“Then he said to them, “Listen to me, you Levites. Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry the uncleanness out of the holy place.” 2 Chronicles 29:5
Have you ever been in a cleaning project so large that you needed to clean up before you could clean out? I had a friend that was cleaning out an old house that was so cluttered and full of garbage, he had to first clean out the entry rooms in order to get access to the rest of the house. He literally had to clean up a path to get in and clean out the house. Kind of a pre-cleaning to get to the rest of the cleaning. We see something similar in 2 Chronicles 29. Evil king Ahaz is dead, and his son Hezekiah takes the throne. And as we will see, the heart that was passed from father to son could not have been more different. Good king Hezekiah takes office and quickly analyzes the kingdom not with his own eyes, but the eyes of God. In fact, in one of my favorite definitions of wisdom, we see Hezekiah seeing this world not through his own eyes, but though the eyes of God. And what he sees is not good. His father, Ahaz, was so opposed to God that he had not only let the temple of God fall into disrepair, but he had nailed the doors to it shut. Adamant that not only himself, but no other soul could utilize the temple to worship almighty God. Oh, how far the human heart can fall from God when it follows its own unabated sin nature. So good king Hezekiah opens the doors to the temple of God and sets to reestablish Godly worship in the kingdom. And the very first thing he does is clean up so he can clean out. In order to reestablish worship to God he must first look to the hearts that will be performing the daily priestly duties. He needs hearts that are pure in order to approach the work of Almighty God. So he assembles the priestly tribe of Levi and tells them to consecrate themselves for duty to God. To sanctify themselves before God. To clean out their hearts unto God, to confess and admit any sin that had entered those hearts, to present pure hearts in service to God. Then and only then would King Hezekiah allow them to physically clean out the temple of the false gods and idols that had been placed there by Ahaz. The idea of consecration is critically important to us. Just as these Levites, we must consecrate ourselves before we approach the kingdom work of Jesus Christ. We must admit our sin and repent of it before we enter His presence. We must allow God to clean up our hearts before we can work on the temple for God. Today, get serious about sanctifying and asking God to clean up your heart. Take a long look in the mirror and be honest with Jesus about the sin you’re carrying within that heart. And then ask Jesus to clean it up. He is faithful to forgive you and your trespasses against Him. Ask Jesus to clean out your heart and then ask Him to move into that heart and be the Lord of your life. Jesus came to this planet to deal with the penalty of your sin, but He can’t do anything with it until you repent and ask Him. Ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior today and watch Him clean you up so you can get to work telling others about the power of His saving grace, a grace that cleans.
“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” Ezekiel 36:25-27
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