GETTING RIGHT WITH GOD

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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.

The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests next in rank and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the Lord all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley and took the ashes to Bethel. He did away with the idolatrous priests appointed by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the towns of Judah and on those around Jerusalem—those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations and to all the starry hosts. He took the Asherah pole from the temple of the Lord to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it to powder and scattered the dust over the graves of the common people. He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the temple of the Lord, the quarters where women did weaving for Asherah.

Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He broke down the gateway at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which was on the left of the city gate. Although the priests of the high places did not serve at the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.

He desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice their son or daughter in the fire to Molek. He removed from the entrance to the temple of the Lord the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They were in the court near the room of an official named Nathan-Melek. Josiah then burned the chariots dedicated to the sun.

He pulled down the altars the kings of Judah had erected on the roof near the upper room of Ahaz, and the altars Manasseh had built in the two courts of the temple of the Lord. He removed them from there, smashed them to pieces and threw the rubble into the Kidron Valley. The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption—the ones Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the people of Ammon. Josiah smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones.

Even the altar at Bethel, the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin—even that altar and high place he demolished. He burned the high place and ground it to powder, and burned the Asherah pole also. Then Josiah looked around, and when he saw the tombs that were there on the hillside, he had the bones removed from them and burned on the altar to defile it, in accordance with the word of the Lord proclaimed by the man of God who foretold these things.

The king asked, “What is that tombstone I see?”

The people of the city said, “It marks the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and pronounced against the altar of Bethel the very things you have done to it.”

“Leave it alone,” he said. “Don’t let anyone disturb his bones.” So they spared his bones and those of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

Just as he had done at Bethel, Josiah removed all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built in the towns of Samaria and that had aroused the Lord’s anger. Josiah slaughtered all the priests of those high places on the altars and burned human bones on them. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

The king gave this order to all the people: “Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” Neither in the days of the judges who led Israel nor in the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah had any such Passover been observed. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem.
Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the Lord. Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.

Nevertheless, the Lord did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to arouse his anger. So the Lord said, “I will remove Judah also from my presence as I removed Israel, and I will reject Jerusalem, the city I chose, and this temple, about which I said, ‘My Name shall be there.’”

As for the other events of Josiah’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?

While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went up to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah marched out to meet him in battle, but Necho faced him and killed him at Megiddo. Josiah’s servants brought his body in a chariot from Megiddo to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father.

2 Kings 23:1-30

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In Chapter 22, we read where the Book of the Law was found while repairs were being made to the Temple. Amazingly, God’s word was stashed away somewhere and not actively being studied or taught. No wonder the people of Judah had become so distant from the Lord and His will!

Too often, we do the same thing. We allow God’s word to sit out of sight and go day-to-day without opening it and seeking to know what God’s will is for us. Instead, we follow our own desires and wants. It’s all about our will not God’s.

Well, as we have seen through God’s word to the Southern Kingdom of Judah, God doesn’t look favorably on those who decide to ignore His way and His commands. The Northern Kingdom of Israel had been attacked and taken over by Assyria. The Southern Kingdom would soon fall to Babylon. Sometimes, God has to take drastic measures to capture our attention and correct us, ever seeking to show us how we can get right with Him.

How can we get right with Him before He has to resort to discipline? Our scriptures today from Chapter 23 of 2nd Kings offer us the answers.

First, we need to get back into God’s word.

The first thing that happened after the Book of the Law was found was that it was read. Our scriptures tell us that Josiah went to the “temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets” and when he had them all gathered, 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 only way the people of Judah were going to get right with God was to get right with His word…the word that instructs and comforts and convicts.

So what do we do after we get back into the word of God?

We need to renew our covenant relationship with Him.

After reading the Book of the Law to all his people, Josiah “stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord”, vowing to “follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul”. And after he had done this, his people did likewise.

Once we begin to once again read God’s word and expose ourselves to His commands, statutes and decrees, we need to recommit ourselves to obediently follow God’s expectations and principles…not with just a part of us…but rather with all our heart and all our soul.

When we do this, something awesome happens. We want to change the way we’re living because the Holy Spirit, invited back in during the covenant renewal process, leads us that way. We’re prompted to right our wrongs…to replace sin with righteous living.

Consider what happened in Judah after the Book of Law was read and the covenant with God renewed:

1. Josiah ordered Hilkiah, the priests and the doorkeepers to “remove from the temple of the Lord all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts”, burning them “outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley”.

2. Josiah “did away with the idolatrous priests appointed by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the towns of Judah and on those around Jerusalem—those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations and to all the starry hosts”.

3. Josiah “took the Asherah pole from the temple of the Lord to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem and burned it there”, grounding it to powder and scattering the “dust over the graves of the common people”.

4. Josiah “tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the temple of the Lord, the quarters where women did weaving for Asherah”.

5. Josiah “brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense”.

6. Josiah “broke down the gateway at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which was on the left of the city gate”.

7. Josiah “desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice their son or daughter in the fire to Molek”.

8. Josiah removed from the entrance to the temple of the Lord the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun”…then “burned the chariots dedicated to the sun”.

9. Josiah “pulled down the altars the kings of Judah had erected on the roof near the upper room of Ahaz, and the altars Manasseh had built in the two courts of the temple of the Lord”, smashing them to pieces and throwing the rubble into the Kidron Valley.

10. Josiah “desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption—the ones Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the people of Ammon”.

11. Josiah “smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones”.

12. Josiah demolished “the altar at Bethel, the high place made by Jeroboam…who had caused Israel to sin”.

13. Josiah “saw the tombs that were there on the hillside, he had the bones removed from them and burned on the altar to defile it”.

14. Josiah “removed all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built in the towns of Samaria and that had aroused the Lord’s anger”.

15. Josiah “slaughtered all the priests of those high places on the altars and burned human bones on them”.

16. Josiah ordered “all the people” to “celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant”, something that hadn’t been observed “in the days of the judges who led Israel nor in the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah”.

17. Josiah “got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem”.

Indeed, Josiah worked hard to get things right with God and he is honored through God’s word for his efforts. For the scriptures say that “neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses”.

So how are we doing in this regard? Have we made the necessary changes required to get right with God? Or have we read the word, vowed to return to the person God wants us to be, but then decide that surrendering all we desire in exchange for what God desires was more than we were willing to do. We either just completely refuse to change or decide to just change in part and expect that it will be good enough.

It isn’t.

For ask yourself where we would be today if God had chosen to not give us His all? What if He decided to sacrifice some for us but set the bar at His only Son Jesus…unwilling to sacrifice Him for anything?

We wouldn’t have the comfort, peace and assurance of eternal life…that’s for sure.

Friends, the Lord showed us the standard when He surrendered Jesus for us so we could be liberated from our past sins. Through His actions, He confirmed the prophecy of His holy word, renewed His covenant with us, and directed us to change and become new creations. The least we could do is surrender back to him fully all that we are…body, mind, and soul.

It’s the only way we can ever begin to get right with God. And it’s the only way we’ll continue to remain right with Him.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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