2 Chronicles 30:1-27

When we experience the blessing and forgiveness of God, it is only natural that we want to share it with others.  Hezekiah has cleansed the temple and re instituted the sacrificial system in Judah as well as reestablished the worship of the Lord on a consistent basis before the Lord.  Now he wants to celebrate the Passover with his people as he seeks to obey the commandments of Scripture.  However, he wants to include the entire nation and not just the tribes in Judah.  He calls all twelve tribes to come and celebrate in Jerusalem.  When we have good news, we want to share it with others.  That is really what evangelism is all about.  We know the path of forgiveness and how we can be free from sin.  God calls us to share that good news with all the nations of the world.  We have a great reason to celebrate and our joy should be contagious as we spread the fame of Jesus to the ends of the earth.

HEZEKIAH EXTENDS AN INVITATION FOR PASSOVER TO ALL OF ISRAEL: The ten tribes of Israel have been separated from the two tribes of Judah for many generations.  Most of the ten tribes have been taken captive by the Assyrians, but Hezekiah wants to include them in the celebration of the Passover.  He longs to see the nation united once again under the hand of the Lord and experiencing the blessing of the Lord once again.  He has experienced the blessing of God and he wants all of his brothers and sisters to enjoy this same relationship.  Letters of invitation are printed and he sends messengers to all the tribes informing them of the coming celebration and inviting them to come and participate.  It is our job to invite people to come to the celebration of forgiveness that is available to us through faith in Christ.  We have a tremendous blessing so it is only natural that we want others to enjoy these same blessings.

HEZEKIAH EXPERIENCES A VARIETY OF RESPONSES FROM ISRAEL: As the letters and messengers went out, they received a variety of responses.  Many of the people in Israel simply laughed and mocked at the prospect of celebrating the Passover.  In their minds this was an archaic custom that would be silly to celebrate in these “modern times.”  However, there were also many who had tender hearts to the Lord and jumped at the opportunity to obey Him and return to a life of worshiping Him.  Many people converged on Jerusalem for this celebration.  Many others stayed where they were and continued to live in their idolatrous practices.  We cannot control how others will respond to our invitations.  Some will ignore us, others will mock us and in some places we may even be tortured and killed for inviting people to trust Christ.  We are called to invite people and leave the results in the hands of the Lord.

HEZEKIAH EXPANDS THE CELEBRATION FOR AN ADDITIONAL WEEK: A massive number of people come to Jerusalem from all over the nation.  However, many of them had not come in a consecrated manner.  They had never celebrated the Passover, and really did not know how it was to be done, but they wanted to take part in it.  Hezekiah prayed to the Lord to allow the people who had not properly consecrated themselves to participate, and the Lord answered in the affirmative.  God knows our hearts and that is what He is most concerned about.  They may have not performed all of the rituals correctly, but their hearts were in the right place.  The praise of worship of the Lord was so exciting and brought so much joy to the people that they decided to extend the celebration to an additional week.  There truly is great joy in obeying and serving the Lord.  We need to spread that joy to all who are around us.