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In 2 Chronicles 30:1-12 we find a courageous story concerning the power of
the word of God. King Hezekiah of the southern kingdom of Judah was one of the few
righteous kings in the 600 year history of the kingdom which David founded. "And
he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David
his father did" (2 Kings 18:3). He had seen many of his cousins to the north in
Samaria taken into captivity by the Assyrians because of their unfaithfulness to God.
He wanted to reform his nation. He and the elders of Judah extended an invitation to
the people in the north to join them in observing the Passover in Jerusalem, as
commanded by God (Ex. 12:14). This memorial meal had not been kept in Israel
for many years. But their invitation was largely spurned throughout the northern
territory (Verse 10).
Today there is a growing disrespect for the word of God and for those who follow it. For example:
What little knowledge of the Bible in our society in the past is receding and fast being replaced by ignorance. Though few publicly acknowledge it, many folks secretly hate the Bible. As the apostle Peter warned; "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts. And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all thing continue as they were from the beginning of creation"(2 Pet. 3:3, 4). But for the Christian the Bible must be the bedrock of his faith (Psa. 119:11). It is the inerrant, inspired ("God breathed") word of the living God (2 Pet. 1:20-21). The experience of King Hezekiah and the people of Judah shows us what the Bible can do for us. Hezekiah and his people had already begun to restore the worship of Jehovah as recorded in 2 Chronicles 29. The Levites or priests had repaired and cleansed the temple in Jerusalem. Temple worship with its animal sacrifices and singing was restored. After sixteen years of idolatry under the reign of Hezekiah's father, Ahaz, God's true worship was again seeing the light of day. Apparently Hezekiah had gone back to the law of Moses to find out what God desired to be done to worship Him. Humanity has always had an inherent need to worship God. As the apostle Paul noted concerning God's creation of national boundaries, "That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us" (Acts 17:27). As some have noted, there is a hole in each of us that only God can fill (Ps. 63:1). But God has not left men ignorant in the area of worship. He has given us the Bible. The ancient Israelites had the law of Moses or the Old Testament. For the modern man it is the New Covenant, the law of Christ. "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him" (Jn. 4:23; cf. Jn. 17:17). Too often men look to themselves or the erroneous religious practices of others for guidance in worshiping God. Hezekiah's father was like this. "For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel" (2 Chron. 28:23). Let us go back to the Bible to find out how to worship Jehovah! After Hezekiah and his brethren had rededicated their lives to God, they thought of their cousins to the north. The northern kingdom of Israel, Samaria, had seceded from the nation during the reign of Rehoboam, son of Solomon. They had sunk into apostasy and idolatry. They were Judah's bitter enemies. The word of God caused Hezekiah to remember their apostate relatives and to reach out to them. "....but thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself: I am the Lord" (Lev. 19:18). The word of God causes the faithful Christian to reach out to their lost friends and neighbors. It reminds them of the sinner's lost spiritual state (Rom. 3:23). It causes them to understand their obligation to them (Acts 10:26-27). It makes them earnestly desire that all men come to worship God according to the Scriptures (Eph. 5:19). This includes brethren who are unfaithful or have departed from the Truth. "Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sin" (James 5:20). The heralds of the king went out to all left in the ancient territory of Israel (Verses 6-7). Those who had not been taken into captivity by the Assyrian Empire. They were reminding them of what the word of God had already told them (2 Kings 17:13-15). Their message was simple:
Today, the Bible reminds us of the dubious "benefits" of a life of rebellion against God: The fleeting pleasures of sin (Prov. 22:8); moral and spiritual ruin (Mk. 7:21-23); the burden of unforgiven sin (Rom. 7:24); and, the prospect of eternal punishment (Rom.6:23; Lk. 16:24). Yet the Bible not only reminds men of their sins, it commands them to repent of those sins (Acts 17:30-31). The people of Samaria had been deemed "stiff necked" (obstinate, hardheaded) in their idolatry and in their failure to repent. They seemed destined to destruction like their relatives who had gone into captivity. Yet Hezekiah offered them a blessing if they returned to Him: their relatives would be treated well by their captors and eventually returned home (2 Chron. 30:8, 9). God is a being of reconciliation and redemption. "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool "(Isa. 1:18). How longsuffering and patient God is with sinners! Today, He gives them a plan of salvation through His Son (John 1:12). He has given the road map to eternity — the Bible (2 Tim. 3:16-17). He gives us every opportunity to repent, on His terms not ours (Rom. 2:4). To those who turn and obey He promises rich blessings. "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19). In verses 10-12 we read where the King's heralds traveled through all the old territory of Samaria and were greeted with a largely negative reception. In the central part of the country which had been partly resettled with Gentiles from the Assyrian Empire, the reaction was one of contempt (Verse 10). They were too tied to idolatry and false religion to care. They failed to heed God's warning of judgment and His promises of loving care. Yet enclaves of the faithful in the northwestern part of the country heeded the call. The Bible records that they "humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem" with "singleness of heart". "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land" (2 Chron. 7:14). The early evangelists in the New Testament found the same pattern of rejection and obedience to the Gospel. For example in the city of Berea Paul and Silas found people who "received the word with readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so" (Acts 17:11). Years later in Rome Paul preached his heart out all day to his kinsmen, the Jews, "And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not" (Acts 28:24). This is an eternal truth all Christians must accept. Many will mock the gospel and the Bible by disbelieving the Lords command to be baptized for forgiveness of sins (Mk. 16:16), for example. Most who hear the word will continue to live a life of sin and regret, ridiculing the idea of moral purity and self-control. A majority will reject the doctrine of scriptural worship with the Bible as our pattern. They will tenaciously hold onto their piano, organ and choir making their worship of God vain (Matt. 15:9). Whole bus loads will shake their head at the Biblical doctrine of "one church" (Eph. 5:19), preferring rather the comfort of religious division and denominational confusion. But some, a remnant, will humble themselves like their spiritual predecessors in the tribes of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulon and receive the Truth of the Gospel. "But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you" (Rom. 6:17). Dear reader, have you obeyed God's plan of salvation as revealed in the Bible and become a New Testament Christian?
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