Day 139 - 2 Chronicles 29-31

ONE-YEAR JOURNEY OF THE BIBLE
Day 139 - 2 Chronicles 29-31 (Hezekiah's Recipe for Church Revival)
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"Hear me, Levites! Now sanctify yourselves, sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry out the rubbish from the holy place.  For our fathers have trespassed and done evil in the eyes of the LORD our God; they have forsaken Him, have turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the LORD, and turned their backs on Him.  They have also shut up the doors of the vestibule, put out the lamps, and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel.  Therefore the wrath of the LORD fell upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He has given them up to trouble, to desolation, and to jeering, as you see with your eyes.  For indeed, because of this our fathers have fallen by the sword; and our sons, our daughters, and our wives are in captivity."  (2 Chronicles 29:5-9)

Hezekiah assumed a kingship that was in shambles.  The people's sons, daughters and wives were in captivity in the land of their enemy; the house of God was in disrepair and filled with rubbish; and the people had not observed the prescribed worship and sacrifices for many years.  Besides all that, the people had been living in disobedience to God and were worshipping the idols of the nations that were their enemies.

These conditions were enough to discourage any leader and to give up any attempt to restore the nation to once again become the people of God that they once were and that they were supposed to be.  But Hezekiah refused to give up on his people and on his God.  As leader of God's people, Hezekiah carried out a what I refer to as his recipe for the spiritual revival of Judah:

He gathered the leaders and exhorted them to lead the cleansing of the temple (2 Chronicles 29:4-11).  

The first duty of any leader is to gather all those whom God has called to shepherd and serve His people so that he can have a united front.  Failure to implement this foundation step of leadership will make the leader ineffective in all other attempts to revive his congregation.

The physical cleansing of the temple represents the spiritual cleansing of the hearts of God's people from sin.  Before God can fill us with Himself, we need to purge ourselves from all the rubbish residing in our hearts and minds.  

He restores true worship of God among the people (2 Chronicles 29:20-36).

After the Levites cleansed the temple of God, Hezekiah led the people in restoring true worship of God.  He ordered the priests to carefully follow the way of worship prescribed and accepted by God through Moses.  Jesus said the He is the only way, truth and life and that no one can approach the Father except through Him.  There can be no real spiritual revival apart from the people worshipping Jesus as God.

He called on all God's people even beyond Judah to follow the Lord (2 Chronicles 30:1-22).

Despite the people outside the tribe of Judah being at enmity with them, Hezekiah still reached out to the rest of Israel inviting them to return to the true worship of God in Jerusalem.  We read that the people of Israel laughed and mocked at the messengers whom Hezekiah sent out to invite the people but some from the tribes of Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.

God's leader today must send out his congregation to proclaim the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the unbelieving world.  As Jesus warned, the vast majority of people will reject the gospel but some will receive it and they will come worship Him as their Lord and Savior.

He set the example of sacrificial offering for the work of the Lord (2 Chronicles 30:24).

We read that Hezekiah gave from his own possessions a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep and the leaders gave as well.  When the main leader of the people set the example of selfless sacrifice, the other leaders will also follow after his example and then all the rest of the congregation will follow suit.  This is what happened with the people that Hezekiah led.  This is also what happened to the people whom David and Solomon led when they led in the sacrificial offering.

Tomorrow, we will learn about how king Hezekiah continued to lead his people during a time of severe trial in his kingship of Judah.  Are you called to lead God's people?  Heed Hezekiah's recipe for spiritual revival and like him, God will make you prosper in all you do:

     "Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, and he did what was good and right and true before the               LORD his God.  And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in the law and in         the commandment, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart. So he prospered."  (2 Chronicles                 31:20-21)