Ian Paisley - Revival is an Awakening out of Spiritual Sleep
We are too used to the darkness of sin, to iniquity abounding, to the love of many waxing cold, to the wretchedness of night! For most, emotions are seldom invigorated by holy visions of revival!
Sean Michael Morris·Oct 16, 2013·Updated Sep 3, 2026
What is the eternal destiny of those who are Spiritually Sleeping?
In this generation, whose voice but Ian Paisley's is more clearly heard booming in the memory of multiplied thousands of individuals, when he said:
“The Church of Jesus Christ is LARGELYSLEEPING, like a great bedroom, and you have all the Christians in bed and they’re all sleeping, and they’re saying, ‘PLEASE, don’t wake me up! I want to sleep on!’ And of course, when God starts to operate a revival, people CANNOTSLEEP- you can’t sleep in the Church when the Spirit of God awakes the people. Look at the 1st verse of this 52nd chapter: ‘AWAKE! AWAKE! Put on strength!’ Wake it up! You’re sleepy Christians! Awake thou that sleepest, arise from the dead! Christ will give you life!”
– Ian Paisley (The Revival Hymn)
Paisley is indeed decrying the spiritual lethargy which has paralyzed the Church...and yet, the Church still sleeps! Why?! After listening to "The Revival Hymn", most are gripped with awe. Such unctionized words are able to make the stiffest sleeper flicker with holy alertness and sobriety, and yet it seems, momentarily, the Church rolls over and passes out. God help us! Bear with me, my readers, as I attempt to give an answer.
"The Revival Hymn" opens up with Ian Paisley's denouncement of spiritual sleep, and all that is heard afterward (from Ravenhill, Campbell, Tozer, etc.) is generally lumped together in the same burden - we need to wake up - but I fear that men are not able to wake up because it is still unclear to them exactly what Spiritual Sleep is. The message of "The Revival Hymn" is clear, but it is so general, so vague, that men are left with the feeling that WIDESPREAD and SWEEPING revival which apprehends the unconverted public is the goal. Revival is an operation of God which happens within the regenerate Church, who, according to Ian Paisley, is largely sleeping - therefore they must be awakened again. Revival is "to be made alive again", and in the metaphor of choice for Paisley it would be rendered, "to be awakened again". If Ian Paisley is right, then we (the regenerate Church) do stand in need of a personal awakening because we have fallen asleep, and at one time, because of our Great Salvation, we WERE awake, watchful, and alive. What about you, my reader, are you sleeping? Do you need personal revival?
Do you remember when you first tasted salvation?
How that, afterward, the world was as deplorable as stinking dung (Php. 3:8)!?
Do you remember when you were an alien to God's Kingdom, a stranger, and then you met God?
How that, at this time, Christ was your darling "first love"
Do you remember how you stayed awake at night, wondering in awe, determining to expend yourself as a seeker after your Lord? Do you remember when you felt as though God was EVERYWHERE, how your heart was scarcely absent from holy love and holy fear? Do you remember when you felt as a beggar, suddenly made rich, and your heart panted with insatiable satisfaction in Christ? Do you remember when you met The King, The Messiah, when your heart energetically shouted His praise? Do you remember when your heart was His harp, when your mind was full of Divinely authored melodies - when they played, they played all throughout your duties, and all throughout your days Do you remember how your heart burned, how you were sore amazed, how you longed for men to know Christ's Lordship for the glory of its EXPERIENCE!? Do you remember when you were not so callused, so used to tragedy, when you were indignant to interrupt Satan's mad tyranny over sinners? Do you remember when you were vigilant, exploding with zealous vows and ejaculatory prayers, if haply, God giving you AMAZING grace, the shadow of your vain lifetime would be worth something for eternity? Do you remember when you were awake, and alarmed, because eternity's brightness will SHORTLY bring this whole world of darkened sinners to an unhappy and tormenting halt!? Do you remember when you felt unworthy to "die daily" enthralled to labor and "rich toward God" when the The Great Commission was a hallway of gold with doors of silver!? Do you remember when personal crucifixion was a "reasonable service" to you Do you remember when religion was a whirlwind of glory in your heart, how that, you knew not how, but that you were taken in the power of its "WIND" Do you remember how, at one time, you were at loss for words of how enjoyable God is, and how you excitedly quoted the scripture - "joy UNSPEAKABLE and full of glory" "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent"
My reader, what saith the scripture? What is the eternal destiny of those who are Spiritually Sleeping?
When searching the scriptures
spiritual sleep addresses a regenerate individual's personal salvation with God (presently and progressively, and finally)
it does not address the unconverted public, nor does it point to a citywide move of God so that the heathen are converted; notwithstanding, if the Church is awakened, widespread conversion amongst the heathen is a potential result.
Ian Paisley spoke correctly - it was "The Church" which was SLEEPING, and the wake-up call was to them, but since "The Revival Hymn" did not successfully answer such questions like - What is spiritual sleep? How do we tell if we, personally, are spiritually sleeping? And what happens if we don't wake up? - the recording ends with the hearers at a loss for direction. Still drowsy from the long sleep, they become like virgins without oil for their lamplight, and without oil, how will they stay awake in the dark night of this world? "They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them" "The Revival Hymn" was like a flash of lightning that aroused multitudes into sudden consciousness, but we need the lights turned on, to stay on, till our eyes adjust to the light. We are too used to the darkness of sin, to iniquity abounding, to the love of many waxing cold, to the wretchedness of night! For most, emotions are seldom invigorated by holy visions of revival! Most are, rather, lost in the entertainment of their finite dreams...sleeping to all that is God, alert and affectionate to all that is vanity! Oh God have mercy!
None of these questions are clearly answered in "The Revival Hymn", so the hearer is left in a condition - not unmoved, but still in bed. The hearer is convicted of sin, but uncertain of the actual sin which needs to be repented of, and consequentially, uncertain of the fruits of righteousness which verify God's Divine acceptance of their repentance. If a man does not know what revival is, he does not know what sinful behavior (in heart or actual deed, in omission or commission) needs to be changed, therefore the hearer leaves with a false sense of security even though personal repentance and personal revival are yet out of hand. God would not give personal peace to the man who lacks personal revival, who is at present, spiritually asleep. God's trumpet-loud CRY to such a man is, "Awake thou that sleepest, and ARISE from THE DEAD, and Christ shall give thee LIGHT" Jesus Christ is both Life and Light, and spiritual damnation is both death and darkness - therefore this charge in also quoted by Ian Paisley, is addressing a matter of eternal consequence in the life of a regenerate believer! Leonard Ravenhill recognized the woeful "false security" which hinders biblical revival. He said, "I believe that one main barrier to revival is false security." My reader, if your lamp has gone out because you have no oil, "go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves" while you still have time This is, by interpretation, forsaking foolishness and simplicity; it is learning wisdom and circumspection - to the end that you "make your calling and electionSURE" My reader, I beg you, be SURE that you are awake, ready, watching, and received when "The Bridegroom cometh"
My reader, let's face it! How many listen to "The Revival Hymn", and then walk away with a "false security"? It is because they don't really know what revival is - personally and corporately, and also on what grounds one would be condemned without it or justified with it "Many of us have no heartsickness for the former glory of the Church because we have never known what true revival is. We stagnate in the status quo and sleep easy at night while our generation moves swiftly to the eternal night of hell. Shame, shame on us!" - Leonard Ravenhill
"God hath given them the spirit of slumber"
— Romans 11:8
"For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes..."
— Isaiah 29:10
My reader, did you know that God can, by Divine decree, put you to sleep? It is one thing for God to, as He said, "pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh", but it is another thing for God to, as states, "pour out upon you the spirit ofdeep sleep"! These two are, most certainly, not the same spirit, for one is LIGHT and the other is DARKNESS; one is LIFE and the other is DEATH. Therefore how valuable is the promise, "and Christ shall give thee LIGHT"... but we must meet the condition - "AWAKE thou that SLEEPEST" My reader, has Christ given you light?
When God puts a man to sleep, He sends them an evil spirit, "the spirit of slumber", and henceforth they have "eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear" How terrifying! My reader, what if God, from Sovereign heights, included you in the number when He said - "Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway" My reader, this is a spiritual "FALL" a spiritual "cut off" a spiritual blinding a spiritual "casting away" if, when a man falls asleep he does not wake up from it! And we are in "The Last Days" - in which it was prophesied, "THEY ALL slumbered and slept" Do you want to be awake? Do you want to be wise? Do you want to be prepared with an oil-laden lamp for the "midnight" hour of your trial My reader, count the cost.
"I am persuaded that these hidden powers and possibilities will be revealed only to humble, prostrate Christians, hungry for God and willing to shout from the housetops what God is saying in these days of religious chaos."— Leonard Ravenhill
For more on the topic of Spiritual Darkness, alongside other spiritual metaphors which symbolize the need for personal revival, please continue reading in The Condescension of God.
Divine benevolence is pleased to make happy sinners sadder with time (Jer. 2:19,2 Cor. 7:8-10). Solomon as a backslider is no exception. Hence, the outburst: “Vanity of vanities…all is vanity.” (Eccl. 1:2)!
He asked his wife to give him a glass of water for he would obtain none where he was going. He drank it; then, looking his wife in the face, exclaimed,"O Martha, Martha, you have sealed my everlasting damnation!"
"I want nothing but hell! Come, O devil, and take me!' At another time he said, 'Oh, what a terrible thing it is! Once I might, and would not: now I would and must not."
Perhaps you don't bow before a relic or kneel before an emblem of a Cross like Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. Or perhaps you don't find religious serenity in a stately building of aesthetic appeal.
Job is popular today, and referenced often by peace preachers, because it seems that people have never been more depressed than in modern times. Of course, they misinterpret Job!
In writing, he endeavored to establish before all certain biblical rules on how to discern if a work of revival in any location is of the Devil or from the Holy Spirit of God (Jn. 16:8-11).
