I don’t know about you, but when I finally reach 2 Chronicles 29 in a canonical bible reading plan, I breathe a sigh of relief. If you are like me, you grow weary of reading about some leaders, like Azariah, who “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord (2 Kings 15:3),” but he did not remove the high places where “the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense (15:4).” Or even the king that immediately preceded Hezekiah, King Ahaz, and his blatant false worship against the Lord (2 Chronicles 28). When King Hezekiah enters the scene, I breathe a sigh of relief. I would like to examine three steps Hezekiah took in restoring true worship in Judah and see how they apply to modern worship practices.
A Cleansed Temple
Hezekiah set out to destroy all idol worship in Judah, as the Lord had always decreed. Along with tearing down every false idol, Hezekiah “opened the doors of the temple of the Lord and repaired them (29:4).” Hezekiah not only modeled for the people how true worship functioned, he also reminded them to rid their hearts of false worship practices. This process demanded a cleansing of the Lord’s temple. So how does this apply to modern worship practices?
We read in 1 Corinthians 6:19 that our bodies are a temple for the Holy Spirit, who was given to us after Jesus ascended at Pentecost. With his ascension and the gifting of the Holy Spirit, our bodies are now the temple where the Spirit of God dwells. Thus, in referencing Hezekiah’s process of cleansing the temple, we are reminded that we need to cleanse our hearts and minds through confession of sin and wrongdoing. Only after cleansing can consecration occur.
A Consecrated Temple
Hezekiah commanded the Levites to consecrate themselves and the temple of the LORD by removing “all defilement from the sanctuary (29:5).” He further urged them to “not be negligent” because “the LORD has chosen you to stand before him and serve him, to minister before him and to burn incense (29:11).” This further admonition forced the Levites to recognize their laziness in the past because they had not obeyed God’s decrees in the leading of worship in the temple. Thus, the priests and Levites consecrated the temple by removing everything from it that was unclean, and replacing everything according to God’s specifications.
As we have already seen, today our bodies are a temple for the Holy Spirit. For us to consecrate ourselves to the Lord today, we must realize that we have a choice to obey. When we obey, we heed Peter’s admonition when he states, “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:5-8).” By obeying Peter’s decree, we consecrate ourselves to the Lord’s service, making us effective and productive for the glory of our Lord.
A Worshiping Temple
Finally, after the Levites and priests cleansed and consecrated the temple, they worshiped the Lord in the manner which he instituted. The priests offered sin offerings for atonement, burnt offerings, and thank offerings. As the burnt offerings were offered, the Levites led “singing to the LORD,” which was “accompanied by trumpets and the instruments of David king of Israel (29:27).” Then we see that the “whole assembly bowed in worship, while the singers sang and the trumpeters played. All this continued until the sacrifice of the burnt offering was completed (29:28).” Once the offerings were completed, the entire assembly worshiped God and continued to offer sacrifices to Him.
It is not difficult to see the corresponding action in today’s worship practices once we have cleansed our hearts before God. The author of Hebrews states, since Jesus has made a way for us in salvation, “let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water (Hebrews 10:22).” Theologian Scott Aniol notes, “it is clear that this drawing near is coming to God, and throughout the book of Hebrews the author compares this idea of drawing near to the Hebrew worship practices,” such as “holy place,” “the veil,” “high priest,” “sprinkling,” and “cleansing.”1 Thus, drawing near to God means we get to fellowship with God, which is what happens every week when we gather with the body of believers.
I hope, at the end of this post, you feel encouraged to dig into Scripture and ask God to cleanse your heart so you can draw near to Him in worship. These words are meant to encourage you on in your faith, not discourage you because you feel like you can never get it right. Remember, it is by grace we have been saved, through faith (Ephesians 2:9). We cannot attain salvation on our own merit. It is only the sacrificed blood of Jesus Christ that makes a way for us to draw near to God. So, take the burden of “works” off your shoulders and continue to read the Word, preach the Word, pray the Word, and sing the Word.
For further reading from Acceptable Worship, see Why the Quality of our Worship is Important.
Also, check out this chart from ESV on the good and bad kings of the Old Testament. It helps to see them listed all in the same place.
