05. Hezekiah keeps the Passover

Hezekiah keeps the Passover

We shall now find some very important Church truth typified in the next chapter (2 Chronicles 30:1-27). The order is very striking. We have had the doors open — the full gospel of God; the grace that brings the prodigal right into the presence of the Father.

Then, the lamps giving their full, perfect light; the Holy Spirit taking of the things of Christ, and showing them unto us; the infinite value of His one sacrifice; our immutable perfection by that offering, accepted in all the sweet savour of the burnt-offering, the Lamb of God — the joy, gladness, and worship.

Now the invitation goes forth to come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel. And in wisdom and counsel, both of the king, the princes, and all the congregation, this must be, not in the appointed time, the fourteenth day of the first month, but in the second month. For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together at Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 30:3).

If we read carefully Luke 22:1-71, we see how the Lord’s supper took the place of the passover. ’With desire have I desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer’ (Luke 22:15). The last passover before He suffered: Himself the fulfilment of it. He then presented Himself to faith, no longer the body of the lamb, or the cup of the passover. The passover looked forwards — the Lord’s supper is a remembrance. ’This do in remembrance of me’. The blessed Lord Himself, our Passover, is slain. It is no longer the wine of the passover, but the cup, in remembrance of His blood shed for us. But they were to come to Jerusalem, to the house of the Lord. Is there any such house of the Lord now? any place of worship, or earthly sanctuary? No, there, is no such place now. All this belonged to the first covenant, or to Judaism. ’Then, verily, thefirstcovenanthad also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary’ (Hebrews 9:1).

What, then, have we now, if all the system of worldly sanctuaries, called the house of God — places of worship with divine service; all this is simply Judaism; not a vestige of which have we in the New Testament. What have we, as the true centre of gathering? Have we not Christ Himself? Jesus said: ’For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them’ (Matthew 18:20).

I know that in millennial days to come, Jerusalem shall be the city of the Great King. But let us remember that at present He, as their King, is cut off, and has nothing; and that now the only place of gathering is to Him, the rejected One. But why did they keep the passover on the fourteenth day of the second month? If we turn to Numbers 9:1-12, we shall find a very distinct reason given there. The keeping of the passover in the first month is confirmed: but there were some men who were defiled by the dead body of a man, that they could not keep the passover on that day. The question was brought before the Lord; and the answer of the Lord was, that if any were unclean by reason of a dead body etc., they should keep the passover on the fourteenth day of the second month.

Thus Hezekiah acknowledged the defiled state of Israel. Is it not so with the Church of God? Is it in its first condition, or second? Has it become defiled by the dead body of the world? Oh, does it not become us thus to own the sad, defiled, ruined state of the Church as a testimony for Christ?

Now we come to a very important point. The invitation and responsibility to keep the passover was as extensive as the atonement. The sin-offering, the reconciliation, was made for all Israel. All Israel were invited, and responsible, to come and keep the passover. So they resolved to ’make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even unto Dan, that they should come to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel, at Jerusalem; for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written’ (2 Chronicles 30:5). This deeply important principle as to the Lord’s table, also, is little understood. The analogy is striking: souls everywhere, who have been led to own the Holy Spirit in the Assembly, like the lamps in the sanctuary; have been also led next to remember the Lord’s death, in the breaking of bread. And still more, they have learnt from Scripture that God’s people had not done it for a long time in the prescribed manner. I am not aware of an instance for seventeen centuries, where Christians broke bread as it was written, until within about the last fifty years. There was always something omitted, or added, to what was written.

I need not dwell on the Mass. But what were we doing? Take one thing added, which we all thought right — a minister administering the sacrament. Was this written in the inspired Word? Where? The disciples came together to break bread (Acts 20:7). In 1 Corinthians 10:1-33; 1 Corinthians 11:1-34, is there a thought of such a person at the Lord’s table? This is not a question of the gifts of Christ: the evangelist to preach the gospel, and the teacher to teach the Church of God. But at the Lord’s table we enjoy a common privilige: ’The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, being many, are one bread, and one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread’.

Place a man unscripturally to administer, and the communion is lost sight of! It is the expression, essentially, of equal co-partnership in that blood, and in that one body. Blessed fact, every redeemed sinner has equal partnership in the reconciliation; every washed soul whiter than snow! Fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Where it is service, then all are not alike. Just as in a firm — one servant may have a pound per week, whilst a foreman may have three [written in the XIXth century]. But co-partners are all equally alike. In the equal co-partnership, fellowship, communion of His blood, communion of His body. There are no servants, and no foreman, in Scripture to administer the sacrament. For a long time the Lord’s supper had not been kept as it was written. Oh, the grace, the love our Father has, to have restored it in these last days before the coming of the Lord. But have we understood the heart of Christ in this? The invitation, and the responsibility to gather to His name, to break bread as it is written? Is not the invitation to do so as wide as the atonement? The responsibility reaches every reconciled child of God on earth. Not only Judah owning allegiance to Hezekiah, but to every Israelite in the revolted tribes. Not only those gathered, and owning allegiance, to Christ, but every redeemed soul in every revolted sect on earth, from Beersheba even unto Dan. As there was the perfect substitution offered, the seven goats for all Israel — we must understand here Israel as a type of the whole redeemed Church of God, whatever their outward position. And this is a great truth, that every believer, passed from death unto life, stands in all the immutable perfection of Christ, accepted in the Beloved — sins and iniquities to be remembered no more, no more! Is not the Lord’s table, as it is written, the true place for every one of them? Yes, the basis of gathering to Christ to break bread, our passover, is as wide as the atonement. Does not Jesus say to every reconciled soul: ’Do this in remembrance of Me’? And would He not have each one enjoy communion with Himself? Other questions will arise, but the basis of true fellowship is seen to be equal to the extent of the atonement. So the runners passed from city to city, but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them. Oh, when did not men despise the message and the messengers of the Lord? It was so in the days of Noah, and of Lot, and also when the Son of God walked in the midst of men. And even so now, the present work of God in love is despised of men.

Nevertheless, some humbled themselves and came. Also in Judah, the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king, and of the princes, at the word of the Lord (2 Chronicles 30:12). And is not the hand of the Lord seen now gathering souls to Christ, and giving them one heart? If it is not this, it is only another sect in selfwill. Yes, it is the hand of the Lord. Dear reader, are you asleep, or awake; can you discern the present heart and hand of the Lord? If so, it is a little thing to be laughed to scorn. The next point in order is this: when the Lord had thus gathered a company to keep the passover, it led to public reformation: ’They arose, and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away, and cast them into the brook Kidron’ (2 Chronicles 30:14). Thus, where the Lord has now gathered a company to break bread, as it is written, the first thing, is to put away from themselves everything inconsistent with the holiness of His presence.

Just as when the doors were opened, the cleansing away the rubbish began in the very holiest. The holiest we enter in perfect peace with God. There, surely, holiness becomes that holy place. This is a solemn point to all whom the hand of the Lord does gather, to keep the Lord’s supper, as it is written.