Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends;
While summer is vacation time for many people, this summer has also been a time of intense preparation for many people. Those involved in the Olympics have been preparing for years and finally they are in Paris fully engaged in their competition. For those in American Politics this summer has been diligent preparation for the fall elections. Educators are now preparing for the reopening of school in a few short weeks, in some cases only a few days. Many businesses have launched this summer, others have revitalized. American football season will soon begin and teams are now in those dog days of summer practice in the intense heat. So I wonder what your summer has been like my friends as you prepare for the fall?
Here’s a more important question: has it been a significant spiritual summer for you?
I left you yesterday in Jerusalem, on the Temple mount, listening to an intense and challenging message from the new King of Judah, Hezekiah. He was calling the spiritual men of Jerusalem to take seriously their responsibility and be ‘chain breakers’ as both he as King and they as spiritual leaders acknowledge the failure of their parents’ generation and break from it, cleansing out the wickedness and committing themselves to be a God honoring people!
Hezekiah had challenged them: “…do not be negligent now, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before Him and serve Him…” (2 Chron. 29:11) May I ask you my friends, when and where was the last time you were challenged to NOT be NEGLIGENT and to take seriously the opportunity and responsibilities before you?
That call is necessary because all around us, in every place in the world, we find too many people very negligent in every serious aspect of their life. Negligence in family responsibilities; negligence in the workplace; negligence in politics and education and health care.
And NEGLIGENCE always results in several ‘C’ words: chaos, crisis, catastrophe and all types of social cancers destroying lives, families, churches and entire cities, do you agree?! What will it take in your life, your family, your city for people to take seriously the roles & responsibilities they have to build a better future than the past and more, to deal with the negligence of the past?
The record tells us that when King Hezekiah finished his challenge and dismissed the spiritual leaders standing before him: “then the Levites set to work…” (2 Chron. 29:12) I find it interesting that the next few verses actually record the names of the families who put their hand to the task of cleaning out the Temple from the shameful, wicked defilement of their predecessors!
The record paints a remarkable picture for us which should not be difficult to imagine: “They assembled their fellow Levites and consecrated themselves and then they went in to purify the Temple of the LORD, as the King had ordered them… They brought out to the courtyard of the Temple everything unclean that they found in the Temple of the LORD. They took it out to the Kidron Valley.” (2 Chron. 29:15,16)
Do you see a very orderly process of cleansing here my friends? This was not a game, not a simple sweeping of a Temple which had been locked up for several years. First they prayerfully consecrated themselves to God and to this task, then they systematically and carefully scoured every square inch of that Temple, inside and out, top to bottom. They were determined to leave nothing to chance, nothing unchecked, nothing overlooked.
Absolutely EVERYTHING that was unholy and did not belong in that Temple by God’s description, must be removed and the Temple cleansed. The word that comes to my mind is SANITIZED!
The Levites and Priests didn’t just throw the junk they found in a trash bag, oh no, they brought it out of the Temple, then out of the Temple courts, even out of Jerusalem, and they threw it into the Kidron Valley where I presumed they burned it or crushed it to powder.
That’s very significant for you may recall, my friends, the Kidron Valley is the little valley between the Eastern side of Jerusalem and the range of hills called the Mount of Olives! That tells me that when Jesus Christ was sitting with His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, He could easily look into the Kidron Valley before them and remember this cleansing process.
When Jesus was turning over the money changing tables in the Temple He was very likely remembering this event, 740 years before, when the Levites were cleansing the Temple, in Hezekiah’s day! (Matt. 21:12,13)
I imagine word spread like wildfire throughout Jerusalem and maybe to the surrounding towns and villages. The new king Hezekiah was taking ‘chain breaking’ very seriously and major changes were happening in Jerusalem. I imagine people came from miles around to watch this Temple cleansing and as the Levites carried cartloads of idols and other wicked things down from the Temple mount through the streets of Jerusalem, out the city gate to the Kidron Valley, I wonder if a parade formed with cheering people all around these consecrated workers?
This was a great time in Jerusalem! The stronghold of wickedness was being broken and a great cleansing was happening in the very soul of Jerusalem, the great Temple.
Now friends, this wasn’t a small project accomplished in only a few hours. Oh no! The record says: “They began the consecration work on the first day of the first month, and by the 8th day of the month they reached the portico of the LORD! For eight more days they consecrated the Temple of the LORD, finishing on the 16th day of the first month. Then they went to King Hezekiah and reported, ‘We have purified the entire Temple of the LORD…”. (2 Chronicles 29:17-19)
I wonder if you’ve ever moved out of your house, a process in which everything needed to be packed, sold, given away or thrown away… everything! If so, or if you’ve helped someone else do it, you have an idea of what this project was like. But this was more than a cleaning of a building, this was the beginning of the cleansing of a people and their city Jerusalem. So now that the Temple was cleansed, it was time for the next step.
The record says: “Early the next morning King Hezekiah gathered all the city officials together and went up to the Temple of the LORD.” Why? No, this was not an inspection of the work done by diligent spiritual leaders, the Levites and priests, this was now the opportunity for the government and social leaders of the people to engage themselves in this city wide cleansing before God!
The city leaders brought many animals for sin sacrifice and the Levites gathered with their instruments and choirs. With the King overseeing it all, the Temple mount was filled with leaders, both government and spiritual. They were assuming responsibility before God for all the wickedness of leaders who had gone before them and even their own sinfulness.
Then King Hezekiah “gave the order to sacrifice the burnt offerings on the altar. As the offering began, singing to the LORD began also, accompanied by trumpets and the instruments of King David. The whole assembly of people bowed in worship…all this continued until the sacrifice was completed. When the offerings were finished, the king and everyone present with him knelt down and worshipped the LORD God of Israel.” (2 Chron. 29:25-29)
Let’s just imagine ourselves in the middle of this amazing and cleansing experience with government officials and religious leaders all around us on their faces before God. What would happen if the leaders of your city and mine did the same thing? Let’s reflect on that and I’ll meet you here again tomorrow to see what happened next.
And here’s a song that may be very similar to what they were singing with King Hezekiah that day of consecration in Jerusalem.
Today’s Scripture: 2 Chron. 29:11-29.
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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