July 3
2 Kings 22:3-23:30 | PS 1:1-6 | Prov 18:11-12 | Acts 21:37-22:16
Sadly, many prefer to read Scripture with the mindset of having the right to remove portions like a line item veto. The book of Revelation is not the book of Revelations, because it reveals one complete unfolding for end times, rather than isolated portions. Also we are given God’s law, not God’s laws. Though there are 613 laws making up God’s law, His law is seamless. We prefer to pick it apart into individual laws with their respective penalties. But God’s law is good. We read in James 2:10, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” This reality, of its goodness, God’s holiness, and our total inability to follow it should humble us all. Yet, all too often we strut around wrapped in our own self-righteousness believing we do better than most at following portions of God’s law. We read in Galatians 3:24, “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” We can elevate those sins that we might not struggle as bad with, while minimize those portions that we do, but this is a game created in our own mind. Sin is sin, and no sin is trivial to our Holy God. Every sin is a stench in His nostrils.
Josiah was a good king. He did what was right according to the pattern of his ancestor King David. Surprisingly the evil kings: Manasseh and Amon so effectively wiped God out of the land of Judah, that we read in 2 Kings 22:8, “Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.” Notice it was not particular portions, but it was God’s law which caused the king to react in 22:11, “Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, that he tore his clothes.” He then sought God in 22:13, “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, for the people and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is aroused against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.” The words shook Josiah to the core, and God always notices the remnant who remain faithful, knowing the masses don’t, as we read God’s message to the king in 22:19, “because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you,” says the Lord.”
The king did not move forward safely so as not to offend those who might disagree. He moved forward radically, tearing down all that was not of God and elevating all that was of Him. We read of him in 23:25, “Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him.” We all must see ourselves rightly before our Holy God. Holding Him in awe is what Solomon meant when he wrote in Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.” We read in Psalm 1:1-2, “Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.” Seeing our shortcomings in following the law is not meant to frustrate us, but meant to bring us into the arms of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who alone offers us a living Hope.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: