II Chronicles 30:18-20 states, “For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the Passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good LORD pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary. And the LORD harkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.”
My brother Bobby and I were allowed to take communion when we were rather young—Bobby being about eight. We had finished drinking the grape juice when I noticed Bobby, head pointed up, working his tongue around in the little glass communion cup to get the last drop. The way his tongue curved to fit the cup reminded me of a little calf sucking on its mama. It was not the right time to laugh, I found out later.
In our text, Judah and Israel were in a time of revival. They were celebrating the long-neglected Passover feast (II Chronicles 30:5). Jesus shared the Passover Supper with His disciples before His death. In I Corinthians 11:23-29, Paul recalls this supper. We call it the Lord’s Supper, for Jesus points to Himself as the Passover Lamb. Paul made some comments in this passage. He wrote in verse 29, “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.” In verse 28, Paul said to let a man examine himself and then eat and drink.
As a boy, I would ask God to forgive me of my sins, promise to quit sinning, and then partake. The next time I did the same thing, feeling guilty because I had not kept my promise. I finally got things settled at the altar. When I did sin again, I repented immediately, and came to a point of complete surrender, allowing the Holy Spirit to come into my heart with power over sin. I found that walking after the Spirit, and not after the flesh was the key to victory. Let us keep walking! (Romans 8:1).
In our text, a multitude of people were partaking of the Passover unworthily. That could be true today. This is a serious problem. Jesus said, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). This has an effect on the whole church. In the revival of Hezekiah’s time, it was the northern tribes that were not cleansed. This could have ruined everything. Judah could have got stirred up over this. They had already eaten of the Passover. This could have resulted in a great division.
The division never happened. The problem was resolved because Hezekiah, in the spirit of revival, went to the Lord in prayer: “…The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God…though he be not cleansed.” What a prayer! God answered his prayer and healed the people.
The devil would like to ruin every revival. Revival will not continue without prayer. We had a great revival in our church in Naches, Washington. Rev. Wayne Lawson was the evangelist. The teenage choir was seated on the platform. The Baptist preacher’s son was seated on the back row that was against the wall. The next morning when I came into the sanctuary, the heavy overhead screen had come loose in the night and fallen down on the back row, doing damage. Satan tried, but the good angels prevailed. The revival continued on for three more weeks into the Deeper Life Crusade. Prayer is always important. God hears the prayer of revival!
