Revival Starts with Worship

As young men, we can be tempted to miss God in all our work for him. We can love teaching or preaching about the Lord more than we love the Lord himself. The question that has been with me for the last while is this one: what true worship is rising from my heart to God? 

What got me thinking was the story of Hezekiah. He came to the throne of Judah in his twenties, following the death of his idolatrous father, King Ahaz.

Hezekiah grew up during some of the darkest days of Israel's history. The idols of Canaan were once again worshipped, and with idolatry came horrific sin – child sacrifice. As false worship spread, true worship, of course, ceased. It was Ahaz who shut the door of the temple of the Lord. For years, no praise or thanksgiving ascended to God from the House of God in Jerusalem. 

Then Hezekiah was crowned king, and suddenly true worship was restored again in Jerusalem. The whole account is found in 2 Chronicles 29-32. There's much to learn, but the following points are enough for now:

The start of true worship – “open the doors”

Hezekiah made the restoration of worship his number one priority. It was in the first month of the first year of his reign that he opened the doors of the temple and repaired them (2 Chronicles 29:3). 

If the ultimate purpose of life is to glorify God, then worship must be our chief priority. Hezekiah first sought to revive true worship before he restored right order in the temple or resisted the Assyrian enemy. Yet, true worship motivated both these things. 

Revival of worship started with something simple. They opened the temple doors and repaired them. That's a good place to start isn't it?

If true worship has ceased in our hearts, then it's time we opened our hearts for repair.

Perhaps we need a fresh appreciation of the gospel or a greater grasp of majesty and mercy of God. Certainly, we need to take the desire of David for Israel: “prepare their heart unto thee” (1 Chronicles 29:17), and make it our own prayer: prepare my heart unto You, O God. 

The preparation for true worship – “remove the filth”

When Hezekiah opened the old temple doors, he didn’t immediately bring in the sacrifices or hold the Passover feast, even though it was the right time of year. He knew that the temple and the priests and the people weren’t in a fit state for worship. The temple vessels were dusty, the holy place was dirty and the people were defiled because of unrepentant sin.

Therefore: “He brought in the priests and the Levites … and said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place” (2 Chronicles 29:5).

There’s no point praising God with our lips, if our hearts have become a place where filth is welcome. 

The Lord Jesus condemned the hypocrites: “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.”

If we’re serious about reviving true worship, we need to get working at our heart. Perhaps there is filth that needs to be removed. The cleaning work may take time – it took the priests in Hezekiah’s day 16 days to cleanse the temple! We may be blind to the myriad of ways sin and defilement has crept into our heart. Lord, help us see our uncleanness! 

The cleaning work will take humility. There will be hard truths to hear, as we yield to the holy light of scripture. There will be sins to confess. Sometimes to others, but always to God. 

Yet, we should be encouraged to prepare our hearts for true worship. God alone is worthy of our worship. He delights to forgive and reconcile sinners, and he will satisfy all who approach him with a prepared heart to worship him.

The enjoyment of true worship – “there was great joy”

After cleansing the temple and consecrating the people, Hezekiah led the kingdom of Judah in offering sacrifices and offerings to the Lord. He then sent letters throughout every tribe of Israel, calling the people back to true worship. Some scoffed at the invitation, but many hearts were moved and came to Jerusalem, ready to worship. 

And what a feast of worship they shared. By the end of the Passover feast and the feast of unleavened bread, there was something in Jerusalem that had been long absent: joy.

“And all the congregation of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and all the congregation that came out of Israel, and the strangers that came out of the land of Israel, and that dwelt in Judah, rejoiced. So there was great joy in Jerusalem: for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem.” (2 Chronicles 30:25-26)

We were made to worship the Lord. When we make anything other than God the ultimate thing in our life, we will be dissatisfied and our hearts left hollow. But when the Lord is our everything, the delight of our heart, we will be satisfied.