2 Kings chapter 23 reminds me of the process God worked in my own life when I accepted Jesus as my Savior. I believe at the moment of my prayer, God changed my heart. At that instant my sins were forgiven and God poured His Spirit out on me and filled me in order to seal the deal. Additionally, God began to make changes over time. Things that I had thought of as harmless before began to strike me as not honoring to God. As I heard His Word, His Word transformed me. Over the next year, my life did not resemble what it had been. The chapter begins, “Then the king called together all the elders of Judah… to the temple of the Lord… all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord“. The king wanted everyone to hear the truth of scripture. He wanted everyone to experience the holiness of God.
Next we read that the King made a pubic expression of his devotion. And our public expression of faith will impact those around us as well. “The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord -to follow the Lord and keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant“. And then the king began to clean out the junk. Let me highlight, this was an outward reaction to the change that had taken place internally. “The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest… to remove from the temple of the Lord all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts. He burned them outside Jerusalem… Josiah removed and defiled all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built in the towns of Samaria that had provoked the Lord to anger.” Just making superficial changes might look the same to those that observe our life, but they are seldom permanent. In contrast, after the heart changes, the habits always follow.
Finally King Josiah commanded “Celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant“. The law required the blood of the innocent lamb to cover their sins. It symbolized the seriousness of sin, but spoke of the Savior that was yet to come. “Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses“. Unfortunately, the nation did not repent in spite of the king’s transformation. We cannot force anyone else to accept Christ; it is an individual free will choice. Josiah could not save the nation, but God delayed the judgment until his death. “Nevertheless, the Lord did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to provoke him to anger“. My friend, God in His great mercy, provided a way of Salvation for you and me. Jesus willingly laid down His life that we might receive forgiveness and escape judgment. 1 Peter 2:24 in describing Jesus says, “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed“. What will you do with God’s Word?