Return to the LORD

2 Chronicles 30:1 ~ "Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem to keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel."

Long before Hezekiah was king in Jerusalem, the nation of Israel was divided, with Israel in the north and Judah in the south. And this division caused no little friction between the two nations. Border skirmishes, times of war and palpable animosity grew between these two kingdoms. Occasionally, they would partner with each other in order to fend off a stronger assailant, but after the brief alliance, the strife would continue. Despite their fractious condition, they had this in common: they all were still the descendants of the patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. All were included the nation delivered out of slavery in Egypt. It was the whole of the people who received the commandments in the wilderness. All twelve tribes conquered the promised land. They were, in fact, bound together in their common history.

Now divided, the temple was still in Jerusalem and that was the place for worship--no other location had been designated for the national sacrifice to the LORD God, for the gathering of the tribes before the LORD, for the high priest to offer the atonement offering before God. For years--decades--even centuries--the northern kingdom of Israel had failed to join in the worship of the LORD. Remaining distant from the worship of God, they fell into idolatry and wickedness almost immediately. They forsook the worship of the Almighty and formed false gods for themselves. And so it is with anyone who sets themselves apart from the truth. Even today, there are those who are of a heritage of Christian faith but lack any substance for they have removed their heart from the solid foundation of the Word of God and established their own narratives and ideologies.

Hezekiah, the king of Judah, was a man who worshiped God Almighty. He tore down the idolatry of the land, restored the worship of the LORD in the temple, consecrated the priests for the service of the LORD, and led Judah in a national repentance in the fear of God. In 2 Chronicles 29:6, Hezekiah spells out the problem, "For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of the LORD our God. They have forsaken him and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD and turned their backs." But it was not enough for the king of Judah to only call one tribe back to the worship of God. All of the heritage of Abraham must needs return to the place of worship.

And now we come to our text for today. 

Hezekiah sent letters to all the tribes of Israel. The invitation was total, the purpose was to bring back in repentance those who belonged to the LORD that the people of God would be united--not under one earthly king, but under the ONE TRUE GOD. He saw the need for repentance in his land, surely there needed to be repentance across the land. Consider what he said through the curriers in 2 Chronicles 30:8, "Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the LORD and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the LORD your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you." Hezekiah was not asking the northern kingdom to rejoin with Judah, he was calling on the people of God to return to the LORD, to give up their wicked ways and receive God's mercy (see 2 Chronicles 30:9). 

Now, let me ask you, all who are in Christ, are we not bound together as one body belonging to Him? Even as the nation was divided and Hezekiah sought to bring restoration of true worship of all the people, so the church today must seek to worship the LORD in spirit and truth. Many of those who call themselves by the name of Christ have defected to the world and are more in agreement with the worship of modern-day idols than with the LORD Jesus. But, even as Hezekiah called to the northern kingdom, so I would this day call all who are reading this to the true worship of God in humble repentance and faithful obedience to Christ Jesus. You may have sinned, strayed from the truth and maybe even now are delighting yourself in the practices of the world. You can repent and return to Christ. 

Do not let your response be as those who heard the words of the curriers in 2 Chronicles 30:10, "So the couriers went from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun, but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them." And yet, even though they were mocked and scorned, there were some who heeded the warning and returned (see 2 Chronicles 30:11). Will you be one of those? If you have wandered from the truth, do not let this day depart into night before you return to the LORD Jesus Christ.

In His Grace,
Pastor Michael

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