Teaching Notes

TH1066: II CHRONICLES

Last time we were together, in our study thru the Bible, we saw Ahaz reigning in the Southern Kingdom of Judah. And Ahaz was a wicked king that influenced the nation in a negative way. Because of his influence the nation never fully recovered, although we will see some periods of spiritual revival under the leadership of other kings. But for the most part they are on their way to captivity at the hands of the Babylonians. Judgment was only some 110 years down the road, but is fast approaching. As we move into II Chronicles chapter 29, Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, is on the throne in the Southern Kingdom of Judah.

II CHRONICLES 29

VERSES 1-2

1. Hezekiah was probably the best king since the time of David. The reason I can say that is this. Not only did Hezekiah bring spiritual reform to the nation, but he was also able to remove the high places that were used in worship. Also, II Kings chapter 18 tells us that Hezekiah broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses made in the wilderness. You remember the story from Numbers chapter 21, during their wilderness wanderings the people began to complain again and saying that they would rather be back in Egypt than to die in the wilderness. And because of their murmuring God brought judgment by sending poisonous serpents among the people, and many died from their bites.

And the people came to Moses, repented of their sins and God told Moses to make a brass serpent and place it upon a pole. Then, whoever is bitten by one of these serpents, all they would have to do is look at this brass serpent upon the pole and they would be healed. And all that did were healed and all that refused, thinking that was ridiculous, died. And all this was a picture of Christ and the work He was to do. As Jesus said in John 3:14-15 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

And now some 800 years after this event here in Numbers 21, (wilderness wanderings were around 1500 BC), the people were worshipping this bronze serpent on a pole. And Hezekiah destroys it, calling it NEHUSTAN, or a thing of bronze. He was telling them that God is not that bronze serpent, nor is He in any man-made image, open your eyes and get right with God. In worshipping this idol it just showed that they had lost the consciousness of God and they were trying to replace it with this idol, which will never help. Hezekiah brought spiritual reform farther than anyone else, but as we will see, it will be to little to late for the Southern Kingdom of Judah.

2. Now Hezekiah is sandwiched between his father Ahaz, who was Judah's worst king up to that point, and Hezekiah's son Manasseh, who was by far Judah's worst king. Now what changed Hezekiah? What made him such a good king when his father Ahaz was such a wicked king? I think that Hezekiah saw what happened during his fathers reign. The folly of his fathers actions and the judgment that came upon the nation. And as he looked to the Scriptures, he recognized why this was all happening. He saw how the kingdom prospered under David and how that God would bless those that were obedient to Him and curse those that were disobedient to Him. God was the focus of his life and he was guided in his walk with the Lord by the Scriptures. Also, Isaiah the prophet influenced his life in a positive manner, (Isaiah 36-39). If only more people today would follow the example of Hezekiah, and look at the examples of men that have gone before us and walk by God's Word directed by His Spirit!

VERSE 3

1. Hezekiah wastes no time in bringing forth spiritual reform to the nation. The first thing he does is to re-open the house of worship, the temple, and to repair it. Why did he have to do this? Because during his fathers reign, Ahaz closed everything up that had to do with the Lord. We are told in II Chronicles 28:24 "So Ahaz gathered the articles of the house of God, cut in pieces the articles of the house of God, shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and made for himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem." Thus, Hezekiah is going to open the doors of worship once again, the place where spiritual revival is to begin.

VERSES 4-5

1. The temple was used as a big storage area where all the junk, all that was worthless was kept. And I think many times we fill our hearts with all kinds of garbage, like bitterness, anger, covetousness, all kinds of carnality, and in doing that or having that in our hearts, we have a hard time worshipping the Lord. You see, we are the temple of God, and God wants us to remove that garbage from His temple, and the amazing thing is, that as God purges more and more of that garbage from our hearts, from our lives, the easier it is to worship Him.

VERSES 6-9

1. Hezekiah understands the reasons that God has brought judgment upon Judah, that they turned from the Lord. And he is probably thinking back to Deuteronomy chapter 28 where God said He would bless His people for their obedience to Him and curse those that were disobedient to Him. They were to be a light to the world by showing how God blesses those who love and obey Him. But by letting the Menorah go out, which was to burn perpetually, they no longer were the light to the world, but have shut up the house of God. Because of that, God brought judgment upon them, some were even taken captive by the enemy. It is one thing to recognize your wrong, but Hezekiah takes it a step farther, he is going to do something about it.

VERSES 10-11

1. In Hosea 4:6 we read "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children." Thus, Hezekiah is going to gather together the religious leaders, to see that they get right with God, to consecrate their hearts before the Lord. You see, if the leaders hearts are not right, if they are wicked, so too will be the hearts of the people. So Hezekiah begins with the leaders and then will move to the common people.

VERSES 12-17

1. As the priests came together, they sanctified themselves before the Lord and then began to clean the house of the Lord. During the reign of Ahaz the house of the Lord, the temple, became a big storage area for junk. It took them 8 days to clean the outer court and another 8 days to clean the temple proper or the holy place and the holy of holies. 16 days in all to remove all the junk that had been stored there and to restore the house of God to a place of worship. That tells me that the temple was trashed, for it was not just a couple of guys doing the cleaning, but the priests came together to assist in this work, and they took the trash out to the Brook Kidron. This was a major cleaning project and yet it was so important in re-establishing the worship of God.

VERSES 18-19

1. Not only was the temple cleaned, but all that was broken was restored, and those things that were removed from the temple were brought back. The temple was prepared once again for sacrifices to take place and the worship of God to begin.

VERSES 20-24

1. The first thing that the priests do is offer a sacrifice for their sins. You see, sin had separated man from God, and thus, the sin offering covered your sins or made atonement for your sins. This sacrifice was a substitute, for you would take your hands and place them on the animal as the priest killed the animal. This represented your sins being transferred to the animal and through its death your sins have been covered. It was truly a horrible sight when you think about it, but it shows us how horrible sin really is. But the shedding of blood was needed as God said in Leviticus 17:11, "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul." The Hebrew word for "atonement" is KAPHAR which speaks of a "covering" or "to cover." You see, as the writer of Hebrews says that the blood of goats and calves could never take away your sins, but pointed to something that would one day make all of us AT ONE (MENT) with God!

2. As we move to the New Testament, John the baptist, in seeing Christ, says "...'Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!'" John 1:29. Jesus came to TAKE AWAY, completely remove sin from us through His sacrificial death. The Greek word for "atonement" is KATALLAGE and speaks of a "reconciliation." You see, Jesus has reconciled us to God by His blood, which has cleansed us from our sins. As Paul said in Romans 5:9-11 "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation."

Also, in Hebrews 9:22, 27-28 we read "And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation." Thus, Jesus has reconciled us to God by His blood, He has restored that fellowship that was broken by sin.

3. Today the Orthodox Jews have no temple, no sacrifices, no shedding of blood, and thus no atonement for their sins. And so, on the day of Atonement, the Jews see if their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds, and if they do, then God accepts them. When Christ died on the cross of Calvary the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom. This veil was what separated the holy place from the holy of holies, and some say it was 18 inches thick and a mule team of 20 could not pull it apart. And yet God opened the way to the holy of holies, the place where God dwells by tearing that curtain from top to bottom and now we can all come to Him through His Son Jesus Christ. The sad thing is that the Jews, and many others, through a works mentality or theology, have sewn that veil back up once again, preventing man to come to God.

Listen to what Hebrews 9:11-14 says regarding the work of Christ. We read "But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"

VERSES 25-26

1. Hezekiah must have studied the life of David because he is trying to pattern his life after David's. He is trying to do the things that David did for Hezekiah rightly recognized that there are blessings for those who are obedient to the Lord, just as was seen in the life of David.

VERSES 27-28

1. Now, after the sin offering was made, atonement was made for their sins, then the burnt offering was made. And the burnt offering spoke of our consecration to the Lord. In this offering the entire animal was given to the Lord and it symbolically represented our own lives, and how we give our whole life to the Lord as a sacrifice. Paul spoke of this in Romans 12:1 when he said "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." Or "your spiritual worship." But until your sin was atoned for, you could not consecrate yourself to the Lord.

VERSES 29-30

1. The joy that filled the hearts of the people exploded into a time of worship, as they sang the songs of David and Asaph unto the Lord.

VERSES 31-35

1. The thank offerings were also the fellowship or peace offering. And you would bring your sacrifice to the priest and he would take the fat, the liver and the blood and that was burned on the altar to the Lord. Then the rest of the animal was barbecued, some given to the priest and the rest back to you. In that culture, when you ate with someone, you became one with that person. Thus, symbolically speaking, you were becoming one with the Lord through this offering. But understand this, before you can have fellowship with God, before you can consecrate yourself to God, you must deal with the sin in your life, and that was done by the sin offering, and today by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life. It is only when His blood is applied to our lives that our sins can be removed completely from us and because of that we can give ourselves completely over to Him to be used by Him and enjoy intimate fellowship with Him.

2. Also, notice that they did this from a willing heart, they were forced into it. You can't legislate righteousness, you can't force people to worship God, it has to come from their heart. Remember the reforms that king Asa tried to enforce in the Southern Kingdom of Judah. In II Chronicles 15:12-13 we read "Then they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; and whoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman." That did not change peoples hearts back then and it doesn't change peoples hearts today. Just by threatening them to worship the Lord with death does not make them love the Lord, it only creates a false worship that is born out of the fear of death. It has to come from their hearts!

3. Only the descendants of Aaron could be priests, the Levites just assisted in the upkeep of the temple and-so-on. But for some reason the priests did not go through the purification process so they could perform their duties. And so the Levites helped them out for the sacrifices were to numerous. Today we see many who are lost and searching for God, and God is looking for people to put into service to minister to them. Don't think that you need a college degree to minister to the lost, you don't. In fact it seems that God is doing like He did when the church first got started, putting unlearned and uneducated men into the ministry. And as God blesses these men, the establishment, the religious leaders just shake their heads because they can't understand how they are doing it. But it is not the schooling that is important, it is who you know!

You see, when the Sanhedrin, the religious establishment back in Jesus' time, saw how these fishermen, Peter and John, were speaking with boldness and so profoundly, they were dumbfounded. The only thing they saw that changed these men is spoken of in Acts 4:13, "...they realized that they had been with Jesus." God uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. Be open to where God is leading you. Spend time with Him. Don't look at your credentials for service, look to Jesus to equip you for the work He wants you to do.

VERSE 36

1. When the Spirit of God begins to move, HOLD ON! When God spoke to my heart and told me He would move me and my family to Wisconsin to be a senior pastor, I could not believe it. And that was some 8-10 years ago, and it seemed like a very slow process. But during those years God was teaching me, preparing me for the work that He had called me to. And then when God opened the door, all I could do is hang on, for when He began to move us, things just flowed and before I knew it, I was in Manitowoc with my family, and now it has been a little over a year and one half since we have been here. Folks, when the Spirit of God begins to move, things happen very quickly and hold on and see what God is going to do.

II CHRONICLES 30

VERSE 1

1. You have to love the heart of this man. Not only does he send letters to Judah, but also to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, to come and join them in the Passover celebration. Right now the time is around 720-715 BC, and the Northern Kingdom of Israel has been carried away captive by the Assyrians for their idolatry. Only a few people remained in the land and Hezekiah is saying to them that it is not to late to get right with God. What a heart. Many today would say that they got what they deserved, but this king opens his arms to them to come back and get right with God. That is a shepherds heart.

VERSES 2-3

1. Hezekiah began his reign the first month of the ecclesiastical or religious year, which was the month of Nisan or March/April. Now the Passover was also celebrated in the month of Nisan. The problem was that the temple was not cleaned until the 16th of the month, and Passover began on the 14th of the month, followed by the feast of unleavened bread which began on the 15th of the month and ran for 7 days. Also the priests had not sanctified themselves or cleansed themselves as yet. So they could not celebrate Passover in the first month.

Interestingly enough, in Numbers 9:9-11 we read "Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'If anyone of you or your posterity is unclean because of a corpse, or is far away on a journey, he may still keep the Lord's Passover. On the fourteenth day of the second month, at twilight, they may keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.'" So God made a provision that if you could not celebrate Passover in the first month you could celebrate it on the 14th day of the second month.

VERSES 4-5

1. Word is sent from the south to the north, throughout all the land of Israel, to join in this Passover celebration.

VERSE 6

1. To the Northern Kingdom is an invitation to those who have escaped from the hands of the Assyrians, not only to join in the Passover celebration, but to return to the Lord and He will return to you. Get right with God or you will remain separated from Him.

VERSES 7-9

1. Hebrews 13:8 says "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." And yet when we think of God in the Old Testament we think of Him as full of wrath and vengeance. But that is the wrong concept of God, for God has not changed. The God of the New Testament is the God of the Old Testament, full of grace and mercy. Lamentations 3:22-23 says "Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness."

2. Also, what they do will affect their brethren who are in captivity. And that is true today. You see, we are part of the same body, the body of Christ. And what one part of the body does affects the entire body, we can not be separated. When one brother or sister stumbles or falls, when a leader stumbles or falls, it affects us all. And because of that we are tied together, and we are not only accountable to God, but to each other.

VERSE 10

1. Here we see a sad picture of what a hard heart, or a stiff-necked person is like. God has just brought judgment upon the Northern Kingdom of Israel for their sin, and even after many have been carried away captive, they still refuse to repent of their sin. They laugh in the face of God. And they may laugh for a time, but God's grace and mercy will come to an end, and they will face their maker, not laughing, but with tears in their eyes, but it will be to little, to late! As the writer of Hebrews says "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Hebrews 10:31.

VERSES 11-12

1. Not all had such hard hearts, but some did respond to the invitation to get right with God and go to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. And I love what was going on in Judah, they had a "singleness of heart." They were focused on the Lord which united them together as one. Folks, Jesus is the one that has united us together, and that will never change.

VERSE 13

1. In Deuteronomy 16:16-17 we read "Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you." Also, the feast of unleavened bread had Passover included in it and many times they were spoken of as just one feast. But the feast of Passover began on the 14th of Nisan and the feast of unleavened bread began on the 15th of Nisan and ran for 7 days.

VERSES 14-17

1. During the feast of Passover you were to take your own lamb without spot or blemish, and you were to sacrifice it yourself. The problem here was that many of the people had not ceremonially cleansed themselves, and most likely many did not even know how anymore. And so the Levites sacrificed the lambs for those that were unclean.

VERSES 18-20

1. The people from the Northern Kingdom of Israel were into idolatry so long, they did not even know how to cleanse themselves, and yet they yearned to come back to the Lord. They were seeking after God. And thus, they just came as they were. Now Hezekiah could have refused to let them join in this religious ritual. He could have looked at their outward appearance and rejected them from entering in. But he understood that it was not the religious ritual, celebrating Passover, that saves you, it is a mater of the heart and the people were seeking after the true and living God.

2. The opposite seems to be happening today, where people are prevented from entering a church because of they way they look, the way the dress or whatever. Back in the 1970's there was a hippie couple who were truly seeking the Lord and they entered a church to get right with God. But because of the way they looked, the pastor told them to first go and get cleaned up, cut their hair, change their clothes, and then come back. They never did! God is saying to come just as you are! It is a matter of the heart and not the clothes you wear. May we never forget that here at Calvary Chapel, for all are welcome!

VERSE 21

1. When true revival breaks out it is seen with great joy and God gives new songs to be sung. And I love what is said here, they played "loud instruments." Worship styles change but the words do remain the same, the focus remains the same, it is upon God. I look forward to God giving our worship team new songs as He speaks to their hearts. To often we are living in the past, back in the 17th century or so, singing hymns. And please understand that there is nothing wrong with hymns, but God is still alive and He gives us new songs to sing. New life that focus us back on Him. Worship should be upward.

VERSES 22-23

1. Worship was important, but so was the Word of God. And so they began some Bible studies, feeding on the Word of God. And things were so awesome, they extended their celebration another 7 days. They did not want to stop.

VERSE 24

1. Hezekiah gives out of his own possessions unto the Lord.

VERSES 25-27

1. When your eyes are focused on the Lord, you can't help but rejoice. You have the right perspective on life. As Hebrews 13:5-6 says "Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' So we may boldly say: 'The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?'" And God truly inhabits the praises of His people, as was evident during this celebration and as we have seen in our own lives.