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.
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.
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 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
