Hezekiah Cleanses the Temple
In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. Then he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them in the East Square, and said to them: “Hear me, Levites! Now sanctify yourselves, sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry out the rubbish from the holy place.
2 Chronicles 29:3-5 New King James Version (NKJV)
The beginning of the new year is a great time to purge and rid our homes of clutter and useless items. This mindset is one of those resolutions we either keep or don't keep as that first day of the first month rolls in. It's not quite like those we make to follow all year long as we resolve to break bad habits and make promises to do better this time around. There's an unforgiving cut-off date if that junk is still sitting there on New Year's Day. We can still resolve to do something about it, but we've lost the chance to have it all gone by the stroke of midnight when the new year actually creeps in.
Hezekiah came into his reign calling for a clean up of the temple of the Lord. He demanded that the trash be taken out of the "holy place" when he opened up the doors. Jesus opened up the door of our souls as He gave His life to remove our sin. When we accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, our bodies became temples of the Holy Spirit who desires all rubbish to be disposed of since He is going to be living there. By getting rid of the garbage, we can make room for something new in our lives as we prepare for another year of God's grace. We can be thankful that we have now have His help to clean things up!
Because of Jesus, the past, like the trash we tend to carry within our hearts from year to year, can be cast away and forgotten. Let's throw it out and begin this year embracing that which is available to all who follow Jesus. Celebrate new life!
Forget what happened long ago! Don’t think about the past. I am creating something new. There it is! Do you see it? I have put roads in deserts, streams in thirsty lands. Isaiah 43:18-19 CEV
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NKJV
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