Hezekiah: Reformation
As most of you know we've been studying
the story of King
Hezekiah. This is the third in a 4 part
series, in which we are
attempting to see parallels between the
life of the Christian
and the experiences that Judah went through
during the time of
Hezekiah.
You will recall that, when he came to the
throne
he immediately began a restoration of
the worship of Jehovah.
This was probably done under the influence
of the prophet
Isaiah. You will recall how the first
thing that was done was to
clean the temple of the pagan idols that
had been put there by
his father, and to remove the garbage
that had accumulated there
during its time of disuse. Not only did
the temple have to be
cleaned, but the instruments, bowls, knives,
hooks, censers, and
so forth had to be restored or even made
again to replace those
that had been taken or destroyed by Ahaz.
Not only did Hesekiah
see to the restoration of the physical
building, but he also
restored the services that went on from
day to day in the
worship of the Lord.
But Hezekiah was not content with a mere
outward cleaning of
things. He felt that there was much more
to things than that. He
had a deep conviction that the hearts
of the people needed
renewal, so he led out in a great revival.
The people turned
back to the Lord their God following the
example of their leader
and there was a tremendous swing back
to the Lord. You will
recall that I felt that the key verse
of that
chapter was the last one that stated that
the Lord worked
mightily to prepare the people in a short
time.
Coming to last week, we watched as the
scriptures unfolded the
story of how the temple services were
restored, and how the
people responded with gladness to the
call to return to the Lord
their God. You will remember how
for (how many) days they
celebrated Passover, that feast of redemption.
Not only did they
celebrate Passover for a week, but they
did it with much joy.
More than that, they were so moved by the
Holy Spirit working in
their lives that they decided to go another
week continuing. the
celebration that they had begun. Only
once before had any thing
like this happened in the nation, and
that was when the temple
of Solomon was dedicated to the
Lord. You remember how the high
point of this chapter was the verse
that said "the Lord
prepared the people again to do his will
in worship and in
service." You remember how the revival
began to lead to
reformation as the idols and images were
removed from the Holy
City of Jerusalem and thrown into the
trash pile
It is at that point that our story continues
today, for as we
look at the 31st chapter of 2 Chron. we
find the people heading
to their homes, I'm sure that as
the little donkeys, almost
disappear under their loads, headed down
the roads following
their masters, that there was many a shouted
good-by, or see you
later, or a praise the Lord. I'm sure
that the people had been
so brought back to their God that they
knew where they stood and
who they worshipped. In my mind
I can hear them and again
repeating, "This is God's land,
and we are God's people. We
must do away with all the heathen gods.
If we repent, God will
bring us deliverance, and will restore
our freedom to us.
Yes, the joy of revival that had been begun
in the Passover
began to flame into fires of reformation
as they began traveling
home. As they passed alters and shrines
for pagan gods, they
tore them down, and beat them to pieces
before they would travel
on. This happened throughout the land.
Even in some areas of
Samaria, the groves, high places and alters
of heathen gods were
leveled to the ground and perhaps even
sowed with salt. So
determined was the king to see idolatry
wiped out that it took
an interesting turn.
You will recall that when the children
of Israel were coming out
of the land of Egypt, while they were
wondering in the
wilderness for their forty years, that
they ran into a place
that was infested with snakes. Many were
snake
bitten, and many died. The plague was
so great that Moses, on
the order of God constructed a serpent
made
out of brass. And each time that someone
got sick from the bite
of one of the vipers, they could look
to the brazen serpent and he
would be healed of the poisonous effects
of the bite.
We find the story in 2 Kings 18:4.
Evidently this had been kept
in the temple with other artifacts, perhaps
it rated some kind
of shrine of its own. But in any case,
people began to worship
the serpent, and evidently had for a while.
Hezekiah realized that while this was a
valid artifact, it could
not stand in the way of anyone coming
to God to worship. So
rather than risk the evil that could come
from this object if it
were kept around, he had it melted down.
As you might can see, it was very exciting
time in the land. And
only when the king and his people were
satisfied that idolatry
had been rooted out of the land did they
settle down to their
usual routine of work and play.
But back in Jerusalem, thing did
not quieten down so suddenly.
There were many needs. The temple services
needed to be carried
on. The temple had been re-opened, and
the worship services
restarted, but the priests and Levites
were still a little
uneasy about quitting their jobs and coming
to the temple to
serve. What if things didn't last? What
if this were just a
temporary reformation. What are they going
to feed me? How will
my family be provided for?
And these problems were real. But not to
worry, for the king
seeing the need, made a special call.
Not only did he make a
call, but he showed that he believed in
what he was doing by
participating himself. Hezekiah gave a
tithe of all that he had
to the service of the temple, then called
for all of his people
to do the same, so that the priests and
Levites could be cared for
in the way that the Lord wanted them cared
for.
2 Chr 31:4 "Moreover he commanded
the people who dwelt in
Jerusalem to contribute support for the
priests and the Levites,
that they might devote themselves to the
Law of the LORD."
2 Chr 31:5 "As soon as the commandment
was circulated, the
children of Israel brought in abundance
the firstfruits of grain
and wine, oil and honey, and of all the
produce of the field;
and they brought in abundantly the tithe
of everything."
2 Chr 31:6 "And the children of Israel
and Judah, who dwelt in
the cities of Judah, brought the tithe
of oxen and sheep; also
the tithe of holy things which were consecrated
to the LORD
their God they laid in heaps."
Here we see reformation not only bringing
dedication, but it
also brings generosity.
The original plan was returned to. We find,
incidentally in
Numbers 18:6ff what God's plan was. That
plan of God was
important because it freed religious leaders
to be able to do
the work of the Lord without having to
worry about where every
meal was coming from.
And the people brought abundantly. Heaps
and heaps it tells us.
Just like at the time that the first tabernacle
was made, when
Moses had the people bring gifts to the
Lord of the spoils of
Egypt. But Moses, as you recall, had to
tell the people to stop
bringing things, because there was more
than enough.
This time is not different. For 4 months
offerings pour in.
Wheat, barley grape juice, olive oil,
silver, gold, incense,
spices, jewels, sheep, goats, linen and
on and on. It poured in.
So much came in that there were literally
heaps of treasures
around the temple, so that Hezekiah had
to build store rooms to
hold all of the blessings that the people
had blessed the Lord
with.
Now these things were not just to sit around
in storerooms and
gather dust. No way. They were for
the support of the temple
services and for the Support of the priests
and Levites who were
serving the Lord in the temple. And because
of these gifts, the
service of the Lord prospered.
The chapter is summed up in vs. 21, "And
in every work that he
began in the service of the house of God,
and in the law, and in
the commandments, to seek his God, he
did it with all his heart,
to he prospered."
Again I ask, What does this portion of
the story of King
Hezekiah have to do with us today?
First, I believe that it deals with reformation.
We see
repentance and some revival in Ch. 29.
There is also a little
reform. In ch. 30, we see revival taking
place in a great way,
with the nation seeking to renew her ways
with the Lord. But
revival alone is not enough.
It is conceivable that the people could
have come to the
Passover, and had a jolly time and gone
right back to their
idols and worshipped them. But in order
for the revival to bring
lasting change there needed to be reformation.
If we were
putting it in modern terms we might say
that revival is an
admission of guilt, and reformation is
changing to repenting of
the act that caused the guilt.
Now some might think that strange, but
have you ever confessed a
fault or sin and found out that act confession
brought freedom
from the feelings and stresses that you
had been feeling?
But that is only temporary unless something
is done to bring
about a permanent change. You can take
medicine to stop the pain
in a strained back, but unless you quit
straining that back you
will be continuing to have pain, and doubt
it will get worse and
worse.
So for any change, and lasting good to
come out of revival there
needs to also be reformation. They go
hand in hand for the
Christian. But you will be surprised at
those who want to spend
all their lives in revival, but never
do any reforming. And on
the other hand are those who are always
reforming, but have
never experienced revival. No. They work
together for the
edification of the Christian.
But you know something? There are those
who do not want either
revival or reformation. And there are
some people that do not
want to tear down their idols. And believe
me, we all have them,
somewhere. We all have things that we
worship. Maybe we know
what they are. Perhaps they are something
we haven't yet been
shown by the Spirit. But as we experience
revival we will come
to see those things that we bowed down
to in past times as
detracting us from following our Lord,
and we will tear them
down and leave them in the dust.
But one thing I am sure of. We need revival
and reformation. We
need to be filled with the Spirit of God
so that we may do the
works he would have us to do.
Now let me bring in something that might
make you a little
uncomfortable. I know that it bothers
me. Remember when we
talked about Hezekiah destroying the serpent?
It was something
which had a good use, but became gradually
to be used for the
wrong things. Now did the serpent change?
Did the metal and
wood that comprised that beast somehow
become different? Of
course not. There was no change in the
object physically. Now
let me draw the parallel.
There are many things that are good that
can be used for bad
purposes. We know that. There's nothing
inherently evil in a
piece of wood, but when that is taken
and made into a bow and
arrow, or a club, it becomes something
less desirable. Another
example. Does anyone here drink water?
Is it good for us? It it
dangerous? Can it kill us? Of course.
Here's where it gets sticky. And please
understand what I am
saying. There are fine things that can
bring about our salvation
and that of others, which if worshipped
above God become idols
no less than did the red hot Molechs that
infants were offered
to. We must never forget that our salvation
is from and of
Christ, and what else we have been given
is only to enhance that
relationship that each of us should have.
Let's look closely at
our brazen serpents.
Next, I want to draw a parallel in the
last verse of ch 31. The
word tells us that Hezekiah, in
the service of the Lord, in the
laws, in the commandments and in seeking
the Lord, did all these
things with all of his heart. The parallel
is 'So he prospered.'
There have always been those who
have attempted to get by with
a good show. You know what I mean. The
person who does what needs
to be done to look good. Perhaps we all
have a touch of that in
our hearts. But that was not the way of
Hezekiah. He could have
been like some of his forefathers who
initiated reform, but
never followed through. He could have
been like those who got
started in one part of the land but never
followed through with
it. He could have been the kind that made
a lot of noise about
following the will of the Lord and then
ignore him. But the word
tells us that in the service of the Lord
he did all things with
all of his heart. He could say with David
his father, ''I was
glad when they said unto me, let us go
into the house of the
Lord", and with his friend Isaiah,
(Isaiah 8) 9 With my soul I
have desired You in the night, Yes, by
my
spirit within me I will seek You early;
...."
Now today I am not going to propose that
if you follow the Lord
you will get rich. If that is what you
want to hear in this
church you are going to be disappointed.
If you want to hear
that there will be no more troubles in
your life if you do the
will of the Lord, you are listening to
the wrong preacher. But
if you want to know that if you follow
the will of the Lord that
you will prosper, stay with me. Just one
thing. We must
recognize that there are kinds of prosperity.
There is material
prosperity, physical prosperity, spiritual
prosperity, and even
psychological prosperity.
If I were to offer you only one of these
which would you choose?
Which would you place last? I'm
not saying that Hezekiah didn't
have wealth -- he did. But I want to point
out that he had more
than that. He was given another 15 years
to his life by the Lord
when he prayed to him. That sounds like
prosperity to me. He
seemed to have no doubts that the Lord
was his keeper and
guardian. That brings psychological prosperity.
He knew that
Jehovah was his God and Master And that
brought him spiritual
prosperity. The material 7 prosperity
was merely a result of the
other things.
But while I do believe that God blesses
those who trust him
now, a time is coming when their
possessions must be turned to
the work of the Lord, or they will be
more of a stumbling to them
than a blessing. And as we will
see later on, a misuse of the
possessions that we are given can cause
our down fall.
As we begin to look to the next chapter
for next week, we will find
that there is a dark rain cloud over Hezekaih's
party. He has
enjoyed the blessings of the Lord, but
persecution is on the way
for we read in 2 Chron 34:1 that "Sennacherib,
king of Assyria
came into the land and began to besiege
the armed cities, and
thought to take them for himself."
Sennacherib, the cruelest of
the cruel. The mightiest power of that
time, coning against the
small nation of Judah.
I want you to read that story this week,
and next week we will
have the most interesting story of them
all.
But from the story that we have gone over
today I would ask you
to remember one thing. That if we as Christians
and followers of
the Lord seek after the ways of God with
all of our hearts that
we too will prosper. We may not become
rich, but we will have
peace. We may not become famous, but we
will have a sense of who
and whose we are. And we may not be rulers
down here, but one
day we will be sons and daughters of God,
now in name, but then
in reality, as we live in the new Jerusalem.
I want to be there. I hope that you
do too.