Series A – Sixth Wednesday in Lent – Wednesday, March 29, 2023 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough
| Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough: |
| Time Stamp | Transcript |
| 0:22 | Our readings |
| 0:29 | tonight are taken from second Chronicles chapters 34 and parts of 35. |
| 0:35 | Josiah was eight years old when he began to Reign and he reigned 31 years in |
| 0:41 | Jerusalem he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and He Walked In the ways of David his father and he did not |
| 0:47 | turn aside to the right hand or to the left for in the eighth year of his Reign while he was yet a boy he began to seek |
| 0:54 | the god of David his father and in the 12th year he began to purge Judah and |
| 1:00 | Jerusalem of the high places the asharim and the carved and the metal images and |
| 1:06 | they chopped down the altars of the alls in his presence and he cut down the incense altars that stood above them and |
| 1:14 | he broke in pieces the asharim and caught the carved and metal images and |
| 1:19 | he made dust of them and Scattered it over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them he also burned the |
| 1:27 | bones of the priests on their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem and in the |
| 1:32 | cities of Manasseh Ephraim and Simeon as far as and in their ruins all around he broke |
| 1:39 | down the altars beat the asharim in the images into powder cut down all the |
| 1:44 | incense altars throughout all the land of Israel and then he returned to Jerusalem |
| 1:50 | now in the 18th year of his Reign when he had cleansed the land and the house and set schaefon the son of azalaya in |
| 1:58 | manasiah the governor of the city and joeah the son of jehoias the recorder to |
| 2:03 | repair the house of the Lord his God they came to hilkiah the high priest and |
| 2:09 | gave him the money that had been brought into the house of God which the Levites the keepers of the threshold had |
| 2:16 | collected from Manasseh and Ephraim and from all the remnant of Israel and from |
| 2:22 | all of Judah and Benjamin and from the inhabitants of Jerusalem and they gave it to the workmen who were working in |
| 2:29 | the house of the Lord and the workmen who were working in the house of the Lord gave it for repairing and restoring |
| 2:35 | the house they gave it to the Carpenters and the builders to buy quarried stone and Timber for binders and beams for the |
| 2:42 | buildings that the kings of Judah had let go to ruin and the men did the work Faithfully over them were set jehath and |
| 2:50 | Obadiah and the Levites of the sons of marari and Zechariah and mashulum of the |
| 2:57 | sons of the coethites had oversight the Levites all who were skillful with instruments of Music were over the |
| 3:03 | burden bearers and directed all who did work in every kind of service and some |
| 3:08 | of the Levites were scribes and officials and Gatekeepers and while they were bringing out the money that had |
| 3:15 | been brought into the house of the Lord hilkiah the priest found the book of The Law of the Lord given through Moses then |
| 3:22 | hilkiah answered and said to shafan the secretary I have found the book of the law law in the house of the Lord and |
| 3:28 | hilkiah gave the book to shafan shafan brought the book To The King and further reported to the king all that was |
| 3:34 | committed to your servants they are doing they have emptied out the money that was found in the house of the Lord |
| 3:40 | and have given it into the hand of the overseers and the workmen then shafan the secretary told the king hilkiah the |
| 3:46 | priest has given me a book and shafen read from it before the king and when the king heard the words of the |
| 3:53 | law he tore his clothes and the King commanded hilkiah Khan the son of shafan |
| 3:58 | abdon the son of Micah shafan the secretary in asaiah the king’s servant saying go inquire of the Lord for me for |
| 4:05 | those who are left in Israel and in Judah concerning the words of the book that has been found for great is the |
| 4:12 | Wrath of the Lord that has poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord to do according to all |
| 4:18 | that is written in this book so hilkiah and Those whom the king had sent went to hold us the prophetess the |
| 4:25 | wife of Shalom the son of tokoth the son of hasra Keeper of the Wardrobe now she |
| 4:30 | lived in Jerusalem the second quarter and spoke to her to that effect and she said to them thus says the Lord the god |
| 4:37 | of Israel tell the man who sent you to me thus says Yahweh behold I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its |
| 4:45 | inhabitants all the curses that are written in the book that was read before the king of Judah because they have |
| 4:51 | forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods that they might provoke me to |
| 4:56 | anger with all the works of their hands therefore my wrath will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched but |
| 5:04 | to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord thus shall you say |
| 5:09 | to him thus says Yahweh the god of Israel regarding the words that you have heard |
| 5:14 | because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and |
| 5:19 | its inhabitants and you have humbled yourself before me and have torn your clothes and wept before me I also have |
| 5:25 | heard you declares the Lord behold I will gather you to your fathers and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace |
| 5:31 | and your eyes shall not see that all the disaster that I will bring upon this place and its inhabitants and they |
| 5:37 | brought back the word to the king then the king sent and gathered together all the Elders of Judah and Jerusalem and |
| 5:43 | the King went up to the house of Yahweh with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests |
| 5:50 | and the Levites and all the people both great and small he read in their hearing all the words |
| 5:55 | of the book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of Yahweh and the King stood in his place and made a |
| 6:01 | covenant before the Lord to walk after Yahweh to keep his Commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all of |
| 6:07 | his heart and with all of his soul to perform the words of the Covenant that were written in this book and then he |
| 6:13 | made all who were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin join in it and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according |
| 6:19 | to the Covenant of God the god of their fathers and Josiah took away all the Abominations from all the territory that |
| 6:25 | belonged to the people of Israel and made all who were present in Israel serve Yahweh their God all his days they |
| 6:31 | did not turn away from following Yahweh the god of their fathers Josiah kept a |
| 6:36 | Passover to Yahweh in Jerusalem and they slaughtered the Passover Lamb on the 14th day of the first month he appointed |
| 6:44 | the priests to their offices and encouraged them in the service of the House of Yahweh and he said to the |
| 6:50 | Levites who taught all of Israel and who were holy to way put the holy Ark in in |
| 6:56 | the house that Solomon the son of David the king of Israel built you need not carry it on your shoulders now serve |
| 7:02 | Yahweh your God and His People Israel and after all of this when Josiah had |
| 7:09 | prepared the temple Nico the king of Egypt went up to fight at carcamesh on |
| 7:15 | the Euphrates and Josiah went out to meet him but he sent envoys to him |
| 7:20 | saying what have we to do with each other king of Judah I am not coming against you this day but against the |
| 7:28 | house with which I am at war and God has commanded me to hurry cease opposing God |
| 7:35 | who is with me lest he destroy you nevertheless Josiah did not turn away |
| 7:40 | from him but disguised himself in order to fight with him he did not listen to |
| 7:45 | the words of Nico from the mouth of God but came to fight in the plain of |
| 7:50 | megiddo and The Archers shot King Josiah and the King said to his servants take |
| 7:56 | me away for I am badly wounded so his servants took him out of the Chariot |
| 8:01 | carried him in his second Chariot brought him to Jerusalem and he died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers |
| 8:08 | all Judah and Jerusalem mourn for Josiah Jeremiah also uttered a lament for |
| 8:13 | Josiah and all the singing men and singing women have spoken of Josiah in their laments to this day they made this |
| 8:20 | these a rule in Israel behold they are written in the laments now the rest of the acts of Josiah |
| 8:25 | his Good Deeds according to what is written in the law of the Lord and his acts first and last behold they are |
| 8:32 | written in the book of The Kings of Israel and of Judah oh Lord have mercy on us in the name of Jesus |
| 8:40 | ah what is it with these Kings of Judah man even the ones that are like the best |
| 8:46 | ones like Josiah legitimately he is the last good king of Judah the last of them |
| 8:54 | and he had such a spectacular reign as far as doing what is right in the eyes |
| 9:01 | of the Lord now we here’s the thing we lutherans get accused of well you believe in the proper distinction of Law |
| 9:06 | and gospel and salvation by grace through faith apart from works so therefore Works aren’t important balagna |
| 9:13 | that and by the way that is the proper way to pronounce this word I’ve seen it just read it out bologna it’s on the |
| 9:19 | packages of Oscar Meyer you can see it right but all that being said scripture |
| 9:24 | is clear salvation is by grace through faith apart from works as it says in the book |
| 9:31 | of Ephesians 4 by Grace you have been saved through faith this is not your own doing it is the gift of God so that no |
| 9:36 | one may boast for we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus for |
| 9:42 | good works or as James says it just as the body that is not breathing is dead |
| 9:48 | so faith without works is dead you’ll note that that works do not save us but |
| 9:56 | as our hymn writers have noted Works show that faith is present inside of us |
| 10:01 | and you’ll note that um Josiah as good as the king he as he |
| 10:06 | is he is a king in the midst of rank apostasy |
| 10:12 | I mean things have gotten really bad in Judah and it has been for the better |
| 10:19 | part of a hundred and something years uh if you were to go back flip back a few |
| 10:24 | pages you can read the account of his grandfather’s Reign Manasseh Manasseh |
| 10:30 | was the guy who made all of these changes in how the temple was operating |
| 10:36 | he’s the one who brought in the incense altars to all he was the one who thought |
| 10:41 | it was a great idea to give Yahweh a girlfriend yeah if you’re not sure what |
| 10:46 | what the significance of the fact that there’s an Ashira poll in the holy of holies you just got to think of it this |
| 10:53 | way in the Pagan Gnostic way of looking at things It is incomprehensible that |
| 11:00 | there would be a male deity without a female deity as a binary couple right |
| 11:05 | and so they solved the problem by checking on the spiritual Pagan Tinder |
| 11:10 | sites and they found Ashira and brought her into Yahweh and put them behind the |
| 11:15 | closed curtains in order to solve that particular problem and it really is a |
| 11:21 | mess and you’ll hear a little bit later just how far off the rails things have |
| 11:26 | gone and which kind of begs the question were the reforms that Josiah brought |
| 11:32 | about did they lead to True faith in the heart of people or were they following |
| 11:39 | the law in order to not be punished you’ll note that if the reason why |
| 11:44 | you’re doing your good works is so that you don’t end up in hell that’s not Faith that’s a form of |
| 11:50 | self-righteousness and that cannot save you Josiah has true Faith it’s it’s very |
| 11:56 | clear from this text in fact let’s walk through some of these things and it’s important to note that in his early |
| 12:01 | years he’s never read the Bible all right so when Manasseh was King not only |
| 12:08 | did he make all of these Innovations and changes in how things were operating in Solomon’s Temple on top of that if you |
| 12:15 | read kind of between the lines between what’s going on in first king sorry Second Kings and second chronicles as it |
| 12:21 | relates to Manasseh it was very clear what was going on while these Innovations were taking place and the |
| 12:28 | church was sliding into these rank Pagan practices there were those who were |
| 12:34 | speaking out against these changes and against the idolatry and you know what |
| 12:39 | happened to them well Manasseh unalived them that’s how people talk nowadays what a weird way to talk about it he |
| 12:45 | flat out murdered these people so murder was abundant during the reign of Manasseh but you’ll note that second |
| 12:51 | chronicles also tells us that Manasseh in his later years repented |
| 12:57 | but he never got rid of the things that he put in place his son Ammon uh follows |
| 13:04 | in his footsteps and he’s evil and now Josiah is King he’s made King at eight |
| 13:10 | years old that is a young and tender age for somebody to be made King so it says |
| 13:15 | he was eight years old when he began to Reign he reigned for 31 years in Jerusalem which means he died what at 39 |
| 13:23 | 40. he was just a kid right you know I’m 55 I can say that now about 40 year olds |
| 13:29 | they’re just kids right he did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh he walked in the ways of David his father he did not |
| 13:34 | turn aside to the right hand or to the left love this for in the eighth year of his Reign while he was yet a boy that |
| 13:42 | was when he began to seek the god of David his father so at age 16 we don’t |
| 13:49 | know why we don’t know what all of a sudden flipped the switch but he began |
| 13:54 | to seek the god of David he for whatever every reason became disillusioned with |
| 14:00 | the Pagan deities that everybody was worshiping and you’ll know not a single |
| 14:05 | day of his life does he know Solomon’s Temple without Pagan Idols in it and |
| 14:11 | it’s worse than that by the way and then in the 12th year he began to purge Judah |
| 14:16 | and Jerusalem of the high places so now as he gets older he’s going to work and |
| 14:21 | he’d purged Jerusalem and Judah of the high places the ashirium the carved metal images he chopped down the altars |
| 14:27 | of the balls in his presence he cut down the incense altars that stood above them he broke in pieces the asharim and the |
| 14:35 | carved and metal images and he made dust of them and Scattered it over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them this |
| 14:42 | guy meant business I mean not only we’re going to smash your Idols we’re going to |
| 14:48 | grind them into powder and then we’re going to scatter them on the graves of the people who worship these things |
| 14:53 | right whoa that is quite the statement I’m sure that the liberal media was |
| 14:59 | going nuts at this time saying what a complete ridiculous person this was we |
| 15:04 | need to you know we need to get rid of him right he burned the bones of the priests the |
| 15:10 | Pagan priests on their altars so he took the bones of the Pagan priest dug them up burned their bones on the altars that |
| 15:17 | they had set up to these Pagan deities wow and he cleansed Judah in Jerusalem now note he hasn’t gotten everything out |
| 15:24 | of the temple yet all right this is what we will call a good start and in the cities of Manassa |
| 15:31 | Ephraim and Simeon as far as naphtally in the ruins all around he broke down the altars and beat the ashirim in the |
| 15:36 | images into powder cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel and then he returned to |
| 15:43 | Jerusalem and so you’ll note he is intentionally defiling these Pagan sites |
| 15:49 | and I remember reading in a Biblical archeology review a few years back that they had found one of these sites that |
| 15:56 | had been desecrated by Josiah and not only did he desecrate places with bones |
| 16:03 | they also suggest that archaeologists suggest that in some sites he desecrated |
| 16:09 | their holy sites with human waste I mean he did not spare anything in this thing |
| 16:16 | so in the 18th year of his Reign we learn how he first came in contact with the |
| 16:25 | Bible he had never read those wonderful words |
| 16:30 | the first sentence of the scripture Elohim |
| 16:37 | never read those words never heard of the tohu of a bohu never heard of the |
| 16:42 | six days of creation read it out never read of The Exodus from the account of |
| 16:47 | Moses and worst of all he was completely ignorant of the actual Covenant that the |
| 16:53 | children of Israel were in with God regarding the land that they were in and so we hear of his account how they found |
| 17:01 | the Bible during a renovation and they gave it to Josiah had it read to him and |
| 17:09 | what did he do he tore his clothes and recognized how did the the Korean War |
| 17:16 | veterans say it he realized that they were in deep kimchi right there was a |
| 17:22 | years ago there was a church that I served and there was a there who was a Korean War veteran that was his favorite |
| 17:28 | thing to say deep kimchi you know somebody was in trouble when they were in deep kimchi and he even at one point |
| 17:33 | made me some kimchi for me to have because he learned the recipe while he was in the war and you know what it was |
| 17:40 | it was good it was a little different than I expected it’s an acquired taste best way I can put it right and so what |
| 17:48 | happens at this point is that he recognizes things are bad so he sends |
| 17:54 | he sends some folks he commanded Hill Kai I had come the son of shafan abdom the son of Micah shafan the secretary at |
| 18:00 | assaya the king’s servant saying you go inquire of Yahweh for me for those who |
| 18:06 | are left in Israel and in Judah concerning the words of the book that has been found for great is the wrath of |
| 18:12 | Yahweh that is poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the word of Yahweh to do according to all that is |
| 18:19 | written in this book and you’ll note the word of God is living and active you cannot you cannot |
| 18:26 | legitimately claim to be a True Believer in Jesus Christ and despise his word |
| 18:31 | though Christ says the one who loves me will keep will guard my Commandments which means they have to know what they |
| 18:38 | are we as Christians are disciples a disciple is a learner what’s the |
| 18:43 | curriculum the curriculum is the Bible and you’ll note in our day there is a growing apostasy a growing growing |
| 18:51 | growing apostasy place after place that calls itself a Christian church has |
| 18:57 | taken the Bible itself and relegated it to the sidelines it barely makes an |
| 19:03 | appearance if it shows up at all it is now quoted out of context stripped mind |
| 19:09 | for Relevant verses that proof text things that they want to talk about and sadly so many people today who call |
| 19:16 | themselves Christians they are steeped in apostate practices and Rebellion |
| 19:22 | against God because they are legitimately biblically illiterate and I would note that when you point out |
| 19:29 | to them listen you can’t be doing this the Bible says the first thing that |
| 19:35 | comes out of their mouth Pharisee right you’re a Pharisee you’re you’re just too legalistic you’re too uptight We are |
| 19:43 | following the spirit of God I remember recently of seeing an interview with a fellow who was an actual pastor |
| 19:51 | at the Toronto Vineyard Church at the time the Toronto blessing broke out and |
| 19:58 | this is a fellow who credits the fact that his mother and his grandmother not |
| 20:03 | his father but his mother and his grandmother made sure to teach him the Bible when he was a young boy and as a |
| 20:10 | result of it he began vocalizing that the practices that were taking place at the so-called Toronto blessing were |
| 20:16 | contrary to the word of God and guess what he was moved out in fact he was |
| 20:23 | confronted and told that he was standing in the way of this move of the spirit but the things that he vocalized that he |
| 20:29 | was complaining about were true and he was right the word of God does not permit these things to be happening and |
| 20:36 | now the Toronto church is now called Catch the Fire or whatever and they |
| 20:42 | functionally do not read the scriptures legitimately at all but they get all kinds of words you know from so-called |
| 20:50 | prophets and prophetesses and so you’ll note in our day and things are not much different than they were in the days of |
| 20:55 | Josiah and so at this point they as the King has Inc told them they go to |
| 21:01 | inquire of Yahweh because he knows that God’s Wrath is is going to be huge as a |
| 21:07 | result of what he’s read in the book so hilkiah and those with him a legitimate |
| 21:12 | like top guys in Josiah’s Administration they go to a woman by the name of holda |
| 21:19 | the prophetess the why life of Shalom the son of tokov the son of hasra Keeper |
| 21:24 | of the Wardrobe now she lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter and spoke to her to that effect and she said |
| 21:30 | to them thus says Yahweh the god of Israel tell the man who sent you to me thus says Yahweh you’ll note that as a |
| 21:36 | prophet as she’s really hearing God’s words and as a result of it she knows exactly why they are there right so she |
| 21:43 | says behold Yahweh says I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its |
| 21:48 | inhabitants and all the curses that are written in the book that was read before the king of Judah because they have |
| 21:54 | forsaken me they have made offerings to other gods that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands |
| 22:00 | therefore my wrath will be poured out on this place and it will not be quenched |
| 22:08 | and you know what she was right that’s exactly how it went down read the read |
| 22:15 | the Prophet Jeremiah but to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of Yahweh |
| 22:21 | thus shall you say to him thus says Yahweh the god of Israel regarding the words that you have heard because your |
| 22:26 | heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and its |
| 22:32 | inhabitants and you have humbled yourself before me and have torn your clothes and wept before me I also have |
| 22:38 | heard you declares Yahweh and here’s where you’re going to note this is an important point is that when confronted |
| 22:47 | with sin and seeing it defined by God’s word notice that Josiah didn’t sit there |
| 22:54 | and go well you know after all this is the 8th Century we you know BC and we we |
| 22:59 | are a progressive people we just need to embrace the times and stuff like this no not at all what did he do |
| 23:05 | he said God’s right we’re in the wrong he humbled himself he lamented he wept |
| 23:11 | he repented and even of his own ignorance things he |
| 23:16 | should have known in reading the Torah he would have realized that it was his |
| 23:21 | job upon his Ascension to the throne a requirement of the Mosaic Covenant that |
| 23:27 | he was to write hand write his own copy of the Torah the first five books of the |
| 23:34 | scripture that’s a requirement of the Kings of Israel he recognizes that not only did he not |
| 23:40 | do that this is the first time he’d read those words and how old is he now that’s how far they’ve gone |
| 23:47 | and so he says she says because you’ve humbled yourself and you wept before me behold I will gather you to your fathers |
| 23:53 | you shall be gathered to your grave in peace and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this |
| 23:59 | place and its inhabitants and they brought back word to the king then the king sent and gathered together |
| 24:05 | all the Elders of Judah and Jerusalem the king went out of the house of Yahweh with all the men of Judah and the |
| 24:12 | inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the Levites and all the people both great and small and he read in their |
| 24:17 | hearing all the words of the book of the Covenant notice it says he read |
| 24:23 | for this account the Bible has been rediscovered and the |
| 24:29 | king of Judah himself now is teaching all the people reading him reading for |
| 24:35 | himself reading out loud so they can hear the words of this book he read and |
| 24:41 | they’re hearing all the words of the book of the Covenant that have been found in the house of Yahweh and the King stood in his place and made a |
| 24:47 | covenant before Yahweh to walk after Yahweh and to keep his Commandments and |
| 24:52 | his testimonies and his statutes with all of his heart with all of his soul to perform the words of the Covenant that |
| 24:58 | were written in this book and then he made all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin join in it and |
| 25:04 | the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the Covenant of God the god of their fathers and Josiah took away |
| 25:10 | all the Abominations from all the territory that belonged to the people of Israel and made all who were present in |
| 25:15 | Israel serve Yahweh their God all his days they did not turn away from following Yahweh the god of their |
| 25:23 | fathers and in fact in the book of Second Kings we have a little bit more of the details |
| 25:29 | of Josiah’s reforms and let’s just say the reforms give us the bigger picture |
| 25:36 | of just how far gone the religion of Israel had gone |
| 25:43 | it says this in Second Kings 23. the king sent and all the Elders of Jude |
| 25:50 | and Jerusalem were gathered to him the king went up to the house of Yahweh and with him and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem the |
| 25:56 | priests and the prophets and all the people great and small and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the Covenant and then it says this |
| 26:02 | the king commanded hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the threshold |
| 26:08 | to bring out of the Temple of Yahweh all right now comes the Deep Cuts we want |
| 26:17 | these out of Solomon’s Temple what were what did he want taken out of there |
| 26:22 | well to bring out the all the vessels made for but all for Ashira for all the starry hosts of |
| 26:30 | heaven and their and their Ashes to Bethel oh sorry in the host of Heaven |
| 26:35 | and the burn them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carry their Ashes to Bethel in other words the |
| 26:41 | host of Heaven by the way if you ever seen the inside of like a preserved Egyptian religious site you’ll note that |
| 26:48 | the Stars painted on the ceiling there’s a reason for that is because the stars were a vital part of the the Pagan |
| 26:55 | Gnostic religion of Egypt in fact the Pyramids of Giza they don’t make a |
| 27:01 | straight line when you look at them from above they fit the exact pattern of the Stars found in the belt of Orion that |
| 27:08 | sound purpose because the Egyptians were very much into the worship of the starry |
| 27:13 | host of heaven so Josiah says get these out of the temple they have no business |
| 27:19 | being there and he’s right and I’m sitting there going who thought that this was a good idea right okay |
| 27:26 | so he burned them he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to |
| 27:32 | make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem let me think about this for a second here he |
| 27:39 | deposed what priests well who ordained these priests the previous Kings of Judah |
| 27:44 | so you’ll note that Manasseh and Ammon his father what did they do |
| 27:49 | they ordained their own priesthood and basically these priests were designed on purpose to fulfill their |
| 27:57 | wishes to worship and offer sacrifices to these Pagan deities and to offer |
| 28:03 | sacrifices on these in these high places and so what since they were put in place by an official Royal command Josiah |
| 28:11 | gives the official Royal command you guys are out of a job |
| 28:16 | and so he deposes every single one of them and he also deposed those who |
| 28:23 | burned insensitive all to the Sun to the Moon the constellations and all the hosts of heavens and he brought out the |
| 28:30 | Ashira from the house of Yahweh oh no Yahweh and Ashira get divorced bummer I |
| 28:35 | don’t even think they were properly married they were illegally cohabitating in fact Yahweh didn’t ask for any of |
| 28:41 | this so they got rid of ashirah they took her out of the house of Yahweh outside of Jerusalem to the brook Kidron |
| 28:47 | burned the Ashira poll at the brook Kidron beat it to dust cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people |
| 28:54 | and he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes who were in The House of Yahweh where the women wove hangings |
| 29:01 | for the Ashira yeah that’s right I’ve pointed this out before |
| 29:06 | Solomon’s Temple now had a new religious experience for the proper price you can |
| 29:13 | experience a male cult prostitute as part of the religion this worship of |
| 29:19 | Solomon’s Temple and Josiah got rid of all of that as |
| 29:25 | well he brought out he he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah |
| 29:31 | defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings from giba to beroshiba he broke down the high places |
| 29:38 | of the gates that were at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua the governor of the city which were on one’s left at the |
| 29:45 | Gate of the city however the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of Yahweh in Jerusalem but the 8 |
| 29:50 | unleavened bread among their brothers that hints at this idea that despite the |
| 29:55 | fact that it was now illegal to worship these false gods all of their high places have been defiled that none of |
| 30:01 | these people are having had their high places torn down their Idols destroyed and ground into powder then repented and |
| 30:09 | trusted in Yahweh they were just biting their time waiting for a change of |
| 30:16 | administration he defiled tofeth which is in the Valley of the son of hinom so that no one might |
| 30:22 | burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech amen right child |
| 30:28 | sacrifice is now off the table and I’m sure those people who believed in Molech |
| 30:33 | were not thrilled with this and he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the son at the |
| 30:40 | entrance to the house of Yahweh by the Chamber of Nathan Melech the Chamberlain which was in the precincts he burned the |
| 30:46 | Chariots of the sun with fire and no that’s not where we got the name for the movie Chariots of Fire that’s not where |
| 30:52 | that comes from okay and he burned them with fire and the altars on the roof of the upper |
| 30:59 | chamber of ahas which the kings of Judah had made and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the House |
| 31:05 | of Yahweh he pulled down broken pieces cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron and the King defiled the high |
| 31:12 | places that were east of Jerusalem to the south of the Mount of corruption which Solomon the king of Israel had |
| 31:17 | built for ashtaroth note here the place where Solomon had built um |
| 31:23 | worship centers for his Pagan wives now in scripture is referred to as the Mount |
| 31:29 | of corruption and so Josiah gets rid of all of this so that means he got rid of |
| 31:36 | ashrath the abomination of the sidonians and got rid of chamash the abomination of Moab and the one set up for milcom |
| 31:43 | the Abomination the ammonites and he broken pieces the pillars cut down the ashirim filled their places with the |
| 31:49 | bones of men and moreover he wasn’t done he leaves Judah and heads North into the |
| 31:56 | territory where the Samaritans are then he tore down the altar at Bethel the |
| 32:02 | high places a high place erected by jeroboam the son of nibat who made Israel to sin that altar with the high |
| 32:09 | place he pulled down and he burned reducing it to dust he also burned the |
| 32:14 | ashirah and as Josiah turned he saw the tombs with a mount where tombs there on |
| 32:19 | the mount and he sent and took the bones of the tombs and burned them on the altar defiled it according to the word |
| 32:25 | of Yahweh that the man of God who proclaimed who had predicted these things |
| 32:31 | wow that is quite a dossier of how does |
| 32:37 | second chronicles describe these as good works right now you’ll note that you know all |
| 32:45 | the lawyers at this point are losing their minds the lawsuits are being filed left and right he’s being accused of be |
| 32:50 | of these hate crimes against these religious minorities or majorities whatever they were at the time right you |
| 32:57 | could just hear the the grumbling going on but here’s the thing you destroy someone’s Idol that doesn’t mean that |
| 33:03 | their Idol is destroyed in their heart and that’s the point now Josiah then having read in the |
| 33:11 | scriptures the requirement to keep the Passover it’s been a long time since |
| 33:16 | there’s been a Passover in Jerusalem and what does he do well it’s time to celebrate the Passover ah that type and |
| 33:24 | Shadow celebration which points to the sacrifice that God will give so that we |
| 33:31 | can be set free from slavery to sin death in the devil the sacrificing of the Lambs the and all of that recounting |
| 33:38 | the what took place in The Exodus that points us to the finished work of Christ he prepares that and they fulfill that |
| 33:47 | things are going really well and you’d think this is the best King ever |
| 33:53 | right Well here here’s the thing and Josiah is not the Messiah |
| 33:59 | Josiah is a sinner like you and I and as a result of that despite all of his good |
| 34:07 | he is also prone to the same kind of sinful foolishness that we all are prone |
| 34:13 | to and this is something we must keep in mind that even our best good works they |
| 34:20 | do not save us and even our best good works still are tainted with sin because |
| 34:26 | in this lifetime we still have a sinful nature to contend with and as a result |
| 34:31 | of it what follows next is well the closest thing that I can read in |
| 34:38 | Scripture that really reminds me of the concept of an Achilles heel right but there’s something hidden in here that I |
| 34:44 | think is interesting if you were to consider it in the types and shadows and here’s how this goes then in chapter in |
| 34:51 | verse 20 of chapter 35 of second chronicles it says after all of this when Josiah had prepared the temple Nico |
| 34:59 | the king of Egypt went out to fight at carcamesh on the Euphrates and Josiah went out to meet him |
| 35:05 | so a little bit of what’s going on here so Nico is pharaoh of Egypt he’s the king of Egypt and he’s heading up to |
| 35:11 | well to wage war against carcamesh well guess whose Highway they have to travel |
| 35:17 | on and which territory do they have to travel through that would put them going through Judah and you’ll note that I |
| 35:24 | think it’s a little unnerving having a large army from Egypt traveling through your neck of the woods in order to go to |
| 35:32 | fight a battle against carcamesh and so it’s no wonder that Josiah wants to do |
| 35:38 | something about this but you’ll think about this he should know that the right |
| 35:44 | thing for him to do if he’s really truly having anxiety and believing that Nico |
| 35:50 | has designs on Judah who should he be inquiring of who should he be praying to |
| 35:56 | what should he be relying on he should be relying on Yahweh he we know that he |
| 36:04 | can inquire of Yahweh through hold of the prophetess he we also know from the Torah that he can inquire of God through |
| 36:10 | the high priest because of the urum and the thuman he can ask God questions and God can do things and we also know from |
| 36:17 | the account of his great-great-great-grandfather Jehoshaphat that he is capable of |
| 36:22 | praying to to God and calling out to him in time of trouble and this is what he should have done but instead he relies |
| 36:29 | on his own well strategies his own sneakiness his own designs and it goes |
| 36:37 | terrible for him so here’s what happens he will he goes |
| 36:43 | out to meet Pharaoh Nico and so Pharaoh Nico sent envoys to Josiah saying what |
| 36:50 | have we to do with each other king of Judah and now listen to what comes next I’m not coming out against you this day |
| 36:57 | but against the house with which I am at war and God has commanded me to hurry |
| 37:02 | weird thing in the Hebrew here we have God is the word Elohim |
| 37:08 | but he’s using singular verbs God has he has commanded me that’s odd |
| 37:16 | behavior for a pagan Egyptian king which means Nico is legitimately on a mission |
| 37:22 | from God because you wouldn’t expect somebody who believes in the gods of Egypt to be |
| 37:28 | talking in this way so Nico is compelled and so he says listen God has commanded |
| 37:34 | me to hurry so please cease opposing God who is with me lest God destroy you |
| 37:41 | nevertheless Josiah did not turn away from him but he listened to these words |
| 37:47 | he disguised himself in order to fight with him you know that didn’t work so well for ahaz did it it then no it |
| 37:54 | didn’t really work for a Haz and it didn’t work for for Josiah either so he disguised himself in |
| 38:04 | order to fight with Pharaoh Nico he didn’t listen to the words of Nico and listen to what the text says he did not |
| 38:10 | listen to the words of Nico from the mouth of God but he came to fight in the plane of |
| 38:15 | megiddo if Josiah had just inquired of Yahweh |
| 38:21 | he would have heard from Yahweh that Nico was doing God’s business but he |
| 38:27 | didn’t even check didn’t even ask didn’t even pray he thought he knew better he’s |
| 38:35 | now disguised himself and here’s what it says at megiddo hmm harmagito have you |
| 38:42 | heard of the term Armageddon this is the same place where the last battle will be |
| 38:48 | fought on Earth the the plain of megiddo and it says The Archers shot King Josiah |
| 38:55 | and then the king said to his servants take me away I’m badly wounded so his servants took him out of the |
| 39:01 | Chariot carried him in his second Chariot and brought him to Jerusalem and he died |
| 39:07 | and he was buried in the tombs of his fathers all Judah and Jerusalem mourn for Josiah and listen notably Jeremiah |
| 39:15 | also uttered a lament for Josiah poor Jeremiah man the weeping prophet |
| 39:20 | because with all of these things happening you can just see that there was a glimmer of hope in Jeremiah that |
| 39:28 | somehow that things would turn around and now with the death of Josiah what |
| 39:33 | would come of all of his reforms where would Judah go and in all the singing men and singing |
| 39:40 | women who have spoken of Josiah and their laments to this day they made these a rule in Israel behold they are written in the laments the rest of the |
| 39:47 | acts of Josiah his Good Deeds according to what is written in the law of Yahweh and his acts first and last behold they |
| 39:53 | are written in the books of the Kings of Israel and of Judah and we know what happens when you read |
| 39:58 | the history of Judah and what comes next from that the time of Josiah’s death |
| 40:06 | Judah goes on a Pagan religious Bender is the best way I |
| 40:12 | can put it all the things that they had been forbidden to do are now back on the table and they pursue them with all of |
| 40:19 | their heart and as a result of it God does follow through on his threats and |
| 40:24 | he ends up acting in Wrath against Judah and only a remnant of them will survive |
| 40:30 | when King Nebuchadnezzar attacks from Babylon as an agent of God’s Wrath and |
| 40:37 | then those who survived were marched off to captivity in Babylon |
| 40:43 | um such a good right and that’s the thing you know who |
| 40:51 | Josiah reminds me of me reminds me of you guys it reminds us it |
| 40:58 | reminds me of all of us despite all the good work that we do |
| 41:03 | because we are saved by grace through faith we still sin and we make really |
| 41:09 | tragic bad awful decisions and you’ll note that Josiah’s death |
| 41:15 | doesn’t lead to Salvation for Judah instead it leads them back into apostasy |
| 41:24 | but I can think of another king of Judah who also died a tragically Young At A |
| 41:30 | tragically young age in fact he reigned for just this briefest amount of time if |
| 41:37 | you were to think about it and I would note here I would like to posit this idea that this king of Judah his entire |
| 41:44 | life was disguised let me explain you see in the book of Philippians it talks |
| 41:50 | about Christ even though he was by Nature God he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but he |
| 41:56 | what did he do he humbled himself and was came to Earth it was found in the form of a servant in human form and he |
| 42:03 | humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross and you’ll note then we can kind of say |
| 42:10 | about Jesus that he is absolutely God in human flesh but he was God in human |
| 42:16 | flesh kind of disguised if you would we have no accounts of people from Nazareth |
| 42:24 | talking about how when Jesus was a boy they could always tell who the Son of God was because he glowed in the dark |
| 42:30 | you know nothing like that right and of course and none of the kids complained and said every time we play hide and |
| 42:36 | seek Jesus would always know exactly where we were okay nothing like that at all and so Jesus legitimately God of God |
| 42:44 | light of light very God of very God but God did not made being of one substance with the father |
| 42:50 | was found Among Us in Disguise if you would Incognito |
| 42:56 | turned the glory off and was obedient to the point of death |
| 43:02 | even death on the cross you’ll note that Josiah’s disguise got him killed |
| 43:07 | and I would note Jesus’s disguise got him killed as well but unlike Josiah Jesus’s death actually |
| 43:16 | has significance because Jesus didn’t lose his life he laid down his life |
| 43:23 | and it’s true that he tragically died at a young age Jesus in his early 30s is |
| 43:30 | crucified for your sins and for mine but note here he did reign as king of Judah |
| 43:38 | for just the briefest amount of time because as we will see in our good and |
| 43:44 | our and our Palm Sunday passion Sunday passages he was declared to be the king of the |
| 43:51 | Jews by none other than the governor of Rome who was there Pontius Pilate in |
| 43:57 | fact they brought Jesus out before the crowd wearing a crown of thorns dressed in a robe of purple and he even pilate |
| 44:05 | made clear to understand here is your king |
| 44:10 | it was a brutal inauguration an anointing with blood for sure and |
| 44:17 | Jesus reigned for a little over six hours as the king of Judah |
| 44:23 | before he perished and died but you’ll note his first act as king |
| 44:30 | rather than destroy idolaters |
| 44:36 | came instead to die for them so that they can be forgiven and pardoned and he |
| 44:43 | destroyed the works of the devil not by be destroying temples and things like |
| 44:49 | this but allowing hymns his body the temple of God itself to be destroyed |
| 44:55 | to be made derelict and die so that you and I can be forgiven and |
| 45:01 | pardoned and Jesus upon his death burial and Resurrection things don’t get worse |
| 45:08 | on planet Earth in fact you can legitimately say has his word has gone forth the good |
| 45:14 | news of the Gospel has reached to the ends of the Earth people have been brought out of darkness |
| 45:20 | and sin into the light of God and the forgiveness and mercy that is in him they went from being idolaters and |
| 45:27 | enemies of God to now being Sons and Daughters of God himself by adoption |
| 45:33 | because of the shed blood of Christ and I would note that this good news has |
| 45:38 | gone out in such a way that it has literally destroyed more Pagan temples than Josiah could possibly shake a stick |
| 45:46 | at because where the gospel has truly taken root people have stopped worshiping the false vain mythologies |
| 45:53 | invented by humans and inspired by demons and have instead repented and |
| 45:58 | worshiped the one true God yeah what Josiah’s death was uncapable |
| 46:05 | incapable of producing Jesus’s death did |
| 46:10 | and I would note the parallels between the two are quite fascinating |
| 46:16 | but almost kind of like in a mirror image Josiah The Sinner Christ the sinless Spotless Lamb of God and |
| 46:23 | although Josiah he celebrated the Passover for the very first time in his |
| 46:29 | life Jesus is truly our Passover Lamb who takes away the sin of the world so |
| 46:35 | don’t forget these things and so as we wrap up our midweek Lenten Services lent |
| 46:41 | a time of reflection on God’s law a time to reflect on our own sin and the things |
| 46:46 | that which we need to continue to repent of and cry out to God to forgive us of this is a good time to recognize that |
| 46:54 | each and every one of us we are more like Josiah than we would care to admit and we need to recognize that oftentimes |
| 47:02 | we Rely Upon Our Own Strength our own wisdom our own strategies our own ideas and that always will get us in trouble |
| 47:08 | rather than trusting in what God’s word says and following what he has |
| 47:13 | instructed us in his word so so let us again repent but let us also have confidence in the forgiveness and Mercy |
| 47:20 | by the great great great grandson of Josiah who laid down his life willingly so that you and I can be forgiven and |
| 47:27 | pardoned in the name of Jesus Amen |
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