According to 2 Kings 17, a small remnant remained of the northern 10 tribes that had escaped the Assyrian invasion and subsequent deportation in 722 BC. And because King Hoshea’s capital in Samaria was under Assyrian occupation, there would be no challenges to interfere when King Hezekiah called them and Judah to come to the Passover feast at the temple in Jerusalem. The nation as a unified people had failed to keep the Passover for almost 200 years, since the division of the empire and Jeroboam’s establishment of false worship in Dan and Bethel. This second public act of obedience to God (the first being the restoration of temple worship) brought a spiritual revival to the land of Judah.<\/p>\n
We all need times of refreshing and revival in our lives, both on a personal and national level. Three quotes from men of God long gone to be with the Lord, may help us see our need.<\/p>\n
“Revival is the church falling in love with Jesus all over again.” \u2014Vance Havner<\/em><\/p>\n
“A true revival means nothing less than a revolution, casting out the spirit of worldliness, making God’s love triumph in the heart.” \u2014Andrew Murray<\/em><\/p>\n
“In revival, the minds of people are concentrated upon things of eternity, and there is an awareness that nothing else really matters.” \u2014Brian Edwards<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
We would do well to pray the same for ourselves.<\/p>\n
“LORD, we do pray, please revive us today in our hearts, our churches, and our land.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n
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2 Chronicles 30 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1<\/sup>\u00a0And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the\u00a0LORD\u00a0God of Israel.\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, to keep the passover in the second month.\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem.\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0And the thing pleased the king and all the congregation.\u00a0\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beer-sheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the passover unto the\u00a0LORD\u00a0God of Israel at Jerusalem: for they had not done\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>of a long\u00a0time in such sort<\/em>as it was written.\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the\u00a0LORD\u00a0God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.\u00a0\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the\u00a0LORD\u00a0God of their fathers,\u00a0who\u00a0<\/em>therefore gave them up to desolation, as ye see.\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers\u00a0were, but\u00a0<\/em>yield yourselves unto the\u00a0LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0For if ye turn again unto the\u00a0LORD, your brethren and your children\u00a0shall find\u00a0<\/em>compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>gracious and merciful, and will not turn away\u00a0his\u00a0<\/em>face from you, if ye return unto him.\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun: but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them.\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0Nevertheless divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem.\u00a012<\/sup>Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of the\u00a0LORD. 13<\/sup> And there assembled at Jerusalem much people to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation.\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0And they arose and took away the altars that\u00a0were\u00a0<\/em>in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away, and cast\u00a0them\u00a0<\/em>into the brook Kidron.\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0Then they killed the passover on the fourteenth\u00a0day\u00a0<\/em>of the second month: and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of the\u00a0LORD.\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0And they stood in their place after their manner, according to the law of Moses the man of God: the priests sprinkled the blood,\u00a0which they received\u00a0<\/em>of the hand of the Levites.\u00a0\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0For\u00a0there were\u00a0<\/em>many in the congregation that were not sanctified: therefore the Levites had the charge of the killing of the passovers for every one\u00a0that was\u00a0<\/em>not clean, to sanctify\u00a0them<\/em>unto the\u00a0LORD.\u00a018<\/sup>\u00a0For a multitude of the people,\u00a0even\u00a0<\/em>many of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good\u00a0LORD\u00a0pardon every one\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0That<\/em>prepareth his heart to seek God, the\u00a0LORD\u00a0God of his fathers, though\u00a0he be\u00a0<\/em>not\u00a0cleansed\u00a0<\/em>according to the purification of the sanctuary.\u00a020<\/sup>\u00a0And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people. 21<\/sup>\u00a0And the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness: and the Levites and the priests praised the\u00a0LORD\u00a0day by day,\u00a0singing\u00a0<\/em>with loud instruments unto the\u00a0LORD.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a022<\/sup>\u00a0And Hezekiah spake comfortably unto all the Levites that taught the good knowledge of the\u00a0LORD: and they did eat throughout the feast seven days, offering peace offerings, and making confession to the\u00a0LORD\u00a0God of their fathers.\u00a0\u00a023<\/sup>\u00a0And the whole assembly took counsel to keep other seven days: and they kept\u00a0other\u00a0<\/em>seven days with gladness.\u00a024<\/sup>\u00a0For Hezekiah king of Judah did give to the congregation a thousand bullocks and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the congregation a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep: and a great number of priests sanctified themselves.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a025<\/sup>\u00a0And 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.\u00a026<\/sup>\u00a0So there was great joy in Jerusalem: for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel\u00a0there was\u00a0<\/em>not the like in Jerusalem. 27<\/sup> Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people: and their voice was heard, and their prayer came\u00a0up<\/em>to his holy dwelling place,\u00a0even\u00a0<\/em>unto heaven.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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