Today’s reading: 2 Chron 29:1–30:27, 1 John 2:7–14, Ps 104:1–15
Today’s Theme: Consecration
Today’s theme is consecration, it may not be a word everyone is familiar with but it is crucial to the life of every Christian.
2 Chronicles 29:1–30:27
Like David
And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. 2 Chronicles 29:2 (ESV)
Hezekiah is one of the only kings that is attributed with doing what was right just like king David. This means he was a man who loved the Lord and was passionate for God’s glory. We can learn a lot of good from Hezekiah’s life and reign. His relationship with God would be the start of a season of restoration.
Put God First
In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the LORD and repaired them. 2 Chronicles 29:3 (ESV)
Hezekiah put God first in the very first month of his reign. He started his great work of consecration and restoration of the house of the Lord. The Lesson for us is that we should put God first in all we do. Jesus told us to seek God’s kingdom first (Matthew 6:33) and also reminded us that the first commandment is about putting God first. (Matthew 22:37-38).
Remove The Filth
and said to them, “Hear me, Levites! Now consecrate yourselves, and consecrate the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth from the Holy Place. 2 Chronicles 29:5 (ESV)
Word Study: The word consecrate in this verse is the Hebrew word qadas which can be traced back to a root word which means “to cut” and so basically means “to set apart”. Other root words point to “pure” and “devoted”.
The word itself means to be holy, set apart from common use, subject to special treatment, clean and to dedicate.
Like Hezekiah commanded we too must remove all filth from our lives and live as consecrated people to our God for His service. Jesus said the truth would consecrate us in John 17:17-19.
Paul tells us in response to God’s promises to be with His people, that we should cleanse ourselves in 2 Corinthians 7:1 “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.” See 2 Corinthians 6:16-7:1 for a fuller context.
Do Not Neglect Your Calling
My sons, do not now be negligent, for the LORD has chosen you to stand in his presence, to minister to him and to be his ministers and make offerings to him.” 2 Chronicles 29:11 (ESV)
God has consecrated us for ministry just like He did with the Levites. We should not neglect our calling, we should actively seek to fulfil it.
Jesus said to the unfaithful servant in the parable of the talents that he should have done something with the money he was given and that he was wicked for living in selfish fear and not investing his lord’s money (Luke 19:20–24). In the same way we must not have this wicked attitude, we must use what God has given us to bring Him glory.
Paul reminded Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:14 “Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.”
A Clean Church
The priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD to cleanse it, and they brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the LORD into the court of the house of the LORD. And the Levites took it and carried it out to the brook Kidron. 2 Chronicles 29:16 (ESV)
God has not only called us to be consecrated as individuals but also as a collective body of people. This is why we have Pastors and Elders. They are there to protect us as the flock and to keep the church clean, removing bad doctrine (teaching / thinking) and the resulting bad behaviour from church practise.
When dealing with a church that needed some serious cleaning up in Corinth, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5:6-7 “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” In other words, uncleanness spreads in the community so cut it out from the root.
The Inspiration of the Bible
And he stationed the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, harps, and lyres, according to the commandment of David and of Gad the king’s seer and of Nathan the prophet, for the commandment was from the LORD through his prophets. 2 Chronicles 29:25 (ESV)
An important side note, this tells us clearly that the scriptures and the prophecies it contains were not just written down. The bible is the inspired word of God. We need to follow God’s word to cleanse ourselves and live a consecrated life. See 2 Timothy 3:16.
Sing With Gladness
And Hezekiah the king and the officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to the LORD with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed down and worshiped. 2 Chronicles 29:30 (ESV)
The consecrated life is one of joy filled praise. When we live a consecrated life it is not boring or miserable, it is full of praise and singing.
The praise and the offering started at the same time because our praises are an offering to God. The whole assembly worshiped which reminds us of our corporate worship today.
Today let’s remember to sing with joy to the Lord. He has consecrated us to Himself, our response should be one of delight, gratitude, joy and heartfelt praise.
Consecrate yourself
But the priests were too few and could not flay all the burnt offerings, so until other priests had consecrated themselves, their brothers the Levites helped them, until the work was finished—for the Levites were more upright in heart than the priests in consecrating themselves. 2 Chronicles 29:34 (ESV)
We can’t consecrate someone else, we are all responsible for our own consecration and God wants us to be like these Levites who were upright in heart in the way they sought to be set apart.
The priests were higher than them in position but that did not intimidate the regular Levites. They had their hearts set on serving the Lord. We should not let the religious deadness of other put us off, we should set our own hearts to serve the Lord. See Philippians 2:12–13.
God’s Mercy
For a majority of the people, many of them from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than as prescribed. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, “May the good LORD pardon everyone who sets his heart to seek God, the LORD, the God of his fathers, even though not according to the sanctuary’s rules of cleanness.” 2 Chronicles 30:18–19 (ESV)
We thank God for His mercy. In this great call to repentance and restoration God was not looking for perfection but hearts that were set on seeking Him. We need to hear the call to repentance today, humble ourselves and come before God. He will show us mercy and set us apart again for His glory.
We need the mercy of God in our sanctification, it is only with God’s help that we can walk in true consecration.
Encourage One Another
And Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who showed good skill in the service of the LORD. So they ate the food of the festival for seven days, sacrificing peace offerings and giving thanks to the LORD, the God of their fathers. 2 Chronicles 30:22 (ESV)
Hezekiah shows us a great example, we should encourage one another in the service of the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 5:11.
1 John 2:7–14
The Indicator of Love
Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 1 John 2:10 (ESV)
If we have hate in our heart for our brothers and sisters in Christ it is an indicator that we are not walking in the light. Love is like an indicator in our hearts that we are walking in consecration as we ought to. We need to examine our hearts today, if we are walking in love, we are walking in sanctification / consecration.
Psalm 104:1–15
Splendour and Majesty
Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty, covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent. Psalm 104:1–2 (ESV)
God our great King is clothed in splendour and majesty. He is clothed in light, this is why we need to be consecrated, because our God is awesome and holy.
Most of the above post is a copy of the original notes from the same date in 2014.
Additional resources
Desiring God on 1 John 2