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 hand or to the left.
2Chronicles 34:1-2
Sin will catch up to a person, one way or the other, especially does God hate the sins of His people. God will deal with sin, and He does through the circumstances of life. Judah and Israel even though separated into two nations were still God's chosen people but they had sinned over and over, their kings for the most part were evil. The study of Israel, the northern kingdom is one of despair for there is not to be found a king that did right in they eyes of God. Judah did not much better for many of the kings, such as Manasseh who did much evil and even was carried into captivity by the Assyrians and even though Manasseh turned his heart back to the LORD at then end of his life, God had already sent word that He would bring His wrath upon His people. Manasseh rebuilt the high places and altars to other gods and: "He even set a carved image of Asherah (A Cananite goddes of the Assyrians) that he had made, in the house of which the LORD had said to David and to Solomon his son, 'In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever; and I will not make the feet of Israel wander anyone from the land which I gave their fathers--only if they are careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that My servant Moses commanded them.' But they paid no attention, and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel" (2Kings 21:8-9). Notice this very important scripture: God will bless the nation of Israel--if they are careful to do according to all that He had commanded them, not a new commandment but the law that was given to the nation of Israel by Moses. Yet, they were seduced and did more evil than the nations around them: "Therefore says the LORD God of Israel: 'Behold, I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it both his will tingle" (2Kings 21: 12).
God's people cannot do what they please with impunity, God will deal with His children, and this He does through the circumstances of life. But who are God's people today? Is it natural Israel? Paul writes: "But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham;....Even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? As He says also in Hosea: 'I will call them My people, who were not My people, and her beloved, who was not beloved" (Romans 9:6-7a; 24-25). Where is the temple of God today? Is it still in Jerusalem? Paul tells the Corinthians: "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own" (1Corinthians 6:19)? If God would come against the people of ancient Israel due to their sin, how much more will He come against His people today after His Son has fulfilled the Law and established a new covenant? As good of a king that Josiah was, he still did not listen to God and acted foolishly by going to war with the Pharaoh of Egypt, Necho, who was going to war against Carchemish the city that the Assyrians had made their capital, an old Hittite city, and had not come to war against Judah, and even told Josiah that this war was commanded by God: "But he (Necho) sent messengers to him, (Josiah), saying, 'What have I to do with you, king of Judah? I have not come against you this day, but against the house with which I have war; for God commanded me to make haste. Refrain from meddling with God, who is with me, lest He destroy you" (2Chronicles 35:21). This is a picture of many Christians today who will not listen to the voice of God; His voice that is speaking to us today through His written word, and still those who will not listen think that they are doing a right thing, but are they? Or, are we like Josiah, faithful in almost all things: "Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself so that he might fight with him, and did not heed the words of Necho from the mouth of God. So he came to fight in the valley of Megiddo" (2Chronicles 35:22). A side note: Megiddo is where decisive battles are fought, and it is where we get the word Armageddon. Notice that Josiah did not come out against Necho as the king of Judah for he disguised himself not wanting the King to know it was him and he was disobeying the word of God. How did this work out for Josiah: "And the archers shot King Josiah; and the king said to his servants, 'Take me away, for I am severely wounded" (2Chronicles 35:23). Josiah's disobedience did not work out well for him, so why do we, those who are faithful in most all that God desires think that to be unfaithful and not fully trust God, that all things will work out well for them? Are we not the true Israelites? Are we not the temple of God, that God by His Holy Spirit lives in us? God does use others who are not His people to do His will and when we come to know that this is true in some circumstance we are to acknowledge that it is from God, but when we know that certain things are displeasing to God, as did Josiah who removed the idols, those high places of evil worship and restored the Passover and those sacrifices commanded by God, we are to do what God desires. We are not to sit passively by and by this passivity we tacitly approve of sin. This failure to do God's will is to be found where the doctrines of God are not followed, not even preached, not even understood by the people of God for they sit under poor teaching and preaching. The world has become part and parcel of many Churches and so often the people in those Churches do nothing, they remain for their ears are being tickled and they feel that they are doing what is right in the sight of God, but they are not: I do hope that you are taking time to check out your Church, your preacher, and this litmus for this examination is to be found in God's word. When people are mislead by their leaders and do nothing about it they suffer at the hands of God: "So I will forsake the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become victims of plunder to all their enemies, because they have done evil in My sight, and have provoked Me to anger since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day" (2Kings 21:14-15). It was the people that God came against for He did not just come against the King for the people knew what God had said, they knew the history of God's people, they were not stupid people, yet, as so often today they listened to their leaders for what was being said by their leaders was so good to their ears, to their senses, they found a way that made them feel holy: but they were not!
Do you think that God's people today are immune from His wrath? Do you think that you can continue to be apathetic to the sin that is happening in just this country? Where are the Christians? Why are they not standing up for the truth, for God's word? Why do they just sit by and allow for sin to invade their homes, teaching their children to follow after the ways of this world? Maybe, just maybe, they don't care! They feel that just be making a decision for Christ they are saved, they are going to heaven, and besides their leaders are telling them just what they want to hear. Is this you? I hope not! Until you come to understand the doctrines, those teachings of God that are found in the Bible you leave yourself open to false teaching; therefore I will in the upcoming blogs address those doctrines and you will have many Scriptures to examine for yourselves. Allow this illustration as to the apathetic attitudes so often by those claiming to be Christian. In the United States the population increased from 1933 when the population was 76,212,168 and grew at a rate of 405% so that in 2010 the population was 308,745,538. At the same time abortions skyrocketed from 71 in 1933 to 1,212,950 in 2008; try and calculate the percentage of growth, it is far above the growth of people in this nation, and divorce from 1900 where there was 56,000, to 1,305,994 in 2009; and all this in a country that claims to be Christian. Where are the Christians? Where are those who are willing to stand for the truth? It is interesting to note that the birth records show that they increase 405% matching the growth of this nation, but with so many abortions the growth was stagnant over the deaths. Wake up! Take a stand! Turn off the TV! Become involved! Do what you can by to stop this movement against the Church and one way that you can is to vote for men who are Christians, men who will use the word of God as a guide for making decisions, not as we have now, if I may digress with this political view, have a Mormon, a man who believes in a book, that which is his core belief, a book that teaches only two truths, Joseph Smith, Jr. did live, and the hill Cumorah is in New York, all other things written in that book are false, they do not exist. I will in time write on this false religion that is growing rapidly and misleading others. Why, as Christians do we not stand up and be counted? Let us get the truth about the doctrines of God, and this truth should lead us to be all that God wants us to be, an ambassador for Him.
And having been
set free from sin,
you became slaves
of righteousness.
Romans 6:18
God's Commandments Bring Life
Richard L. Crumb
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