# King Hezekiah: A King That Honored God - The Book of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles

An episode of [Kids Bible in a Year with Julia Jeffress Sadler](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1696638708), 29 Dec 2023, 12 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/f8ddd7fd-69c6-48d0-804f-b4d6010c327c/bd35a43f-0c87-444c-91ba-b4d60189d744/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=14e8ed60-20b2-4d5c-a832-b4d6010c3283

Join Julia Jeffress Sadler as she takes us on an incredible adventure in Episode 120. Discover how Hezekiah, in stark contrast to his father Ahaz, dedicated himself to obeying God right from the start of his reign at 25 years old. We'll witness his zealous efforts to purify and restore the temple in Judah, removing idols and altars, including a bronze snake from Moses' time. Hezekiah's leadership brings a revival of true worship, with sacrifices and music to honor God. The celebration of Passover, a time of joy and forgiveness, marks a significant moment under Hezekiah's rule. Sign up to receive Kids Bible in a Year devotionals in your inbox every weekday: https://www.kidsbibleinayear.com/ Get ready to experience the Bible designed specifically for children with the official KidsBibleinaYear.com podcast, led by Julia Jeffress Sadler. This captivating audio series presents the age-old wisdom of the Bible in an engaging format that will captivate your kids. Each episode Julia translates biblical teachings into real-life applications, making Bible comprehension a breeze for young minds. And if you want more Christian resources and content, you can download the Pray.com app. Pray.com is the digital destination for faith, offering over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime Bible stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible. For more resources on how to live a successful Christian life, visit Julia Jeffress Sadler's website at https://ptv.org/julia/. This episode is sponsored by Little Passports. Visit LittlePassports.com/blessed and use promo code BLESSED to receive 20% off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so
[0:04] Speaker 1: that after him was no one like him among all
[0:07] Speaker 1: the kings of Judah, nor among them that were before him.
[0:12] Speaker 1: 2 Kings 18, 5-6 Dear God, we want to have
[0:19] Speaker 1: a heart like Hezekiah, a heart of obedience. Thank you
[0:23] Speaker 1: for his example and help us to trust you the
[0:26] Speaker 1: way he did. Show us anything in our hearts that
[0:29] Speaker 1: needs to be removed immediately. so that we can be
[0:32] Speaker 1: clean and worship you. Only you can make us clean inside.
[0:37] Speaker 1: In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
[0:41] Speaker 2: Thank you for praying with us today. The Kids Bible
[0:44] Speaker 2: in a Year podcast is sponsored by Little Passports, delivering
[0:48] Speaker 2: monthly activity kit subscriptions that help kids explore the world,
[0:52] Speaker 2: cultivate curiosity, and discover new interests with hands-on crafts and
[0:56] Speaker 2: activities in cooking, science, crafts, and more. all with a
[1:00] Speaker 2: unique cultural twist. Visit littlepassports.com slash blessed to learn more
[1:05] Speaker 2: and save 20% with code blessed.
[1:14] Speaker 3: King Hezekiah, a king that honored God. In our last story,
[1:21] Speaker 3: we learned about the sin and punishment of Israel. In
[1:24] Speaker 3: this story, we learn about King Hezekiah, and how he
[1:28] Speaker 3: ruled correctly and helped cleanse the temple and get people
[1:33] Speaker 3: to return to the Lord, as inspired by 2 Kings
[1:38] Speaker 3: and 2 Chronicles.
[1:42] Speaker 1: Hi friends, this is Joya Sadler. Thanks for being with
[1:45] Speaker 1: me for another episode of the Kids Bible in a
[1:48] Speaker 1: Year podcast. Hezekiah is bursting on the scene today, and
[1:52] Speaker 1: he's everything we've been waiting for. A king who truly
[1:56] Speaker 1: loves and honors God. Here we go.
[2:02] Speaker 3: King Ahaz was a terrible king that disobeyed and disrespected
[2:06] Speaker 3: the Lord. Yet Ahaz's son, Hezekiah, was completely different. Hezekiah
[2:12] Speaker 3: completely trusted the Lord, and he made sure to be
[2:16] Speaker 3: obedient to his commandments. King Hezekiah became king when his
[2:21] Speaker 3: father died. He was just 25 years old. During his
[2:26] Speaker 3: first years as king, he knew that he needed to
[2:29] Speaker 3: restore the city of Judah.
[2:31] Speaker 4: And its temple. He saw the little idols and their
[2:34] Speaker 4: altars and destroyed all of those.
[2:37] Speaker 3: Hezekiah even saw a bronze snake that Moses had made
[2:41] Speaker 3: in his time and destroyed that too because people were
[2:45] Speaker 3: offering sacrifices to it. When it came to the temple,
[2:49] Speaker 3: he asked that the priests and the Levites helped him, saying,
[2:53] Speaker 3: It's time to restore the temple of the Lord. It
[2:56] Speaker 3: has been dishonored so greatly by King Ahaz and others
[2:59] Speaker 3: that it is our job to purify it. However, before
[3:03] Speaker 3: we even do that, you yourselves must be clean by
[3:07] Speaker 3: going through a specific ceremony.
[3:10] Speaker 4: Once you are finished with the ceremony and.
[3:12] Speaker 3: Are clean, I ask that you take out everything that
[3:16] Speaker 3: makes God unhappy Anything that is unclean that God doesn't like,
[3:21] Speaker 3: remove it from the temple. Let's hope that by us
[3:24] Speaker 3: doing this, he'll stop being angry with us.
[3:28] Speaker 4: It took them almost two weeks to complete all of this.
[3:32] Speaker 3: Once they were done, they went back to King Hezekiah
[3:35] Speaker 3: and said, King Hezekiah, we have done everything that you
[3:39] Speaker 3: told us to do.
[3:40] Speaker 4: Everything is clean and put in order.
[3:42] Speaker 3: Even the things that your father, King Ahaz, took out
[3:45] Speaker 3: of the temple, we put them back where they belong.
[3:49] Speaker 3: Now that the temple was made clean again, King Hezekiah
[3:52] Speaker 3: said that it was time to worship the real God.
[3:56] Speaker 3: He demanded that the priests and the Levites bring.
[3:59] Speaker 4: Sacrifices to the temple.
[4:01] Speaker 3: As everyone gathered into the temple, King Hezekiah ordered that
[4:05] Speaker 3: they begin to play instruments and sing songs to God
[4:08] Speaker 3: in worship until the last sacrifice had been made. Once
[4:13] Speaker 3: that was over, it was time to celebrate Passover. King
[4:17] Speaker 3: Hezekiah invited so many people. His invitation read, As the
[4:22] Speaker 3: time for Passover came around, there had been few people
[4:25] Speaker 3: that were unclean, and had not gone through with the
[4:41] Speaker 3: ceremony that the Levites and priests had done earlier. However,
[4:45] Speaker 3: when it was time to eat at Passover, they ate
[4:48] Speaker 3: the meat when they weren't supposed to.
[4:51] Speaker 4: It was against God's law.
[4:52] Speaker 3: To eat the meat of Passover while still being unclean.
[4:56] Speaker 3: King Hezekiah was aware of this and decided to go
[4:59] Speaker 3: before God, asking.
[5:01] Speaker 4: Lord, will you please forgive them?
[5:04] Speaker 3: They did choose to come and worship you unlike the
[5:07] Speaker 3: people before them.
[5:09] Speaker 4: Please show them mercy.
[5:11] Speaker 3: God heard the prayer of the king Hezekiah and did
[5:14] Speaker 3: decide to forgive the people. Passover lasted for seven days
[5:19] Speaker 3: after that, and the people truly enjoyed themselves singing songs
[5:23] Speaker 3: and hymns unto God. Since Hezekiah honored the Lord, God
[5:28] Speaker 3: made sure to bless and reward him during his time
[5:31] Speaker 3: as king.
[5:37] Speaker 1: Finally, a king who followed God. I can't wait to
[5:41] Speaker 1: dive into today's story. The Bible tells us that Hezekiah
[5:45] Speaker 1: was very different from his father, King Ahaz. He trusted
[5:49] Speaker 1: in God alone and obeyed all of his commandments. Not
[5:53] Speaker 1: only did he trust in God for himself, but he
[5:57] Speaker 1: was determined to make God's temple clean again by destroying
[6:01] Speaker 1: all the idols and having all the people cleanse their
[6:05] Speaker 1: hearts before God. Let's talk about that for a moment.
[6:09] Speaker 1: This place was an actual temple made by man. It
[6:13] Speaker 1: was a place where God's presence lived and where his
[6:17] Speaker 1: people would come to talk to him, worship him, and
[6:20] Speaker 1: bring him gifts. It was a holy place and Hezekiah
[6:25] Speaker 1: knew that before anything else happened, God wanted his temple
[6:30] Speaker 1: clean again. He wanted all the things gone that other
[6:34] Speaker 1: kings had put there, mostly idols. And he also wanted
[6:38] Speaker 1: things returned that other kings had taken away. It was
[6:43] Speaker 1: good that Hezekiah focused on making God's home right and
[6:47] Speaker 1: good again. But guess what? Did you know that in
[6:51] Speaker 1: the Bible, God says that our bodies are actually temples
[6:55] Speaker 1: for God?
[6:56] Speaker 4: What? It's true.
[6:59] Speaker 1: After Jesus came to earth and died on the cross
[7:02] Speaker 1: to pay the punishment for our sins, the Bible says
[7:05] Speaker 1: that he ascended into heaven to be with his father.
[7:10] Speaker 1: That just means that he rose up into the clouds
[7:13] Speaker 1: and went to heaven. But he did something very special
[7:16] Speaker 1: for his disciples when he left. He sent a helper
[7:20] Speaker 1: or a comforter to earth to live inside of his people.
[7:25] Speaker 1: Do you know who it is? It's the Holy Spirit
[7:29] Speaker 1: of God. And when you believe and trust in Jesus,
[7:32] Speaker 1: His Spirit comes to live in you. Now back to
[7:36] Speaker 1: the temple. Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 6, 19-20,
[7:42] Speaker 1: Or do you not know that your body is a
[7:45] Speaker 1: temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom
[7:48] Speaker 1: you have from God?
[7:50] Speaker 4: You are not your own.
[7:52] Speaker 1: You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with
[7:56] Speaker 1: your body. So if my body is a temple for
[7:59] Speaker 1: God and the Holy Spirit is with me and in me,
[8:03] Speaker 1: don't you think I need to make sure my temple
[8:05] Speaker 1: is clean and pure just like King Hezekiah? In the
[8:10] Speaker 1: same way that Hezekiah removed all the idols from the
[8:13] Speaker 1: temple in Judah, there are times when we need to
[8:16] Speaker 1: get rid of things in our hearts. Maybe there are
[8:20] Speaker 1: things we love more than God or wrong things we
[8:23] Speaker 1: can't stop doing. or anything else that is not honoring
[8:27] Speaker 1: to God. This would be a great time to stop
[8:31] Speaker 1: and ask God in your heart, Lord, what in my
[8:35] Speaker 1: heart needs to go? Is it pride, jealousy, anger, or
[8:41] Speaker 1: a certain sin? Show me how to make my heart
[8:45] Speaker 1: clean before you again. You might remember that after King
[8:49] Speaker 1: David messed up badly, He prayed a special prayer to
[8:54] Speaker 1: God asking God to give him a clean heart again.
[8:57] Speaker 1: He knew he had done wrong and he knew that
[9:02] Speaker 1: only God can make.
[9:03] Speaker 4: His heart right again.
[9:04] Speaker 1: It's a great thing to do that once in a while.
[9:08] Speaker 1: And when we do, we can worship God more freely
[9:12] Speaker 1: knowing that we are clean before him and that he
[9:15] Speaker 1: is such a wonderful forgiving father.
[9:19] Speaker 4: Well, after all that.
[9:20] Speaker 1: Cleansing in the temple, God's children offered sacrifices to him,
[9:24] Speaker 1: joyfully celebrating the Passover with instruments, singing, and worshiping all together.
[9:31] Speaker 1: Today's story has such a happy ending. The Bible says
[9:34] Speaker 1: that because King Hezekiah honored and obeyed God, God blessed
[9:39] Speaker 1: him and rewarded him while he was king. And you
[9:43] Speaker 1: can be sure that when you pray and ask God
[9:46] Speaker 1: to make your heart or temple clean, he will bless
[9:50] Speaker 1: you too. Thanks for listening to Hezekiah's story today. Next time,
[9:55] Speaker 1: God is doing something amazing for his people and he's
[9:58] Speaker 1: going to bless them. for their faithfulness so come back
[10:02] Speaker 1: to hear all about it but for now remember this
[10:06] Speaker 1: the bible is the best story ever told it's god's
[10:11] Speaker 1: story to you and it's all true did you love
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[10:24] Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Pray.com's Kids Bible in a Year.
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