Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends around the world,
Have you ever walked through a cemetery reading the tombstones, especially old ones? What if you saw this on a tombstone:: “In everything he did…he sought His God and worked wholeheartedly”? What conclusions would you draw about that person, even if you had never met them or knew nothing else about them?
Come with me back to Jerusalem around 710bc. This statement, found in 2 Chronicles 31:20,21 summarizes the life of a remarkable man, King Hezekiah: “King Hezekiah did what was good and right and faithful before the LORD His God. In everything he undertook, in the service of God’s temple and in obedience to the law and God’s commands, Hezekiah sought His God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.“
The contrast between King Hezekiah and his father King Ahaz could not be greater, could it? In his 16 year reign King Ahaz closed the doors of the Temple of God and outlawed worship of God in Jerusalem! He constructed altars for the idol gods of the wicked nations surrounding Israel, both in the Temple area and on every street corner in Jerusalem, and in every town and village in Judah. Ahaz did everything he could to remove any evidence of or reference to the God of Israel throughout Jerusalem and Judah! (2 Chronicles 28:24,25)
His son King Hezekiah did the opposite, beginning his first few days on the throne! He opened the doors of the Temple and the priests spent 14 days cleaning and consecrating the Temple and then Hezekiah led the people in re-establishing active worship of the God of Israel in Jerusalem! Hezekiah then invited ALL Jews, living anywhere in the middle east, to come and celebrate the Passover Festival in Jerusalem. Nothing like this had happened since the days of King Solomon, 200 years before!
Then, revived spiritually by their repentance and worship, the people destroyed the altars and idols throughout Judah! There was a nation wide spiritual renewal happening which was affecting every aspect of society in Jerusalem and Judah! (2 Chron. 30:25-31:1)
When those Jews who had come to Jerusalem for that historic Passover, from places far and wide, finally returned home, King Hezekiah then set about to re-institute the orderly spiritual leadership and functions which King David had originally established almost 300 years before, when Jerusalem first became the spiritual centerpiece of the nation of Israel. (1 Chronicles 15,16)
King Hezekiah himself “…assigned the priests and Levites to divisions – each of them according to their duties…” (2 Chron. 31:2) Then King Hezekiah, leading by example, brought in his own personal tithes, offerings and sacrifices, and he sent word through throughout Jerusalem & Judah calling the people to restore their God instructed commitment for tithes, offerings and sacrifices.
And as you read 2 Chron. 31:3-8 you will be amazed to see the people responded enthusiastically! In fact, “When King Hezekiah and his officials came and saw the heaps (of things the people had brought), they praised the LORD and blessed the people!” (2 Chron. 31:8)
When the King inquired of the priests regarding all of this, their response was amazing: “Since the people began to bring their contributions to the Temple of the LORD, we have had enough to eat and plenty to spare, because the LORD has blessed His people…” (2 Chron. 31:9,10) This is very important my friends.
Do you remember yesterday we saw that as a result of their 2 week Passover worship experience not only were Jews UNITED from all over the middle east, especially northern kingdom Israel and southern kingdom Judah, but they were REPULSED by the wicked idols Ahaz had constructed and they took action to destroy those idols and clean out idolatry from the land.
Now here we see a second great result from that glorious worship experience, it’s both OBEDIENCE to God’s commands about tithes, offerings and sacrifices but it is also an outpouring of great GENEROSITY!
Generosity is a natural outflow of worship because in worship God draws our hearts into close alignment with His heart and Almighty God is a loving, generous God, do you agree? How do I know? Well you know this statement which Jesus made: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
Do you see the LOVE and GENEROSITY of BOTH God the Father and God the Son in that statement and the reality it describes of Jesus coming to earth and giving His life so we can be delivered from our sin bondage and sin condemnation?, and live eternally in relationship with God?
By God’s design for His people, as explained to Moses 700 years before King Hezekiah, the Israelites were to bring a tithe and special offerings to the priests and Levites and that provided for the care of the Temple but also for the daily needs of those priests and Levites who served full time at the Temple or Tabernacle, so they did not have to take time away from their spiritual duties to plant, tend and harvest fields or raise animals etc.
But during the reign of Ahaz, with the Temple closed and worship of God outlawed, no one brought tithes and offerings and therefore the priests and Levites were forced to plant gardens and find work doing whatever they could to feed themselves and their families. Now in view of that, can we imagine what a time of great rejoicing it was all throughout Jerusalem and Judah? Society was once again, finally, restored to functioning as God had designed it, with worship & the Temple at the very center of Jewish society.
Do you see how God poured out His blessing in abundance upon the people and they were living in great joy and peace and prosperity? These years were a picture of what life was supposed to be like for the Jews, as God had designed it so many centuries before. Yet too often some of the kings before Hezekiah had abandoned God and His design for His people. The result of course was the disaster of a dysfunctional, impoverished, idolatrous nation which King Hezekiah inherited from his father King Ahaz!
Oh my, there are some important lessons for us here aren’t there my friends as we consider God’s design for how our marriages or families should function. And what about how our cities and nations should function by God’s design?
Can we see the damage that is done when we abandon God, when we push God out of our families or schools or businesses or cities or nations? Can we see the wonderful way God responds when we do what Hezekiah did and repent and restore our worship of God to the central role it should have in our lives, our families, our cities and our nations?
Now let’s think about all this my friends, and here’s a wonderful worship song to help us reflect. I also urge you to listen to 2 Chronicles 31 in the dramatized audio Bible link below.
Today’s Scripture: 2 Chronicles 31.
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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