A Journey of Revival, Reliance, and Repentance – King Hezekiah’s Reign

Introduction: Describe a memorable personal journey. Maybe about a memorable spiritual journey.

* Highlight what the Bible says about Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles 29:2 – “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord…”

Trivia on Hezekiah:

* He was the 13th King of Judah

* He is considered to be the second best king in their history

* It is believed that he had a hand in the process of putting together a few of the Psalms

* His reign was extremely successful and prosperous (2 Chronicles 32:27-30)

* He ruled for 29 years (2 Chronicles 29:1). 

* He is mentioned in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:9-10)

This sermon covers the following 3 points connected to King Hezekiah’s reign.

1) Hezekiah brought revival through his reforms

*He was a young king with a terrible, ungodly legacy left by his father Ahaz. (Ahaz had sacrificed his own children to Baal). 2 Chronicles 28:24 refers to Ahaz’s bad legacy. Ahaz also received the prophetic sign of the virgin birth of Jesus (Isaiah 7:14).

* But Hezekiah created a different legacy and fulfilled his calling before God. He brought many reforms and revival took place as a result (refer 2 Chronicles chapters 29-30).

• He repaired the Temple

• He purified the Temple

• He restored Temple worship

•  He celebrated the Passover – Extended by 7 days because the nation was in revival (2 Chronicles 30:23).

• He removed idol worship and Moses’ bronze serpent which had been turned into a superstitious religious symbol (2 Kings 18:4).

 He protected God’s Word. Proverbs 25:1 shows us that he helped compile Solomon’s Proverbs.

*Jeremiah 26:18-19 shows us that Hezekiah was humble enough to protect the prophet Micah after a tough prophecy he gave to Hezekiah. It is possible that the reforms under him may have begun with Micah’s prophecy.

* In closing point 1, we can confirm that Hezekiah was a faithful and godly king. 2 Chronicles 31:21 says, “In everything that he undertook in the service of God’s temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly”.

Illustration: A professor of theology once took his students on a tour of places of spiritual significance in England. They visited John Wesley’s home and saw his place of prayer. There were apparently 2 imprints where Wesley had prayed hours for revival. Later one student was missing on the bus and the professor eventually found him kneeling on the same imprints praying “Do it again Lord”. That was Billy Graham who later touched millions through his preaching ministry.

*Application: Are you ready for revival to begin in your life, your calling, and your family? 

Prayer Point – Pray for revival in your church and in your nation. 

(In this season of Thanksgiving, find an inspiring Thanksgiving sermon titled “3 Things to be Thankful For” here.)

2) His Reliance on God Brought Supernatural Deliverance

*People react differently to crisis situations. They become bitter, respond harshly, lose faith, and may even seek help from occultic forces like the people of Judah did.

* But 2 Kings 18:5-6 says, “Hezekiah trusted in the Lord”.

* The biggest crisis Hezekiah probably faced was King Sennacherib’s invasion. This pagan king mocked and insulted the people and their living God. He arrogantly displayed his power as the main super-power of that time and even insultingly offered 2000 horses if they could find soldiers to mount them (Isaiah 36:8).

*Judah was vastly outnumbered in the challenge and the situation seemed hopeless, but God gave an assurance through Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles 32:7 saying, “Do not be afraid…for there is a greater power with us than with him”. (Also refer to 1 John 4:4).

*Hezekiah later looked to God in prayer when he received a threatening letter from Sennacherib. Let’s look at his response with this letter he received.  2 Kings 19:14-15 says, “Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord and prayed”

* In response to his prayer, God sent him a prophetic word through the Prophet Isaiah. According to 2 Kings 19:34, it said, “I will defend this city and save it”.

*Sennacherib was eventually killed by his own sons who apparently crushed him under a statue of his main deity Nisrock (according to tradition), and then cut him by the sword (2 Kings 19:37)

*(Dr. John Davis, in his writings on “Solomon to Exile” says, “He insulted Almighty God but was killed by his own god in his place of worship”

*Application: Will you trust God for supernatural deliverance today?

*Illustration: Share the instance when a charm was buried against us in the garden of our meeting place to stop our ministry and how God brought deliverance.

3) His Repentance brought healing

* Due to possible pride and disobedience (Refer 2 Chronicles 32:25 and Isaiah 39:2), Hezekiah received a difficult message through Isaiah. It said, “Put your house in order, because you are going to die”. In other words, the message said, “prepare your last will”. Someone said, “Where there is a will, there are always relatives!

* Hezekiah responded with prayer and repentance. Isaiah 38:2-3 says, “Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord”. Without becoming bitter, Hezekiah wept bitterly. He also reminded God of his faithful service and also prayed, “I will walk humbly all my years” (38:15).

* In reponse to Hezekiah’s repentance and prayer, 2 miracles happened.

a) He was healed through a poultice of figs on the instructions of Isaiah (38:21). 15 years were also added to his life (2 Kings 20:6) – that’s around 5475 days!

b) The shadow of the sun went back 10 points on the royal sundial. (It looks like the steps were arranged to show the approximate time  through the movement of the sun’s shadow on the steps). It was a sign that he would be healed and able to go to the temple in 3 days. Refer 2 Kings 20:11 to see what happened.

*Hezekiah responded thereafter with a song of praise (Isaiah 38:9-20)

*Application: Repentance is a hard act to follow. But repentance is the key to revival and deliverance. Will you choose repentance where needed today?

Closing: Let us prayerfully sing the hymn “I Surrender All”.

For a sermon based around the revival under Nehemiah’s leadership click here.