The Word for today:
2 Kings 22, 23
2 Kings 22, 23
mark this: 2 Kings 22:8--
"I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD."
"I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD."
and this: 2 Kings 23:21--
"Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant."
"Keep the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant."
Perhaps you parents out there should shield your sons' and daughters' eyes from what they will see in chapter 23 of 2 Kings.
As the great King Josiah systematically dismantles the idolatry in Judah, a list of idols, shrines, altars, false prophets, abominations, desolations, and desecrations passes in review like some perverse parade to perdition. Here comes the parade:
Then the king instructed Hilkiah the high priest to remove from the LORD's Temple all the utensils that were used to worship Baal, Asherah, and all the forces of heaven.
He did away with the pagan priests, for they had offered incense to Baal, and to the sun, the moon, the constellations, and to all the forces of heaven.
The king removed the Asherah pole from the LORD's Temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it.
He also tore down the houses of the shrine prostitutes that were inside the Temple of the LORD, where the women wove coverings for the Asherah pole.
He also defiled all the pagan shrines, where they had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba.
Then the king defiled the altar of Topheth in the valley of Ben-hinnom, so no one could ever again use it to sacrifice a son or daughter in the fire as an offering to Molech.
He removed from the entrance of the LORD's Temple the horse statues that the former kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun.
The king also burned the chariots dedicated to the sun.
The king destroyed the altars that Manasseh had built in the two courtyards of the LORD's Temple.
The king also desecrated the pagan shrines east of Jerusalem and south of the Mount of Corruption, where King Solomon of Israel had built shrines for Ashtoreth, the detestable goddess of the Sidonians; and for Chemosh, the detestable god of the Moabites; and for Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites.
He smashed the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah poles. Then he desecrated these places by scattering human bones over them.
The king also tore down the altar at Bethel, the pagan shrine that Jeroboam son of Nebat had made when he led Israel into sin. Josiah crushed the stones to dust and burned the Asherah pole.
Then Josiah demolished all the buildings at the pagan shrines in the towns of Samaria, just as he had done at Bethel.
He executed the priests of the pagan shrines on their own altars, and he burned human bones on the altars to desecrate them.
Josiah also exterminated the mediums and psychics, the household gods, and every other kind of idol worship, both in Jerusalem and throughout the land of Judah.
He did away with the pagan priests, for they had offered incense to Baal, and to the sun, the moon, the constellations, and to all the forces of heaven.
The king removed the Asherah pole from the LORD's Temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it.
He also tore down the houses of the shrine prostitutes that were inside the Temple of the LORD, where the women wove coverings for the Asherah pole.
He also defiled all the pagan shrines, where they had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba.
Then the king defiled the altar of Topheth in the valley of Ben-hinnom, so no one could ever again use it to sacrifice a son or daughter in the fire as an offering to Molech.
He removed from the entrance of the LORD's Temple the horse statues that the former kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun.
The king also burned the chariots dedicated to the sun.
The king destroyed the altars that Manasseh had built in the two courtyards of the LORD's Temple.
The king also desecrated the pagan shrines east of Jerusalem and south of the Mount of Corruption, where King Solomon of Israel had built shrines for Ashtoreth, the detestable goddess of the Sidonians; and for Chemosh, the detestable god of the Moabites; and for Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites.
He smashed the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah poles. Then he desecrated these places by scattering human bones over them.
The king also tore down the altar at Bethel, the pagan shrine that Jeroboam son of Nebat had made when he led Israel into sin. Josiah crushed the stones to dust and burned the Asherah pole.
Then Josiah demolished all the buildings at the pagan shrines in the towns of Samaria, just as he had done at Bethel.
He executed the priests of the pagan shrines on their own altars, and he burned human bones on the altars to desecrate them.
Josiah also exterminated the mediums and psychics, the household gods, and every other kind of idol worship, both in Jerusalem and throughout the land of Judah.
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What had caused Israel to fall so far into idolatry?
The answer is in chapter 22: Israel had stopped reading their Bibles.
The answer is in chapter 22: Israel had stopped reading their Bibles.
The scriptures had been lost in, of all places, the Temple!
Probably the easiest place for the Word of the Lord to get lost is in a church. Things can be in plain sight, but for all practical purposes be lost without our knowing it.
Probably the easiest place for the Word of the Lord to get lost is in a church. Things can be in plain sight, but for all practical purposes be lost without our knowing it.
Church after church across our land has descended into moralizing, philosophizing, and the preaching of piety and platitudes. There's many a preacher who is more concerned with his cute little introductory story every week than with the redeeming blood of the Son, the renewing power of the Spirit, and the perfect plan of the Father.
Then what caused this great spiritual revival in the time of King Josiah? They'd started reading their Bibles again! The scriptures had been found in the Temple--
Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, "I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the LORD." He gave it to Shaphan, who read it.
Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.
When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes.
"Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the LORD's anger that burns against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us." (2Ki 22:8-13)
Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.
When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes.
"Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the LORD's anger that burns against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us." (2Ki 22:8-13)
Just a few paragraphs ago, I wrote that the easiest place for the Word of the Lord to get lost is in the church--because everybody supposes it is being followed there, when often it has just become elevator music, part of the background that nobody really listens to.
Now I want to remind you that the easiest place to find the Word of the LORD is in the church!
Just paragraphs ago, I slammed the lukewarm and powerless moralizing that passes for preaching in many churches. Now I'm here to tell you that somewhere in your city a man, by the power of God's Holy Spirit, stands foursquare every Sunday, preaching the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Just paragraphs ago, I slammed the lukewarm and powerless moralizing that passes for preaching in many churches. Now I'm here to tell you that somewhere in your city a man, by the power of God's Holy Spirit, stands foursquare every Sunday, preaching the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
How can we tell the difference? How can we determine whether or not the Word of the LORD is being faithfully preached? The difference is in the blood:
King Josiah then issued this order to all the people: "You must celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in the Book of the Covenant." There had not been a Passover celebration like that since the time when the judges ruled in Israel, throughout all the years of the kings of Israel and Judah. (2 Kings 23:21-22)
King Josiah then issued this order to all the people: "You must celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in the Book of the Covenant." There had not been a Passover celebration like that since the time when the judges ruled in Israel, throughout all the years of the kings of Israel and Judah. (2 Kings 23:21-22)
The celebration of the Passover, the central ceremony of Israel's faith, had not occurred for 500 years or more.
The Passover is the Old Testament's most vivid picture of the cross of Jesus Christ. At Passover, the blood of a lamb was applied to the threshold of the door. If the LORD saw the blood, the death angel passed over. If the blood was not applied, the death angel put the first born of every household to death, from the poorest of the people to the household of Pharaoh. The only difference between life and death was the blood of the lamb.
The Passover is the Old Testament's most vivid picture of the cross of Jesus Christ. At Passover, the blood of a lamb was applied to the threshold of the door. If the LORD saw the blood, the death angel passed over. If the blood was not applied, the death angel put the first born of every household to death, from the poorest of the people to the household of Pharaoh. The only difference between life and death was the blood of the lamb.
The test of faithful preaching in our time--since the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world--is whether the cross is the central issue. Are we being taught that the only thing that stands between ourselves and eternal separation from God is the blood of Jesus?
Chapters 22 and 23 of 2 Kings hold the key to the history of the church. Our churches are dead inside when the Word of the LORD is bloodless and powerless, when the empty philosophies of man start to creep in.
Our churches come alive when the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the central tenet of our teaching.
The blood of the Lamb is the test. The blood of Jesus makes all the difference.
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