"...how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come." (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10)

December 12, 2025

Dear friends,

I have written before of the move of God in the early 1970s in America, especially among the youth. When people look back on revivals or awakenings or significant movements advancing the gospel, we might ask, and should ask, was this a genuine thing? Was it from God? Or was it social hysteria or a spiritual fad or worse? Or was it a mix of influences, good and bad? How do you tell?

In 1741, Jonathan Edwards assessed the revivals (aka awakenings) in New England from 1730--40 in a work entitled, "Distinguishing Marks of the Work of the Spirit of God." It is worth reading the original, along with some of his other works written during the Great Awakening [link below]. Or you can read Gerald McDermott's Seeing God: Twelve Reliable Signs of True Spirituality (InterVarsity, 1995) for a modern explanation of Edwards' work.

In a societal movement such as a revival, one must discern influences that come from God (good), as well as those motions which are merely human or primarily psychological (not good). When God works in history, it seems the devil will not be far behind with his evil designs. Discernment is needed, especially when it comes to individuals wanting to know whether God is at work in them or not.

This week, my wife and I began reading through 1 Thessalonians. In chapter one, the Apostle Paul recaps how God worked among them when he, along with Silvanus and Timothy, preached the gospel at Thessalonica in Greece. (This visit is recorded in Acts 17.) Paul reiterates how he knew their conversions, and their coming together as a church, was a genuine work of God (1 Thessalonians 1:2-9).

As we read this first chapter, we were reminded of our own conversions in the early 1970s. I was involved with a campus ministry, and my wife (then future wife) and I worked with a youth ministry in our hometown. Five things in this chapter reminded me of our Christian community in the 1970s:

1) The power and conviction of God's Word (1:5; 2:13). His word came with authority and conviction, and the Holy Spirit was effectively working to change hearts and lives. The gospel came with real power.

2) The joy of the Holy Spirit (1:6). Joy was a hallmark of our gatherings -- joyful singing, joyful testimonies, and joyful listening, as our leaders taught and modeled Christian truth to us.

3) A bold, living witness (1:7-8). We began to live for Christ and to tell others about him. We were bold and unashamed of our Savior. (Sometimes, maybe, a bit too confrontational, but that came from youthful zeal for the Lord.)

4) Turning from idols (1:9). Many of us, myself included, felt the call to decisively turn from our former life and to follow Christ wholeheartedly. For all the joy, there was a seriousness about sin and evil, and the vanity of living apart from God. We felt the reality of the living and true God, and the privilege of serving him.

5) The awareness of the certainty of Christ's return (1:10). And I would add, the imminency of the Lord's return. This was palpable. Christ could return at any time; Christ will return. He arose from the dead and will come back for us-- personally, bodily, in visible glory. He is the Lord over history and will return in judgment, and we were keen to study biblical prophecy.

These things were present and experienced by our Christian group at the time. Like many other revivals it was not without an admixture of sin, such as envy, pride, immaturity, and so on. But the dynamic that pulled us to the Lord was real and, I believe, showed the marks of a genuine work of God.

So, here are a couple of application questions from this passage: 1) have you, or do you have, any evidence of these signs in yourself? And 2) shouldn’t we be asking God to rekindle these in our lives today?

LINKS.

-- The Distinguishing Marks (Works of Jonathan Edwards, online volume 4)

-- Christianity is unique in declaring that Jesus is God and man in one person. Read "From heaven he came."

-- John Frame writes about why the virgin birth is important.

-- Ex-Muslim explains why he left Islam to follow Jesus.

That's it for this week!

Sandy

Afterwords is an occasional newsletter on topics of interest to me (Sandy Young) since my retirement from full-time pastoral ministry. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.