KING JOSIAH THE SON OF AMON
(1) JOSIAH AT THE AGE OF 8.
2
Chronicles 34:1-2 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and
he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. 2 He did what was right in
the eyes of the Lord and followed the ways of his father
David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.
THIS
YOUNG BOY CAME TO THE THRONE AT EIGHT YEARS OF AGE (637 BC) This was
because of the assassination of his father. He was not the youngest King. King JEHOASH (JOASH) was 7 years old when he
became king (837 BC)
1.
KING JOSIAH THE SON OF AMON.
(2)
JOSIAH’S BIRTH HAD BEEN PROPHESIED 340 YEARS EARLIER by an unknown
prophet even as King Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.
1
Kings 13:2 2 By the word of the Lord he cried out against the
altar: “Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: ‘A son named
Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the
priests of the high places who make offerings here.
1
Kings 13:4 - When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the
altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, “Seize
him!” But the hand he stretched out toward the man shrivelled up, so that he
could not pull it back.. (see picture)
AT
THE TIME OF THIS PROPHECY, KING JEROBOAM made two golden calves, built
shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of
people, even though they were not Levites. KING JEROBOAM SINNED AGAINST GOD.
Ø SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROPHECY: It
was a man of God that came to Jeroboam, a wicked king of Judah, who prophesied
that Josiah would become King. SOME
300 YEARS LATER, JOSIAH BECAME KING.
WHY WAS JOSIAH MENTIONED? It was because
Jeroboam was an evil king who burnt incense and did sacrifices to his own gods,
which God hated. He also went so far as to have his kingdom do the same.
However, Josiah would soon come into the world and would change
everything.
APPLICATION: WHAT IDOLS ARE YOU & I WORSHIPPING? Money, pleasure, immorality, complacency, what is right in our own eyes?
(3)
WHAT SHOULD A GOOD KING DO?
2
Samuel 8:15 So David reigned over all Israel; and David administered justice
and righteousness for all his people.
1
Kings 15:11 Asa did what was right in the sight of the Lord, like David
his father.
(i)
JOSIAH'S GREAT-GRANDFATHER WAS KING HEZEKIAH, a noted reformer also
respected by the biblical writers as having "DONE WHAT WAS RIGHT IN THE
SIGHT OF THE LORD, AS DAVID HAD DONE.”
(ii)
JOSIAH’S GRANDFATHER MANASSEH was one of the kings who turning away
from the worship of Yahweh. Manasseh adapted the TEMPLE FOR IDOLATROUS WORSHIP.
(iii)
KING AMON, THE FATHER OF JOSIAH, WAS THE MOST SINFUL OF ALL THE WICKED KINGS OF
JUDAH.
(iv)
DESPITE THAT, JOSIAH DID WHAT WAS RIGHT IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD:
APPLICATION: LET US DO WHAT IS RIGHT IN THE
EYES OF GOD.
(1) JOSIAH TELLS HILKIAH TO REPAIR THE TEMPLE. King Josiah was 26 years old. Chronicles 34: 10-11 10 Then they entrusted it to the men appointed to supervise the work on the Lord’s temple. These men paid the workers who repaired and restored the temple. 11 They also gave money to the carpenters and builders to purchase dressed stone, and timber for joists and beams for the buildings that the kings of Judah had allowed to fall into ruin.
(2)
THE TEMPLE WOULD HAVE BEEN IN EXISTENCE FOR ABOUT 300 YEARS at this point. And
repairs were needed. Stonework stays in place for only so long. Earthquakes,
for one, can jostle stones loose. And a serious earthquake in about 750 B.C. is
recorded in the Old Testament. (Amos 1:1)
APPLICATION: SIMILARLY, WE HAVE TO MAINTAIN
OUR OWN CHURCH BUILDING & EQUIPMENT & RUNNING COSTS. TITHES & OFFERINGS AS WELL AS VOLUNTEER
WORK ARE MUCH NEEDED IN OUR OWN CHURCH
3. THE BOOK OF THE LAW IS FOUND
2
Chronicles 34: 14-16 14 While they were bringing out the money that had
been taken into the temple of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the Book
of the Law of the Lord that had been given through
Moses. 15 Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the
Book of the Law in the temple of the Lord.” He gave it to
Shaphan.16 Then Shaphan took the book to the king and reported to him:
“Your officials are doing everything that has been committed to them.
(2)
SHAPHAN THE SECRETARY READS THE BOOK BEFORE KING JOSIAH
2
Chronicles 34: 18 18 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.
APPLICATION: Throughout the history of God’s
people, when the word of God is recovered and spread, then spiritual revival
follows. It can begin as simply as it did in the days of Josiah, with one man
finding and reading and believing and spreading the Book.
4.
THE WORD OF GOD
(1)
THE STORY OF PETER WALDO AND HIS FOLLOWERS, 1170, IN GERMANY.
Waldo
was a rich merchant who gave up his business to radically follow Jesus. He
hired two priests to translate the New Testament into the common language and
using this, he began to teach others.
He
taught in the streets or wherever he could find someone to listen. Many common
people came to hear him and started to radically follow Jesus Christ. He taught
them the text of the New Testament in the common language and was rebuked by
church officials for doing so. EACH ONE REACH ONE, EACH ONE TEACH ONE
(i)
HE IGNORED THE REBUKE and continued to teach, eventually sending his followers
out two by two into villages and market places, to teach and explain the
scriptures.
(ii)
THE SCRIPTURES WERE MEMORIZED by the Waldenses, and it was not unusual for
their ministers to memorize the entire New Testament and large sections of the
Old Testament.
(iii)
THE WORD OF GOD – when found, read, believed, and spread – has this kind of
transforming power. It can begin as simply as it did in the days of Josiah.
(iv) EACH ONE REACH ONE, EACH ONE TEACH ONE
(2)
JOSIAH’S REACTION: Josiah had extreme grief over the state of the
people of the nation and tore his clothes.
2
Chronicles 34: 19-21 19 When the king heard the words of the Law, he
tore his robes.
(i)
WHEN THE KING HEARD THE WORDS OF THE BOOK OF THE LAW, THE WORD SPIRITULLY
CHANGED JOSIAH. God’s word did a spiritual work in King Josiah. It was not
merely the transmission of information; the hearing of GOD’S WORD HAD AN IMPACT
OF SPIRITUAL POWER ON JOSIAH. IT ACTIVATED HIM INTO ACTION.
(ii) HE
TORE HIS CLOTHES: The tearing of clothing was a traditional expression of
horror and astonishment. In the strongest possible way, Josiah showed his grief
on his own account and on account of the nation. This was an expression of deep
conviction of sin, and a good thing.
APPLICATION: Now, what about us? We have
that same scroll (our Bibles). This amazing discovery in the temple, the Words
of God.
(i)
Have we forgotten to read the Bible? If you have, now is the time for renewal.
DO YOU READ GOD’S WORD DAILY?
(ii)
Don’t tear your clothes. Joel (2:13)
says: “REND (TEAR) YOUR HEARTS AND NOT YOUR GARMENTS.”
5.
OBEYING THE WORD OF GOD.
(1)
FOR GREAT IS THE WRATH OF THE LORD THAT IS AROUSED AGAINST US: Josiah knew that
the kingdom of Judah deserved judgment from God. He could not hear
the word of God and respond to the Spirit of God without seriously confronting
the sin of his kingdom.
2
Chronicles 34: 21 21 “Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for
the remnant in Israel and Judah about what is written in this book that has
been found. Great is the Lord’s anger that is poured out on us
because those who have gone before us have not kept the word of the Lord;
they have not acted in accordance with all that is written in this book.”
2
Chronicles 34: 24-25 24 ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going
to bring disaster on this place and its people—all the curses written
in the book that has been read in the presence of the king of
Judah. 25 Because they have forsaken me and burned incense to
other gods and aroused my anger by all that their hands have made, my
anger will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched.’
I
WILL BRING CALAMITY ON THIS PLACE AND ON ITS INHABITANTS: Josiah knew that
Judah deserved judgment, and that judgment would indeed come. Judah and its
leaders had walked against the LORD for too long, and would not genuinely
repent so as to avoid eventual judgment.
(2)
GOD’S WORD TO KING JOSIAH: THE JUDGMENT WILL NOT COME IN YOUR DAY. 2 Chronicles
34: 27 27 Because your heart was responsive and you
humbled yourself before God when you heard what he spoke against this
place and its people, and because you humbled yourself before me and tore your robes
and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the Lord.
THIS
WAS GOD’S MERCY TO JOSIAH. His own godliness and tender heart could not stop
the eventual judgment of God, but it could delay it.
KING
NEBUCHADNEZZAR DESTORYED JERUSALEM
& TOOK THE JEWS CAPTIVE IN BABYLON FOR 70 YEARS.
(3)
JOSIAH LED THE PEOPLE TO WORSHIP GOD.
2
Chronicles 34:32-33 32 Then he had everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin
pledge themselves to it; the people of Jerusalem did this in accordance with
the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors.33 Josiah removed all the
detestable idols from all the territory belonging to the Israelites, and
he had all who were present in Israel serve the Lord their God. As
long as he lived, they did not fail to follow the Lord, the God of their
ancestors.
APPLICATION: GOD’S WORD IS ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL IN OUR LIVES. KNOW THE WORD, TRUST THE WORD OF GOD, OBEY THE WORD OF GOD
6.
CONCLUSION:
(1)
JOSIAH STARTED RIGHT AND FINISHED RIGHT
2
Kings 22:2 2 He 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.
(JOSIAH
‘S REAL FATHER IS THE SINFUL KING AMON,
DAVID WAS HIS ANCESTER)
AS
YOU CONSIDER THE ABOVE VERSE, ASK YOURSELF IF THESE THINGS CAN BE SAID OF YOU.
HERE ARE THOSE PHRASES.
(i)
HE DID WHAT WAS RIGHT IN THE eyes of the Lord
(ii)
He followed completely the Lord
() He did not turn aside to the left or right
(2)
JOSIAH DID WHAT WAS RIGHT IN THE EYES OF THE LORD
(i) He put
down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn
incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round
about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to
the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.
(ii)
Josiah is proof you can remain faithful to God throughout your life despite the
fact that his real father, KING AMON was
the most sinful of all the kings.
LET
US PRAY
Lord,
just like Josiah, every leader and every believer in Christ has a purpose for
their lives given by You. Like Josiah, if we continue to seek and obey the
Lord, You will ensure Your good purposes fulfil in and through our lives.
We
pray for great revival and great repentance in our churches today and nation. We pray for great love for the Word of God in
our lives that will transform us. We seek for change, restoring and refreshing
in the power of the Holy Spirit today in our lives.
Thank
you, Jesus for loving us and dying for us. Amen.
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