Hezekiah: Repentance
Several weeks ago I was reading the
Book of Isaiah and I came
across a story that I was familiar with.
It was about King
Hezekiah and his being confronted with
the Assyrian army, and
the great victory that God's people were
given at that time.
When I completed reading that portion,
I turned to the texts
that were given as cross references about
King Hezekiah. These
texts were II Kings 18 and II Chronicles
29-32. As I began to
read the Chronicles version, I became
more and more impressed
that within the story of Hezekiah lay
a strong message for these
who claim to be God's people in the last
days.
In continuing to study these chapters,
I came to the conclusion
that they almost automatically fell into
4 categories. First,
repentance, then following, revival, reformation,
and
deliverance. I believe that these 4 steps
are those that are
taken by each Christian individually as
they turn their lives
over to the Lord, but I also see this
as speaking of God's
people in a corporate sense, particularly
as dealing with
end-time events.
I believe that we are living in the end
time, the remnant of
the end time, if you will,
a time that will conclude with God
delivering his people. It is for this
reason that the Hezekiah
story caught my attention, for the story
of Hezekiah is a story
of deliverance of God's people by their
Lord in a mighty way.
To best understand the importance of Hezekiah
we should look at
the time in which he was living. The Assyrians
from Ninevah were
still the masters of most of the world
middle East at that-time.
There were continual wars between them
and the Egyptians for
territory and vassals. Israel and Judah
were separate with
Israel being known as Samaria at this
time. They even warred
between themselves from time to time.
The king who had reigned just before Hezekiah
was king Ahaz. The
Bible record tells us that Ahaz did not
do what was right in the
sight of the Lord. He made images of Baals
and burned ins
incense to them. He even went so far as
to offer his children up
in the fire to these gods. II Chron 28:19
tells us, that the
Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz
the king, because he
encouraged moral decline in Judah and
was continually unfaithful
to the Lord. He took some of the treasures
from the temple and
gave them to the Assyrians to try to get
help, but that didn't 'work.
Seeing the successes of his conquerors
he began to feel that
their gods might be more powerful than
Jehovah, and began to
worship them. But the Bible says ''Burt
they were the ruin of
him and his family."
He didn't just forsake Jehovah. He
went into the temple and
destroyed much of the furnishings of the
temple, and shut the
doors of the temple and built alters of
heathen gods throughout
Jerusalem. Not in Jerusalem only, but
in every city in Judah.
Possibly because of these actions, when
he died he was not
buried with the kings of Israel.
Hexekiah was the son of Ahaz and Abijah,
or Abi, as it is
recorded elsewhere. Abijah was the
daughter of Bechariah, who
was a prophet of God. What role he played
in the life of Ahaz,
we do not know, but evidently some of
the faithfulness of his
grandfather, Zechariah, rubbed off on
Hezekiah. I feel that it
is safe to assume that somewhere in his
upbringing Hezekiah had
been taught to Love his God. Judging by
his actions after his
coronation, it would seem that he understood
that the troubles
that were upon his nation ware the result
of not following the
will of God.
I believe of the chapters we have on Hezekiah's
life, two verses
sum up the whole thing. The first tells
us that he did what was
right in the sight of the Lord. The second
tells us that 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.
The first act of Hezekiah has to open the
doors of the house of
the Lord and repair them. For years the
House of God had been
unused, empty, deserted. Indications are
that perhaps it had
even been used for some kind of a dump
or storeage area.
But there was one little problem It was
against the wishes of
God for anyone but the priests and Levites
to be working in the
temple, and only the priests were to go
into the holy
apartments. So for the work to go on there
had to be religious
leaders to take part in the work. So Hezekiah
called the priests
and Levites to the East square.
2 Chhr 29:5 ff records his
plea.
In response to this the priests and Levites
sanctified
themselves and went in to clean up the
house of God. The priests
went into the inner parts of the sanctuary
and brought out trash
and put lt. in the courtyard. There the
Levites picked it up and
took it out and dumped it by the brook
Kedron. For 8 days they
worked on cleaning out the temple, and
for 8 more days they
cleaned the rest of the buildings.
It is interesting that the word used for
cleansing the temple
means to sanctify or consecrate. So we
have the beginning of a
turning back to the Lord starting with
a consecrating by
removing garbage from the places of worship,
and a repairing of
the damage and neglect that the building
had suffered. The
various instruments used in the sanctuary
services were also
cleaned and sanctified.
After all of this was accomplished the
priests and Levites
reported back to King Hezekiah. The Word
tells us that Hezekiah
rose up early, gathered the rulers of
the city and went up to
the house of the Lord. He had brought
to the temple 7 bulls, 7
rams, 7 lambs, and 7 male goats for sin
offerings for the
kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah.
The bulls, rams, and lambs were sacrificed,
and their blood
sprinkled on the alter. Evidently this
sacrifice was for the
cleansing of the temple. Then the male
goats were brought out to
the congregation, and beginning with the
king, each of the
members of the congregation confessed
his or her sins over the
heads of the goats by laying their hands
on their heads. Then
these goats were killed to make atonement
and their blood was
presented as a sin offering
for all the sins of the people of
Israel.
As the offering was being burned on the
alter, the Levites began
to make music on their instruments according
to the commandment
of the Lord by his prophets
2 Chr 29:27 "Then Hezekiah commanded
them to offer the burnt
offering on the altar. And when the burnt
offering began, the
song of the LORD also began, with the
trumpets and with the
instruments of David king of Israel."
2 Chr 29:28 "So all the assembly
worshiped, the singers sang,
and the trumpeters sounded; all this continued
until the burnt
offering was finished."
2 Chr 29:29 "And when they had finished
offering, the king and
all who were present with him bowed and
worshiped."
2 Chr 29:30 "Moreover King Hezekiah
and the leaders commanded
the Levites to sing praise to the LORD
with the words of David
and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises
with gladness, and
they bowed their heads and worshiped."
2 Chr 29:31 "Then Hezekiah answered
and said, "Now that you
have consecrated yourselves to the LORD,
come near, and bring
sacrifices and thank offerings into the
house of the LORD." So
the assembly brought in sacrifices and
thank offerings, and as
many as were of a willing heart brought
burnt offerings."
2 Chr 29:32 "And the number of the
burnt offerings which the
assembly brought was seventy bulls, one
hundred rams, and two
hundred lambs; all these were for a burnt
offering to the LORD."
2 Chr 29:33 "The consecrated things
were six hundred bulls and
three thousand sheep."
2 Chr 29:34 "But the priests were
too few, so that they could
not skin all the burnt offerings; therefore
their brethren the
Levites helped them until the work was
ended and until the other
priests had sanctified themselves, for
the Levites were more
diligent in sanctifying themselves than
the priests."
2 Chr 29:35 "Also the burnt offerings
were in abundance, with
the fat of the peace offerings and with
the drink offerings for
every burnt offering. So the service of
the house of the LORD
was set in order."
Worshippers sang, sacrifices were
made. It was generally a joyous
time.
This continued until burnt offering finished
Then Hezekiah encourages the people to
bring individual
scarifies to the Lord, as many as were
of a willing heart
One sad spot in that day: the priests
two few, so the Levites
had to help until enough priests made
themselves ready.
But the people were generous with the offerings.
So the service
of the house of the Lord was set in order.
The last verse of the chapter tell us that
at that time,
Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced that
God had prepared the
people, since the events took place so
suddenly.
Well, you may be asking, where is the relevance
to our time?
What lesson can we receive from this story
of Hezekiah's and the
nation of Judah's repentance
As we look at the broad view of the chapter,
we see four main
events.
-- First, King Hezekiah declares that he
wants to make a
covenant with God, or more likely wants
to renew the covenant
that his forefather David had had with
God.
-- Second, there is the opening of the
doors and the cleaning of
the temple. along with the cleansing of
the priests and Levites.
-- Third, was the restoration of worship
in the temple. A return
to the ways that God had directed them
in the past.
-- And fourth, along with this service,
was a cleansing of the
nation, a cleansing' of the leadership,
and a voluntary,
spontaneous outpouring of love for the
Lord from the people who
brought many gifts and offerings that
the temple services might
be set in order.
But I believe over and beyond all of these
events, looms the
statement in that last verse: God prepared
the people since
things took place so suddenly.
I believe that these steps outline the
direction that God would
have anyone take, any church take on the
road to renewed vigor
for the Lord and preparation for his coming.
I believe that a representative place for
God to worship is
necessary. One can not dwell on the awe
and majesty of God and
look at pealing paint, or unkempt surroundings.
But perhaps more
important than the surroundings is our
neglect of the word of
God. How many of our Bibles are more to
carry little slips of
paper than to be the victorious battle
ground for Christian
living? How many volumes that could bring
us closer to the Lord
sit around gathering dust. We have no
one temple as the uniting
fabric of our faith. Instead we have the
word of God. Is it
neglected? I hope not, for it is the word
of God that brings us
face to face with our maker. It is the
Word of God that leads us
and guides us. It is the Word of God that
begins any revival and
reformation, and it is the word of God
that will accomplish in
us what has to be done to meet the Lord.
Yes, we need open the
doors to that Word, and get into it as
never before.
What meaning could the opening of the doors
to and cleansing of
the temple?
First we need to renew our covenant with
God. We need to
declare that we are on His side once again.
God's law is part of
that covenant. It tells us what we will
do if we love Him
because of what He has done for us. As
time goes on and it seems
that things are closing in on the people
of God, his covenant
will become more precious. For God only
offers freedom. There's
nothing that He asks of us that doesn't
give us more freedom.
When giving the 10 commandment law he
included as part of the
commandments that the response to the
commandments was to be
out of gratitude and praise for being
delivered. Let me ask you,
have we been delivered? Have we?
Then how do we feel about
that? Does it make you happy? So
how do you respond to your
maker and deliverer?
When Hezekiah was bringing reformation
to his nation he knew well
what he was doing. He knew of the promises
and curses in Deuteronomy
28. He remembered the blessings that were
promised. He knew the
freedom that being in a covenant relationship
with God brought.
In fact he knew that was the nations only
hope for freedom. That
is the only hope for the Christian in
the last days. Many will cry out
Lord,
Lord, but few will choose to be part of
the covenanted people.
Let us reestablish the covenant with the Lord in our lives today.
Today it is through the Word that we know
of and honor the
covenant.
Next, we find the king leading out in personal
cleansing. In
doing this he was acknowledging his sins
and faults and placing
his life on the alter so to speak. As
he led out in giving all
to the Lord through the symbolism of the
sacrifices, he
encouraged the leaders of the people to
do the same. And the
people, seeing the leaders reconsecrating
their lives to the
Lord, moved in concert bring them, bringing
their burnt
offerings, thank offerings, and sacrifices.
And they did all
this with rejoicing.
It is time for us to cleanse our lives
of those things that
would stand between our us and our God.
It is also time for us
to really come to the realization that
we will always stand as
sinners until we turn our sins over to
our Savior. I never cease
to be amazed at the number of people claiming
to be God's people
who do not believe that they can place
their burdens on the Lamb
of God. When we accept Christ we are saved.
That doesn't mean we
will never commit another sin. That doesn't
mean that we are
instantly in heaven. No. What
it means is that we have chosen
to stand on Christ's side because he is
standing for us if we
allow Him.
That means that we have nothing to fear
except that we leave his
side. There is nothing that can enter
our hearts that can
destroy us eternally if the blood is over
the doorposts. We can
rejoice and sing because we can have the
assurance of salvation.
Can you say amen to that? And if
you say that you have given
all to Christ, and you find that you are
never happy, you'd
better do some soul searching, for the
process of cleaning may
be a painful process but it is one that
brings a joy you never
had before.
Next we find that there is a restoration
of true worship. Not a
worship in the way that man desired, but
a worship in the way
God desired. As they were worshipping
the pagan gods they turned
and faced the sun. As they did this
their back sides were
automatically turned towards the temple,
for you see, the temple
faced East, so that when you entered it
your back was to the
rising sun. But when idolatry was prevalent,
they were turning
to the East and worshipping the rising
sun with their backs to
their God. The true God.
It's interesting that the pagan gods of
that time were connected
with sun worship. Not much has changed.
But to worship the true
God, you have to turn your back on the
worship of the sun and
begin the worship of the Son.
Not only was the worship restored, but
it was restored with out
need of anything. The people supported
the work generously.
They didn't examine and pick fault and
argue details. They gave
freely for the Lord had blessed them and
they wanted to give to
the Lord because of what he had done in
their lives.
But as I said before, perhaps the most
significant part of the
entire story thus far is verse 36,
"Then Hezekiah and all the
people rejoiced that GOD had prepared
the people since the
events took place so suddenly."
We have been told that the last movements
in earth's history
would be rapid ones. WE know that when
"He that will come does
come, He will not tarry." We are
seeing right now God preparing
the people because he knows that the end
will come suddenly. It
is God that is doing the preparing It
is God that is leading people
to Christ. It is God that will cut short
the work in righteousness.
And it is God that we must let work in
our hearts if we are to see
the kingdom.
We cannot cleanse the temple of our own
accord. We cannot of
ourselves reestablish that covenant with
Him. We cannot clean
ourselves to the extent that we can stand
before Him spotless.
It is not we who can restore true and
honest worship. That is
all the work of God. We cannot even be
convicted of our sins
with out the help of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 2:4 tells us that
is is the goodness of God that leads us
to repentance. Our
salvation is from God from beginning to
end.
In closing, I would ask each of you to
repent and turn back to
your Lord. Each of us has someting in
our lives that we are
putting before God. Each of us needs to
give ourselves totally
to our Savior. Because God wants to work
in a great way for us,
and he will finish the work, he will cut
it short in righteousness.
And I want to see that happen. I
believe that it will soon happen.
Things are taking place now that many
said would never take
place. Events are shaping up that will
prepare the way for the
great and terriable day of the Lord, But
we need not fear.
I would like to leave you with one text.
Would like
for you to read it over several times
this week. Micah 7:5-9.
Micah 7:5 "Do not trust in a friend;
Do not put your confidence
in a companion; Guard the doors of your
mouth From her who lies
in your bosom."
Micah 7:6 "For son dishonors father,
Daughter rises against her
mother, Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
A man's
enemies are the men of his own household."
Micah 7:7 "Therefore I will look
to the LORD; I will wait for
the God of my salvation; My God will hear
me."
Micah 7:8 "Do not rejoice over me,
my enemy; When I fall, I
will arise; When I sit in darkness, The
LORD will be a light to
me."
Micah 7:9 "I will bear the indignation
of the LORD, Because I
have sinned against Him, Until He pleads
my case And executes
justice for me. He will bring me forth
to the light; I will see
His righteousness"