Good Monday to you my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
Two words that are very significant in life for all of us are the words “REACT” and “RESPOND”. I wonder if you’d agree that “REACT” is an immediate response to something with little time to formulate a well planned RESPONSE. “React” is seen in split second decisions made in athletic competition or driving an automobile or too often what people say after hearing something surprising or shocking. Journalists make their living trying to get a ‘reaction’ to questions, especially from politicians.
Today, join me again back in Jerusalem in 715bc as we witness a remarkable REACT & RESPONSE to an event that seems almost unimaginable.
King Hezekiah had invited ALL Israelites from anywhere in the middle east, but especially the divided kingdom of Israel, to Jerusalem for a joint Passover uniting all Jews. This had not been attempted in more than 200 years, since the days of King Solomon. But the people came, thousands of them, hopeful Jews believing the many years of hatred and division could be bridged in repentant worship of their God of Israel, and God did unite their hearts in two weeks of worship at the restored and reopened Temple! (2 Chron. 30:23-27)
When finally this unique and extended Passover experience concluded, those who had come from the war ravaged northern kingdom Israel prepared to return to their decimated towns and villages but they were going back very different people. They had worshipped the one and only Almighty, Holy God of Israel, something which had been forbidden in Israel for generations! They worshiped at the Temple in Jerusalem, a place they’d only heard about from stories that their ancestors had passed down to them, but they’d never seen the Temple or even Jerusalem until now.
During their worship these Israelites had repented of their sin and been forgiven by God and they’d been united by God with their Israelite ‘cousins’ from whom they had separated 200 years before when Israel divided at King Solomon’s death. These were changed Israelites beginning their trek home, for they had encountered God at His Temple!
They were so convicted by the sins of their idolatry which had caused God to allow the Assyrian armies to conquer Israel, that as they left Jerusalem, they reacted when they saw, along the roadsides and in Judean villages and towns, some of the remaining idols which had been constructed during the reign of King Ahaz, father of King Hezekiah! You’ll remember King Ahaz had closed the Temple and tried to abolish worship of the God of Israel! (2 Chron. 28:24,25)These Israelites were so repulsed by these idols and so broken-hearted as they envisioned God’s wrath pouring out on Judah as it had on Israel, that they took bold action!
In some ways it may have begun as an impulsive reaction out of their hatred for idolatry because of what idolatry had done to their families, cities and nation. But it was also a thoughtful response, joining with their fellow Judean Israelites to eradicate idolatry from the southern kingdom of Judah in the aftermath of a remarkable two week Passover festival. Do you notice my friends that it was in the intensity, the purity, the passion of their worship that within their pure hearts arose a repulsion for idolatry and the courage to take action, destroying wicked idolatry in their land?
What about you and me? What happens in our worship that reorients how we see ourselves, our families, our cities, our countries and are we repulsed by the wickedness we see? Are we moved to do something about that repulsive wickedness? Do we take action?
The record describes what happened this way: “When the Passover Festival had ended, the Israelites who had come to Jerusalem went out to the towns of Judah. They smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. They destroyed the high places and altars throughout the tribal lands of Judah and Benjamin and in Ephraim and Manasseh. After they had destroyed all of them, the Israelites returned to their own towns…” (2 Chron. 31:1) Now that my friends is nothing short of remarkable!
Can you see them in your mind’s eye, smashing idols and altars and cutting down Asherah poles? Look at them calling Judean Jews to join them and as they work, can you hear the Jews of the north warning these Jews of the south about the wrath of God which had poured out on THEIR idolatry and left their nation ravaged? Can you hear them begging their new friends, Judean Jews, to understand the grave danger every altar, every idol large or small, every Asherah pole had, for these idols INVITE Satan and his demons into their the towns, their homes, their families, their businesses wherever these idols had been erected!
Now you are probably thinking there are no idols in your town, your neighborhood or especially not in your home. But my “WWJ” friends, do we understand the power of ANYTHING that we treasure more than God? Those treasures are idols and the dark kingdom sees how those treasures have captivated our hearts! The dark kingdom will use those things which have captivated our hearts as their pathway of entry into our lives and that’s how footholds of darkness easily gain access into our lives! Now watch this my friends, and let’s learn an important lesson.
These Israelites were repulsed by the idols and took action to destroy them only AFTER they had worshipped for two weeks in their Passover celebration! Their worship captivated their hearts with the wonder of God and all He had done to deliver their ancestors from Egyptian slavery and lead them to mount Sinai where God met with them and gave them the covenant as His chosen people! Authentic worship will always awaken awareness of those things that have potential to draw us away from God! Did you get that? As we drift away from or minimize authentic worship of Holy God, very easily our hearts and minds are drawn away to things which can become idols in our lives!
We need to pause and give serious reflection to this my friends. If your worship of God does not awaken a repulsion in you for wickedness and anything that is drawing you away from God, then whatever you are doing that you call worship is NOT authentic, Holy Spirit led worship! Authentic, God honoring, Holy worship will result in you and me doing in our lives, our homes what these Israelites did as they demolished the idols they saw in those Judean towns as they walked back home to Israel.
We need to pause and ponder right here, reading that one verse two or three or ten times… 2 Chronicles 31:1! Let it penetrate your heart and ask the Spirit of God to show you what God wants to do in your life with that verse. And here’s a song to help us worship our great and holy God, expecting that He will in fact show us what needs to change in our lives!
Today’s Scripture: 2 Chronicles 31:1.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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