Covenant Renewed (2 Chronicles 34)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:04.799 Well beloved. Let's turn our attention to second chronicles, Chapter Thirty Four. 2 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:22.500 Second Chronicles thirty four the first of two parts about king Josiah's reign. Let's 3 00:00:22.500 --> 00:00:29.140 give our attention to the reading of God's word. Josiah was eight years old 4 00:00:29.179 --> 00:00:33.859 when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty one years in Jerusalem, 5 00:00:35.219 --> 00:00:39.450 and he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in 6 00:00:39.490 --> 00:00:43.009 the ways of David, his father, and he did not turn aside to 7 00:00:43.090 --> 00:00:46.850 the right hand or to the left. For in the eighth year of his 8 00:00:46.969 --> 00:00:51.320 reign, while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God 9 00:00:51.479 --> 00:00:55.520 of David, his father. And in the twelfth year he began to purge 10 00:00:55.560 --> 00:01:00.159 Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherine and the carved and the 11 00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:04.670 metal images. And they chopped down the altars of the bales in his presence, 12 00:01:06.269 --> 00:01:10.349 and he cut down the incensalters that stood above them, and he broke 13 00:01:10.469 --> 00:01:14.989 in pieces the Asherine and the carved and the metal images, and he made 14 00:01:15.030 --> 00:01:19.659 dust of them and scattered it over the graves of those who had sacrificed to 15 00:01:19.780 --> 00:01:23.980 them. He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars and cleansed 16 00:01:25.140 --> 00:01:30.019 Judah and Jerusalem and in the cities of Manassa, ephrium and Simeon and as 17 00:01:30.099 --> 00:01:34.890 far as Naphtali, in their ruins all around. He broke down the altars 18 00:01:36.010 --> 00:01:40.969 and beat the Ashrem and the images into powder and cut down all the incense 19 00:01:41.049 --> 00:01:47.599 alters throughout all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem, now 20 00:01:47.640 --> 00:01:49.439 in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had cleansed the land and 21 00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:55.599 the house, he sent to Shafon, the son of Ozli Az Azaliyah, 22 00:01:56.200 --> 00:02:00.040 and Maassiah, the governor of the city, and Joah, the son of 23 00:02:00.040 --> 00:02:02.790 Jehoahz, the recorder, to repair the House of the Lord his God. 24 00:02:04.790 --> 00:02:07.629 They came to Hilchia, the high priest, and gave him the money that 25 00:02:07.750 --> 00:02:12.990 had been brought into the House of God, which the Levites, the keepers 26 00:02:13.030 --> 00:02:16.300 of the threshold, had collected from Manassei, at Manassa and Ephrium and from 27 00:02:16.340 --> 00:02:21.580 all the remnants of Israel and from all Judah and Benjamin and from the inhabitants 28 00:02:21.580 --> 00:02:24.180 of Jerusalem, and they gave it to the workmen who were working in the 29 00:02:24.259 --> 00:02:28.699 House of the Lord and the workmen who are working in the House of the 30 00:02:28.860 --> 00:02:31.810 Lord, gave it for repairing and restoring the house. They gave it to 31 00:02:31.889 --> 00:02:38.569 the carpenters and the builders to buy quarried stone and timber for binders and beams 32 00:02:38.650 --> 00:02:42.169 for the buildings that the kings of Judah had let go to ruin, and 33 00:02:43.090 --> 00:02:47.560 the men did the work faithfully. Over them were sent were set Jehaf and 34 00:02:47.719 --> 00:02:57.840 Obadiah and the Levites of the sons of Marai and Zechariah and Mashulam, the 35 00:02:57.960 --> 00:03:01.710 sons of the Koothites, to have oversight the Levites. All who were skillful 36 00:03:01.789 --> 00:03:06.830 with instruments of music were over the board and bearers and directed all who did 37 00:03:06.870 --> 00:03:09.750 work in every kind of service, and some of the Levites were scribes and 38 00:03:09.830 --> 00:03:15.460 officials and gate keepers. While they were bringing the money or while they were 39 00:03:15.539 --> 00:03:17.900 bringing out the money that had been brought into the House of the Lord, 40 00:03:19.300 --> 00:03:23.219 Hilkia, the priest, found the book of the Law of the Lord Given 41 00:03:23.300 --> 00:03:28.810 through Moses. Then Hilkia answered and said to Schaffon, the secretary, I 42 00:03:28.969 --> 00:03:31.129 have found the book of the law in the House of the Lord, and 43 00:03:31.250 --> 00:03:38.810 Hilkia gave the book to Chiffon and Chiffon brought the book to the King and 44 00:03:38.050 --> 00:03:42.960 further reported to the king all that was committed to your servants. They are 45 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:46.400 doing they have emptied out the money that was found in the house of the 46 00:03:46.520 --> 00:03:50.080 Lord and have given it to the hand of the overseers and the workmen. 47 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:54.639 Then Chiffon, the secretary, told the King Hilkiah, the priest, has 48 00:03:54.680 --> 00:04:00.229 given me a book, and Chiffon read from it before the king. And 49 00:04:00.349 --> 00:04:05.349 when the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes and 50 00:04:05.469 --> 00:04:12.539 the king commanded Hilkia Ah Ahikam, the son of Chaffan Abad and the son 51 00:04:12.620 --> 00:04:17.699 of Mik Mikah, Chaffan, the secretary, and Asi Asaiah, the King's 52 00:04:17.740 --> 00:04:23.660 servants, saying go inquire of the Lord for me and for those who are 53 00:04:23.699 --> 00:04:27.689 left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that has 54 00:04:27.730 --> 00:04:30.889 been found, for great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out 55 00:04:31.009 --> 00:04:35.370 on us because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord to do 56 00:04:35.610 --> 00:04:42.319 according to all that is written in this book. So I'Lkia and those whom 57 00:04:42.360 --> 00:04:46.160 the king had sent went to who hold up the prophetess, the wife of 58 00:04:46.279 --> 00:04:51.160 Shalomn, the son of Tokelf, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the 59 00:04:51.240 --> 00:04:56.910 Wardrobe. Now she lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter, and spoke to 60 00:04:57.029 --> 00:05:00.829 her to that effect, and she said to them, thus says the Lord, 61 00:05:01.029 --> 00:05:04.470 the God of Israel, tell the man who you sent to me. 62 00:05:05.189 --> 00:05:11.459 Thus says the Lord Behold, I will bring disaster upon this place and upon 63 00:05:11.540 --> 00:05:15.300 its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the book that was read 64 00:05:15.420 --> 00:05:18.819 before the King of Judah, because they have forsaken me and if made offerings 65 00:05:18.860 --> 00:05:23.850 to other gods that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of 66 00:05:23.930 --> 00:05:28.170 their hands. Therefore, my wrath will be poured out on this place and 67 00:05:28.329 --> 00:05:31.449 will not be quenched, but to the king of Judah, who you sent 68 00:05:31.730 --> 00:05:35.720 to inquire of the Lord, thus you say to him, thus says the 69 00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:41.079 Lord, the God of Israel, regarding the words that you have heard, 70 00:05:41.680 --> 00:05:46.120 because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his 71 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:50.350 words against this place and its inhabitants, and you have humbled yourself before me 72 00:05:50.829 --> 00:05:55.709 and have torn your clothes and wept before me. I also have heard you, 73 00:05:56.310 --> 00:06:00.149 declares the Lord Behold. I will gather you to your I will gather 74 00:06:00.230 --> 00:06:03.980 you to your father's and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, 75 00:06:04.019 --> 00:06:08.819 and your eye shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this 76 00:06:08.980 --> 00:06:14.540 place and its inhabitants. And they brought back word to the king. Then 77 00:06:14.579 --> 00:06:18.329 the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem, and 78 00:06:18.449 --> 00:06:21.529 the king went up to the House of the Lord with all of the men 79 00:06:21.610 --> 00:06:26.810 of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the Levites, all 80 00:06:26.850 --> 00:06:30.490 the people, both great and small, and he read in their hearing all 81 00:06:30.569 --> 00:06:32.920 the book, words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in 82 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:36.680 the house of the Lord, and the king stood in his place and made 83 00:06:36.680 --> 00:06:42.360 a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments 84 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:46.629 and his testimonies in his statutes with all his heart and all his soul to 85 00:06:46.750 --> 00:06:51.430 perform the words of the Covenant that were written in this book. Then he 86 00:06:51.550 --> 00:06:56.829 made all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin join in it, and 87 00:06:56.949 --> 00:07:00.459 the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the Covenant of God, the God of 88 00:07:00.500 --> 00:07:05.220 their fathers, and Josiah took away all the abominations from all the territory that 89 00:07:05.300 --> 00:07:10.300 belonged to the people of Israel and made all who were present in Israel serve 90 00:07:10.379 --> 00:07:14.939 their God all his days. They did not turn away from following the Lord, 91 00:07:15.500 --> 00:07:19.490 the God of their fathers, since the reading of God's word, and 92 00:07:19.689 --> 00:07:32.360 he bless it to us. This is the story of a reset, the 93 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:40.839 story of what we might call Covenant Renewal. You might imagine a husband and 94 00:07:40.920 --> 00:07:46.230 wife, for example, that get married, they establish their covenant with one 95 00:07:46.269 --> 00:07:50.230 another, they make their promises, but over of a period of time, 96 00:07:50.509 --> 00:07:56.470 for various reasons, they fall apart from one another and, sadly, they 97 00:07:57.230 --> 00:08:03.139 perhaps break the terms of their covenant. They struggle against one another, they 98 00:08:03.620 --> 00:08:09.860 fight with one another, maybe there's even an infidelity of some kind. But 99 00:08:09.019 --> 00:08:15.370 then, one day, sorting through old papers, they find the vows that 100 00:08:15.490 --> 00:08:20.170 they once made, the promises that they may do each other, and they 101 00:08:20.250 --> 00:08:24.329 read them and they look through them and they say, they decide we need 102 00:08:24.449 --> 00:08:28.720 to start again, not to be remarried in a way, but because they're 103 00:08:28.720 --> 00:08:33.240 already married, but to renew the Covenant that they've made, to say their 104 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:37.519 vows again. Perhaps, maybe you've even known people who have done this, 105 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:45.669 who've renewed their wedding vows. Something like that is going on here in Judah. 106 00:08:46.029 --> 00:08:54.830 Good King Josiah has a heart for the Lord, even from a very 107 00:08:54.990 --> 00:09:00.259 young age. Children, this should be a great encouragement to you to know 108 00:09:00.500 --> 00:09:05.620 that this boy, when he was only eight years old. Some of you 109 00:09:05.740 --> 00:09:09.250 are children that are older than eight, when he was only eight years old 110 00:09:09.570 --> 00:09:16.009 he began to reign. Now, no doubt he had difficulty being king over 111 00:09:16.049 --> 00:09:22.169 over all of this country and no doubt God provided him with advisors and servants 112 00:09:22.210 --> 00:09:26.559 who helped him. But the point that God makes here in his word is 113 00:09:26.679 --> 00:09:33.519 that this king, who was a boy, was benefited and Strang benefited and 114 00:09:33.720 --> 00:09:39.309 did well, not because of all of his great advisors, but because God 115 00:09:39.509 --> 00:09:43.950 had done something in his heart. God had moved in his heart to make 116 00:09:45.110 --> 00:09:50.950 Josiah a boy who loved the Lord. This little boy we read in verse 117 00:09:52.269 --> 00:09:56.139 two, did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He walked 118 00:09:56.220 --> 00:10:01.299 in the ways of David, his father, and he did not turn aside 119 00:10:01.340 --> 00:10:07.019 to the right hand or to the left. This expression of turning to the 120 00:10:07.100 --> 00:10:11.490 right hand or towards the left has is the image of staying straight right, 121 00:10:11.529 --> 00:10:13.769 if you were to walk down this aisle right here in the middle of the 122 00:10:16.210 --> 00:10:18.690 middle of our hall here. If you were to turn to the right, 123 00:10:18.730 --> 00:10:20.840 you'd end up in chairs right, if you turn to the left, you'd 124 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:24.519 end up bumping into chairs. But if you stay straight, you move, 125 00:10:26.039 --> 00:10:33.960 you move without obstacles. This is what Josiah did. He stayed on, 126 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:37.950 as we say, the straight and narrow. He didn't wander off right or 127 00:10:37.990 --> 00:10:43.990 left, but stayed true to God's words in Josiah. Here we come to 128 00:10:43.070 --> 00:10:50.500 understand what the Lord Values as faithfulness. This is very helpful because there are 129 00:10:50.500 --> 00:10:54.980 times in our lives where we wonder what it is God wants of us. 130 00:10:54.740 --> 00:11:00.220 We think about this, and this is important. Paul says in Romans that 131 00:11:00.299 --> 00:11:03.690 should we should strive to determine what it is, what is the will of 132 00:11:03.850 --> 00:11:09.490 God. Well, here we are told, we're given an example of what 133 00:11:09.889 --> 00:11:15.690 faithfulness looks like, and Amazingly we get it in this in this young boy. 134 00:11:16.450 --> 00:11:26.440 What is faithfulness in the Lord's eyes? Faithfulness is seeing things according to 135 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:31.200 God's vision of the world and not his own. He did what was right 136 00:11:31.320 --> 00:11:35.230 in the eyes of the Lord. He saw things as God saw them, 137 00:11:35.389 --> 00:11:39.110 not according to his own desires, his own wishes or the way that the 138 00:11:39.269 --> 00:11:45.429 world presented them, but it wasn't just correct vision, there was action attached 139 00:11:45.509 --> 00:11:50.259 to it. Faithfulness to the Lord is not just seeing things according to the 140 00:11:50.419 --> 00:11:56.220 God's perspective, but it's acting accordingly. He not only saw things this way, 141 00:11:56.340 --> 00:11:58.700 but he walked in that way. He did what was right in the 142 00:11:58.740 --> 00:12:03.090 eyes of the Lord. He walked in the ways of his father. What 143 00:12:03.210 --> 00:12:09.450 did that look like for Josiah? For Josiah that looked like a several different 144 00:12:09.529 --> 00:12:13.570 things. The first thing we see is that he puts away idolatry, all 145 00:12:13.690 --> 00:12:20.440 of the the the idolatry that had built up in his land over the years, 146 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:28.240 the worshiping of false gods, the false worship practices. Josiah decided to 147 00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:33.990 put it all away and symphasized really strongly there multiple times. We have repeated 148 00:12:33.070 --> 00:12:37.190 that. He broke things down in pieces, that he crushed them up into 149 00:12:37.309 --> 00:12:41.509 powder, and then he did it all over the place. He wasn't selective 150 00:12:41.549 --> 00:12:48.139 about this. Sometimes it's easy to do the right thing when it's easy, 151 00:12:48.740 --> 00:12:54.820 instead of doing it extensively and in every place, Josiah is thorough. Why? 152 00:12:56.460 --> 00:12:58.529 Because his heart is for the Lord. He cares about the Lord. 153 00:12:58.809 --> 00:13:07.450 He doesn't want to see in his country and his house, people worshiping those 154 00:13:07.809 --> 00:13:13.159 that are false gods. Well, he not only puts away idolatry and serves 155 00:13:13.240 --> 00:13:18.960 God alone, but he also puts effort into establishing true worship. We read 156 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:24.679 that he invests in the temple, in the House of the Lord. He 157 00:13:24.919 --> 00:13:28.990 makes sure that the donations that are given for the upkeep of the temple go 158 00:13:28.350 --> 00:13:35.629 there. There's order, there's leadership as the temple is is repaired and and 159 00:13:35.870 --> 00:13:43.059 built, especially after the days of unfaithfulness of Manassa and am and. Well, 160 00:13:43.139 --> 00:13:48.379 now he goes about the work of the temple and there are carpenters and 161 00:13:48.419 --> 00:13:54.259 there are workers, there's that's a busy place. And what happens? God 162 00:13:54.539 --> 00:14:01.610 blesses him with something very wonderful. Somehow, as they're in the middle of 163 00:14:01.610 --> 00:14:07.330 all their work, they see a book, or rather a scroll, better 164 00:14:07.450 --> 00:14:11.480 translated. Most likely, they see a scroll and they open it up and 165 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:18.320 they realize that this is the very word of God that God had given Moses 166 00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:26.710 those many, many years ago. This could have been all five books of 167 00:14:26.870 --> 00:14:31.590 the Old Testament, the first five books of the Bible, sometimes called the 168 00:14:31.629 --> 00:14:39.259 Pentituke it. It more likely was deuteronomy itself. This is a book that 169 00:14:39.419 --> 00:14:41.899 is often referred to as the book of the law. It is the actual 170 00:14:43.139 --> 00:14:48.500 covenant that God made with his people. Josiah reads this. He he gains 171 00:14:48.899 --> 00:14:52.929 the word of the Lord and he hears it eagerly. There's kind of an 172 00:14:54.009 --> 00:14:58.529 excitement that's going on as he hears the words, but as it has read 173 00:14:58.649 --> 00:15:05.690 to him, the excitement and the joy of having found it goes away. 174 00:15:05.690 --> 00:15:11.440 Why? We read in Verse Nineteen that when the King heard the words of 175 00:15:11.559 --> 00:15:20.320 the law, he tore his clothes. Why? Why did he tear his 176 00:15:20.629 --> 00:15:26.750 clothes? Why did he rip his clothes? It wasn't because he hated the 177 00:15:26.830 --> 00:15:33.149 law. It wasn't because he despised God. All of a sudden, he 178 00:15:33.350 --> 00:15:37.299 tore his clothes as an act of frustration, as an act of mourning, 179 00:15:37.379 --> 00:15:45.100 as an act of sorrow. Have you ever been so sad or so angry 180 00:15:45.740 --> 00:15:50.289 that you feel like you just want to rip something, that you're so sorrowful 181 00:15:50.450 --> 00:15:54.730 that you just have to express it in your body somehow? This is something 182 00:15:54.769 --> 00:16:00.450 of what Josiah does. He tears his clothes and he's so sad and he's 183 00:16:00.490 --> 00:16:07.399 so sorrowful because he realizes that things were, because he realizes how serious the 184 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:15.639 idolatry has been. He realizes not just how bad it was but the consequences 185 00:16:15.799 --> 00:16:22.350 for it. Want to tell read to you what Josiah heard. This is 186 00:16:22.389 --> 00:16:30.830 in Deuteronomy Chapter Twenty eight. In Deuteronomy Chapter Twenty Eight and in a twenty 187 00:16:30.909 --> 00:16:36.740 seven as well, we have these blessings and curses. This is at the 188 00:16:36.820 --> 00:16:41.179 end of Deuteronomy. And throughout Deuteronomy you have the giving of the law and 189 00:16:41.299 --> 00:16:45.980 which God gives such to his people, all of his commandments and statutes, 190 00:16:45.100 --> 00:16:48.370 reminds them over and over how they ought to keep them. And then at 191 00:16:48.409 --> 00:16:53.250 the very end of the book, God speaks to them and declares that if 192 00:16:53.289 --> 00:17:00.610 you do these things, if you don't go after the way of the Canaanites, 193 00:17:00.649 --> 00:17:03.639 if you stay with me, if you follow after my ways, if 194 00:17:03.679 --> 00:17:07.200 you seek me, then I will bless you, but if you fail, 195 00:17:07.240 --> 00:17:15.430 I will curse you. So, for example, we can look at Deuteronomy 196 00:17:15.470 --> 00:17:19.829 twenty seven, verse eleven. That day Moses charged the people, saying, 197 00:17:21.150 --> 00:17:25.549 when you have crossed over the Jordan, these shall stand on Mountain Garowzeem to 198 00:17:25.630 --> 00:17:29.190 best the people, and then he lists tribes. So you have one set 199 00:17:29.269 --> 00:17:33.099 of tribes on one mountain, and then the other set of tribes on the 200 00:17:33.180 --> 00:17:37.500 other mountain, the Levites, or them, to declare, between these two 201 00:17:37.500 --> 00:17:41.539 mountains, these words, starting in Verse Fifteen. Cursed be the man who 202 00:17:41.579 --> 00:17:48.289 makes a carved image or cast metal image and abomination to the Lord, a 203 00:17:48.609 --> 00:17:52.769 thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret, 204 00:17:52.009 --> 00:17:57.130 and all the people shall say on men. Cursed be anyone who dishonors 205 00:17:57.170 --> 00:18:02.480 his father and mother and all the people shall say a men. Cursed be 206 00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:06.559 anyone who moves his neighbor's landmark and all the people shall say a men. 207 00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:10.839 Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind man on the road, and all the 208 00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:15.549 people shall say a men. So here you have the levites declaring out these 209 00:18:15.710 --> 00:18:18.910 curses. Cursed, be this person, cursed, be this person, and 210 00:18:19.069 --> 00:18:25.670 all of Israel standing there saying I will, I will, I will, 211 00:18:25.869 --> 00:18:29.660 or Amen, amen on men. It is so, it is so, 212 00:18:30.019 --> 00:18:36.180 it is so. The specific curses for disobedience are then listed in Chapter Twenty 213 00:18:36.220 --> 00:18:41.339 eight. Let me read some of them to you, beginning in Verse Fifteen. 214 00:18:41.690 --> 00:18:45.890 But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, your God, 215 00:18:45.009 --> 00:18:48.490 or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command 216 00:18:48.569 --> 00:18:52.369 you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. 217 00:18:53.490 --> 00:18:56.279 Cursed. Shall you be in the city? Cursed? Shall you be in 218 00:18:56.319 --> 00:19:02.000 the field? Cursed. Shall be your basket and you're needing bull. Cursed 219 00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:06.039 shall be the shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your 220 00:19:06.079 --> 00:19:10.470 ground and the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Cursed 221 00:19:10.549 --> 00:19:12.990 shall be when you come in, cursed shall be when you go out. 222 00:19:15.349 --> 00:19:18.430 The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and frustration and all that you 223 00:19:18.509 --> 00:19:23.299 undertake, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of 224 00:19:23.420 --> 00:19:29.099 your deeds, because you have forsaken me. The Lord will make the pestilence 225 00:19:29.180 --> 00:19:33.059 stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering 226 00:19:33.180 --> 00:19:37.259 to take possession of it. The Lord will strike you with wasting disease and 227 00:19:37.380 --> 00:19:41.250 with fever inflammation and fiery heat and withdraught and with blight and with mildew. 228 00:19:41.730 --> 00:19:47.849 They shall pursue you until you perish and the heavens over you shall be bronze 229 00:19:47.890 --> 00:19:52.490 and the Earth shall be the Earth under you shall be iron. The Lord 230 00:19:52.529 --> 00:19:56.799 will make the reign of your land. Powder from the heaven dust shall come 231 00:19:57.160 --> 00:20:02.839 down on you until you are destroyed. The Lord will cause you to be 232 00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:07.000 defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee 233 00:20:07.039 --> 00:20:10.829 seven ways before them. You shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of 234 00:20:10.869 --> 00:20:14.309 the earth and your dead body shall be food for all the birds of the 235 00:20:14.390 --> 00:20:17.789 air and for the beasts of the Earth, and there shall be no one 236 00:20:17.869 --> 00:20:22.740 to frighten the way. It goes on like this. I have another one, 237 00:20:23.140 --> 00:20:30.619 two, three columns of these kinds of curses. They're powerful words. 238 00:20:30.859 --> 00:20:33.619 Can you imagine, as a king who has set your eyes on the Lord, 239 00:20:33.900 --> 00:20:38.410 who's commanded to live by his law? For some reason, this book 240 00:20:38.609 --> 00:20:44.450 going under neglect after all these years of worshiping false idols. You dust it 241 00:20:44.529 --> 00:20:56.079 off, you open it up and you read this terrifying he tears his clothes 242 00:20:56.880 --> 00:21:04.869 in horror for the things that they have done, in repentance in sorrow. 243 00:21:08.630 --> 00:21:15.710 Things are very bad. Now we haven't heard much of it here as we've 244 00:21:15.750 --> 00:21:21.140 gone through chronicles, but as you read other parts of the Old Testament you'll 245 00:21:21.299 --> 00:21:26.220 discover that this should be no surprise to the people as a whole. Though 246 00:21:26.220 --> 00:21:32.099 this book has been lost, of course due to their own fault and neglect, 247 00:21:33.089 --> 00:21:36.609 but there have been prophets who have been declaring these things, people that 248 00:21:36.690 --> 00:21:41.609 have been warning all of Israel. The northern kingdom has been a prophetic warning 249 00:21:41.890 --> 00:21:48.079 that these things were going to come, that for lack of faithfulness as a 250 00:21:48.160 --> 00:21:53.720 people, for all of these abominations, specific things that God told them not 251 00:21:53.759 --> 00:21:59.759 to do in his law, that they would be destroyed and go into exile. 252 00:22:03.069 --> 00:22:10.349 How does Josiah respond? Josiah responds in sorrow, he tears his clothes, 253 00:22:11.829 --> 00:22:15.460 he inquires whether these things will be so, and indeed, hold a 254 00:22:17.299 --> 00:22:25.339 the prophetess says they will, but she adds this good news. She says 255 00:22:25.420 --> 00:22:29.859 to Josiah, the King, in Verse Twenty Six. Thus says the Lord, 256 00:22:29.980 --> 00:22:33.569 the God of Israel, regarding the words you have heard, because your 257 00:22:33.650 --> 00:22:38.690 heart was tender and you humbled yourself before your before God, when you heard 258 00:22:40.009 --> 00:22:44.720 his words against this place and its inhabitants. And you have humbled yourself before 259 00:22:44.759 --> 00:22:48.240 me, and if torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have 260 00:22:48.440 --> 00:22:52.960 heard you, declares the Lord. Behold, I will gather you to your 261 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:56.759 father's and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes 262 00:22:56.799 --> 00:23:00.190 shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place and its 263 00:23:00.269 --> 00:23:07.990 inhabitants. God is saying here that the Covenant Has Been Broken, that wrath, 264 00:23:10.150 --> 00:23:15.259 pestilence, famine, war and all the rest will come upon him as 265 00:23:15.339 --> 00:23:25.460 people for their breaking the covenant. Curses and judgment will come. But we 266 00:23:25.579 --> 00:23:30.529 have a glimmer of hope in hold as words. As she speaks the words 267 00:23:30.569 --> 00:23:34.529 of the Lord to Josiah. The little glimmer of hope is seen in that 268 00:23:34.690 --> 00:23:47.319 God acknowledges, although I think that words too weak. But God responds to 269 00:23:48.279 --> 00:24:00.630 to Josiah's repentance and sorrow with forgiveness. It's interesting that later on Josiah gathers 270 00:24:00.990 --> 00:24:04.430 this is in verse twenty nine. He gathers the people of Judah and Jerusalem 271 00:24:04.509 --> 00:24:10.579 together and he calls them to do the same. He reads the words and 272 00:24:10.700 --> 00:24:15.579 they make a covenant. They they renew the Covenant to work after the to 273 00:24:15.700 --> 00:24:18.220 walk after the Lord, and and this seems a good indeed. It is 274 00:24:18.420 --> 00:24:22.019 good, and indeed change is happen. You can read more about it in 275 00:24:22.180 --> 00:24:26.849 second kings. There are changes that happen, and the summary here is given 276 00:24:27.890 --> 00:24:33.170 that the people walked and in the ways of the Lord all his days. 277 00:24:33.250 --> 00:24:36.410 We read at the very last verse of this chapter they did not turn away 278 00:24:36.410 --> 00:24:41.759 from following Lord, the God of their fathers. But there's an interesting remark 279 00:24:41.880 --> 00:24:48.319 here that it is said that in verse thirty two, that he made all 280 00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:53.029 those who are present in Jerusalem and Benjamin should join in it. He's sort 281 00:24:53.069 --> 00:25:00.750 of by the power of the throne enforces it. He uses this kind of 282 00:25:00.990 --> 00:25:07.299 coercive political power to accomplish this thing, and in it a way it's good. 283 00:25:07.500 --> 00:25:10.539 In his time, it is a theocracy, after all, they are 284 00:25:10.980 --> 00:25:14.980 to be ruled after the Covenant, and he is King, and it is 285 00:25:15.099 --> 00:25:18.420 a good thing that they follow him. But it's a far cry from the 286 00:25:18.500 --> 00:25:26.369 kind of heartfelt jubilation that we see in other parts of this book. It's 287 00:25:26.369 --> 00:25:33.170 a far cry from people responding in kind with Josiah, likewise tearing their clothes, 288 00:25:33.329 --> 00:25:41.519 likewise repenting of their sins. They are like obedient children who say yes, 289 00:25:41.599 --> 00:25:45.960 sir, we'll do it, but it's not coming from the heart. 290 00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:52.069 It doesn't seem to any way, because after his death we see how quickly 291 00:25:52.750 --> 00:25:59.109 a things decline. In all of this, I think there's several things that 292 00:25:59.309 --> 00:26:04.500 God intends to teach us about himself in this covenantal context and then this covenantal 293 00:26:04.619 --> 00:26:11.500 renewal. Want to just list a few as we conclude. One is that 294 00:26:11.819 --> 00:26:15.700 God teaches us what faithfulness is, and I've mentioned that already. We see 295 00:26:15.779 --> 00:26:21.690 faithfulness in Josiah, an example of what it means to follow after the Lord 296 00:26:21.730 --> 00:26:25.849 and to do what is right. These examples that we have in scripture of 297 00:26:25.890 --> 00:26:30.009 course much more than examples, and we will speak about that in a moment, 298 00:26:30.009 --> 00:26:34.559 but but they are examples nevertheless. They're good to reflect on and think 299 00:26:34.599 --> 00:26:38.279 about, good to think and about in our own lives. How do we 300 00:26:38.480 --> 00:26:42.240 respond to the things of the Lord, when we hear his word, when 301 00:26:42.279 --> 00:26:48.829 we walk in his ways or not? God describes here faithfulness. He declares 302 00:26:49.150 --> 00:26:55.990 Josiah a good king. We would do right to study him and others who 303 00:26:55.990 --> 00:27:03.900 do well. Another thing that we learn about God is that he does not 304 00:27:03.140 --> 00:27:11.420 wink at sin, that the commendations of Josiah's faithfulness all have a corresponding a 305 00:27:11.099 --> 00:27:18.769 condemnation of unfaithfulness. God Does Not Wink at sin. Faithfulness matters to him, 306 00:27:18.410 --> 00:27:25.089 obedience matters to him. God has called to himself a people that are 307 00:27:25.089 --> 00:27:30.319 supposed to be holy set apart. In just the last chapter, we were 308 00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:37.599 reading that the king's King, Manassa, was sacrificing his own children to false 309 00:27:37.680 --> 00:27:41.880 god, odds, the very one of the very things that the Canaanites were 310 00:27:41.960 --> 00:27:48.789 condemned and spit out of the land for. Another thing that we learned is 311 00:27:48.829 --> 00:27:55.670 not only that God, God, is holy and Demands Holiness and his people, 312 00:27:56.430 --> 00:28:00.380 but we also learned that his judgment is fierce. As you think and 313 00:28:00.500 --> 00:28:06.099 reflect on some of the the curses that I mentioned from Deuteronomy Twenty eight and 314 00:28:06.539 --> 00:28:12.089 and indeed there are many more, as we read here of hold us prophecy, 315 00:28:12.410 --> 00:28:15.369 as she speaks the words of the Lord in Verse Twenty Four. Behold, 316 00:28:15.410 --> 00:28:19.490 I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the 317 00:28:19.650 --> 00:28:23.809 curses that are written in the book that was read before the King of Judah. 318 00:28:26.049 --> 00:28:30.240 Because of these things, because God has been provoked to anger, I'm 319 00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:38.599 it will indeed be disaster. God has been so slow to anger, tolerating 320 00:28:40.200 --> 00:28:47.230 disobedience year after year after year, generation after generation after generation. But just 321 00:28:47.430 --> 00:28:51.990 because God is slow to judgment does not mean that there will be no judgment. 322 00:28:52.990 --> 00:28:59.779 He promises that their will. This is true not just for the people 323 00:28:59.859 --> 00:29:06.460 of Israel and Judah here in second chronicles, but it's true for all of 324 00:29:06.619 --> 00:29:11.049 us. God promises that these things are but foreshadowing the day when Jesus will 325 00:29:11.089 --> 00:29:17.890 return and judge all the earth, those that follow after idols, those that 326 00:29:18.009 --> 00:29:23.599 give themselves over to the desires of this world, those that give themselves over 327 00:29:25.359 --> 00:29:32.119 to evil, sensuality, idolatry. They will be judged and it will be 328 00:29:32.359 --> 00:29:37.589 fierce. The pain and suffering that we will suffer if we do not repent, 329 00:29:37.710 --> 00:29:41.710 as Josiah does, if we do not seek after the things of the 330 00:29:41.829 --> 00:29:47.470 Lord and find His grace and favor, will be far worse than the curses 331 00:29:47.509 --> 00:29:52.109 that are listed in Deuteronomy, because they will be forever and they will be 332 00:29:52.269 --> 00:29:56.859 not only for this age but also for the next. God Does Not Wink 333 00:29:56.900 --> 00:30:06.059 at sin. You must not either. So we learn about what faithfulness looks 334 00:30:06.099 --> 00:30:12.130 like, what God will desires and faithfulness. We also see his judgment that 335 00:30:12.289 --> 00:30:18.569 though he is slow to anger, he does judge, he does judge sin, 336 00:30:18.690 --> 00:30:26.000 and it is fierce and fair. But, as I mentioned before, 337 00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:30.759 there is of course hope for all who sin. Against the Lord. There 338 00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:37.630 is for giveness, a forgiveness that's open even as judgment is being declared. 339 00:30:37.509 --> 00:30:42.990 What a remarkable thing. The even as God is promising that is real as 340 00:30:42.990 --> 00:30:47.990 a people will be judged. Josiah, who calls out to the Lord and 341 00:30:48.349 --> 00:30:57.220 and is sorrowful for the sins of his people, he finds grace and favor. 342 00:31:00.140 --> 00:31:06.690 Josiah will not experience of the earthly trials and sufferings, and I don't 343 00:31:06.730 --> 00:31:11.890 believe he will experience the eternal ones either, though we will see in the 344 00:31:11.009 --> 00:31:15.809 coming chapter that Josiah, like every other king before him, is not perfect 345 00:31:15.809 --> 00:31:22.200 either, and he does sin and does have faults. He does stay true 346 00:31:22.240 --> 00:31:26.799 to the Lord. The Lord has worked in him, and the Lord gathers 347 00:31:26.839 --> 00:31:33.990 him to his father's not just in a way that avoids a kind of earthly 348 00:31:33.150 --> 00:31:41.269 calamity, but in a way of it saves his soul. This is what 349 00:31:41.470 --> 00:31:47.700 God does for us. These earthly temporal pictures are pictures of what Jesus accomplishes 350 00:31:47.859 --> 00:31:52.259 for us through his work on the cross, through the work on the cross 351 00:31:52.299 --> 00:31:56.299 when Jesus comes as this son of David who fulfills the role that all of 352 00:31:56.420 --> 00:32:02.490 these kings are failing to fulfill. And various ways and various degrees, Jesus 353 00:32:02.609 --> 00:32:07.210 on the cross does both of these things. There is on the cross you 354 00:32:07.329 --> 00:32:16.240 see God's fierce fairness as he judges sin, but also his faithfulness in keeping 355 00:32:16.400 --> 00:32:22.440 his promises for forgiveness to all who call on him. Even you see they're 356 00:32:22.519 --> 00:32:27.319 on the people on either side of him, these two thieves, you remember, 357 00:32:27.640 --> 00:32:31.269 one remaining strong and and and set in his sins, and the other 358 00:32:31.390 --> 00:32:37.230 one calling out for forgiveness even easy. Hangs there next to Jesus, and 359 00:32:37.390 --> 00:32:45.539 Jesus says to him today, you will see me in paradise, though he 360 00:32:45.740 --> 00:32:49.619 will be judged in this earthly way for our sins. Though the thief will 361 00:32:50.099 --> 00:32:55.900 die there on the cross, it's not final, because Jesus accomplishes something that 362 00:32:57.019 --> 00:33:01.289 is truly great. He gives to US and all who call on him, 363 00:33:01.970 --> 00:33:12.880 eternal life. Jesus was the faithful king that Josiah pictures but never fulfills. 364 00:33:16.359 --> 00:33:25.799 Josiah can use political power in a way to pressure and in force a kind 365 00:33:27.150 --> 00:33:32.589 of obedience, of visible obedience, among the people, but Jesus has a 366 00:33:32.670 --> 00:33:37.990 way of changing our very hearts, and you who know him know what I 367 00:33:38.069 --> 00:33:45.539 mean to follow after him heart and soul, not nearly outwardly. Yes, 368 00:33:45.619 --> 00:33:51.220 sir, I suppose I'll do that, sir, but out of love, 369 00:33:52.859 --> 00:33:59.369 out of true joy and thankfulness. When God changes our hearts, when Jesus 370 00:33:59.650 --> 00:34:06.049 sends his spirit into us to move us, he changes us as in such 371 00:34:06.089 --> 00:34:09.719 a way that faithfulness becomes a part of our lives, as it was Josiah's, 372 00:34:10.639 --> 00:34:15.679 and that when we sin, and even when we see the consequences of 373 00:34:15.719 --> 00:34:20.159 our sin coming upon us, instead of being hard and it in, set 374 00:34:20.280 --> 00:34:23.280 in it and angry at God, we what do we do? The heart 375 00:34:23.349 --> 00:34:27.429 of one who has been changed as the heart of one who criles out, 376 00:34:27.750 --> 00:34:31.190 who terrors his clothes, who goes to the Lord and says forgive me, 377 00:34:32.710 --> 00:34:40.500 forgive us. In Jesus is work on the Cross. We see God's fierce 378 00:34:40.659 --> 00:34:45.820 judgment and Wrath poured out upon sin as the sun dies for the sins of 379 00:34:45.900 --> 00:34:51.900 the world. But as he does so, we see how forgiven, forgiveness 380 00:34:51.940 --> 00:34:58.090 is open up for all of us us, and in this we see how 381 00:34:58.849 --> 00:35:05.250 Jesus is a Greater Josiah, how he fulfills for us the things that are 382 00:35:05.329 --> 00:35:09.880 pictured here. Josiah was a good king, but he was not the king. 383 00:35:12.280 --> 00:35:16.880 He points US forward to a to one who is to come. These 384 00:35:16.960 --> 00:35:23.429 are the things that God teaches us as we read this story. These are 385 00:35:23.469 --> 00:35:30.309 the ways in which God shows to us our savior. How will you respond? 386 00:35:30.389 --> 00:35:38.059 I would encourage you to respond and to that good news by trusting in 387 00:35:38.860 --> 00:35:44.179 the God who saves, by looking at your sins, by looking at the 388 00:35:44.219 --> 00:35:47.940 law and being honest about it. Don't cover it up, don't hide it, 389 00:35:49.900 --> 00:35:53.650 tear your clothes, cut your hand off, poke your eye out, 390 00:35:54.050 --> 00:36:01.170 whatever it takes, Jesus says, and trust in him, because he promises 391 00:36:01.289 --> 00:36:08.119 that all who come to him in faith and repentance will indeed enter into life, 392 00:36:09.039 --> 00:36:15.880 will not receive the curses to come, but the blessings of being loved 393 00:36:15.960 --> 00:36:20.909 by God. Let us ask that God would work these things in our hearts. 394 -->