So the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people.
— 2 Chronicles 30:20
Following the apostasy of King Ahaz, the reign of his son Hezekiah was a breath of fresh air. Ahaz was a king who did not follow after God, but his son walked in the footsteps of his great ancestor David.
We are told at the beginning of this chapter that Hezekiah was only twenty-five years old when he became king. And from the moment he took the throne, he began instituting reforms — calling the people back to observing the festivals and feasts they were meant to celebrate before the Lord.
He sent letters throughout both the southern and northern kingdoms, urging the people to return to the true God. Some from the northern kingdom laughed at the invitation, but the king pressed on, urging them that if they would repent and turn back to God, God would be gracious and forgive them.
In the end, some of the people did turn back to God. But even among those who came, there were those who had not cleansed themselves thoroughly according to the requirements of the law. Rather than turning them away, the king stepped in and prayed to God on their behalf, asking the Lord to heal and receive them anyway.
This is where our text lands. And in this moment we see Hezekiah acting as a kind of mediator — standing between the people and God, interceding on their behalf even when they had not met all the requirements perfectly. And God, in His grace, listened to the prayer of the king and healed the people on the basis of the king’s intercession.
A Greater Mediator Foreshadowed
In the New Testament we are introduced to a far greater mediator. Paul, writing to Timothy, puts it plainly:
For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
— 1 Timothy 2:5
In the story of Hezekiah we see a foreshadowing of this greater mediator — one to whom God would listen, and through whom He would heal and restore His people.
This is how we come to God. Not by first ensuring that we have cleansed ourselves of everything and achieved some state of ritual perfection. Even in our remaining uncleanness, we can come to our mediator — the Lord Jesus Christ — and trust that on the basis of His finished work, His perfect obedience, and His atoning suffering, we can approach God through Him and find grace and mercy at the throne of grace.
In this new covenant, the way we come to this mediator is simply through faith in Him. We cannot in any way merit His mediatorial work. All we can do is come to Him by trusting in His finished work — and on the basis of that faith alone, the grace of God for healing, restoration, and reconciliation is communicated to us by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Resting in Our Mediator
May we find rest in knowing that our mediator, Jesus Christ, is interceding for us before God — and that we can come to the Father through Him, and only through Him.
I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
— John 14:6
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