Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Have you ever witnessed voices of HOPE rebuffed by the people those voices were trying to encourage? Have you seen athletes doubt and disbelieve the encouragement of their coaches or children refuse to believe the words of encouragement their parents tried to offer or have you seen people refuse to embrace a vision of hope politicians or business leaders try to offer discouraged people? Maybe you’ve even found yourself in the middle of a ‘hope rebuffed’ situation! Come with me back to Jerusalem in 715bc and let’s see how this situation affected a great spiritual revival!
As we’ve seen the past few days, 2 Chronicles 29 describes a remarkable time of hope restored and even spiritual revival in Jerusalem and Judah under the new leadership of King Hezekiah, in only the first 30 days of his kingship! Yesterday we watched as King Hezekiah sent couriers out all across the land of Israel, “from Beersheba to Dan”, with a radical invitation. Yes, Hezekiah had a vision for something most everyone thought was impossible, but nothing would deter him from trying!
The vision was to try something that had not been seen in Jerusalem for over 200 years! King Hezekiah envisioned a great Passover celebration uniting ALL descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who lived anywhere in what once was the great kingdom of Israel under the leadership of Kings David and Solomon, so many years ago. Even though the entire northern kingdom of Israel had been decimated 7 years before by the conquering army of Assyria, and many other towns & villages had been ransacked by neighboring terrorist groups like the Philistines or Moabites or Ammonites, still Hezekiah sent the couriers in hopes this invitation would awaken new hope throughout the entire region of what once was the great nation of Israel, God’s people! (2 Chron. 30:6)
2 Chronicles 30:10 gives us this report: “The couriers went from town to town in Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun, but people scorned and ridiculed them!” Oh my that sounds painful doesn’t it? Can you imagine being one of those couriers with great excitement that a new King was inviting something which had not been attempted in two centuries, and of course you expect that your fellow Israelites will be thrilled and enthusiastic, right?! But how heartbreaking to receive a scornful response and even ridicule?!
Please note on the enclosed map WHERE these couriers went with this great invitation from King Hezekiah. Manasseh, of course, was a divided tribe, with some people on either side of the Jordan river. Remember Numbers 32:1-24? As you see the tribes of Asher, Dan and Naphtali reached all the way north to the border of modern day Lebanon. I imagine it was a dreadful thing for Jews from Jerusalem to carry this invitation scroll from King Hezekiah up into northern Israel seeing with their own eyes the devastating results of the ‘scorched earth’ tactics of the invading and conquering Assyrians.
But my friends, I’m happy to tell you the next verse of the record gives us better news: “Nevertheless some from Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem. Also in Judah the hand of God was on the people to give them unity of mind to carry out what the king and his officials had ordered, following the word of the LORD. A very large crowd of people assembled in Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread (Passover)…” (2 Chronicles 30:11-13)
Now let that sink in for a moment. Those Israelites coming from what had been the northern kingdom Israel had likely NEVER seen the city of Jerusalem, nor had any of their ancestors, all the way back for 200 years! Oh they knew the stories of the days of King David and King Solomon, but to actually come over the rise of the hills surrounding Jerusalem and see, with their own eyes, the great Temple of God in the center of that city, well it must have brought them to tears!
For those who lived in and near Jerusalem, they now had the opportunity to open their homes and welcome Israelites from far away, from the northern tribes, distant cousins, you might say. These who came, I presume, were among the few that had held faithfully to their ‘chosen people’ heritage, even though their wicked kings and many of their family and friends had rejected the God of Israel and passionately worshiped idols. What a strange yet glorious reunion it must have been as Jerusalem Jews welcomed estranged Jews who had been prevented by their kings to worship God or even think about going to Jerusalem.
As these people spent days getting to know each other, they also joined together in cleansing their city Jerusalem. The record says: “They removed the altars in Jerusalem and threw them into the Kidron Valley.” (2 Chron. 30:14) These were altars that had been constructed by King Ahaz, the father of King Hezekiah, all throughout Jerusalem and the cities around. (2 Chron. 28:24,25) These altars were altars to wicked, idol gods of the surrounding nations. This was a joint exercise of preparing themselves and their city Jerusalem for a first in 200 year celebration of Almighty, Holy God of Israel! It’s a picture my friends of how God invites us to come together to worship Him, do you see it?
United in Jesus Christ, we gather, regardless of family heritage, skin color, language, ethnicity, economic status or education. We come in our shared trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior! We come cleansing ourselves and if necessary, the place where we gather for worship. We come expecting a significant encounter with God, maybe even a life changing encounter with God!
Is that how you come to worship? Let’s pause right here reflecting on this miracle of gathering which was happening in response to King Hezekiah’s courageous invitation. Look at your family, your city, my friends. Is such a gathering possible?
What would God need to do for such a gathering to be a reality in your city? Tomorrow we’ll join them and see what happened, for today here’s a song to help us celebrate such a hopeful vision for worship of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Today’s Scripture: 2 Chronicles 30:1, 10-14.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
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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