Stand in the gap: The ministry of Hezekiah
Notes
Transcript
Stand in the Gap. God is looking for people to stand in the gap.
Stand in the Gap. God is looking for people to stand in the gap.
I searched for a man among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land so that I might not destroy it, but I found no one. So I have poured out my indignation on them and consumed them with the fire of my fury. I have brought their conduct down on their own heads.” This is the declaration of the Lord God.
123 years prior someone did stand in the gap
First, some questions
Is it harder to stand up for what is right when you are 25 or 45?
Is a revival more or less likely when society becomes wicked?
Is tithing required to bring people to Jesus?
Quick note about Chronicles (1 & 2 together). The purpose is to give a prophetic account of events. These stories show what the Davidic king will and won’t be, when he comes. It shows that none of these kings are the king we are waiting for. In this story of Hezekiah, he foreshadows the Davidic king/Messiah by restoring worship.
J. D. Greear Sermon Archive Stand in the Gap: 2 Chronicles 28–31
Little trivia before we get started (just killing time!): Hezekiah’s story is the most often told story in the Old Testament—it’s found in Chronicles, Kings, and Isaiah, which means it must have been very significant in how Israel saw themselves.
J. D. Greear Sermon Archive Stand in the Gap: 2 Chronicles 28–31
Hezekiah was born into the Southern kingdom of Israel at a time of great moral degradation. Ahaz, his father, had been one of the worst, most ungodly kings ever. Here is how the author of Chronicles summarized Ahaz’ reign: 22 In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the LORD. (God had sent some mild trouble to him to bring him back, but instead …) 23 He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.”
Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the Lord’s sight like his ancestor David, for he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and made cast images of the Baals. He burned incense in Ben Hinnom Valley and burned his children in the fire, imitating the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites. He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree. So the Lord his God handed Ahaz over to the king of Aram. He attacked him and took many captives to Damascus. Ahaz was also handed over to the king of Israel, who struck him with great force:
It’s a tough race, but Ahaz might just be the worst king of Judah ...
Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. He did what was right in the Lord’s sight just as his ancestor David had done. In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the Lord’s temple and repaired them. Then he brought in the priests and Levites and gathered them in the eastern public square. He said to them, “Hear me, Levites. Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove everything impure from the holy place.
J. D. Greear Sermon Archive Stand in the Gap: 2 Chronicles 28–31
Hezekiah started this revival with himself, the priests, and the house of worship.
● Revival always begins in the house of God.
○ We think it’s out there—they are the problem. They are callous, unbelieving … Hollywood is too immoral; the media is too liberal; college professors are too cynical; the Supreme Court has failed us.
J. D. Greear Sermon Archive Stand in the Gap: 2 Chronicles 28–31
Nothing grieves and drives out presence of the Holy Spirit like harbored, unconfessed sin in the church. Sin destroys our sense of, and hunger for, God’s presence.
Step 1: Remove everything impure from the holy place (the priests can help).
Step 2:Center your church on worship through the Scriptures
Hezekiah stationed the Levites in the Lord’s temple with cymbals, harps, and lyres according to the command of David, Gad the king’s seer, and the prophet Nathan. For the command was from the Lord through his prophets. The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. Then Hezekiah ordered that the burnt offering be offered on the altar. When the burnt offerings began, the song of the Lord and the trumpets began, accompanied by the instruments of King David of Israel. The whole assembly was worshiping, singing the song, and blowing the trumpets—all this continued until the burnt offering was completed. When the burnt offerings were completed, the king and all those present with him bowed down and worshiped. Then King Hezekiah and the officials told the Levites to sing praise to the Lord in the words of David and of the seer Asaph. So they sang praises with rejoicing and knelt low and worshiped.
J. D. Greear Sermon Archive Stand in the Gap: 2 Chronicles 28–31
We try to make Scripture the center of the songs we sing: Like they did, we sing songs whose words are based on Scripture, and we usually stop in worship to reflect on Scripture.
J. D. Greear Sermon Archive Stand in the Gap: 2 Chronicles 28–31
Our prayers: I hope you see that we try to base even our prayers on Scripture. Because Scripture teaches us how to pray. Effective prayer is figuring out what God wants and asking him for it.
Step 3:Center your church on the gospel
Then Hezekiah sent word throughout all Israel and Judah, and he also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh to come to the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem to observe the Passover of the Lord, the God of Israel. For the king and his officials and the entire congregation in Jerusalem decided to observe the Passover of the Lord in the second month, because they were not able to observe it at the appropriate time. Not enough of the priests had consecrated themselves, and the people hadn’t been gathered together in Jerusalem. The proposal pleased the king and the congregation, so they affirmed the proposal and spread the message throughout all Israel, from Beer-sheba to Dan, to come to observe the Passover of the Lord, the God of Israel in Jerusalem, for they hadn’t observed it often, as prescribed.
What does the Passover have to do with the gospel?
J. D. Greear Sermon Archive Stand in the Gap: 2 Chronicles 28–31
If you go back and study Israel’s times of spiritual decline, they are always characterized by a “spiritual forgetting.” “They forgot what God had done; the forgot his mighty works in the past.” How God brings them back is by reminding them of his great salvation.
Don’t forget the gospel.
Step 4: Revival happens when God’s people devote themselves to prayer
A large number of the people—many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun—were ritually unclean, yet they had eaten the Passover contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah had interceded for them, saying, “May the good Lord provide atonement on behalf of whoever sets his whole heart on seeking God, the Lord, the God of his ancestors, even though not according to the purification rules of the sanctuary.” So the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people.
Prayer doesn’t bring the awakening; prayer is the awakening.
Step 5: Revival happens when God’s people give generously
The king contributed from his own possessions for the regular morning and evening burnt offerings, the burnt offerings of the Sabbaths, of the New Moons, and of the appointed feasts, as written in the law of the Lord. He told the people who lived in Jerusalem to give a contribution for the priests and Levites so that they could devote their energy to the law of the Lord. When the word spread, the Israelites gave liberally of the best of the grain, new wine, fresh oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field, and they brought in an abundance, a tenth of everything. As for the Israelites and Judahites who lived in the cities of Judah, they also brought a tenth of the herds and flocks, and a tenth of the dedicated things that were consecrated to the Lord their God. They gathered them into large piles. In the third month they began building up the piles, and they finished in the seventh month. When Hezekiah and his officials came and viewed the piles, they blessed the Lord and his people Israel. Hezekiah asked the priests and Levites about the piles. The chief priest Azariah, of the household of Zadok, answered him, “Since they began bringing the offering to the Lord’s temple, we have been eating and are satisfied and there is plenty left over because the Lord has blessed his people; this abundance is what is left over.”
Chapter 31 goes on to tell about how idolatry was removed from the land, and corruption, and how the people remembered their Lord.
Hezekiah did this throughout all Judah. He did what was good and upright and true before the Lord his God. He was diligent in every deed that he began in the service of God’s temple, in the instruction and the commands, in order to seek his God, and he prospered. After Hezekiah’s faithful deeds, King Sennacherib of Assyria came and entered Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities and intended to break into them.
Who stood in the gap? Hezekiah? His mother? His maternal grandfather? The priests?
Who did the Lord bless?
Then the whole assembly of Judah with the priests and Levites, the whole assembly that came from Israel, the resident aliens who came from the land of Israel, and those who were living in Judah, rejoiced.
Step 1: Remove everything impure from the holy place (the priests can help).
Step 2: Center your church on worship through the Scriptures
Step 3: Center your church on the gospel
Step 4: Revival happens when God’s people devote themselves to prayer
Step 5: Revival happens when God’s people give generously