“Then the whole assembly agreed together to keep the feast for another seven days. So they kept it for another seven days with gladness. For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the assembly a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep for offerings. And the princes gave the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep. And the priests consecrated themselves in great numbers. The whole assembly of Judah and the priests and the Levites and the whole assembly that came out of Israel and the sojourners who came out of the land of Israel and the sojourners who lived in Judah rejoiced. So there was great joy in Jerusalem. For since the time of Solomon, the son of David King of Israel, there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. Then the priests and the Levites arose and blessed the people and their voice was heard and their prayer came to his holy habitation in heaven.”
– 2 Chronicles 30:23–27
I read this scene here about all of this joy and gladness and sacrifice and worship and obedience in Jerusalem like it had not been heard in years, in generations because this picture is a reminder of the joy and the gladness that we celebrate today like on Christmas day, the fact that the God who’s holy habitation is in heaven has come to you and to me to this weary world, and he has come specifically to pay the price for sin and sinners like you and me. He has come to save us.
That’s his name, Jesus name means he will save his people from their sins. This whole picture in 2 Chronicles 30:23–27, of all these different sacrifices for sin and the joy that brings the full and final sacrifice for sin has been made. And so we have reason to celebrate today that Jesus has come. That Jesus has lived the life we couldn’t live. Died the death we deserve to die. He has conquered the enemy. We could not conquer sin and death itself. So we celebrate today.
Joy and Peace Found in God
We praise you for the joy and the peace and the forgiveness and the reconciliation and the life you have made possible for us.
Jesus, all glory be to your name. God on high, all glory be to your name. Glory to God in the highest. We praise you for the joy and the peace and the forgiveness and the reconciliation and the life you have made possible for us. God, we celebrate you today, Lord Jesus. We celebrate you, Oh God. We praise you for your love for us, for coming to be with us and we pray that as we celebrate the joy of Jesus today that you would help us to spread the joy of Jesus among all the nations. God, we pray for people today.
People groups today who don’t know the good news of your grace and your glory and you’re coming in, Jesus. God, we pray for the Berbers of Morocco. Specifically, God, I think about meeting different Berber men, women, and children in Morocco. The number of them who have little to no knowledge of who you are and what you have done.
2 Chronicles 30:23–27
So God, we pray for the spread of the Gospel among the Berbers of Morocco and thousands of other people groups like them. God, we pray that in the next year, between now and this time, next year, Christmas, next year, God, we pray that more people groups would be reached with the Gospel, that you would use us, our lives, our prayers are giving our churches toward that end God, that the gospel, the good news of great joy in Jesus would spread to more and more nations. God, use our lives toward that end. We pray as we celebrate the reality that you, whose holy habitation is in heaven, have come to us to save us from our sins. We pray with joy in Jesus’ name today. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
