**INTRODUCTION**
Many people in the Bible are known for different things. King David was known for killing the giant Goliath. What would you say Moses was known for? What about Joshua, what was Joshua known for? Today we are going to learn about Hezekiah.
Q. What was Hezekiah known for?
A. Hezekiah was the one who revived the church.
Hezekiah means Jehovah's strength and we can read about Hezekiah in 2 Kings chapters 18 - 20
Hezekiah of King Judah - 2 Kings 18:1-6
1 Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.
2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.
3 And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.
4 He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan.
5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him.
6 For he held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses.
**MAIN**
Hezekiah was a good king and a godly man. Because he was a king we may think that Hezekiah had a good start in life but this was not the case. His father Ahaz was one of the wickedest kings in Judah's history, and during his reign the religious life of the nation reached an all-time low. (Read 2 Kings 16:2-4) Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king and he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He followed in the steps of previous corrupt kings and even sacrificed his son in the fire. He followed the detestable ways of the nations that the Lord had driven out. He offered up sacrifices and burned incense at the high places on the hilltops and under every spreading tree. This was the type of Father King Hezekiah had. With a father and a background like that we may wonder how Hezekiah became such a noble and spiritually minded man. Where did his faith in God and his spiritual character come from? Certainly not from his home background as we have seen. It can only have been that Gods’ spirit had worked directly in his life.
Not everybody has the blessing of being brought up in a godly home, in surroundings where the Bible is being read and prayers are being said. This shows us that God is a personal God, sovereign and an unrestricted God. Your character and your relationship with God does not depend on someone else. It doesn't depend on your family background or culture. Your walk with God, your faith in God and relationship with Him does not depend on your parents or grandparent’s relationship with God. If your parents have a close relationship with God that doesn't mean that you will have a close relationship with God too. Likewise if your parents are far from God doesn't mean that you will be far from God. Your relationship with God depends on you and more so on God, it depends on nothing else and no one else.
Romans 8:38-39
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
However Hezekiah did have the prophet Isaiah as a mentor. Isaiah was speaking for truth and righteousness in that godless age and Hezekiah is to be commended for listening to him.
There are many voices speaking in the world today who may be: gifted experienced speakers with loud voices; very popular with good looks and a huge internet following; brainy well educated with long titles; influential business men with loads of money. Who are you listening to? And why are you listening to them?
Hezekiah stayed close to the lord and listened to him.
To hear from God you need to be still and be close to him because he tends to speak in a still small voice. Now that you have an idea of Hezekiah’s character, let's take a look at what he did as king of Judah.
As a God fearing man Hezekiah wanted to restore the spiritual life of the nation. This wasn't to be a patch up job it needed to be a thorough job. Therefore there needed to be some demolition before construction could take place. In 2 Kings 18:4 we read how Hezekiah demolished all the idol worship. It was necessary to do this because God had totally rejected all the false worship that had gone on for generations.
A similar work of demolition and clearing up has to take place in a person’s life before the full work of salvation is experienced. The old nature needs to die and the new nature needs to grow and be nurtured.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new being; the old is gone, the new has come.
Some habits or problems will go automatically, others you will have to fight off with the word of God and start making the right choices. If you do a patch up job on yourself and just cover your problems over with a plaster then once the plaster has worn off the problem will still be there. The hurts, disappointments, rejection, anger etc. will still be there. You need to get to the root of the problem then pull the root out and let the new nature grow. When gardeners want to do a good job of weeding amongst a flower bed sometimes they get down on their knees because it takes time and effort to do a thorough job. Likewise if we want to get rid of the bad habits out of our lives we too need to get down on our knees and work things out in the spiritual realm. If we don't look after our garden regularly then it can get into a big mess, so much so that we need help to sort it out. This is the same with our spiritual lives. If we neglect our time with an open and honest conversation with God, then the wrong things will try come into our lives and if we're not careful they will start taking root. You may be very good at looking after your garden but you need to be good at looking after your own spiritual garden as well, it isn’t the pastor or ministers job to be looking after your spiritual garden/life, you need to do the daily maintenance.
So Hezekiah got rid of everything that didn't please God. After the clearing out he started building. He focused on reviving the spiritual life of the nation. Ahaz his father had closed the doors of God's house (2 Chronicles 28:24). But now Hezekiah opened the doors and repaired them (2 Chronicles 29:3-7). He explained to the priests where the church had gone wrong and what they needed to do to put things right. Once the priests understood and took hold of the vision, in other words once Hezekiah got his own house in order, he then opened the temple to the public and started the services in the temple. He called the people to prayer and worship. This was important if the power of God was to move again in the land.
2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2 Chronicles 29:27-28
27 Then Hezekiah commanded them to offer the burnt offering on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord also began, with the trumpets and with the instruments of David king of Israel. 28 So all the assembly worshiped, the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.
REVIVAL STARTS WHEN GODS' PEOPLE START TO PRAY AND WORSHIP.
Hezekiah was very dedicated and passionate to see revival in his land. He sent messengers throughout the country calling the people back to God.
2 Chronicles 30:6
Then the runners went throughout all Israel and Judah with the letters from the king and his leaders, and spoke according to the command of the king: “Children of Israel, return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel; then He will return to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria.
Praying for revival is not easy, it takes a personal promise and commitment to God. Just like Esther did, she made a personal promise to God, she wanted to save her people so she stood in the gap for them and declared 'if I perish, I perish'. Hezekiah too had this type of determination because that's what it takes to start a revival. He braced himself to endure the difficulties and he set his face towards victory.
Hezekiah’s story is quite long, he faced a lot of opposition. Hezekiah is facing the Assyrian army who are like a war machine. He knows that no one can help him, not his army, not his commanders, not Isaiah the prophet, but only God. So he falls into the hands of God and cries for help.
The greater the difficulty we face then the greater need for us to seek Gods’ face. When we pray many may think what will prayer achieve? Many people pray in different ways and still see no results. Some people pray five times a day, some three times, some pray long prayers, others short prayers, and some pray and fast. While some pray quietly and alone others pray aloud wherever there's a crowd. The secret to prayer isn't how you pray, it's who you pray to that makes all the difference. Prayer isn't an act of penance, it's not punishment. It’s not a ritual, we don't pray because we have to. We pray because we love talking to God our maker, and because we need him, we need his instructions for our lives. He will give us the answers to every situation in our lives, he will tell us what to do when we ask and listen. Sometimes we need to do something as well as praying. God knows what is stopping you from receiving the results you need, and he can instruct you what to do about it.
**CONCLUSION **
Hezekiah prayed to the Almighty God and he saw an almighty deliverance from this powerful army. That's what praying to God can achieve. However big your problem, however crazy our world has become, our God is greater. Pray in accordance with Gods’ will and ask for the impossible.
What do you want to be known for? Someone who never achieved much or someone who brought revival into your family,your church, city and country. Learn from the life of Hezekiah who brought revival back into a nation
who were far away from God.
