Josiah Isn't the Messiah

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church.

Kungsvinger 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 Roseberg.

Our readings tonight are taken from 2nd Chronicles chapters 34 and parts of 35.

Josiah was 8 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 31 years in 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 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 the God of David his father

and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the

Asherim and the carved and the metal images.

And they chopped down the altars of the Baals in his presence and he cut down the incense altars

that stood above them and he broke in pieces the Asherim and the carved

and metal images and he made dust of them and scattered it over the graves of those who had

sacrificed to them.

He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.

And in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim and Simeon, as far as Naphtali and in their ruins

all around he broke down the altars, beat the Asherim and the images into powder, cut

down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel and then he returned to Jerusalem.

Now in the 18th year of his reign when he had cleansed the land and the house and sent

Shaphon the son of Azaliah and Maasaiah the governor of the city and Joah the son of

Jehoaz the recorder to repair the house of the Lord his God, they came to

Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the money that had been brought into the house of

God which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had collected from Manasseh and Ephraim

and from all the remnant of Israel and from all of Judah and Benjamin and from the inhabitants of

Jerusalem.

And they gave it to the workmen who were working in the house of the Lord and the workmen who were working in the house

of the Lord gave it for repairing and restoring the house.

They gave it to the carpenters and the builders to buy quarried stone and timber for binders and beams for the

buildings that the kings of Judah had let go to ruin.

And the men did the work faithfully.

Over them were set Jehoth and Obadiah and the Levites of the sons of

Merari and Zechariah and Meshulam of the sons of the Kohathites had oversight.

The Levites, all who were skillful with instruments of music, were over the burden bearers and directed all

who did work in every kind of service.

And some of the Levites were scribes and officials and gatekeepers.

And while they were bringing out the money that had been brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest

found the book of the law of the Lord given through Moses.

Then Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphon the secretary, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord.

And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphon.

Shaphon brought the book to the king and further reported to the king all that was committed to your servants they are

doing.

They have emptied out the money that was found in the house of the Lord and have given it into the hand of the overseers and the

workmen.

Then Shaphon the secretary told the king, Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.

And Shaphon read from it before the king.

And when the king heard the words of the law he tore his clothes.

And the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahicham the son of Shaphon, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphon the

secretary, and Asaiah the king's servant saying, go inquire of the Lord for me for those who are left in

Israel and in Judah concerning the words of the book that has been found.

For great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the word of

the Lord to do according to all that is written in this book.

So Hilkiah and those whom the king had sent went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shalom the son

of Tokath, the son of Hasra, keeper of the wardrobe.

Now she lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter and spoke to her to that effect.

And she said to them, thus says the Lord the God of Israel, tell the man who sent you to me, thus says

Yahweh, behold I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants.

All the curses that are written in the book that was read before the king of Judah because they have forsaken me

and have made offerings 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 will not be quenched.

But to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him,

thus says Yahweh the God of Israel regarding the words that you have heard because your heart was tender and you humbled

yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and its inhabitants.

And you have humbled yourself before me and have torn your clothes and wept before me.

I also have heard you, declares the Lord.

Behold I will gather you to your fathers and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace and your eyes shall not see that all the disaster

that I will bring upon this place and its inhabitants.

And they brought back the word to the king.

Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem and the king went up to the house of

Yahweh with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the Levites

and all the people both great and small.

He read in their hearing all the words 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 covenant before the Lord to walk after Yahweh to keep his commandments and his

testimonies and his statutes with all of his heart and with all of his soul to perform the words of the covenant

that were written in this book.

And then he made all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin join in it.

And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

And Josiah took away all the abominations from all the territory that belonged to the people of Israel and made all who were

present in Israel serve Yahweh their God.

All his days they did not turn away from following Yahweh, the God of their fathers.

Josiah kept a Passover to Yahweh in Jerusalem and they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the

14th day of the first month.

He appointed the priests to their offices and encouraged them in the service of the house of Yahweh

and he said to the Levites who taught all of Israel and who were holy to Yahweh, put the Holy Ark

in the house that Solomon the son of David the king of Israel built.

You need not carry it on your shoulders now serve Yahweh your God and his people Israel.

And after all of this when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho the king

of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates.

And Josiah went out to meet him but he sent envoys to him saying, what have we to do with each

other king of Judah?

I am not coming against you this day but against the house with which I am at war.

And God has commanded me to hurry cease opposing God who is with me lest he

destroy you.

Nevertheless Josiah did not turn away from him but disguised himself in order to fight with him.

He did not listen to the words of Necho from the mouth of God but came to fight in the

plain of Megiddo.

And the archers shot King Josiah and the king said to his servants, take me away for I am

badly wounded.

So his servants took him out of the chariot carried him in his second chariot brought him to Jerusalem and he died

and was buried in the tombs of his fathers.

All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

Jeremiah also uttered a lament for Josiah and all the singing men and singing women have spoken of Josiah and their

laments to this day.

They made this these a rule in Israel behold they are written in the laments.

Now the rest of the acts of Josiah his good deeds according to what is written in the law of the

Lord and his acts first and last behold they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and of Judah.

Oh Lord have mercy on us in the name of Jesus.

What is it with these kings of Judah man?

Even the ones that are like the best ones like Josiah legitimately he is the last

good king of Judah the last of them and he had such a

spectacular reign as far as doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

Now here's the thing we Lutherans get accused of well you believe in the proper distinction of law and gospel and salvation by

grace through faith apart from works so therefore works aren't important.

Belogna that and by the way that is the proper way to pronounce this word I've seen it just read it out Belogna

it's on the packages of Oscar Mayer you can see it right but all that being said the

scripture is clear salvation is by grace through faith apart from works as

it says in the book of Ephesians for by grace you have been saved through faith this is not your own doing it is the gift of God so

that no one may boast for we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus for

good works or as James says it just as the body that is not breathing is dead

so faith without works is dead.

You'll note that that works do not save us but as our hymn writers have noted works

show that faith is present inside of us.

And you'll note that Josiah as good as the king he as he is he is

a king in the midst of rank apostasy.

I mean things have gotten really bad in Judah and it has been for

the better part of a hundred and something years.

If you were to go back flip back a few pages you can read the account of his grandfather's reign

Manasseh.

Manasseh was the guy who made all of these changes in how the temple was

operating.

He's the one who brought in the incense altars to Baal.

He was the one who thought it was a great idea to give Yahweh a girlfriend.

Yeah if you're not sure what what the significance of the fact that there is an Asherah pole in the Holy of Holies

just got to think of it this way in the pagan Gnostic way of looking at things it is

incomprehensible that there would be a male deity without a female deity as a binary

couple.

Right.

And so they solve the problem by checking on the spiritual pagan tinder sites.

And they found a Asherah and brought her into Yahweh and put them behind the closed curtains in order to

solve that particular problem.

And it really is a mess.

And you'll hear a little bit later just how far off the rails things have gone.

And which kind of begs the question.

Were the reforms that Josiah brought about.

Did they lead to true faith in the heart of people.

Or were they following the law in order to not be punished.

You'll know that if the reason why 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 self -righteousness and that cannot save you.

Josiah has true faith.

It's it's very clear from this text.

In fact let's walk through some of these things.

And it's important to note that in his early years he's never read the Bible

all right.

So when Manasseh was king not only did he make all of these innovations and changes in how things were

operating in Solomon's Temple.

On top of that if you read kind of between the lines between what's going on in first King sorry second Kings and second

Chronicles as it relates to Manasseh it was very clear what was going on while these innovations

were taking place and the church was sliding into these a rank pagan

practices.

There were those who were speaking out against these changes and against the idolatry.

And you know what happened to them.

Well Manasseh unalived them.

That's how people talk nowadays.

What a weird way to talk about it.

He flat -out murdered these people.

So murder was abundant during the reign of Manasseh.

But you'll note that second Chronicles also tells us that Manasseh in his later years

repented but he never got rid of the things that he put in place.

His son Ammon follows in his footsteps and he's evil.

And now Josiah is king.

He's made king at 8 years old.

That is a young and tender age for somebody to be made king.

So it says he was 8 years old when he began to reign.

He reigned for 31 years in Jerusalem which means he died.

What.

At 39 40 he was just a kid.

Right.

You know I'm 55.

I can say that now about 40 year olds 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 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 was when he began to seek the God of

David his father.

So at age 16 we don't know why.

We don't know what.

All of a sudden flipped the switch.

But he began to seek the God of David.

He for whatever reason became disillusioned with the pagan deities that everybody was

worshiping.

And you'll know not a single day of his life.

Does he know Solomon's temple without pagan idols in it.

And it's worse than that by the way.

And then in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places.

So now as he gets older he's going to work.

And he purged Jerusalem and Judah of the high places.

The Asherim the carved in metal images.

He chopped down the altars of the Baals in his presence.

He cut down the incense altars that stood above them.

He broke in pieces the Asherim and the carved in metal images.

And he made dust of them and scattered it over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

This guy meant business.

I mean not only we're gonna smash your idols we're gonna grind them into powder and then we're gonna scatter them on the graves of

the people who worship these things.

Right.

Whoa that is quite the statement.

I'm sure that the liberal media was going nuts at this time saying what a complete

ridiculous person this was.

We need to you know we need to get rid of him.

Right.

He burned the bones of the priests the pagan priests on their altars.

So he took the bones of the pagan priests dug him up burned their bones on the altars that they had set up to these pagan

deities.

Wow.

And he cleansed Judah and Jerusalem now note he hasn't gotten everything out of the temple yet

all.

Right.

This is what we will call a good start.

And in the cities of Manasseh Ephraim and Simeon as far as Naphtali in the ruins all around he broke down the altars and beat the

Asherim and the images into powder cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel.

And then he returned to Jerusalem.

And so you'll note he's intentionally defiling these pagan sites.

And I remember reading in a biblical archaeology review a few years back that they have found one of these sites that had

been desecrated by Josiah.

And not only did he desecrate places with bones they also

suggest the archaeologists suggest that in some sites he desecrated their holy sites with human

waste.

I mean he did not spare anything in this thing.

So in the 18th year of his reign we learn how he first came in

contact with the Bible.

He had never read those wonderful words the first sentence of the

scripture never

read those words.

Never heard of the tohu v 'bohu.

Never heard of the six days of creation read it out.

Never read of the Exodus from the account of Moses.

And worst of all he was completely ignorant of the actual covenant that the children of Israel were in

with God regarding the land that they were in.

And so we hear of his account how they found the Bible during a

renovation.

And they gave it to Josiah had it read to him.

And what did he do.

He tore his clothes and recognized.

How did.

How did the the Korean War veterans say it.

He realized that they were in deep kimchi.

Right.

There was a years ago there was a church that I served and there was a fellow there who was a Korean War

veteran.

That was his favorite thing to say deep kimchi.

You know you had somebody was in trouble when they were in deep kimchi.

And he even at one point 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.

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 happens at this point is that he recognizes things are bad.

So he sends he sends some folks he commanded.

He'll Kai Ahakon the son of Shaphan Abdon the son of Micah Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king's

servant saying you go inquire of Yahweh for me.

For those who are left in Israel and in Judah concerning the words of the book that has been found for great

is the wrath of Yahweh that has poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the word of Yahweh

to do according to all that is written in this book.

And you'll note the Word of God is living and active.

You cannot.

You cannot legitimately claim to be a true believer in Jesus Christ and despise his word

though the Christ says the one who loves me will keep will guard my commandments which means they have to know what they

are.

We as Christians are disciples.

A disciple is a learner.

What's the curriculum.

The curriculum is the Bible.

And you'll note in our day there is a growing apostasy a growing growing

growing apostasy place after place that calls itself a Christian Church has

taken the Bible itself and relegated it to the sidelines.

It barely makes an appearance if it shows up at all.

It is now quoted out of context stripped mind for relevant verses that proof text things that they want to

talk about.

And sadly so many people today who call themselves Christians they are steeped

in apostate practices and rebellion against God because they are legitimately biblically

illiterate.

And I would note that when you point out to them listen you can't be doing this.

The Bible says the first thing that comes out of their mouth Pharisee.

Right.

You're a Pharisee.

You're just too legalistic.

You're too uptight.

We are following the Spirit of God.

I remember recently seeing an interview with a fellow who was an actual pastor

at the Toronto Vineyard Church at the time the Toronto blessing broke out.

And this is a fellow who credits the fact that his mother and his grandmother not his

father but his mother and his grandmother made sure to teach him the Bible when he was a young boy

and as a result of it he began vocalizing that the practices that were taking place at the so -called Toronto

blessing were contrary to the Word of God.

And guess what he was moved out.

In fact he was confronted and told that he was standing in the way of this move of the Spirit.

But the things that he vocalized that he was complaining about were true and he was right.

The Word of God does not permit these things to be happening.

And now the Toronto Church is now called catch the fire whatever.

And they functionally do not read the but they get

all kinds of words you know from so -called prophets and prophetesses.

And so you'll note in our day things are not much different than they were in the days of Josiah.

And so at this point they as the king has told them they go to inquire of

Yahweh because he knows that God's wrath is is going to be huge as a result of what he's read in the

book.

So Hekiah and those with him legitimate like top guys in

Josiah's administration they go to a woman by the name of Huldah the prophetess the

wife of Shalom the son of Tokah the son of Hasra keeper of the wardrobe.

Now she lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter and spoke to her to that effect.

And she said 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 prophetess she's really hearing God's words and as a result of it she knows

exactly why they are there.

Right.

So she says behold Yahweh says I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants

and all the curses that are written in the book that was read before the king of Judah because they have forsaken me

they have made offerings 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 will not

be quenched.

And you know what she was.

Right.

That's exactly how it went down.

Read the read the prophet Jeremiah.

But to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of Yahweh thus shall you say to him that says

Yahweh the God of Israel regarding the words that you have heard because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before

God when you heard his words against this place and its inhabitants.

And you have humbled yourself before me and have torn your clothes and wept before me.

I also have heard you declares Yahweh and here's where you're going to note this is an important point

is that when confronted with sin and seeing it

defined by God's word notice that Josiah didn't sit there and go.

Well you know after all this is the eighth century we you know BC and we we are a progressive

people we just need to embrace the times and stuff like this.

No not at all.

What did he do.

He said God's right we're in the wrong.

He humbled himself he lamented he wept he repented.

And even of his own ignorance things he should have known in reading the Torah he

would have realized that it was his job upon his ascension to the throne a

requirement of the Mosaic Covenant that he was to write handwrite his own

copy of the Torah the first five books of the scripture that's a requirement of the kings of Israel.

He recognizes that not only did he not 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.

And so he says she says because you've humbled yourself and you wept before me behold I will gather you to your fathers.

You shall be gathered to your grave in peace and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place

and its inhabitants.

And they brought back word to the king.

Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

The king went out of the house of Yahweh with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the

priests and the Levites and all the people both great and small.

And he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the Covenant.

Notice it says he read for this account

the Bible has been rediscovered and the king of Judah himself now is teaching all the

people reading him reading for himself reading out loud so they can hear the

words of this book.

He read in their 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 covenant before Yahweh to walk after Yahweh and

to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all of his heart with all of his soul to perform the

words of the covenant that were written in this book.

And then he made all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin join in it.

And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God the God of their fathers.

Josiah took away all the abominations from all the territory that belonged to the people of Israel and made all who were

present in Israel serve Yahweh their God all his days.

They did not turn away from following Yahweh the God of their fathers.

And in fact in the book of 2nd Kings we have a little bit more of the details of

Josiah's reforms.

And let's just say the reforms give us the bigger picture of just

how far gone the religion of Israel had gone.

It says this in 2nd Kings 23.

The king sent and all the elders of Judah 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 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.

The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring

out of the temple of Yahweh all right.

Now comes the deep cuts.

We want these out of Solomon's temple.

What were.

What did he want taken out of there.

Well to bring out the all the vessels made for Baal for Asherah

for all the starry host of heaven.

And there and their ashes to Bethel.

Oh sorry.

In the host of heaven.

And they burn them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carry their ashes to Bethel.

In other words the host of heaven.

By the way if you ever seen the inside of like a preserved Egyptian religious site

you'll note that there's stars painted on the ceiling.

And there's a reason for that is because the stars were a vital part of the the pagan Gnostic

religion of Egypt.

In fact the pyramids of Giza they don't make a straight line when you look at them from above they fit the

exact pattern of the stars found in the belt of Orion.

That's on purpose because the Egyptians were very much into the worship of the starry

host of heaven.

So Josiah says get these out of the temple.

They have no business being there.

And he's right.

And I'm sitting there going.

Who thought that this was a good idea.

Right.

Okay.

So he burned them.

He deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the

high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem.

Let me think about this for a second here he deposed what priests.

Well who ordained these priests.

The previous kings of Judah.

So you'll note that Manasseh and Ammon his father.

What did they do.

They ordained their own priesthood.

And basically these priests were designed on purpose to fulfill their wishes to

worship and offer sacrifices to these pagan deities and to offer sacrifices on these

in these high places.

And so what.

Since they were put in place by an official royal command Josiah gives the official

royal command.

You guys are out of a job.

And so he deposes every single one of them.

And he also deposed those who burned incense to Baal to the Sun to the moon the constellations and

all the hosts of heavens.

And he brought out the Asherah from the house of Yahweh.

Oh no.

Yahweh and Asherah get divorced.

Bummer.

I don't even think they were properly married.

They were illegally cohabitating.

In fact Yahweh didn't ask for any of this.

So they got rid of Asherah.

They took her out of the house of Yahweh outside of Jerusalem to the Brook Kidron burned the Asherah pole at

the Brook Kidron beat it to dust cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people.

And he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes who are in the house of Yahweh where the women wove

hangings for the Asherah.

Yeah that's right.

I've pointed this out before Solomon's temple now had a new

religious experience for the proper price.

You can experience a male cult prostitute as part of the religious worship of

Solomon's temple.

And Josiah got rid of all of that as well.

He brought out he.

But he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah defiled the high places where the priests had made

offerings from Geba to bed or Sheba.

He broke down the high places 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 gate of the city.

However the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of Yahweh in Jerusalem but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers.

That hints at this idea that despite the fact that it was now illegal to worship these false

gods all of their high places have been defiled.

That none of these people having had their high places torn down their idols destroyed and

ground into powder then repented and trusted in Yahweh they were just

biding their time waiting for a change of administration.

He defiled Topheth which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom so that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an

offering to Molech.

Amen.

Right child sacrifice is now off the table and I'm sure those people who believed in Molech

were not thrilled with this.

And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the Sun at the entrance to the house of

Yahweh by the chamber of Nathan Molech the Chamberlain which was in the precincts.

He burned the 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 that comes from.

And he burned them with fire.

And the altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz which the kings of Judah had made.

And the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of Yahweh he pulled down broken pieces cast

the dust of them into the brook Kidron and the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem to the

south of the Mount of Corruption which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth note here

the place where Solomon had built worship centers for his pagan wives

now in scripture is referred to as the Mount of Corruption.

And so Josiah gets rid of all of this.

So that means he got rid of Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians and got rid of Chamash the

abomination of Moab and the one set up for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

And he broken pieces the pillars cut down the Asherim filled their places with the bones of men

and moreover he wasn't done.

He leaves Judah and heads north into the territory where the Samaritans are.

And he tore down the altar at Bethel the high places high place erected by Jeroboam the son

of Nebat who made Israel to sin that altar with the high place he pulled down and he

burned reducing it to dust.

He also burned the Asherah.

And as Josiah turned he saw the tombs where the mount where tombs there on the mount and he sent

and took the bones of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it according to the word of Yahweh the man

of God who proclaimed who had predicted these things.

Wow that is quite a dossier of how does

2nd Chronicles described these as good works.

Right.

Now you'll note that you know all the lawyers at this point are losing their minds.

The lawsuits are being filed left and right.

He's being accused of being of these hate crimes against these religious minorities or majorities

whatever they were at the time.

Right.

You could just hear the the grumbling going on.

But here's the thing you destroy someone's idol that doesn't mean that their idol is destroyed in their heart.

And that's the point now.

Josiah then having read in the Scriptures the requirement to keep the Passover it's

been a long time since there's been a Passover in Jerusalem.

And what does he do.

Well it's time to celebrate the Passover that type and shadow celebration

which points to the sacrifice that God will give so that we can be set free from

slavery to sin death and the devil the sacrificing of the lambs and all of that

recounting the what took place in the exodus that points us to the finished work of Christ.

He prepares that and they fulfill that things are going really well.

And you think this is the best King ever.

Right.

Well here's the thing.

And Josiah is not the Messiah.

Josiah is a sinner like you and I.

And as a result of that despite all of his good he is also prone to

the same kind of sinful foolishness that we all are prone to.

And this is something we must keep in mind that even our best good works they do

not save us.

And even our best good works still are tainted with sin because in this lifetime

we still have a sinful nature to contend with.

And as a result of it what follows next is well the closest

thing that I can read in Scripture that really reminds me of the concept of an Achilles heel.

Right.

But there's something hidden in here that I think is interesting if you were to consider it in the types and shadows.

And here's how this goes.

Then in chapter in verse 20 of chapter 35 of 2nd Chronicles it says.

After all of this when Josiah had prepared the temple Niko the king of Egypt went out

to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates and Josiah went out to meet him.

So little bit of what's going on here.

So Niko is Pharaoh of Egypt.

He's the king of Egypt and he's heading up to well to wage war against Carchemish.

Well guess whose highway they have to travel on and which territory they have to travel through that

would put them going through Judah.

And you'll know that I think it's a little unnerving having a large army from Egypt traveling through

your neck of the woods in order to go to fight a battle against Carchemish.

And so it's no wonder that Josiah wants to do something about this.

But you'll think about this.

He should know that the right thing for him to do if he's really truly having anxiety and

believing that Niko has designs on Judah who should he be inquiring of.

Who should he be praying to.

What should he be relying on.

He should be relying on Yahweh.

He we know that he can inquire of Yahweh through hold of the prophetess.

We also know from the Torah that he can inquire of God through the high priest because of the Urim and the

Thummim.

He can ask God questions and God can do things.

And we also know from the account of his great great great grandfather Jehoshaphat that he is

capable of praying to God and calling out to him in time of trouble.

And this is what he should have done.

But instead he relies on his own strategies

his own sneakiness his own designs and it goes terrible for him.

So here's what happens.

He goes out to meet Pharaoh Niko and so Pharaoh Niko sent envoys to

Josiah saying what 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 but against the house with which I am at war and God has

commanded me to hurry.

Weird thing in the Hebrew here we have God is the word Elohim.

But he's using singular verbs.

God has.

He has commanded me.

That's odd behavior for a pagan Egyptian king which means Niko is

legitimately on a mission from God because you wouldn't expect somebody who believes in the

gods of Egypt to be talking in this way.

So Niko is compelled and so he says listen.

God has commanded me to hurry.

So please cease opposing God who is with me lest God destroy you.

Nevertheless Josiah did not turn away from him but hit listen to these words.

He disguised himself in order to fight with him.

You know that didn't work well so well for a Haas did it it then.

No I didn't really work for a Haas.

And it didn't work for for Josiah either.

So he disguised himself in order to fight with Pharaoh Niko.

He didn't listen to the words of Niko and listen to what the text says.

He did not listen to the words of Niko from the mouth of God but he came to fight in the

plain of Megiddo.

If Josiah had just inquired of Yahweh he would have heard

from Yahweh that Niko was doing God's business.

But he didn't even check didn't even ask didn't even pray.

He thought he knew better.

He's now disguised himself.

And here's what it says at Megiddo.

Hmm.

Har Megiddo.

Have you heard of the term Armageddon.

This is the same place where the last battle will be fought on earth the plain of Megiddo.

And it says the archers shot King Josiah.

And then the king said to his servants take me away.

I'm badly wounded.

So his servants took him out of the chariot carried him in his second chariot and brought him to Jerusalem.

And he died.

And he was buried in the tombs of his fathers.

All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

And this and notably Jeremiah also uttered a lament for Josiah poor

Jeremiah man the weeping prophet.

Because with all of these things happening you can just see that there was a glimmer of hope in

Jeremiah that somehow that things would turn around.

And now with the death of Josiah what would come of all of his reforms.

Where would Judah go.

And in all the singing men and singing 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 acts of Josiah his good deeds according to what is written in the law of Yahweh and his acts first

and last behold they are written in the books of the kings of Israel and of Judah.

And we know what happens when you read the history of Judah.

And what comes next from that the time of Josiah's death.

Judah goes on a pagan religious bender is the best way I 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

their heart.

And as a result of it God does follow through on his threats and he ends up acting in

wrath against Judah.

And only a remnant of them will survive when King Nebuchadnezzar attacks from Babylon

as an agent of God's wrath.

And then those who survived were marched off to captivity in Babylon.

Mmm such a good.

You're right.

And that's the thing you know who Josiah reminds me of me.

He reminds me of you guys.

It reminds us reminds me of all of us despite all the good work that we do

because we are saved by grace through faith we still sin.

And we make really tragic bad awful decisions.

And you'll note that Josiah's death doesn't lead to salvation

for Judah.

Instead it leads them back into apostasy.

But I can think of another king of Judah who also died a tragically young at a tragically

young age.

In fact he reigned for just the briefest amount of time.

If 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 life was disguised.

Let me explain.

You see in the book of Philippians it talks about Christ.

Even though he was by nature God he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.

But he 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 humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross.

And you'll note then we can kind of say about Jesus that he is absolutely God in human

flesh.

But he was God in human flesh kind of disguised.

If you would we have no accounts of people from Nazareth talking about how when Jesus was a

boy they could always tell who the Son of God was because he glowed in the dark.

You know nothing like that right.

And of course none of the kids complained and said every time we play hide -and -seek Jesus would always know exactly where we

were.

Okay.

Nothing like that at all.

And so Jesus legitimately God of God light of light very God of very God begotten not

made being of one substance with the Father was found among us

in disguise.

If you would incognito turned the glory off and was

obedient to the point of death even death on the cross you'll note that Josiah's disguise got him

killed.

And I would note Jesus's disguise got him killed as well.

But unlike Josiah Jesus's actually has significance.

Because Jesus didn't lose his life he laid down his life.

And it's true that he tragically died at a young age.

Jesus in his early 30s is crucified for your sins and for mine.

But note here he did reign as king of Judah for just the briefest

amount of time because as we will see in our good and our Palm

Sunday Passion Sunday passages he was declared to be the king of the Jews by none

other than the governor of Rome who was there Pontius Pilate.

In fact they brought Jesus out before the crowd wearing a crown of thorns dressed in a robe of

purple and he even Pilate made clear to understand here is your king.

It was a brutal inauguration and anointing with blood for sure.

And Jesus reigned for a little over six hours as the king of Judah

before he perished and died.

But you'll note his first act as king rather than

destroy idolaters he came instead to

die for them so that they can be forgiven and pardoned.

And he destroyed the works of the devil not by destroying

temples and things like this but allowing his body the temple of God itself to be

destroyed to be made derelict and die so that you and I

can be forgiven and pardoned.

And Jesus upon his death burial and resurrection things don't get worse

on planet Earth.

In fact you can legitimately say his word has gone forth.

The good news of the gospel has reached to the ends of the earth.

People have been brought out of darkness and sin into the light of God and the forgiveness and

mercy that is in him.

They went from being idolaters and enemies of God to now being sons and daughters

of God himself by adoption because of the shed blood of Christ.

And I would note that this good news has gone out in such a way that it has literally

destroyed more pagan temples than Josiah could possibly shake a stick at.

Because where the gospel has truly taken root people have stopped worshiping the false vain

mythologies invented by humans and inspired by demons and have instead repented.

And the one true God yeah what Josiah's death

was incapable of producing Jesus's death did.

And I would note the parallels between the two are quite fascinating but

almost kind of like in a mirror image Josiah the sinner Christ the sinless spotless Lamb of God.

And although Josiah he celebrated the Passover for the very first time in

his life Jesus is truly our Passover lamb who takes away the sin of the world.

So don't forget these things.

And so as we wrap up our midweek Lenten services Lent a time of reflection on

God's law a time to reflect on our own sin and the things 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 each and every one of us we are more like Josiah than we would

care to admit.

And we need to recognize that oftentimes we rely upon our own strength our own wisdom our own strategies

our own ideas.

And that always will get us in trouble rather than trusting in what God's Word says and

following what he has instructed us in his word.

So let us again repent but let us also have confidence in the forgiveness and mercy by the great great great

grandson of Josiah who laid down his life willingly so that you and I can be forgiven and pardoned

in the name of Jesus.

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