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The Pilgrim Path (10-1-2020)

The Pilgrim Path---Second Chronicles 30: 1—9

Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem to keep the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel. For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had taken counsel to keep the Passover in the second month---for they could not keep it at that time because the priests had not consecrated themselves in sufficient number, nor had the people assembled in Jerusalem---and the plan seemed right to the king and all the assembly. So they decreed to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come and keep the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem, for they had not kept it as often as prescribed. So couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his princes, as the king had commanded, saying, “O people of Israel, return to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac , and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. Do not be like your fathers, so that he made them a desolation, as you see. Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the LORD and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the LORD your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you. For if you return to the LORD, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the LORD your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you if you return to him.”

KING HEZEKIAH: PREPARE FOR PASSOVER…

This Reformer King Hezekiah---knows that Passover has been “passed over” for far too long. It is crucial to the spiritual life of the LORD’S people. It is a covenant sign of the Old Testament Church. Hear this refresher from Dr. William Dyrness:

“Three major feasts marked the Hebrew calendar. The first was the feast of unleavened bread, which was celebrated in the first month of the year and was early identified with the Passover (Lev. 23: 5; Ex. 23: 14—15; Josh. 5: 10—12); for the meaning of the Passover see Ex. 12: 21—27). For seven days they were to eat unleavened bread, while on the first day no work was to be done and sacrifices were to be offered. During this feast they remembered the time when they were slaves and the LORD brought them out of Egypt. The celebration embodied a family service of memorial in which they re-enacted the Passover ritual. To the question of the children: ‘What do you mean by this service?’ the parents would answer: ‘It is the sacrifice of the LORD’S Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he slew the Egyptians but spared our houses’ (Ex. 12: 26—27). In this dramatic way they proclaimed the redeeming grace of God to one another and, for their part, reaffirmed their faith in him” (William Dyrness, Themes in Old Testament Theology, InterVarsity, 1979, pp. 148-49).

King Hezekiah knew that Passover observance---by spiritually prepared people, would tend to make them come to grips with:

---Whose You Are

---Why You Are Here

---Why You Even Have a Future

---YOU---Belong to the LORD!

Passover was a vivid visual reminder, “You Belong to the LORD.” You have the privilege of Living for Him. We are reminded of this in the Sacrament of The LORD’S Supper. It is the “blood-less” counterpart of the Passover Celebration. We are knit to the LORD Jesus Christ through the Blood of the Covenant (His Blood). We must be reminded not to be stiff-necked (not to put our will above / or in place of His). We must be admonished by the truth of Scripture---to turn back to The King (this is Life and Peace).

From the Ole Scottish Preacher Thomas Boston:

---turn from sin, that the fierceness of the LORD’S wrath---may turn from You

---turn to Him, for you are not self-sufficient (as you may think you are at times)

---the LORD has best right to You

---consider what the LORD has yielded for You (Rom. 8: 32; 5: 8)

---the Savior is very desirous of Your yielding

---yield---and “all” your former rebellions will be forgiven!

---yield—or the LORD will be at war with You forever—how will you bear His coming? II Thess. 1: 7, 9

---Yield to HIM as to Your King and Sovereign LORD!

FROM PSALM 42

As pants the hart for cooling streams when heated in the chase,

So longs my soul, O God, for thee, and thy refreshing grace;

For thee, my God, the living God, my thirsty soul doth pine;

O when shall I behold thy face, thou Majesty divine!

Tate and Brady’s New Version, 1696, 1698

Grace and Peace in Jesus Christ Our Risen LORD, Pastor Jason