Judah's Revival Under Josiah

Title: Judah’s Revival under Josiah

Text: 2 Chronicles 34:1-7, 8, 14-21, 23-28

Date: 7/19/2009

Location: Sulphur Spring Baptist Church

Introduction: During the month of July we have been having a series of Revival services on Wednesday nights. I hope you are enjoying these services as much as I am, and I also hope that they are having just as much of an impact on you as they are on me. This past Wednesday night, Alan Witham reminded us that God can and will use a variety of things to “Bring us Back into a right relationship with Him.” Unfortunately many times the things God uses are the mistakes we make, or the difficulties we are experiencing in life.

But God is not limited to using problems or difficulties to get our attention and bring us back to our senses. Sometimes God chooses to speak through other people. He may use your spouse, a close friend, your boss at work, or maybe even a child, to help you to realize that you need to repent of your sins and plead with God for forgiveness.

This was the case in the passage of Scripture I want us to read together this morning. It comes from 2 Chronicles 34:1-7

Okay I want to stop for just a moment and make a couple of quick observations, and then I want to give you some important background information to this passage of Scripture.

(1) First of all, according to the first verse Josiah was only 8 years old when He became King of Judah.

Now I don’t know about you but I’ve never met an 8 year old that I thought was ready to be the President of the United States, and in reality Josiah wasn’t ready to make all of the decisions that a King has to make either. Fortunately for Judah Josiah had some very good men who advised him and helped him make good decisions.

You should never underestimate the importance of surrounding yourself with good friends and people you can trust.

In particular Josiah had two men who we believe were very instrumental in shaping him and the decisions he made during the first few years of his reign. Their names were Shaphan, who was a Levite and the Governor of the city, and Hilkiah, who served as the High Priest at that particular time.

Both men were Highly respected men and leaders in their own right. I believe they made it their mission to help Josiah realize His potential and His purpose in life, and from all indications they succeeded in that task. Listen to the tribute the writer of 2 Kings 23:25 pays to King Josiah. He said, “Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did- with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.”

Remember that phrase “In accordance with all the law of Moses” because that will be important later on.

So Josiah was 8 years Old when He became King, and according to verse 2 of our text he “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”

Now you would think from that verse that Josiah must have had very godly parents who taught him to love and fear the Lord from a very early age, and perhaps his mother was. But we know for a fact that His Father Amon was one of the most evil Kings that Judah ever had.

Which brings me to the question, of why an 8 year old boy is made King in the first place. According to 2 Chronicles 33, Josiah’s father Amon became King when He was 22 years old. But only 2 years later some of Amon’s own men conspired to overthrow the King and take control of the government. They assassinated the King but before they could seize power, they were captured and brought to Justice. That’s when Josiah was made King.

Now I know I mentioned earlier I had never met an 8 year Old who was ready to be president, and that I doubt very seriously that Josiah was ready to be King either. But having said that, perhaps Josiah wasn’t your normal 8 year old.

Look again at what verse 2 says, “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in the ways of his father David not turning aside to the right or to the left.”

I find that particular verse very interesting. Notice 3 things very quickly about this verse.

(1) He did what was right "in the sight of the Lord".

Not in the sight of man but in the sight of God. He didn’t take a public opinion pole or take a survey before He made a decision. He did what was right in God’s eyes. He didn’t care how people were going to react to his decisions. He was much more concerned about what God thought.