In 2 Chronicles 30, Hezekiah completes the repairs on the temple that his father Ahaz had defiled. The sacrifices are reconstituted and the city of Jerusalem is once more a city of joy and holiness. Hezekiah in his zeal reaches out to the northern tribes and invites them to come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. Some tribes mocked but others willingly came with humble hearts to connect with what God was doing. The result was a move of God that patterns for us what revival can look like in our day.
[2Ch 30:1-27 KJV] 1 And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the LORD God of Israel. 2 For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, to keep the passover in the second month. 3 For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem. 4 And the thing pleased the king and all the congregation. 5 So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the passover unto the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem: for they had not done [it] of a long [time in such sort] as it was written.
6 So the posts 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, and he will return to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria. 7 And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the LORD God of their fathers, [who] therefore gave them up to desolation, as ye see. 8 Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers [were, but] yield yourselves unto the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you. 9 For if ye turn again unto the LORD, your brethren and your children [shall find] compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the LORD your God [is] gracious and merciful, and will not turn away [his] face from you, if ye return unto him.
Hezekiah in the previous chapter had repaired the temple and restored it to it’s ceremonially cleansed condition. The sin offerings and burnt offerings were carried out for the first time in many years because under Hezekiah’s father Ahaz the door of the temple had been sealed. Now having reconstituted temple worship Hezekiah’s ambition and zeal for the Lord knows no bounds. Not only does he invite the southern kingdom to come to the renewed temple he extends an unprecedented invitation to the 10 northern tribes to come to Jerusalem for the Passover.
Up until this point only Benjamin and Levi had continued in their fidelity to the Davidic kings. Under king Solomon’s reign a prophet had raised up a servant by the name of Jeroboam and given him the 10 northern tribes by the word of the Lord – because of Solomon’s idolatries. Now after generations of civil war and enmity between these brother nations Hezekiah brings down all his defenses and invites their enemies in the north to come again to the temple to sacrifice and celebrate the Passover.
The Passover is the one great feast that represents for us the new birth experience. In Passover Jesus is our savior. In Pentecost He is our baptizer and in Tabernacles He is our resurrection. In Hezekiah’s time the Passover becomes a great unifier of brother tribes once in enmity with one another. In Christ the new birth is a great unifier of peoples who otherwise have nothing in common but come together as brothers in Christ. In the early years of the Charismatic renewal unity was a theme that brought churches and groups together across national borders and denominational lines to celebrate oneness in Christ and the unity of the Holy Spirit. It has been many years since this has been in evidence in the body of Christ. It is one thing to cross ideological barriers and take your brother’s hand but in today’s cultural climate the church is more personality driven by strong and competitive leaders who are reticent to sanction their followers to connect with anything they do not control.
10 So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun: but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them. 11 Nevertheless divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem. 12 Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of the LORD. 13 And there assembled at Jerusalem much people to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation. 14 And they arose and took away the altars that [were] in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away, and cast [them] into the brook Kidron. 15 Then they killed the passover on the fourteenth [day] of the second month: and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of the LORD.
