Wed.’s Devo - Cleansing the Temple

Read: 2 Chronicles 29:1-36; Romans 14:1-23; Psalm 24:1-10; Proverbs 20:12 Ahaz had closed the Temple and led the people into Baal worship. When he died, his son Hezekiah came to reign. He was the grandson of the priest Zechariah and he wanted to open up the Temple and turn the nation back to the Lord. He reopened the doors of the Temple the first month of his reign and called the priests and Levites together. He asked them to purify the Temple and get all the defiled things out of it and get it back into operation as God had commanded. *** The Levites got to work and purified themselves. They got the Temple purified in 16 days. The next morning, King Hezekiah met with the city officials and took them to the Temple. They brought seven bulls, seven rams and seven male lambs as a burnt offering to the Lord. They cleansed the altar with the blood of the animals and laid hands on the goats to transfer the sins of the nation to the goats then killed them on the altar. *** The musicians were put in place and the burnt offerings were made to the sound of praise and worship. All the people worshipped the Lord and the singers sang and the priests blew the trumpets until all the offerings were made. They sang the songs of David and Asaph then Hezekiah let the people bring their sacrifices and offering to the Lord. They brought 3,370 animals to be sacrificed. *** It was noted that there were too few priests to help because the priests hadn’t been as conscientious about purifying themselves as the Levites had been. They had to let the Levites help them with the sacrifices. *** The Temple of the Lord was restored to service and all the people rejoiced at what God had done so quickly. *** In Romans, Paul talked to them about their different convictions. He explained that some people have more sensitive consciences than others and we must let people work out their own salvation the way they feel comfortable. We will all stand before God and he will have the final say. Everyone must honor God the way he feels is right but not forsaking his commandments. God is a personal God and will judge us all personally. We are not to condemn another person just because they don’t have the same convictions we do. We must not violate our own consciences. Paul encourages us to be sensitive to other’s convictions and not purposely do anything to hurt another’s faith. *** Paul summed it up by saying, the Kingdom of God is not about what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. *** Lord, may we cleanse your Temple in our own hearts. May we have the gift of ears to hear and eyes to see.