Yahweh Supports…His Plan
"I have found the book of the law in the House of the Lord" (2Kings 22:8)
Hello Saints,
Is there any hope? Is there any hope of returning to what used to be? Imagine watching your nation and religious beliefs being corrupted before your very eyes. Imagine the decline of all that is true and good, and the rise of all that is evil and bad for people - “It seems so quickly, in such a short time, the world around us has changed so much.” In one generation, the nation has become unrecognizable, so far from its original morals and foundational beliefs. Was it really one generation, or has it been a slow fade that has been going on for decades? There used to be a righteous ruler in the land, but he is long gone. The vision he cast has faded into the background, and the people with lack of vision are perishing. Year after year, there is a promise of a better ruler who will hopefully re-establish righteousness in the land, but to the faithful’s despair, he turns out to be like every other before him – a self-centered people pleaser, easily bought and manipulated to give the people (or loudest voices) what they want. Even the religion and church of old has been invaded and corrupted by pagan beliefs and practices – absolutely in opposition to what God had ordained. The remnant faithful are so disheartened that they have all but faded into the background, silently waiting for the end of the age, and the Lord to take them out. The praise and prayer meeting has turned into a wailing session, a loud lament, crying out to God for what used to be; for Him to restore the land to its former glory. Most have abandoned Him and His rules for living. The corrupt leaders have persuaded the people to embrace other gods and practice religions and lifestyles that God calls “abominations”. Oh friends, of course I could be talking about Canada or the United States, but I am not. This is the picture of the nation of Israel, even the land of Judah, God’s chosen people.
Then one day, in response to a prophetic word (1Kings 13:1,2), almost 300 years later, the one prophesied arrives on the scene as an 8-year-old boy and takes the throne of David (Read his story in 2Kings 22 & 23; 2Chronicles 34 & 35). Even though raised by a father and grandfather who were the worst kings the land of Judah had ever known, miraculously he was spared and preserved. By the time he was 16 years old, “he began to seek the God of his father David”. It seems for 4 years he sought the Lord, and at the age of 20 the “purging” and “tearing down” began. The gods, shrines and altars fell one by one; the land was rid of the pagan priests, and the house of the Lord and its servants was restored. Most importantly, the law of the Lord was discovered and the covenant between the people and God re-established. God’s priests were reinstated, and the Passover was re-instituted – a Passover like it had not happened in Israel for almost 400 years (2Chr. 25:18). What kind of leader was Josiah and why was the change so extreme? Here’s what God says, “Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and because you humbled yourself before Me, tore your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you” declares the LORD (2 Chronicles 34:27). Josiah was not a dictator nor a lone ranger. His success as a leader was because of his reliance on the prophets, priests, Levites, and elders who corporately submitted themselves to the “words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord” (2Chr. 34:30). Together, with Josiah at the helm, all the people covenanted to obey the Lord and keep His commands. Josiah was ALL IN: “the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the LORD to walk after the LORD, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant written in this book (2 Chronicles 34:31).
Now, for some 30 years, there was a reprieve from the wickedness in the land of Israel. Josiah’s zeal got the best of him and he ended up dying in war against Pharaoh Neco, who ruled over God’s people until king Nebuchadnezzar invaded Egypt and Judah, and carried off God’s people into captivity. For a season, there was peace and righteousness in the land, but by the time of Josiah, God’s promised wrath (2Kings 22:17) could only be delayed, not averted.
If you read the Bible in its entirety, you will discover the same truth, since we have the end of the story. We can pray for a righteous leader in our land to be instated, and in His mercy, God may grant it, but we will ultimately return to worship other gods and do abominations God detests. Our hope is not in kings and princes to rescue us, but in the King of Kings to liberate us from this fallen world and take us to His kingdom where peace and righteousness will be the standards forever. Our prayers ought not to be for Josiahs to be raised up, but “Come Lord Jesus”, as Revelation instructs. Josiah means “Yahweh supports”. God may support a king temporarily to bring relief, or He may support a temporary revival so many seem to be hoping for, but what He ultimately supports and has destined to happen, which could take place any day now, is for His Son to return and take the faithful up and out to be with Him, and for His unquenchable fire to judge the earth and its inhabitants, and to re-create a new heaven and new earth where the righteous saints will dwell forever with their one true God! That is what the bible teaches, and that is what is promised. Yahweh supports one thing – His will to be done! So let’s not put our hope in a Trump, nor a Poilievre, nor another Josiah, let us put our hope in Christ, our true Passover, and return to the Word of God and be encouraged by what God has ultimately promised us: "Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city" (Rev. 22:14). Let's return to the Word of God!
Come Lord Jesus!
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