Holly Beers and Craig Keener: We love the Bible, and at heart we want to understand it well and help others understand it also. That’s how we see our scholarship – as a way to serve the church. We both have our specific areas of interest and specialty, including how Craig works with ancient Greek and Latin texts which help us better understand the New Testament, and Holly studies the way that the Old Testament is incorporated into the New Testament, but we both simply love to study and teach more generally. We are both very involved in our local churches: teaching, preaching, and offering our gifts in a variety of ways.

PneumaReview.com: If they asked, what would tell this leader about your experience with the contemporary ministry of the Holy Spirit?

Beers & Keener: Both of us are Pentecostal and desire to deeply know and be led by the Spirit. We regularly practice the gifts of the Spirit both individually and in (church) community. Craig especially has traveled extensively and observed and participated in the Spirit’s work around the world. Holly teaches at a college where most students come from non-charismatic/Pentecostal backgrounds, and she regularly exposes interested students to the Spirit’s contemporary work and trains them to engage in it.

PneumaReview.com: Where did the idea for the Word & Spirit Commentary on the New Testament series originate?

Word and Spirit Commentary on the New Testament Series from Baker Academic (as of July 2025)

Beers & Keener: We noticed that there have not been very many biblical resources authored by scholars from Pentecostal/charismatic traditions. When researching for projects or preparing for classes, we had difficulty finding those voices. The need for a series like this was even more apparent because of the documented growth of Spirit-filled movements around the world. In conversations with an editor at Baker Academic we suggested this series, and Baker was happy to support us as editors and publish it.

PneumaReview.com: How were the various contributors selected?

Beers & Keener: We wanted to be intentional about including scholars from across the global Pentecostal and charismatic spectrum, so we recruited accordingly. The range of voices includes denominational Pentecostals, Reformed charismatics, charismatic Methodists, and others. They also reflect a range of cultures, including Spirit-filled voices from multiple continents.

PneumaReview.com: In what ways is the importance of the Word emphasized in these commentaries?

Beers & Keener: They are, at their core, biblical commentaries; in that sense the Word is central. They explain the best of what biblical scholars know about the original context of the books as they work through the entirety of each. They also highlight the Spirit’s inspiration of the biblical texts.

PneumaReview.com: How is the work of the Holy Spirit highlighted in these volumes?

Beers & Keener: This series focuses on how the same Spirit who inspired the text speaks and works today. Our authors “preach” their way through the texts, emphasizing how we listen alongside the ancient audiences for the Spirit’s voice in our time and contexts.

PneumaReview.com: What is the most unique aspect of this commentary series?

Beers & Keener: The authors engage the biblical text in both its ancient setting and its message for Spirit-filled Christians today. The commentaries do not separate the exegetical and application sections, as readers in Spirit-filled traditions tend to integrate and move naturally between these categories. In other words, Spirit-filled readers traditionally blend the ancient and modern horizons so as to read themselves within the continuing narrative of salvation history—that is, as part of the ongoing biblical story (not culturally but theologically/spiritually/eschatologically). Particularly distinctive of this approach, then, will be observing how God works in the biblical texts and how Christians can expect God to be working today, even if in new and/or culturally surprising ways. The commentaries are written with distinctives of the tradition(s), including testimony, a conversational style (“preaching”), and sidebars that feature connections to Spirit-filled history and interest, such as healing, exorcism, spiritual gifts, etc.

PneumaReview.com: In your opinion, is the divide in the church regarding the Word and the Spirit declining?

Beers & Keener: Yes, we see a growing interest in and commitment to keeping the Word and Spirit together. We find this to be very encouraging, and are convinced that the Spirit’s own prompting is the main reason.

PneumaReview.com: What factors are contributing to this?

Beers & Keener: Beyond the Spirit’s own initiation, it seems due to our increased global awareness and connectedness. More and more Christians have contact and even relationships with Christians from different traditions in our neighborhoods, our workplaces, and online. We hear about what the Spirit is doing around the world.

PneumaReview.com: Can you tell us about some of the forthcoming volumes and who is writing them?

Beers & Keener: This summer Craig’s co-authored volume with Robert P. Menzies on Acts will be published, and this fall Craig’s volume on 1-2 Peter and Jude will also be released. In the next couple of years you will see commentaries on 1-3 John by Jamal-Dominique Hopkins, 1-2 Timothy and Titus by Amy Anderson and Gordon Fee (revising Fee’s earlier contribution), Matthew by David Instone-Brewer, and Galatians by Roji George.

PneumaReview.com: What do you hope the lasting legacy of this commentary series will be?

Beers & Keener: Although the series naturally welcomes all readers, we especially hope to serve those who identify as Spirit-filled (broadly defined) leaders: pastors, seminarians, theology and ministry students, youth leaders, and Bible study leaders. We pray that the series testifies to the creative work and restorative goodness of the triune God.

PneumaReview.com: When will the series be complete?

Beers & Keener: The goal is 2030; at this point the date appears realistic, as authors are very excited about and committed to the series.

Craig S. Keener (PhD, Duke University) is F. M. and Ada Thompson Professor of Biblical Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. He is author of thirty-seven books, with some 1.4 million copies in circulation. The books have won fifteen national or international awards, including six in Christianity Today; together the books take up 19,000 pages. He has also authored roughly one hundred academic articles; seven booklets; and roughly two hundred popular-level articles. In 2020 Craig was president of the Evangelical Theological Society. He is ordained with the Assemblies of God. His YouTube channel is: www.youtube.com/c/CraigKeenerPhD; his blog site is www.craigkeener.com/.

Learn more about this series and series co-editor, Holly Beers:

Keener also speaks to the matter of applying biblical texts in our lives. Are all of the practices and directives that we find in Scripture eternal, or are some of them limited by culture or context? This is not always easy to determine. For two examples in this regard, he speaks about women’s head coverings and holy kisses.

Keener is one of the top scholars in the area of Bible backgrounds. This is a great opportunity to learn more about this area that is so vital to a proper understanding of Scripture.

Trailer for New Testament Backgrounds

Find many more courses and introductions at: SeminaryNow.com

More from Craig Keener at PneumaReview.com:

“People Met Jesus Deeply Here: Craig Keener on the Asbury Outpouring”

A series of 19 lectures on the Gospel of Matthew

Round-up of excerpts and additional comments on Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts

John MacArthur’s Strange Fire, reviewed by Craig S. Keener

Rightly Understanding God’s Word series – A course on biblical interpretation in 8 chapters

Three years ago, I was cutting across the campus when a zealous African-American freshman named Lena Marlowe stopped me. We had never met, but she asked if she could pray for me. Lena is now a senior, and she was one of the members of the gospel choir singing when the Spirit fell on February 8.

People in our community had prayed for another outpouring since the last one here, fifty years ago. Asbury experienced significant outpourings of the Spirit in 1905, 1908, 1950, and 1970. Anna Gulick, a French professor at the university in 1970, assured me that during that outpouring one could feel the presence of God from blocks away. Robert Coleman, a professor at the seminary in 1970, told me just enough professors at the seminary were on board with shutting down classes that the seminary joined in.

Hughes Auditorium, February 8, 2023

The university normally has chapel at 10 am three days a week for 45 or 50 minutes. Chapel on Wednesday Feb. 8, 2023, started like chapel any other day. Zach Meerkreebs preached a very ordinary message. The gospel choir closed the service with a song. It was not unusual for a few students to stick around to sing an extra song or two, but this day the gospel choir was so caught up in worship that they didn’t stop. And soon others wouldn’t stop either.

Student Zeke Atha continued to worship in his seat, and then went to class. After class, however, he heard singing still continuing in the chapel. As he entered, he recognized that God had begun pouring out the Spirit and he joined others in spreading word. Eventually hundreds were worshiping God. Some students began to openly confess their sins, weeping and dedicating their lives to Christ.

That evening after small group in our house some friends texted my wife Médine. “You’ve been praying for this!” she called, interrupting my commentary writing. “Why aren’t you there?” It was her way of announcing that an outpouring had begun. We donned our shoes and headed over to Hughes Auditorium.

While I didn’t “feel” much that night, something shifted over the next few days—especially as I moved from trying to feel something to seeking to serve. As worship continued, the sense of God’s presence in a special way became palpable. Walking even beside the chapel or across the street at the seminary, I could now feel God’s presence in an extraordinary way. The university was making no effort to publicize what was happening, but word spread. Soon so many people were visiting from outside that I quit trying to get into the auditorium myself. But even as I served as a doorkeeper at one of the exits, I was caught up in the Spirit of worship. As I joined in the singing, “Holy, Holy, Holy,” I pondered how sad it was that some Christians today object if you sing a song too many times. Yet the glorious living creatures before God’s throne do not rest from crying, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come!” What a foretaste of heaven we enjoy in the beauty of God’s presence during worship.

Radical humility

The focus on the Lord himself and his holiness pervaded most of the worship I experienced and witnessed there. It was the sense of his holy presence that led so many—first students and then others—to consecrate their lives more deeply to God.

Although famous preachers and singers visited and worshiped as part of the congregation, they did not lead. The campus leaders maintained the ethos with which it began. Lena and other students continued to lead worship. Zach and others regularly involved at the university periodically preached, including messages about the gospel and holiness (which continued to be needed as new people continued to visit). When they did invite anyone new to help in leading worship, they first succinctly explained the worship “culture” to them: radical humility and racial unity.

No names, no introductions; the focus belonged on King Jesus alone. The outpouring surrounded God’s own manifest presence, and the leaders were careful not to quench his gracious Spirit. Recognizing who God is puts everything else, including ourselves, in perspective: in the presence of a holy God, no flesh can boast. Zach insisted, “Jesus is the only celebrity here” (See further: https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2023/february/asbury-revival-outpouring-protect-work-admin-volunteers.html).

Worship continued seamlessly as worship teams rotated day and night. The worship was low-tech and without human fanfare, promoting neither those on the platform nor Asbury itself. For journalistic and historical purposes, I would share more names of those who displayed sacrificial devotion, but they insist that the honor should go only to Jesus.

I was not one of those secret-identity professors she mentioned, but my seminary colleagues Tom McCall (https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2023/february-web-only/asbury-revival-1970-2023-methodist-christian-holy-spirit.html) and Jessica LaGrone certainly were among those at the front line, as were even more professors from the university. Médine was often up front praying for people one on one, but I stayed more in the intercessor room, engaging the many visitors outside, or (when the chapel began closing at night) praying with students and visitors in the student union.

Eventually I shifted more of my attention to trying to field interviews and calls. As a seminary professor, I was not at the heart of it the way many others were, but those at its heart were tied up on the front line, and I finally realized that I could be of greater service trying to write and speak and counter misinformation. I nevertheless shared a concern that one of the campuses’ ministers expressed to me: pouring out continually to serve during this time, she did not want to miss out on what the Lord had for her as well as for others. Me neither; as the old hymn pleaded, “While on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by!”

Radical unity

While the university is in the Wesleyan tradition, it welcomed all traditions hospitably, occasioning a few complaints from some outside critics (Those don’t like charismatics, for example, have sometimes complained that charismatics attended. But everybody else attended too).

The spirit of unity transcended denomination. One participant who has worshiped in several denominations over her life shared her appreciation for how believers from all denominations were worshiping in one accord. There was nothing there to divide us because it was all about Jesus, the one we adore. Michael McClymond, the St. Louis University revival historian who came to report on the outpouring for Christianity Today, shared that what he experienced in the auditorium was what Acts 1:14 calls homothumadon—a unity of heart with others worshiping in the same place. Believers who had never met before and would never meet again in this life experienced a common heart.

This was often evident outside the auditorium as well, as many of those crowded on the lawn outside the auditorium worshiped and prayed together. Some Korean friends from another evangelical seminary came to visit and we worshiped together on the lawn before moving to one of the overflow destinations. I had more fortuitous, Spirit-led encounters, including with visitors from various nations, than there is space or need to describe.

A Back Story

In 2010, Asbury Seminary interviewed me for a position. Being a night person, I don’t remember what I said at the morning interview and have no idea why they hired me. But afterward I stopped at the university’s Hughes Auditorium, already vaguely familiar with the 1970 Asbury Revival. As I peered in, I was struck by the words “Holiness Unto the Lord” emblazoned above the altar, and I felt the wind of the Spirit sweep through me. I felt there were embers still there, ready to be fanned into flame when God would move in such a way again.

Since then, my wife and I have prayed for revival, all the more so once our son and daughter were students there. But as mentioned earlier, we were far from the only ones. Indeed, Anna Gulick noted that before the 1970 outpouring, various students around the campus had been praying together.

What we call revival is a collective experience of God’s presence that transforms us (cf. Acts 2:4; 4:31; 8:15-17; 10:44; 13:52; and 19:6). In Matthew 7:11, Jesus promises that the Father will give us the good gifts we request, but the parallel passage in Luke 11:13 focuses on the best gift of all: God’s own presence by the Holy Spirit. That insight struck me deeply. One night when I was teaching in Indonesia, I dreamed that the most important insight from the decade of work on my four-volume Acts commentary was how often the outpouring of the Spirit follows prayer.

Scripture offers many prayers for empowerment by or revelation from the Holy Spirit (Ps 143:10; Rom 15:13; Eph 1:17; 3:16), but in Luke’s second volume he develops at greater length this theme of the Spirit coming after prayer (cf. also Luke 3:21-22). After believers spend some days praying together (Acts 1:14), Jesus pours out the Spirit (2:4, 17-18, 33); they pray again with the same effect in 4:31 and 8:15. Although God can pour out the Spirit whenever he wills, often (and in Acts, especially when the outpouring involves those who are already believers) he first moves his people to pray for this. Concerts of prayer also preceded many outpourings in the history of the U.S.

A few years ago, many students at the seminary, especially international students, were meeting together in small groups for prayer. One of the most ardent advocates of revival on campus was Malaysian visiting scholar Hong Leow. He had one time not given much stock to dreams or spiritual experiences, but after a dramatic dream in which he saw God pouring out revival on the campus, Hong insisted that revival was coming and we should be ready.

One big encouragement of this outpouring was that God does hear our prayers. For the first week or two I was walking around disoriented. Something I was used to praying for, I was now seeing, and at a level beyond what I had imagined. I had prayed for an outpouring of the Spirit in our community; I hadn’t expected it to connect so closely and quickly to what he was also doing elsewhere.

But while years of prayer preceded this experience at Asbury, the timing and manner took us all by surprise. Actually, I will confess a secret here (so don’t tell anybody!): in my arrogance, I had sometimes hoped that maybe revival would happen when I preached in chapel or taught my New Testament class at the seminary. But God in his gracious wisdom did it in a way that nobody else could even try to take credit for. The outpouring was God’s action, his initiative. His Spirit fell as students were caught up in worship.

Divine Coordination

Within the first week of the outpouring we heard that the Spirit was now also stirring worship on Christian campuses such as Lee University and Samford University. We also heard that on a nearby secular campus students stirred by the Spirit were sharing their faith boldly and baptizing new believers in public fountains.

Of course, this can happen here or there at any time, but it seemed like it was happening in a special way right now. In fact, it looked coordinated—by the only One who could have coordinated it.

Long before this outpouring began at Asbury’s campus, representatives from a range of campus ministries united to reignite the historic Collegiate Day of Prayer in 2023. Because Asbury University already had a history of campus revivals, the last being in 1970, they settled on Asbury as their host campus for the 2023 event, scheduled for February 23. At that time, campuses and prayer partners around the country would band together through a simulcast to pray that God would stir this new generation of students with his heart. Francis Chan narrated the announcement days before the outpouring began.

Gabe, a freshmen on the university’s planning committee for the event, says that he started praying that God would get the campus ready. God surprised Gabe, along with everybody else, with an answer that began a couple weeks before the human schedule. Most of the students who just kept worshiping on February 8 probably had no thought about the Feb. 23 event. (There are lots of events on campuses, and though I had heard about the planned event from a friend months earlier, I didn’t remember when it would be.)

Nobody humanly planned for more than fifteen days of mostly nonstop prayer before the prayer meeting, and nobody humanly could have recruited most of the participants to engage in such intense prayer. But the inaugural February 23 event now became the closing event of the outpouring’s public phase. Students from other campuses joined those from Asbury, sharing testimonies, reading Scripture, and banding together in worship. Meanwhile, the closing service was simulcast far beyond the walls of Hughes Auditorium (I had planned to watch the simulcast, but got to attend this one in person. A friend snuck me a seat. That’s a secret, though, so don’t tell anybody I was there).

This was not, as originally planned, a prayer for revival to start. It was gratitude for what God had already begun, and a commissioning service for those beyond Asbury to continue the call elsewhere to recognize God’s holy presence. What happened at Asbury was not meant to be simply perpetuated on Asbury’s campus for “revival’s” sake. Nor was it meant to be kept at Asbury as if it was the location that made the difference. The simulcast spread this final service around the country—though the outpouring had already been spreading to other campuses long before this.

God had been getting things ready. Zach Meerkreebs, the humble and low-key preacher from February 8, felt he bombed his sermon that day. But he told me that for a year before he had been feeling that revival was coming.

Nor was Hong the only person at the seminary to feel confidence that God was sending revival. A few years ago, some new students at the seminary insisted that God told them that revival was coming, and they wanted to be here when it happened. One even said God showed him this in a vision. Donna Covington, the seminary’s vice president of formation at the time, told Médine and me about a prophecy that revival would come in Kentucky; she felt that it would begin at the university campus first.

Not unlike Hong, I had dreams in which revival fell. In one, it came during worship, and I just came in the back and joyfully sang in tongues (and somersaulted through the air, which I can do with great agility—in dreams). In another, revival started in Hughes Auditorium, and we were going out into the community to welcome people. As I knocked on one door, an older African-American man asked if he would be welcome. “That,” I answered in the dream, “will be how we know if it’s a true revival.” But happily God fixed that from the beginning, since many of the members of the gospel choir where the outpouring started are Black. Racial unity was one of the outpouring’s central foundations.

Divine coordination also happened on an individual level. To give one example, although Riely Mikrut had led worship at her old church for years, she was not doing it at her new church. On February 5, she journaled, “Lord, I don’t want to be a ‘good’ worship leader; I want to be an anointed one.” Without God’s anointing, she resolved, she didn’t ever need to get on a stage again. On February 10 she was with her former worship colleagues at her old church and insisted, “The Lord would have to force a microphone in my hand right now for me to get up and lead again.”

The next evening she and some friends traveled to Wilmore to experience what was happening at Asbury. Médine and I had just slipped out of the balcony before she arrived. The Lord spoke to her heart that he had made her for leading worship. The next day, as she was kneeling at the altar, one of the worship leaders approached her and declared, “You’re a worship leader, aren’t you?” How could she have known that? Riely wondered. Then the leader shoved a microphone in Riely’s hand. Riely had led hundreds of hours of worship over the previous decade, but she had never felt the fear of the Lord and his presence like she did for the next two hours. God had reconfirmed his calling in her life.

Some piercing observations for a young generation

Madison Pierce, a seminarian from the same generation as the university students, has allowed me to share here some of his experience and insight.

I come from a spiritual background that has left me weary of hype in a culture of spectacle. I’ve grown tired of disingenuous representations of divine work but it is clear God is moving in a surprising and transformative way.

The movements of the spirit in western evangelicalism always exist in the middle of a cultural moment. A generous interpretation of these movements reveals unique traits for each one. For example, fervor for the great commission at the Mt. Hermon Conference, overwhelming joy in Toronto Outpouring, zeal for the lost in Brownsville Revival, acts of healing at the Kansas City awakening, and manifestation of tongues at the Azusa Street revival. In each move of the Spirit, God clearly manifests in a specific way for that generation. I find it interesting that God would mark this [present] outpouring with:

• A tangible sense of peace for a generation with unprecedented anxiety.
• A restorative sense of belonging for a generation amidst an epidemic of loneliness.
• An authentic hope for a generation marked by depression.
• A leadership emphasizing protective humility in relationship with power for a generation deeply hurt by the abuse of religious power.
• A focus on participatory adoration for an age of digital distraction.

It feels as if God is personally meeting young adults in ways meaningful to them. My generation was formed differently than previous generations and so the traits of this revival are different than revivals of old. The new outpouring is not the signs and wonders nor zealous intercession nor spontaneous tongues nor charismatic physicality nor the visceral travail. It is marked by a tangible feeling of holistic peace, a restorative sense of belonging, a non-anxious presence through felt safety, repentance driven by experienced kindness, humble stewardship of power, and holiness through treasuring adoration.

I too witnessed brokenness when I prayed with people, for example, a young man broken by being abused as a child, but now finally able to feel God’s pure love for him. Others struggled with fear or need for direction.

You don’t need to be at Asbury

The university and community labored to receive hospitably the tens of thousands of visitors who came. But the university also wanted everyone to be clear that this wasn’t about Asbury. It was about Jesus. You don’t need to come to Asbury to experience humble adoration of the Lord.

The new movie, Jesus Revolution, brought back old memories of my early Christian experiences at High Mill Christian Center in northern Ohio, a movement that in the 1970s brought some of the fruit of the Jesus movement to our community. The Spirit moved in remarkable ways, with the pastor, Chuck Schumacher, regularly calling out issues by the Spirit and people being converted in virtually every meeting.

Likewise, there was a brother named Ernie at the Assemblies of God Seminary when I was there, who was just so full of the Spirit that it didn’t take much extra for him to spill over. One of us would say something about the Lord; the other would say, “Thank you, Lord!” and within a few moments we would both be worshiping in tongues and prophesying, even there in the seminary corridor (Yes, the Spirit can be expressed that way; note tongues in Acts 2:4; 10:46; 19:6; prophesying in e.g., 2:17-18; 19:6; Num 11:25-29; 1 Sam 10:5, 10; 19:20-25).

When I was teaching at a predominantly African-American seminary attached to Livingstone College, our undergraduate campus ministry joined up with New Generation, an African-American campus ministry. One year, the moment we entered NGM’s conference, the Spirit was so strong I heard God’s voice immediately. When we returned from the NGM conference, we planned to pray together for half an hour each evening at 5 pm. Instead, the praying and prophesying went on for a couple hours each time; it was just too hard to stop. On Sunday, at the end of that prayer-filled week, the campus minister got up to preach in the campus church. She was also my seminary student, and I was feeling worthless as a professor as I listened to what I thought was a horrible sermon. Then she gave the altar call and one-third of the congregation came forward to give their lives to Christ. I may have underestimated the sermon, but too often we all underestimate prayer.

God is available and even eager to touch us by his Spirit everywhere. Again Luke 11:13: “So if you, even though you’re evil, know how to give your children good gifts, how much more will your Father from heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

But is it “revival”?

One cannot readily identify long-term effects when we are still the short term. What we can say for sure is that the Holy Spirit met us. I am grateful to the leaders for their openness to the Holy Spirit. This time around it was accomplished without canceling classes (except when individual teachers chose to do so). That is fine; God is at work in the ordinary too. When you combine the ordinary and the extraordinary, though, you are doing double duty. Many of us were exhausted after the most labor-intensive period of hospitality and ministry, so the opportunity to rest felt timely.

Sometimes people have preconceptions of what revivals should look like. Some say they have to include healings, or conversions, people falling down and shaking, or massive cultural transformation. But different revivals in history have taken different forms, and part of the problem is that we have lumped a range of different expressions of God’s work under the label “revival.” During the First and Second Great Awakenings in the U.S., many people did fall to the ground, shake, and do other things that Christian descendants of those converted in those awakenings criticize when they happen today. But as Jonathan Edwards pointed out, it’s not such “manifestations” that prove or disprove revival. It is changed lives.

“Revivals” come in different shapes and sizes. The First Great Awakening spanned decades in the eighteenth century, was most prominently Calvinist (on this side of the Atlantic) and especially impacted churchgoers. The Second Great Awakening lasted for half a century (about 1790 to 1840); it was more Wesleyan-Arminian, evangelized the unevangelized, and mobilized Christians against slavery. It included revivals such as the Cane Ridge Revival in Kentucky for nearly a week in 1801, a revival that involved Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptists. God has sent revivals among Calvinists (such as the Hebrides and West Timor Revivals) and Wesleyans (such as the Azusa Street Revival). Some events called revivals last for years; some (such as most college revivals, including past Asbury revivals) only for a week or weeks.

The Bible doesn’t use “revival” the way we’ve used it historically, so nobody can, on biblical grounds, claim that something must or must not be defined as a revival. But outpourings of the Spirit are certainly biblical (Acts 2:33; 10:45). As in historic revivals, so in the Bible not everybody showed up for the right reasons (cf. 5:1-2; 8:18-19), but that did not stop God from changing the lives of many others in ways that ultimately shifted their direction and often the course of history. This was often called an “Asbury revival” because that’s the nomenclature used for the earlier outpourings at Asbury, but as I asked in an earlier article (https://julieroys.com/opinion-what-revival-happening-asbury/): “Who cares what we call it?” Let’s not miss out on what God is doing in many people’s lives.

But the key purpose of outpourings of the Spirit in Acts was to empower God’s people for mission (Acts 1:8), and that has characterized all the Asbury outpourings so far. In this one, many, touched by God’s holiness, consecrated their lives to his service (Meanwhile, those who want to make Acts 2 the only template are often the same people who complain about speaking in tongues [2:4] or onlookers thinking disciples are drunk [2:13]. And imagine the uproar if we get so radical as share many of our possessions, 2:44-45!).

Weeping characterized many past revivals, but some worried in the 1990s when cathartic laughter occurred—even though Acts does not describe weeping during outpourings yet once describes being “filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” God does not always do things the same way and does not fit our boxes. Yet early in the outpouring at Asbury many were weeping in repentance for sin, before forgiveness turned their sorrow into joy.

In the final analysis, people met Jesus deeply here. We thank God for the obedience of Lena and the gospel choir, who, overwhelmed by the Spirit, just kept worshiping. By the time they were done, tens of thousands of other people had joined in worshiping the same Lord.

PR

Further Reading

Craig S. Keener, “The outpouring at Asbury University: Responding to a critic” CraigKeener.com (February 19, 2023)

Asbury Outpouring Documentary

Lora Timenia, “Reflections on the 2023 Asbury Revival and its Implications for Pentecostal Christians“

Eschatology—the study of the end times—seems to be a perennial topic of interest among Christian readers (and Christian publishers who seek to supply what the reading public wants). Sadly, many books that get published and rise to popularity seem to fall into one of two categories: authors who believe they have uncovered some great new insight into how biblical prophecy relates to today’s headlines (often relying on the most tenuous of speculation to link things together), and authors who know eschatology sells and jump on the bandwagon to get their slice of the revenue pie.

Biblical scholars Michael L. Brown (Old Testament) and Craig S. Keener (New Testament) break that mold. In Not Afraid of the Antichrist, the authors build their case against the dispensational, pre-Tribulation view of Christ’s second coming through careful exegesis of the relevant biblical texts, making a strong argument that Christ’s promised return will occur in one appearing that will take place after a period of great tribulation.

Brown and Keener make it clear in the book’s preface they understand the dilemma many readers will face when approaching this work: “What if the map of the end times I was taught for years earlier in my life gets challenged? What if I’ve been wrong all this time?” Such fears frequently hinder people from being willing to read views that may contradict what they have always believed (sometimes because they were taught that a certain system was “what the Bible clearly teaches,” and they see no point in reading something that “contradicts the Bible”). The authors write, “Holding the ‘right view’ does not put us in a position spiritually superior to those who differ, nor does it give us a license to put them down.” This irenic tone continues throughout the book, as the authors do not try to score “gotcha points,” but simply invite readers to examine the Scriptures on their own terms, without forcing things into a preconceived schema of how the end times will play out.

The authors observe how the prosperous West has bought into the idea that because God loves His children, He would never allow them to go through extreme tribulation, despite the fact that Jesus promised His disciples things would not be easy for them. Concerning whether believers will be taken out of the world before the terrible events described in the book of Revelation, “the issues should be whether the Bible actually teaches that we will escape it, and if not, how we should live. Such readiness is important for any kind of suffering we may face” (p. 24).

Not Afraid of the Antichrist is divided into three parts after the preface and introduction: (1) a survey of reasons many people doubt or question the popular “Left Behind” model of the end times; (2) an analysis of what the Scriptures actually say about the last things and Christ’s second coming; and (3) what the implications of the previous two sections suggest for how Christians should live their lives in light of these facts.

In Part One, Drs. Brown and Keener point out that the dispensational pre-Trib view unnecessarily complicates Bible prophecy, arguing that the simplest solution is usually more likely true. They demonstrate how various biblical passages that talk about the resurrection, death being the last enemy defeated, the time of Christ’s appearing in relation to the Tribulation, and other end-times events, end up being forced to contradict one another (or require elaborate, roundabout arguments to eliminate contradictions) when forced into the dispensational roadmap.

Both authors were initially taught dispensational pre-Tribulational eschatology when they became Christians. In chapter two, they discuss how they came to leave behind their “Left Behind” ideas. Brown relates how he began to wonder how it came to be that, “after reading the Bible day and night for two years, also memorizing thousands of verses, I could back up everything I believed with Scripture, but when it came to the Second Coming, I had to read other books? Why did I not just get this from the Word?” (p. 45). Keener relates how, when he converted to Christianity from atheism, he started out disposed to accept the teachings of his new church, which held to a pre-Tribulation view of the Rapture. But as a new convert called into ministry and attending Bible college, he felt the need to “catch up” with the other students who had grown up in church, so he started reading forty chapters of the Bible every day. Such sustained reading of large chunks of the biblical text led him to see the verses people used to support the dispensational view in their larger contexts, which did not support the way dispensationalists made use of them. When he then discovered that the pre-Trib view was not what all Christians everywhere had always believed, but was developed as recently as 1830[1], and that nearly all of the biblical scholars he respected held to a post-Trib view (although not all in the same exact way), he decided that he should follow the evidence of Scripture over denominational traditions.

Chapter three gives an overview of church history, discussing which views of the end times developed and dominated in different periods (often in relation to the Church’s social situation in relation to the rest of society). Chapter four discusses some of the major issues with the broader dispensational framework, such as arbitrary starting and ending points for the various dispensations that are not clearly marked in Scripture, the relationship of Israel and the Church as the people of God, and serious interpretive gaps introduced by the dispensational schema.

After discussing the issues that cause believers to question the dispensational framework, the second part of the book then dives into what the Bible itself teaches. In chapter five, Dr. Brown looks at the question of whether the Old Testament teaches a pre-Tribulation Rapture. He points out how time and again in the Hebrew Scriptures, even when God was pouring out His wrath on the wicked (whether pagan kingdoms or disobedient Israelites), the faithful, righteous remnant was preserved, and proposes that this could well be the pattern that will be repeated at the end of the age.

Chapter six addresses the question of whether there are one or two phases to Christ’s second coming, concluding that “there is only one second coming” (the title of the chapter). Exegetical work is done with reference to the Greek words for “coming,” “appearing,” and “revelation,” comparing the various passages where these words are employed, yet at a level of discussion that is accessible to readers who have not studied New Testament Greek. Chapter seven evaluates several arguments put forth by those who support a pre-Tribulation view, such as “We will not go through God’s wrath,” “Jesus can come at any moment,” and “Believers will be kept from the hour of testing,” among others. The authors demonstrate how some of these arguments are simply not sustainable from the text, and how others are not the “slam dunk” their proponents think them to be (by showing how the key passages in question can just as easily support a post-Tribulation view).

Chapter eight then presents several passages that the authors believe clearly argue for a post-Tribulation view of the single second coming of Christ. A helpful chart on pp. 151-152 shows how Jesus’ statements in the gospels align with Paul’s declarations in 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Dr. Keener concludes the chapter with an admonition to readers to be wiling to examine any system, eschatological or otherwise, from an outside viewpoint, so as to avoid the confirmation bias that comes from only looking at one’s theological framework from within.

Chapter ten discusses further how believers should live in light of a post-Tribulation view. Instead of speculating about the identity of the antichrist and looking for signs of his arrival, Christians should focus on living faithfully for Christ and anxiously await His appearing—not to whisk them off to heaven, but to judge the nations and reward His faithful followers. Christians should continue building for the Kingdom that is coming, including showing God’s love through the alleviation of human suffering, and not simply abandon this world to its present state because “Jesus is coming soon and the physical isn’t important.”

Chapter eleven, “A Practical Message,” points out that the passages in the Bible dealing with Jesus’ return are “less about relief from tribulation in this world than about being ready to stand before the Lord” (p. 201). The authors point out that our evangelism efforts must be more than offers of “fire insurance”—they should point out that there is a cost to discipleship, a cross to bear. Chapter twelve closes out the book, pointing out that the life Christ offers is worth any temporary pain or persecution we may face; that trials actually help to strengthen the church; that suffering can draw us closer to God because we can no longer rely on our own resources; and that, at the end of it all, God will restore paradise.

While this book may not convince everyone who holds to a dispensational, pre-Tribulational premillennialist view of eschatology, it should at least help people see that a post-Tribulation view has solid biblical support, and is not the “doom-and-gloom” scenario some pre-Tribulation supporters make it out to be. The biblical scholarship of the authors is top-notch, but presented in such a way as to be accessible to the average Christian reader with an interest in the end times.

Reviewed by Brain Roden

For further discussion by the book’s authors on this topic, check out the following video interviews:

Drs. Brown and Keener interviewed about this book in particular: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntFde3GQCBw

Dr. Brown explaining post-tribulation  end times theory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw-kH0CG-xM

Dr. Keener discussing disproving the pre-tribulation rapture theory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzHZEyjihXk

Publisher’s page: http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/not-afraid-of-the-antichrist/390720

Preview Not Afraid of the Antichrist: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Not_Afraid_of_the_Antichrist/I6FkDwAAQBAJ

Notes

[1] Editor’s note: Proponents of Dispensationalism and pre-Tribulation Rapture dispute this late date as the emergence of this doctrine.

Dr. Craig Keener is a widely recognized New Testament scholar. He is perhaps best known for the biblical commentaries he has written. He has won the respect of believers from many different church traditions. His books are characterized by meticulous research, great detail, and thorough documentation. This current volume is a bit different than most of Keener’s other work. The difference is that this book is short! However, even though it is short it is not lacking in substance.

The book is comprised of: a preface, forward, endorsements, introduction, and five chapters. The chapters, for the most part, are based on lectures Dr. Keener gave in different places in 2002, 2008, and 2009 (page 1). The lectures he gave at Asia Pacific Theological Seminary in 2009 were put in article form and were first published in the Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies (pages 1-2). Chapter 5 of the book was also published in the journal but at an earlier date, in 2008. For All Peoples is a compilation of the articles which were published in the journal over ten years ago (pages 1-2).

The first chapter focuses on Matthew 28:18-20, the text that is commonly referred to as “The Great Commission.” The author points out that the one command is to “make disciples” (page 3). He further writes that this mission includes: “going,” “baptizing,” and “teaching” (page 3). Keener plainly states that discipleship is not just evangelism (page 14). There must be further instruction or training for those who come to faith in Christ (pages 14-15). He further elaborates on what a disciple of Jesus is to value (pages 16-19). One truth that emerges in this chapter is that the gospel message is meant to be shared cross-culturally.

The third chapter is given to the missiology of Luke as found in Acts 1 and 2. The author provides a very homiletical outline of the major themes related to Pentecost. He writes about: “The Promise of Pentecost” (pages 48-55), “The Preparation for Pentecost” (pages 55-57), “The Proofs of Pentecost” (pages 57-62), “The Peoples of Pentecost” (pages 62-64), “The Prophecy of Pentecost” (pages 65-67), “The Preaching of Pentecost” (pages 68-69), “The Purpose of Pentecost” (pages 69-72). One point he states plainly near the beginning and end of this chapter is that we cannot be successful in Christ’s mission without His power (page 48, 72).

The last chapter looks at Acts 16:8-10. Here Keener examines information pertinent to the gospel crossing over from Asia into Europe. Unlike the other chapters, the content of this chapter deals more with historical information from outside the Bible than with the biblical text.

Though For All Peoples is brief it has a lot to offer. It is thoroughly biblical and reminds the church, through multiple biblical texts, of its mission. In the foreword, Dr. Wonsuk Ma said that Keener’s chapter on Pentecost (Chapter 3) is important for the whole church (page vii). Pentecostals in particular may gravitate toward this chapter. This book is a valuable contribution to the literature on missional theology.

Reviewed by John Lathrop

Preview For All Peoples: https://books.google.com/books?id=HHH8DwAAQBAJ

Publisher’s page: https://wipfandstock.com/for-all-peoples.html

From the email promotion:

Whether you are familiar with Dr. Craig Keener or this is your first introduction to his work, we are delighted to announce an upcoming Bible webinar with the professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary.

Well-known for his research on the Jewish and Greco-Roman context of the New Testament, Dr. Keener will join us for a two-day online seminar to teach us more about the Jewish context of key books and passages of the Bible. It will be a wonderful teaching series that you will not want to miss!

Here is the fourth and final session, entitled “The Jewish Context for the Book of Revelation.”

Image: Patrick Fore

From the email promotion:

Whether you are familiar with Dr. Craig Keener or this is your first introduction to his work, we are delighted to announce an upcoming Bible webinar with the professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary.

Well-known for his research on the Jewish and Greco-Roman context of the New Testament, Dr. Keener will join us for a two-day online seminar to teach us more about the Jewish context of key books and passages of the Bible. It will be a wonderful teaching series that you will not want to miss!

Here is the third session, entitled “The Jewish Context For The Gospel Of John.”

Image: Patrick Fore

 
Session 4: The Jewish Context for the Book of Revelation

From the email promotion:

Whether you are familiar with Dr. Craig Keener or this is your first introduction to his work, we are delighted to announce an upcoming Bible webinar with the professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary.

Well-known for his research on the Jewish and Greco-Roman context of the New Testament, Dr. Keener will join us for a two-day online seminar to teach us more about the Jewish context of key books and passages of the Bible. It will be a wonderful teaching series that you will not want to miss!

Here is the second session, entitled “The Jewish Context for the Sermon on the Mount and the Book of Matthew Continued.”

Image: Patrick Fore

 
Session 3: The Jewish Context For The Gospel Of John
 
Session 4: The Jewish Context for the Book of Revelation

From the email promotion:

Whether you are familiar with Dr. Craig Keener or this is your first introduction to his work, we are delighted to announce an upcoming Bible webinar with the professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary.

Well-known for his research on the Jewish and Greco-Roman context of the New Testament, Dr. Keener will join us for a two-day online seminar to teach us more about the Jewish context of key books and passages of the Bible. It will be a wonderful teaching series that you will not want to miss!

Here is the first session, entitled “The Jewish Context for the Sermon on the Mount and the Book of Matthew.”

Image: Patrick Fore

Session 3: The Jewish Context For The Gospel Of John
 
Session 4: The Jewish Context for the Book of Revelation

The Bible has much to say about racial reconciliation. Join New Testament scholar Craig Keener in his basement study for this timely investigation of how the church is called to be ambassadors of ethnic and racial reconciliation.

More from Craig Keener:

Listening for God’s Voice and Heart in Scripture

New Testament scholar Craig S. Keener speaks with PneumaReview.com about his book, Spirit Hermeneutics.
Our God is With Us through It All

Doctors Craig and Médine Keener speak with PneumaReview.com about their book, Impossible Love.
 Rightly Understanding God’s Word

Take a course on biblical interpretation with New Testament scholar, Professor Craig S. Keener.