Josiah: The Last Good King Until Jesus!
(2 Chronicles 34:1-35:27)
1. A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the yard. The door of his wife's car and front door to the house were open and there was no sign of the dog.
Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over. In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing.
In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door.
He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened.
He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door.
He saw wet towels, scummy soap, and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls.
As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife reading in bed.
She looked up at him, asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked:
"What happened here today?'"
She again smiled and answered, "You know every day when you came home from work and you ask me what in the world I do all day?"
"Yes," was his incredulous reply.
She answered, ‘"Well, today I didn't do it." [godupdates.com, edited].
2. Things can get messy quickly. But it is worse when things are intentionally messed up.
3. Rather than continue in his father’s footsteps, Josiah, with help from Hilkiah the high priest, determined to do the right thing.
Main Idea: We are right to do the right thing, even if judgment is around the corner.
I. Josiah AGGRESSIVELY Led the Nation to Reformation Based Upon What He Had of God’s Word (34:1-13).
•
Yoshiyahu = Yahweh heals or supports; began reigning at the age of 8 with the high priest Hilkiah as his regent.
• Josiah was like King Hezekiah on steroids. Judah’s godliest king ever.
A. Josiah cleared out IDOLATRY in both in Judah and what was left of Northern Israel (1-7).
1. From age 8 to 16, he was compliant with his faith.
2. At age 16, his faith was his own; he began to seek the Lord, not just go along with things; he had genuine convictions, and genuine relationship, and acted.
3. This suggests he was born-again when he was 16.
4. When rearing children, we need to make the distinction between compliance, which we can control to some degree up to a point, and being genuinely drawn to God.
B. He restored the TEMPLE, much like his great-grandfather Hezekiah (8-13),
1. Priests and Levities
2. Musicians organized
3. He took help and included the northern Israelites who were left.
II. Hilkiah Discovered a Book of the TORAH Gone Missing, Probably Deuteronomy (34:14-28).
A. Josiah MOURNS the fact that he and the people had earned God’s wrath.
1. The fact that the Jews had not been obeying everything got to Josiah.
Read 34:18-21
2. He feared God’s wrath, because that was what Deuteronomy promised.
B. . Huldah the PROPHETESS brings a message that God’s wrath would be delayed because of Josiah’s humility and heart for God.
III. Josiah Organized the Greatest PASSOVER Since Samuel, Before David (35:1-23)
• This took place in his 18th year.
A. He prepared all three CLASSES of Temple worship leaders: priests, Levites, and musicians (1-15).
B. He incorporated the Jews from Northern ISRAEL, as had his great-grandfather (16-23)
Read verse 18
IV. Despite His Godliness, Josiah Was KILLED in Battle at the Age of About 39 (35:24-37).
A. God SPARED him from seeing the destruction of Jerusalem.
1. King Josiah was not perfect; he got involved in a battle in Syria with the King of Egypt, probably thinking it would be strategic for Judah; but he did not seek God’s counsel, and the Neco, the Egyptian King, was right to try to reason with him.
2. But God sometimes uses our bad choices to bring about a desired result; God wanted to save Josiah from seeing his nation destroyed, the Temple burned, and the people of Judah taken captive into the Babylonian empire.
B. Things had gone too far, and the seeming obedience of the people was too SHALLOW for God to withhold His wrath.
V. Josiah’s Life Offers Us INSIGHTS and Understanding.
A. Young people do not have to FALL AWAY for good or ever.
1. Josiah stayed true to the Lord, even though he had an ungodly father, Amon.
2. Josiah sought the Lord at 16, which would have been considered young adulthood.
3. And he stayed true to the Lord even after he reached maturity, Joash came to the throne at a similar age and had the high priest Jehoiada as a regent. But when Jehoida died, Joash went bad. Josiah was not like this. He had a personal walk with God that was real.
B. Young people can have a genuine HEART for God, even when judgment looms.
C. Godly older people have potential to influence the YOUNGER.
D. We cannot change the PAST, but we can change the present.
E. Reaching out and incorporating OTHERS into God’s family is an important skill.
• A lot of people want others to take initiative with them, but they do not want to initiate.
F. God’s wrath can be CUMULATIVE.
1. Why did God delay the genocide of the Canaanites for four hundred years?
Genesis 15:15-16, “’You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.’”
2. The God many Americans believe in is not the God of the Bible, for they think He forgives unconditionally; if there is a hell, they think, it might be for Hitler or Putin.
G. The choices made by those before us AFFECT us today and cannot always be undone.
H. Sometimes DEATH can be an act of God’s mercy.
I. We cannot REWRITE history, but we can bloom where we are planted.
