MY PEOPLE ARE NOT READY

 

 

Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.  And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David.  He did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

 

For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, 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 wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images.           (II Chronicles 34:1-3)

 

I write today from the heart.  As I look around me at the worlds’ condition, I wonder what will happen and when.  I see the economic collapse of our global infrastructure as we know it today.  I see nation rising against nation, people against people, and churches against churches.  People are determined to do what they want whether it be right or wrong; just so long as their flesh is satisfied.  Where is God’s called out people?  Do they not see or care enough about themselves or others’ conditions that they just ignore what is happening?  So many call themselves “Christians” and claim to be followers of Yeshua (Christ) but where is the evidence of this?  It has been 2000 years since our Lord walked this earth and called for His people to be redeemed back to God – He said, “Take up the cross and follow Me..”.  Who takes up the cross today and lives like He told us to do or walks in the truths that He taught us? 

 

Josiah found God when he was sixteen years old (the eighth year of his reign).  Just think – 16 years old! I didn’t find God until I was almost 30 and I have followed Him for over 30 years now.  I’ve been a long time searching, praying, reading and relying on Him and the power of the Holy Spirit (the Ruach HaKodesh) to give me wisdom and understanding into whom this Man was.  But what I read in the Scriptures leaves me in doubt as to people who are calling themselves Christians and the life they are living.  The two don’t seem to be lining up, at least in this day and age. 

 

Here we see a very young man who was seeking God and was so moved by what he discovered that just four years later (at the age of 20), he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images.  II Chronicles 34:4-5 goes on to tell us:

 

They broke down the altars of the Baal’s in his presence, and the incense altars which were above them he cut down; and the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images he broke in pieces, and made dust of them and scattered it on 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.

 

Josiah decided to take action in order to make things right.  There was a proper order to his actions.  First, he found God.  Second, he prayed and sought God’s directions.  Third, he took action (at the appointed time).  I’m sure he wept while seeking God’s directions.  It’s not an easy thing to walk in His ways.  We are commanded to “walk out our salvation”.  This means that we first have to find God’s direction for our lives and walk as He walked before we begin to “do things for God”.  You see He wants us to understand the importance of living according to His commandments.  He came to show us that even though temptation is all around us, we can live a different kind of life; one that reflects His characteristic traits and not the world’s. 

 

Josiah understood what God wanted him to do when he reached the age of twenty (12 years into his reign as king).  He started with Judah and Jerusalem; right there where he lived (home of his father David).  We always need to start the cleansing process within ourselves and in our homes.

 

He also did a very strange thing here.  He made dust of the images and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.  Not only that, he also burned the bones of the priests on their altars!  Now what would make him do that?  At this time, Josiah only knew in his heart that this was the right thing to do.  He did not know of a prophecy that was given in the time of Jeroboam’s reign by a man of God some 300 hundred years before Josiah’s birth.  This prophecy is found in I Kings 13:1-3.

 

II Chronicles verses 6 – 7 says:  And so he did in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, as far as Naphtali and all around with axes (swords).  When he had broken down the altars and the wooden images, had beaten the carved images into powder, and cut down all the incense altars throughout ALL THE LAND OF ISRAEL, he returned to Jerusalem.

 

Here we see that Josiah not only purged Judah and Jerusalem, but he went throughout the entire land of Israel, to the northern kingdom as well as the southern kingdom of Judah, to accomplish this task.   While we are in the cleansing process of our own lives we need to be aware of how we are influencing the lives of our friends and family.  We need to show them that the change in us is not just temporary, but is permanent.  That means that once we have been purged, we need to continue the process within ourselves to remain in this condition.  Every day we wash the dirt and grim off ourselves in the natural.  But by the end of the day, we are once again dirty.  So the washing must once again take place in order for us to be clean. 

 

Josiah began the process with himself and his immediate surroundings in Judah and Jerusalem.  Then we find him going throughout the whole land of Israel to do the same thing.  This speaks of how we conduct our lives when out in public.  By our actions and our words, do people see the change in us and want to clean up their lives as a result of our testimony?  Maybe there is not enough of the Spirit of God in us or our actions to make people want to change.  Are we compromising with the world’s system so that we can “fit in”?  Are we afraid to show people that we are changed and serving God?

 

“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.  But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.”  (Matthew 10:32-33)

 

Yeshua/Jesus tells us straight up that He is the one who grants us entrance into His kingdom by our (every day) actions.  Do we deny Him or do we show others that our lives are changed as a result of our relationship with Him?  If our lives are changed, then it shows.  Words are not adequate in our descriptions, but actions show what our words should convey.  Josiah took action which showed that he was determined to make God the ultimate ruler in all of Israel.  Are we determined to make God the ultimate ruler in our own lives?  If we are, then it will show.

 

II Chronicles 34 goes on to tell us that in the eighteenth year of his reign (when he was 26 years old) after he had purged the land and the temple, he sent men whom he could trust to repair the house of the Lord.  Not only did he have to clean up the land, but the house of the Lord had deteriorated to such a point that it needed a cleansing too.  What about our churches and synagogues today?  Do they need a purging and cleansing?  Apparently so.  There doesn’t seem to be much life or action coming from them.

 

“For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

I Peter 4:17

 

You see God is going to judge mankind.  Peter warns us that judgment begins at the house of God.  Josiah knew that the house of God was in need of repair; not only physically, but spiritually as well.   

 

While the repair was being done, Hilkiah, the priest, found the Book of the Law of the Lord given by Moses (the Torah).  If he found it, then apparently it had been discarded and not used for a very long time.  So the people were “doing their own thing” and not following God’s commandments.  This is why the house of God was in need of repair.  No one was following God any more.  Idolatry was rampant.  Pagan worship was being done and God had been left out of their lives.  They were following the false gods of their forefathers.  They were involved with worldly things and immorality was running rampant. 

 

The Torah was brought to Josiah who had never seen it before.  It was read to him and when Shaphan had finished reading, Josiah tore his clothes.  He inquired of the Lord through the priests and trembled at the knowledge that God’s judgment had been poured out on the people because they had not kept the word of the Lord to do according to all that was written in it. 

 

Why do we see terrible things happening in the world today?  It’s because of the wrath of God pouring out His judgment on us.  We have been disobedient to His Word.  We have not followed His commandments given to us in the Torah.  We have not taken action to show others that, no matter what, we will follow and obey the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  We have not sacrificed our lives to the point of total commitment to God.  We have allowed the gods of this world to infiltrate and penetrate every fiber of our being just so we are not marked as “different” or “odd” or “crazy”, or “religious”, etc.  We are not willing to suffer persecution for the sake of our Lord.

 

Yeshua said in Matthew 24:44, “Therefore, you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not expect Him.”  I for one, do not want to face the Messiah and have Him say to me, ‘Depart, I know you not’.

 

The title of this message is “My People Are Not Ready”.  Are you ready?  Do you have the strength of Josiah to go and tear down all of the Baal’s in your life?  Are you willing to face persecution by standing up for righteousness?   Do you want to be counted among the faithful?  God says that there is only a remnant that will be faithful ‘til the end.

 

Josiah removed all the abominations from all the country that belonged to the children of Israel, and made all who were present in Israel diligently serve the Lord their God.  All his days they did not depart from following the Lord God of their fathers.

II Chronicles 34:33