II Chronicles 29:3-5 says, “He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and repaired them. And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the east street. And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.”
Revival is the desire of many Christians in our land today. In the next seven blog posts, I want us to look at some things that are involved in revival, from the great revival of Hezekiah’s day.
The need for revival then and now was due to filthiness in the holy place. As a young pastor, I was excited when Christmas came around. Others caught the excitement . We were going to have the best Christmas cantata ever. I went to the hills and got small logs. We built a solid barn-like manger with plywood on the flat roof for the little angels to stand on. It fit perfectly on the platform. We laid down black plastic throughout the sanctuary and covered it with a couple of bales of straw so people could walk on it and feel like they were a part of the manger scene. Despite the black plastic, straw got in the carpet. It took months to get it out—along with the smell.
When Hezekiah began to rule, the temple was defiled by his father, Ahaz, a very wicked king. He cut up the vessels of the house and shut up the doors (II Chronicles 28:24). It was in Hezekiah’s heart to bring the nation back to God. The very first thing he did when he got into office was to deal with the temple, getting rid of the filth.
If we are going to have revival today we must get the filthiness out of the holy place. Where is the holy place? It could be the church building, the church leaders, or the congregation. When we consider our bodies to be the temple of God, it is possible the filth is in our hearts. Wherever it is, it is high time to clean house if we want revival. Part of revival is opening up the doors. Simply, “Open up your heart and let the Sunshine in” (A medley of two songs written in 1967 by James Rado, Gerome Ragne and Galt MacDermot).
I Peter 4:17 states, “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God….” Before the filthiness could be carried out of the temple, the Levites were first to clean themselves. Matthew 7:5 says, “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”
Hezekiah was concerned about the state of his heart, and that of his people. They were under the wrath of God. We don’t like to think about God’s wrath. Instead we stand and sing about His awesomeness. God’s wrath is not to be taken lightly. Hebrews 10:31 confirms, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Ahaz had not only closed the doors of the temple, but had caused the old-time, God-ordained worship to cease. Hezekiah wanted to start over with God and get down to covenant business with Him (II Chronicles 29:10).
Our business today, if we want revival, is to expose the holy place for what it is. Ephesians 5:27 says, “That he (Christ) might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without blemish.” Preparation is part of revival. Along with Randy Scruggs and John W. Thompson, (writers of this song), “Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true…” let us prepare for revival!
