AWAKE BIBLE IN A YEAR JULY 18
Read 2 Kings 18:1-8, 2 Chronicles 29-31, Psalm 48
Sydney Lund “For he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following Him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses. And the Lord was with him; wherever he went out, he prospered” 2 Kings 18:6-7
King Hezekiah followed God with his whole heart and trusted in Him and cleansed the temples and cities, removing all impurities. We are living under the new covenant and don’t have to go to the temples to be with God, He is constantly with us because we are His temples. How often to we “cleanse” the temple? How often do we tear down the altars of the world that we have built in our hearts?
Holy Spirit, would you come in and cleanse your temple. Make us right with You. Expose the altars we have built up and worship instead of You. Be with us Jesus and help us to prosper in our walk with You.
Char here. Today we read of pardon in the Passover. Once before, in Numbers 9:6-12 Moses makes an exception for those who have been defiled by a corpse. But Moses wasn’t presumptuous is didn’t call an audible. He required them to wait till he heard from God if this was permissible. If you read it for yourself, they were able to celebrate it a month later on the 14th day of the second month. Similarly in the days of Judah the general context is one of restoration from uncleanness. These people are going back to the word of God and the keeping of the Mosaic law. The next time that they will observe the Passover they will do it on the right month with all the purification laws intact so this exception doesn’t set a precedence like God doesn’t care about the details or, that the law was not important. I propose rather the meal of lamb in the days of Hezekiah King of Judah is a shadow of Christ the King who will pardon sin and— Christ the Lamb our perfect substitute to make clean all the unclean. “Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the Lord, who is good, pardon everyone who sets their heart on seeking God—the Lord, the God of their ancestors—even if they are not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary.” And the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people.” 2 Chronicles 30:18-20 NIV
Hezekiah unlike David and Uzzah (1 Chron 13:5-14) firsts consults God, asking for their breaking of protocol to be forgiven. This awareness and subsequent humility was paramount. And the prayer request is offered to the Lord, ‘pardon everyone who sets their heart on seeking God.’ 🥹 Jesus the SON OF DAVID hung on the cross under the sign, KING OF THE JEWS, saying FATHER forgive them knowing full well how unclean the people had become. These two sons of David are unmistakably similar even though separated by generations.
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