Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Identity
- Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father. Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.
Yesterday we
saw Hezekiah rise up and embrace his spiritual father in a spiritual
calling. That truly brought about a
spiritual identity. In today’s chapter,
we see that identity continue. Hezekiah
calls for the celebration of the Passover.
However, let’s
look at his identity very closely. Do
you hear what the Bible stresses again and again? There is a humbleness about Hezekiah that is
truly respectable.
First of
all, look at when they hold the Passover. The hold it in the second month, not the first
month. They do this because they are
humbling themselves to the Law of the Lord.
The Law said that a person who was not ritually impure in the first
month could celebrate the Passover in the second month. Hezekiah knows the status of the land when he
takes over as king. It needed to be
purified. Rather than force the Passover
when he could have done it to maintain appearances, Hezekiah humbles himself
and the nation and does it right. He
allows the purification to happen so that the Passover would be done right.
Second, do
you see whom Hezekiah invites? He
invites all the Hebrew people. He doesn’t
just invite the people of Judah. He
invites the people of Israel and Judah.
It takes humbleness to invite a nation that broke away from you and
turned away from the Lord. It takes a
leader who is more focused on the spiritual reality than they are focused on a
worldly reality.
This gives
us a great glimpse into the spiritual identity of Hezekiah. Not only is he willing to break tradition
from his earthly father’s example, but he is willing to do it right. He does it in humbleness. He does it in a way that God’s character is
seen and the spotlight shines upon God instead of him.
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