As it was in the
Days of Josiah
Wait until you
hear about a young King over the kingdom of Judah. He was a good and righteous king, and many
have heard of him, but did you know there is a connection between Josiah and
the days we are living in right now (currently January 2016).
Around 931 BC -
1Kings 13:1 And, behold, there came a man of God out
of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar
to burn incense. 2 And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and
said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; “Behold, a child shall be born
unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the
priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall
be burnt upon thee”. 3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is
the sign which the LORD hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the
ashes that are upon it shall be poured out”. 4 And it came to pass, when king
Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar
in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, “Lay hold on him”.
And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not
pull it in again to him. 5 The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out
from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the
word of the LORD. 6 And the king answered and said unto the man of God, “Entreat
now the face of the LORD thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored
me again.” And the man of God besought the LORD, and the king's hand was
restored him again, and became as it was before.
Then, around 640
BC (almost 300 years later) -
2Ki 22:1 Josiah was eight years old when he
began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his
mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath. 2 And he did
that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of
David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.
2Kings 22:3 And it came to pass in the eighteenth year
of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of
Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD…
2Kings 22:8 And Hilkiah the high priest said unto
Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of
the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it…10 And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king,
saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before
the king.
2Kings 22:11 Now it happened, when the king heard the
words of the Book of the Law, that he tore his clothes. 12 Then the king
commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Achbor the son of
Michaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king, saying, 13
"Go, inquire of the LORD for me, for the people and for all Judah,
concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the
wrath of the LORD that is aroused against us, because our fathers have not
obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written
concerning us."
2Kings 22:14 So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor,
Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son
of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe. (She dwelt in Jerusalem
in the Second Quarter.) And they spoke with her. 15
Then she said to them, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel, 'Tell the man
who sent you to Me, 16 "Thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I will bring
calamity on this place and on its inhabitants-all the words of the book which
the king of Judah has read- 17 'because they have forsaken Me and burned
incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works
of their hands. Therefore My wrath shall be aroused against this place
and shall not be quenched.'"'
2Kings 22:18 "But as for the king of Judah, who
sent you to inquire of the LORD, in this manner you shall speak to him, 'Thus
says the LORD God of Israel: "Concerning the words which you have heard-
19 "because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before the
LORD when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its
inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and you tore your
clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you," says the LORD. 20
"Surely, therefore, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be
gathered to your grave in peace; and your eyes shall not see all the calamity
which I will bring on this place."'" So they brought back word to the
king.
There are two
points I want to make:
1. What Josiah
experienced when he read the Book of the Law (the Torah) he realized that his
fathers before him had ignored the commandments of Yehovah and were due to
receive His wrath. Now, I don’t think he
was upset as much about the “wrath” part, as he was about the fact that the God
of Israel had given them a book; centuries before given to Moses. They all knew that had happened, but had
forgotten the book and what was in it.
They had gotten to the point where they didn’t think the Law of God was
relevant anymore. Generations had gotten
farther and farther away from God’s Laws and hadn’t even realized it.
2. What Josiah went
through is EXACTLY what I experienced about 8 years ago now. When I was introduced to the Book of the Law,
I was shocked. When I read it for
myself, it was SO CLEAR that the words contained there were the TRUTH from
Almighty God. They were not “done away
with” – a lie the Devil has been telling God’s people for centuries – and quite
successfully.
I began to realize
that there were things in God’s Law that not only should I be doing, but I
could do them. They were not difficult
and yet were very important to God – or He would not have commanded us to do
them. The more I learned, the angrier I
got at the “church” of Jesus Christ for “forgetting, ignoring and telling
people the Law was no longer relevant”.
The people of Josiah’s day had done the same – his father, grandfather
and perhaps further back had all bought into that lie. They didn’t even know they HAD the Book of
the LAW in the House of the LORD (Yehovah)!
For me, I had the
Book of the LAW right in the very same King James Bible I had been reading and
studying from for the past 24 years! It
was right in front of me but I had inherited lies from previous generations. First I got angry, then a little scared but
mostly ashamed that I had acted so shamefully toward my God. I had been no better than the people of
Israel and Judah thousands of years ago.
My GOD deserved so
much better than that. This is MY GOD
who sent His “Only Begotten Son – Yeshua” to die a horrible death on that cross
on a hill outside Jerusalem. He died for
me. He paid the penalty that was due by
me for all my sins! This God who found
me, I didn’t find Him – he searched me out and opened my eyes that I might
receive salvation from Yeshua! He
forgave me of all my sins. He placed His
precious Holy Spirit inside me to “seal the covenant” and to teach me, guide me
and direct my path.
And yet, after I
had received this AMAZING GRACE and free gift from God, I continued in the way
of my fathers. I continued following
false teachings, false doctrines, and lies about the LAW of God.
I was not
alone. I know and have met many more
believers who went through the same thing.
They too were deceived. They too believed the lies. Then they found the Book of the LAW of
Moses. They started to read it. They learned things about their God that they
had never known. They learned what He
calls “righteousness”. They learned how
He defines “holiness”. They also learned
what He calls “SIN” – the transgression of His Torah!
Just like Josiah,
many of them became angry. Many became
ashamed. They never knew they had
profaned the Name of their God by defying His Ways. No one had ever told them that before! Why not?
Because just as the people of Josiah’s day, they had forgotten they even
had God’s Law and dismissed it, ignored it and considered it irrelevant.
Well, guess
what? If you are even remotely part of
Western Christianity, you are in the same place. You too have believed the lies. You too have
ignored the Book of the LAW of your God.
You probably are hearing this and saying, “He’s wrong. That is done away with!” Yep, that’s what
you’ve been told. If you went to your
pastor today, he would tell you the same thing.
He might even be able to bring up 1 or 2 Bible verses that he thinks
prove his point. For most people, that
is good enough and they can go right back to sleep.
YOU however need
to be different! YOU need to consider
what Josiah did and what he discovered.
What if I told you that thousands of people all across the world have
been discovering the same Truths that Josiah discovered – for about the past 10
years or less? This is a relatively recent thing that God is doing. You are hearing about this because God is
calling His people back to His “ancient path”.
NONE of this is
some “new-fangled” attempt to get you to like church. MY GOD.
This is exactly what God did with king Josiah. Someone found the Torah (the first 5 Books of
Moses); gave it to the king and he read it.
You have this same Book of the Law in your very own Bible right
now. Go to the beginning of the Book and
read Genesis through Deuteronomy. Learn
things about the God you claim to love and serve. Be ashamed when you find out how you have
ignored His Ways.
That is actually
“prophesied” in the Torah that God’s people would turn away from Him over time,
and eventually would realize their error (SIN) and they would be ashamed, then
they would TURN back to God. He calls this
turning back “REPENTANCE”. That word is
thrown around a lot in church circles, but biblically it means to “Turn back to
the commandments of God”.
I know this can
seem overwhelming. Read his Book of the Law for yourself. Believe all that it says and realize “like
Josiah” that you and your people have failed to keep God’s ways. Cry out to God
and confess your SIN. Ask Him to forgive you by the same “Blood of the Lamb –
Yeshua (Jesus)” (I John 1:9) Then start learning how to keep His ways. There are lots of good teachers out there who
can help, BUT, remember, God has given you the BEST possible teacher you could
have. He has given you the GIFT of the
HOLY SPIRIT.
Ask God to open
your eyes and teach you wondrous things from His Word.
Psalm 119:18 Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous
things out of thy law. (KJV)
He will teach you
by His Spirit. Never forget the
salvation that Yeshua (Jesus) provided for you.
Believe it or not, that salvation is the only Way that you could even be
free of your sins so you COULD turn back to God. Without Yeshua, you would just be a lost
sinner without any “Atonement”. In the
old days, animals were sacrificed to “pay” or “atone for” your sins. Josiah had “only” that system to “cover” his
sins. We now have “ONLY” the “ONE WAY”
provided by the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
HE paid the price
SO THAT you could return to God. They
only way to actually show you have “returned” is to keep and do the
commandments of God. These are actually
the “works of righteousness” that we are taught in the New Testament we should
do. Nothing has changed. God’s Laws are eternal.
Do as King Josiah
did. Read the Book of the Law. Begin the “rest of the story” of your
adventure with God. In a nutshell I’ll
just say:
RETURN TO
YEHOVAH!
