “RADIO FAKE!” They even took up arms to defend against the “fake” alien invasion!
Friends, beware! Some revivals appear real at first … but they are fake! We don’t want a DEEP FAKE REVIVAL! We want a real revival! Is the Holy Spirit truly working in your heart … or are you just chasing your emotions to make you feel better about yourself? Is it about GOD … or you!
A Breathtaking Awareness of God’s Holiness
This is the background for Psalm 85. This Psalm likely was written just after the people of God returned from exiled captivity. They are experiencing favor from God, but they still need restoration … they still need REVIVAL! In the process of re-building the Temple, they feared the people around them—they got distracted from their task. And the prophet Haggai urged them to get their priorities right and put God first in everything. This the concern in the Psalm.
The first pre-condition to real, true revival is a breathtaking awareness of God’s holiness. God is a HOLY God. He must look away from and punish sin. This sin caused a rupture, a barrier in our relationship with him. This is what Psalm 85:1-3 is pointing us toward:
LORD, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people; you covered all their sin. Selah (Psalm 85:1-2, ESV)
These first seven verses are a prayer for restoration, which begins by recalling the past. The people of God were exiled from the land because of their sin against God. But notice, despite their sin, God offers forgiveness. The word, “covered” refers to the blood sprinkled on the “atonement cover” or “mercy seat” of the Ark of the Covenant—this satisfied the wrath of God and pointed ahead to the cross.
The Selah is important. Selah is a pause, which allows the reality of this past forgiveness to sink in. Have you taken time in your own personal moments with God, to reflect on his mercy, his atonement for your past sins? His grace is amazing. The Psalmist turns us back to God’s holiness in v. 3:
You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger. (Psalm 85:3, ESV)
This verse captures the reason the people of God needed forgiveness. Why? Because God must bring his just wrath against sin. God Is a God of justice. Why? Because he is HOLY! But in his grace and mercy he withdrew his wrath and turned away his anger.
So that is what happened in the past … and it is worthy reflecting upon. In our own lives, we have a tendency to let our hearts grow cold to this reality. I know I do. We start to take for granted God’s grace and mercy in our lives. But we dare not, because we will inevitably get into another situation, which is where the OT people of God found themselves. Listen to their response:
Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us! Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? (Psalm 85:4-5, ESV)
You might read this verse and think, “didn’t God already forgive them? Why are they asking for restoration again? Why do they need renewal again?” It seems clear from this verses they need another restoration.
When we talk about the topic of revival and renewal, Biblically speaking this is a cyclical event. We should be seeking after continuous renewal—it is not a one-time event. It you want to grow in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ … you need daily renewal and revival. As we enter 2025, some of us may be walking through a particularly dry season—we’ve become sleepy in our Christian walk. In fact, some of us may feel like God is angry, or disappointed with us. God is not pleased with sin, but he does give an exhortation here.
In the Hebrew, the phrase, “Restore us again” does not include the word “again.” It literally reads, “TURN US.” It is pointing to a heart change that is reoriented toward the breathtaking holiness of God. When we come face to face with God … our prayer will be—TURN US! And when we turn, we experience the next two verses:
Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your steadfast love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation. (Psalm 85:6-7, ESV)
Turn us … REVIVE US! Literally … make us alive … breath life into us! Wake us up so that we might sing of your breathtaking power, holiness, grace and mercy! Show us your STEASFAST LOVE, the Hebrew concept is HESED. This is when a more powerful being shows mercy to a less powerful being. When a Holy God condescends to his creation and displays his love toward us.
That is breathtaking. Can you see it? Have your experienced it? Or are you asleep?
A Painstaking Conviction of Our Sinfulness
While a breathtaking awareness of God’s holiness is inspiring … this second point is more difficult. And often, this is an impediment to revival. We like the emotion, without the confession that leads to life change. Or we confess begrudging … or partially. We confess some of our sin but not all of it. Why? Fear of rejection. Fear of reputation loss. This is particularly true in our context. We want to look good, like we have it all together.
Friends, I want to suggest to you that our need to look good and play a part is a barrier to God’s work. He wants you to come to him … on your knees … and CONFESS all the sins he already knows you do! What does John famously write in his first letter:
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:8-10, ESV)
A sure sign of a DEEP FAKE REVIVAL is that it lacks confession of sin. Jesus wants no barriers as he does his work. He wants to change our hearts. He wants to speak to us and that is where the psalmist goes next …
Let me hear what God the LORD will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints; but let them not turn back to folly. (Psalm 85:8, ESV)
This verse describes three very important aspects. If the people of God are to be revived, first, they must (1) LISTEN to God’s voice. “Let me hear what YHWH will speak.” God answers when we genuinely cry out to him. He may not immediately change things, but he wants us to turn and pursue him. He wants to speak to our hearts. (2) Second, we catch a glimpse of what God wants to say to us when we listen. “He will speak PEACE to his people.” Peace is the Hebrew word, SHALOM, which refers to “total well-being in every aspect.” When God speaks, SHALOM, to you … he want you to experience total peace. Would that revive you soul? How many of us want peace in our lives? When we listen … that is what God wants to speak … peace in the storm. (3) However, finally, he offers a warning—“do no turn back to FOLLY.” This phrase refers to unbelief tending toward idolatry.
When we don’t feel that God answers our prayers it is so easy to run to idols. It is so easy to fall back into folly. But that folly, those false Gods will never bring true REVIVAL. A painstaking a conviction of our sinfulness requires that we listen when God speaks, and we turn away from idols.
When that happens, what do we need? We need the words the prophet Haggai. He was speaking and writing to the people of God as they returned from exile when they needed renewal and revival. He was confronting them about their return to folly and ignorance of their sin. He was reminding them who God was and whose they were. He writes …
“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty. (Haggai 2:6-8, ESV)
Did you hear what he said? This world is MINE! Everything is MINE! My presence will one day fill this world. But some people are asleep … and they need to be aroused. What does he say? He will SHAKE us! He will SHAKE the heavens and the earth. He will SHAKE the nations! One commentator writes: “The portrayal of the Lord as Shaker underscores his divine omnipotence; nothing evades his might and power.”[3]
Friends, would you allow God to shake you so that you have a painstaking conviction of your sin? When that happens we can run to him, find the help we need, and receive the cleansing power of the Gospel. That will bring revival.
A Liberating Embrace of Gospel Power
The reason many of us pray for revival is we think something is wrong. Something is wrong in our world … it is not working as it should. Something is wrong in our lives … we feel dry and distant from God. What we want is relief … we want freedom! We want peace. That is what the Gospel offers!
This is the great tension of the Bible’s storyline. In the OT, we are introduced to a God who is both JUST and LOVING. He is just in that he must punish sin. He brings judgement. But he is also loving in that he chooses a people for himself. And yet they sin. So … for most of the Bible we are asking the question … how can God be BOTH Just and loving. It’s not until we reach the NT, and the cross of Christ that we receive our answer.
Look how the Psalmist finishes:
Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other. Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven. (Psalm 85:10-11, ESV)
Love … faithfulness … righteousness … peace … these are all embodied in Jesus Christ himself—the bringer of revival. How? He so LOVED the world that he left his place in heaven and took on human flesh in the incarnation. He walked the earth for 33 years as a human being and lived a perfect RIGHTEOUS life for all to see. He fulfilled the law and the prophets. At the end of his life, he could have called down his angel armies to save himself from the Romans, he could have come down from the cross if he wanted to. Instead, he was FAITHFUL to the end. And because of that sacrifice he made PEACE with us and God. He is the Prince of Peace who is reconciling the children of God to their Father.
Church, on the CROSS OF JESUS CHRIST love, faithfulness, righteousness, and peace KISS EACH OTHER. Jesus is righteousness come down from heaven and faithfulness walking on the earth. The question is … are you ready to receive this good news? If you are aware of God’s holiness and convicted about your sinfulness … the soil is prepared for God to bring fruit and blessing.
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[1] https://www.christianpost.com/news/bible-sales-surged-in-2024-but-is-it-a-cause-for-celebration.html
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepfake
[3] Richard A. Taylor and E. Ray Clendenen, Haggai, Malachi, vol. 21A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2004), 158.
