Good THANKSGIVING Day to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends around the world,
I wonder what great “Thanksgiving Day” memories you have? When I was growing up in a third world country back in the 1950’s this day, Thanksgiving Day, was very special as many people gathered for a special ‘day of a gratitude’ meal and friendship together. Since then, of course my wife and I have enjoyed this special day in many places with many different friends and family. What about you, my friends? And I wonder how we all will express our thanks and praise to God today.
For one last time, may I invite us back to Jerusalem to the year 622bc, the year the remarkable King Josiah died. He had been a great King for the people of Judah, leading them in reversing so much of the widespread wickedness of the past decades of his father King Amon and his grandfather King Manasseh.
True to His Word, God responded to the 2 Chronicles 7:14 style repentance of Josiah and the people as we’ve seen in the past few days, recorded for us in 2 Chronicles 34 & 35. For 31 years, an entire generation, God poured out great blessing and renewal upon Jerusalem and the people of Judah in response to their repentance.
However there had been decades, even centuries of God rejecting, God blaspheming wickedness and God had promised through His prophets that eventually His judgment would come. So today, we need to look at a painful, powerful and very important statement made by the Holy Spirit, through the author of 2 Kings.
2 Kings 23:25-27 makes this bold statement: “Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did – with all his heart…soul…and strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.
Nevertheless, the LORD did not turn away from the heat of His fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that King Manasseh had done to arouse God’s anger. So, the LORD said, ‘I will remove Judah also from My presence as I removed Israel, and I will reject Jerusalem, the city I chose, and this temple, about which I said, ‘My Name shall be there.” Oh my, what a strong statement of God’s judgment!
In fact, my friends, does that statement trouble you? Does it counter what you believe about the Grace and Mercy and Love of God? Do we have this idea of God’s mercy and forgiveness that if we confess and repent, not only will God forgive our sin, but He’ll wipe away consequences of our sin or even the consequences of the sins of our ancestors? Oh my, dear friends, this is a very, very important aspect of the unchanging character of God and His holiness, His justice, His grace, His mercy, His forgiveness.
Here’s the principle as stated by John the apostle: “This is the message we have heard from Him [Jesus] and declare to you: God is light [truth & holiness] in Him there is no darkness [sin & evil] at all. If we claim to have fellowship [a relationship] with God and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live in the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purifies us from all sin.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make God out to be a liar and His word [truth] is not in us.” (1 John 1:5-10)
That is one of the most powerful declarations of God’s truth in the entire Bible. I urge you to read back over it several times, slowly, until you understand it. It’s clear and needs no further explanation, does it?
All the way back to the days of Moses, God had made it clear that SIN, (anything short of perfection), would always distance people from God because God is Holy and Perfect. Confession and genuine repentance would allow God to Forgive that Sin and Restore forgiven people into relationship with God. BUT…and this is very important… EVERY PERSON is separated from God because of THEIR PERSONAL sinful nature and their Personal SIN! No person’s relationship with God is affected by another person. Each of us is created uniquely by God and our relationship with God is uniquely personal.
Also, all sin has consequences, we have experienced that, haven’t we? Angry words spoken can be forgiven but will not be easily forgotten. Sinful acts and words cannot be undone once acted. That’s why forgiveness is so powerful! When a person confesses and repents of their sin, God forgives but we still live with the practical consequences of our sin. The drunk driver accident which caused paralysis or death can be forgiven but the death or paralysis cannot be undone. The abortion can be forgiven, but the child remains dead. The adulterous act or relationship can be forgiven but the broken trust, the act of unfaithfulness to the marriage covenant remains. However, with God, all forgiven sin is covered under the blood of Jesus and God will NOT bring it up again for ‘re-trial’ or re-accusation.
God had made it very clear to His people, generation after generation through His prophets, that unrepentant wickedness and turning away from God to the idol worship of surrounding nations would result in God’s judgment. (Deut. 28)
In the dedication of the great Temple, God had warned King Solomon with a very clear warning about the price of unrepentant rebellion against God: If My people turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot Israel from My land, which I have given them, and I will reject this temple I have consecrated for My Name. ..” (2 Chronicles 7:19-22)
200 years after that statement, God finally removed His hand of protection for the unrepentant northern kingdom Israel and permitted the Assyrians to conquer it. For 100 more years the southern kingdom Judah had the opportunity to show God that they had learned from the judgment of the northern kingdom but instead Judah, with the exception of 30 years under King Josiah’s leadership, followed in the same wicked ways of their northern cousins, rejecting God and defiling His Temple.
Now let’s apply this to King Josiah. He had led the people in repentance and demolition of idols and wicked altars and God had forgiven that generation and poured out His great blessing upon their remarkable Passover experience. (2 Chronicles 34 & 35)
Furthermore, God had for the next 20 years protected and blessed Jerusalem and the people of Judah because of their repentance. But the previous many decades of UNREPENTANT wickedness and sinfulness of their ancestors remained before God and God’s Justice and Holiness required judgment.
The record says that Josiah’s son “Jehoahaz did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as his ancestors had done…” (2 Kings 23:32) As a result, God removed His hand of protection and King Jehoahaz was captured by Pharaoh Necho and dragged off in shackles as a prisoner, taking him to Egypt. Necho installed Eliakim, brother of Jehoahaz, as the new king in Jerusalem, but changed his name to Jehoiakim, humiliating him.
The record says “Jehoiakim reigned in Jerusalem 11 years, and he did evil in the eyes of the LORD just as his ancestors had done.” (2 Kings 23:36,37) Do you see a pattern of rebellion and wickedness here my friends? Do you see it’s the same pattern of what leadership was like in Jerusalem BEFORE King Josiah? It’s evidence of how deeply rooted the wicked rebellion against God was in the hearts of many of the Jewish Kings and a large portion of the population and that is why the judgment of God finally came upon Jerusalem and Judah, as He had promised.
We’ll look at that tomorrow my friends. It’s painful but it’s a very important reality and it calls us to take responsibility for ourselves and our generation! Do we understand that? And that’s why on this Thanksgiving Day it’s so important for us to thank God for His readiness and His willingness to FORGIVE and RESTORE us to relationship with Him. Here’s a worship song to help us wrestle with this important reality of God’s justice and His mercy!
Today’s Scripture: 2 Kings 23:25-37.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“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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