Articles
What Restoration Means
If anything should have been, well-maintained, surely it was God’s temple in Jerusalem.
But Israel had drifted far from God, and the temple showed the dire effects of their apostasy.
►Time to set things right!
Hezekiah commanded, “. . . carry out the filth from the Holy Place. For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God . . . . They also shut the doors of the vestibule and put out the lamps and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the Holy Place to the God of Israel . . . .”
This restoration was two-pronged. First, they removed what should have never been put into the temple. Second, they replaced what should have never been removed (2 Chronicles 29:5-7, 16, 19).
►And for us today?
Just as Hezekiah restored the temple to a condition that would once again honor God, so shouldn’t we also be diligent to restore the purity and simplicity Christ desires for His church (Ephesians 5:23-27; Revelation 2:1-7; 3:1-6, 14-22)?
In the New Testament God reveals how He wants His church to be organized, how His people are to worship, what they are to teach, and how they are to live. Through the centuries, countless unauthorized changes have been made to the divine plan for the church.
Isn’t the call to return to the original divine pattern as needed today as it was in Hezekiah’s?
Are we willing to re-examine our beliefs and practices in light of God’s Word?
The Bible labels Hezekiah’s restoration efforts “these acts of faithfulness” (2 Chronicles 32:1).
May God be able to say the same of us!
