2 Chronicles 29:1-2 "Hezekiah began to
reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty
years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of
Zechariah. (2) And he did that which was right in the sight of the
LORD, according to all that David his father had done."
2 Chronicles 29:10-11 "Now it is in mine heart to make a
covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from
us. (11) My sons, be not now negligent: for the LORD hath chosen
you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him,
and burn incense."
Yesterday, I marveled that Ahaz, being the son of Jotham, could be so wicked
after his father had done right in the sight of the Lord. Today, I see
Hezekiah, the son of wicked Ahaz, doing right in the sight of the Lord. We know
his father was not a proper example; yet, we will see him going to great
lengths to make sure proper worship is restored. I encourage you to read the
entire account of the reign of Hezekiah; but for today read all the first
eleven verses to see his motivation.
Today, we hear politicians saying what they will do the very first day in
office. Hezekiah did some amazing things from the very beginning of his reign
as king. The very first thing he did was to open up the house of God. Remember
his father had closed the house and destroyed the vessels used in worship. The
light had gone out of the church, quite honestly. He told them to go into
the temple and open the doors to allow light inside. Then they began to sweep
the filthiness out of the temple. When you read it, they began in the very
inner part of the house and swept it out the door. "And the priests went
into the inner part of the house of the LORD, to cleanse it, and brought out
all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the LORD into the court of
the house of the LORD. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the
brook Kidron." (2 Chronicles 29:16)
Hezekiah realized God's wrath was upon the city and the nation because of his
father's turning to idols. In verse 2, we read he did that which was right in
the sight of the Lord according to all that David had done. No doubt, Hezekiah
took time to learn about his forefather and the manner in which his zeal
brought the people's heart to building the temple. Now Hezekiah wants to see
the zeal of the people turned back to the Lord and the restoration of worship.
We see this in the physical sense of the building. But what about the spiritual
temple of God? We are the temple of the Holy Ghost. Have we allowed our temple
to become filled with filth? Is it time that we open the doors of our hearts to
let the light shine in? Jesus said to the church... yes He said it to the
church, not to the unregenerate person... "Behold I stand at the door and
knock." How is it with us? Is Jesus, the Light of the world,
knocking on our hearts? Have we allowed the filth of the world to crowd out the
things of the Lord? Have we allowed anger, envy, bitterness, desire for
the things of the world to take the place of our desire for true worship? Do we
have that inner chamber in our being where we have hidden the things that have
come between us and the Lord?
Could it be that the Lord is saying to us today, "Return to me. Open up for the Light to shine in and show where the filth needs to be swept out." Is today the day we need to renew a covenant, a promise, to serve the Lord? If so, I use the words of Hezekiah, "be not now negligent: for the LORD hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto Him, and burn incense." (pray fervently)