Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the chapter that we read,
2 Chronicles chapter 29, and reading for our text, the last
verse, verse 36. And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people,
that God had prepared the people, for the thing was done suddenly. 2 Chronicles chapter 29 and verse
36 We've read this chapter, which
was the beginning of the reign of Hezekiah. And it followed
those very dark years, 16 years, of the king of Judah, Hezekiah's
father, Ahaz. a man that walked in the ways
of the kings of Israel, that is, contrary to the true worship
of God. We read in the previous chapter,
chapter 28, how that he burnt incense in the valley of the
son of Hinnom, he burnt his children in the fire, He sacrificed also
and burnt incense in the high places. And we are told that
the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel. He affected that whole nation
and the Lord sent those kings of Assyria against them and chastened
them, dealt with them. Ahaz, he tried to appease the
enemies by desecrating the house of God. We read in verse 21 of
chapter 28, For Ahaz took away a portion of the house of the
LORD, and out of the house of the king, and of the princes,
and gave it unto the king of Assyria, but he helped him not. And then we read, And in the
time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord. This
is that King Ahaz. And then we read in the 24th
verse, And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God,
and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut
up the doors of the house of the Lord, and he made him altars
in every corner of Jerusalem. The house of God suffered more
from the king of Judah, more from one that should have been
looking after it, preserving it, keeping it, and maintaining
or causing the worship to be maintained there. The house of
God was desecrated by him. Those were very dark days. What
that must have felt for the godly in Judah, as they saw this happening,
and over a period of 16 years or so, they no doubt thought
what little hope there was to be that Hezekiah, his son, would
be any different. But when he dies and Hezekiah
begins to reign, what a difference! And how quickly! how quickly
we read in the beginning of the chapter here where our text is
that it was in the very first year of his reign not only the
first year of his reign but in the first month in the first
month he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired
them now we think of the history of
the West Row Chapel. It was some 40 years or more
that the chapel was not actually used, and when it was to be used
again, then there was a lot of repairs to be done on that as
well. But what a sad thing it was here,
that there was always a people there that should have been worshipping
there. They were gathered round there,
and Judah yet forsook the Lord their God, and yet God changed
it. God changed it with the little
place of worship there at West Row, and again is maintaining
the worship there from week to week, year to year. And God restored
the temple here at this time through Hezekiah. We might think
when we look at our nation What hope is there? How can there
be any change? And I've no doubt those in Judah
thought that in their day. But we've seen over this past
year how the Lord can bring things and the Lord can do things very
suddenly as what was done here. What was the case one year with
Ahaz was very different the next year with Hezekiah. What wonderful
thing is, too, that it was actually in the reign of Ahaz that we
have that beautiful promise of the Lord coming, recorded in
Isaiah 7, where Ahaz was asked by the Lord to ask a sign. Ask it either in the depth or
in the height above. But Ahaz, he said, I will not
ask, neither will I tempt the Lord or test the Lord. But he
didn't need to test the Lord. He was being invited. He was
being asked to do so. So the Lord said he would give
a sign himself. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Beautiful
promise of the coming of the Saviour of the Lord. No doubt,
with Hezekiah knowing that, a godly man, and you think later on with
Hezekiah when he was told to put his house in order, and that
he would die and not live, and yet he did not have a son, what
that must have meant. That line, because Ahaz and Hezekiah
and his son Manasseh, even more wicked than Ahaz, was in the
line to the Lord Jesus Christ. But what a mercy here, the Lord
raising up a godly king, a ruler, and not only the ruler on his
own, but also a people that were willing to go along with him. We might think in our land, well,
the Lord might raise up a godly prime minister. We think, well,
how can it work with the system that we have? How could anyone
that serves the Lord get any distance in politics? We cannot
see how. But the Lord knows how to bring
things about. And here we know, of course,
the kings were in line. It was father to son. But here
he joined a people to go along with what the king wanted, and
the king desired that he might cleanse the house of God. And
this was done, we are told, suddenly. And so the remarkable thing was
that the people were prepared to go along and to do this, and
to do the work, and to cleanse the house of God, and to offer
the sacrifices for the cleansing of it, and to set in order the
worship once again in that place. And so we read in our text, and
Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people. Why did they rejoice? They say, well, because the house
of God again was restored. Worship was restored. Yes, but
it says here that God had prepared the people for the thing was
done suddenly. So I want to look with the Lord's
help at the word that is before us here and try to confine our
remarks to three points. Firstly, the timing of changes
in providence. This time that was here, and
we're told what things there were done suddenly. Well, I want
to consider firstly the timing of changes in Providence, and
then secondly a preparing God. It says in our text that God
had prepared the people, not just that they were willing and
that they wanted to do the work, but no, it was discerned God
had prepared them. And I want to look at that secondly. And then lastly, a cause of rejoicing. Our text says that Hezekiah rejoiced
and all the people that God had prepared the people, so there
is a cause of rejoicing here. But firstly, the timing, timing
of changes in Providence. When God created the world for
man upon it, God had a plan, a purpose for time. In eternity there is no time. Time is created, and there shall
come a time when God shall say that time shall be no more. But
while we are in time, and though we are told that one day with
the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day,
The Lord orders time, those things that are done in the right order,
the right timing. One of the most wonderful ways
of seeing the Lord's work is to mark and behold the timing
of things. And I really commit this and
commend this thought to you. Go over your lives, or as we
go forward, watch the Lord's hand in the timing. Never before His time, and never
too late. You've only got to read of the
book of Esther, and you see how crucial the timing was in all
that happened there. And also God's preparing, who
knoweth, says Mordecai, that thou art come to the kingdom
for such a time as this. And so it is the timing. We think sometimes that things
are done suddenly, to our way of thinking they are. But with
God, His eternal purposes, they move on, and nothing is done
suddenly. All is done at an appointed and
a set time. And though He waits for four
thousand years from the first promise of the seed that should
bruise the serpent's head to the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ, Yet when He comes, then we see the beautiful timing of
things that happen while He is upon earth, that brought Him
to sinners and sinners to sinners, that brought Him to work the
miracles to bring the dead to life, that joined Himself to
those occasions at such a time. those things that were done of
the Lord, not just in the time that He was upon earth, but afterwards. We think of when the Gospel was
first sent to the Gentiles with Cornelius, and the angel appears
to Cornelius and sends him down to Joppa, and there is Peter,
And we have beautiful preparing there as well. But there is Peter
and he has the vision just at the right time. And as he thinks
on that vision, then the Spirit said, Behold, three men seek
thee. What if the men came a bit earlier? But no, the timing of the vision
and the timing of the men coming was exactly the right time. Can
we look on those times when we've heard the Word of God, and then
the Lord has brought someone to our door, a phone call, an
invitation, and brought those things together? Those times
that He's made us prepared and willing to go, remember with
Peter, He is at Joppa. The last one that we read of
in Scripture that was called to go to the Gentiles from Joppa,
Well, he went down to Joppa and ran away, Jonah. But here is Peter and he's made
willing because of the preparing of the Lord, but because also
of the timing. And so when he comes into the
house, there are a people all waiting to hear the word of God. They're prepared for it, but
they're gathered together. unto him shall a gathering of
the people be. And so God is sovereign in that
timing. You know, God told Abraham that
his seed should be a stranger in a strange land. And that they
should afflict them 400 years. Well that was 400 years from
the promise to Abraham to the time that they should come out
to Mount Horeb. 230 or so, or 215 years actually
in Egypt. But it was said to Abraham that
in the fourth generation that they should come hither. God
did not tell Abraham when they should go down or how they should go down. Certainly
Jacob had no inclination of it. And what a sudden shock when
he has the blood-soaked coat of his son Joseph presented to
him. But those timings were in the
Lord's hand. And yes, all that happened to
Joseph, even with the butler forgetting him, two years, and
yet those two years fell exactly then to when Pharaoh has a dream,
and then the butler remembers him, and he's brought forth just
at the right time. We might think sometimes the
Lord's forgotten us, or man's forgotten us. But God does not
forget. Zion in the Scriptures complained,
the Lord hath forsaken me. But the Lord hasn't. And none
can think and none can feel for the Church of God more than the
Lord. May we remember that as we gather
for a church anniversary. None can care for the Church
more than the Lord does. The Apostle Paul said that what
fell to him in addition to everything else was the care of all the
churches, yes, as an under-shepherd. And we feel that, those of us
in the ministry, pastors, under-shepherds, we do feel the responsibility. But none can ever feel as much
for the Church as the great head of the Church, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And may we remember that. And
so the timing, though it may seem that the Lord delays and
waits and waits, when we think of Moses and you see the dovetailing
of preparing and timing, Israel and Egypt were thought, well,
the Lord's forgotten us. But 80 years before He appeared
to bring them out, Moses was born, being prepared in Pharaoh's
household and in the desert, and then the timing to decide
when the Lord appeared to Moses was in the Lord's hand. Our times are in His hand, not
in ours. Daniel understood by books the
time of 70 years in captivity was near at the end, so he cried
unto the Lord, he prayed to the Lord. But we have that incentive
to always pray and not to faint. to always be committing our case
to the Lord, and especially when we find in the churches, in the
nation, those things that cause great sorrow, great grief, and
we desire the Lord to appear, to send forth His Spirit, to
revive us again, and to bring us again into a healthy state
of soul. How many changes, dear friends,
have you had in Providence, in this last year, or in your lives? And can you look back to see
the timing of the Lord in it? You think if that had happened
just a little while before, or a little bit afterwards, it wouldn't
have matched up at all? What are the timing like with
Joseph going to find his brethren? They'd moved on. But there is
a man that finds him in the field who happens to have heard where
they were going and then has happened to meet with him. The
timing of that, if they'd have missed their paths, not met,
Joseph would have gone back home and nothing would have happened. Sometimes we can really regret. We can say, if only, if only
I hadn't have done that. And yet in the timing of the
Lord, sometimes we don't even know what the Lord has wrought
by timing. there's been some times I've
been driving on the road and a car has been perhaps a long
stretch of road and then there's been a bend and a car has overtaken
me on that long stretch and just tucked in before the bend and just as he's tucked in on
his correct side another car has come round that corner And
I've thought in my mind, you that are driving that car don't
know how close you've come to death. If you'd have been three
seconds further along on the road, you would have hit that
car head on. And they would never have known
it. I could see it. I could see how
it could have happened. And there's many times that we
would not know how the being held back been delayed, whether
us or someone else, and the timing has been in the Lord's hand.
And so especially when things are done suddenly, and you see
the timing of that. I think the employment that I
had for 12 years before I came over to this land Before I got
that job, I was working across the road. I'd be very exercised
about getting another position. The chap I worked with was Franz,
with the managing director of Across the Road. And one day
I came into work and we got nearly to lunchtime, nearly to 12, quarter
to or so, and he suddenly said to me, Roland, he said, I've
arranged a job interview for you. I've spoken to you, you
must go over there at 12 o'clock today. I'd quarter an hour notice
to go over for a job interview in my lunch hour. And you know
I found a quiet place and tried to pour out my heart to the Lord,
Lord help me. And then I had another interview
three weeks later that was even just as short a notice. Didn't
know it was coming at all. And they offered me the job.
And that was the job that brought me over here. I was sent into
the ministry while I was there. It was a remarkable provision,
but the timings of those interviews were so sudden, my hand was not
put with it at all. And the Lord knows these things,
many things in my life, and no doubt many in yours, and many
in the history of the churches. Our times are in His hand. You
know the founder, Robert Rolfe, of the West Row Barn Chapel,
suddenly taken home when he was only 48. And he was selling one of his
horses. It was a very mild horse. The
person that came to see it, something spooked the horse. And it pushed
Robert Rolfe down onto the ground, sitting posture against a wall. And then the horse turned, and
his hoof crushed his head. He lived for a little while,
a few hours or a day or so after. But the Lord had wonderfully
prepared him. But you think of the timing of
that, the sudden action, and how it happened. And then you
think of what was said about the services that he'd taken
just before. And to those that knew him, he
was evidently prepared. The time of his death was known
by the Lord. The manner of it was known. And
he was wonderfully prepared before. So when that time came that he
was ready, the timing of changes As we see them through life,
when we are able to see the Lord's hand, that should give us great
comfort in thinking, well, when the Lord comes to take me home,
that though that appear to me to come very suddenly or unexpectedly,
I look to a God that is able to time it in such a way to His
honour and glory, And in preparing me as well, that whether it be
seemingly a slow process or whether it be done suddenly, we have
here how God is able to work even if it is done suddenly. I know sometimes when things
happen suddenly, our heart just sinks, it trembles. But here,
was a time it was done suddenly, and it was a time of blessing,
a time of revival, a time when people were willing to do what
the Lord would have them to do. So I want to look then secondly
at a preparing God. Our God is a preparing God. Remember that before man was
formed, God had already prepared a garden, and he put man in that
garden. When his people Israel were to
go to Canaan, they were told that they would not need to plant
vineyards or build houses. Everything was all prepared and
done for them just to enter into that land. And we are told regarding
heaven, I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare
a place for you, I'll come again and receive you unto Myself,
that where I am, there ye may be also. God is preparing heaven,
the same as He prepared Eden, the same as He prepared Canaan
for His people. and he's prepared each of our
places here below as well. It's a beautiful thing to look
upon the home that you're in, whether it be your own personal
home, or Bethesda home, or where you may be staying in rented
accommodation. I think that place was prepared
and given to me to be suitable for me. We think of Noah. Noah was prepared. He prepared
an ark to the saving of his house. But what a solemn thought there.
The Lord sent Noah as a preacher of righteousness, but it doesn't
appear that there was any others that were prepared. Maybe there
was others that were blessed and favoured and died before
the flood. as I think Lamech five years
before or Methuselah the year of the flood but God prepared God prepared the people in Elijah's
day a similar day this time with Ahab and how low Israel had got
Ahab a king of Israel But God sent those three and a half years
of famine, and through that He prepared the people to be ready
to listen to Elijah, to put on trial their God Baal, and they
had the answer from heaven, the fire from heaven, And Elijah,
when he prayed, that thou mayest know, that they may know that
thou hast turned their hearts back again. God had prepared
them. This is my prayer and expectation
through this time in our nation, that God is preparing a people
so that they're ready to hear his word. Most are not. It has been growing worse and
worse in our land that people are not prepared to hear the
word of God or receive it. Maybe you've read the accounts
of the Bible boxes, and in Bedford how many hundreds have been taken
willingly, and here in Cranbrook we have the box outside of our
house here that I've made, and outside of the chapel, they're
weatherproof, they've been in all sorts of weathers, and I
think there's 55 Bibles have been taken. so far, just from
the middle of December, and is much to pray for. The Lord will
bless these, but people are receptive and willing to take them, and
we pray it might be through trials that their hearts are open to
receive the Word of God. Remember when the Lord was to
come and begin His ministry, John the Baptist was sent before
Him. Why? to make ready a people prepared
for the Lord. It was necessary before the ministry
of our Lord that there was one to come and preach before. Of no doubt there's many ministers
who labour all their lives and don't see much fruit at all for
their labours. And another then enters into
their labours, and whereas the first minister's ministry was
a preparing ministry, the next is a reaping one. We don't know. I often think when we gave out
Bibles here in Cranbrook in the year 2000, and we distributed
the Gospel according to John to all of the 2,000 or 3,000
houses in the town, There were those that received
these special Millennium Commemorative Edition Bibles and some of them
said, we have bought these for our grandchildren. Well, those
grandchildren are born that year, of course, becoming 21 in this
year. But in the town here, there's
been two strong churches, Baptist churches, And over the years,
no doubt, there's been many that have prayed for their children
and grandchildren and great-grandchildren here. And our prayer is that
God will answer those prayers. He has said, the promise is unto
you and your children, even as many as the Lord thy God shall
call. And it may be that those in these
present times will be prepared to hear the word, and the Lord
will use it and answer the prayer of those who have long been silent
in the grave." It's encouragement to pray on, isn't it? to really
pray that the Lord will bless our children and the generations
that are following. God is able and God does make
ready a people for the Lord. He does prepare. We sing in our
last hymn, in the way of prayer, prepare me gracious God. to stand
before thy face. We need preparing ourselves. And when we see that we have
been, when troubles have come, afflictions have come, sometimes
in the present path that we are in, we can look back to experiences
we've had years ago, and bless the Lord, we had those experiences. And we felt, well, the Lord knew
what we were going to go through years later, and so gave us that
experience and help. We trace it to the Lord. We trace it to the Lord. A preparing God. The Lord Jesus Christ, in what
He has accomplished and done at Calvary, prepared the way,
if you like, for the Gospel, to proclaim the Gospel. When the angels declared His
birth, it was on earth peace, goodwill to men. The Son of Man came not to destroy
men's lives, but to save them. And in order to save them, He
must lay down His life, a ransom for many. He must bear the sin
of many. He must live a life that is a
perfect, spotless, sinless life to be able to give it as a righteousness
to a people that have none of their own. Really every blessing,
every blessing through the ministry is a prepared blessing because
those blessings are all in Christ. All the promises of God are yea
and amen in Him. And we read that before they
ask, I will answer. While they yet call, the Lord
is bringing the answer. And so they are already prepared
blessings and answers. Even before, Christ came, those
Old Testament saints trusted in Christ. When Nathan came to
David and told him the parable of the poor man's lamb, when
David had committed murder and adultery, when David fell under
that word and said, I have sinned, Nathan doesn't have to say, well,
I'll go back to my God I will see what can be done, whether
there can be mercy or not. No, he says, the Lord hath also
put away thy sin, thou shalt not die. Already there was that
prepared. Why, the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. I think of the Old Testament
as well. I'm preaching from it now. Our
Lord preached from it on the way to Emmaus. Philip preached
to the eunuch from it. If you look in your Bibles, the
proportion of your Bible in the New Testament to the Old New
Testament is very much thinner. But the Old is given as such
a wealth of blessing, that which was written aforetime, and was
written for our learning, that we, through patience, comfort
of the Scriptures, might have hope. And we see in that a rich
provision of food, man shall not live by bread only, but by
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. How many
times can you go back to a scripture in the Old Testament or even
in the New and say, that word was prepared for me. The circumstances
that were recorded and the words recorded, the Lord has blessed
them to me. He had me in mind when he put
that in the inspired word of God. A preparing God. You read it
in the Book of Jonah, God prepared the fish, God prepared the gourd,
God prepared the worm, God prepared the people of Nineveh and so
that they repented. Let us then watch the Lord's
timing and watch Him preparing. And may we know and feel that
He has prepared our hearts. So I want to then briefly look
in the last point, a cause of rejoicing. Might be many things
that we find a cause to rejoice in. And we would think of things
that are done, blessings that are given, places of worship
that are opened or reopened, a pastorate that is commenced,
or 50 years that have been accomplished, many things. But how many times
have we actually rejoiced and given praise to God that God
had prepared the people You know, when Jacob was returning
back to his own home, and then he heard the reports of Esau
coming, Jacob knew how important it was that the anger, the wrath,
the intent of Esau was turned away. How he wrestled with the
angel, how he sent the droves to go before, and how when he
saw Esau and it was in peace, he said,
I have seen thy face as the face of an angel. What a blessed thing,
when we see a people prepared for the Lord. When Barnabas could
go to Antioch and he saw the grace of God and he was glad. When we see the result of God's
work in a sinner's heart, When we perhaps, we fear to meet a
person, and when we've met them, instead of anger, there is peace. Instead of the reception we thought
we had, we get a very different reception. It wasn't just Hezekiah rejoiced. It was the people as well. Those
that had had that effect on them. They rejoiced. Why? There was
a flowing together. There was one together. May we
rejoice in that where there is churches that flow together,
a congregation and a pastor, or kindred churches together. It's a blessed thing when they
shall see eye to eye in Zion. when there is a willingness,
a readiness, even when things come unexpectedly and suddenly. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ,
when He came, He came unto His own, His own received Him not,
but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. But in the history of the Church,
the Lord's been pleased to give those that their hearts have
been opened, they've heard the Word, they've rejoiced, they've
received it. And they've rejoiced not only
that they've received it, but others have well, and that they
could walk together with the Lord. And Hezekiah rejoiced and all
the people, that God had prepared the people. For the thing was
done suddenly." Wouldn't Moses join in with this? Moses, who
was rejected at first by the people who thrust them out, was
there to be made a ruler over us? Now when he protested to
the Lord, they will not believe me, they will not believe me,
but they did. And the Lord made sure that they
did. So may we be a prepared people
for a prepared place. The founder of Westrow Chapel
was prepared in his soul, prepared for a sudden death, able to see the Lord's hand and
say, this was no accident. This was prepared of God. And
may we be the same. not full of fear, but trusting
in a wise and a merciful, gracious, preparing God. May the Lord add
his blessing. Amen.