February 28: 2 Chronicles 29
Worship and Revival
The Problem: Worship Forsaken (29:1-11)
The fact that Hezekiah had to repair and open the doors to the house of the LORD is an emphatic indication that worship of God had been forsaken. Hezekiah also encouraged the Levites to consecrate themselves to the service of God and remove the uncleanness from the holy place, consecrating the house of God for true worship again. Hezekiah openly confessed the unfaithfulness, evil, and sin of their fathers in forsaking God and turning their backs on worship. This is evident by the shut doors of the Temple and the cessation of burnt incense and sacrifices. He recognized that God had brought the judgments that his father had experienced and desired to renew the covenant. He encouraged the Levites:
““My sons, do not be negligent now, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and to be His ministers and burn incense.”” (2 Chronicles 29:11, NASB)
“God cannot accept my worship unless it meets His standards, and His standards have nothing to do with my ability or understanding. Rather, I must come to worship God by His terms, and in the way that pleases Him, not me.”
A. W. Tozer, Authentic Worship, p. 15.
The Need: Worship Reinstated (29:12-19)
They consecrated themselves and cleansing the house of the LORD by removing every unclean thing that they found. The work took eight days to complete. Where do we need to start to restore true worship in our meeting places? What cleansing needs to take place?
“Then they went in to King Hezekiah and said, “We have cleansed the whole house of the LORD, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the table of the showbread with all of its utensils.” (2 Chronicles 29:18, NASB)
“We claim to be followers of the Lamb and worshipers of the King, but too often our hearts are either cold or lukewarm. Our notes fall flat and are without vibrancy., Let us therefore repent; let us return to our first love as we seek to worship God with our lives, so that the leaping fountain of His love will spring forth within our hearts and from there, flow to the surface and sparkle in the sunshine.
And may God do a mighty work in us so that our spiritual fervency and the authenticity of our worship become manifest in our presence before Him.”
A. W. Tozer, Authentic Worship, p. 33.
The Solution: Worship Renewed (29:20-24)
The worship started early. This indicates eagerness to begin. They entered into worship with sacrifices being offered for all Israel.
“The priests slaughtered them and purified the altar with their blood to atone for all Israel, because the king ordered the burnt offering and the sin offering for all Israel.” (2 Chronicles 29:24, NASB)
The Response: Worship Revitalized (29:25-28)
The wholehearted worship is described in these verses.
“While the whole assembly worshiped, the singers also sang and the trumpets sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.” (2 Chronicles 29:28, NASB)
“True worship is to feel in the heart and to express a humbling but delightful sense of admiration and astonished wonder and overwhelming love in the presence of that most ancient of mysteries, that unspeakable Majesty….”
A. W. Tozer, Authentic Worship, p. 21.
The Goal: Worship Reignited (29:29-36)
What follows is a description of exuberant worship. I will just point out a few selections.
- The king and all who were present with him bowed down and worshiped (verse 29).
- So they sang praises with joy, and bowed down and worshiped (verse 30).
- All those who were willing brought burnt offerings (verse 31).
- But the priests were too few to deal with all of the offerings (verse 34). Here we see that leadership has been a problem in the past as well as today.
- One of the problems was that the priests had not been conscientious in consecrating themselves, but the Levites had been more faithful to do so (verse 34).
- This was a joyous beginning to the establishment of the service in the house of the LORD (verse 35).
“Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had prepared for the people, because the thing came about suddenly.” (2 Chronicles 29:36, NASB)
“What, then, does it mean to worship God? I admit that my definition of worship is an imperfect one, but as I see it, to worship God is to feel in the heart. And what does it mean to feel in the heart? This may not occur in prose or with human language necessarily, yet the feeling in the heart, in some appropriate manner, is expressed in a humbling with no pride in worship. It may come in the form of words—through a song, the reading aloud of Scripture, shouts of praise—or it may come by way of an awesome silence.
A. W. Tozer, Authentic Worship, p. 20.
REVDANS 
Amen