Huge Passover Celebration

2 Chronicles Chapter 30

King Hezekiah asked everyone to come to the Temple of the Lord to celebrate the Passover. They had to celebrate it a month early, because there were not enough priests purified by then. A proclamation went out throughout all Israel inviting all to come celebrate the Passover. Up until now, the people had not been celebrating it in great numbers as prescribed in the law.

When the king's messengers went town to town in Ephraim and Manasseh and Zebulun, most of the people just laughed at the messengers. However, some from Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem. Meanwhile, God's hand was on the people in the land of Judah, giving them the desire to unite in obeying the orders of the king. So a huge crowd assembled to celebrate the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread and they set to work removing pagan altars from Jerusalem and took away all the incense altars.

The priests and Levites purified themselves and brought offerings to the Temple and since many of the people in attendance had not purified themselves, the Levites slaughtered their lambs for them. The unpurified people were allowed to eat the Passover meal after King Hezekiah prayed for them because he said the Lord would pardon them because they were good people. And the Lord listened to Hezekiah's prayer and healed the people.

The people celebrated for seven days with great joy and people confessed their sins to the Lord. They they decided to continue the festival for another seven days and King Hezekiah gave thousands of sheep and bulls for offerings. There was great joy in the city, for Jerusalem had not seen a celebration like this since the days of Solomon.

BIBLE NOTES SHOW: God had a provision that allowed the passover to be celebrated a month late (see Numbers 9: 10,11). In the past, even the good kings had tried to rid Judah of its idols and altars and finally Hezekiah with the help of his people was able to complete the task.

HOW DOES THIS CHAPTER RELATE TO US TODAY? You can be persistence like King Hezekiah and send your message to other people. You can suffer scorn and ridicule like the king's messengers, but if you do not waiver and stand strong in your faith, God will honor you. We all need to keep reaching out, even if it means facing rejection. It helps to see that others also faced rejection and we must remember that the Holy Spirit convicts and convinces. Inviting others to consider God's actions, and promises is our task and we must be faithful warriors. In this chapter we also see that the Levites at first, didn't share the same enthusiasm as the people. It was the faith of the people that motivated the Levites to take action. Today, we can help motivate our church leaders with our enthusiasm too.

Yours in Christ,
Mary

Prayer Requests are needed for:
HEALTH:
Update on my niece Suzanne, she is healing but her leg was crushed and will take many months of doctoring. She is in a nursing home for rehab care. Pray for her healing. Also Gabe, Wanda, Pray for Janice Long’s parents, especially her mother whose cancer has returned and her father with Alzheimer’s and now her mother in law also with Alzheimer’s. Their family is feeling the strain both emotionally and financially. Pray for them.
And pray for Arlene’s nephew David and for my neighbor Al who is nearing the end of his life. Pray for Carolyn’s brother Ronald who has cancer.
Pray for our friend Michelle who was diagnosed with MS.
Pray for Cyndi Sullivan who was given 14 months to live with cancer, but has made it six years. The pain has returned and she needs our prayers.
UPDATE on Barb who went in for back surgery and had a heart attack and stroke, she has her speech back and is home , but continues to have a problem with one arm and hand. Thanks to your prayers, she is able to hobble without a cane and has been granted disability. She still has surgery scheduled on her hand, but I saw her recently and her attitude is fantastic.
Update on Marthaline Sargent. She lost her battle with health problems and passed away last Tuesday. Our condolences to her son Patrick and daughter Stacey. Continue to pray for her husband Robert Sargent who is quite ill with lung cancer.
Pray for Judy’s husband who was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. Pray for her too, that she can deal with the side effects of his illness.
Pray for John’s recovery from a heart attack and pray he can stop smoking.
SPIRITUAL UPLIFTING: Gail, Mary
RESTORATION OF FAITH: Al, John
LOVE AND SUPPORT: Claire, Hunter, Brian
SUPPORT: Haiti, Chile, survivors of Japan’s earthquake, survivors of the devastating tornadoes in our southernmost states and Joplin, Missouri. Pray too, for our country’s leaders and our military people who die each day for our freedom.