Hezekiah a Man Who Sought To Restore the True Worship of God
Posted: Thursday, December 18, 2008
by John Waddey
firstcenturychristian
When young king Hezekiah took the throne of Judah the nation was in the depths of a spiritual depression. His father, Ahaz, was a committed idolater who defied Jehovah, choosing to worship the Baalim, the gods of Damascus and even to sacrifice his own children in fire (II Chron. 28:1-4). Nothing in the pagan religions of his neighbors was too extreme for him. He looted the temple of God, taking the gold to adorn his idolatrous altars (28:24).
He ordered the priests and Levites to purify themselves and get ready for the resumption of Jehovah's temple worship (II Chron. 29:15). They were instructed to purge the temple of all the filthiness therein, which included accumulated rubble and rubbish but also anything relating to the idolatry of his father (29:5). They did the necessary repairs, then purified and sanctified the sacred house (29:3,15, 17).
At the king's direction, the priests re-instituted the prescribed services of worship (29:31-35). Sacrifices were offered and the song of Jehovah began "and all the assembly worshiped, and the singers sang..." (29:27-28). The people brought their gifts and sacrifices and offered them up to the Lord (29:31). As they participated in restoring the true worship of Jehovah, "Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people..." (29:36). Man's greatest joy comes from faithfully serving Jehovah.
What This Ancient Lesson Means to Us.
Jesus promised to build his church (Matt. 16:18). It was established and the doors of entrance opened in Jerusalem on the Pentecost following his resurrection (Acts 2:1-47). From the beginning, Satan was determined to defeat and destroy the Savior and his church. With vivid symbolism, John describes his evil effort. In a vision, John saw a woman arrayed with the sun, a crown of twelve stars upon her head. She was expecting a child and about to deliver. He saw Satan in the form of a great red dragon ready to devour the holy child. Herod the Great was the wicked agent who sought to kill the infant Jesus (Matt. 3:13-16). The "child was caught up unto God and unto his throne" (i.e., Christ's ascension). Defeated in his efforts to destroy the Christ, Satan made war against the woman (now the church) and "there were given to the woman the two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness...where she is nourished for time, and time, and half a time from the face of the serpent..And the dragon ...went away to make war with the rest of her seed that keep the commandments of God..." (Rev. 12:1-17).
The church was established but Satan did not accept defeat. Using persecution from without and by corrupting some within the church he worked to destroy her. Paul warned the elders of the Ephesian church "that after my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock and from among your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them..." (Acts 20:29-30). Later he wrote to Timothy, "the Spirit saith expressly, that in later times some shall fall away from the faith ...through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies...forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats..." (I Tim. 4:1-3). Early signs of this apostasy were seen in Corinth as disciples began to form cliques and call themselves after notable or favorite teachers (I Cor. 1:10-13; 3:3-5).
Following the death of the Apostles, apostasy came and the greater part of the churches were thoroughly corrupted. The driving force of this was centered in Rome, the capital of the ruling Roman Empire. Numerous changes were introduced in the second and third centuries, but in the opening years of the fourth century profound and destructive changes occurred with the accession of Constantine to the throne of the empire. A great civil war was raging as three generals, backed by their armies, vied for the throne. At the Battle Milvian Bridge, in 312, Constantine observed the appearance of a cross on the moon and concluded that the God of the Christians had sent him a sign. He had all of his troop mark their shields with a cross and they did in fact win the battle. Taking the throne, the new emperor remembered the sign. He signed an Edict of Toleration (313 A. D.) for the Christians. For the first time they now had legal standing and protection under Roman law. Doubtless, the saints thanked God for the new ruler and the kindness he had bestowed on them. Little did they know that this apparent blessing was a watershed event that would be their undoing. Constantine decreed that to serve in his army or to fill governmental positions one had to be a Christian. He provided gifts to those who chose to affiliate with the church. This was a disaster because thousands of unconverted people rushed to join the church for political and social advantage. They quickly corrupted the congregations where they had influence. The emperor taxed the temples of the idols for his building projects. When the impoverished temples were abandoned, he gave them to the churches for their meeting places. He endowed churches with great treasures to be administered by prominent church leaders. By his actions, idolatry fell out of favor in his kingdom.
Perhaps the most harmful consequence of Constantine's misdirected efforts to help the Christians was his decision to convene a conference of all the church leaders to resolve a conflict that had arisen over the nature of Christ and his relationship to the Father. The emperor had the prominent leaders of the churches assemble in Nicea in 325 A.D. He presided over the discussions. Strangely, Constantine himself had not yet been baptized, so it was a strange case of an unsaved sinner presiding over a compliant groups of Christian leaders. This was the turning point of the uniting of church and state. At first the state dominated and controlled the churches, using them to its advantage. However when the Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476 A. D., the bishop of Roman emerged dominant over the broken and enfeebled government. Constantine sowed the seed that eventuated in the rise of Roman Catholicism with its pope claiming power over all the churches and rulers under his influence. This dominance continued until the Protestant Reformation of the 16 th century. This was the era of the Dark Ages. Rather than a blessing the domination of Europe and England by the corrupt church was cruel and oppressive and is the low point in Western Civilization. Every aspect of the faith, worship and practice of the church established by Christ was corrupted and distorted by the leaders of the ruling powers of Catholicism.
The thousand years of dominion by the see of Rome was finally broken by a group of brave men who dared to lead a revolt against that oppressive regime. In c.a. 1360, John Wycliff began to challenge the authority of Rome and her corrupt practices. His followers were called Lollards. Wycliff's greatest gift was the translation of the New Testament into English. In c.a. 1400, John Huss of Bohemia led a protest against the corruptions of the Catholic church. He was burned to death for daring to do so. In c.a. 1475, Girolamo Savonarola of Florence launched a similar revolt and he too paid with his life. In 1520, a young priest by the name of Martin Luther of Wittenburg, Germany found a copy of the Bible and upon reading it was stirred to protest the departures from the divine standard that had become common. From his declaration, "I protest," came our word "Protestant", i.e. protesters. Luther was condemned and would have been murdered had not a friendly prince protected him. He gave the German people the Bible in their native tongue. His followers became known as Lutherans. Ulrich Zwingli of Zurich, Switzerland launched his call for reform in 1519. In 1534, John Calvin, first in France and later in Geneva, Switzerland, generated a mighty reform movement. Zwingli and Calvin gave us the Reformed Churches. John Knox of Scotland spent time with Calvin and returned to Scotland to preach reform. His disciples became known as Presbyterians. Later John Wesley of England (1737) protested the deadness and worldliness of the Anglican Church. He and his brother Charles gave us the Methodist Church. While these courageous men broke the iron grip of the popes, they only succeeded in giving the world Protestant denominationalism which by now numbers over 1000 kinds of churches. This stands in glaring contrast with the one church which Christ purchased on the Cross (Acts 20:28) and built (Matt. 16:18). It is an affront to the unity he expects of his disciples (John 17:20-21).
As the 19 th century opened, here in America, from the swirling milieu of denominationalism, were heard calls to go back to the Bible and restore the original faith, worship and practice of the church. James O'Kelly in North Carolina lead a back to the Bible movement among the Methodists. In New England, Drs. Abner Jones and Elias Smith did the same among the Baptists. In Kentucky, Barton Stone preached restoration among the Presbyterians. In Pennsylvania and western Virginia Thomas and Alexander Campbell were powerful voices calling for restoration among Presbyterians and Baptists. They cited verses like Jeremiah 6:16, "Stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way; and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls..." They pointed to Hebrews 8:5 which reminds us to do "all things according to the pattern" God has given us. In our young nation with its gift of personal freedom of religion and the tremendous influx of immigrants, their message was gladly received and hundreds of thousands of people cast aside denominationalism and resolved to follow the Bible alone and be simply Christians as were those early disciples in Antioch (Acts 11:26). Today we continue that call to restore the ancient faith.
This Article has been viewed 274 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)As Messianics, we feel we are to get back to the roots of the faith by starting with understanding the Hebraic culture and time the Brit Hadasha was written in. What are your thoughts on the Messianic Movement?Dear Rabbi Stanley:I rejoice that so many Jews have accepted Jesus as their messiah. A more noble son of Abraham than He never lived. I do hope that all who confess Him as Lord will accept his New Testament as the full expression of His will for their lives. As he was leaving us, Messiah said, go make disciples of all the nation, baptizing them...teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." (Matt. 28:19-20). May your lives and your testimony for Messiah be such that multitudes of your Hebrew friends and relatives will want to join you in serving God's only begotten Son (John 3:16). The religion of Jesus is neither Catholic nor Protestant, it is simply Christianity (I Pet. 4:16).Yours in Christ,John Waddey,minister of Christ Jesus
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.