Does God heal People so that they can obey? When Naaman stood at the door of Elisha’s house, he might have reasoned that, if he were healed, he would be an obedient servant for the rest of his life. At least Naaman thought that it should be a simple thing—a faithful prayer will be made on my behalf and I will be healed. He also thought he could reinterpret the details of his command, asking, “Are not…the rivers of Damascus better than the waters of Israel?” But it was not to be according to Naaman’s opinion of how he should be healed. It was a lesson of direct, specific obedience. Wash and be clean. Only after Naaman followed the command of the Lord was he healed. Naaman’s healing was dependent on his obedience (II Kings 5:1-15).
When the people of Israel spoke against God and against Moses, the Lord sent fiery serpents among them which bit the people and many died. A command was given for Moses to make a brass serpent, and set it upon a pole. Everyone who looked upon the serpent would be healed. It was a simple command, and a simple action. But the healing did not take place so that the sin could be recognized. It was the reverse—the healing followed the humility (Num. 21:6-9).
So it would seem from these two examples of healing that there is a principle of obedience for us. If there is a sickness among us that needs to be healed, our response should be to do what the Master has instructed us to do, and he will heal us; not the reverse. If we pray to be healed so that we can do the right thing, we may be putting the cart before the horse.
Hezekiah recognized Israel’s need for healing (II Chronicles 29).
It wasn’t so much that any single individual was at fault for Israel’s pollution of the house of God. The blame could have been passed backward to King Ahaz, Hezekiah’s father. But from Hezekiah’s perspective, his relationship to his spiritual father David was more important than upholding the family tradition of his father Ahaz. The house of God was in need of cleansing (v. 15).
There was a problem with the doors of God’s house. It seems that they had been stuck or sealed shut. When they were opened, they needed to be repaired. A stuck door sometimes needs to be broken in order to be opened. The door to any ecclesia should never be stuck shut. And if it is, it may be a sign that a right offering needs to be restored.
Israel’s sickness involved three specific symptoms (v. 6-7).
Hezekiah recognized that Israel had a national transgression. That is to say that they shared a sin as a community for which many of them were not personally responsible. Although there was still a form of worship being practiced, they had intrinsically done evil in the eyes of the Lord, turning their faces away from His house. As such, they had 1) shut up the doors, 2) put out the lamps, and 3) not burned incense or offered burnt offerings. For the ecclesia in our times, this was the equivalent to closing off Christ, blocking his light, and forgetting that the pure offering of a thankful heart comes from a humble and contrite spirit. As a result, the Lord gave them over to 1) trouble, 2) astonishment or desolation, and 3) hissing or jeering. Again as to the ecclesia in our times, this would be equivalent to God giving it over to maltreatment, waste, and derision. In Israel, these were the specific symptoms of a closed door, lost knowledge, and the refusal to sacrifice the flesh.
Hezekiah recognized the solution to Israel’s sickness was in God’s house (II Chron. 29:15).
After recognizing the need for healing, Hezekiah said: Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel. For good King Hezekiah, this would be a new covenant, and it would write God’s word upon his heart and upon the hearts of all the brethren in Israel.
They held a gathering (v. 15) and dedicated themselves to the implementation of a great national cleansing, beginning with the cleansing of the house of the Lord. The record makes no account of an appeal to the Lord to give them the strength in order to be able to carry out His will. We wouldn’t assume that prayer was not involved, but it is significant that knowing what was right to do, they obeyed first and prayerful worship followed.
What the account does show is that on the recognition of their failing, the priests and Levites of Israel dedicated themselves to taking the action of clearing the debris from the house of God. Their determination was so great that the whole job was done in eight days. The chapter concludes with this promising exhortation: And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly (II Chr. 29:36). For us, we would ask, would God expect us to take a similar action in order to find healing? Should we ask God to heal us so that we can obey? Or, should we obey so that we can be healed? And were we to obey, how long should it take?
At first, not everyone wanted to participate (II Chron. 29:31).
It is clear from the account that the initial action of restoring a right offering to God was only implemented by a core group. Who were these who were willing to make the necessary change? They were those who were willing to change themselves. The account shows that they did not try to change everyone else first. Hezekiah said:
Now ye have consecrated yourselves unto the LORD, come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the LORD. And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank offerings; and as many as were of a free heart burnt offerings.
There was a specific qualification for the brethren in Judah who began the process of their restoration. It was that their hearts were not bound. What might that mean? From the definitions, we can suggest that they had liberal or generous feelings. They had kindly minds. Their understanding made them willing. This was the opposite of minds that are locked, hard, tight or closed. Their hearts were all in favor of the self-examination of consecration, and the free and open heart that is directed toward opening up the house of God rather than keeping it shut.
After that, the effort was planned for implementation in the whole community (II Chron. 30:1).
Letters were written. A proclamation was resolved to be made to keep the Passover, since “they had not done it for a long time in the prescribed manner.” What?! They had no interest in remembering that God let mercy preserve them when the angel of death passed by? They forgot that their children had been sanctified and spared? This didn’t mean anything to them? The lesson is there for us as well. The real meaning of our offering, its body and its blood, is the mercy of the Lord by the sacrifice of a Lamb under whose protection and promise we now abide.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation (II Cor: 5:17-19).
Can you imagine what would have happened in Israel if the question of restoring the Passover had been brought to a vote? Even with the king’s written injunction, initially, the response was strained to say the least. The messengers were met with mockery and negation. “So the couriers went from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun; but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them” (II Chron. 30:10).
One wonders what kind of skepticism it was that mocked the mercy of the Lord as it would be expressed in the Passover, or scorned His offering. Did they think it would be impractical? Was it perhaps that it would have a divisive effect on the tribes? Did they think it would be better to let sleeping dogs lie rather than to open up the whole question or debate about their relationship to law and sacrifice?
Whatever the objection, Hezekiah, the Levites, priests and princes of Judah had determined to work with it and do the right thing by consecrating themselves, reopening the house of God, cleansing it of debris, and proclaiming the same for all Israel. While only some in the ten tribes responded, “The hand of God was on Judah to give them singleness of heart, to obey the command of the Lord.” (v. 12) If the core group had never done it, it would never had been possible for the community as a whole. It took Hezekiah’s single minded vision, and the priest’s cooperation, and the Levites’ free heart, and the willingness to do the actions of obedience to wake up the rest of Israel. The result was the gift the king was looking for—the gift at his altar—the gift of reconciliation. “Now many people. a very ,great assembly, gathered at Jerusalem to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month” (v. 13). What had begun in the king’s heart now prevailed in the hearts of many brethren in Judah.
The offering wasn’t perfect, but it was favored (II Chron. 30:18).
Although this had taken a turn for the better, there was a problem. Some of the people ate the Passover, but had not cleansed themselves according to the written practice. It was a matter of concern for Hezekiah; but instead of putting them away, or being cruel or harsh with them, the king responded with gentleness and a prayer on their behalf. In the spirit of Christ, the king asked, “May the good LORD provide atonement for everyone who prepares his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his Fathers, though he is not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary. And the Lord listened to Hezekiah and healed the people” (v. 19-20).
Obedience a pre-requisite
Significantly, the healing in this story is at the end, not the beginning. It isn’t an absolute rule, but it is an observable principle. At first there was an awakened conscience to a national sin. Then the simple actions of obedience were taken swiftly by a core group of Levites, priests and brethren who were of a willing heart. Even when the Passover was incorrectly practiced, it still atoned for sin because the good Lord is full of mercy and compassion. It was then that the Lord healed the people.
The resulting fellowship offering and confession, its joy and its fellowship, were so great in Jerusalem, that they agreed to carry it on for another seven days (v. 23).
The order of the events is there for the observing. The last event in the story is in chapter 30:26-27:
So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. Then the priests, the Levites, arose and blessed the people and their voice was heard; and their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place to heaven.
Every lesson in this story is there for the taking. Its principles, its spirit, the order of its events, the reactions, the prayers, the grace, the fellowship, the joy, the strength and the healing, are all there for the taking, if we will only obey the Master’s voice. Healing follows obedience just as surely as faith follows Christ.
To summarize, how were the brethren reconciled in Judah?
- They cleansed the House of the Lord in eight days. (29:17)
- As many as were of a free heart offered the sacrifice. (29:31)
- They rejoiced because the thing came about suddenly. (29:36)
- A proclamation was made in the face of scorn. (30:5,10)
- The hand of God gave them one heart. (30:12)
- Afterward, a very great assembly came to keep the feast. (30:13)
- There were many in the assembly who were not cleansed. (30:18)
- Hezekiah prayed that “the good LORD provide atonement.” (30:18)
- The Lord listened to Hezekiah and healed the people. (30:20)
- They doubled the time of the fellowship offerings. (30:22)
- There was great joy in Jerusalem. (30:26)
- Their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place. (30:27)
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One