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Genesis 2 | Matthew 2 | Ezra 2 | Acts 2

Where Genesis 1 gave a fly-by overview of creation, Genesis 2 slows the narrative down to tell us more details about the creation of Adam and Eve, as well as Yahweh’s purposes for humankind on earth. In Genesis 2, we see a different dimension to the story of God’s creation—we see that God intended creation to be the place where he dwelt with humankind on the earth.1

Specifically, God created the Garden of Eden to be his holy, perfect dwelling place on the earth so that he could dwell with his people on the earth. We might get the idea that all of the earth was beautiful and lush and perfect at creation, but that isn’t quite what we are seeing in Genesis 2. Rather, we see that Yahweh planted a special garden in Eden, where he placed the man Adam and the woman Eve to live (Gen. 2:8).

This garden is at the center of creation, so that rivers flowed out of Eden to water the whole earth (Gen. 2:10–14). In this garden, Yahweh planted all kinds of trees with food good for Adam and Eve to eat, as well as two unique trees: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:9).

As for the man, we read that Yahweh put him in the Garden of Eden “to work it [‘abad] and keep it [shamar]” (Gen. 2:15). These words are fascinating because they are primarily used in the Bible to describe priestly work in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The priests were the ones who served (‘abad) in the tabernacle, keeping/guarding (shamar) the holy furniture in the tabernacle as well as Yahweh’s holy law.

Adam, then, was God’s first priest, serving in the Garden of Eden as his temple. Probably what it meant originally to work and keep the Garden of Eden was to cultivate and expand the boundaries of the garden bit by bit, so that as Adam and Eve fruitfully multiplied by bearing children to fill the whole earth (Gen. 1:28), the Garden of Eden would also expand to fill the whole earth.

In this way, the whole earth would be filled with the glory of God—not only with a temple stretching across all of creation, but also with God’s own image-bearers spreading out across the whole land that God had created.

But of course, while this may have been the original intention for creation, when sin entered the world in Genesis 3, everything changed. In tomorrow’s reading, we will see not only how Yahweh could no longer dwell with his people in the same way after they sinned but also what he vowed to do in order to re-establish what sin would destroy in Eden.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Genesis 1 | Matthew 1 | Ezra 1 | Acts 1

There is a beautiful simplicity to Genesis 1 that masks its rich theological depth. Nothing about the straightforward description of each day’s creation nor about the repetition of God’s decreeing creation into existence (“Let there be…”) or of declaring all his creation to be “good” would rank this chapter as one of most difficult passages to read in the Bible. Even so, this passage is foundational for understanding the rest of the Bible in at least four ways.

First, Genesis 1 teaches that creation is the handiwork of the sovereign God of heaven and earth. While many primitive myths describe creation as having come as a result of the gods’ fighting, dying, or procreating, or as being merely an extension of some god(s), Genesis 1 announces that creation is the distinct artistry of the sovereign Lord of the universe. That Creator/creation distinction is fundamental to all genuinely biblical theology.

Second, Genesis 1 demonstrates that creation is good—in fact, it is very good. Against ancient teachings that creation is somehow evil and that real goodness only exists in the spiritual world, Genesis 1 records a repetition of God’s divine approval on everything he created as good, and on the totality of his creation as “very good” (Gen. 1:31). Unless we first recognize the goodness of creation, we cannot truly understand the horrific destructiveness of sin, or the ultimate goal of salvation as the good re-creation of the heavens and the earth.

Third, in the context of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible), God here establishes the basis for giving his law by creating all things by his word.1 The God of the Bible is a talking God, not one of the mute idols that other nations worshiped. His word has extraordinary creative power, and part of the significance of that power is a demand that God’s people listen to him and obey him when he speaks.

Fourth, Yahweh places humankind in a unique place of dominion over creation. God explicitly gives the man and the woman charge over all the animals in the sea, the heavens, and the earth, instructing them to fill the earth and subdue it, exercising benevolent reign over everything else that God created (Gen. 1:26, 28). While God did bless animals along with the man and the woman (Gen. 1:22, 28; see also Gen. 2:3), it is only the man and the woman who carry the distinction of being created in God’s own image, to reflect his own glory in an intimate, personal way (Gen. 1:27).

Genesis 1 gives us a fly-by account of the creation story that undergirds the whole story of the Bible. Tomorrow, as we study Genesis 2, we will see the creation story from a different angle, zooming in on the story of God’s specific purposes for the man and the woman.

1 Allen P. Ross, Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1996), 102.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Chronicles 36 | Revelation 22 | Malachi 4 | John 21

The focal point of 2 Chronicles 36 is not in the stories of the wicked sons of Josiah, Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim, nor in the stories of the brothers Jehoiachin and Zedekiah, who presided over the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of Judah. These wicked kings do what all the wicked kings who went before them have done—they forsake the law of Moses and David’s organization of the Levites in order to pollute the worship of Yahweh with idolatry and other perversities. And more, the focal point of 2 Chronicles 36 is not in the brief account of how the Chaldeans (i.e., the Babylonians) come against Jerusalem with sword and fire, mistreating the people of Judah and destroying the temple. Repeatedly, Yahweh sends messengers and prophets to warn his people, “But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD rose against his people, until there was no remedy” (2 Chron. 36:16). Instead, the focal point of 2 Chronicles 36 comes in the proclamation of Cyrus king of Persia in verses 22–23. There, we find Yahweh stirring up the Persian king’s spirit in order to send the people of Judah back into Jerusalem.

It is important to understand that 2 Chronicles was the final book of the Bible in the arrangement of books in the Hebrew Scriptures for the Jews who lived in the days leading up to, and including, the time of Jesus. In other words, this passage here was the final word of the Scriptures for God’s people during the intertestamental period, where they waited through four hundred years of silence to hear from God before Jesus came—a silence that the prophet Amos called a famine of hearing the words of Yahweh (Amos 8:11–12). And as they meditated on this final word of the book, they were left pondering all of God’s promises through the Scriptures thus far. Would God still be faithful to crush the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15)? Would he still bless all the nations through the offspring of Abraham (Gen. 12:3)? Would a king in David’s line still reign forever on the throne of David (2 Sam. 7:12–13)?

This final word of the Old Testament Scriptures, then, doesn’t come as an ending but as a “To Be Continued…” More of the story is coming—and through this next installment, Yahweh would tie up all of these loose threads (and more) into the perfect package in the person of his only Son, in whom all the promises of God find their “Yes” and “Amen” (2 Cor. 1:20).

Lord willing, we will continue exploring the full account of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in the next volume of our study through the unfolding story of God’s word, but in the meantime:

To Be Continued…

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Chronicles 35 | Revelation 21 | Malachi 3 | John 20

The accounts of Josiah’s reforms of Judah’s worship that we began to read about in 2 Chronicles 34 continue in today’s reading from 2 Chronicles 35, where we read about the Passover feast that Josiah holds during the eighteenth year of his reign (2 Chron. 35:19). Sadly, this chapter also includes the tragic story of Josiah’s death, which gives us a more comprehensive picture of the overall strengths and weaknesses of Josiah’s reign.

Just as we saw in the account of this Passover feast in 2 Kings 23, Josiah’s Passover is an extraordinary Passover: “No Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as was kept by Josiah, and the priests and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem” (2 Chron. 35:18). So, Josiah’s Passover is held on the fourteenth day of the first month (2 Chron. 35:1), in accordance with the law of Moses (Ex. 12:1–6; Lev. 23:5; Num. 28:16), and Josiah is careful to make sure that the Levites are properly prepared and consecrated (2 Chron. 35:4–6). Even more, Josiah also incorporates the Levitical singers and the gatekeepers that David had established in 1 Chronicles into this Passover feast (2 Chron. 35:15).

But sadly, this feast is the final high point for Judah. Despite Josiah’s faithfulness, he nevertheless commits a foolish, fatal mistake by insisting upon fighting with Neco, king of Egypt (2 Chron. 35:20–27). The account of Josiah’s death in 2 Kings 23:28–30 gave virtually no details about how Josiah died, but here we find out that King Neco tries to warn Josiah off, saying, “What have we to do with each other, king of Judah? I am not coming against you this day, but against the house with which I am at war. And God has commanded me to hurry. Cease opposing God, who is with me, lest he destroy you” (2 Chron. 35:21). Josiah, however, refuses to listen “to the words of Neco from the mouth of God” (2 Chron. 35:22). So, when Josiah comes out to fight, he dies, shot by an archer in a chariot just like King Ahab (1 Kgs. 22:29–40)—hardly a fitting end to such a great, godly king.

And with that, the final hope for a greater Son of David in the Old Testament is extinguished. After David, the Chronicler has raised our hopes for the Messiah again and again through stories of elaborate reforms of the true worship of Yahweh, but with the death of this final possibility, Judah will go away into exile. All of these narratives are written to provide hope but also to leave us tragically unsatisfied and longing for the future.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Chronicles 34 | Revelation 20 | Malachi 2 | John 19

As we would expect, the account of Josiah, the final great king of Judah, opens first with a thoroughgoing reform of the worship in Judah. Although Josiah does not have the Book of the Law early on in his reign, he obeys Yahweh according to the knowledge that he has. Therefore, in the twelfth year of Josiah’s reign, he destroys the worship of the Baals and the Asherim—not only in Judah, but even in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, even though the citizens of those cities are largely abandoned after the Assyrians have already carried those tribes of Israel off into exile (2 Chron. 34:3–7). More than that, Josiah also commissions workmen to rebuild and restore the temple of Yahweh after it had languished under the reign of his father, Amon, and his grandfather, Manasseh (2 Chron. 34:8–13)

But then, as Josiah learns more of God’s word, he obeys further. First, when Shaphan the secretary reads the Book of the Law in the presence of Josiah after the temple workmen rediscover it, the king tears his clothes in repentance on behalf of his people. Additionally, he asks his servants to inquire of God’s word to determine the extent of Yahweh’s wrath against them for their infidelity to “all that is written in this book” (2 Chron. 34:21), and when the prophetess Huldah responds to Josiah’s inquiry by declaring God’s intent to destroy Jerusalem (2 Chron. 34:22–28), Josiah responds with yet further obedience. He gathers all the people and reads to them the law to renew their covenant with Yahweh by vowing to keep all the words of the covenant in the book (2 Chron. 34:29–33). After this, for all of the days of Josiah’s life, Judah “did not turn away from following the LORD, the God of their fathers” (2 Chron. 34:33).

Sometimes, we imagine that the prophets of Yahweh were sent largely to give new, fresh words from Yahweh that would set aside stagnant, outdated words—and in our day, people sometimes suggest that God is doing something “new” to set aside what he previously told us in his word. This story from the life of Josiah, however, corrects that thinking: when Yahweh sends a prophet, he does so to call people back to his word. Even Jesus came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it entirely (Matt. 5:17–20).

How, then, do you listen to the word of the Lord? Do you look at it with an eye of suspicion, embarrassment, and a desire to move beyond what he has written down concerning righteousness and regarding God’s Son Jesus Christ? Or do you listen with the spirit of Josiah, with humility and a willingness to repent in order to follow God wherever he might lead you through his word?

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Chronicles 33 | Revelation 19 | Malachi 1 | John 18

The contrast between the godly King Hezekiah and the wicked King Manasseh is striking. Hezekiah had been a champion for the pure worship of Yahweh, but Manasseh does what is “evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel” (2 Chron. 33:2). Manasseh therefore undoes all the faithful reforms of his father, Hezekiah, and leads Judah astray to do “more evil than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the people of Israel” (2 Chron. 33:9).

And yet, where Manasseh had been a one-sided villain in the book of 2 Kings, the story we find in 2 Chronicles paints a more complicated picture, as was the case with Rehoboam (2 Chron. 10–12) and Abijah (2 Chron. 13). In 2 Kings, we read that Manasseh had been the one to set Yahweh on an unchangeable path toward destroying Jerusalem and sending the people of Judah off into exile (2 Kgs. 21:10–15). Here in 2 Chronicles, however, we find that Manasseh actually humbles himself after Yahweh sends the Assyrians to capture him and drag him in chains to Babylon (2 Chron. 33:11). When Manasseh repents, God hears Manasseh’s prayer and restores the king again to Jerusalem, so that “then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God” (2 Chron. 33:13).

This story clearly foreshadows the looming exile to Babylon that all Judah would experience only a few short decades after Manasseh’s mini-exile to Babylon. Still, we should not overlook that the Chronicler specifically tells us about how Manasseh returned from exile: through humbling himself, praying, seeking Yahweh’s face, and turning from his wicked ways (cf. 2 Chron. 7:14). At this point, there is no way to alter the course of Judah’s future. The Chronicler, however, is beginning to shape the story not of how Judah can avoid exile but how they will return from exile. Remember that the books of Chronicles are written from the perspective of the returned exiles from Babylon, so this account is designed to shape their understanding of how to move beyond the disaster that they had experienced.

And in the story of Manasseh, God holds out hope that even the most egregious of sinners are not too far separated from his grace and mercy. This was true for Manasseh, it was true for the exiles who returned from Babylon, and it remains true for you and me living today. The difference, though, is that we who live on this side of the Lord Jesus Christ understand the reason why God can be so forgiving toward us: because of his Son. Through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, God extends grace to wretches like us who languish in exile from the disastrous curse of our sin.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Chronicles 32 | Revelation 18 | Zechariah 14 | John 17

What the Chronicler emphasizes in 2 Chronicles about Hezekiah is strikingly different than what we read about this godly king in 2 Kings. In 2 Kings (as well as Isaiah 36–39), the focus is on the military and political aspects of Hezekiah’s reign—specifically, the stories of Sennacherib’s Assyrian invasion of Judah and Hezekiah’s failure with the Babylonian envoys. The shape of the narrative for Hezekiah’s life in 2 Chronicles, however, focuses more on the overarching theme in the books of Chronicles, which is this: As the nation’s worship goes, so also goes the nation. In other words, Hezekiah’s battles and political decisions—along with their respective victories or defeats—come as a direct result of the health of the nation’s worship, so that the Chronicler does not find these battles nearly as important in and of themselves.

It isn’t that the Chronicler sees Hezekiah’s political and military intrigue as unimportant—we do find a fair amount of detail about these stories here in 2 Chronicles 32. But, 2 Kings devotes three chapters to those stories, and Isaiah contains four, whereas we find all of those stories summarized in this single chapter of 2 Chronicles. Instead, the Chronicler spends most of his time exploring the worship and religious reforms of Hezekiah, so that the ratios are reversed—what 2 Chronicles explores over three chapters, 2 Kings summarizes in three verses (2 Kgs. 18:3–5). Remember that the Chronicler’s account of the warrior-king David—the king who could not build the temple because of his bloodshed (1 Chron. 28:3)—included only a smattering of stories of David’s battles but twelve chapters of David’s reforms in Israel’s worship (1 Chron. 13, 15–17, 21–26, 28–29).

The significance of this theology corrects a misunderstanding we fall into far too easily. We sometimes slide into implicitly believing our corporate worship on the Lord’s Day is the one of least important things we do in the week. We look at the many battlefronts of our lives—daily decisions in our families, our neighborhoods, and our work—and think that those are the chief battlegrounds for God’s kingdom. Instead, God directs us to pay attention to our worship. Are we loving him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength? Are we exalting Jesus Christ together, pleading with our Father in heaven who has promised to hear our prayers and asking for the Holy Spirit to transform our own hearts, as well as the hearts of those around us? We were created chiefly for worship, so if we neglect that vital relationship to God, nothing else in our lives will fit together.

Hezekiah saw great success as a king because he put God first so that he could respond to everything else—good or bad—from the core of worship. What role does worship play in your life?

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Chronicles 31 | Revelation 17 | Zechariah 13 | John 16

As we studied the story of King David in 1 Chronicles, one of the main themes (a theme we did not find in the accounts of David in the books of Samuel) had to do with his reorganization of the Levites to serve as singers, musicians, gatekeepers, and treasury officers. In this way, David became a new lawgiver to foreshadow the coming of his own greater Son, the Messiah. For this reason, reading in 2 Chronicles 31 that Hezekiah also reorganizes the priests should surprise us. After a great revival that began with the defective (but wholeheartedly obedient) Passover, as we read yesterday, the people of Judah all head out to break down the pillars, to cut down the Asherim, and to break down the high places and altars throughout Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh, “until they had destroyed them all” (2 Chron. 31:1). This is not the work of a few zealots, but we read that “all Israel” (2 Chron. 31:1) participates in this cleansing and reformation.

When the people finish cleansing the nation of idolatry, Hezekiah then commands the people who live in Jerusalem to bring in their tithes and contributions to the temple (2 Chron. 31:4), but then word of that command spreads abroad to all God’s people who live outside of Jerusalem as well (2 Chron. 31:5–6). Those people contribute tithes and offerings in abundance, so that the gifts pile up in heaps (2 Chron. 31:7–8). To handle this incredible generosity, Hezekiah commands the Levites to build chambers to store the gifts, and then he assigns Levites to receive, manage, and apportion those offerings to provide for the Levites (2 Chron. 31:11–19; cf. Num. 18). Their hearts are transformed by worship, so the people provide richly for the priests and the Levites who depend upon these contributions for their livelihood.

In part, this story of Hezekiah again gives us a glimpse into who David’s great Son would be—a man who would lead God’s people into wholehearted worship and godly generosity. And furthermore, the narrative of Hezekiah in this chapter is written to cast our eyes beyond him to deepen our anticipation for the coming of Jesus Christ. We should not, however, focus so much on the foreshadowing of this passage so as to miss the link between worship and generosity here. The reformation of worship does not leave these Israelites stern and legalistic, ready to spread a wet blanket on joy anywhere they might find it. Rather, the reformation of worship and joyful, liberal generosity arise from the same source: people who have been transformed by the grace of God. Indeed, the deeper we reflect on the grace of God as demonstrated in Jesus Christ, the deeper we should be transformed toward profound generosity, and pure worship is the fuel of that fire.

Does worship so transform your heart?

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Chronicles 30 | Revelation 16 | Zechariah 12 | John 15

In 2 Kings 23, King Josiah (the great-grandson of King Hezekiah) restores the Passover feast. Even though that restoration of Passover comes much later in time than the story we read here in 2 Chronicles 30, we nevertheless find this statement: “For no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah” (2 Kgs. 23:22).

Notice, however, that the author of 2 Kings doesn’t say that no Passover took place before Josiah but that no such Passover had taken place. The story we read here in 2 Chronicles 30, then, describes not a proper Passover such as the one that Josiah would celebrate many years later but actually a defective Passover. For starters, the Passover was to be observed during the first month (Ex. 12:1–6; Lev. 23:5; Num. 28:16), but yet we read several times in this chapter that Hezekiah’s Passover is held during the second month (2 Chron. 30:2, 13, 15). More than that, a great number of people during the assembly were not properly consecrated (2 Chron. 30:17–18). And yet, we nevertheless see that there was great joy in Jerusalem (2 Chron. 30:26) and that Yahweh himself blessed this celebration of the Passover (2 Chron. 30:20, 27). What can we learn from this?

It is important to recognize that this was a day of revival, where all the people were guided by Yahweh himself back from the idolatry of Ahaz into true worship: “The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the LORD” (2 Chron. 30:12). Some details were dropped, but their love for Yahweh leads them to celebrate the Passover imperfectly rather than missing out on Yahweh’s feast completely for another year.

But as good this was, the failure to obey Yahweh in every respect means that this is not as good as it might have been. When King Josiah comes, he reforms the worship of Yahweh’s people further, correcting even the details. Where Hezekiah’s Passover was good, then, Josiah’s Passover was better, so that “no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges.”

What this means is that we cannot rationalize a lack of joy in worship by appealing to the fact that we worship correctly, but we also cannot sacrifice the true means of worship that God himself instituted (reading and preaching the word, prayer, and the sacraments) in order to try to find joy in some other kind of worship. Jesus came to reform worship in his church so that we might forevermore worship Yahweh in both spirit and in truth—with joy and with precision. Which side do you tend to over-emphasize?

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Chronicles 29 | Revelation 15 | Zechariah 11 | John 14

Despite the fact that the story of Judah is tracking quickly toward their eventual exile in Babylon, we nevertheless have two more godly kings to study, starting with Hezekiah here in 2 Chronicles 29. Unsurprisingly, the first thing we read regarding Hezekiah to demonstrate his godliness is his reform of Judah’s worship, which is especially important after the wicked reign of Ahaz, whom we looked at yesterday.

But again, the Chronicler does not merely repeat what we read in 2 Kings 18:3–7. Instead, we gain new information, discovering here that Hezekiah appeals to all the Levites to reform Judah’s worship. So, Hezekiah begins by calling the Levites to consecrate themselves in order to begin the process of turning back to Yahweh through faithful temple worship (2 Chron. 29:3–11). We read of all the Levites who rise to the task, listed out by their clan: Kohathites, Merarites, and Gershonites (2 Chron. 29:12–13a). Then, we read another list by clan in 2 Chronicles 29:13b–14, where we find the descendants of the original singers whom David had appointed in the temple in 1 Chronicles 15: Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun. Immediately, the Levites and the priests work together to cleanse the temple of any unclean things that Ahaz had introduced there, and they replace all of the utensils that Ahaz had discarded (2 Chron. 29:15–19).

Once the temple is consecrated, Hezekiah restarts the full worship activities that should never have ceased. So, he commands the priests to slaughter their sacrifices (2 Chron. 29:20–24), and he repositions the Levites to sing praises with their cymbals, harps, and lyres (2 Chron. 29:25–30). Finally, once the people are consecrated, Hezekiah commands the offering of sacrifices and thank offerings—that is, the sacrifices that did not atone for or cleanse from sin but that celebrated Israel’s communion with Yahweh (cf. Lev. 3, 4, 7). At this point, the Levites continue to play a special role, since they are “more upright in heart than the priests in consecrating themselves” (2 Chron. 29:34).

While Hezekiah is clearly following exactly what David had commanded rather than innovating new forms of worship (2 Chron. 29:5, 25–27, 30), we nevertheless see the same dynamic that we have seen in David: Hezekiah the king is commanding the Levites and the priests to offer acceptable worship to Yahweh. And in this way, he is once again acting in the way that a king of Yahweh’s people—that is, a son of David—should act by purifying Judah’s worship. And by doing this, he foreshadows the role of the greater Son of David, Jesus Christ himself, who came as the king who would purify the worship of God’s people forever. We will continue reading about the reforms of Hezekiah tomorrow.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.