one of the brightest eras in the history of Judah. When he was 20 josiah began a religious reformation which shook the whole nation to its foundation. He purged the land of its false gods and places of evil worship. He personally witnessed the breaking down of the altars of Baal. That was a great day for the forces of right eousness. The worship of the one true God was restored. Is that not what America and the world needs today? How desper ate we are for leaders in high places who will bring our people back to the Lord. Unless we do, this nation like so many others in the past, is ultimately doomed. Josiah also restored the temple vs. 8). That was a tremendous thing! It is useless to build for God without first dealing with sin. That was the order that this dedicated sovereign followed. Jeremiah, the prophet, assisted Josiah in prepar ing for this strategic revival (Jere miah 1:2). I ask the question, "How can we truly have revival in the church and in Christendom while we condone spiritual idolatry and compromise with apostasy?" The Christian who obeys whatever spir itual life he has always will receive more light from the Lord. Apostasy and spiritual declina tion always follows an ignorance of God's Word. Because of the sin fulness of Josiah's forefathers, the Scriptures had been lost in the dust of the decaying temple. Up to this time evidentally (vs. 15, 16) the king had never heard the Word of the Lord. It made a tremendous impact on his life. Even in our day the Bible is also neglected. It is taken for granted. We need to bring the people back to the Lord or
there is absolutely no hope for our nation. When the king heard the warn ings of the Word of God (Deuter onomy 31:16) he tore his clothes as a sign of his great concern and grief. Grace was granted to Josiah because of his sincere revival and repentance, having found the first five books of the law. Josiah gath ered all his kingdom together to hear the Word of the Lord. He publicly made a covenant to obey God with all his heart. He kept the passover in Jerusalem (II Chron icles 35:1). It was the greatest ob servance since the days of the prophet Samuel. There was a spon taneous sincerity echoing from the hearts of the people. In humility, zeal and unselfish service they all came back to God. The reason was because they had a ruler who truly wanted to worship the Lord, desir ing the best for his own people. May we, too, learn the lesson Jo siah's faithful and rewarded life teaches us. In II Chronicles 35 we saw how a wonderful young man, Josiah, came to the throne of Judah when he was a very young boy of eight. He followed the depraved leader ship of Manasseh, his grandfather. This king had brought terrible abominations to the land. God used Josiah in a great spiritual reforma tion and revival. Digging through the temple ruins the Word of the Lord was discovered. How refresh ing it is to see a spiritual transfor mation in the lives of the people. An elderly pastor once told me, "Every man is similar to the image described in Daniel: "he has feet of clay!" So it was with King Josiah, too. He started out so well, but un fortunately the latter end of his Page 43
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