day one agenda

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

The very first actions of King Hezekiah showed where his heart was. When he became king at twenty-five years of age, he demonstrated a remarkable maturity and depth. His first priority from the top of his administrative agenda was to reopen the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem and return Judah to the worship of their saving God! He realized that those who had led before him had done evil in shuttering up the doors of the temple and turning their backs on the God Who made  covenant with them. The reason things had been so culturally bad was because Judah had worshiped all the wrong gods. It was in Hezekiah’s heart to see that covenant relationship restored (2 Chronicles 29:10). It would begin with reopening, remodeling, restoring, and renewing the temple worship.

It took the priests and the Levites just sixteen days to remove all the years of neglect and idolatry from the temple. Once everything was back in order Hezekiah himself was the first in line to offer sacrifices as the temple was restored. A massive celebration of sacrifice followed. So many people and sacrifices were made at this re-dedication that there weren’t enough priests to do the work yet! So Levites were allowed to assist so that all who spontaneously gathered could truly offer their worship to the Lord. It was a record-breaking massive turnout. And in a little over two weeks, Hezekiah’s day one agenda of revival had brought a repentant people back to God in full force.

It is never too late to repent. It is never too late to be serious with God. While we live, we can be reconciled. He will reward repentance and serious faith with authentic worship. No matter how entrenched our sin, when we turn to Christ in a repentance that hauls the filth out in confession, we too can find the doors open when we repent. We too can find sins forgiven in Jesus, our Great High Priest, and the joy of obedient worship will sustain us in peace with God!