Josiah

March 7, 2021

Randy Hageman

God shows us time and time again that there is no flaw too great that He can’t work in and through that person, if they are

to be used by Him.

Sometimes our ordinariness or our flaws are precisely what

chooses to use.

[Manasseh] did evil in the eyes of the LORD, following the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. —2 Kings 21:2 (NIV11)

Manasseh’s corrupt practices

the people of Judah to engage in these same practices forbidden by God.

… Manasseh led [the people] astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites. —2 Kings 21:9 (NIV11)

Into this dismal situation, after 55 years of the nation of Judah being led astray by Manasseh, and then two years by his son Amon, Josiah, only eight years old, became

in 639 B.C.

In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David. In his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles and idols. Under his direction the altars of the Baals were torn down; he cut to pieces the incense altars that were above them, and smashed the Asherah poles and the idols. These he broke to pieces and scattered over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. He burned the bones of the [pagan] priests on their altars, and so he purged Judah and Jerusalem. —2 Chronicles 34:3-5 (NIV11)

[Josiah] did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and followed completely the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left. —2 Kings 22:2 (NIV11)

Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, ‘I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the LORD.’ He gave it to Shaphan, who read it.… —2 Kings 22:8-11 (NIV11)

The phrase “Book of the Law” is a

term, because it could refer to as little as the Ten Commandments, and as much as the first five books of the Old Testament.

The main copy of the “Book of the Law” had been kept in the Temple, and sometime, probably early in Manasseh’s reign, that had been put away, to the point where decades later people had

that it existed.

This shows us how

it is for God’s Word to lose its impact in our lives.

Mark Twain was reported to have said: It is not the things which I do not understand in the Bible which trouble me, but the things which I do understand.

It’s easy for us to get distracted or busy or just plain apathetic about God’s Word and it slowly

from our grasp and is

Reveal Answer

by all kinds of teachings and stuff people believe is right in their own eyes.

The devil doesn’t have to get us to throw the Bible out – he just needs us to

, and sooner or later, as it did in Judah, it will get lost and forgotten.

Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, ‘Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.’ And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king. When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes. —2 Kings 22:10-11 (NIV11)

Tearing one’s

was an ancient Jewish tradition associated with mourning, grief, and loss.

‘Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the LORD’S anger that burns against us because those who have gone before us have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.’ —2 Kings 22:13 (NIV11)

Enough was read to Josiah for him to recognize that the Jewish people had

far from being obedient to God.

There are a lot of things in life for which

is no excuse, for which it doesn’t protect us, and Josiah clearly believed that applied to living according to God’s ways.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. —2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV11)

In Josiah’s situation, “Scripture” served to do

these things (listed in 2 Timothy 3:16-17), which explains his radical actions.

Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. He went up to the temple of the LORD with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the LORD. The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD—to follow the LORD and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant. —2 Kings 23:1-3 (NIV11)

King Josiah himself

out loud “all the words of the Book of the Covenant” or Law to the people.

If we aren’t taking God and His Word seriously, and we haven’t been investing in His Word, maybe we ought to be as

as Josiah, who tore his robes.

We also have a responsibility to

to those around us who don’t know God’s Word, who’ve never heard it or, over time, let it slip away.

Then Jesus came to [the disciples] and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’” —Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV11)

When Josiah learned what God said, he didn’t bemoan what he had

done but got right to doing what he

Reveal Answer

do.

No matter where we’ve been or what we’ve done, God always gives us a

going forward, and He will work with us every step of the way.

All of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, points to

.

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] explained to [the two disciples] what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. —Luke 24:27 (NIV11)

Next Week: New Series – Lonely Places