Hezekiah brought upon a great reformation in his era. And we must continue to reform every era, every age.
"History is like a drunken man swinging from one world to another, knocking himself senseless. Swinging to extremes" (Martin Luther).
One of my colleagues said that "the current president isn't the problem, but the problem creates a person such as this president".
Sansel Taylor Collridge said "If a man can learn from history, we could learn a lot. But passion and party have blinded us".
If we could briefly define history, we could say that it is a story of enumerable biography. Individuals come to the scene and go and they have left us a trail. We could learn two things from the men before us: their strength and their mistakes.
Manasseh (2 Kings 21:1-16) and Josiah (2 Kings 22:1-2) are examples of a pendulum that swings from one extreme to the other, although they only differ by a generation.
Manasseh was a terrible king, yet he reigned for 2,5 generations. He laid a rebellion against his father's reformation. He put down what his father put up. His father, Hezekiah had his problems too, but he pleads to God in his prayer.
Moses gave out 613 laws that replace 1 law of prohibition in the garden of Eden, do not eat from the tree.
This 1 law of prohibition has its own temptation: Be God, who knows everything.
Although the law was: Do not play God. Do not determine what is right or wrong.
David gave out 15 laws to replace this 1 law. Isaiah 11, Micah 3 (that are justice, mercy, and humility), and Jesus 2.
Jesus could have easily said 1, but he said 2. On these 2 commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37-39). These 2 commandments touch on both the vertical and horizontal aspects. Because of the first law, the second law has a foundation and reason. Because God has created me, I have no reason to violate Him.
In the book of Mark, a man came up to Jesus and ask about tax paying to Rome.
Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar's.” Then He said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away (Matthew 22:15-22)".
The man hoped Jesus would say, "No, you do not have to pay tax to Rome". But if He did, we could be both rebellious and be righteous at the same time. Jesus asked, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar's.” Then He said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.”
If the man had a follow-up question, he would ask, "What then belongs to God?" and Jesus would answer, "Whose image is drawn on you?"
The belief that redemption always precedes worship and righteousness could only be found in the Judeo-Christian religion and not in others. The Israelites were brought out of Egypt as they were redeemed. Therefore prior to giving out His commandments, God always stated a preamble, "I am the LORD, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt". Jesus Christ came to the earth not to make bad people to be good people. But he came to make dead people live.
Someone came up to Winston Churchill and said, "I am a self-made man!"
Churchill replied, "you have just freed God from a great responsibility".
For when we turn our back on God, we have turned the great responsibility to us.
Next, you never live in a moral vacuum. It would only increase / accelerate hedonism (remember Manasseh). The tragedy of not believing in God is not that we believe nothing. Worse, we believe everything and anything.
Today, we live in such a confused society. Facebook has opened up for gender suggestion and 71 possible genders were submitted by Facebook users. How did 2 genders become 71? That, I cannot understand. This could only happen when all the definitions are eliminated.
Now what happened when Manasseh increased in hedonism? What happened next was the persecution of the prophets, and here is the ironic thing:
Isaiah was the prophet who preached about the birth and suffering of Christ.
Isaiah was the prophet who helped Hezekiah to walk a different age.
Manasseh wanted to find Isaiah and murder him.
This part of the history means that it is possible for 1 person to bring evil for the whole generations, like Joseph Stalin who murdered-15 million citizens. Malcolm Maldridge told me that Stalin was dying when he was hallucinating about wolves attacking him. And it was Stalin's own son who told Maldridge that right before Stalin died, he threw a fist to the heaven.
A historian and philosopher told me, "I believe what you said about the word of God, but it is hard to change after living 70 years of lies
Russia is a country of high talent in music, philosophy and athletic, yet it is corrupt for Russia has forgotten God. Teach your kids how to think and read, not to watch the television. For the eyes could be so deceptive. On TV, a huge problem could be shown in just several seconds. The Bible did not say in the beginning was video, but in the beginning was the Word. The way we teach our children will represent how the future civilization.
My daughter, Naomi, experienced a miscarriage once when he was 10 months pregnant. One day, her family was rebuilding their house's driveway. My wife and I forgot to tell them that before the cement dries, they should get all the family members to imprint their hands on the cement. But when my wife and I visited Naomi's family, they have made the imprinting. Their children even reminded their parents that they must make 1 more handprint for the stillborn baby. They never forget each and every single one of the family member, and this is how you must teach your children growing up.
Do you just live your days and are despaired by today?
Are you fearful of your health, finance, and marriage?
Remember how your God in Gethsemane wished it could all pass by.
Sometimes, God does not conquer in spite of pain. Many times, He conquers through it.
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