2 Chronicles 28&29
Time For A Survey?
In our study today we read of King Ahaz and His son Hezekiah who became king when his father died. The contrast between the two is striking. King Ahaz did not want anything to do with the God of his fathers. He was willing to worship idols and the gods of other nations but not the true and living God. In Deuteronomy 17:14-20 God gave Moses instructions on how the king was to conduct himself. Ahaz rebelled against those instructions and made one bad decision after another causing great harm to the people and the nation.
Hezekiah couldn’t have been more opposite. He inherited the consequences of his father’s decisions and set out to bring reform, starting at the Temple and with the Priest and Levites. The Priests and Levites consecrated themselves for service to the Lord. Consecrate means to set apart and to cleanse. The Apostle Paul gives us a good description of this in 2 Timothy 2:20&21.
Once the Priests and Levites were set apart to serve the Lord they started on the Temple. Following the cleansing of the Temple, the leaders of the nation came and offered sacrifices for their sins and then the people of the nation. The reform brought great rejoicing over God’s provision and acceptance.
As I read of these two kings I can’t help but put them in a continuum with Ahaz on one end and Hezekiah on the other. It seems like I am always being asked if I will take a survey every time I buy something or have any interaction with a website or customer service. So, as I think of that continuum I wonder where God would put me if He were taking a survey about me. How do I measure up in God’s eyes? Well, one thing is for certain, I know at which end I want to be found when the Lord returns or calls me home!
I think that before I can hope to hear the words recorded in Matthew 25:23 I need to be doing what Jesus said in Matthew 24:45-47.
Action always follows faith.
Pastor Dave