THE REVIVAL UNDER KING HEZEKIAH

Text: II CHRONICLES 30:1-9

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INTRODUCTION:

1. The revival under King Hezekiah is one of the most sudden of those recorded in Scripture.  Hezekiah began a work of reformation during the first month of his reign, and within two months the whole land was swept with a wave of revival (cf. 29:36).
2. It should be pointed out that back in those days the king was not only the ruler in the temporal affairs of his nation, but also it was his function to serve as the spiritual leader (cf. II Chronicles 29:10).
3. And King Hezekiah did an excellent job.  Second Kings 18:3 says, King Hezekiah “did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did.”
4. Second Kings 18:6 and 6 says, “He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.  For he clave to the LORD, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses.”
5. “For he clave to the LORD.”  The word means, “to cling, to stick to, to stick with, to stay close.”  The same word is used in Genesis 2:24.
6. “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”
7. King Hezekiah’s reforms, particularly his opening of the temple for worship, and restoring the Passover, and destroying the idols, are all recorded in II Kings 18 and II Chronicles 29-31 (cf. II Chron. 30:1; 31:1). 
8. King Hezekiah’s father, King Ahaz, was an idolater but King Hezekiah brake the images and idols and turned the people away from idols and back to God.
9. Second Chronicles 30:6 says, “So the posts (literally, “runners,” couriers) went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel…”
10. This was the message of revival – “turn again unto the LORD.”
11. America needs to turn back to God!
12. We see a great revival in Mizpeh, recorded in I Samuel 7.  It started when Samuel said to the people of Israel, “Return unto the LORD with all your hearts” (I Samuel 7:3).
13. The words “return” and “turn” were used repeatedly by the prophets of Israel. 
14. Zechariah 1:4 says, “Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings.”
15. Jeremiah 3:12, 14 says, “Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger forever…Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD.”
16. Jeremiah 3:22 says, “Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.”
17. Jeremiah 8:5 says, “Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.”
18. Ezekiel 18:32 says, “For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.”
19. Joel 2:13 says, “And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God…”
20. We see the same message here in II Chronicles 30.  The postmen ran out with the message – “turn again unto the LORD” (30:6).

1. TURN FROM YOUR BACKSLIDING
2. TURN FROM YOUR TRESPASSES
3. TURN FROM YOUR STUBBORNNESS

 

I. TURN FROM YOUR BACKSLIDING (30:6)

1. The people were terribly backslidden.  They were not living for God. They were not keeping the Passover (30:5).
2. The doors of the temple had been shut (29:3, 7).
3. The holy place was filthy (29:5).
4. The people had turned their backs on God (29:6).
   
   This was over 2,700 years ago.  What about today?
   
   Today, people do not read the Bible.  Researchers George Gallup and Jim Castelli said this: “Americans revere the Bible – but, by and large, they don’t read it. And because they don’t read it, they have become a nation of biblical illiterates.”
   
   Research has shown that fewer than half of all adults can name the four gospels.
   
   Many Christians cannot identify more than two or three of our Lord’s disciples.
   
   According to data from the Barna Research Group, 60 percent of Americans can’t name even five of the Ten Commandments.
   
   George Barna, the president of the research firm said, “No wonder people break the Ten Commandments all the time. They don’t know what they are.”
   
    According to 82 percent of Americans, “God helps those who help themselves,” is a Bible verse.
   
   A survey of graduating high school seniors revealed that over 50 percent thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife.
5. Instead of reading the Bible, people sit like zombies in front of the television or computer or cellphone.
6. People watch filthy, disgusting trash on the television and computer.  I noticed a Christian acquaintance posted a “Game of Thrones” video on Facebook.  I don’t know much about that series and I would never watch it. 
7. Out of curiosity I did a quick Google search.  The article I read said that the show was full of extreme violence, gruesome torture, constant nudity, and non-stop sex, including homosexuality, incest, and rape.
8. After reading the article for just a minute or so I felt sick and nauseated.  How could anyone watch this filth?  Especially a Christian?  Even secular critics have called the show “pornographic.”
9. This wicked show has been on the television for seven years.  Think of all the minds that have been corrupted and defiled!
10. America needs to repent.
11. And not just America.  The acquaintance who posted the “Game of Thrones” video lives in the Philippines.  This is a world-wide problem. 
12. A Japanese man apparently died after his massive porn collection fell on top of him.  The 50-year-old’s body was found buried under six tons (over 12,000 pounds) of X-Rated magazines, according to reports.
13. Authorities discovered the victim, known as ‘Joji,’ a month after he had perished in his apartment in Japan. His body was discovered when his landlord came looking for unpaid rent money.
14. His family apparently sent a cleaning crew to his apartment when they found out the circumstances of his death. They hoped to have the magazines removed discreetly so his neighbors wouldn’t notice, but someone from the cleaning crew leaked the details of the man’s death to the news media.
15. Reports were not clear if the man had been crushed to death by the porn magazines, or if he had a heart attack and then fell into them. 
16. The cleaning crew said that every inch of the man’s apartment was filled with the dirty magazines.
17. Pornography is very dangerous!
18. Pornography is not the only sin that is defiling and destroying people today. 
19. Here in America, over a million babies are killed every year through abortion.  This is one of the reasons (perhaps the main reason) there is such fierce opposition to Judge Gorsuch.  The liberals are terrified that Roe vs. Wade might be overturned.
20. God help America!  (II Chronicles 7:14)
21. There is the rapid advancement of homosexuality, transgenderism, and other wicked perversions. 
22. I have been seeing many news reports lately about male athletes who have turned themselves into “women.”  Many people are complaining because these weird men/women have an unfair advantage.
23. America needs to repent.
24. Only a genuine, heaven-sent revival can turn this country back to God, and put the brakes on all of this wickedness.
25. Ezekiel 14:6 says, “Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.”

 

II. TURN FROM YOUR TRESPASSES (30:7)

1. The Hebrew Lexicon says the word translated “trespass” means, “to act unfaithfully, to act treacherously.”
2. God said to turn from that.  “And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the LORD God of their fathers…” (30:7).
3. The big sin in Israel was idolatry (cf. 31:1).  “And be not ye like your fathers…”  King Hezekiah’s father, King Ahaz, was an idolater (28:1-4).
4. Today, America has different idols.  Sadly, many people (even Christians) worship the almighty dollar.
5. The term “almighty dollar was first used by Washington Irving, the New York author well-known for his short stories, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle.”
6. In a short story entitled “The Creole Village,” published in 1836, Irving wrote about a steamboat trip he took through the Louisiana bayous.  He remarked that the Creole people didn’t seem to be money-grubbers chasing after “the almighty dollar.”
7. The phrase caught on quickly, and Mr. Irving was criticized for his apparent irreverence, because in Scripture the term “Almighty” is exclusively used for God.  
8. Washington Irving responded to his critics by saying, “The dollar is daily becoming more and more an object of worship.”
9. Mr. Irving had a point.  Many people are shameless money-grubbers, and I think things have gotten worse since 1836 when he made those comments.
10. Colossians 3:5 says, “Covetousness…is idolatry.”
11. I read an article that said that undertakers are occasionally called upon to provide suitable clothing for the deceased to be buried in. They make special suits for such occasions that look just like ordinary suits, except that these suits have no pockets. Their customers don’t have any need for pockets.
12. First Timothy 6:7-10 says, “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
13. Many people, including many Christians, are living beyond their means.  Today in America, the average household credit card debt has balances totaling $16,000! 
14. Think of all that wasted interest money that could go towards advancing the Gospel (Bibles and missions, etc.). 

 

III. TURN FROM YOUR STUBBORNNESS (30:8)

1. Second Chronicles 30:8 says, “Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the LORD.”  The word “stiffnecked” is often used in the Bible to describe stubborn, rebellious, obstinate sinners. 
2. In Exodus 32:9, the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people.”
3. Deuteronomy 10:16 says, “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.” 
4. Stephen said to the proud and stubborn religious leaders of Jerusalem, “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye” (Acts 7:51).
5. “But yield yourselves unto the LORD” (II Chronicles 30:8).
6. Matthew Henry says this means to come to God on His terms.  “Say not that you will do what you please, but resolve to do what he pleases…There is in the carnal mind a stiffness, an obstinacy, an unaptness to comply with God.”
7. God offered them a clear choice: “Serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you” (30:8b; cf. 29:10). 
8. A clear choice: Serve God or face His wrath.
9. This choice must be made by everyone.  “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36).
10. Serve God or face His wrath (II Chron. 30:8b; cf. Ephesians 5:3-6).

 

CONCLUSION:

1. R.A. Torrey was a pastor and a Bible college president and an author and an evangelist. 
2. R.A. Torrey said this:

I can give you a prescription that will bring a revival to any church or community or any city on earth. The prescription is as follows:

First, let a few Christians (they need not be many) get thoroughly right with God themselves. This is the prime essential. If this is not done, the rest that I am to say will come to nothing.

Second, let them bind themselves together to pray for a revival until God opens the heavens and comes down.

Third, let them put themselves at the disposal of God for Him to use as He sees fit in winning others to Christ.

That is all!

This is sure to bring a revival to any church or community. I have given this prescription around the world. It has been taken by many churches and many communities, and in no instance has it ever failed; and it cannot fail!