2 kings 18:1-20:21
Hezekiah is described as one of the great kings of Israel. Yet we see his failure at later part of his life.
This section shows us that even when Hezekiah was living obediently to the Lord. It would not be his goodness that would guarantee the nations salvation. It would be for the sake of the Lords holy name and his holy offspring (2 Sam 7) as we heard in 19:34:
34 I will defend this city and save it,
for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.”
The name of the Lord must be upheld, that had been the mission of Israel yet they had failed miserably, they had profaned the name of the Lord. So listen to words from the prophet Ezekiel:
22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. 23 I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes. Ez 36:22-23
The Lord made known in the prophets that he would bring restoration to the people. For his sake he would bring life to their hard hearts. He would pour out his spirit and give them a heart of flesh.
After the spirit is poured out in Acts 2 the disciples who had disowned Christ, were now willing to stand up for the name:
8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, 10then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11He is
” ‘the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the capstone.[a]‘[b] 12Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
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