What does it say?
Ahaz became king in Judah and acted wickedly in many ways. The Lord God used the king of Aram and Israel to punish Judah for the wicked acts under the leadership of Ahaz. However, the Lord did not allow Israel to make slaves of Judah as they had it in their mind to do, for he rose up Obed as a prophet to preach against enslaving their brothers and warned of the wrath of God against Israel if they did not repent, so they clothed them and let them go free. King Ahaz asked Assyria to help against his enemies and Assyria took the wealth of Judah. After this Ahaz fell further into idolatry, sacrificing to the gods of Damascus and closing the doors to the house of the Lord, making alters for himself in Jerusalem. Hezekiah became king in Judah. He opened the doors to the house of the Lord and repaired them, bringing in the priests and the Levites, and he instructed them to cleanse the house of Idolatry and be ministers. It took a total of sixteen days to cleanse the whole house of the Lord from the unclean things and put the house in order for consecrated worship of the Lord. The princes assembled and burnt offerings and sin offerings were made for Israel. While the offering was burning the congregation worshiped the Lord in song. Then at the completion the burning they all bowed down to worship the Lord. Then the service for the house of the Lord was open again and the people came and offered sacrifices and thank offerings to the Lord. Then he invited all of Israel to return to following the Lord and worship him together as one at the the temple. Most of Israel laughed at the messengers, but some of them humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. In the second month they celebrated the passover as one congregation and celebrated the feast of unleavened bread for 7 days. They were so full of joy that they decided to continue the feast for another 7 days. These went out and broke down the pillars and Asherim. The house of the Lord was again open for worship and the law of the Lord regarding ritual worship, tithe and sacrifice was being followed. The priests and the Levites were numbered and assigned their duties in worship. Hezekiah is credited with bringing about these reforms in Israel.
What does it mean?
No matter how bad it seems the Lord can bring about revival. One person whose heart is for the Lord can be used by God for revival. Even during revival there will be those who mock and laugh at the evangelist, but there will be many who turn to the Lord through the preaching of his word. In order for people to come to the Lord Jesus Christ they must believe in him. However, they cannot believe in him unless they hear about him. They cannot hear about him without a preacher and the preacher must be sent. When the preacher goes into the world with the good news he should not lose heart when all do not believe. Many will mock and scorn and laugh at the preaching, but some will repent and believe. (Rom 10:14-17)
What shall I do?
The Lord Jesus Christ has sent his sheep out to invite people from all nations to the feast of the Lord; therefore, I must be obedient to the word of the Lord and preach the gospel to all people. (Mk 16:15)
