Josiah’s Legacy
Josiah, Part 2
By Pastor Matt Black
2
January 2008
Midweek Prayer Meeting
2 Chronicles 34:1-27
Where to read Josiah's story: 2 Kings 22:1 - 23:30; 2 Chronicles 34:1 - 35:27
Scripture and Theme: Open your Bibles again to the book of 2 Chronicles 34 this evening. We are going to look at “Josiah’s Legacy”.
I want to give you the outline so that you can follow me tonight.
I. At the age of 16, we see Josiah’s Repentance (conversion).
II. From age 20-26, we see Josiah’s Revival.
III. Josiah’s Repair of the Temple.
IV. Josiah’s Recovery of the Book of the Law, the Bible.
V. Then we will see Josiah’s Response to God’s Word.
VI. Finally we will see Josiah’s Remembrance or legacy.
We are looking at the life of Josiah tonight. His name in the Hebrew sums it up, “The Fire of the Lord”. And what we see in the short life of Josiah who lived only 39 years was this man was a FIRE for the Lord, and burning and a shining light for God. What a Legacy he had for God!!
We learned last time we spoke of the life of Josiah, that he was a man of personal revival. He had nothing really going for him as far as following God. His father was Manasseh. That’s like saying in Chicago that his father was Al Capone. He was the son of a notorious evil man.
Now look 2 Chronicles 34, and verse 1, “Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. 2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left.”
I. At the age of 16, we see Josiah’s Repentance (conversion). Verse 3, “For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father”…Write next to this verse repentance, or conversion at age 16. The verse goes on, “…and in the twelfth year [that’s age 20] he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.”
II. So you see that at age 16 Josiah was converted, but at the age of 20, we see Josiah’s Revival. By the time he was 20 (in his twelfth year as king) there was a great fruit of repentance in his life. At age 20, Josiah has grown so much in his walk with the Lord, that he is angered at the idolatry in his country. He goes on a personal mission to cleanse the land of idols.
Where there is repentance, there is always revival. JI Packer says: “Revival is the visitation of God which brings to life Christians who have been sleeping and restores a deep sense of God's near presence and holiness.”
Where ever someone has truly met with God, there is a re-conformity to the God of the Bible. Now Josiah had no Bible at this time, but he had the Spirit of God living in his heart. He had been converted now for four years, and he sees a great need to turn the nation away from idolatry. He is awakened from sleep, and he goes throughout the land now, yelling “Wake Up!!!!!!!!!” And he does it in spectacular and dramatic fashion.
So, we read in verse 4, “And they…” that is the people of Israel, “brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence;” So here is the very king of Israel taking personal responsibility for the idolatry in the land. He doesn’t delegate it. He’s there, and they are braking down the altars of Baal “in his presence”. And not only that verse 4 goes on to say that Josiah picks up the ax and starts hacking away at the large Asherah images carved into the trees. You can just see Josiah angry at the idolatry. He didn’t have to lift a finger. He was the king. Yet he must have part in tearing down the idols. So it says in verse 4, “and the images, that were on high above them, he [that is, King Josiah personally] cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them. 5 And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.” And verse 6 tells us that this scene took place in many cities. City after city, Josiah oversaw the overthrow of these idols. Verse 6, “And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about. 7 And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.”
So Josiah cleaned out the countryside! The Kings of Israel, beginning with Solomon had thought that God was not exciting enough. I want to show you this. In 2 Kings 23:13, the Bible specifically names King Solomon as one who began the idolatry of Ashteroth worship. Look there, “And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile. 14 And he [JOSIAH] brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men”.
A true reformer, one who is to re-form or revive a church to the original intention of God, must be willing to stick by the Word of God alone. No man, not even King Solomon, had everything right. And we need to have the discernment and commitment to the Word of God to say so. We do not stand on the words and reputation of men, but on the Word of God which “liveth and abideth forever”.
So Josiah cleaned house in Judah. Not only did he purge the countryside, but he also got rid of all the idols from the Temple. And it was bad. If you are still in 2 Kings, look back a few verses to 2 Kings 23:6-7. Turn over there. We find that there were sodomite brothels set up right next to the Temple in Jerusalem. There were idols galore in the Temple. And Josiah tore all of this down with a vengeance. “And he [Josiah] brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people. 7 And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove”. So right next to the Temple was this sodomite brothel and in the back the women would make ornate tapestries to hang by the Ashteroth poles. And all the people believed that worshipping Baal and Ashteroth would make them fruitful and prosperous.
So Josiah burns down these wooden idols and stamps their ashes to powder He breaks down their brothels and houses of prostitution that we set up by the Temple.
For six years Josiah is busy purging the countryside and the Temple.
Remember:
Ø Josiah becomes king at 8,
Ø converted at age 16,
Ø starts purging the land at age 20,
Ø now he is 26 years old.
Turn back to 2 Chronicles 34:8. Something significant occurs when Josiah is 26 years old.
III. Josiah’s Repair of the Temple.
After six years of going through all the cities of Judah, the land is finally purged of the idols, and we read in verse 8, “Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God”. Ok, it’s time to fix up the Temple in Jerusalem.
It is during this repair that we come to…
IV. Josiah’s Recovery of the Book of the Law, the Bible.
Look at verse 14, “And when they brought out the [TEMPLE REPAIR] money that was brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the LORD given by Moses. 15 And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.”
The tradition is that it was taken out of the Arc of the Covenant and buried beneath a heap of stones in the Temple when Ahaz was seeking out copies of the Word to destroy them. But by the providence of God, this one copy had been preserved, and was now found!
God preserves His Word!
Can you imagine that no one had a copy of the Word of God? No one in Judah or Israel! The God of Israel had given rules for the preservation of the Scriptures, but they had evidently fallen into, disuse.
A. Kings were to write out a copy of the Law for themselves. It is expressly laid down in the Book of Deuteronomy that each king was to copy out the Book of the Law for himself. We have no evidence that even one of them obeyed this command. Look over at Deuteronomy 17:18-19, “And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them.”
We have no evidence that even one of the kings of Israel, including David, obeyed this command! In fact, most of the ordinances of the Lord were cast aside almost as soon as they were given.
In fact, the Passover, the most important of all the Old Testament ceremonies, had never been observed correctly from the days of Samuel all the way to the days of Josiah. Look at 2 Kings 23:22, “Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah”.
There was a famine in the land during Josiah’s day! People were neglecting God’s Word.
B. A Famine of God’s Word Predicted.
A hundred years before, during the life time of Isaiah, the Prophet Amos predicted this very thing would happen. Look at Amos 8:11. Amos cries out of this very day in Josiah’s kingdom when no one would have a copy of God’s Word. Look at Amos 8:11, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD”.
Today even though copies of the Bible are in number comparable to the sands of the sea, there is a famine in our land. We don’t lack for food, or water. We don’t lack for cars or houses. Even the poorest of people in our land have personal computers and cell phones!! We do not even lack for copies of the Word of God, but we lack as Amos said “of hearing the words of the LORD”.
God has preserved this Bible. Nations have had inquisitions and burned this Book and the people of the Book. But the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. And the more people have burned this Book, the more it’s copies have multiplied!
Application: But what is SO DANGEROUS for this Book is to neglect the reading of it. I want to give you some advice for this New Year. Look into this Book, Love this book and Live this book!
The Bible will do you no good if you don’t read it. But if you do read it, it has wonderful results. And it had amazing results in the life of Josiah. Look back at 2 Chronicles 34:18…
V. And now we see Josiah’s Response. The king finds out about the book of the law. Look again at verse 18, “Then Shaphan the scribe [THE KING’S SECREATARY] told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.”
So Shaphan the King’s secretary is reads the entire five books of Moses to Josiah!
And what was King Josiah’s response to God’s Word? Verse 19, “And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes.”
A. The Bible rends our hearts. We see this by Josiah’s response.
When Josiah heard the words of the Book of the Law, he rent his clothes.
The rending of the clothes is an outward picture of the rending of the heart. Josiah as the Word is read to him experiences deep spiritual anguish.
Keep in mind this is a twenty-six year old “young man”. Most twenty-six year olds today are still wet behind the ears and have barely come to a sound point of maturity. They are out partying. On the other hand, Josiah enters into an act of deep anguish and humility, lamenting the sins of Judah before God.
The Word of God is of no use to you if it does not pierce you. You know that you are saved and serving God when God’s Word has this kind of effect on you, piercing your heart—“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). Is your heart rent and torn by the Bible? For that to happen you must READ it!!
B. The Bible has no value unless it is read. This great response from Josiah came because He read the Book of the Law! When King Josiah read it, he tore his clothes. Reading the Bible leads to the rending of the heart. Romans 10:17, “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God”. Faith is confidence in God’s Word—it is that tenderizing of heart!!
C. It is not enough to simply own a Bible. Some people think that it is pleasing to God to own a Bible. As if paper and ink will protect people. There are some in this world who are superstitious, and they think having a Bible on the coffee table will keep evil away. All that is nothing more than superstition. God gave us a Bible so that we would read it!
We need to read the Bible, because it is the only tool that will tell you the true state of your soul. You see the heart deceives. Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
Our hearts always tells us that we are better off than we are. The heart is an excuse making factory. The Word of God shuts the excuses down and shows us all the blemishes in our life. Its standard is perfection, and so it is painful to read.
The goal of the Word of God is to rend the heart and to humble us before God. At times it is miserable to read the Word of God, but it always leads to your good and God’s glory.
Transition: Now you may not only own a Bible, but you may read it too. But even that is not enough. You must be converted in order to understand the Bible. How many of you from Christian homes can testify that with all your learning, the Bible had no real power in your life until you were born again?
D. So you must be acquainted with the God of the Bible. You must know Him. Job 22:21, “Acquaint now thyself with him [GOD], and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee”.
C H Spurgeon said, “It is of no avail to be, acquainted with the Scriptures if you are not acquainted with God.”
If you are aquainted with God and with His word, it will make you happy and holy! Sanctified and satisfied!
What is your commitment to the Word of God?
1. Only this Book will keep you sanctified and separate from sin, Psalm 119:11, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” God’s word will keep you sanctified, and…
2. Only this Book will keep you satisfied, Psalm 119:103, “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” David says in Psalm 19:10, “More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.”
Are you holy? Is your conscience pure tonight? Are you cutting down the groves of idolatry in your life? Is your heart clean and pure?
Psalm 24:3-4, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall receive the blessing from the LORD”.
Are you happy and holy in God? That will give you a legacy that will never die.
We read of this both old and new Testaments.
Daniel tells us in Daniel 12:2, “many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament;”
1 John 2:17, “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”
VI. So let’s finally look at Josiah’s Remembrance, or legacy. We find that God’s Word is clear. When Josiah hears the words of the book of the Law of Moses, he finds all the curses that God gives to those who do not keep His word. Look back at 2 Chronicles 34:21. Josiah says “Go, enquire of the LORD for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do after all that is written in this book.”
The prophetess Huldah says that after Josiah dies, Judah will be obliterated, just like the ten northern tribes. But she gives some amazing words to King Josiah in verse 27. Look at what she says, “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, saith the LORD. 28 Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again.”
Conclusion: Josiah was an amazing man and an amazing king. His success had nothing to do with his family. His father was a wicked man. His success had nothing to do with his experience—he had no time for experience, becoming king at age 8, and dying young at age 39. His success came from heeding the Word of God. 2 Kings 23:25 says it all. “And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.”
How about you? What is your legacy to your children, to those around you? If you died tomorrow, what would your legacy?