PLT Message

April 26, 2008

Being Ready for the Celebration of God!

INTRODUCTION
By studying Hezekiah, we are going to study how he prepared the people to reopen the
temple of the Lord and how he brought his people into the celebration of the Lord…of
the Lamb of God.

Background:
Before King Hezekiah, there was a king Ahaz in the land of Judah. This king was not
devoted to the Lord and he closed the temple of God and devoted himself to idol
worship.

When Hezekiah became the king, He had the desire to please God. He found out that
God wanted to be worshipped and he wanted to reopen the worship/celebration of God.
Hezekiah’s work is to start a restoration in the temple of God and the people of God.

KEY TEXT
2 Chronicles 29

VERSE-BY-VERSE

• V. 3-4 – “In the very first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah reopened
the doors of the Temple of the LORD and repaired them. He summoned the
priests and Levites to meet him at the courtyard east of the Temple.”

What is revival? God’s arrival! God is returning his heart back to His people because
now His people’s heart has been turned back to God.

God is preparing a revival in our generation, to turn our generation back to the Lord that
He may arrive again!

To fulfill this revival, God is calling the priests and the Levites  those who are
wholly devoted to God, who are desiring to give their entire lives devoted to the Lord
alone, people want to be in the ministry of God (temple of God)…those who are
separated!

• V. 5 – “He said to them, “Listen to me, you Levites! Purify yourselves, and
purify the Temple of the LORD, the God of your ancestors. Remove all the
defiled things from the sanctuary.”

The priests had to be purified before they could serve the Lord.

When God calls you, He will not allow even a little bit of blemish in your heart, mind, and
lifestyle. Many of us are going through the process where God is pointing out little

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things in our lives that need to be changed. Thank God that He is beginning to point
those things out because He desires to purify us.

Do not be afraid to be holy and purified before the presence of God because God is
preparing you as priests and Levites to prepare for revival. Those who are called to be
priests and Levites  God will set them apart and through them, God will bring revival.

Will you grown and moan about being different or being persecuted? Revival will
come…but it may not happen through you. I pray that you will be summoned to bring
revival for this generation!

In the second part of verse 5, Hezekiah calls the people not only to purify themselves
but to purify the temple of God.

• V 6-7 – “Our ancestors were unfaithful and did what was evil in the sight of the
LORD our God. They abandoned the LORD and his dwelling place; they turned their
backs on him. They also shut the doors to the Temple’s entry room, and they
snuffed out the lamps. They stopped burning incense and presenting burnt
offerings at the sanctuary of the God of Israel.”

Ahaz completely rejected the temple of God. Because of his idol-worship the temple of
God was defiled.

What is the temple of God? During those times, it was an actual building, built by
Solomon where God was going to dwell. The temple of God is the place in which God
dwells and He alone is worshipped.

Hezekiah not only called the priests and Levites to purify themselves…but he asked
them to purify the temple of God. He asked them to take away all of the things that did
not please God.

In order for God’s revival to come in our generation, God is asking His church, His
ministry, and His people to be cleansed. Not only is God calling the people of God, but
He is calling the church through which God will bring revival.

Not only individually is God calling us to revival, but God is calling the church to purify
themselves. How will the world know God exists? Through the church! The church is
the temple of God where God dwells. When the body of Christ has been defiled…He
cannot come and move through us.

So what is God doing before the great revival? God is coming and purifying the
churches and bringing them back to worship and prayer…reviving that vision of prayer.
God is calling the priests and the Levites to purify themselves AND to purify the
ministry/temple of God.

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• V. 24, 27-30 – “…The king had specifically commanded that this burnt offering
and sin offering should be made for all Israel…Then Hezekiah ordered that
the burnt offering be placed on the altar. As the burnt offering was presented,
songs of praise to the LORD were begun, accompanied by the trumpets and other
instruments of David, the former king of Israel. The entire assembly worshiped
the LORD as the singers sang and the trumpets blew, until all the burnt offerings
were finished. Then the king and everyone with him bowed down in worship.
King Hezekiah and the officials ordered the Levites to praise the LORD with the
psalms written by David and by Asaph the seer. So they offered joyous praise
and bowed down in worship.”

After all of the purification process, there is atonement (sin offering) offering made…and
God was restoring the worship movement. The same idea is going on now! There are
more ministries now understanding the worship movement (24/7 worship/prayer
movements).

God is going to restore worship unto Him because He will forever be worshipped and
praised from the lips of His people. But the thing is…are you ready for this worship
movement? Are you preparing yourself for this in the future?

These people were being prepared and when the door was opened for the temple to be
restored, they were ready to worship the Lord.

• 30:1 – “King Hezekiah now sent word to all Israel and Judah, and he wrote letters
of invitation to the people of Ephraim and Manasseh. He asked everyone to
come to the Temple of the LORD at Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover of
the LORD, the God of Israel.”

King Hezekiah is now calling all people to come to the city of God (Jerusalem) and
worship the Lord.

In a place where God dwells…in the cities that God dwells…the people will flock to
those areas to praise the Lord!

What is the Passover? The process started during the time of Moses. When the angel
of death came to kill the first-born sons of Egypt, the people of the Lord placed blood
upon the door. When the angel came and saw the blood, it passed over that family.

God is calling them to remember their salvation. God is calling them to a great
celebration! Hezekiah is calling all the people to come and celebrate the Passover.

• V. 2-3 – “The king, his officials, and all the community of Jerusalem decided to
celebrate Passover a month later than usual. They were unable to celebrate it
at the prescribed time because not enough priests could be purified by
then, and the people had not yet assembled at Jerusalem.”

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Why is revival not happening right now? It is because the priests are not ready. Do you
know why His revival is not coming? God is desiring to reap souls during this great
revival…but no workers are ready for this great harvest! So God, in his mercy, is
holding back the great harvest until you and I are ready and purified.

• V. 6 – “At the king’s command, runners were sent throughout Israel and Judah.
They carried letters…”

Runners  messengers  you and I! Before the celebration can happen…

messengers must go out and proclaim the good news and the message of God!

• V. 6-8 – “O people of Israel, return to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Israel…Do not be like your ancestors and relatives who abandoned the LORD…Do
not be stubborn, as they were, but submit yourselves to the LORD. Come to his
Temple, which he has set apart as holy forever. Worship the LORD your God so
that his fierce anger will turn away from you.”

The message of the messengers  return to the Lord…come back to your God! Why?
Because we have been abandoning God!

This is the message of repentance! If you are a messenger of God…what is the

message on your lips? If you are speaking about how to be happy, receive riches and
wealth…then the people’s itching ears are being satisfied.

No. God’s message in preparation for the great revival is that his runners will take the
message of God to the people of God and say, “Come back to God. Return to God!”

• V. 10-11 – “The runners went from town to town throughout Ephraim and
Manasseh and as far as the territory of Zebulun. But most of the people just
laughed at the runners and made fun of them. However, some people from
Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem.”

When you run with the message of God, there will be people who make fun of you and
call you radical. In fact, most of the people will reject you. But do not be dismayed in
being persecuted for what you say because you are speaking the message of the Lord.

Still, there will be some people…perhaps few people…who will humble themselves and
hear the message of the Lord. Those people will go with you and run with you!

• V. 12 – “At the same time, God’s hand was on the people in the land of
Judah, giving them all one heart to obey the orders of the king and his
officials, who were following the word of the LORD.”

While the runners are going around awakening the generation…in the land of Judah
(the place where revival will break out) God’s hand was upon them and they all became
one!

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Not only will God use you as a runner…but God will also sweep through the place of
revival and bring unity. Fight to keep unity amongst the body of Christ! For the main
purpose is to maintain the way of the Lord, fulfilling what God has called us to do! We
have a greater purpose. Do not allow the enemy to come and separate you from the
calling of God in the group! Do not succumb to the thoughts of your mind but rise up in
the work of the Lord to be united!

• V. 5 – “The people had not been celebrating it in great numbers as required in the
Law.”

God is calling us to unite in great numbers…to celebrate in great numbers! We must

change our mindset…for right now we are in preparation but God is desiring to gather
together a vast number to return to Him.

• V. 25-26 – “The entire assembly of Judah rejoiced, including the priests, the
Levites, all who came from the land of Israel, the foreigners who came to the
festival, and all those who lived in Judah. There was great joy in the city, for
Jerusalem had not seen a celebration like this one since the days of Solomon,
King David’s son.”

In great number…joy will arise! Do not limit yourselves to something small in the eyes
of God. Expect the day that God will fulfill His desire to gather a great number of people
together before the Lord.

And even in verse 31, this revival was multiplied in other cities, rippling out of the revival
in Jerusalem. Multiplication is happening!

• V. 15 – “This shamed the priests and Levites, so they purified themselves

and brought burnt offerings to the Temple of the LORD.”

Still, the Levites were not prepared! I pray that out of shame you will be prepared. Out
of understanding His plan, you will be prepared.

The purification process is going on during the revival and at the end of the revival. May
you and I desire the fact that if we’re going to be purified, we want to be purified in the
beginning! It’s great that purification is going on throughout the revival…but may you
and I desire to fill ourselves with the vision of God now, in preparation to fulfill His great
will!

How much will you be prepared? I cannot be purified for you! Why am I struggling
before the presence of God…reading the word of the Lord and struggling to fill my heart
and mind with the thoughts of God? Because when the time comes to fulfill God’s
vision and revival…I will be ready!

• V. 27 – “Then the priests and Levites stood and blessed the people, and God
heard their prayer from his holy dwelling in heaven.”

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The first thing to do…priests and Levites much purify themselves before the presence of
God so that they can then go and minister before the people of the Lord…blessing the
people! These people are the ones who can lead His people into the presence of God.

Just because you are a part of the PLT does not mean that you are going to be
prepared. Being a part of a group will not prepare you alone. First, you must be
prepared before the presence of God. You must be personally connected to Jesus
Christ.

CONCLUSION

Great revival is coming. God is going to raise up a generation and a great number of
people who will come together and celebrate the day of the Lord.

But who will be those who are ready, prepared to fulfill God’s revival and minister the
people of the Lord?

God is preparing His priests and Levites. I pray that you will prepare yourself for this
great revival…through praise, prayer, repentance to the Lord.

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