A true story of leadership, restoration of the church, repentance, revival and a nation turned back to God – all in 2 months…
Morning before the start of Yom Kippur – 24 September 2023
Scripture given 2 Chronicles 29:1 – 31:1
On the morning before the start of Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement), 24 Sept 2023 the Lord gave me a piece of scripture in 2 Chronicles, describing the restoration of Israel back to God.
This piece shows God’s mercy and kindness towards His people, and how He responds to sincere and heartfelt repentance and also intercession of leaders for their people, even when they are technically “not doing it right”.
Read the highlights of the journey below that has amazing insights and shows a revival and reformation that was exceptionally fast. What started on the 1st of the 1st month of the year, culminated in an extended feast of unleavened bread 2 months later that was extended by seven days with joyful agreement by everyone to continue praise and worship and offering to God.
TIMELINE
- A young leader (he was 25) decides to follow God and leads others to do the same
- He gets the priests and levites to turn back to the ways of God (The church leaders)
- They remove the altars / idols from the temple (Purification of the church, removal of things that are not “Of God” from the Church, removal of doctrine or ideas that are contrary to the Word of God from the Church)
- The King gets the city leaders to do this with him (people in government)
- They all offered sacrifices and worshipped God in Unity with the Priests and Levites (here the church and leaders + government officials follow God’s commands in unity)
- More of the priests and levites turn to God and consecrate themselves (this was ongoing)
- They call all the people of the different tribes of Israel and Judah back to following God
- At first the people mocked them, but then God turned a large number of their hearts back in unity (revival starts)
- They all came together in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, but first they removed all the altars and idols from Jerusalem. (City is Purified)
Even though it was not the correct time, and even though they were not following the way of doing things perfectly, the King prayed to God to ask that He will accept their offerings because their hearts were turned to God, and God answered his prayer and healed the people. (God looks at the heart, and a person in authority can intercede for everyone else) - They worship and praise God for 7 days, and then everyone agrees to extend for another 7 days of worship and joyful sacrifice. (revival continues)
- There was great joy, and God heard their prayers from heaven
- The people went back and destroyed all the altars and idols in the land before going back home (purification, restoration + reformation of the entire nation)
If we follow the timeline in this piece of scripture, at the start of Yom Kippur we are now in the middle of the consecration and purification of the temple (church).
I feel it is important to read through the timeline below to follow the process of restoration, revival and reformation that happened so “suddenly” so many years ago. There are amazing things that happen in the course of just 2 months!
Let it be for us the same Lord. I feel it is a call for intercessors to keep on praying into this, for the right leaders to come into power that have their hearts turned to God, and that they will call the church, government and the people to turn to God in unity.
I know we have been repenting, and praying and interceding for many months and years, we have had many corporate calls to repentance and national prayer days, worship days, weeks and months. As in the “sudden” story of King Hezekiah and those he called back to God, it was a continual process of consecration and purification, that added more and more church leaders over time, and turned the people back to God even though they started out mocking this.
Let us not get weary in running the race, but continue with joyful intercession, praise and worship the way David did it. Let us pray for UNITY to bring us all in alignment with God’s perfect will.
They renewed their covenant with God, but remember we are under a new covenant as established by Jesus Christ on the cross. He is from the order of Melchizedek, and fulfils the role of our King and Priest, in this new covenant. (Psalm 110:4)
Also for us to know that it is less about following the steps “perfectly”, as each denomination / believer has a different way they “think” is how it MUST happen, but to turn our hearts fully to God, and worship Him with everything we have in UNITY in the flawed revelation or knowledge that we may currently have. If our hearts are pleasing to God, he will hear our prayers and will also turn the others to Him that may currently be mocking.
Let this be a prophetic view of our restoration back to God for our leaders, government, churches, cities and nations.
Let Godly leaders return and bring back purity, unity and devotion to the church and the people. Let our nation’s heart turn back to God, in repentance and praise and worship.
Hezekiah Purifies the Temple
In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the Lord and repaired them. He brought in the priests and the Levites, assembled them in the square on the east side and said: “Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove all defilement from the sanctuary.
2 Chronicles 29:3-5Now I intend to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger will turn away from us.
2 Chronicles 29:10When they had assembled their fellow Levites and consecrated themselves, they went in to purify the temple of the Lord, as the king had ordered, following the word of the Lord. The priests went into the sanctuary of the Lord to purify it. They brought out to the courtyard of the Lord’s temple everything unclean that they found in the temple of the Lord.
2 Chronicles 29:15-16Early the next morning King Hezekiah gathered the city officials together and went up to the temple of the Lord.
2 Chronicles 29:20Hezekiah gave the order to sacrifice the burnt offering on the altar. As the offering began, singing to the Lord began also, accompanied by trumpets and the instruments of David king of Israel. The whole assembly bowed in worship, while the musicians played and the trumpets sounded. All this continued until the sacrifice of the burnt offering was completed.
When the offerings were finished, the king and everyone present with him knelt down and worshiped.
2 Chronicles 29:27-29Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced at what God had brought about for his people, because it was done so quickly.
2 Chronicles 29:36Hezekiah sent word to all Israel and Judah and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, inviting them to come to the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel. The king and his officials and the whole assembly in Jerusalem decided to celebrate the Passover in the second month. They had not been able to celebrate it at the regular time because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not assembled in Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 30:1-3At the king’s command, couriers went throughout Israel and Judah with letters from the king and from his officials, which read:
“People of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that he may return to you who are left, who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria.”
2 Chronicles 30:6The couriers went from town to town in Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun, but people scorned and ridiculed them. Nevertheless, some from Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem. Also in Judah the hand of God was on the people to give them unity of mind to carry out what the king and his officials had ordered, following the word of the Lord.
A very large crowd of people assembled in Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread in the second month. They removed the altars in Jerusalem and cleared away the incense altars and threw them into the Kidron Valley.
2 Chronicles 30:10-14Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the Lord, who is good, pardon everyone who sets their heart on seeking God—the Lord, the God of their ancestors—even if they are not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary.” And the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people.
The Israelites who were present in Jerusalem celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great rejoicing, while the Levites and priests praised the Lord every day with resounding instruments dedicated to the Lord.
2 Chronicles 30:18-21The whole assembly then agreed to celebrate the festival seven more days; so for another seven days they celebrated joyfully.
2 Chronicles 30:23A great number of priests consecrated themselves. The entire assembly of Judah rejoiced, along with the priests and Levites and all who had assembled from Israel, including the foreigners who had come from Israel and also those who resided in Judah. There was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the days of Solomon son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. The priests and the Levites stood to bless the people, and God heard them, for their prayer reached heaven, his holy dwelling place.
2 Chronicles 30:25-27When all this had ended, the Israelites who were there went out to the towns of Judah, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. They destroyed the high places and the altars throughout Judah and Benjamin and in Ephraim and Manasseh. After they had destroyed all of them, the Israelites returned to their own towns and to their own property.
2 Chronicles 31:1
Notes:
Scripture given the morning before the start of Yom Kippur – 24 September 2023
Yom Kippur falls on the Hebrew calendar date of 10 Tishrei (Tishrei is the first month on the Hebrew calendar) It begins in 2023 at sunset of 24 Sept.
Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement, a Jewish holiday.
It was the only day in the entire year that Aaron (the High Priest) was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies, to sacrifice / atone for the people’s sins. Jesus is now our ultimate sacrifice, His blood washes away our sins, so we use the day of Yom Kippur to remember that we need a saviour to atone for our sins, and thank God for sending His Son as our eternal sacrifice.
“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:14-16)
Read more on how you can celebrate Yom Kippur with Jesus (Yeshua):
https://jewsforjesus.org/learn/how-to-observe-a-messianic-yom-kippur
Written by Mariana Engelbrecht 24 /09/2023
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