LIVING IN THE EYE OF THE STORM

2 Chronicles 34-35
Bob Bonner
June 14, 2009

Never in the history of our world, have all of the people of the earth faced such threatening causes for anxiety as we see today. The global economic, political, military and religious conflicts of our day have no twin in history. Yes, conflicts of these sorts have always existed, but never has what was happening in a rather small country with little worldwide significance had such cause for worldwide concern. In addition, throw the ability to instantly know what is happening anywhere in the world through the internet, and causes for anxiety and unrest increase dramatically.

For the Christian who reads his/her Bible, none of these realities should surprise us. God has told us for thousands of years that the world will never get better, but only worse. If it were not for His intervention at the end of history, we would destroy ourselves. That’s the bad news. 

The good news is that if we have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and the degree to which we seek His face daily and seek to fulfill His purposes, we can find peace in the eye of the storm.

Biblical history demonstrates for us on a small scale that even though real political, economic, moral and religious threats may surround us and be beyond our comprehension, if our hearts desire is to seek after the Lord, He will provide for and protect us. We will not stop the inevitable, but if we make His purposes number one in our lives, He will show us His favor along the way.

This morning, I would like us to look at how one person made a huge difference for 31 years in his world, simply because he chose to swim against the popular current of his culture. Up to the beginning of Josiah’s 31 years of rule as king, God had been pronouncing judgment against Judah. But because of the heart of Josiah, because Josiah sought to make God number one in his life, God blessed him and those who followed him with peace. But as soon as Josiah died, Judah followed after Josiah’s son’s and grandson’s godless ways, and with that, experienced God’s severe and promised judgment.

There are many lessons in that one historical fact alone. Let me quickly give you just two:  1.) Even in God’s prophesied wars, famines and various other judgments of God that will come, we can still have hope to find peace today, if we seek after the Lord, like Josiah did. If we make His purposes our purposes, God can still grant you peace in the midst of an economic, moral, political, military or religious storm, just as he did Josiah. 

2.) The long-term spiritual well being of a country or church cannot rest or be dependent upon the strength and purpose of any one spiritual leader. The spiritual well-being of a country or church rests on the whole group of individuals level of commitment to God, who make up that church or the citizenry of that country.

If you have your Bibles with you, I invite you turn in them to 2 Chronicles 34. Allow me to set the historical context, before we begin reading God’s word, because if you understand the context correctly, you will discover several lessons about life before you finish reading the first verse of chapter 34.

At the time of 2 Chronicles 34, the northern ten tribes of Israel, known as Israel, had been conquered by the world power just to their north and east, Assyria. Their being conquered by Assyria was the direct result of all ten tribes having turned their backs upon God. The southern part of Israel, known as Judah, was spared, but they were forced to pay tribute to Assyria. Out of the 18 kings that ruled over Judah, only two kings sought after God with their whole hearts throughout their reigns: Hezekiah, and Hezekiah’s great-grandson, Josiah. All of the rest of the kings of Judah either totally ignored God or lived mostly wicked lives. How is it that Josiah was so God fearing?

Surrounding Josiah’s reign as king for 31 years were 6 other kings of Judah. The two before were his father and grandfather. The four that followed Josiah were his three sons and grandson, all of whom totally rejected God. Josiah’s grandfather, King Manasseh, was the longest reigning king of any king in Israel’s history. He reigned for 55 years. His son, Josiah’s father, was King Amon, who reigned only two years before being assassinated.

According to 2 Chronicles 34:1, Josiah was 8 years old when his father died. From the age of 1-6 years old, Josiah witnessed the last years of his grandfather Manasseh’s reign as king, which is significant, because for the first 4 years of Josiah’s life, he had known only the God fearing grandfather, Manasseh. According to Scripture, Manasseh turned to the Lord and worshiped the Lord at the end of his life, and tried to undo all the evil he had done for approximately the first 50 years. Getting nearer to the end of his life, I presume that King Manasseh saw what a wicked son he had mentored and decided to invest what time he had left to train up Josiah in a godly fashion. As a result, Josiah witnessed early on only the righteous years of his grandfather’s rule. Sadly, Josiah’s father, Amon, who had been mentored by the first 50 evil years of his father’s reign, followed in Manasseh’s early evil footsteps. But Josiah, even at an early and tender age of 8, seeing the contrast between his grandfather’s last few years of life, and his father’s life, Josiah chose correctly to follow in the righteous steps of his grandfather. 

So here are three quick lessons we can learn from just understanding the historical context that sets the backdrop to Josiah’s life: First to you young people who are making the transition and taking the next step forward in your education in life. Josiah was only 8 years old when God used him to turn around his entire nation to follow after God. It doesn’t matter how old you are to make a significant difference for the Lord, amidst an evil and wicked generation. Don’t think you have to wait to become adult to be used by God. The same Holy Spirit that lives in me, lives in you, if you know Jesus Christ as your savior and Lord. Thus, God can just as easily and powerfully impact your world, and the lives of your peers around you as well as the adults when you choose to make Jesus Christ and His purposes number one in your life.

Secondly, to you adults, no matter what your past life has been like, when you commit your life to Christ and choose to follow after Him, He will use you to impact others for Christ. You may not be able to undo the damage you have caused to others lives, but God can still use you to change the lives of others around you. Furthermore, even if you are a grandfather, God can call and use you as a youth pastor to eternally impact the hearts and lives of those much younger than you. 

Thirdly, never underestimate what God can do with the life of any child God puts in your care. You can never know how God will use a child for His honor and glory. If God has put a child in your care, take advantage of the opportunity and do what you can to point them to Jesus Christ and to living for Him. We have all sorts of opportunities for you men and women to build into young people’s lives this summer through Sunday School, VBS, child care during the year when GEM’s is in session, or to work in AWANA. Like Manasseh, you may never see the results of what your ministry in a child’s life proved to be, but don’t let that keep you from wisely investing your life into the life of a child. 

Let’s continue with adding a few more brush strokes to the historical backdrop to Josiah’s life, before we look briefly at Josiah’s life. When Josiah came to the throne, the political situation had begun to change. Assyria was losing its grip on Judah, because it was too busy fighting the nation of Babylon. This allowed Josiah the freedom to accomplish his religious reforms that we will look at in a moment. Two interesting and often missed facts about Josiah, which are not mentioned in our passage of study for today are: 1) In 1 Kings 13:2, King Josiah was prophesied by name to do what he did 300 years before his birth. 2) He was in the line of the Messiah, Matthew 1:10-11. 

A couple more facts about Josiah before we read a little about him. Josiah’s name is a compound word in Hebrew that literally translates “Yahweh supports.” This specific Hebrew word for “supports” is not used anywhere else in the Bible, than in Josiah’s name. But elsewhere in Hebrew literature, this word was translated “buttress” or “support” as in a huge column that holds up a ceiling or roof. So Josiah was destined by God to be supported by God to accomplish God’s will.

One other fact, that we really don’t have much time to cover, is that Josiah lived during the same period as the great prophet Jeremiah. He and Jeremiah were close friends. When Josiah died unexpectedly, Jeremiah was the one to give Josiah’s eulogy. I can’t remember the prophet Jeremiah ever saying anything positive about any king, commander or leader he ever lived under, except Josiah.

There is much more we could say by way of historical context, but for our purposes this morning, that’s enough. So, let’s begin reading about Josiah. “Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. He did right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David and did not turn aside to the right or to the left. For in the eighth year of his reign while he was still a youth, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, the carved images and the molten images. They tore down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and the incense altars that were high above them he chopped down; also the Asherim, the carved images and the molten images he broke in pieces and ground to powder and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.” Please note: Josiah didn’t just tear down or throw to the side the stones that were used to build pagan altars, he pulverized those stones so that they could never be used again! Furthermore, as a statement against those who sought the help of pagan gods instead of the one true God, as well as a statement as to the futility of seeking after any God but Yahweh, Josiah took the pulverized stone and ashes of the pagan altars and spread them over the graves of those who had worshiped those idols, so as to say, “There! See what good your idol worship did for you!”

Likewise, with the same message in mind, look at what Josiah did to the remains of the dead false priests. We read, “Then he burned the bones of the priests on their altars and purged Judah and Jerusalem. In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, even as far as Naphtali, in their surrounding ruins, he also tore down the altars and beat the Asherim and the carved images into powder, and chopped down all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.” Once again, note: Josiah wasn’t satisfied with just cleaning house in southern Israel, the land of Judah. His spiritual cleansing of idol worship went all the way north throughout what was the northern portion of Israel. I don’t recall Hezekiah’s spiritual reform reaching that far.

That part of the spiritual cleansing process, getting rid of the obviously outward stumbling blocks to sin for the nation took the first six years of his reign. Once that was complete, phase two of his reform took place, beginning with verse 8, when Josiah was just 18. “Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah an official of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God.” Question: Why did the temple need to be repaired? Because people had so ignored God, that they had ignored their focal point, the place that they would corporately worship God. And just as today, the unbelieving world pays attention to the sincerity of your worship, by looking at the condition of the place in which you worship.

God’s house had been ignored, so that meant to all who saw that, that Yahweh was not that powerful or important to the Jews. But when the people are challenged to properly put their eyes back on the Lord, look at what happens. The sacrificially give even in extremely difficult economic times, which those were in Josiah’s day, to point others to the glory of their God.  It wasn’t just the people in southern Judah or the city of Jerusalem who sacrificially gave to the cleanup project of the Temple. Everyone from the entire country of Israel gave to the renovation project. Hence, when the elders point you to what we believe to be God’s directive for renovation of the assets He has placed in our hands, we too, out of worship to our God, are to make sure He is honored in how we care for the assets we have that send a message to those who pass by of what priority God has in our lives. Even though it was not our desire, but obviously it was God’s desire that we would spend the monies we did to re-landscape the front of our church, I have received positive comments from neighbors around our church, as to what a great improvement our re-landscaping has done for the neighborhood.

Skip down to verse 14, and look at what happens during the Temple renovation project. “When they were bringing out the money which had been brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of the Lord given by Moses. Hilkiah responded and said to Shaphan the scribe, ‘I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord.’ And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan. Then Shaphan brought the book to the king........ Moreover, Shaphan the scribe told the king saying, ‘Hilkiah the priest gave me a book.’ And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king. When the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes.”

Now, before we go forward, let me explain. The “book of the Law” probably refers to the first five books of the Old Testament, known as the Torah. In this book are the promises of God that if you obey God, He will bless you. If you disobey God, He will discipline you. If you repent, after having done wrong and come back to God, He will forgive and bless you. After reading the words of the Torah, Josiah realizes why they as a nation are in the trouble they are in, and he wonders if God will have mercy on them and forgive them. So he repents before God and sends out this request. “Then the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying, ‘Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book which has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord which is poured out on us because our fathers have not observed the word of the Lord, to do according to all that is written in this book.’ So Hilkiah and those whom the king had told went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, the keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter); and they spoke to her regarding this. She said to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Tell the man who sent you to Me, thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am bringing evil on this place and on its inhabitants, even all the curses written in the book which they have read in the presence of the king of Judah. Because they have forsaken Me and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore My wrath will be poured out on this place and it shall not be quenched.” ’ ‘But to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus you will say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel regarding the words which you have heard, “Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and because you humbled yourself before Me, tore your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you,” declares the Lord. “Behold, I will gather you to your fathers and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, so your eyes will not see all the evil which I will bring on this place and on its inhabitants.” ’ ” And they brought back word to the king.”

So, God promises Josiah that because he as the leader of Israel had repented humbly before the Lord and sought the Lord with all of his heart, that even though the judgment that God had promised for years was still going to come, he and those who lived under Josiah’s reign would miss the coming judgment, but would enjoy a temporary peace in the eye of the storm. But when Josiah died, the judgment God promised came.

In response to what God had promised, Josiah got all of the people together to worship the Lord. But look closely at what verse 32 says, for in that verse, we see why this spiritual revival in Israel, this turning to God did not last after Josiah’s death. We read, “Moreover, he [Josiah] made all who were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand with him. So the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.” This people followed Josiah’s instructions, but it was all outward. For them, it was a religious show. They did what they were told, but their hearts were not in it, which explains why when he died, Josiah’s sons so easily turned the people away from God. 

Spiritual reform is not a national or local possibility, unless it begins in all of the individual hearts of the community. If it is anything less, future spiritual failure is guaranteed. Likewise, for spiritual revival to take place in our church family and eventually in our community, it will only go as far as you personally are willing to humble yourself before the Lord.

Oh, and by the way, please don’t miss the key tool that God used, that we have today, by which he changed and directed Josiah’s heart. It was the word of God. When Josiah read it, his life was changed. But up until this point in Judah’s history, God’s word was not being read. In fact, nobody knew really where a copy of the word of God was. Do you? Do you know where you Bible is? Are you regularly humbling yourself before God, by yourself and before His word, to read His word such that He might instruct you?

Josiah’s story continues to move forward in the right direction. In 35:1-19 we read of Josiah’s next step in leading people back to the Lord. He re-instituted the Passover. And according to 35:18, there had been no celebration of the Passover like this one since the prophet Samuel died. That means that even under King David and King Solomon, when Passover was celebrated, it didn’t have the passion or spiritual integrity that was reflected in Josiah’s heart of worship. Keep in mind, those years of worship under David and Solomon were relatively good years. And, during the reign of the 38 kings that followed Solomon, Passover was even more poorly celebrated if celebrated at all for around 300 years!!! That’s a long time for the believers as a whole to get behind true worship.

The next major event in Josiah’s life was his surprising and unexpected death. You can read about it later in 35:20-27. Bottom line, Josiah, after all of his great successes, was killed in a battle from which he should have stayed away, but because he had not checked in with the Lord as to whether or not he should fight this battle against Neco, the King of Egypt, he died. Which to the wise observer should be taken as a warning. For after 31 years of faithfully walking with the Lord, even the godly are prone to make unwise, life threatening/life ending decisions. Hence, it is always best and wise to remember to check in with the Lord concerning any and every major decision or moving forward with a plan of action. There is a true and wise old saying, “Pride comes before the fall.” Any time one takes God for granted, one is setting up oneself for potential disaster.

Yet, even with this one recorded failure in Josiah’s life, look at the epitaph the Spirit of God has written on the Scriptural tombstone of Josiah’s life. It is found in 2 Kings 23:25. It reads, “And before him [meaning before Josiah’s time] there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him [like Josiah] rise after him.” Wow! Not King David, not King Solomon, not King Hezekiah and no other ruler over Israel could compare to Josiah and heart for the Lord. What an inspiration this Old Testament saint has been to me. Oh, may his tribe increase during these turbulent days. May we seek the Lord with all of our hearts, soul, mind and strength. May we, in the midst of the storm, find God’s peace as impactful players for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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