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Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
As we head into this first weekend of December, the Coronavirus is once again ‘out of control’ in some parts of the world and causing major disruptions to normal life. And the clamor for a vaccine rises from every corner of the world… we have 28 days remaining to finish this unprecedented year of 2020!
I’ve been leading us into God’s Word, specifically looking at past times of great national crisis and how leaders and people have responded. We’re seeking to learn lessons for navigating these unusual days. Today let’s continue looking at king Josiah in about the year 622bc, as he seeks to lead the people of Jerusalem in rebuilding their society which had been derailed by such poor leadership before him. As you look at your part of the world, where do leaders go when they need wise counsel? Do you see some significant society change is needed as we move into 2021?
Yesterday we saw that workers had discovered a Scroll of the Law of God as they repaired and cleaned the disregarded Temple of God in Jerusalem. King Josiah sought counsel regarding what the significance of the words in the Scroll were for him and his time in history. (2 Chronicles 34:19-28) Who are the leaders seeking counsel from, where you live?
The answer Josiah received was devastating and hopeful at the same time. Devastating because the promised judgment of God was coming soon, because generation after generation of God’s people had rejected Him. But the prophet Huldah’s answer was also hopeful because the devastation would not come until after Josiah’s lifetime was over. The reason for God’s delay was simple… Josiah had been a wise, humble, repentant leader, seeking to lead the people back to God, and cleanse the city and nation from the evil of the past. Do you see an important life principle here? You and I are living today in the shadow of those who preceded us… our family ancestors and our society leaders. But we also are casting a shadow for our children and grandchildren as we live our lives today. How is the shadow we cast different from that in which we were raised? Change is always possible with God’s help, do you agree?
Now let’s look to see what Josiah as leader did with that information: “The king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. He went up to the temple of the LORD with the priests and Levites – all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, [Deuteronomy?] which had been found in the Temple of the LORD. The king stood by his pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD – to follow the LORD…with all his heart and soul…and he had everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin pledge themselves to it…” (2 Chron. 34:29-32)
Do you see this defining moment of decision? Josiah decided to chart a new course, very different from the shadow into which he was born and thrust into leadership. His personal and leadership course would be true to God and God’s Word, exactly the opposite of his father and grandfather.
Are you a chain breaker like Josiah? Have you changed the integrity trajectory of your family heritage or your business or even your church or community?
Josiah then invited the people, beginning with other leaders, to follow him in this dramatic cultural change. Their decision of mind & heart moved them to action as they went to meet with God at the Temple and proclaim their allegiance to God and His Truth. It was a glorious event. But a public statement was not enough. Action not only words is what was required to change their society! Look at what followed, it is very significant.
2 Kings 23:4-20 is a detailed description of the purging of the city and land which followed. It is very similar to what Josiah’s great grandfather had done 80 years before as king Hezekiah led in a cleansing of the land reversing the horrible policies of his father king Ahaz. (2 Chronicles 29) Why, we might ask, did it need to be repeated so soon? Oh the truth my friends, is that it doesn’t take long for evil to overrun good when good is floundering. Or for darkness to sweep in when the light is flickering.
The sustaining of a God honoring legacy from generation to generation is very difficult, in every society in the world. Deuteronomy 6, Psalm 78; Psalm 145; Psalm 71 and Ephesians 6 all speak to this challenge. So as you look at your own family, back as far as you can in the past, and as far forward into the youngest and their spiritual values…what trends do you see? How can God use YOU to help your family see their moral and spiritual trends and make important decisions that will define their future?
Now… December, is a great time for realignment!
As you read 2 Kings 23:4-20 I’d like to point out two specific things. First the number of times a particular king, one of Josiah’s ancestors, is named along with the specific wicked act of leadership he had done in leading the people away from God. They had constructed idols and altars which still stood decades and even centuries later, as memorials to their failed leadership. Why? It takes great courage to address past failure doesn’t it? What will outlive us as a public testimony to our lives? Josiah was determined to remove it all, all the shameful relics of the past even though it was his own royal family heritage! Notice in vs. 10: “Josiah desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.”
As you may know Jerusalem is built on hills between two valleys… Ben Hinnom and Kidron. The former was a place where the city trash was burned, the latter separated Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane. You’ll remember Jesus often crossed the Kidron valley going to or from Jerusalem.
The sacrificing of their own children was the ultimate wicked act which people of the evil nations around Israel did when they had no further recourse in their desperation. It was detestable to God, and even more so when God’s people erected an altar near Jerusalem on which parents could sacrifice their own children! Can you imagine that my friends? For decades this altar stood in the shadow of the great Temple of God! Finally king Josiah was the leader courageous enough to destroy this place and outlaw such wickedness. Now before we shake our heads at such evil, we must ask this: ‘when will there be leaders of sufficient courage to outlaw and stop the horrendous slaughter of unborn children in abortion’? There is no difference between these two horrendous acts of indescribable parental violence to miraculous gifts of God… innocent children!!
The second thing I’d like you to notice, in Josiah’s sweeping cleansing of the land, is in vs. 15-18. You’ll recall Bethel was that special place where Jacob had twice met with God, (Gen. 28 & 35) and he set up a pillar as a sacred marker to remind any who would pass by that place, of his life changing God encounter. Sadly it was also the place, nearly 1000 years later, that king Jeroboam had erected an altar with a golden calf and he told the people of Israel to stop going to the Temple in Jerusalem to worship, but rather worship a man made idol at this sacred, historical place Bethel! 1 Kings 13:1-5 is the story of a prophet of God who confronted king Jeroboam at that altar, and foretold that one day a king named Josiah would come and cleanse this place, removing that detestable altar and idol!
There are about 300 years between kings Jeroboam and Josiah… think of that my friends, 3 centuries! Another proof God is Sovereign over all things, in all places, at all times, and through ALL time! I find it fascinating the people of Bethel still revered that long held promise from 3 centuries before, so when Josiah came that day and asked about the tomb he saw there, the people responded: “It marks the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and pronounced against the altar of Bethel the very things you have done to it here today.” (2 Kings 23:17)
So I have a question or two in closing for all of us:
3 centuries ago, did God see YOU and know the circumstances of our world into which you would be born?
Did God know all about your family heritage and every person & decision which would define your heritage long before any of your ancestors were born?
Equally important… can God see every detail of the future from this day till the day He creates a ‘new heaven and new earth’ as we see in Rev. 21?
Does God desire that you and your family are significant in shaping history at this time, wherever you live in the world, by being a God honoring people through whom He can bring God honoring change into our world?
Of course YES is the answer to all those questions… but is that YOUR answer, my friend?
Can you imagine being alive in the time of Josiah, and being part of this great revolution of change which swept the land? Could it happen in our day, where you live? Is God speaking to you about what He wants to do and how He’d like to involve you in bringing HOPE to our world?
I like giving you time for reflection with a song as we conclude our time together each day. Here’s a song based on Psalm 121 “I lift up my eyes, where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD Most High”.
I wonder as Josiah and the people destroyed the evil and cleaned up the mess all around them, did they often lift their eyes up to the Great Temple which was on the pinnacle of the highest point of the city? Did they say over and over, ‘thank you God for Your mercy…help us change our society’? This is my song today and I hope it’s yours too!
Here are some of the lyrics in this song…
“I lift my eyes, up to the hills, from where does my help come?
My help comes from the Maker of the heavens and the earth.
He will not let my foot be moved, He keeps my journey safe.
Oh my soul, praise the LORD Most High,
Strong to save, He upholds my life
Forever more, He will be my light…”
Click to read today’s chapter: 2 Kings 23:4-20. (At the top you can choose a different translation.)
NEW FEATURE: Click here to listen to a dramatized reading of 2 Kings 23.
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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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