INTRO
King Hezekiah was the son of the evil and wicked king Ahaz. Hezekiah chose to follow God instead of continuing his father’s evil legacy. Hezekiah was a man of action who decided he would destroy all of his father’s pagan items of worship and directed his people back to the Mosaic ways of worshipping God. God was pleased with him, and this was evident in answered prayers, victory in battle, blessings, and being healed of sickness. He wasn’t perfect, as evident in his unwise decision to allow the Babylonians to see everything within his palace. Due to this decision, Hezekiah's future generations would be conquered and exiled to Babylon.
Hezekiah was 25 years old when he took the throne. He did right in the eyes of God and immediately began a scorched Earth approach to all things pagan. He went full force against immorality within the culture of the day. (2 Kings 18:2-4)
A CULTURE GONE DARK
Hezekiah grew up in a dark pagan culture. 2 Kings 17:15 describes the scenario perfectly.
2 Kings 17:15 New International Version
15 They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, “Do not do as they do.”
Hezekiah’s father was an evil and wicked leader who led his nation further from God in every way possible. Ahaz even sacrificed his children with fire to appease the pagan god of Baal. Baal was often imagined as a human with the head of a bull. This paints a culture where idols and self-centeredness are rampant. God called them worthless for not doing as God had commanded or taught.
2 Chronicles 28:2-3 New International Version
2 He followed the ways of the kings of Israel and also made idols for worshiping the Baals. 3 He burned sacrifices in the Valley of Ben Hinnom and sacrificed his children in the fire, engaging in the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.
The image above represents the worship of Baal. They would light fires beneath the idol of Baal, play drums and blow their trumpets loud so that the parents would not hear what was to come. They would then proceed to lay a young child on the blazing hot hands or sometimes inside the structure. The unimaginable would occur as children are burned alive.
Our culture is also in the business of murdering children, but instead of fire, we chemically or surgically murder them in the womb of an expecting mother. Some are even advocating for the death of children born minutes after birth or those who survived the abortion attempt. In any unjustified killing, we see the motive of choosing self over the life of the other. In many cases, the self has become the idol. The worship of self as our society accepts ideologies like post-modernism, materialism, atheism, agnosticism, Marxism, and sciences promoted by Darwinism.
Of course, I understand some were pressured, forced, or coursed into abortion. Many regret their decision and suffer from the choice. If this is you, then please understand everyone has sinned in the eyes of God.
My sin is just as condemning as yours. We all need forgiveness, and Jesus Christ offers that forgiveness. In Christ, you can find forgiveness and healing from being hurt by abortion.
Ahaz even at one point sold off the furnishings of God’s temple, boarded up the temple doors, and set up places all around Judah to worship other gods.
2 Chronicles 28:24-25 New International Version
24 Ahaz gathered together the furnishings from the temple of God and cut them in pieces. He shut the doors of the Lord’s temple and set up altars at every street corner in Jerusalem. 25 In every town in Judah he built high places to burn sacrifices to other gods and aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of his ancestors.
We see this parallel to our culture as tyrants who wish to board up our churches try to use the law to do their dirty work. We see every different philosophy or ideology begging the Christian to worship me instead. Where are those the rising generation who will take up the mantle of faith?
Psalm 94:16 New International Version
16 Who will rise up for me against the wicked?
Who will take a stand for me against evildoers.
King Hezekiah was the son of the evil and wicked king Ahaz. Hezekiah chose to follow God instead of continuing his father’s evil legacy. Hezekiah was a man of action who decided he would destroy all of his father’s pagan items of worship and directed his people back to the Mosaic ways of worshipping God. God was pleased with him, and this was evident in answered prayers, victory in battle, blessings, and being healed of sickness. He wasn’t perfect, as evident in his unwise decision to allow the Babylonians to see everything within his palace. Due to this decision, Hezekiah's future generations would be conquered and exiled to Babylon.
Hezekiah was 25 years old when he took the throne. He did right in the eyes of God and immediately began a scorched Earth approach to all things pagan. He went full force against immorality within the culture of the day. (2 Kings 18:2-4)
A CULTURE GONE DARK
Hezekiah grew up in a dark pagan culture. 2 Kings 17:15 describes the scenario perfectly.
2 Kings 17:15 New International Version
15 They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, “Do not do as they do.”
Hezekiah’s father was an evil and wicked leader who led his nation further from God in every way possible. Ahaz even sacrificed his children with fire to appease the pagan god of Baal. Baal was often imagined as a human with the head of a bull. This paints a culture where idols and self-centeredness are rampant. God called them worthless for not doing as God had commanded or taught.
2 Chronicles 28:2-3 New International Version
2 He followed the ways of the kings of Israel and also made idols for worshiping the Baals. 3 He burned sacrifices in the Valley of Ben Hinnom and sacrificed his children in the fire, engaging in the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.
The image above represents the worship of Baal. They would light fires beneath the idol of Baal, play drums and blow their trumpets loud so that the parents would not hear what was to come. They would then proceed to lay a young child on the blazing hot hands or sometimes inside the structure. The unimaginable would occur as children are burned alive.
Our culture is also in the business of murdering children, but instead of fire, we chemically or surgically murder them in the womb of an expecting mother. Some are even advocating for the death of children born minutes after birth or those who survived the abortion attempt. In any unjustified killing, we see the motive of choosing self over the life of the other. In many cases, the self has become the idol. The worship of self as our society accepts ideologies like post-modernism, materialism, atheism, agnosticism, Marxism, and sciences promoted by Darwinism.
Of course, I understand some were pressured, forced, or coursed into abortion. Many regret their decision and suffer from the choice. If this is you, then please understand everyone has sinned in the eyes of God.
My sin is just as condemning as yours. We all need forgiveness, and Jesus Christ offers that forgiveness. In Christ, you can find forgiveness and healing from being hurt by abortion.
Ahaz even at one point sold off the furnishings of God’s temple, boarded up the temple doors, and set up places all around Judah to worship other gods.
2 Chronicles 28:24-25 New International Version
24 Ahaz gathered together the furnishings from the temple of God and cut them in pieces. He shut the doors of the Lord’s temple and set up altars at every street corner in Jerusalem. 25 In every town in Judah he built high places to burn sacrifices to other gods and aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of his ancestors.
We see this parallel to our culture as tyrants who wish to board up our churches try to use the law to do their dirty work. We see every different philosophy or ideology begging the Christian to worship me instead. Where are those the rising generation who will take up the mantle of faith?
Psalm 94:16 New International Version
16 Who will rise up for me against the wicked?
Who will take a stand for me against evildoers.
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