CHAPTER 29

(726 B.C.)

HEZEKIAH REIGNS OVER JUDAH

¹Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And his mothers name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.

²And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done (David was always used as the yardstick or example; that which is right in the sight of God is all that matters; unfortunately, the Church all too often cares little about what is right in Gods eyes, making their own eyes the yardstick).

REVIVAL UNDER HEZEKIAH

³He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the House of the LORD, and repaired them. (Immediately upon becoming king, Hezekiah began to institute reform. He wasted no time! Under his evil father Ahaz, the doors to the House of the Lord had been closed, meaning that this House was no longer in use. He began to repair things.

In our own spiritual lives, how much presently needs repairing?)

4And he brought in the Priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the east street,

⁵And said unto them, Hear me, you Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the House of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. (The word sanctify [or Sanctification] simply means in this case to set apart for the exclusive use of God. In doing this, the filthiness would be carried out of the Holy Place.

Regarding our lives, when given the opportunity, the Holy Spirit will always clean us up. Paul said: Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God [II Cor. 7:1].)

⁶For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD our God, and have forsaken Him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD, and turned their backs (Repentance alone can reverse this situation; this means turning back to the Cross, for the Cross alone can address sin [Heb. 10:12]).

⁷Also they have shut up the doors of the porch (Jesus is the Door), and put out the lamps (the Golden Lampstand situated in the Holy Place, which typified Christ as the Light of the world), and have not burned Incense (typifying the Intercession of Christ, all on our behalf) nor offered Burnt Offerings (typifying the Cross, where the perfection of Christ is given to the believing sinner) in the Holy Place unto the God of Israel.

⁸Wherefore the wrath of the LORD was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He has delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as you see with your eyes. (The judgment was obvious! Because the Temple was symbolic of Christ and the Cross, when Christ and the Cross are forsaken, judgment is inevitable! There can be no other way.)

⁹For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this (sin puts people in captivity and it kills).

¹⁰Now it is in my heart to make a Covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that His fierce wrath may turn away from us (that Covenant would simply be to obey the Word of God).

¹¹My sons, be not now negligent: for the LORD has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and that you should minister unto Him, and burn Incense (Hezekiah is saying these things to the Priests and the Levites).

THE TEMPLE IS CLEANSED AND PREPARED FOR WORSHIP

¹²Then the Levites arose, Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites: and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehalelel: and of the Gershonites; Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah:

¹³And of the sons of Elizaphan; Shimri, and Jeiel: and of the sons of Asaph; Zechariah, and Mattaniah:

¹⁴And of the sons of Heman; Jehiel, and Shimei: and of the sons of Jeduthun; Shemaiah, and Uzziel (the names of these fourteen Levites have no interest for the historians of this world, but such an interest for the Holy Spirit that they are all set out here, and they have been read already by hundreds of millions of people for nearly 2,800 years).

¹⁵And they gathered their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the Words of the LORD, to cleanse the House of the LORD (the Words or Commands of the Lord are such as are written in Ex. 19:22 and Lev. 11:44; nothing can be spiritually cleansed, unless it is done according to the Word of the Lord).

¹⁶And 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. (Only the Priests could enter the Temple, while the Levites sphere of work and service lay in the courts and round about the Temple.

Spiritually, revival must begin in the inner part, which means the heart. It is unthinkable that the Temple was in this condition, but sadly it was. Is it possible that the modern Church is in the same condition now as the Temple of old?)

¹⁷Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month came they to the porch of the LORD: so they sanctified the House of the LORD in eight days; and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end.

¹⁸Then they went in to Hezekiah the king, and said, We have cleansed all the House of the LORD, and the Altar of Burnt Offering, with all the vessels thereof, and the Shewbread Table, with all the vessels thereof (the first thing that happens when Revival begins to take place is that things are cleaned up).

¹⁹Moreover all the vessels, which king Ahaz in his reign did cast away in his transgression, have we prepared and sanctified, and behold, they are before the Altar of the LORD.

TEMPLE WORSHIP IS RESTORED

²⁰Then Hezekiah the king rose early, and gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the House of the LORD.

²¹And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he goats, for a Sin Offering for the kingdom, and for the Sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the Priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the Altar of the LORD. (After the cleansing of the Temple, which made it serviceable, the first thing that is now done, in essence, is that Judah went back to the Cross. I must believe that the Holy Spirit urged Hezekiah to institute seven sacrifices each of the various animals. Seven signifies perfection, universality, and totality. It is Gods number. It means that Israel was to have a complete cleansing. While the Temple could be cleansed of debris, it took the shed Blood of the Lamb to properly cleanse from sin. We as Believers can prepare the way, but only the Blood can cleanse [I Jn. 1:7].)

²²So they killed the bullocks, and the Priests received the blood, and sprinkled it on the Altar (the sprinkling of the blood marked the expiation of sin [Lev. 4:7, 18, 30; 5:9; 8:14-15; Heb. 9:12-14, 19-22]): likewise, when they had killed the rams, they sprinkled the blood upon the Altar: they killed also the lambs, and they sprinkled the blood upon the Altar.

²³And they brought forth the he goats for the Sin Offering before the king and the congregation; and they laid their hands upon them (the laying of the hands on the head of the animal signified the transferring of the sins of the person offering the Sacrifice and, in this case, the entirety of the people of Judah, to the victim, which was a Type of Christ taking our sins on the Cross [Isa. 53:6]; this is what Paul was speaking of when he mentioned the laying on of hands in Heb. 6:2):

²⁴And the Priests killed them (the animals, by slitting their throats), and they made reconciliation (a Sin Offering) with their blood upon the Altar, to make an Atonement (a type of what Christ would do at the Cross) for all Israel: for the king commanded that the Burnt Offering and the Sin Offering should be made for all Israel (the Burnt Offering typified Christ giving His Perfection to the sinner; the Sin Offering typified the sinner giving his sin to Christ; He gives His Perfection to us; we give our sin to Him).

²⁵And he set the Levites in the House of the LORD with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the kings Seer, and Nathan the Prophet: for so was the Commandment of the LORD by His Prophets. (Music and joy always accompany proper Faith in the Cross, because all sins have been washed away.

The Bible does not distinguish between a Seer and a Prophet. Sometimes both designations are used for the same individual [I Chron. 21:9; II Chron. 29:25].)

²⁶And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the Priests with the trumpets.

²⁷And Hezekiah commanded to offer the Burnt Offering upon the Altar. And when the Burnt Offering began, the song of the LORD began also with the trumpets, and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel. (When Faith is properly placed in Christ and the Cross, worship always follows, as it regards music and singing. Little Cross, little worship! Much Cross, much worship!)

²⁸And all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded: and all this continued until the Burnt Offering was finished.

²⁹And when they had made an end of offering, the king and all who were present with him bowed themselves, and worshipped.

³⁰Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the LORD with the words of David, and of Asaph the Seer (the Psalms). And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped.

³¹Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now you have consecrated yourselves unto the LORD, come near and bring Sacrifices and Thank Offerings (Meat Offerings) into the House of the LORD. And the congregation brought in Sacrifices and Thank Offerings; and as many as were of a free heart Burnt Offerings.

³²And the number of the Burnt Offerings, which the congregation brought, was threescore and ten bullocks, an hundred rams, and two hundred lambs: all these were for a Burnt Offering to the LORD.

³³And the consecrated things were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep (dedicated to the Lord).

³⁴But the Priests were too few, so that they could not flay (prepare properly) all the Burnt Offerings: wherefore their brethren the Levites did help them, till the work was ended, and until the other Priests had sanctified themselves: for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the Priests (went about these duties with a greater consecration).

³⁵And also the Burnt Offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the Peace Offerings, and the Drink Offerings for every Burnt Offering (the grape juice poured out on the Altar signified Christ pouring out His Life on the Cross). So the service of the House of the LORD was set in order.

³⁶And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly (Heb. 4:7).