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Before his death, we see Josiah doing his best to eliminate the evil influences embedded in the culture of Judah over many years. There were approximately 290 years between the reign of King Solomon and King Josiah.
2 Kings 23:14-15 “And Josiah broke in pieces the images, and cut down the groves,
and filled their places with the bones of men. Moreover, the altar that was at
Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to
sin, had made, both that altar and the high place Josiah broke down, and burned
the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove.
2 Kings 23:16-17 “And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were
there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and
burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the Lord which
the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words. Then
Josiah said, What title is that that I see? And the men of the city told him,
It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed
these things that you have done against the altar of Bethel.
1 Kings 12:25-33 and 13:1-34. The story of King Jeroboam I of the northern kingdom and the Young and Old Prophet.
2 Kings 23:18-19 “And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So, they
let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria. And
all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria,
which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger, Josiah took
away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel.
We see Josiah travelled up to
Samaria which had been plummeted by Assyria, to continue his destruction of the
false gods that the Israelites had allowed to seep back into their culture
through disobedience.
2 Kings 23:20 “And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there
upon the altars, and burned men's bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem.”
We see Josiah as an iconoclast
trying to bring Judah back to full obedience to the book of the law, the
covenant. He slew the priests who were leading the people astray into false
worship and demonic practices. In a similar manner, Trump has been actively
dismantling the demonic aspect of government with his Executive Orders. Trying
in his way to bring America back to the faith and Christian culture of the
past.
2 Kings 23:21-23 “And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the Passover
unto the Lord your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant. Surely
there was not held 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; But
in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this Passover was held to
the Lord in Jerusalem.
2 Kings 23:24-25 Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and
the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land
of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words
of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the
house of the Lord. 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.
The fact that Trump almost
was assassinated twice, has given him a fear of the Lord and the knowledge that
he is only leading by God’s mercy. He has surrounded himself with what looks
like God-fearing people. He himself is acting more humble and Presidential in
his behaviour as a result.
2 Kings 23:26-27 “Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the
fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah,
because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal. And
the Lord said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have
removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and
the house of which I said, My name shall be there.”
Even though there was a great
repentance, a great revival under Josiah’s leadership, the sins of the nation
under their previous evil kings forced God to pronounce judgment upon Judah.
God especially mentions the sins of Manasseh who filled Jerusalem with innocent
blood in encouraging the sacrificing of the first-born child to the god of
Molech. God used the Babylonians, who did not have infanticide practices in
their culture, to come and punish and destroy Jerusalem and Judah for their
sins.
God must judge sin. When
David sinned in the sin of adultery and murder, even though David later
repented, God, in order to be a just God, had to judge David for his sin.
Nathan said to David, “Howbeit, because by this deed you have given great
occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child shall surely die,”
and the sword shall never depart from your house,” 2 Samuel 12:14&10.
And so it was.
So shall it be to America and
the Western nations who have known the word of God and rejected it and
disobeyed it. America seems to be passing through a period of repentance and
revival. However, like Judah and Jerusalem of old, America’s sins of the past
cannot be so easily forgiven and forgotten. America, confessing to be a
Christian nation, has been a terrible sample to the world.
America’s wars have killed
millions around the world. She has toppled governments which she did not
favour. She has sold her armaments of war worldwide so that the USA is the
greatest arms dealer in the world.
Her pharmaceutical industry
is another world trouble maker. The latest pandemic was a prime example of the
pharmaceutical industry using its power and might to force vaccination and
lock-downs upon the bewildered masses. Pesticides and other chemicals have
likewise polluted and damaged the land, our food, and our health, not just at
home, but around the world.
The list goes on and on of
how America, or American corporations, have used their economic muscle to force
the nations of the world into submission. It is all in the name of profit, or commerce, so that
the American corporations can continue to gain the financial dividends that
they seek.
God cannot forgive America
for her sins. She has been too bad of an example to the world, even as she
claimed to be a Christian nation. God would be unjust if He let her get a
go-free pass or get-out-of-jail card. God would have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah, if He let
America off the hook. The fact that America has heard the word of God makes it
worse. Judgment must begin with the house of God, because he that has heard the
word, and disobeys it, is more guilty than he that has not heard. If we “scarcely
be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?”1 Peter 4:18.
2 Kings 23:28-30 “Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are
they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? In his
days Pharaoh-Necho king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the
river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and the Pharaoh slew Josiah
at Megiddo, when he had seen him. And Josiah’s servants carried him in a
chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his
own sepulchre.”
So, Josiah died. Judah’s
great revival was short lived and quickly sputtered out on his death. Josiah,
the political iconoclast responsible the cultural revolution died and all
Jerusalem, along with Jeremiah mourned for Josiah.
2 Chronicles 35:25 “And
Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women
spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance
in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.”
Lamentations 3:22-23 "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Your faithfulness."
Apostle Paul tells us,
I Corinthian 10:11 “Now
all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our
admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”
Romans 15:4 “For
whatsoever things were written a foretime were written for our learning, that we
through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.”
The Bible histories are not just stories. They are true
events and are written to help us discern the signs of the times. They are
written that we might learn from history. The famous German philosopher George
Fedrick Hegel is quoting as saying something to the effect that, “The only
thing we learn from history is that we do not learn from history.”
The Bible histories are written as good and bad examples of what we
should and should not do as nations and as individuals. They are to help us have patience and derive comfort
from the lessons taught, and hope for the future no matter how dark the present
skies may be. May we learn to treasure God’s word, that we may find things old
and new to glean from its pages. It is indeed a lamp unto our feet, and a
light unto our path, that shines more and more until that perfect day.
We see King Josiah as an iconoclast, an idol smasher,
physically destroying the false idols and false items of religious worship of
his day. However, the Old Testament physical realities are parallels of the
spiritual realities that exist today.
Apostle Paul wrote,
2 Corinthians 10:4 “For
the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the
pulling down of strong holds.”
We are not pulling down physical groves or altars to Baal and Molech. We are pulling down spiritual icons and altars in the hearts and minds of men, their false belief systems that is contrary to the word of God, and have their origins in the demonic realm.
2 Corinthians 10:5 “Casting
down imaginations (or false belief systems that are contrary to God’s word),
and every high thing (thought, idea, or presupposition) that exalts itself
against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought (every
idea that enters our head) to the obedience of Christ.”
We find a similar thought in Apostle Paul’s letter to
the Colossians.
Colossians 2:6-8 “As
you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk you in Him: rooted
and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught,
abounding in thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and
vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and
not after Christ:”
The war that Josiah was warring physically against the
false gods and demonic influence of his day, we must wage on a spiritual plain
by bringing everything we think, say, and believe to be in line, in cinch, obedient
with the word of God.
Like God said to Joshua as he began his position as God’s
leader on Moses’ death.
Joshua 1:8 “This
book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate
therein day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is
written therein: for then shall you make your way prosperous, and then you
shall have good success.”
We must also learn to stand up for truth in light of the
darkness that surrounds us. Apostle Peter told us,
1 Peter 3:15a “But
sanctify the Lord God in your heart,” which means, put God first in your life.
Make Him the most important thing in your life, separate and above everything
else, whatever those other things may be. In other words, it means to love the
Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole body, with your whole
soul, and your whole mind, which is the first and greatest commandment.
Then Peter continues,
1 Peter 3:15b “and
be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the
hope that is in you with meekness and fear.”
We need to be ready to defend our faith, keeping a meek
and quiet spirit while we do.
Apostle Jude tells us, we “should earnestly contend for
the faith which was once delivered unto the saints,” Jude 3b. Earnestly
means, with sincere and intense conviction, seriously. We must be serious about
our job of defending the faith, of standing up for Jesus.
Jesus Himself assured us He would help us. “For I will
give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to
gainsay nor resist,” Luke 21:15.
Likewise, we find in Isaiah 54:17 the Lord
saying, “No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue
that shall rise against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage
of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me, says the Lord.”
Our inheritance as Jesus’ disciples is that He will give
us the power to defend our Christian belief system. We just need to open our mouths
and God will fill them with His word.
Dearly beloved, spend time in God’s word and take heed
unto it, as unto a light that shines in a dark place. Let it enlighten your
heart and mind, until the day dawn, and the day star (Jesus Christ) arises in
your heart.
By nourishing our hearts and minds in God’s word, we will arise, and shine, for the light of God will illuminate us, and the glory of the Lord will rise upon us. When it does, let your light so shine upon men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. "For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon you, and His glory shall be seen upon you," Isaiah 60:2. “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.” And remember, "By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love, one to another." [John 13:35] It's by our love for one another that we will convince others our faith is true. Amen!
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