Looking for Revival
1 Kings 22:1-2, 10-13; 23:25
LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD. Revive them in our day, in
our time, make them known; in wrath remember mercy. - Habakkuk 3:2, NIV
Everyone likes 2 Chronicles 7:14 – “If my people who are called by my name…” – because it
promises what we deeply crave: revival. But revival isn’t just emotional fire. It’s not hype. It’s
not a nostalgia trip back to better days. Revival is when God invades the ruins of his people’s
sin with his mercy, his Word, and his Spirit — and makes us new again.
We’re walking through the lives of three kings — Hezekiah, Jehoshaphat, and today, Josiah —
who each experienced this kind of God-driven revival. These were moments when God turned
the lights back on, not because the people earned it, but because he remembered mercy.
In the generation after Solomon, the country split in half, north and south, and the northern
kingdom of Israel moved into stark idolatry under their rebel King Jeroboam. He built an
alternative Temple for idolatrous worship, set up an alternative priesthood, and listened to false
prophets. Right in the middle of that, God sent a true but unnamed prophet to Israel to announce
that centuries later, he would raise up a king who would put the finishing touches on the
demolition of this idolatry and renew the covenant between God and his people. The prophet said
his name would be Josiah.
That’s the King we are looking at today. He was the last great reformer before Judah collapsed.
His story isn’t just inspiring — it’s prophetic. His name was called out centuries before his birth,
a rare mark of divine intention. God raised him up for this moment: to tear down false worship,
to rediscover the Word, and to renew the covenant — a picture of how God revives his people.
1 Kings 13:1-2 “By the word of the LORD a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam
was standing by the altar to make an offering. 2 By the word of the LORD he cried out against the
altar: “Altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of
David…That same day the man of God gave a sign: “This is the sign the LORD has declared: The
altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out.” NIV
Let’s look at the three movements in Josiah’s story:
1. Discovering the Book
2. Repenting from Sin
3. Renewing the Covenant
2 Chronicles 7:14 is a beautiful promise from God made to Solomon when he dedicated the
newly built Temple in Jerusalem. It wasn’t just beautiful - it was essential. God’s people would
frequently stray from their faith and forsake the Lord. Yet God was also merciful, granting
revival, reformation, and rescue from their enemies to his people time and time again.
In the text before us today, we see the fulfillment of God’s promise as King Josiah comes to the
throne as an eight-year-old boy, near the end of Judah’s national life, leading a country that has
abandoned God, even though God never abandoned it.
I. Discovering the Book - 2 Kings 22:10-13
At age 26, Josiah’s workers are cleaning out the Temple when they find something that should
never have been lost — the Book of the Law. God’s Word had been buried. Forgotten. Tossed
aside. But once it was read aloud, everything changed.
The spark of revival always starts with rediscovering God’s Word. The Bible isn’t magic, but
when God’s people stop ignoring it and start listening to it — deeply, personally, humbly —
revival becomes possible. The Word cuts. It convicts. It calls.
You can’t have a revival without the Book.
If the Word has gathered dust in your life — if it’s been shoved in a drawer behind the hustle and
noise — there’s no revival without opening it again.
II. Repenting from Sin - 2 Kings 22:11-13
Josiah’s response is immediate and raw. He tears his clothes — a public act of grief and
repentance. He realizes that God's wrath is hanging over them, not because God is unjust, but
because the people
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