WEDNESDAY'S WORDS

Today in my Bible Study we were discussing some things that King Hezekiah said and did.  People often wonder what relevance the Old Testament has for us today.  In 2Chronicles30, Hezekiah gathers all his people together to celebrate the first passover of his reign, in the newly cleansed and refurbished temple.Worshiping God and taking part in the daily ceremonies of the temple had been given up for years because the previous king, Ahaz, wasn't in any way interested in doing what God wanted him to do.  And the people followed Ahaz's example. 

But Hezekiah was a whole different kind of person. He put everything back to the way God had told Moses centuries before.  Then at one point he prays for all the people and says "May the good Lord provide atonement for everyone."   -- that is for everyone who wanted it!  (2 Chron. 30:18 and 19)  Then a few verses later we find Hezekiah giving "encouragement to all the Levites who taught the good knowledge of the Lord".  2Chron. 30:23. In all his reign, Hezekiah wanted the people to know the good knowledge of the Lord.  

These two acts of Hezekiah are as if they came straight from the New Testament.  God gave Jesus Christ to provide atonement  (forgiveness) for our sins and He sent the Apostles to go out and "teach "the good knowledge of the Lord."   It's no use us trusting in something we know nothing about.  We need to have good knowledge of who God is.  This is partly why Jesus came, because now we know what God is like because Jesus is God.  Jesus also came to bring atonement for us -- that is, for those of us who want it.

I have set my heart to know the good knowledge of the Lord and I have accepted the atonement Jesus Christ has offered me.