Expositions of Holy Scripture: Second Kings Chapters VIII to End and Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Esther, Job, Proverbs, and EcclesiastesMaclaren, Alexander
Religion
Expositions of Holy Scripture: Second Kings Chapters VIII to End and Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Esther, Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes
The last stage in Hezekiah's great sacrifice was 'thank-offerings,'
brought by 'as many as were of a willing heart.' And will not the
self-devotion, kindled by the fire of love, speak in daily life by
practical service, and the whole activities of the redeemed man be a
long thank-offering for the Lamb who 'bears away the sins of the
world'? And if we do not thus offer our whole lives to God, how shall
we profess to have taken the priceless benefit of Christ's death?
Hezekiah followed the order laid down in the Law, and it is the only
order that leads to the goal. First, the atoning sacrifice of the
slain Lamb; next, our identification with Him and it by faith; then
the burnt-offering of a surrendered self, with the song of praise
sounding ever through it; and last, the life of service, offering all
our works to God, and so reaching the perfection of life on earth and
antedating the felicities of heaven.
A LOVING CALL TO REUNION
'And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to
Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord
at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel. 2. For
the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation
in Jerusalem, to keep the passover in the second month. 3. For they
could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified
themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves
together to Jerusalem. 4. And the thing pleased the king and all the
congregation. 5. So they established a decree to make proclamation
throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should
come to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem:
for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was
written. 6. So the posts went with the letters from the king and his
princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the
commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again
unto the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to
the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of
Assyria. 7. And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren,
which trespassed against the Lord God of their fathers, who therefore
gave them up to desolation, as ye see. 8. Now, be ye not stiffnecked,
as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter
into His sanctuary, which He hath sanctified for ever: and serve the
Lord your God, that the fierceness of His wrath may turn away from
you. 9. For if ye turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your
children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so
that they shall come again into this land: for the Lord your God is
gracious and merciful, and will not turn away His face from you, if ye
return unto Him. 10. So the posts passed from city to city through the
country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even unto Zebulun: but they laughed
them to scorn, and mocked them. 11.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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