Revival House Cleaning

The first thing that young king Hezekiah did when he began to reign was to open up the Temple for worship and to reinstall the Levites to their duties of standing before the Lord and ministering to the people of God, according to His word. Hezekiah told the priests to consecrate themselves and the house of the Lord. In 2 Chronicles 29:16 you find the account of the cleansing of the Temple by the priests, “The priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD to cleanse it, and they brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the LORD...”

The word “cleanse” is the Hebrew word taher, which means to purify, to be clean in a moral sense. It was used extensively in the Old Testament to describe anything in relationship with God; people, food for God’s people, items in the Temple, gold, all were described with the word taher.

The Temple in Hezekiah’s day had been defiled with idols and idolatry from previous kings. It had also been abandoned. Hezekiah told the priests to start in the inner part, which was where the Holy of Holies was located. They were told to carry out all of the things that were unclean. These items were the detestable items associated with Baal worship. God had forbidden any association of His people with the pagan worship of the Canaanites. Their worship could be summarized as worshiping creation rather than the Creator.

The second lesson to learn about revival is that cleansing must start in the inner part of your life; your heart and mind. The things of the world, the flesh, and the devil accumulate over time. These things creep in when true worship is neglected. They defile the mind. When your thoughts are unclean, your will (choices) is deceived, and your feelings get in motion to support and carry out the corrupted desires of your will with your body. Your body has memory and quickly programs these choices into learned behavior. The New Testament calls these learned behaviors strongholds.

But when the light of the revelation of God appears, true worship results and these idols are seen for detestable and vile things that they are. Getting rid of them is the new choice, informed by the Holy Spirit in you. The Bible calls this choice, repentance; changing your mind about what had been tolerated and acceptable. Your body will object because it gets quickly comfortable with the routine of sinning. But it will submit to new thoughts, which are based upon the truth of God’s word, and will also learn and remember them just as it did with sinning.

When John the Baptist appeared on the scene, he began preaching the same message that Hezekiah had instructed the priests in his day. John preached a baptism of repentance; a cleansing experience of getting rid of the detestable things in the inner part of life. When Jesus came into Jerusalem for the last week of His life before His crucifixion, He also cleansed the Temple and immediately began healing and teaching there (Matthew 21:12 – 16).

The same cleansing takes place each time you go before the Lord in your personal worship time. The light of God’s word will uncover those things that do not please Him. As you carry out the filth, taking it to the cross, you experience revival house cleaning. This pleases the Father and is vital in your walk with Christ. When the house is cleansed, the Lord moves about freely with healing and sound doctrine.

Today as you spend time in God’s presence, ask Him to reveal the things that He wants removed. As you take them to the cross, ask God to fill you will His healing power and learn of Him. Take a verse from Psalm 119:81 – 88 with you and rejoice with it during the day.