“So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. Then the priests, the Levites, arose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard; and their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place, to heaven.”
2 Chronicles 30:26-27
Hezekiah began his reign as king during a time of great turmoil and fear in Israel. Assyria had just destroyed northern Israel during his father’s reign (King Ahaz) and was now threatening Judah. Ahaz was unfaithful to God and sought help from Assyria when a few smaller nations had threatened war against Judah. No help came from Assyria and Ahaz’s angry response was to shut the doors of the temple and put a complete stop to the worship of Yahweh. He even destroyed the articles of the temple and had them reformed into idols of the various gods of the nations.
When Hezekiah finally rose to the throne his first action was to reopen the doors of the temple and revive the worship of the one true God. You’d think his first actions as head of state would be to secure help against the threat of Assyria from some surrounding nation like his father. But Hezekiah realized that the battle belongs to the Lord and that true revival begins with true worship. The very lengthy chapters of 1 Chronicles 29-31 describe all the preparations needed, the various challenges, and all the particulars surrounding the revival of worship. Worship needed to be done according to the word of God, and it took a lot of effort and dedication to accomplish this.
After everything was set in order, the Passover was celebrated and as our weekly meditation verse describes, there was great joy in Judah and their prayers were heard in the heavenly temple before the throne of God. Immediately after this Assyria besieges Jerusalem and God sends just one angel to Jerusalem who kills 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in the night. Deliverance from the enemies of the Lord began with a revival of worship.
Many of us today are praying for revival and that God would deliver us from our enemies. Listen to the message of Hezekiah. If we want true revival. If we want to be delivered from our enemies. It must begin with true worship that is according to the word of God. Like Hezekiah we must be dedicated to offering up joyful, reverent, faithful, and biblical worship. Only then will our prayers rise up to the heavenly temple before the throne of God and true revival made possible.
His mercy endures forever!
Pastor Flynn