Return to God and Celebrate the Passover

After Solomon’s death, Israel split into two kingdoms: Judah in the south and Israel in the north. The kingdom of Israel did not celebrate the Passover for a long time. In 726 BC, Hezekiah king of Judah accepted the advice of the prophet Isaiah and repaired the ruined temple. Then he decided to celebrate the Passover.

“All you people of Israel, come to Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover to God!”

At the king’s command, the couriers went throughout Israel and Judah with letters from the king and from his officials.

“People of Israel, return to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, and celebrate the Passover. Do not be like your fathers and brothers, who were unfaithful to the LORD, the God of their fathers, so that He made them an object of horror, as you see. So, do not be stiff-necked, as your fathers were; submit to God. Come to the sanctuary, which God has consecrated, and celebrate the Passover and serve the LORD your God. Then God will bestow His grace and mercy on you.”

The people of Israel did not know about the Passover because they had not celebrated it for a long time. They scorned and ridiculed the couriers who were delivering the good news of salvation to them. Among them, only a few people who were humble headed to Jerusalem in order to celebrate the Passover, and the people of Judah whose hearts God had moved were united in one mind and participated in the Passover ceremony with joy.

Three years after that, Israel in the north was attacked by the Assyrian army, and its capital Samaria was captured three years later. As a result, the kingdom of Israel completely disappeared from history. On the contrary, when the Assyrian army attacked Judah in the south, 185,000 soldiers in the Assyrian camp were all found dead overnight. God protected the people of Judah, who had received the seal of redemption through the Passover, by His power (2 Ki 18:9-12; 2 Ki 19:30-35).

King Hezekiah celebrated the Passover, wishing to gain the stability of his nation in God’s blessings and to be protected by God in times of trouble to come. The Passover contains God’s definite promise to protect His people from disasters. That promise is still valid.

In this age, when disasters are rampant throughout the world, the Passover is the good news of salvation which the whole world is waiting for. Let us preach this good news to Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

“Celebrate the Passover to God!”