It Only Takes One

One who will hear the call.

One who will acknowledge the devastation caused in the Church by turning away from the Lord.

One who will take it to heart.

One who will act.

There is no indication in Scripture what it was that prompted Hezekiah to acknowledge the depths to which Israel had sunk under his father’s leadership, and to act. But, in the first month of the first year of his reign, at the age of 25, he…

• …repairs and opens the doors to the house of the Lord barred shut by previous generations.
•…removes all the idolatrous high places where the worship of God had been compromised and made acceptable to the masses.
•…destroys all the idols set up across the land.
•…removes all the filthy compromises with the world that had been brought into the presence of the Lord in the sanctuary, even the holy of holies.
•…cleanses and restores the altar of the Lord and its utensils.

The record of his reign in 2 Kings says that Hezekiah “held fast to the Lord.”

But then he decided to broaden his call to revival to the whole nation.

He sent couriers with letters out to every town and village from Dan to Beersheba (2 Chronicles 30:5), calling the nation to “return to the Lord, that he may turn again to the remnant of his people” (30:6).

It is a call for revival that parallels the very situation we find ourselves in the Church in America today. Hezekiah writes to the nation, “If you return to the Lord… your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you” (30:9).

The couriers went from city to city but the people of God “laughed them to scorn and mocked them” (30:10).

But Hezekiah would not take no for an answer and moved right ahead with the plan, and “The hand of God was on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the Lord” (30:12).

“And many people came together, a very great assembly,” from the very tribes that had mocked Hezekiah for the call to revival, and from Judah and Jerusalem (30:13). The gathering immediately acted in repentance, cleansing the house of God from all that was unholy.

The response was so sudden and so great, and so many new believers showed up, that the leaders were scrambling with the elements of worship and the schedule to accommodate everyone. It was like the catch that surprised the disciples so much that other boats had to come alongside and help to keep the nets from bursting.

Even the priests and Levites were caught off-guard by the numbers that came from all over the nation to repent and return to the Lord, so that many of them (priests and Levites) were left scrambling spiritually themselves to get ready to help.

It was such an amazing revival that it had to be extended just to accommodate the feasting and joy in the presence of the Lord.

Nothing like it had been witnessed in Jerusalem since the dedication of Solomon’s temple when the glory of the Lord had been seen descending to His resting place.

The prayers of the priests and the people were “heard and their prayer came to His holy habitation.”

It started with a vision in one man… Hezekiah.

And he was willing to work against all odds and with the mood of the priests and the people going the opposite direction.

Listen, the eyes of the Lord are still running across the earth looking to “give strong support to those whose heart is inclined towards Him” (2 Chronicles 16:9).

As I read this chapter this morning it felt like a promise for our day and our generation.

Is this kind of revival your vision for our day?

If it is, are you willing to run with it in your spheres of influence?

I wonder if it is not time for revival in America!