2 Chronicles 29-31: The King Calls

In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the LORD and repaired them. He brought in the priests and the Levites, assembled them in the square on the east side  and said: “Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the LORD, the God of your fathers. Remove all defilement from the sanctuary.  Our fathers were unfaithful; they did evil in the eyes of the LORD our God and forsook him. They turned their faces away from the LORD’s dwelling place and turned their backs on him. They also shut the doors of the portico and put out the lamps. They did not burn incense or present any burnt offerings at the sanctuary to the God of Israel.  Therefore, the anger of the LORD has fallen on Judah and Jerusalem; he has made them an object of dread and horror and scorn, as you can see with your own eyes.  This is why our fathers have fallen by the sword and why our sons and daughters and our wives are in captivity.  Now I intend to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger will turn away from us. - 2 Chron. 29:2-10 NIV

Sometimes it takes a king to challenge the priests, the ones who should have been following fast after the heart of  God, to repentance and re-consecration.  Imagine Hezekiah.  He is twenty-five years old and has just become king following the death of his father Ahaz who desecrated the temple and set up altars on every street corner and high places in every town in Judah.  Hezekiah must have watched the decline in Judah as his father became more corrupt and realized that there was no benefit to be derived from following the other gods.  But, it was the priests who had allowed the temple to be ransacked and the priest who had neglected their priestly duties and so it fell to Hezekiah to fling open the doors of the temple and challenge the priests and Levites to return to the role that God had prescribed. 

I wonder how God sees our temples today.  Not our churches, although that is a topic for re-examination, but the temple where God now dwells.  As the Apostle Paul said:   Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;  you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body- (1 Cor. 6:19-20 NIV)  Have our temples become defiled?  Have we adopted the world's attitudes and practices?  Have they become useless as a place of worship and consecration to God?  There is a king who opened the doors and repaired them.  Now he calls us to a new covenant.  He has flung open the door, will we answer the call?

2010 Post - 2 Chronicles 29-31:  Return to God and He Will Return to You