Today is a great day to meet one of the best Kings Judah ever had! You know his name! In fact, he is so popular and well-known that preachers think it’s funny to tell you to turn to the book named after him and when you go looking, they laugh at you because it’s not a real book in the Bible. The king we meet today is none other than Hezekiah! Now we are going to deal mostly with 2nd Chronicles 29’s narrative about Hezekiah, but I wanted you to see a powerful truth that we run across in 2nd Kings 18’s introduction of Hezekiah.

2 Kings 18:1 Hezekiah son of Ahaz began to rule over Judah in the third year of King Hoshea’s reign in Israel. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. 3 He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, just as his ancestor David had done. 4 He removed the pagan shrines, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke up the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because the people of Israel had been offering sacrifices to it. The bronze serpent was called Nehushtan.

5 Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after his time. 6 He remained faithful to the Lord in everything, and he carefully obeyed all the commands the Lord had given Moses.

Finally, a king who loved God enough to stop the pagan worship in all the land of Judah! He even destroyed a big-time historical national artifact because it had become so mythological people were worshiping it! You will remember when Moses and the grumbling horde of Israelites were in the wilderness and they all became very sick, God had him fashion a serpent on a pole and raise it up for the people to look at and be healed. They still had that thing intact! Kind of like the Vatican claims to have a bunch of artifacts from Christ and the Apostles. Having the bronze serpent was really kind of cool, but it became an object of worship instead an object of remembrance of God’s provision. Do you see where I am going with this?

Many times in our churches, objects from the past are no longer objects that call us to remember the Glory of the Lord or His wonder-working power, but they become objects of our worship. Décor, buildings, and worship styles… especially worship styles, are all wonderful things, but they have been given such an unhealthy reverence I feel like many times it is object worship. Hezekiah said folks, it’s just stuff. It is an inanimate object that God worked through, and I am smashing it because it has become an Idol. I guess I could have made a whole devotion on just this point, but we must move on! Do not let the stuff of the past, though even God Himself worked through it, become an idol in your lives!

Now we jump to 2nd Chronicles 28:

3 In the very first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah reopened the doors of the Temple of the Lord and repaired them. 4 He summoned the priests and Levites to meet him at the courtyard east of the Temple. 5 He said to them, “Listen to me, you Levites! Purify yourselves, and purify the Temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove all the defiled things from the sanctuary. 6 Our ancestors were unfaithful and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God. They abandoned the Lord and his dwelling place; they turned their backs on him. 7 They also shut the doors to the Temple’s entry room, and they snuffed out the lamps. They stopped burning incense and presenting burnt offerings at the sanctuary of the God of Israel.

8 “That is why the Lord’s anger has fallen upon Judah and Jerusalem. He has made them an object of dread, horror, and ridicule, as you can see with your own eyes. 9 Because of this, our fathers have been killed in battle, and our sons and daughters and wives have been captured.10 But now I will make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger will turn away from us. 11 My sons, do not neglect your duties any longer! The Lord has chosen you to stand in his presence, to minister to him, and to lead the people in worship and present offerings to him.”

12 Then these Levites got right to work:

From the clan of Kohath: Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah.

From the clan of Merari: Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel.

From the clan of Gershon: Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah.

13 From the family of Elizaphan: Shimri and Jeiel. From the family of Asaph: Zechariah and Mattaniah.

14 From the family of Heman: Jehiel and Shimei. From the family of Jeduthun: Shemaiah and Uzziel.

15 These men called together their fellow Levites, and they all purified themselves. Then they began to cleanse the Temple of the Lord, just as the king had commanded. They were careful to follow all the Lord’s instructions in their work. 16 The priests went into the sanctuary of the Temple of the Lord to cleanse it, and they took out to the Temple courtyard all the defiled things they found. From there the Levites carted it all out to the Kidron Valley.

17 They began the work in early spring, on the first day of the new year, and in eight days they had reached the entry room of the Lord’s Temple. Then they purified the Temple of the Lord itself, which took another eight days. So the entire task was completed in sixteen days.

I love a leader who gets right to work! Hezekiah knew that the worship of God and salvation offered by sacrifice was the most important thing for himself and the people of Israel, and he put the Levites back to work!

18 Then the Levites went to King Hezekiah and gave him this report: “We have cleansed the entire Temple of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the table of the Bread of the Presence with all its utensils. 19 We have also recovered all the items discarded by King Ahaz when he was unfaithful and closed the Temple. They are now in front of the altar of the Lord, purified and ready for use.”

20 Early the next morning King Hezekiah gathered the city officials and went to the Temple of the Lord. 21 They brought seven bulls, seven rams, and seven male lambs as a burnt offering, together with seven male goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, for the Temple, and for Judah. The king commanded the priests, who were descendants of Aaron, to sacrifice the animals on the altar of the Lord.

22 So they killed the bulls, and the priests took the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. Next they killed the rams and sprinkled their blood on the altar. And finally, they did the same with the male lambs. 23 The male goats for the sin offering were then brought before the king and the assembly of people, who laid their hands on them. 24 The priests then killed the goats as a sin offering and sprinkled their blood on the altar to make atonement for the sins of all Israel. The king had specifically commanded that this burnt offering and sin offering should be made for all Israel.

25 King Hezekiah then stationed the Levites at the Temple of the Lord with cymbals, lyres, and harps. He obeyed all the commands that the Lord had given to King David through Gad, the king’s seer, and the prophet Nathan. 26 The Levites then took their positions around the Temple with the instruments of David, and the priests took their positions with the trumpets.

Now, this stuff can get a little chewy, as I like to say, and be confusing or just seem downright weird if you haven’t had much education in the Old Testament. So, let me offer some clarity to what’s going on. On Mt Sinai God gave Moses very specific instructions on how He was to be worshiped. How the Tabernacle, now Temple, was to be set up and how the ‘worship service’ was to be orchestrated. This section is just telling you that the Levites got the Temple restored and ready to worship the Lord. Here’s my favorite part of the story:

27 Then Hezekiah ordered that the burnt offering be placed on the altar. As the burnt offering was presented, songs of praise to the Lord were begun, accompanied by the trumpets and other instruments of David, the former king of Israel. 28 The entire assembly worshiped the Lord as the singers sang and the trumpets blew, until all the burnt offerings were finished. 29 Then the king and everyone with him bowed down in worship. 30 King Hezekiah and the officials ordered the Levites to praise the Lord with the psalms written by David and by Asaph the seer. So they offered joyous praise and bowed down in worship.

31 Then Hezekiah declared, “Now that you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord, bring your sacrifices and thanksgiving offerings to the Temple of the Lord.” So the people brought their sacrifices and thanksgiving offerings, and all whose hearts were willing brought burnt offerings, too. 32 The people brought to the Lord 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 male lambs for burnt offerings. 33 They also brought 600 cattle and 3,000 sheep and goats as sacred offerings.

34 But there were too few priests to prepare all the burnt offerings. So their relatives the Levites helped them until the work was finished and more priests had been purified, for the Levites had been more conscientious about purifying themselves than the priests had been. 35 There was an abundance of burnt offerings, along with the usual liquid offerings, and a great deal of fat from the many peace offerings.

So the Temple of the Lord was restored to service. 36 And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because of what God had done for the people, for everything had been accomplished so quickly.

I kid you not, my eyes were filled with tears and my heart was full to the brim just reading about this worship service. Just picturing the lost people of Judah coming off the reign of evil Ahaz coming to the restored temple, bowing down in worship singing songs of praise and offering their offerings in worship! So much so that there were not enough priests to offer the sacrifices! That’s what our Sunday services are supposed to be like. Look what happened, when they worshiped and sang and they bowed down, they were consecrated or set apart again!  When we come on Sunday mornings or nights, it is not out of habit or requirement, but it is to again consecrate ourselves through worship and prayer and then our offerings are given to the Lord from that heart of worship. And when we are faithful in this heart of worship God will do a work so mighty that there won’t be enough staff to cover it, and we will have to have more!

We have experienced, and are continuing to experience, a powerful revival that can only be attributed to the presence of the Holy Spirit and the work of the Lord here at New Covenant. Let us keep this heart of worship and continue to see what God will do in and through us! Hezekiah didn’t only restore the Temple in Judah, but he restored the worship.

Today, I want you to examine your heart as I am going to examine mine. How well do we worship the Lord?Now, worshiping well is not the same for everyone. Many think it’s charismatically waiving those hands, or shouting, or whatever, but it really isn’t those things. It is the availability of your heart, humbling yourself in the presence of God who is worthy of your praise even on the worst day of your life. Do we worship with our whole heart, even when we don’t like the songs, or the sanctuary is too hot or cold? Worship isn’t about anything other than the majesty of the Lord. So, as we pray today, wherever you are, take time to worship the Lord. Ask God to remove anything in your preferences that may have become an idol, and here in a couple days, let’s see what God wants to do in our church when we are all fully focused on Him and bring our offerings of worship this Sunday!