This evening I want to talk about the importance of praising God. Just how important is it that the Lord receives praise from His people? Allow me to open with a Biblical example. In Luke 19:37-38, the Scripture tells us: “Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying: ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’” So, we see here how the disciples began to praise the Lord, offering up thanksgiving and blessing unto the holy King of Kings.
The Scripture continues to tell us in Luke 19:39-40, “And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, ‘Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.’ But He answered and said to them, ‘I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out’.” Jesus stated that if His disciples, or His followers, refused to praise Him, then the very rocks would cry out His name! Therefore, if the stones will cry out to Jesus in praise if we fail to do so, then I would say that praising the Lord is something that’s expected from all creation, and something we should take seriously!
This evening, as we examine how King Hezekiah worshipped the Lord, we are going to discover the significance of praise, and we are going to find out that praising God is necessary in order for us to experience the Lord’s power and presence in our lives!
A Sacrifice is Required for Worship (vv. 20-24)
20 Then King Hezekiah rose early, gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the Lord. 21 And they brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats for a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. Then he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord. 22 So they killed the bulls, and the priests received the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. Likewise they killed the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar. They also killed the lambs and sprinkled the blood on the altar. 23 Then they brought out the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them. 24 And the priests killed them; and they presented their blood on the altar as a sin offering to make an atonement for all Israel, for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering be made for all Israel.
We read of how King Hezekiah rose early and went into the house of the Lord, together with the rulers of the city. This action happened directly after the cleansing of the temple, seen in verses 1-19. Hezekiah was one of Judah’s greatest kings. The account of his life presented in 2 Chronicles covers his twenty-nine year reign after 715 B.C. Israel, which was the Northern Kingdom, had already fallen into the hands of the Assyrians in 722 B.C., and its people had been deported in large numbers. Hezekiah realized the reason for this event was because of Israel’s disobedience and the people’s spiritual harlotry; therefore, in order to please the Lord he intended to renew the ancient Mosaic Covenant with God so that He might once again bless the nation. In performing this action Hezekiah was following the word of the Lord given in Deuteronomy 12:2-4, which commands the tearing down of the altars and worship places of foreign gods.(1)
In verse 20, immediately after the temple had been cleansed, we find King Hezekiah entering the temple for the very first worship service that had taken place in decades;(2) and then, in verses 20-24, we see where numerous animals were brought into the temple as sacrifices to cover the sins of the kingdom, the sins of the sanctuary, and the sins of the country of Judah (v. 21). Verse 20 tells us that, “They presented their blood on the altar as a sin offering to make atonement for all Israel.”
If you will recall, God’s presence hovered in the tabernacle among His people Israel only because the high priest made atonement for the sins of the people through animal sacrifices. These sacrifices cleansed the people and made them able to abide in the presence of a holy God; at least within the vicinity of the tabernacle, but not directly before the Lord. Only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies once a year in order to stand directly before the presence of God.
We live in a new era now, which is a time of grace. There is no more need to “continually” offer up sacrifices in order to cover each and every sin we commit, because the final, once-and-for-all sacrifice was paid through Jesus Christ, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Because of what Jesus did on the cross, we are now seen as “the righteousness of God in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:21), holy and blameless in the sight of God. The apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:4 and 8, “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus . . . that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord.”
This great sacrifice that Jesus made allows us to draw close to the very presence of God. We read in Matthew 27:50-51, “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” The veil that existed in the tabernacle to hide the presence of God from common, ordinary, and sinful people, and that was later adapted into the temple to serve the same purpose, was ripped apart so that we might now behold the glory of the Lord. Jesus died in order to make us holy and blameless so that we could abide in God’s presence, and so we could walk with Him in fellowship as Adam did in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:8).
We learn here a few important things about worship. First of all, we must realize that before we come to worship, a sacrifice is required. Jesus paid the price for our sins; however, we must still offer Him our hearts in devotion. Secondly, we need to realize that when we come to worship, we come to meet with God. Worship is a direct encounter with the living God. This means that we need to come prepared with the right attitude to worship the Lord. We must realize that worship is all about God, and it’s not about us. It’s not about what we can get for ourselves, but it’s about what we can give unto God. The Lord is worthy of our devotion and affection as we bow before Him, and offer unto Him the sacrifice of praise! So, what do I mean by the sacrifice of praise?
We Must Bring a Sacrifice of Praise (vv. 25-30)
25 And he stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with stringed instruments, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, of Gad the king’s seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for thus was the commandment of the Lord by his prophets. 26 The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. 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. 29 And when they had finished offering, the king and all who were present with him bowed and worshiped. 30 Moreover King Hezekiah and the leaders commanded the Levites to sing praise to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshiped.
Do you see how the burnt offering was sacrificed unto the Lord? We learn how the Levites, or priests, were stationed with musical instruments; and then in verse 27, we see that as the burnt offering was being made, the Levites began playing on their instruments; and then in verse 28, we see how the singers sang and trumpeters sounded. After the sacrifice was completed and the music had ceased, they all bowed and worshipped the Lord. Therefore, the sacrifice was presented with the praises of the people! I believe this example shows that animals were not the only sacrifice the Lord wanted His people to offer Him. The praises of God’s people meant just as much to Him as the animal sacrifices, for we see how they were offered simultaneously! This brings to mind a praise song, which says, “We bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord; and we offer up to You the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and we offer up to You the sacrifices of praise.”
As already mentioned, we don’t have to sacrifice animals anymore in order to atone for our sins; however, a sacrifice is still required whenever we wish to meet with God, which is the sacrifice of praise. Whenever we offer the sacrifice of our hearts in devotion to the Lord, we must bring Him the sacrifice of praise. Psalm 107:22 declares, “Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing.” Psalm 141:2 states, “Let my prayer be set before You as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” Jeremiah 17:26 shares with us, “They shall come . . . bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, bringing sacrifices of praise to the house of the Lord.” In Hebrews 13:15, we are admonished, “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” As we shall see, the sacrifice of praise is what enables us to experience the presence of the Lord.
God Will Then Draw Close to Us (v. 31)
31 Then Hezekiah answered and said, “Now that you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord, come near, and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the Lord.” So the assembly brought in sacrifices and thank offerings, and as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings.
Offering the sacrifice of praise is all about what we can do for God. Remember, worship is not about what God can do for us; it is all about Him! If we want to experience God, it has to begin with us and our own willingness to draw near to the Lord. We can’t just sit around and say, “Okay God, show up!” We have to hunger and desire to draw near to Him, and “we” must take the first step. James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you,” but we have to draw near first, and this begins with our praise. It begins with bowing before the Lord in worship.
You see, God draws near to us when we praise Him, for Psalm 22:3 says, “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel” (KJV), or “You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel” (NKJV). God shows up and visits us whenever we praise Him, because He “inhabits” our praises, and is “enthroned” in our praises; meaning, He dwells in our praises! You can see here that after all the singing and praising had ceased, Hezekiah told the people to “come near,” and to come “into” God’s house. Coming near and entering the house of the Lord, was the same as entering His presence. Therefore, the people were required to first make an offering and praise the Lord, before they could ever experience Him more fully.
I want to share a testimony from a woman named Carol Wimber (the wife of the late John Wimber, founder of the Vineyard denomination), who describes what she learned from a home bible study that she and her husband once attended:
She says that shortly after the home group began to meet, the Lord impressed the word worship on her mind as clearly as a newspaper headline. She wasn’t sure at the time what the Lord was referring to since all they did on Sunday morning was considered worship.
Soon, however, Carol began to recognize that as they sang with Carl [Tuttle, the song leader] on Sunday nights, it was during the songs with words addressed directly to God that they experienced a more profound sense of His presence. She then began to realize that even though they talked of worship, they rarely ever did it, in the sense of the word.
Those in the group, meanwhile, were beginning to worship at home. It turned out that effective corporate worship was partially the by-product of a healthy devotional life with God during the week. People were experiencing breakthroughs in posture, worshipping not only with their vocal chords but also with the whole body – kneeling, bowing, lying prostrate, and raising hands.
The most significant discovery was that worship wasn’t for them at all, but a gift they gave to God. They learned that it didn’t matter what they felt like; God was worthy and inhabited the praises of His people. When they gave Him His gift, not as the warm-up for the teaching but as an end in itself, an interesting thing happened. God brought His presence and ministered to them.(3)
We just heard a testimony concerning how God comes to visit us whenever we lift Him up in praise! He truly does inhabit the praises of His people! Just remember that praising God is not about showing up for church on Sunday mornings, and it is not about singing a bunch of songs. It is about offering a gift, or a sacrifice, unto the Lord for He is worthy.
In verse 31, we read that “as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings.” Praising God and offering the sacrifice of praise comes from a “willing heart,” a heart that truly wants to worship God; and if we really want to worship the Lord, we will abide in His presence and worship Him on a daily basis and not just on Sundays. As Carol Wimber observed, “Effective corporate worship was partially the by-product of a healthy devotional life with God during the week.”(4) You see, if we worship the Lord each and every day, then that is a true sacrifice; a sacrifice of our time unto God.
Time of Reflection
The most important thing that we need to remember is that when we come to worship the Lord it has to be all about Him, not about us. Let’s offer unto God the praises due His name, as we offer Him the sacrifice of praise! If we do this, then we will experience the Lord in a much closer way than ever before!
If you are a Christian, and you feel as though you are not experiencing the Lord when you come to church, or you feel as though you are having a dry spell in your life, I want to ask you if you are offering the sacrifice of “praise and worship” unto the Lord. If you are not experiencing God to the fullest in your life, then perhaps your heart is focused on things other than God alone. Maybe when you come to church you are coming because of duty or in order to socialize; but we must realize that worship is not about what we can get, but what we can give; what we can give unto God in order to honor Him and please Him for He is worthy. So, begin directing all of your attention and all of your heart unto the Lord, and sing praises unto His name, and He will show up in your life.
Becoming a worshipper begins with sacrifice; and the very first sacrifice you ever make is confessing Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and dedicating yourself to live completely for Him.
NOTES
(1) John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, The Bible Knowledge Commentary (Wheaton, Illinois: Scripture Press, 1983, 1985), taken from Logos 2.1E on CD-ROM.
(2) Lawrence O. Richards, The Teacher’s Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1987) taken from Logos 2.1E on CD-ROM..
(3) Bill Jackson, The Quest for the Radical Middle (Cape Town, Africa: Vineyard International Publishing, 1999), pp. 58-59.
(4) Ibid., p. 59.
