Now, we're looking this evening
at 2 Chronicles chapter 30. 2 Chronicles chapter 30, and
I'm entitling the message from this chapter, the theme of it,
and the message of it, it's all about Hezekiah in his zeal and
enthusiasm to honor God and to do so around the Passover sacrifice. And I'm entitling the message,
Christ our Passover or Hezekiah observed the Passover. And certainly we know from reading
the scripture and in seeing the fulfillment of what that Passover
was typical of, We read in 1 Corinthians 5, 7, Christ our Passover is
sacrificed for us. It is still true when God says,
when I see the blood, when I see the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
I will pass over you. The Lord Jesus Christ is certainly
our gospel Passover, isn't he? He is our gospel Passover. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all our sin. And in that day, back in
the land of Egypt, God said, and the blood shall be to you
for a token upon your houses where ye are. And when I see
the blood, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you and the plague
shall not be upon you to destroy you. Now that was true in that
day. The firstborn was to die in every
house except that house where the blood was on the door. And
God said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. But there
was death in that house because the Passover lamb died. The sacrifice,
the substitute died. And how much more true, and how
much more is that true of Christ our Passover and the Gospel Passover? Our Lord was made sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him, the just for the unjust. the Lord Jesus Christ
died, the just one, for the unjust that he might bring us unto God. Now remember from our study last
week in 2 Chronicles 29, how the priest brought the blood
sacrifices to make atonement for the sins of the people. and
how they rejoiced and how they worshiped around the appointed
sacrifice to the Lord. Turn back one page and look at
verse 30 of 2 Chronicles 29 verse 30. Hezekiah the king and the
priest and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto
the Lord with the words of David, one of the Psalms, and of Assep the seer. And they sang
praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads, and they worshipped
God. They worshipped the Lord God
around the blood sacrifice, around the atonement that was made for
the people, the appointed sacrifices. And we know all those sacrificial
offerings of an animal substitute pictured the blessed and great
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ for us. We read the Lord Jesus
Christ did not bring the blood of bulls and goats, but he brought
his own blood having obtained eternal redemption for us. Every Old Testament blood sacrifice
points us to the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. The forerunner
John the Baptist said, behold the Lamb of God that takes away
the sin of God's people in this world. Now King Hezekiah, and
I love his determination, King Hezekiah is determined to remember
the Passover, to observe the Passover, to re-institute the
Passover, and make ready for Judah and Israel to do so as
God commanded them to keep the Passover sacrifice every year
and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days to do so. And it says there in verse five,
they had not done so for a long time. Look at 2 Chronicles, Chapter
30 verse 5 so they established a decree to make Proclamation
throughout all Israel from Bersheba even to Dan that they should
come to keep the Passover unto the Lord and the Lord God of
Israel at Jerusalem, for they had not done it of a long time
in such sort as it was written." Now, how many years this had
been neglected? Hundreds of years. They had not
done so for a long time. Probably since the days of Solomon,
or at least since the days the kingdom was divided And when
Jeroboam introduced, remember, those two golden calves, which
was 250 years ago from this time that is spoken of here in Hezekiah's
day. But Hezekiah now is determined. He made a decree, as it says
there in verse 5. He established a decree to make
a proclamation throughout all the land. He established a decree
unto the Lord, from the north to the south, from Dan to Beersheba,
that all should come to Jerusalem to keep the Passover as the Lord
commanded Israel to do so, as we read in Exodus 12, verse 17. Now, I admire his zeal, don't
you? I admire his ambition. His father
was an idolater. His grandfather Uzziah was a
good king, but certainly his father Ahaz was an idolater. But I admire his ambition, I
admire his zeal, I admire his sincerity to honor the Lord God
immediately after the atonement was made, blood atonement was
made. He made arrangements to keep the Passover and to observe
the feast of unleavened bread. Now, watch this. Verse 6, after
he had made the decree and had written the decree, so the post
went with their letters. They even had postmen back in
those days. They sent, I don't know how much
the postage was, but they had the postman and they sent the
post. Probably like they did in the
early days of this country, the Pony Express. They sent the post
with the letters from the king and his princess throughout all
Israel. That is, they went not only in
the southern part of Judah, but they went to the north country,
towards Samaria, throughout all Israel, according to the commandment
of the king, saying, ye children of Israel, turn again unto the
Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, in Israel, that is, turn to God
and in turning to God turn from your idols. We'll read that in
just a minute. And he will return to the remnant
of you that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria. Now hear what the old timers
called, they sent out a circular letter. that was done in the
early days in this country. The churches would send out a
circular letter to the different churches in the countryside. This too, this sending out this
post and sending out these to deliver the letter, this too
is a picture of our Lord sending out His disciples to preach the
gospel. And that's what we do. We go
with the decree and the proclamation of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Remember, we read about that
in Luke chapter 9 and in Mark chapter 6. But we also read in
Matthew chapter 10, at first the Lord told his disciples,
his apostles, to go not into the way of Samaria unto the Samaritans. But later, after his resurrection,
the Lord said, go into all the world and preach the gospel to
every Creature. And that's what we do. Now notice
what he sends forth by the command of the king that's included in
this letter. Verse 6 and verse 9, he says
here, You children of Israel, turn
again unto the Lord God, the God of Abraham. He spells it
out. The God of Isaac. and the God
of Jacob, or the God of Israel, turn to the Lord. He says that
several times here in verse 9. Look at verse 9. For if you turn
again unto the Lord your brethren and your children, you shall
find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they
shall come again into this land. For the Lord your God is gracious
and merciful, and will not turn away His face from you if you
return unto the Lord. Now what is being said here in
this turning, he's saying this, repent, repent, turn to God from
your idols and he will show you mercy. Repent, the Lord sent
his disciples out with this message, repent for the kingdom of God
is at hand. Repentance toward God, the apostles
went out preaching repentance toward God, and faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now what is repentance? We know
repentance like faith is a gift of God, is it not? But repentance
is a change of mind, a change of heart, and acknowledging that
God is God, the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of
Israel. Turn loose of your idols, and
worship the Lord your God. Now, let me show you what's involved
here. Find 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians, look at this
verse here. Verse nine. 1 Thessalonians chapter one, verse nine. 1 Thessalonians
chapter one, verse nine. for they themselves show of us
what manner of entering in we have unto you, how you turn to
God, or were turned by God to God, how you turn to God from
your idols." Now it doesn't say you turn from your idols to God,
it says you turn to God, or you were turned by God, and then
in doing so you turn from your idols. to serve the living and
true God. Turn loose of your idols and
worship God. Turn to God from your idols. Our Lord said this, look unto
me, all the ends of the earth, for I am God. Look unto me and
be you saved, for I am God and there is none else. The Lord
seeketh such to worship him in spirit and in truth. So this
letter included here a message of repentance, didn't it? Repentance,
turn to God and he will bless you. The second thing is this. In verse 8, did you notice that
he said, Be not stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield
yourselves to the Lord. I notice some marginal references.
Give the hand, yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into
His sanctuary, which He hath sanctified for ever. And serve
the Lord your God, that the fierceness of His wrath may turn from you. So there's repentance, and then
there's submission. And that's what true repentance
leads to, is submission. Yield yourselves, or serve him,
as a marginal reference says there, give the hand. That is,
take Him to be your God. Submit to the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. Surrender and bow to the Lordship
of the true and living God. Our will must be broken. Our will must be melted to do
His will. We are taught to pray that way,
aren't we? Lord, not my will, but thy will be done. Thy people
shall be willing in the day of God's power. In our study from
1 Peter 5, remember this verse. Humble yourselves therefore under
the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.
Humble yourselves. Don't be a proud heart. Yield. Submit. Bow to the Lordship of
Christ. The Lord is nigh them of a broken
heart. Save us such as be of a contrite
spirit. This is exactly what true saving
faith does. Yielding, submitting to Him universally,
completely, and absolutely. Lord, Thy will be done. Now this is exactly the preaching
at Pentecost. Turn over there to Acts chapter
2. Acts chapter 2. When Peter declared
the lordship of Christ, Acts chapter 2 verse 36. Therefore
let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God had made that
same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. He's a
true and living God. Now, when they heard this, they
were pricked in their hearts and said to Peter and to the
rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? And
Peter said unto them, turn to the Lord, repent, and confess
the Lord, be baptized, believers. Confess the Lord in believer's
baptism, every one of you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
because He has remitted your sin. It doesn't teach here that
water baptism puts away sin. That word, therefore, is because
Christ has remitted our sin, and you shall receive the gift
of the Holy Spirit. As many as were born of the Spirit
of God, By one spirit are we all baptized into the one body. That's the verse I'm trying to
quote. For the promise, now read verse 39 of Acts 2. For the promise
is unto you, to your children, to all that are far off, even
as many as the Lord our God shall call. The promise is unto those
who are the called of God. Now those who like to read verse
38 all the time, they never read verse 39. to the water, what I call the
water and works people. They leave off, verse 39, as
many as the Lord our God shall call, as many as were ordained
to eternal life. There's as many as, Acts 13,
49. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believed and with many of the word did he testify and exhort
saying, save yourself from this untoward generation. Now here is a promise that's
given to us in this repentance. Verse 9, back in our text. 2 Chronicles 30 verse 9. For if ye turn again unto the
Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion
before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again
into this land. Now watch this. For the Lord
your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face
from you if you turn to him." God will not turn away from you
if you're blessed to turn to him. He will not turn away a
mercy beggar, a sinner who is in need. Still true today. The
Lord said, Come unto me all you that labor every laden, I will
give you rest. You remember Ahaz had closed
the doors to the temple. And we know here that Hezekiah
opened the doors to the temple. and says, come, come and worship
the Lord. The doors are wide open. And
the gospel message is the same. The Lord Jesus Christ, He is
the door. He said, I am the door, by me
if any man enter in, he shall be saved. And the Lord said,
come unto me, and I will give you rest. Now watch this. The
Lord your God, He is gracious. And He is merciful. He is gracious
and He is merciful. I want you to look at a couple
of scriptures with me. Find Exodus 34, 6. I know repentance
is a gift of God. But if we're blessed to repent,
He's exalted to give repentance. If you're blessed to turn to
the Lord in true repentance, He will bless you. He already
has. 34 verse 6, and the Lord passed
by before him, that is before Moses, and proclaimed the Lord,
the Lord God, merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness
and in mercy, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity,
transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty. visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children, upon the children, children, to the
third, to the fourth generation. God is just, but He is merciful. Now, one other scripture on this,
find Isaiah 55. This is a familiar scripture
to you, but I'll read it to you anyway. Isaiah 55, verse 6. Isaiah 55, verse 6. Seek ye the
Lord while He may be found, Call upon him while he is near, let
the wicked forsake his way, the unrighteous man his stock, let
him return to the Lord." There it is again. Turn to the Lord. Return to the Lord. "...and he
will have mercy upon you, and to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon." Pardon. Hezekiah prayed that the Lord
would pardon the people. And He did. And he did. Now watch this. Back to the text. This is interesting here. So
the post went out. And that was a message. Turn
to the Lord. Submit to Him. God is faithful. He is gracious. He is long-suffering.
The Lord is good. So what's going to happen? Verse
10. So the post passed from city
to city throughout the country from Ephraim and Manassas unto
Zebulon. They laughed them to scorn and
mocked. Nevertheless, divers of Asher,
Manasseh, Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. Also in
Judah, the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the
commandment of the king and the princes by the word of the Lord. Now, some believe and repented,
some were humbled, and came to the Passover feast, while others
simply mocked them to scorn, persecuted the postman, laughed
them to scorn. Sinful pride will keep sinners
from being humbled in his sight. Proverbs 16, pride goeth before
destruction and the haughty spirit before the fall. Such is the
case, the same case in our day. Some, when they hear the gospel
of God's sovereign grace to guilty sinners, they simply mock the
postman to scorn, don't they? They rail on the preacher, that
guy's a fool. They ridicule and laugh at the
messenger, when really they're laughing and scorning God who
sent the message. Don't shoot the messenger. He's just delivering the king's
message. They ridiculed, laughed, and
mocked the messengers and continued in their rebellion against God
while others were blessed with faith and repented to believe
the gospel. And we see here why divers humbled
themselves and came to Jerusalem. And here's the key, verse 12. Also in Judah, the hand of God
was to give them one heart. That's why they turned. That's
why some came. That's why some mocked. Their
heart wasn't turned. The hand of God was to give them
one heart to do the commandment of the king and the princes by
the word of the Lord. The hand of God was given to
them and He gave them one heart. No longer a divided heart. The
man being Christ is a new creature. He gave them one heart, one will,
one mind to honor God, believe God. You see the power and the
hand of God was in this. The hand of God no one can Turn
His hand. No one can stop His hand, right? He does according to His will
and none can stop His hand. The hand of God was to give them
a new heart. One heart, one way, one faith,
one Lord, one God, one gospel. The hand of God prepared them.
Look right back across the page in 2 Chronicles 29 verse 36.
If they have the Cambridge, I've got it just on the other side
of the page. 2 Chronicles 29, verse 36. Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the
people that God had prepared, the people. Boy, the thing was
done, the thing was done suddenly. Some believed, and some did not
believe. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of God's power. God who has begun a good work
in you, He will perform it and perfect it. Now, let me show
you this in the New Testament. Same thing happened. Turn to
the book of Acts. Acts 28. And we can look at other scriptures
in the book of Acts. When the gospel is preached,
two things happen. Two things happen when the gospel
is preached and Christ is lifted up. In Acts 28, the last chapter
in the book of Acts, verse 23. When they had appointed him a
day, there came many to his lodging, this is Paul in Rome in prison,
to whom expounded and testified of the kingdom of God. persuading
them, Acts 28 verse 23, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out
of the law of Moses and of the prophets, morning till evening.
They expounded, they testified, and they persuaded them, what?
Turn to God. Turn to God from your idols.
From morning till evening. Now look at verse 24. Some believed
the things that were spoken, And some believed not, some mocked,
and some believed. God gave grace to some, and others
He simply left to their own foolish heart. Now, back in our text,
in verse 13 down through verse 20, preparations were made to
observe the Passover. Preparations were made to observe
the Passover. Verse 13 and 14, they made ready
to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days, and they
cast out the old leaven, which is a symbol of sin against God. It says in verse 13, they are
assembled at Jerusalem, much people, to keep the Feast of
Unleavened Bread in the second month, a very great congregation.
So they cast out the leaven, observed the Feast of Unleavened
Bread, and look what they did, verse 14. They rose and took
away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars
for incense took they away, and they cast them in the brook.
Now, about that time also, Hezekiah, you remember, ground up that
brazen serpent that Moses lifted up and destroyed it, and that
is given there in chapter 31. Look at chapter 31 verse 1 of
2 Chronicles. Now when all this was finished
and all Israel were present, went out to the cities of Judah
and break the images in pieces and cut down the groves and threw
down the high places and the altars of all Judah and Benjamin
and we know that Hezekiah destroyed that brazen serpent that was
lifted up. Preparations were made. They
cast out all the idolatry. Ahaz had introduced, and then
the priest, it says in verse 15, then they killed the Passover
on the fourteenth day of the second month, and sprinkled the
blood upon the brazen altar, picturing Christ our Passover. You see that down in Verse 16, they stood in their
place after their manner according to the law of Moses, the man
of God, and the priests sprinkled the blood which they received
at the hand of the Levites. Verse 16, picturing Christ, our
Passover is sacrificed for us. The Lord Jesus Christ is both
Lamb and Priest, both sacrifice, and He's the altar, isn't He?
He sacrificed His humanity on the altar of His deity, and He's
a God to whom a sacrifice is offered. God still says, when
I see the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, I will pass over you. God committed His love toward
us, Romans 5, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us, much more than being now justified by His blood we
shall be saved from wrath through Him." You see, the Lord Jesus
Christ is a sprinkling of blood upon the altar. And we're going
to read in a minute, it's not the Lord Jesus Christ as our
great high priest did not enter into the tabernacle made with
hands, but into heaven itself. Now to appear in the presence
of God for us. In verse 17 and 18 of our text, those that did not have time
to prepare themselves and to clean themselves ceremonially
according to the law, the strictness of the law, but they were permitted
to observe the Passover. Did you see that in verse 17
and verse 18? Now here's the reason they were
permitted. They had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat
the Passover otherwise than it was written Because Hezekiah
prayed for them, saying, The good Lord pardon everyone. We have pardon only in Christ.
Nehemiah 9.17 says, He is a God ready to pardon. That prepareth
his heart to seek his God, the Lord God of his fathers, though
he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary,
according to the law, And the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah, and
He healed the people. He pardoned the people. Hezekiah prayed, the good Lord
pardon everyone that seeks to honor the Lord's Passover, that
has prepared his heart to seek God, even though not cleansed
ceremonially according to the law of Moses. The Lord heard
the prayer of Hezekiah, healed, pardoned, and forgave their sin
for Christ's sake. For the blood is sprinkling upon
the altar, and that's Christ. We know that we're forgiven for
Christ's sake. What a blessing to read this Gospel promise to every sinner
that is blessed to believe the Gospel, the blood of Jesus Christ
God's Son cleanses us from all our sin. By Him all that believe
are justified from all things which could not be justified
by the law of Moses. To you through this man is preached
to you the forgiveness of sin. The Lord has pardoned, forgiven,
healed us, through the perpetual Passover sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ. His sacrifice is an everlasting
sacrifice. It is an eternal sacrifice that
gives us eternal redemption, giving us acceptance in the Beloved,
to the praise of His glory, the sacrifice of Christ is a sweet-smelling
savor unto our great God." This is what all this is a picture
of. It's preaching to us the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 21. The children
of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened
Bread seven days with great gladness. And the Levites and the priests
praised the Lord day by day, singing with loud instruments
unto the Lord. Now look at verse 22. Hezekiah spake comfortably unto
all the Levites that taught the good knowledge of the Lord And
they did eat throughout the feast seven days, offering peace offerings,
and making confession to the Lord God of their fathers. And the whole assembly took counsel
to keep others seven days, and they kept others seven days with
gladness of heart. They kept the feast of unleavened
bread. They offered peace offerings.
Notice there was preaching going on. The Levites taught the good
knowledge of the Lord. That's gospel preaching. They
were praying unto the Lord. They were making peace offerings
unto the Lord. Look at the last part of verse
22. Making confessions to the Lord. What were they confessing?
I'm a sinner. I need a sacrifice. I'm a sinner. I need a substitute. I'm a sinner. I need an atonement. I need pardon. There was peace offerings going
on, preaching going on, praying going on, confessing going on,
and then it says here, they were rejoicing in the Lord. They kept other seven days with
gladness. Verse 26, there was great joy,
the last part of verse 25, and they dwelt in Judah, and rejoiced. They that dwell in Judah rejoiced. Verse 26, So there was great
joy in Jerusalem. For since the time of Solomon
the son of David, there wasn't a day like this day of great
joy, great rejoicing. And we joy in God through our
Lord Jesus Christ, don't we? Being justified by faith through
the Lord Jesus Christ. For since the time of Solomon,
the son of David, the king of Israel, there was not like in
Jerusalem." And we, as believers, we rejoice in the Lord Jesus
Christ. We have no confidence in the
flesh. We worship God in His Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus. The Apostle Paul in that same
book of Philippians chapter 4 said we rejoice Rejoice in the Lord
again. Rejoice in the Lord. And again,
I say rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord. Now, one more verse I want to
give you this and I'll let you go. Verse 27. Then the priest
and the Levites arose and they blessed the people. They preached
to them. They prayed for them. They confessed
together. They rejoiced together, and the
priest and the Levites blessed the people, and their voice was
heard, and their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place,
even unto heaven. The priest blessed the people,
and our great high priest has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings, hasn't he? And God said, Amen. The prayer
came into his holy dwelling in heaven. Now think about this,
Hebrews 6, Our Lord Jesus Christ, which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul, both sure and steadfast, which entereth into that within
the veil. Where the forerunner for us has
entered even Jesus, made a high priest forever after the order
of Melchizedek, we have a mediator One mediator
between God and man, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus
Christ is able to say to the uttermost thing, He ever liveth
to make intercession for us. Their prayer came up to His holy
dwelling place. Where do our prayers go when
we pray unto the Lord? We pray unto our God and Father
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. For Christ had not entered
into the holy places made with hands, which are figures of the
truth, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence
of God for us, right now." In that day, their prayer came up
to His holy dwelling place. How about this day? Absolutely. Our Lord Jesus Christ is seated
on the throne of God, the right hand of God. and there he ever
lives to intercede for us.