Sunday, November 1, 2020

2 KINGS 22&23 : “The Bible, God’s Primary Tool For An Effective Reformation“

 


Martin Luther was  born in 1483 in Eisleben, Germany.  During a Thunderstorm in July 1505, lightning had almost struck him. He was a Catholic man, and in typical Roman catholic fashion he cried out not to the Lord Jesus, but to St. Anne (whoever she was),  because  she was superstitiously believed to be the patron saint  of miners. Luther cried, “St. Anne, help me! I will become a monk.”  Luther subsequently   became a monk in the Augustinian order.

Martin Luther was always terrified by the thought of the holy.  He was terrified at the thought that he could never meet God’s holy standards.  He once said, “I was myself more than once driven to the very abyss of despair so that I wished I had never been created. Love God? I hated Him![1]  “I hated Him!” He now believed  that he had blasphemed God with that thought! This despair continued for many years.

With this burdened mind and heart he set out to learn and expound the Scriptures. Being a promising student he was asked by his mentor Johann von Staupitz, to prepare for his Doctorate and to teach at the local university. In August 1513 he commenced his lectures on the Psalms. In 1515 he was lecturing on Paul’s epistle to the Romans and in 1516-1517 he taught on Paul’s epistle to the Galatians. These studies proved to be the Damascus road experience for Luther. Listen to his testimony:

“I greatly longed to understand Paul's epistle to the Romans, and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, "the justice of God," because I took it to mean that justice whereby God is just and deals justly in punishing the unjust. My situation was that … I stood before God as a sinner troubled in conscience, and I had no confidence that my good works would satisfy him. Therefore I did not love a just and angry God, but rather hated and murmured against him. Yet I clung to the dear Paul and had a great yearning to know that he meant.

Night and day I pondered, until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that "the just shall live by his faith."[2] Then I understood that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereafter I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before   the “justice of God” had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love.  This passage  of Paul became to me a gate of heaven … If you  have a true faith  that  Christ is your Saviour, then at once you have a gracious God, for faith  leads you in,  and opens  God’s heart and will, that  you should see pure grace and overflowing love …”[3]

Luther now was born again. The wind of the Spirit had swept through his soul[4]. He now had a new view of God, a new view of Christ, and a new view on the work of the Holy Spirit. He now understood that the cross on which Jesus had died was the key to solving the problem of the just wrath of God on the one hand, and the mercy of God on the other hand. Paul had helped him to reconcile the justice and the forgiveness of God.

Jesus set him free through His Word, and from that time onwards, God used him to begin a mighty work of the Holy Spirit – the 16th Century Reformation. The official date of the start of the Reformation is the 31st October 1517. On that day he nailed his so called “95 Theses” to the church door in Wittenberg. They were protests against a corrupt Roman Catholic system and her popes. They were a strong appeal to the authority of the Holy Bible. In September 1522 he published the German New Testament.[5] This really got the Reformation going. A spiritual revival began, the effects of which are felt to this very day, 503 years later! And it all began when Luther studied and taught and translated the Bible, in which he discovered the grace of God.

 In the Bible we find the greatest example of a revival in the Bible in the book of Acts, and particularly in Acts 2. Revival there began after the Holy Spirit had appeared blessing the Word that Peter had preached, after which more than 3000 were converted on one day. All these were baptized and they became the early church.  

I also want to show you that even in the OT there were such occasions where God sovereignly revived and reformed a worn out (OT) church by means of His word.  In 2 Kings 22 we find a biblical example of such a Reformation.

 BACKGROUND TO 2 KINGS 22

Josiah was only 8 years old when he became king. His father, king Amon had been assassinated by his servants after only 2 years in office (2 Ki. 21:23). Before that, Josiah’s grandfather, king Manasseh had been probably the most wicked king in Judah ever (2 Ki. 2:1-18).   What a sad legacy!

But this young man Josiah was different.  He, by contrast to his father and grandfather was one of the best kings in Judah. He joins 7 other kings ‘who do what is right in God’s eyes[6]. He shares a particular honour with two of those kings[7]  by way of a favorable comparison with David - the standard by whom all kings were compared. 

Josiah’s steadfastness is described in 2 Ki 22:2: “He did not turn aside to the right or to the left.”  This was also said of great men like Moses and Joshua.

But this good king is currently walking by the legacy of the idol worship of his fathers (see 23:4-20). He can only do what he knows. At this stage he has presumably never seen a copy of the Law of Moses. That is strange because God in Deut. 17:14-20  had explicitly commanded that  the first duty of  any new   king was to be  that, “he shall write for himself in a book a copy  of  this law, approved by the Levitical  priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God…” Clearly, this habit had ceased long ago!

When he was 26 years old  (22:3), Josiah  sent his secretary Shaphan to the temple  with a few instructions  to check on the repairs being done there, and while  Shaphan  is there the  high priest Hilkiah says to him, “I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord(22:8). Shaphan takes it to King Josiah and reads it to him (22:10). What happens now is fascinating. “When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes(22:11). The king then orders a 5 man commission to go and obtain prophetic confirmation and light on this matter.  The prophetess Huldah is consulted (22:14).  Please note, that Josiah already has the ‘law word’. What he seeks in addition now is the ‘prophetic word’.  The prophetic question is this, “What will God do to us, having neglected  the  Book of the Law?” Huldah’s prophecy (22:15-20) makes 2 points:

(i) There is no hope: (see 22:16-17). God   is determined to bring disaster.

(ii)  But there is some mercy:  (see 22:18-20) there will be peace in Josiah’s time.

So they learn that judgment is certain, but judgment is delayed.   Righteous, God fearing leaders that lead God’s people into the discovery of God’s Word are a blessing to any community. For their sake God will not destroy that community where sin is so rife!  (Gen.18:22ff). Men, like Abraham who know the promises of God’s Word will know that God is gracious and kind and slow to anger. He hears the prayer of the righteous. He is even kind to the unrighteous for their sake!

Though God’s righteous wrath will certainly come upon all unrighteousness (and by the way, you need no further prophetic word on this, since Jesus and the apostles have said that this must happen e.g. Matt. 24/25; Romans 1:18ff), the obedience of just men and women in our day will hold back the wrath of God in our generation. So, dear congregation, answer the question: Are there steadfast men and women of God in our community, faithfully proclaiming the gospel to this nation and praying for our nation? Does God have people to listen to because they obey Him and because they pray? And will He withhold His certain   judgement on this nation for their sake of their pleading?

Listen! Judgment is certain, and it will be terrible for those that are not reconciled to God through Christ the Saviour! Jesus has announced the judgement. It is coming, but He is currently withholding His wrath on account of those that are like Abraham, pleading for God’s mercy upon sinners - pleading that God will withhold His wrath for  yet a while. Faith holds back  God’s wrath  on all your unconverted families! When the Son of man comes will he find faith on earth? (Lk. 18:8).

 The Word of the Lord to Luther and Paul and Josiah brought the fear of God back into their respective societies. When that happens we call that a Reformation  and a Revival.  People repent  of their sin in large numbers  and they start listening attentively  to God. The Bible  listened to transforms  a peoples  thoughts and actions, and the more  people listen to the Word of God, the greater the effect upon our society.

The first thing that Josiah did was  to  destroy and remove  the false gods and idols and the false priests. Note that Baal and Asherah were controlling the temple worship (23:4ff).  The sex cult (male cult prostitutes) was abolished (23:7). Child sacrifice to the idol god Molech was abolished (23:10). False altars (23:15) were torn down and destroyed.  The Passover was restored (23:21). Witches, mediums, necromancers, the household gods, the idols … were abolished (23:24)

No wonder  that it was said of Josiah  in 23:25,  Before him  there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul  and with all his might, according  to all the law of Moses, nor  did any  like him arise after him.

How would this translate into a modern Reformation?

Essentially the same issues need to be addressed

1.    The church needs to be stripped of its false views of God:  Our self - centeredness, consumer Christianity, our lukewarmness in worship.  God is holy. He will not be served in any way we please. Repent and return to the Lord of our covenant. (23:3)

2.      The church needs to be delivered from false priests and pastors (23:5) who are holding  the  hearts  of people  captive  with false doctrine  and no gospel! These are  the ones  that  remove the gospel  of Jesus’  death for sin out of the church, substituting  it  with a  false gospel (which is no gospel at all! – Gal. 1:7).

3.      The sex cult needs to be taken captive (23:7). This is destroying the heart of our men and women. Pornography destroys the dignity of biblical intimacy.  Our nation suffers from HIV/Aids, broken marriages, fatherless children, teenage pregnancies because unsanctified  sex has become an obsession among us. 

4.      Child sacrifice needs to stop. (23:10) We may not sacrifice and burn children in the fire to the god Molech, but we abort them by the millions for the sake of our god of convenience   and pleasure!

5.      Satanic manifestations must stop (23:24). A society in which the Bible is no longer respected will find itself another religion: Satanism, witchcraft , esoteric religions.


We need another Reformation. But where shall we begin?  

We must begin with the Word of God. 

We must preach it and insist that it be obeyed. Luther, Paul and Josiah did that, and they took no prisoners in their proclamation of this fact. You either obey God, or you face His wrath. Look at the extensive reforms brought to Germany and Europe under Luther and Calvin. They brought the Bible back into the pulpits of the lands. The Bible purged the church from its idolatry and false priests and sexual offenders. Many priests and popes had  illegitimate children! Many  lived  under the terror of witches and superstition  while the Roman church  did nothing to help them!  See what effect the reforms of Josiah had. See how wide ranging the effects of the Reformation were.  

Can God do a similar work in the world today?  

Lord have mercy upon this generation!  

Revive your church. Hear the prayers of your children. Give wings to your Word. Amen.



[1]  Here  I stand : Martin Luther,  Roland  Bainton, p. 59

[2] Rom 1:16,17 quoted from Habakkuk 2:3

[3] Ibid,p.65

[4] John 3:1-8

[5] The publication of the complete German Bible only happened in 1534.

[6] Asa  (1 Ki 15:11) ; Jehoshaphat  (22:43) ; Joash (2 Ki. 12:2) ; Amaziah (14:3)  Azariah (or Uzziah) 15:3 ; Jotham (15:34)  and Hezekiah (18:3)

[7]  Asa & Hezekiah

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