Sunday
Morning Bible Study
February 9, 2003
:14-28 The end of the story
Josiah is king. He is young, 26
years old. He has been king for eighteen
years.
The nation has been filled with idolatry.
Every where you look there are temples, altars, and idols.
Josiah began to seek the Lord when he was sixteen years old and has taken
away some of the idols in the land, but there’s still a LOT
of wickedness around.
The nation has been going through some tough times. The Assyrians have been able to do pretty
much whatever they wanted.
Josiah’s father Amon was a wicked man and was killed when Josiah was eight
years old.
His grandfather Manasseh was a very wicked man. He was the one who had brought all the
idolatry into the land. Manasseh had
been captured by the Assyrians and had spent some time in an Assyrian prison.
As Josiah is going to find out, he’s living in the last days of the Kingdom
of Judah. He won’t know exactly when, but in
thirty-five years, the kingdom will be wiped out.
We pick up Josiah’s story when he has begun remodeling the Temple. He’s sent a team of priests into the Temple
to begin restoration work when the work is briefly halted.
:15 Shaphan the scribe,
scribe – caphar
– enumerator, muster-officer, secretary; learned man, scribe
Shaphan might have just been an
educated fellow; a high cabinet officer concerned with finance, policy, and
administration. But this title “scribe”
is also used for a class of scholars who were learned in the Law of Moses.
In the parallel passage, we’re told
that when Hilkiah gave Shaphan the book, he read it (2Ki. 22:8).
:14-15 I have found the book of the law
Hilkiah didn’t find “a” book of the law.
He found “the” Book of the Law.
This use of the definite article (the word “the”) tells us that Hilkiah
found the five books of Moses, the “Torah”, also known as the “Pentateuch”.
:15 in the house of the LORD
You may wonder why Hilkiah seems surprised at this. Shouldn’t there be a copy of God’s Word in
the Temple?
(Deu 31:24-26 KJV) And it came to pass, when Moses had made an
end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, {25}
That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the
LORD, saying, {26} Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark
of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness
against thee.
There was supposed to be a copy of the Law kept near the Ark
(Deut. 31:24-26)
Yet under Manasseh and Amon, the Temple
had been ruined. At this point, the Ark
of the Covenant wasn’t even in the Temple
anymore. It apparently had been removed
from the Temple, probably during
the reign of Manasseh, and wouldn’t be put back into the Temple
until the Temple was fully cleansed
again (2Chr. 35:3).
It seems that there had been a period of time in which God’s Word was
missing from the Temple.
Having grown up in good churches, this seems odd to me that someone would
be surprised to find God’s Word in God’s House.
Yet there are churches today where you will have difficulty finding
God’s Word. Perhaps some of you are
acquainted with places like this.
Apparently sometime around Christmas, one of the churches in Orange
County had this up on their sign
out front:
“We take the Bible seriously, not literally.”
I have a problem with seeing how you can take the Bible seriously if you
don’t take it literally.
:17 …and have delivered it into the
hand of the overseers…
Before Shaphan tells the king about
the book, he gives the report that the king is expecting about the progress of
the work in the Temple.
:16-18 …Shaphan read it before the king.
What did he read?
I’d like to think that Shaphan read the entire Torah to Josiah (Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy).
Others have suggested that he only read the book of Deuteronomy. Either way, at the end of this reading, the
thing that is impacting Josiah’s mind is the ending to the book of
Deuteronomy. You can see it in his
reaction to the reading.
I want you to think about what is going on in Josiah’s mind. Imagine that you’ve never read God’s Word
before. You’ve heard about the
Lord. You care about the Lord. But you’ve never heard God’s Word.
As Shaphan reads through the Law, Josiah hears each law spelled out and he
realizes that he and the nation are way out of line with God’s standards. And then he hears the warnings at the end of
Deuteronomy:
(Deu 28:15-20 KJV) But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not
hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments
and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall
come upon thee, and overtake thee: {16} Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and
cursed shalt thou be in the field. {17} Cursed shall be thy basket and thy
store. {18} Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land,
the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy
sheep. {19} Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be
when thou goest out. {20} The LORD shall send upon
thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest
thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish
quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken
me.
(Deu 28:25 KJV) The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before
thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways
before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.
(Deu 28:32 KJV) Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given
unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them
all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand.
(Deu 28:36 KJV) The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over
thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt
thou serve other gods, wood and stone.
Josiah’s grandfather, Manasseh had already been taken captive to Assyria
for a brief time. Perhaps Josiah wonders
if he’s next.
(Deu 28:49-53 KJV) The LORD shall bring a nation against thee
from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth;
a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; {50} A
nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor
show favour to the young:
Judah has
already seen this with the Assyrians who wiped out the northern kingdom. They’ll see it again with the Babylonians.
{51} And he shall eat the fruit of thy
cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall
not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee.
{52} And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced
walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout
all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy
land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee. {53} And thou shalt eat the fruit
of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD
thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness,
wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:
This has already happened in the northern kingdom. Is Josiah’s kingdom next?
Moses went on to write a song (Deu. 32) that Israel
was supposed to learn. This song was
another warning and a reminder. It was to warn them of what would happen if
they went away from the Lord. But when
the judgment happened, it would be a bitter reminder of why it happened. The
song starts off speaking of God’s kindness in bringing Israel
out of Egypt
and taking care of them. Then it moves into
judgment:
(Deu 32:16-30 KJV) They provoked him to jealousy with strange
gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger. {17} They sacrificed unto
devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up,
whom your fathers feared not. {18} Of the Rock that begat thee thou art
unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee. {19} And when the LORD saw
it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his
daughters. {20} And he said, I will hide my face from
them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward (perverse) generation, children in
whom is no faith. {21} They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not
God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them
to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger
with a foolish nation. {22} For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn
unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on
fire the foundations of the mountains. {23} I will heap mischiefs
upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them. {24} They shall be burnt with
hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will
also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the
dust. {25} The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young
man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.
(Deu 32:29-30 KJV) O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! {30} How
should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their
Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?
Lesson
God is pretty serious about doing
things His way
Perhaps we don’t take God’s warnings too seriously because some of the
warnings we see around us are kind of silly:
Illustration
These are actual product labels:
On a blanket from Taiwan
- NOT TO BE USED AS PROTECTION FROM A TORNADO.
On a Sears hairdryer - DO NOT USE WHILE SLEEPING.
On a Korean kitchen knife - WARNING KEEP OUT OF CHILDREN.
On an American Airlines packet of nuts - INSTRUCTIONS -
OPEN PACKET, EAT NUTS.
On a string of Chinese-made Christmas lights - FOR INDOOR
OR OUTDOOR USE ONLY.
On a child's superman costume - WEARING OF THIS GARMENT DOES NOT ENABLE YOU TO FLY.
On a hotel provided shower cap in a box - FITS ONE HEAD.
On packaging for a Rowenta iron
- DO NOT IRON CLOTHES ON BODY.
On Boot's "Children's" cough medicine - DO
NOT DRIVE CAR OR OPERATE MACHINERY.
On Nytol sleep aid - WARNING MAY CAUSE
DROWSINESS.
Sometimes when you talk to people about God, you kind of get the feeling
that they think that we’re the ones that decide what’s important or not.
You’ll hear things like, “I don’t believe it’s that important which
religion you follow, as long as you’re happy”.
How would you like it if you planned for a vacation in Hawaii,
and after packing up the family, you board the airplane, settle into your seat,
and then hear the captain over the intercom say, “Well folks, today we’re going
to take off and head out into the wild blue yonder. I kind of feel like flying south, so today
we’ll fly south. It makes me happy.” Would it make you happy to end up in Columbia
instead of Hawaii?
We may like to think that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as
you’re happy, but we’re not the ones who decide what the criteria is for going
to heaven. We’re not the one standing at
the door deciding who to let in. God is.
Suppose you were throwing a birthday party at your house for one of your
children and a total stranger shows up at your front door with dark glasses, a
red and white checked scarf around his face, and explosives strapped to his
chest. He says he wants to come to your
party. He doesn’t care whether or not
you know him; he wants to come in so you should let him in. Are you going to let him in? Who decides who gets in the door, you or the
stranger at the door?
Under the Old Covenant, the Law of Moses, the Jews were required to keep
the Law. Under the New Covenant, there’s
a different criteria:
(John 10:1 KJV) Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a
robber.
(John 10:6-10 KJV) This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they
understood not what things they were which he spake unto them. {7} Then said
Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the
sheep. {8} All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep
did not hear them. {9} I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be
saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. {10} The thief cometh not,
but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have
life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Under the New Covenant the criteria is Jesus. But the point is still the same. God is pretty serious about us taking His
criteria seriously. You only get in the
door if you come God’s way – through Jesus.
:19 And it came to pass, when the king had heard
the words of the law, that he rent his clothes.
Lesson
Understanding the times
Josiah understood the severity of his situation. He realized how far they had gone from the
Lord. He realized the warnings of God’s
judgment were for him.
Even though Josiah had already begun to clean up the nation, he really
hasn’t scratched the surface. When you
look at the parallel passage, the things he does after having read God’s Word go much farther than the things he did
before reading God’s Word. He’s done a
lot, but he knows there is much to be done.
In a way, we are in a time very similar to Josiah’s. He was at the end of one of the chapters in
God’s History. As he heard these
warnings he realized that he was very close to the end.
We too are living at the end of one of God’s chapter’s of History. Jesus is about to come back.
Just as Josiah was living in a time that seemed to be described pretty well
by the words in Deuteronomy, think about how Jesus’ words describe what our
world is like:
(Mat 24:3-14 KJV) And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the
disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be?
and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? {4} And
Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. {5} For
many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. {6}
And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see
that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is
not yet. {7} For nation shall rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and
earthquakes, in divers places. {8} All these are the beginning of sorrows. {9}
Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye
shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. {10} And then shall many be
offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. {11} And
many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. {12} And because
iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. {13} But he that shall
endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. {14} And
this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness
unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Jesus tells us how we ought to respond when we see these things happening:
(Mat 24:37-51 KJV) But as the days of Noe
were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. {38} For as in the days
that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving
in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the
ark, {39} And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall
also the coming of the Son of man be. {40} Then shall two be in the field; the
one shall be taken, and the other left. {41} Two women shall be grinding at the
mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. {42} Watch therefore: for ye
know not what hour your Lord doth come. {43} But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief
would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be
broken up. {44} Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not
the Son of man cometh. {45} Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his
lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? {46}
Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. {47}
Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. {48}
But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; {49} And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; {50}
The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh
not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, {51} And shall cut him
asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be
weeping and gnashing of teeth.
As you’ve read some of Matthew 24 this morning, do you have a sense that we
might be at the end of one of God’s chapters?
We ought to be getting ready for our Master’s return. Perhaps we ought
to respond a bit like Josiah.
:21 Go, inquire of the LORD for me
Josiah wants to know what God is thinking.
He wants to know what God thinks of Josiah.
vs. 22-23 Josiah will send his delegation to a prophetess named Huldah. She will have
a message for Josiah from the Lord.
:24-25 …my wrath shall be poured out upon this
place, and shall not be quenched.
Lesson
God is just
God will not allow sin to go unpunished.
Sometimes we can think that because God has waited this long before judging
the world, that perhaps it isn’t going to happen.
Just because God is patient doesn’t mean that He’s not just.
For us, there will be a time coming very soon when God will judge the
earth. It will happen.
(2 Pet 3:9-11 NLT) The Lord
isn't really being slow about his promise to return, as some people think. No,
he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so he is
giving more time for everyone to repent. {10} But the day of the Lord will come
as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible
noise, and everything in them will disappear in fire, and the earth and
everything on it will be exposed to judgment. {11} Since everything around us
is going to melt away, what holy, godly lives you should be living!
:26-28 neither shall thine eyes see all the evil
Lesson
You can miss the judgment
Because of his heart, Josiah would not see the judgment.
When we turn to Jesus for help, we too pass out of the place of judgment.
When Jesus died on the cross, He paid the penalty for our sins. He satisfied God’s requirements for us to be
forgiven.
(Rom 3:25
NLT) For God sent Jesus to take the
punishment for our sins and to satisfy God's anger against us. We are made
right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life
for us.
(John 3:16-18 KJV) For God
so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. {17} For God
sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world
through him might be saved. {18} He that believeth on him is not condemned: but
he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the
name of the only begotten Son of God.
We are getting close to the time of God’s judgment on the earth. Jesus said we could escape the Tribulation:
(Luke 21:36 KJV)
Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye
may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and
to stand before the Son of man.
We believe that the way of “escape” is the coming Rapture of the church,
when Jesus will come and snatch us away from this place.
Are you ready for the end of the story?