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Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends on this first weekend in December, 2020.
Do you like to look up at a cloudless, moonless, night sky and simply be amazed at the stars? Each and everyone of them placed into their exact location by God Himself, a very long time ago, according to Isaiah 40:26, and yet what we see with our eyes is but a tiny, tiny fraction of all that is really out there in our universe. Even our most sophisticated telescopes can’t see it all! The Psalmist is right… “The heavens declare the glory of God…” (Ps. 19:1)
Do you sometimes feel like one of those tiny stars, lost in the huge population of 7.5 Billion people? Do you wonder how God can find you in the crowd, and be working in your life, while at the same time He is accomplishing His grand purposes in many other parts of the world simultaneously? Let’s ponder that thought this weekend. . .
The Bible, as you know, primarily focuses on one nation of people, Israel, but occasionally God helps us see that He is working in other places and fully aware of all that is taking place around the world. We’ve been looking at the life of king Josiah in recent days. I’m always seeking to find how God’s working in the past fits with how God is working today. Yesterday we looked at how Josiah led the people in a massive cleanup of the country and their society from all the wickedness which had taken root in Jerusalem and Israel under the despicable leadership of his father and grandfather, and even much further back in their history.
Finally it was time to worship, free of all the evil idols, altars and immorality which had permeated their society. I hope you have a wonderful worship experience this weekend, wherever you are in the world. 2 Chronicles 35:1-19 is a description of one of the greatest worship experiences in the history of the city of Jerusalem. This summary statement captures it: “The Passover had not been observed like this in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel; and none of the kings of Israel had ever celebrated a Passover as did Josiah, with the priests, the Levites and ALL Judah and Israel who were there with the people of Jerusalem. This Passover was celebrated in the 18th years of Josiah’s reign.” (2 Chron. 35:18,19) I’m grateful for that last phrase because it enables us to fix a point in time, on the global calendar. The 18th year of Josiah’s reign was 622bc. That is exactly 100 years AFTER the northern kingdom Israel had been conquered and decimated by the kingdom of Assyria, and 308 years since Solomon’s death and the division of Israel into two kingdoms in 930bc.
Did you notice this Passover worship experience was more fantastic than any since the days of Samuel? That means NO Passover, since Israel became a nation with a human king in 1050bc, was a Passover like this one! Why? What made this one better than the Passover’s in David’s time or Solomon, or Uzziah or Hezekiah? I believe it was the thoroughness of their repentance and removal of ALL that defiled their land, their city, their temple, their worship AND their hearts! This was not just ritual or tradition, this was pure worship!
Notice 2 Chron. 35:3 “Josiah said to the Levites…who had been consecrated to the LORD: ‘Put the sacred Ark in the Temple that Solomon…built. It is not to be carried about on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and His people…” It’s only a little verse and doesn’t seem that important, so why would I mention it? As far as I know, that is the last time the Ark of the Covenant is mentioned as having been present in the Temple in Jerusalem!
It appears the Levites were taking the Ark out of the Most Holy Place from time to time and parading around Jerusalem with it. Josiah knew it was far too sacred for that. It was never to leave the Most Holy Place and God had promised, His Shekinah Glory would be present with it in the Temple, if His people remained faithful to Him. Oh how God longed to be among His people as they honored Him with their lives.
Remember, God had said to Moses “I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the LORD their God who brought them out of Egypt SO THAT I might dwell among them…” (Exodus 29:45,46) Do you remember how the cloud of God’s Presence had sometimes filled the Tabernacle and later the Temple as a visual evidence of God’s Presence among His people?
I presume the Levites did as Josiah instructed them. I also presume that sacred Ark was stolen out of the Temple and taken into captivity during one of Emperor Nebuchadnezzar’s three invasions of Jerusalem in either 605bc, or 597bc and finally 586bc when he destroyed that Temple.
This statement in 2 Kings 23:25 summarizes the remainder of king Josiah’s reign: “Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did – with all his heart and soul and strength, according to the law of Moses.” It was a wonderful time to be alive in Jerusalem, but there was trouble brewing in the rest of the world. The nations of Egypt and the rising Babylonian empire were vying for global power and both had their sights set on conquering the Assyrian Empire which had dominated the world for 400 years!
God then raised up a little man known as prophet Nahum, whose message was shocking to the world! God’s judgement was finally going to fall on Nineveh and the Assyrian’s who had been ravaging the world, including their destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel. It’s only 3 short chapters, but these words summarize God’s message, then and now: “The LORD is slow to anger and great in power. The LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished…The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him, but with an overwhelming flood the LORD will make an end of Nineveh, He will pursue His foes into darkness.” (Nahum 1:3,7,8)
As people heard Nahum’s message, of course they scratched their heads in amazement! How could it possibly happen? Even if all the armies of the world rallied together against Assyria, they seemed invincible. But it did happen... in 612bc, 10 years after that great Josiah led Passover celebration in Jerusalem. The Babylonians conquered and destroyed Nineveh and for more than 100 years the Babylonian Empire ruled as the dominant global power! It seems very likely that if Josiah had NOT been the king in Judah, leading the people to revival and God’s cleansing their nation of their wickedness, little nation Judah would have been swept away as simply a little skirmish off to the side of the road, as the great Babylonian armies marched north to conquer Nineveh!
Let’s pause there this weekend and consider all that is happening around our world in our day, in China and Russia and many other great nations of the world which have huge armies, nuclear power and perhaps more importantly, great cyberspace technology power. The world is in turmoil with many powers planning, scheming and working to dominate the world.
Is God fully aware of it all? Is God Sovereign over it all? Is God working HIS global purposes through His people as He did in the days of Josiah and Nahum? YES my friends, YES and that’s why those little verses tucked in Nahum chapter 1 should bring you and me great hope today!
Oh God Almighty, we acknowledge YOUR Sovereignty over all things at all times and we honor you today as our God and like Josiah we long to be a people known as ones who honor YOU with all our heart, mind, soul and strength!
Click to read today’s chapter: 2 Chronicles 35:1-19. (At the top you can choose a different translation.)
NEW FEATURE: Click here to listen to a dramatized reading of 2 Chronicles 35.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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