3-4 Josiah, An Obedient King – Part 2

 

Today we will finish our study of Josiah’s obedience to God with some comments on the last four points listed in yesterday’s lesson.

 

1. Josiah found the truth because he had an honest desire to honor and follow God. Josiah knew about God from his mother as we discussed yesterday. But he did not have the word of God. Copies of the word of God were not in the general possession of the people of God. The originals, carved on stone had long since been lost. When the children of Israel had entered the promised land, they built a very large altar, plastered it and wrote the entire law on it (Deut. 27:1-11; Josh. 8:30-35). No doubt, that altar had long since been ignored or destroyed. Without the written word of God, Josiah was trying to serve God with all his heart.  That included repairing the temple. It was during the repair that the workers found a copy of the word of God. Let me use this event to explain an important principle of God’s word.

Many times people ask if others who have never heard God’s word are lost. Can they not be saved if they are ignorant of the word of God? The Bible is clear. All have sinned (Rom. 3:10, 23). Salvation is only in Christ (Acts 4:12; Jn. 14:6).  Forgiveness comes only through the blood of Christ (Eph. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:18-19). That means that those who have not heard the word have sinned and they must come to Christ for salvation. How can they if they have never heard of Him? Just as Josiah found the law of God because he was fully desirous of serving him, God promises the same to those today, who, though ignorant are searching for the truth. God will get His truth to such people. Consider Acts 17:24-27 where Paul addresses the condition of men all over the world and their responsibility to seek God. God is not far away from anyone and can be found by those who seek him. You may ask, how do they know whom to seek?  They may not know him by name. But a reasoning young man or woman is expected by God to look around at the wonders of creation and properly arrive at the truth of a creator (Rom. 1:19-20; Acts 14:15-17; Ps. 19:1). Having arrived at the correct conclusion, they should continue their search for truth. If they do not love truth, they will be allowed to be deceived by false ideas (atheism, agnosticism) or false religion (idolatry, denominationalism, a perverted gospel) (2 Thess. 2:10-12). But, if they love the truth and are diligent in their search, God has promised that He will get his revealed will into their hands. We all will be judged by the word (Jn. 12:48). Our God is just and loving. As Josiah found the truth because he was willing to obey it, so shall all who have that spirit of obedience.

 

I will try to keep the rest of these a little shorter for your reading pleasure.

 

2. He accepted God’s word as the authoritative standard. Did you notice in 2 Kgs.22:11 that Josiah tore his clothes in abject penitence at his and Israel’s failure to obey the law of God? Did you notice in the following verses that his first thought was to inquire of the Lord to escape the wrath of God? Did you notice in 2 Kgs. 23:2-3 how may times the word all is found. 1: And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. 2: And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD. 3: And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book.  And all the people stood to the covenant. This is the reverence that should be shown before the word of God, our standard for salvation and living.

 

3. Josiah followed the law and restored the true worship of God. Josiah did not lament only. As always when we come face to face with the word of God, it is not time to hesitate, it is time to change. Josiah changed. So many with whom I study will acknowledge certain truths, but never make any changes in their faith or practice. Some somehow have the idea that they will be able to convince God that His word was good in a general way, but its details were really too much to follow or change our lives over. The very idea of repentance is changing. There can no growth without changing.

Another thought based on this principle.  When Josiah found the law book and followed what it said, he did not form a new religion just because he was starting over again. He restored the religion of God that had been ignored for decades.  Today, in 2004, when men in any city, state or country take the New Testament law of Christ, the standard of Christianity, and follow it, they will not have formed a new church. If I take the Standard Manual of Baptist Churches and organize a group after it, I will not have formed a new church, but a new congregation of the Baptist denomination. It I take the Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church and form a congregation, I have not established a new denomination, but a new congregation of the Methodist church. If I take the Book of Order and the Book of Confessions of the Presbyterian Church and follow them to start a congregation in a new city, I have not begun a new denomination. Each of these books is the standard of faith and organization for their denominations. When we follow them we make a carbon copy of the other congregations of that denomination. By the same token, if I take the Bible, and form a congregation based on it’s instructions, I have not begun a denomination. Rather, I have begun a new congregation of the church of Jesus Christ. The Bible is the only standard for his church, so the new congregation will be a carbon copy of the Lord’s church in the New Testament. The Lord’s church, of course, is not a denomination (which means to divide). If we follow the standard, the Bible, I can build Christ’s church in the same way Josiah restored Mosaic worship.

 

4. His obedience included fighting against sin in the land. When we read chapter 23 of 2 Kings, we find that Josiah was militant about destroying false religion and false living in Judah. We too, in the New Testament church are to be militant. We are an army (Eph. 6:11-17). We are taught not to tolerate false teaching or false living in the church (1 Jn. 4:1; Rom. 16:17-18; Jude 3; Tit. 2:10; 2 Thess. 3:6, 14). May we, like Josiah, turn to God with all our heart to do all his commandments.

    

Mike Glenn