| Written By Administrator Saturday, 18 July 2009 |
King Hezekiah was a godly man who sought to do what was right in the eyes of
the Lord. As soon as he came to the throne, he took it as his solemn
responsibility to purify the Temple of the Lord.
At his time, the Temple was in ruins and totally defiled. His ancestors had
shut the doors of the entrance hall and put out the lamps that were burning
there. They had stopped the burning of incense and burnt offerings also
were no longer presented at the sanctuary. Articles that had been set apart
to be used in worship unto the Lord were also removed. To put it simply, the
Israelites had become a people who had totally violated their covenant with
the Almighty God. (vs 5 to 7,19)
We find in 1 Corinthians 6:19 that under the New Covenant every believer has
become a temple of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, through this study, let us
examine the steps that King Hezekiah took to cleanse the Temple and apply
them in our own lives.
1) Purity requires openness. "He opened the doors of the Temple of the
Lord and repaired them" (vs 3)
The first thing that Hezekiah did in order to purify the Temple was to open
all the doors and repair them.
This is exactly what the Lord wants from us. God calls us to love Him and
serve Him with our entire being and with all that is within us. He desires
that we open up the doors of our heart to Him: every area of our life!
Opening up our lives means that we will have to take the time to be still
and patient before the Lord. As we do this, His Spirit searches our hearts
and exposes the condition of our inner life (Psalm 139:23 and 24). Even
when the Temple was purified, they had to take a time of 16 days to complete
the work.
Our life experience teaches us that we tend to allow Christ to be Lord only
in those areas which do not cause us pain and make us uncomfortable. We are
transparent and submissive in issues where we would like to receive God's
goodness but we are not so sincere and honest in matters where we know the
Lord is calling us to pay a price.
We need to ask ourselves, "Am I wearing a mask? Am I keeping certain areas
of my life to myself? Am I truly and wholly transparent before the Lord?"
2) Purity requires removal of defilements. "Remove all defilements from
the sanctuary." (vs 5) "They brought out everything unclean that they found
in the Temple of the Lord and carried it out to the Kidron valley." (vs 16)
The king commanded the priests and the Levites to remove everything that was
unclean in the Temple of the Lord. (vs 16)
A believer must take care to keep himself undefiled. All forms of impurity
in thought, word and deed need to be confessed and renounced. We must be
careful while we live in this world. As Christians, we are called to be
'in' the world but not 'of' the world!
Our Lord Jesus taught us that we have to take sin so seriously that we must
even be ready to cut off organs of our body which cause us to sin (Matthew
5:29,30). It is true that He did not mean it literally but He was trying to
show us at the same time that we cannot play with sin; we have to deal with
it radically and thoroughly. For example, if we find that a certain person
or object is causing us to sin, we need to take whatever drastic step
necessary to root out those issues from our life.
Think it over, "Who or what is defiling me?" and cut off that link then and
there.
3) Purity requires confession of our sins. "Our fathers were unfaithful;
they did evil in the eyes of the Lord our God and forsook Him. They turned
their faces away from the Lord's dwelling place and turned their backs on
Him. They also shut the doors of the portico and put out the lamps. They
did not burn incense or present any burnt offerings at the sanctuary to the
God of Israel" (vs 6 to 8)
King Hezekiah was ready to admit the wrongdoings of his people. He was
specific and sincere in his confession of sin.
The Bible teaches us that we can never receive forgiveness of our sins until
we admit that we have sinned. We must learn to practice confessing our sins
to the Lord the moment the Holy Spirit convicts us. David was sick
spiritually, mentally and physically until he acknowledged his sin before
the Lord (Psalm 32:3 to 5). He who conceals his sins does not prosper but
whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy (Proverbs 28:13). If we
claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves; but if we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness (1 John 1:8,9).
We need to see sin as sin, not as a weakness or personality defect. We
need to see sin as God sees it.
4) Purity requires making a covenant with the Lord. "Now I intend to make a
covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel so that His fierce anger will turn
away from us. My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you
to stand before Him and serve Him, to minister before Him and to burn
incense." (vs 10,11)
The fourth step that the king took as part of the process of purification of
the Temple was to make a covenant with the God of Israel concerning their
decision to abide by His laws and statutes.
As believers, we have entered into a covenant with God by the blood of His
Son and our Lord, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 9:14,15 and Revelation 1:5,6). We
have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness (Romans
6:18). We are no longer our own to do as we please with our bodies. We are
the exclusive property of God and are called to do what He desires.
We need to renew our commitment to the Lord daily and must actively seek to
please Him in all our ways. If we do not seek to be excellent and strive
after perfection, we will become soft towards small errors and faults
thinking that they are only 'small sins' after all. We must realize that it
is always "the little foxes that spoil the vine and steal our fruitfulness"
(Song of Solomon 2:15). Sin is always progressive. They grow from being
'hidden faults' to becoming 'obvious errors'. Then they become 'habitual
sins' ruling over us and finally we fall into 'great transgression and
wrongdoing'! (Psalm 19:12,13).
5) Purity requires dependence on God's grace. "Hezekiah and all the people
rejoiced at what God had brought about for His people, because it was done
so quickly." (vs 36)
As the purification process was completed, the service in the Temple was
reestablished. King Hezekiah and all the people gathered together and
acknowledged the work of sanctification that the Lord had brought about.
We need to notice here that the Lord is given all the glory for the process
and work of purification but it is the king who actually 'implemented' the
work of purification. The Bible always speaks of partnership. God plays
His role and we are called to fulfill our responsibility.
We need to seek God for His grace. The Lord is willing to supply us with an
abundant supply of His resources but we must go before the Throne and ask
Him for it. Jesus asked His sleeping disciples to get up and pray lest they
fall in the time of temptation that was coming upon them (Matthew 26:41).
Our willing spirit and weak flesh is enabled to prevail against Satan's
onslaught when we activate God's grace through prayer!
