In September the church turns its attention to revival. In years past a week-long conference marked the season. This year a three-Sunday series takes its place under the title “When God Puts Things Back in Order.” The opening message, drawn from Genesis 35:1-7, is titled “Back to Bethel: The Altar and the Oak Tree.” Bethel means “house of God.” Jacob first named the place after God met him there while he fled from Esau. Years later, after an ugly chapter of family violence and fear, God called him back.
Revival, Pastor Léveillé explained, is not defined by long services or sweeping national movement, though both have occurred. At its root revival is God putting things back the way they are supposed to be. Things that have been pushed to the margins of a life (prayer, the Word, worship) are restored to the centre. What does not belong is removed. God regains His rightful place. The preacher admitted seasons in his own life when the Saviour had drifted toward the edges. Honesty requires every believer to admit the same need.
Genesis 34 ends in chaos. Dinah has been violated. Two of Jacob’s sons slaughter a town in revenge. Jacob fears his household will be destroyed. Chapter 35 opens with a divine summons rather than human initiative.
Return to the God Who Is Calling You (vs. 1)
“And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.” (Genesis 35:1)
The first movement of revival begins with God. Jacob does not decide on his own that he must return. God calls him to the place of earlier grace and earlier vows. In Genesis 28 Jacob had seen the ladder, received the covenant promise, and named Luz “Bethel.” Past mercy creates present responsibility. Yesterday’s faithfulness is not a substitute for today’s return.
It is possible to remain spiritually active (church attendance, private devotion, even an altar already built at Shechem in Genesis 33:20) and still avoid what God has made clear. Revival seldom begins with new information. It begins when a believer finally lives by what he already knows.
The call is not to a decade, a conference, a feeling, or even a beloved church building. Faithway Baptist Church is loved, yet Jesus must be loved more. Places and memories cannot replace the living God who met Jacob then and meets His people now. Duncan Campbell’s account of the Hebrides Revival illustrates the shift: men who had prayed for God to move across the Isle of Lewis began instead to ask, “Am I right with God?” The question changed from “Lord, revive the church” to “Lord, begin with me.”
Remove Whatever Has Taken God’s Place (vs. 2-4)
Before the journey to Bethel, Jacob stops at Shechem. God did not command the stop; Jacob knew what could not travel with him.
“Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.” (Genesis 35:2-4)
Idols tolerated since the departure from Laban’s house (Rachel’s teraphim) could not be carried into the house of God. The issue is not carved images alone. The issue is competition. Good things become harmful when they displace the best One. Spiritual disorder rarely begins with a conscious decision to replace God. Something is permitted until it feels normal.
Evan Roberts, used in the 1904 Welsh Revival, pressed four personal demands: confess every known sin, put away whatever is doubtful before God, obey what God has clearly commanded, and identify openly with Christ. Revival cannot be prayed for while the very things that hinder it are protected. Some matters cannot be managed or baptized. They must be buried. The oak at Shechem stands for that burial.
Restore the Worship that Belongs to God (vs. 6-7)
After the idols are hidden, the family travels under divine protection.
“And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him. And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.” (Genesis 35:5-7)
Jacob obeyed before he knew how God would handle the consequences. He was responsible for obedience; God was responsible for the outcome. Revival is more than the removal of sin. The oak tree shows what must go. The altar shows what must be rebuilt. God does not merely want rivals gone. He wants His rightful place restored.
A Canadian illustration from 1971 makes the same point. The Suterra twins preached at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Saskatoon. What began as a short conference became a movement that affected the city. Key people (deacons, teachers, board members) confessed sin, made restitution, and repaired broken relationships. Two brothers who had not spoken for two years were reconciled and sang together the next night. Revival put displaced things back where they belonged.
Prayer neglected must be rebuilt. Scripture crowded out must be returned to its place. Worship that has become secondary must be restored. Homes that have ceased to be deliberately centred on God must change in concrete ways. Conviction without reconstruction leaves the work unfinished.
Conclusion
Two questions remain. Is there anything that cannot be carried to Bethel and must be buried under the oak? Once the wrong things are laid down, will the altar be rebuilt so that God again occupies the centre?
Imagine homes in which parents and children give Christ first place. Imagine marriages in which husband and wife each put the Lord where He belongs. Imagine young people whose identity is shaped more by Christ than by a screen or the approval of a group. Imagine a congregation that stops asking God to revive “those people over there” and instead prays, “If no one else in this room is revived, begin with me.”
When God receives His rightful place, everything else begins to find its rightful place as well. Revival starts there.
