Series: Biblical Cities- Jerusalem [#11]
JERUSALEM- A REPENTANT KING
Matthew 23:37
Introduction:
We are continuing in our Series about some of the most mentioned Cities in the Bible. Tonight, we are going to study the city that is 1st on the list- Jerusalem. Jerusalem is mentioned 811 times in the Bible. Currently, there are 3 different Religions that consider Jerusalem to be a holy site- Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.
Matthew 23:37
As we studied last week, once the Kingdom of Israel was divided, all of the Kings of Israel; and most of the Kings of Judah allowed the people and sometimes led the people in worshipping foreign gods. This angered God and led Him to allow their enemies to destroy them. Although most of the Kings did evil, there were a few Kings of Judah that led the people in the ways of the Lord- King Hezekiah was 1 of those good Kings.
This week, I want to notice the next few Kings of Judah that were after Hezekiah. After King Hezekiah, was his son Manasseh. King Manasseh began rebuilding all of the places to worship other gods and even placed the image of one of those gods in the Temple. God sent the Assyrians to deal with Manasseh and the people. The Assyrians placed a hook in Manasseh’s nose and took him to Babylon. Once he was there, Manasseh repented and plead with God; and God brought him back to Jerusalem. Manasseh began to remove those places of worship and removed the image of the foreign god from the Temple. He began worshipping God.
Once King Manasseh died, his son Amon became King. King Amon was evil and worshipped other gods. Unlike his father, he never repented and changed. King Amon was assassinated by some of his officials. Those officials were killed, and King Amon’s son Josiah was made King. Tonight, I want us to look at the life of King Josiah and see how his repentance as King changed the Nation, (not just Judah; but also, Israel). I want to break his life down by his age.
2 Chronicles 34:1-3a
Josiah began…
1. Seeking God at 16 years old.
Josiah became the King at age 8. Do not forget that his father was a very evil King, so he had not seen how to follow God. 8 years into his Kingship, (age 16) Josiah began to seek God. God can work in people’s lives even when they do not know Him. He will make Himself known to them.
2 Chronicles 34:3b
Josiah began…
2. Purging Jerusalem of all other gods at 20 years old.
Josiah did something that the Kings of Judah had not done since King David- He completely rid the land of foreign gods, places of worship for these foreign gods, and he never turned from the Lord. When he began purging the land of these foreign gods, it even reached into other Israelite Tribes. He left no sign of these foreign gods. We are to purge our lives of everything that is not of God.
2 Chronicles 34:8
Josiah began…
3. Repairing the Temple at 26 years old.
Josiah had the Temple repaired. There was a large amount of money given to the Temple and when they went to get the money, they found the Book of the Law. This was taken to Josiah and read to him and he mourned what he had heard because he knew that his Nation had sinned greatly against God and he heard the punishment for that.
He sent some men to consult with a Prophet and they went to the Prophet Huldah, (who was female). She said that God’s Word to them was that He would bring disaster upon Judah and Jerusalem; but not until after Josiah died. Josiah had all of the people come to the Temple and he read God’s Covenant to them. After that, all of the people pledged to follow God’s Covenant.
In 2 Chronicles 35, the Nation celebrated the Passover. The Passover had not been celebrated in many years and had never been celebrated like that. Later, Josiah went to battle against the Egyptians and he was warned by the Egyptian leader to walk away; but he would not. He was shot with 3 arrows and later that day died in Jerusalem.
Conclusion:
Jeremiah composed laments for King Josiah. We will see next week, that the remaining Kings of Judah were evil and the Nation was soon destroyed by the Babylonians.
