Hezekiah’s Restoration of Worship

2 Chronicles 29:20-36

   20 Then King Hezekiah rose early, gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the LORD. 21 And they brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats for a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. Then he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the LORD. 22 So they killed the bulls, and the priests received the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. Likewise they killed the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar. They also killed the lambs and sprinkled the blood on the altar. 23 Then they brought out the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them. 24 And the priests killed them; and they presented their blood on the altar as a sin offering to make an atonement for all Israel, for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering be made for all Israel.

    25 And he stationed the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, with stringed instruments, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, of Gad the king's seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for thus was the commandment of the LORD by His prophets. 26 The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. 27 Then Hezekiah commanded them to offer the burnt offering on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD also began, with the trumpets and with the instruments of David king of Israel. 28 So all the assembly worshiped, the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished. 29 And when they had finished offering, the king and all who were present with him bowed and worshiped. 30 Moreover King Hezekiah and the leaders commanded the Levites to sing praise to the LORD with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshiped.

    31 Then Hezekiah answered and said, "Now that you have consecrated yourselves to the LORD, come near, and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the LORD." So the assembly brought in sacrifices and thank offerings, and as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings. 32 And the number of the burnt offerings which the assembly brought was seventy bulls, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the LORD. 33 The consecrated things were six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep. 34 But the priests were too few, so that they could not skin all the burnt offerings; therefore their brethren the Levites helped them until the work was ended and until the other priests had sanctified themselves, for the Levites were more diligent in sanctifying themselves than the priests. 35 Also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings and with the drink offerings for every burnt offering.  So the service of the house of the LORD was set in order. 36 Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced that God had prepared the people, since the events took place so suddenly.

The service of the house of the LORD was restored under the reign of Hezekiah to order as God designed it.  He arose the day the temple was completely cleansed and sanctified, taking the priests and rulers of Jerusalem, along with many sacrifices to atone for the people’s sin over many years.  The reign of Ahaz before him was particularly evil and blasphemous against the LORD and His house, so Hezekiah ensured the appropriate sacrifices were made with their lifeblood on the altar as a sin offering to make an atonement for all Israel.  He had the worship players of the Levites honor God with music as commanded by God through the prophets.  They sacrificed and sang the song of the LORD with the trumpets and with the instruments of king David, which we can assume were from the book of the Psalms, a good pattern for us to follow today in our worship and sacrifice of ourselves (Romans 12:1).  We no longer sacrifice animals to give their lives to cover our sin, but allow God to provide the only acceptable sacrifice for us to cover our sin (Genesis 3:7, 21, 1 Peter 1:18-19, Hebrews 9:13-14), the blood of His life given as permanent payment of sacrifice for all He calls to Himself as His people.  As Hebrews 9:11-12 tell us, Christ is the perfect High Priest with eternal redemption by His blood which no transitory sacrifice of flawed animals by flawed men could ever purchase.  Let us come as Hezekiah with abundance in a living sacrifice of devotion to Him, set aside in sanctified offering of our lives to serving Him in lifelong worship and praise!  May we ever dedicate these temples to His glory to restore true worship when we fail in sin (1 John 1:9, Romans 8:12-13, 7:25).