It was a deep, spiritual, emotional scene. The Jews had endured decades of captivity. They were humbled and chastened. And God had heard their cries. Thanks to a miraculous decree from the Persian king, a number of them had been granted freedom to leave Babylon and return home—to rebuild the temple—to restore proper worship of the true God.

Now, here they were. They had reconstructed God’s house in earnest and then dedicated it. And now, at last, they once again had the opportunity to keep the Passover in Jerusalem.

That spring festival season 2,500 years ago was infused with profound meaning, courage, obedience, unity and emotion. These former captives were filled with gratitude. They knew that forgetting the holy days had been a major cause of their captivity. This was a new beginning.

The Jews took this opportunity very personally, very seriously. They were purified together, single-minded in their dedication to God’s Work, strongly unified in their worship (Ezra 6:19-20). With their minds fixed on the purpose of the holy days, they had separated themselves from the filthiness of the world, and sought God with their whole hearts (verse 21).

After a moving Passover—the first in decades—the Jews “kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the Lord had made them joyful …” (verse 22). Their zeal for righteousness had tremendous impact on their holy day observance.

Ezra, who came on the scene soon after, was commissioned by God to record this history. He was “a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given …” (Ezra 7:6). He “had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments” (verse 10). He studied it, applied it, lived it—and then shared it and spread it. Even a carnal king knew him as “Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven” (verse 12).

History had impressed on Ezra’s mind the importance of the annual sabbaths. He knew that when Israel and Judah kept those days, they were abundantly blessed; when they were careless with those days, they were terribly cursed. This understanding anchored Ezra’s fervor to obey God and inspired others to follow.

Ezra also shouldered the tremendous job of canonizing the Old Testament. He finished the Bible of his day with the book of Chronicles, a book that—as God has revealed to our pastor general—is primarily aimed at God’s Church today.

That book contains two more historical examples of just how great the holy days can be when kept God’s way—examples that can inspire our preparation for the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread.

Looking to Hezekiah

Ezra first reminds us of a period when an evil king introduced all kinds of idolatry. The temple worship had completely stopped; the doors were shut. Judah was plagued by curses. It had suffered military defeats; women and children had been taken captive. The people, oppressed and discouraged, were being punished by God.

But then a king was anointed who really wanted to set things right with God. His name was Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 29:1-2).

The book of Kings concentrates on Hezekiah’s civil affairs. But in revisiting this history in Chronicles, Ezra really focuses on how Hezekiah reformed the religion of Judah. What a lesson this was for those Jews as they sat in the shadow of the second temple—and what a lesson for God’s Church today, in this time of raising the ruins.

In looking back to Hezekiah, Ezra traces this king’s roots even further back—to King David. That great king of Israel’s golden age emerges throughout Ezra’s teaching (e.g. verse 2). King David loved God deeply, and on that foundation, he built a great organization to express his love for God. He appointed Levites specifically to thank and praise God, and to record it all. As he looked forward to Solomon building the temple, David wanted everything revolving around it to exalt and praise God. He built magnificent worship into the temple service. And Ezra teaches us—as he taught the Jews in his day—to pattern our worship after David’s success.

From the beginning of his reign, in “the first month”—which is when the holy days began (verse 3)—Hezekiah knew from studying David’s example that true religion needed to center around restoring and organizing the temple service in preparation for keeping the holy days. That was a major priority for him (verses 4-5). And it started with the leaders—the priests and Levites—cleaning up and sanctifying themselves, then sanctifying the house of God.

In fatherly tones, Hezekiah taught these men not to be careless or lazy in their spring holy day preparation (verse 11). Why? Because of how much a person’s attitude toward that preparation communicates to God! Those who are negligent simply will not enjoy the specialness of the annual sabbaths that Ezra or Hezekiah or King David did. Those who are careless about spiritual preparation and deleavening will not be excited about God’s truth; they will learn little. And God will notice.

Hezekiah stirred the priests and Levites to action. He helped them recognize the honor of their awesome calling. The priests responded, throwing their hearts into a massive deleavening project (verses 12-15).

“And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron,” Ezra writes (verse 16). This intensive deep cleaning purged all the pagan pollution from the temple: sacrificial vessels used in idolatry, remains of idolatrous offerings—it all had to go!

Sadly, they hadn’t quite finished the job by Abib 14, when Passover was to be held. They earnestly desired to do it right. Thus, they decided to postpone the spring holy days for a month (2 Chronicles 30:2-3). God’s law allows for that (Numbers 9:10-11). The Church still uses the second Passover today where necessary.

Consider this very practical lesson: It takes time to get ready for the holy days! It takes time to remove the leaven from our homes. It takes time to sanctify ourselves. It takes time to examine ourselves and prepare to take the Passover in a worthy manner. We must be mindful of this in the period leading up to Passover: Do not shortchange this vital preparation process. Do not wait until the last minute. Draw especially close to God in prayer and through fasting. Work to apply what you receive in the sermons you hear and the articles and scriptures you study. Bring out any uncleanness you find in your life and dump it in the Kidron! That will provide a springboard into the Passover and the best spring holy days ever.

When the priests were finally finished, they sacrificed to God and made atonement for the people (2 Chronicles 29:20-24). Then Hezekiah again turned to David’s example, specifically in bringing music into the temple service (verses 25-27). Consider the humility in his thinking: Let’s just look at the blueprint left behind by the one who did it right. The Jews demonstrated the same attitude when starting the second temple construction. They began by saying, Let’s just put the altar in exactly the same place it was established in the first temple (Ezra 3:1-3).

In relaying Hezekiah’s history, Ezra records a remarkable detail: that God knew exactly what was going on in the hearts of these people—and was keeping track! “[T]he Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests,” he wrote (2 Chronicles 29:34). In the midst of this inspiring temple revitalization, some were working harder—some were taking it more seriously—some were more upright in heart about cleaning themselves up. And God knew it.

As God’s Work moves forward today, we need to measure ourselves. We all need to do our part to keep pace in our individual spiritual lives, working out our own salvation with fear and trembling.

After all this work in preparing the temple and the ministry, Hezekiah then called on the people to repent (2 Chronicles 30:1-2, 5-9). His moving, heartfelt appeal was distributed throughout the cities of Israel and Judah. Tragically, in that time of penetrating spiritual sickness, most of the people ridiculed the message and mocked the messengers (verse 10).

However, a number of Israelites from a few of the tribes responded in an altogether different and beautiful way: They ”humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem” (verse 11). God was moved. “[T]he hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and of the princes, by the word of the Lord” (verse 12).

The congregation that assembled in Jerusalem ended up being quite large (verse 13). The priests had a huge job in getting everyone ready, and they couldn’t quite finish it in time. Even by the second Passover, many of the people were not ceremonially sanctified with the ritualistic requirements.

Hezekiah, determined to hold the service anyway, prayed that God would consider these people’s attitudes and honor them: “The good Lord pardon every one That prepareth his heart to seek God,” he pleaded (verses 18-19).

This is exactly what God wants from all of us: to prepare our hearts to seek Him! We need to fix our innermost being on God. This is a deeply personal responsibility that God puts on each one of us. It will be reflected in what is going on in the privacy of your prayer closet and in your innermost thoughts. Leading up to Passover, really set your heart to seek God! Everything is on the line. Our eternal life—and our eternal reward—depends on our daily prayer, our daily study, our daily meditation. It depends on how much we love God with our whole hearts and are preparing our hearts to seek Him—every day. God rewards those who diligently seek Him; we can have complete faith in that (Hebrews 11:6).

How did God respond? “And the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people” (2 Chronicles 30:20). Here is how we can be healed. Here is how we can be set free from our sins. Here is how we can elevate our spiritual lives. Here is how we can have the best holy days ever!

All the Israelites’ preparations made this a spring holy day season for the ages! They truly celebrated! (verse 21). They were filled with great gladness for seven full days, day by day. Such diligent, heartfelt obedience to God brings great gladness into our lives. These Israelites under Hezekiah were so excited, they decided to keep the Days of Unleavened Bread another seven days! (verse 23). God was right there with them, hearing their prayers (verse 27).

In recording this history, Ezra points back to David’s era again: “So there was great joy in Jerusalem: for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem” (verse 26). This was the most inspiring Days of Unleavened Bread in over 200 years!

This was a wonderful celebration—and a great example of how to make our spring holy days great. Ezra motivated the people with this history—and God wants to motivate us with it as well.

Looking to Josiah

Just a short while after the spiritually uplifting events of Hezekiah’s reign, Judah fell back into idolatry under his son Manasseh and his grandson Amon. But then came Josiah.

And with him came another rousing story that Ezra used as a lesson on how to prepare for and keep the holy days as God intends.

2 Chronicles 34 recounts Josiah’s ascension to the throne at the tender age of 8. It describes how he, at about 16, began to “seek after the God of David,” and, four years later, “began to purge Judah and Jerusalem” (verse 3). When he was only about 26, Josiah sent men to repair the house of God. There the high priest, Hilkiah, found a book of the law in the temple, and it was read before the king.

How Josiah responded! “And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes” (verse 19).

Like Ezra, Josiah had an attitude of obedience. Throughout the Bible, God says He will bless those who tremble at His word and be near those with a contrite, broken heart. Scripture is there to correct us (2 Timothy 3:16). Look at how Josiah sought correction from God! (2 Chronicles 34:21).

God quickly responded to his humble, repentant attitude, saying, “Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also” (verse 27).

This wonderfully describes the attitude we need in our self-examination, in the way that we study, in the way that we pray: a tender heart, a humble attitude. James 1:21 instructs us, “Therefore put away all filthiness and rank growth of wickedness”—get the leaven out!—“and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (Revised Standard Version). In other words, we are like soil in which God is planting His Word like seeds. We need to receive that Word like soft, rich soil—with meekness, with a tender heart, with childlike, correctable minds. Then God’s truth can bear fruit in our lives. “We must approach our Bible study with a meek attitude,” Gerald Flurry writes in The Epistles of James. “Do you have soil in which God is able to plant His Word?”

If we enter the Passover season thinking we already know what we need to know, that guarantees our understanding won’t grow any deeper. In fact, it indicates we have probably already lost a good part of the understanding we may have once had! There is endless depth in these holy days, but our understanding of that depth will only grow as we dig into it. Our attitude is crucial. A ho-hum attitude will produce ho-hum results. An attitude like Josiah’s will change everything.

But study alone isn’t enough. God commands us to be “doers of the word, and not hearers only.” That Bible study must translate into action—or we are deceiving ourselves! (James 1:22, 25). How often do you hear a sermon you really identify with—and do nothing? Or read an article—and fail to act on it? Effective self-examination means we are making changes—bearing fruits of repentance.

Josiah summoned all the leaders of the nation to the temple and read God’s law to them (2 Chronicles 34:29-30). He reminded them of the covenant they had made with God at Mt. Sinai. Among the laws he read was the command in Exodus 23:15 to keep the Days of Unleavened Bread.

Josiah led the people to renew that covenant with God (2 Chronicles 34:31-32). Likewise, when we prepare for Passover, we must remember our baptismal covenant. Consider its terms and make sure we are upholding our end of that life-changing agreement: our promise that we would turn our entire life over to God and let nothing come before Him. Take on Josiah’s attitude of getting out the “book of the covenant” and measuring ourselves by that.

In the book of Kings, this Passover celebration takes up only three verses (2 Kings 23:21-23). But Ezra really emphasizes it and records it in detail, in 2 Chronicles 35.

Throughout this chapter, Ezra repeatedly mentions how they kept the Passover exactly as instructed by Moses, and by David, and by Solomon, and by Asaph and others. He shows how Josiah too was an avid student of King David. Again we see this marvelous key to keeping the Passover: Get the books out and really study how to do it right—then do it!

Critics looking at Josiah’s attention to detail might say, Well—that’s just a bunch of rituals! That’s Old Testament religion that’s not going to help anybody spiritually. But the beauty in this example is that under Josiah, these people just wanted to obey God. Their deeds reflected their love for Him. Whatever God said, that’s what they wanted to hear and do.

If you go into the Passover with that attitude, you are going to have the best Passover of your life! If you approach the Days of Unleavened Bread with that attitude, you are going to have the best Days of Unleavened Bread of your life!

That is exactly what happened in Josiah’s day: “And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet …” (verse 18). Can you believe that? Not since Samuel—even before David!

Keep the Feasts With Joy

This history really fired Ezra up! And he used it to fire people up in his day. God also wants this history to fire us up.

As God’s people today, like the Jews anciently, are purified together, and as we separate ourselves from the filth of this world, we too will be able to keep the coming festivals with joy!

And the greater our spring holy days, the more God will be able to strengthen our hands in the work of the house of God.