Revival History: From Israel to America-Jacob’s Revival
Revival History: From Israel to America-Jacob's Revival by Paul Camuti 07/12/2026
All Scriptures are NASB unless otherwise noted.
O God of hosts, restore us, and cause Thy face to shine upon us, and we will be saved. Psalm 80:7
There are many who believe that there are eight great spiritual revivals that occurred in the Old Testament. The eight great spiritual revivals are believed to have occurred under Moses, Samuel, Elijah, Asa, Hezekiah, Josiah, Ezra, and Nehemiah.
However there were other revivals as well, and in actuallity no less significant. It is believed by some that the first revival of the Old Testament was when Jacob returned to Bethel with his family after Jacob reconciled with his brother Esau.
Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and live there; and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments; and let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and has been with me wherever I have gone.” So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which they had, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was near Shechem. As they journeyed, there was great terror (a terror of God) which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. And he built an altar there, and called the place El Bethel (the God of Bethel) because God had revealed Himself to him, when he fled to from his brother. Genesis 35:1-7
At what appears to be the beginning of this revival, God comes to Jacob. He instructs Jacob to go to Bethel and make an altar. Why did God come to Jacob in the first place?
(Jacob's prayer to God, fearing Esau), And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who didst say to me, 'Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will prosper you.' I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which Thou has shown to Thy servant; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me, the mothers with the children. For Thou didst say, 'I will surely prosper you, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.'” Genesis 32:9-12
God came to Jacob, because Jacob opened his heart to God, admitted his fear, and humbled himself before God acknowledging his own sin of not deserving the grace by which God showed Jacob in His lovingkindness and faithfulness. It is this first step, of our own heart examination, and acknowledging God's lovingkindness and faithfulness towards us, that God will then show up.
Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart. Psalm 26:2 KJV
Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? 2 Corinthians 13:5 KJV
When we chose to make the posture of our hearts to be such that we desire to cooperate with Him in
proper self examination, God/Jesus/Holy Spirit, will reveal Himself to us, give needed conviction, that will change us to be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is (1 John 3:2b).
Because Jacob examined his heart and called out to God, The Lord was then able to show Jacob what was then needed to be done. God said, “Arise go up to Bethel, and live there; and make an altar there to God...”
The Hebrew word for Bethel means, “House of God.” House of God is synonymous with God's Presence. God tells Jacob and his people to go live there; and make an altar there to God...
This is really the purpose for revival. It is initially to get God's people, after examining themselves with God, to get into and live, dwell in His Presence. We are to make an altar, as it were, to surrender our will to Him completely.
I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable (or well pleasing) to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world (age), but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:1-2
After God tells Jacob to go to Bethel, live there and make an altar, Jacob tells all who are with him to, “Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments;”
Although we do not worship foreign gods in the same manner that the people of Biblical times did, anything that takes priority in our hearts over what God's priorities are for our lives is in effect a foreign god or idol. Again, this goes back to allowing God to examine our hearts, and us examining our own hearts, because many times we do not realize that we prioritize things in the place of what God's priorities are in our lives.
The words put away means, to cause to turn aside, cause to depart, remove, depose. The word purify means, to present oneself for purification. We are presenting ourselves for purification whenever we, “present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable (or well pleasing) to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” When we surrender ourselves to God our souls are being purified to line up with our already purified spirit. Our spirit is already purified because of the blood of Jesus. Purify also means, to be cleansed, washed.
But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:7-9
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:7
You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. John 15:3
We see through the Scripture how Jesus' blood and how His word cleanses us.
As we have already read, Jacob also tells his people to change your garments; The changing of garments is a spiritual metaphor of our taking off the old dead, crucified nature of the soul, and putting on the new clothes of the new nature of our born again spirit, onto our soul.
Strip yourselves of your former nature-put off and discard your old unrenewed self-which
characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion; And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind-having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude; And put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God's image, in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:22-24 AMP
Don't lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like Him. Colossians 9-10 NLT
We can see that revival is more than a time of getting excited in the Presence of God, getting refreshed and recharged. Althose these elements happen in revival, there are other elements that happen, that need to happen. We will see these other elements repeat themselves in the other revivals we will be taking a look at. We also need to see that true revival brings about repentance that produces reformation as well as transformation. As reformation is produced in our lives, reformation will be produced in our immediate sphere of influence and beyond which leads to transformation.
The elements that we see in Jacob's revival are as follows:
1. Before God approached Jacob to instruct him what to do, God's movement began with Jacob opening his heart to God, acknowledging that although Jacob did not deserve God's lovingkindness and faithfulness, God indeed did show Jacob lovingkindness and faithfulness. It was a prayer of self examination, confession and repentance, although he had been walking with God.
2. God moved and spoke to Jacob and gave him revelation as to what Jacob and his people needed to do. They were told to leave where they were, go to Bethel (House of God), and build and altar to God. In essence, to get into the Presence of God, build an altar to offer sacrifices. The heart posture to have revival is to get into God's Presence and offer ourselves as living sacrifices.
3. We present ourselves as living sacrifices as we get into His Presence, examining our hearts, and opening our hearts to Him to reveal to us if we are unaware of anything we may be putting as a priority in our lives over Him and His priorities for our lives. Hence, dealing with our own foreign gods and idols. This is all a form of repentance.
4. The changing or our garments, the putting off the old garments, whether it be the putting off sin, or putting off our own preferences, our own agendas, letting go of the old, and putting on the new garments because of allowing God's Word and His Holy Spirit to transform us, is the reformation that takes place.
And My people who are called by My name, humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14