2 Kings 22:1-20

Josiah was eight years old when he became king.  His father and grandfather had been wicked and idolatrous kings but his heart was tender before the Lord and he did what was right before the Lord.  God always has a remnant that He preserves within His people that will serve Him with faithfulness and holiness.  God is able to protect the hearts and minds of His children despite the evil influence in which they are being raised.  Josiah is a great example of this truth as he rejects the examples of his father and grandfather and chooses to follow the Lord.  We must all recognize that each generation is responsible for the choices that it makes.  We are influenced by our parents but our parents can never determine our walk before the Lord.  Each of us can and must chose to follow Him or are free to choose to disobey Him; but each of us will give an account before Him as to what we choose.

JOSIAH REPAIRS THE TEMPLE AND DISCOVERS THE WORD OF GOD: The temple of God had fallen into disrepair from the abuse of Amon and Manasseh.  Josiah gives instruction to hire faithful men to make the repairs to the house of God so that proper worship of the Lord could be restored.  Amazingly, in the process of repairing the temple, a copy of the Law of the Lord is found.  It is amazing that the Word of God had been ignored for so long that the King of Israel never even knew of its existence.  We must remember that the Word of God is only one generation away from extinction in the lives of our families.  If we do not teach the Word to our children and make sure that they are reading the Word on their own, we will find that our grandchildren do not care for the Word or really even know the Word of God at all.  God is fateful to preserve His Word and will bring it forward, but our children may not have the blessing of God’s Word if we choose to neglect it.

JOSIAH REPENTS BEFORE GOD AND DISCERNS THE WAY OF GOD: When Josiah read the Word of God, he immediately recognized that the children of Israel had lived in rebellion of God’s Word for many years and that he was not following it fully out of ignorance.  His response is to tear his clothes in a sign of humility before God and immediately repent of his sin.  He had a great fear and reverence before the Lord that he was able to learn from the Word of God.  This is the expected response when we are exposed to the Word of God.  We cannot simply read the Word as some sort of magic formula or means of protection.  We must compare our lives to the standard of God’s Word, recognize where we are failing and turn from our rebellion against God, humble ourselves before God and then seek to know what God would have us to do.  Josiah knows that he deserves condemnation but he also knows that God is merciful so he seeks to know the way that God would have him to walk in order to find relief from God’s wrath.

JOSIAH REMAINS FAITHFUL AND DOES THE WILL OF GOD: God if faithful to love and have mercy upon those who repent.  Because Josiah responded correctly to the revelation of God; he was granted relief from the wrath of God.  Josiah was then faithful to do the will of God and walk in obedience to the Word that he had discovered.  We are blessed to have and know God’s Word, but we must be faithful to respond to it correctly.  It does no good to have God’s Word if we do not heed God’s Word.  God will judge the sins of men, but we can escape that judgment by trusting the message of grace, forgiveness and freedom from sin that is found in the cross of Christ as revealed in His Word.  We must never ignore the message of the Gospel or neglect to teach it to our children and grandchildren.  When we respond to God’s Word with repentance and obedient faith; God responds to us with redemption and forgiveness of sin.