Hezekiah's Reformation

2 Chronicles 29:1-5 says, "Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah the daughter of Zechariah. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done. In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. Then he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them in the East Square, and said to them: "Hear me, Levites! Now sanctify yourselves, sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry out the rubbish from the holy place.

Notice that the first order of business for Hezekiah was to repair the doors of the house of Yehuweh. Even though the reasons for repairing the doors may seem to be obvious, I believe it requires a deeper look. A door has two separate and distinct purposes; 1. To allow access, and 2. To deny access.

Today, as in the days of King Hezekiah, the doors of the house of Yehuweh are in dire need of repair. According to scripture our bodies are His temple (1 Cor. 6:19,20). It seems that the doors to our bodies are similar to what WalMart installs at the front of their Super Centers. The slightest movement around the entrance causes the doors to open wide allowing access. Unlike WalMart, we don't have a 'greeter' in place to watch over things. In this day of extreme information overload, there are virtually no safeguards in place to determine the validity of what passes through the doors to the temple. IT IS TIME TO UNPLUG THE ELECTRONIC EYE!! My friends, the safeguards of consecration and sanctification, based on the Word of the Almighty, must be put into place. When Yehuweh gave instructions to Moses concerning the erection of the Tabernacle, every article of worship not only had to be constructed according to a particular design...it had to be consecrated as well. There is a profound lack of alarm at what has been allowed to become articles of worship in the Temple today. What are you allowing to access the interior of the Temple?

The second thing that King Hezekiah did was to get the rubbish out of the Temple. The interior of the Temple must be different from the outside.

I recently asked a question of my home fellowship. "What is the number one problem in the church world today?" The response was immediate and unanimous. "There is no difference between the church and the world!" In other words, "The inside of the temple looks just like the outside." There is just as much rubbish on the inside as the outside. The problem is, the inside was not designed for the rubbish and because it is there, the temple cannot be used for adequate worship! The rubbish pile that has imposed itself upon the spaces of the temple stinks and is maggot infested. It is not fit for recycling. It must be carried out and disposed of properly. This rubbish is called MAN MADE RELIGION! It does not matter how good the rubbish looked when we brought it in...it is still rubbish. We are warned several times throughout Scripture not to add to or take away from its principles. ANY addition or detraction simply contributes to the rubbish.

I challenge you to examine the doors of your heart. I remind you that your body is THE Temple that is in place today. Guard the doors. Clean out the rubbish.

Shalom