Hezekiah’s Reform That Restored the Essence of Faith

This passage deals with how Hezekiah, king of Judah, depended on God first and restored the essence of faith even in a poor situation that was religiously corrupt and politically unstable. Hezekiah faced the fact that his own unbelief had brought the nation into crisis, and he made a right relationship with God his first priority by cleansing the temple. Going beyond simply restoring formal worship, he removed the 'high places', the idols rooted deep in the people's lives, and put a God-centred life into practice.

From the fact that Hezekiah broke even the bronze serpent Moses had made, the sermon warns that even something given by God's grace can become an idol when it comes before God. If we are bound to visible religious symbols such as the temple, the ark of the covenant, the Bible or the cross, or to past experiences of grace, they can become a modern 'bronze serpent' that makes us forget God, who is the reality. The sermon points out that these things are only signs, not the destination, and stresses that we must not let our hearts be captured by the signs but come to the true God.

The sermon asks whether what believers are now depending on is really God, or whether they are stopping at visible things or past experiences. It also reminds us that a faith that depends wholly on God cannot be separated from reconciliation with our brothers and sisters and from everyday obedience, and it leads us to examine what the 'high places' and 'bronze serpents' in our own lives are, so that we look to God alone.