The King’s heart
Hezekiah, Part 5
2 Chronicles 30:1
And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the LORD God of Israel. (2 Chronicles 30:1)
The king’s heart was getting larger now, all was prepared, let’s keep the Passover, but not only for us in Jerusalem, let us bring our brethren to this great day. Let’s send out posts to all of Israel, from Bethsheba in the south, to Dan in the north. Let all the children of Israel be gathered to keep the Passover, for God will be merciful unto us. Therefore, they wrote letters and sent them into Israel to Ephraim, and Manasseh that they should come and keep the Passover. In verse 1, why do we have the names of Joseph’s two son, Ephraim and Manasseh. (Genesis 48:8-22)
And Israel beheld Joseph’s sons, and said, Who are these? (Genesis 48:8)
And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them. (Genesis 48:9)
Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them. (Genesis 48:10)
And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed. (Genesis 48:11)
And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. (Genesis 48:12)
And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near unto him. (Genesis 48:13)
And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn. (Genesis 48:14)
And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, (Genesis 48:15)
The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. (Genesis 48:16)
And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head. (Genesis 48:17)
And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head. (Genesis 48:18)
And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. (Genesis 48:19)
And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh. (Genesis 48:20)
And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers. (Genesis 48:21)
Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow. (Genesis 48:22)
In this portion of Scripture, we have Israel being moved by the Spirit of God to bless Ephraim, the younger, over his older brother Manasseh. In the days of Hezekiah, the ten rebellious tribes of the north were also known as Ephraim. Read the prophecy of Hosea and you will understand the casting off of Ephraim, and in the day of the Lord the gathering in of Ephraim, as representing all of Israel, or the ten tribes. This will happen in the latter day of the Lord, when Israel is completely restored, and the glory of the Lord will shine round about Israel.
In the case of Manasseh, his tribe was divided at the entering in of the land. Half of the tribe of Manasseh stayed in the wilderness on the east side of Jordan, and the other half went into the land with Joshua and received a portion or inheritance in the land. In the letters, therefore, that Hezekiah had sent out by the post, he had contacted the Israelites in the south, in the north, in the west and in the east. He had invited all of them to come to the Passover. One side note: Manasseh on the east bank of the Jordan had already mingled with the nations and had little to do with the brethren in Judaea. When their attitude was to laugh and mock Hezekiah’s messages, this only revealed the hardness of their hearts towards Jehovah. The heart of man can get as hard as a stone where no light can enter. Man comes, whether individually or collectively, as a nation to a point of no return, a point of no remedy.
And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: (2 Chronicles 36:15)
But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy. (2 Chronicles 36:16)
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: (Romans 1:20)
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: (Romans 1:24)
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: (Romans 1:26)
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; (Romans 1:28)
There is not only a final call, but the day after there is a point of no return. I have seen this in my lifetime, the sin of man only brings the hardness of heart, and the emptiness that comes with a sinful being. This emptiness is attributed to the very sin that one commits; sin has a way of possessing man, and leading man on a path of destruction. I list a few: the first time one experiments with drugs is the first step to the path of one’s destruction; the first time one steals it is not the end of theft, but the end will bring forth death. Men with men, women with women, Paul covered this wicked sin in his day, and he knew that it would overtake and control all actions if it was not rebuked; yet, as the Word of God condemns this wickedness in Paul’s day, so too it casts a cloud of judgment in our day; that God will judge this wickedness and all the evil and wickedness that man commits. According to Romans 1, God has given them up. Now, the sad part . . . life; a child is conceived, God has placed His hand in the womb, He has brought forth life, and no one wants this life. Why will man send food and medicines to starving and sick children all over the world, and yet, rip life out of the womb in a moment of time, with no remorse, with no regret, and with no repentance for the sake of convenience, and to maintain a willful state of lasciviousness. Out of one side of their hypocritical hearts they claim compassion for ‘the children,’ and out of the other side of their hearts they are deaf to the agony of the murders of ‘the children.’ They have reached the point of no return; God gave them up!
The world’s heart has been hardened by sin. One looks at prophecy in the Word of God and cries out, ‘how long, oh Lord, before you avenge your children, and cut off the hand that does so much evil.’ Consider history, the heart of Cain was hardened by his sin, and God gave him up. The antediluvians were hardened through the lust of their flesh, and when their hearts were hardened that they were an abomination to God, He gave them up. Consider the Sodomites, He rained down fire from above; He destroyed the land of the Egyptians through plagues by His hand through His servant Moses till Pharaoh, himself, was swept away and all his hosts in the depths of the Red Sea. Consider the Canaanites when their cup was full, God took away their lands and gave it to Israel, and Joshua and the hosts of Israel defeated all their armies. And then, beloved, let us consider Israel how her glory faded when she turned against Jehovah, and sinned the unpardonable sin —the refusal and rejection of the Holy Spirit of God. Nation after nation, sin after sin, and yet man still will not repent. Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, the great Roman Empire, nation after another disappears in the maps of history. In the long history of Adam nations have disappeared and others remain in name only without their ancient power. Adam will never learn there is blessing with God and cursing without God.
Israel was given an object lesson in two mountains. Geizim the mountain of obedience brought forth blessing, and Ebal, the mount of disobedience, brought forth curses.
Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; (Deuteronomy 11:26)
A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: (Deuteronomy 11:27)
And it shall come to pass, when the LORD thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal. (Deuteronomy 11:29)
This is a fundamental truth which never changes. God must have obedience from man. As Samuel told Saul, And Samuel said, Hath the LORD [as great] delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey [is] better than sacrifice, [and] to hearken than the fat of rams. (1 Samuel 15:22) God must have obedience out of man, or like Adam, He will drive them out of His presence. The world has willfully forgotten that it was by one man, and one man’s disobedience that sin came into the world, and death by sin. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. (Romans 5:12) The Holy Spirit of God wants to remind the world that this sin, or sin nature, is passed on through all of Adam’s descendants. There was only one promised seed, and He was brought forth apart from sin; this was the Lord of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ.
When Adam brought sin into the world, he died spiritually to God. The communion he once had with the mind of God was now gone. He was now a sinner and could only be dealt with by God’s judgment. Did Adam die naturally and instantaneously on that very day? No, however, at that very moment in time Adam began to die a slow and long death. God gave him along life that he might muse on his trespass against an Almighty God, and against the very creation that God made for Adam’s dwelling place. Every hour and every year that passed, Adam lived with the realization that death would overtake him, and that he would surely die. The DNA of sin is so strong in man that there is no hope other than divine intervention. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. (Romans 5:19) Notice the contrast of these two men, one disobedience in Adam — death, the other obedience unto His Father — life. The one is of the earth, earthly; the other is the Lord from heaven. The DNA of sin is a load that we carry that we cannot cast off. When Adam stood at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, there was no question about the goodness of God; yet, through Adam’s own disobedience, Adam willfully took the fruit of evil. This separated him from not only the presence of God, but an eternity of darkness, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. There is no mention of Adam ever repenting of his disobedience, and his disobedience follows us all unto death. He had a long life to consider what he had lost, and what he was, and that was — sin. And Adam’s race has had a long history looking back at the sufferings, the agony, blood upon blood; no country, no people, no race escapes the evil heart of man, for his heart is always malignant. Man is always scheming, deceiving, murdering, and exhorting till his heart is silenced by the hand of God in the grave. We look around us and see evil upon evil, was it any different in Hezekiah’s day. Had not the nation been divided, it was saturated with all types of cults, and all types of heathen gods. They had unitedly turned their backs on the true God of heaven and earth, but at the darkest point, God always provides a flicker of light. And Hezekiah as that light for his brethren. Although the posts were mocked and scorned, the message reached some of his brethren, and they came to join with Hezekiah in this wonderful Passover.
Had there not been wars and disputing between these two divisions of Israel? But Hezekiah with the hand of fellowship, and a heart for God cried out, ‘come and join with us in the Passover.’ Hezekiah’s heart and spirit went on further, and he saw what could be accomplished with God’s blessing. It was as if in the heart of Hezekiah that he understood, in faith, that Jehovah would see it and remember it, and bring back Hezekiah’s brethren out of captivity, with their children and their wives. Let us remember that Israel’s seed went back to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, who received the promise of God, and the blessings of His people. So, in all this, Hezekiah looked up and glorified God. When the posts returned, they told Hezekiah of their treatment, but this did not faze the king; he still desired, with a godly heart, to see all of Israel united once more. Still, the diverse peoples of Asher, Manasseh, even unto Zebulon, humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem; and in Judah they were given one heart to do the command of the king according to the word of God. The word of God should always be our one and only director led by the overseer, the Holy Spirit of God. If we allow the Spirit of God to direct us, He will bring the truth of Scripture to our heart. If we turn from the Word of God to the teachings of men, we will end up with confusion, sin, and misunderstandings of the Word of God as Laodicea in Revelation 3. The reason that the Laodiceans gathered together (and are still gathering together) in a collective church setting was to show off their self-centered self, the modern religious selfie, and to adore and enjoy their riches and possessions. If we consider our time and this church of Laodicea, we will understand that we are in the very last days of Church history. The Lord will soon be taking His true Bride, the true Church home to be with Him forever.
Back to the days of Hezekiah . . . this was a great return to Jehovah. His brethren had come from all over Israel. They had been separated from each other in the days of Jeroboam and Rehoboam, but now they were united with Hezekiah under the covenant of blood, established by Jehovah all the way back to the Garden of Eden.
God had to shed the blood of animals because of Adam’s sin. This was the first sin offering, and the first blood shed on the earth, and man had brought this forth. It was because of his sin, and now man would be clothed both Adam and Eve with the skins of the victims or sacrifice. These skins would remind them of their horrible act of sin. It would bring sin before them as a constant reminder of their disobedience. And although they were covered, the skins were a constant reminder of the sin beneath.
Sin is not outward, it is inward. It is part of our being, as you have blood running through your veins, you also have sin running through your being. Sin permeates the entire being, and it’s end result is death. This is why there had to be a continual sacrifice in the Old Testament. The root of its establishment was sin itself. It was given as a reminder to Israel of what man was, and what man is; and this went on to the day God sent His Son to be the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. It was in the fullness of time, that the Person of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, satisfied all the righteous claims of God against us.
For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) (Romans 5:17)
That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:18)
The Lord Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God, and as the Great Passover He shed His divine blood of righteousness to fulfill all the promises of God in Himself. It is documented what John the Baptist proclaimed when he saw the Lord Jesus at the river Jordan. The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)
When Hezekiah greeted his brethren, there was no spirit of division, but a unifying force in the great God, Jehovah. They had come from afar to celebrate the Passover together with Hezekiah. Could there not be stories told in the fire-lit streets of Jerusalem about the night in Egypt when God’s angel of death hovered over the land, and the Israelites gathered in their houses, and applied the lamb’s blood to the lintel and the door posts so that the angel of death would pass over them. Now, in Hezekiah’s time they were about to celebrate a Passover of unity, not only to Jehovah, but to their brethren as well. The blood of the sacrifice would cleanse them from their sins, and they would eat the Passover as their forefathers did with Moses in Egypt long, long ago.
In the Psalms of David, there is a short psalm of unity among brethren.
<<A Song of degrees of David.>> Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! (Psalm 133:1)
It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; (Psalm 133:2)
As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore. (Psalm 133:3)
The world has divided those who love the Lord Jesus from each other; as in the days of Hezekiah and his brethren. We have been divided through denominationalism, through cults, and sectarianism; it is no longer Christ only, but the traditions of men, and religious humanism with a socialistic agenda. Theologians deny and divide the Word of God, they teach not to love the Word of God, nor to uphold the Word of God, but to mistrust it. They claim unless you have heard the voice of God when it was spoken, and felt His breathe, then you cannot be sure of the very words before you in your Bible. They are denying the Omnipotent God, they have no understanding, for the Spirit of God is not in them. Is it any wonder that the world is running head long into hell. The Spirit of God not only worked through holy men of old but continues to work through holy men in the preservation of the Word of God. It is the Holy Spirit of God, might I say, the living Spirit of God who preserves the very Word of God before me, and will preserve it throughout all eternity, for it is settled in heaven.
Only God Himself can give the mind of Christ. In the Old Testament we have men like Elijah, who were jealous for their God and for His truth. I find this same jealousy in Hezekiah, for over and over we are told in this section of Scripture that ‘it was according to the word of God.’ He was jealous in reference for the truth of God. There had been much error before him, yet he knew that divine truth and divine blessing had to come from obedience to the Word of God, and to Jehovah his God.
Let us now look over Jerusalem with the eyes of Hezekiah. He saw the fruit of his labor, and he felt his heart as it beat for Jehovah. All the people were of one heart, and when they were of one heart, they not only kept the Passover but kept the feast of unleavened bread not only for 7 days, but they continued for another 7 days. What a blessing this must have been for the king to see the will of the people, and what a blessing if the Church would see it’s true bread of life, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is He who is our Sustainer, for man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. In Christ we have all the manifested living Word of God. He was in the beginning, and He is the Word, and He is God. John1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)
We have no other map of life other than what is found in the Word of God, there is no other compass that points us to God, there is no sexton to direct us through the stars. It is the Word of God that takes us past man’s dwelling place, earth, past the sky, and the stars into the presence of Christ in the heaven of heavens. It is there we sit down with Him and partake of the bread of life in sweet fellowship. He has knocked on the door, open it, and let the Son of righteousness come in that you may sup with Him, and He will sup with you, and He will show you great and mighty things which ye know not of.
© Copyright 2015, Michael Haigh
Article may be used, but not for gain. Freely ye have received, freely give.
All Scripture references are from the King James Bible. (KJB)