Josiah Celebrates Passover
Study Scripture: 2 Chronicles 35:1- 6, 16-19
Background Scripture: 2 Chronicles 36
Lesson 4 September 21, 2024
Key Verse
Then Josiah celebrated the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem, and they slaughtered the Passover animals on the fourteenth day of the first month.
2 Chronicles 35:1
INTRODUCTION
Would you be strong enough to go against all the things your parents and the adults around them have done and choose the path of pleasing the Lord God Almighty, the God of the Covenant?
Do you think it would be easy to reject the falsehoods of those adults around you whom you had depended on all your young life?
Well, a young man named Josiah found himself in that unenviable position, and he decided to follow the ways of God no matter what his parents and predecessors would think.
He became King in Judah after the death of the most wicked and corrupt king in the history of Israel, and the death of his father Amon who was as bad as his father.
God works in very mysterious ways for God turned the heart of this young king to correct the sinful ways of his nation.
This happened when he gave instructions to clean up the massive amounts of garbage in the Temple and repair the Temple so that he and the people would go back to worshipping God in the Temple. When the cleaning ws being done, the priests discovered the Book of the Law of Moses which had been set aside during the 55 year reign of Josiah’s grandfather the infamous Manasseh and the reign of his equally wicked father Amon. When the words of the Book of the Law was read to him and Josiah saw that the God of the covenant had sworn to destroy the nation when they sinned in the way they were doing, he rent his clothes and vowed to correct matters.
Would you take that risk, knowing that you had wicked enemies who would try to kill you?
Josiah knew that the people had become tired of his father Amon’s wickedness and killed him. But he knew that his father had friends and that if he tried to correct the ways of Judah they would come after him and kill him if they could.
So would you choose to follow the commandments and ways of God even if that would put you in danger from family, friends, and strangers?
Josiah signalled the way of God he had chosen by having the greatest Passover celebration that the nation of God had ever seen. He spent a fabulously large amount of his personal fortune to make sure everyone celebrated and enjoyed the Passover and vowed to follow the ways and instructions of God in future.
Today’s Study holds a very important lesson for us and we would do well to heed the warnings that Israel ignored.
In 1 Corinthians 10:1-12 the Apostle Paul made it clear that the experiences of the children of Israel, are examples for us who are living in the ‘end- times’.
God was displeased with the behaviour of the people of Israel which had steadily deteriorated. Idolatry, fornication, murmuring and disobedience were widespread, despite continued warnings against these sins.
Under strong, godly leadership they enjoyed periods when God was able to bless them; but without this type of godly leadership the people always slipped into apostasy and drifted away from God.
Their recurring slide into sin was a sure and inescapable reason for God to unleash His wrath on them – and we will see in Today’s Lesson how one King though warned his magnificent steps to do what was right in the sight of God as he made a valiant effort to reverse the slide into tragedy would be of no avail.
So, what does this Lesson teach us?
One, it is beautiful and praiseworthy and of great personal benefit to be faithful to the end and be an instrument in the hand of God for the good of others, in your time and to others in future times for there will be battles every day until it is time appointed for us to die.
Second, God will help in in the overwhelming flood we often face to fight for the faith of God in our hearts and minds, and to seek Him and love others with all our heart, souls, mind, and strength.
Third, no matter how desperate the situation is we cannot go backward, and think that God cannot do the impossible. We must pray always with increasing intensity foR we do not know the mind of God, and what He will do in response to our petitions.
Fourth, and most important, remember that Josiah’s life is our life. His battles are like our battles. And so we must submit ourselves to the will pf God, no matter how difficult it is for us personally.
Why is this so for us today? Let us see what the Scripture tell us
“Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”
The warnings in the Lesson are extremely relevant for us today, for there are many who act as if salvation is guaranteed to them and therefore behave and do whatever they like. Particular behavior patterns characterize those to whom salvation is guaranteed.
THE CONTEXT
Let us look at the mixed bag God has to deal with.
God’s faithfulness, His patience, His pity, His compassion for humanity, and His wisdom stands out in stark relief in the history of Israel.
The Book of 2 Chronicles is essentially about the ‘house of David’ but as it sets out the history of Judah, it gives us amazingly accurate pictures of the issues in the spiritual life of every believer.
God in His divine activity wrote this Book to show us what will happen, when we make God the center of our life and what will happen when this ceases to be the case.
The fate of David’s immediate posterity is inextricably linked to the Temple and so 2 Chronicles centers on the Temple and its associated activities.
It opens with Solomon visiting the Tabernacle in Gibeon and then it immediately transfers our attention to his building of the Temple. Solomon desired this edifice to be glorious and incomparably beautiful; fitting to accommodate the presence of God among the people of Israel. So here then we see the Temple being erected to remind the people that God would be among them, to heal their hearts, hear their cries and keep them in His appointed place.
Israel’s conquests and the glory of the kingdom are chronicled, as the work of God was now visibly and gloriously displayed among them in a marvellous way. God had graciously built and blessed a people, a nation and a land, so that word of Him would spread all over the world. People heard about the nation and made pilgrimages from all over to learn the secret of God’s activity. This was God’s evangelism.
In this glorious time, with the Temple visible and gold and silver common in the land, the borders of Israel extended from the Euphrates to the rivers of Egypt, fulfilling the promise of extensive land made by God to Abraham.
Between chapters 10 through 36 we read the records of the kings, the nine good kings and the eleven bad ones. The evil kings show the pattern of how wickedness operates in a disobedient heart.
Decline had set in however, for as early as the reign of Solomon, evil began to infiltrate the kingdom, as idolatry and paganism started to take root.
His son, Rehoboam, not only refused to listen to the counsel of the wise old men, but did as 2 Chronicles 12:1 states:
“When the rule of Rehoboam was established and was strong, he forsook the law of the Lord.”
God then allowed the Egyptians to attack him.
So, we begin to learn what happens in our lives, when there is a turning away from obedience to God to the rule of man and the imperatives of the Temple. The spiritual life of the nation and its defences were immediately weakened and the enemies of Israel went on the offensive. This will be the case in the lives of believers when we forsake the laws of God for evil.
Abijah, the next king was obedient to God and in his battle with Jeroboam king of Israel who greatly outnumbered him, called on the Lord when he faced imminent defeat and won a great victory.
When we are outnumbered by our enemies, we should follow Abijah’s example and call on God vigorously for guidance, protection and leading.
King Asa (chapters 14-16) further reformed the land, did what was right, destroyed the pagan idols and commanded Judah to seek the Lord and follow his commandments. He was then attacked by Zerah the Ethiopian with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots (14:9). God gave Asa a convincing victory. We can expect the enemy to attack when the Lord is sought.
Oded the prophet met Asa and confirmed that the Lord was with him and Asa then led the people into a covenant to seek the Lord. (15:12-15) We are told:
“They took oath to the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with horns. And all Judah rejoiced over the oath; for they had sworn with all their hearts, and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest round about”.
Jehoshaphat the next King of Judah, continued to rid the land of idols and established a ministry of teaching, (17:9). The results were: “The fear of the Lord fell up on all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, and they made no war against Jehoshaphat.”
Jehoshaphat did very well but when he foolishly allied himself with disobedient Israel and faced invasion, God had to deliver him miraculously (20:24).
The next king Jehoram put everything in reverse.
“He slew all his brothers with the edge of the sword, and also some of the princes of Judah. Moreover he made high places in the hill country of Judah, and led the inhabitants of Jerusalem into unfaithfulness, and made Judah go astray.” (2 Chron. 12:10-11).
Jehoram was immediately attacked by a Philistine invasion.
When we are driven by envy and we worship where our pagan neighbors and friends are worshipping, this is a downgrading of the truth and it will inevitably lead to trouble.
Next came Ahaziah and he followed the behavior of the wicked Ahab king of Israel. His reign was short and he was executed by Jehu.
His wicked mother Athaliah seized the throne and tried to eliminate every prince in the line of David, to thwart the promise of God to David that from his loins the Messiah would come, but she was eventually killed without succeeding in her satanic plot.
Joash, the one remaining son in the line of David then reigned. While under the godly influence of the priest Jehoiada, he did what was right, repairing the house of the Lord that his ungodly predecessors had wrecked.
But when the godly priest Jehoiada died, Joash slipped into apostasy and idolatry and despite the warnings of the prophets, the king did not take heed. The armies of Syria then invaded and though the attacking force was small, Joash was delivered by God into the hands of the invaders. He then became very sick and was killed by his servants. Such was his punishment.
His son Amaziah did well with a ‘perfect heart’. When he finally turned against the Lord, his servants conspired against him and he fled, but they pursued and killed him.
Uzziah then took the throne. He was a good King even though he unfortunately slipped into pride because of this military success he then usurped the role of the priests. Because of this transgression, God struck him with leprosy and isolated and alone, he later died.
His son Jotham did what was right, and was mighty because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God, but he did not enter into the Temple of the Lord. We are told however that the people did corruptly.
Then we have the wicked reign of Ahaz. Amazingly he did not follow in the steps of his father.
“Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.
And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord, like his father David, but walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made molten images for the Baal;
And he burned incense in the valley of the sons of Hinnon, and burned his sons as an offering, according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.”
The kings of Syria then invaded (28:5) and many were taken captive. Ahaz reigned for a long time and when he died after being struck with an incurable disease, the people made no mourning for him. We are told,“he departed without being desired”.
Despite the wicked behavior of his father we now see the grace of God in raising up another good king, whose name was Hezekiah.
He was so zealous for God, that in the first month of his rule he began the work of cleansing the temple. When he came to the throne, he found that the Temple was littered with garbage.
Sixteen days were spent cleaning out the rubbish and when it was cleaned, they celebrated Passover for the first time since the days of Solomon. He restored the Temple and the worship of God.
Hezekiah’s work in cleansing and opening up the Temple was necessary for the spiritual renewal of the nation. In fact, 29:15 seems to indicate that Hezekiah was acting at the express instruction or “word” of the Lord.
Obviously, cleansing is essential for proper worship. We must be cleansed if we expect to stand in the presence of a most holy God. As Psalm 24:3-4 states:
“Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Our who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully.”
Then, following the extremely good reign of Hezekiah came the long reign of the wicked Manasseh, who did evil in the sight of the Lord in his 55 years reign.
He introduced all the evils of paganism that we can imagine. In his reignthe streets of Jerusalem ran with the lood of the innocent. Because of the immense wickedness during his reign, which was even worse than that of Ahaz, and the pagan Canaanites, God determined to send Judah into exile.
Manasseh’s son Amon also did evil in his reign and he was murdered by his servants.
The good reign of Josiah followed, but even this was not enough to reverse the determination of God to send the people of Judah into exile. We will study what he did and how he behaved.
Our Study is on the valiant reign of the last great King of Judah.
There is a tradition that Josiah anticipated that when he died his reforms would die with him and the spiritual decline would continue. Since he anticipated what would happen and since he knew that the kingdom of Judah would be invaded and destroyed, he decided to hide the Ark of the Covenant, so it would not be captured by the enemies of God. There is much speculation about the whereabouts of the Ark.
We have to turn to the Book of Jeremiah to understand what had really happened in Judah to understand God’s patience with Judah.
Jeremiah 11:1-17 outlines this. We quote from verses 6-17:
“Then the Lord said unto me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: “Hear the words of the covenant and do them”.
For I earnestly exhorted your fathers in the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, until this day, rising early and exhorting, saying, “Obey My voice.”
Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone followed the dictates of his evil heart; therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but which they have not done’”.
And the Lord said to me,” A conspiracy has been formed among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers who refused to hear My words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the host of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.”
Therefore thus says the Lord; “Behold, I will surely bring calamity on them which they will not be able to escape; and though they cry out to Me, I will not listen to them.
Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they offer incense, but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble.
For according to the number of your cities were your gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars to that shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal.
So do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry out to Me because of their trouble.
What has My beloved to do in My house,
Having done lewd deeds with many?
And the holy flesh has passed from you.
When you do evil, then you rejoice.
The Lord called your name,
Green Olive Tree, Lovely and of Good Frui.
With the noise of a great tumult
He has kindled fire on it,
And its branches are broken.
For the Lord of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced doom against you for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke Me to anger in offering incense to Baal.”
But now Scriptures tell us of a remarkable young man who came to the throne.
God had pronounced doom. Could God be persuaded to change His mind? Or was it too late for that?
Josiah was the grandson of the worst of all the kings, the extremely evil king Manasseh, who with his son Amon did so many abominable things that Scripture is reluctant to say which of the two was worse. The people were fed up and Amon was assassinated and his 8 year- old son came to the throne. He took a different path from his father, followed a different route, and 2 chronicles 34: 3 tells us that
“In the eight year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the god of his father David.
In his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles and idols”.
34:4-5.
But not only did Josiah purge Judah and Jerusalem he went even further into the areas of the Ten Tribes where the remnants of those exiled tribes still lived and so Verse 6 states:
“And so he did in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, as far as Naphtali and all around with axes”.
Remember that the land was still full of idols and pagan abominations because of the evil 55 year- reign of his grandfather, and the evil reign of his father. The spiritual life of the nations had deteriorated and the Temple, where God had pledged to meet His people was in complete disrepair. Over 55 years of abandoning the worship of God had taken its toll on the building reserved for God as well as on the people.
When the priests on the instruction of Josiah had began to clean up the debris and repair the Temple they had found the Book of the Law given by God to Moses.
The threats of disaster for Judah was so frightening Josiah tore his clothes and sent to the prophetess Huldah to get advice as to what to do.
Josiah was told that it was already determined by God that “Disaster” would come to Judah and Jerusalem, but that God would relent and postpone the time of its coming to after the death of the tender-hearted and humble king Josiah.
So what would this incredible young man who had turned to God do? Chapter 34:3 told us how he made his public testimony, then started and what he did:
“Then the king sent and gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.
The king went up to the house of the LORD, with all the neb of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem—the priests and the Levites, and all the people, great and small.
And he read in their hearing all the words of the Bood of the Covenant which had been found in the house of the LORd.
Then the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the LORD, to follow the LORD, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book…
Thus Josiah removed all the abominations from all the country that belonged to the children of Israel, and made all who were present in Israel diligently serve the LORD their God.
All his days they did not depart from following the LORD God of their fathers”.
Josiah knew that he had to fulfill his commitments to the LORD, the covenant keeping God.
Do we know that we have to fulfill our commitments to God, our covenant keeping God?
THE TEXT
Verse 1. Now in the 18th year of his reign after the Covenant was renewed, and the Temple restored to pristine condition, with the Scriptures recovered with its instructions, King Josiah led the largest celebration of the Passover in the history of Judah.
This was a unique Passover celebration for none of kings of Israel had celebrated Passover on this scale from the time of Samuel the prophet. Note Josiah had lived 400 years after Samuel the prophet.
See 2 Kings 22-23 for this assessment of Passover held by Josiah.
Note that in Numbers 9:1-5 the commandment concerning the Feast of Passover had been made clear. It was appointed to be held on the 14th day of the 1st month at twilight with many rites and ceremonies that God had commanded. One writer explains why this Feast was so important:
“This feast was established by God to celebrate the victory of God over the Egyptians that brought the people of Israel out of Egypt. However, they always remembered that they were liable to death just like the Egyptians.
The blood of the lamb had saved them from the angel of death.
This was re-rooting their story of the good news. Josiah made sure everyone could celebrate”.
Verse 2. This Passover following the long time of neglect would obviously require a very large amount of planning and work. The Passover had to be properly conducted and the priests and Levites had to be prepared to play their role perfectly. Everyone know that in Numbers 9 it had been reported there were those not properly cleansed but had been defiled and Moses had to ask God to make determination as to what had to be done.
God’s decision made it clear there were strict rules to be followed if one wanted to keep Passover.
The priests therefore faced a lot of work. They had to be set in their proper place and Josiah had to encourage them to make them feel prepared and joyful to do service required by the LORD.
Verse 3. Then the Levites who had been the teachers of the Law, who had been properly cleansed and defilements removed had to be told to take the ark of the Covenant into the Holy Place from which it had apparently been removed by the priests and taken outside the Temple for its protection when the apostate kings like Manasseh and Amon ruled.
The ark would no longer be a burden carried about on the shoulders but would be now put in its rightful place in the Temple.
It appeared from Hebrew documents that the priests had carried the holy Ark out of the Temple to protect it during the idolatrous times.
Verses 4-7. David and Solomon after him had established detailed instructions on how the households and the tribes had to be organized at Passover times. The preparation and eating of the lamb, and the daubing of the blood on the doorposts of the houses on the night when coming out of Egypt (Exodus 12:43-49), now had to be an elaborate arrangement to fit the needs of the much larger nation.
30,000 lambs or goats and 3,000 cattle were donated by the very generous king Josiah so that everyone, small or great, could celebrate Passover.
Just think of the great amount of planning and work to prepare for this gigantic Passover, and the slaughtering of so many animals and serving the meat and accompanying food to the nation. The animals had to be roasted as God had commanded and treated in a specific way and then served household by household. (verse 13)
The priests meanwhile had to be making burnt offerings to God. (verses 12,14).
The singers had to be in their places singing songs of praise to God. (verse15). Note that this singing performance was not stipulated in the law of God regarding the feast of Passover celebration.
Josiah knew all this remarkable and enormous planning and work after the many years of spiritual darkness, likely made this innovation to make the feast memorable and joyous.
This was a massive endeavour which was successfully carried out.
Why did this superior Passover take place so many years after Samuel. What made this Passover unique. One writer lists these while comparing it to our Lord’s Supper practices in order to help us improve our Lord’s Supper performance. He states:
- It resulted from Josiah’s personal spiritual revival.
- He heard and feared the word of God.
- He urged all the people to follow the Lord.
- He took away all the abominations,
- He forced compliance. I am not sure that this truly helped the people, but he was zealous.
- One person can make a difference. You can begin a revival.
- Josiah strictly observed Passover regulations.
- Josiah ordered strict observance of the Law. Evidently, former kings, including David, did not strictly observe all the law required regarding the Passover (cf.2Chronicles 35:18). Previous Passovers were often empty ritual.
- Josiah worshipped the Lord sincerely.
- God was truly the focus of this Passover”.
Note this writer’s comment as he compares Passover to the Lord’s Supper:
“Though Christ instituted the first Lord’s Supper during the Passover, and though He in many ways fulfilled the imagery of the Passover, the Lord’s Supper is a Christian ordinance and a memorial of Christ’s atonement. It is not the Passover”.
Verse 16-17. Remarkable planning indeed! This puts our activities to shame!
All the massive work and the services were planned, organized, and executed the same day.
It was celebrated strictly according to the Law of Moses.
Many people celebrated this Feast. Chapter 30:25 even told us that some of the remnant of the exiled tribes of the northern kingdom came from afar to this Feast of Josiah’s.
Verses 18-19. Scripture emphasizes that no Passover help previously could be compared to this one. The priests, Levites, the elders, the nobility, tribal leaders, the singers, and all the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem participated in this Passover kept in the 18th year of the reign of Josiah.
One commentator call this was the high- water mark of Hebrew history.
THE TIMES IN JUDAH AFTER JOSIAH
Can human beings ever learn the lessons from their history?
Here we have a set of generally incredibly foolish and ‘flesh’ dominated kings, priests, leaders, and people.
They were given the maximum possible evidence that they were the representatives of and the beloved of the Almighty God. It was made very clear to them that faithfulness to their God was an indispensable requirement for their personal and national safety and success.
Despite the knowledge of the history of their nation, they still insisted on living wickedly, firmly establishing idolatry and mixing this idolatry with the worship of their Lord and God.
Though God had been extremely patient and long suffering with them, it was time for judgment; they had sinned to the point where there was no remedy for them, they had sealed their own doom. They had been given so much, helped so much, shown so much mercy, but they were insistent on following the ways of evil.
In the Southern Kingdom, there were many prophets. There were Jonah, Isaiah, Micah, (Micah warned of the Assyrian and Babylonian invasions and predicted the fall of both Samaria and Jerusalem, the capital cities of both the northern and Southern Kingdoms), Zephaniah, Huldah, Jeremiah, Nahum, Habbakuk, Ezekiel, Obadiah, as well as others.
Despite relentless warnings, the rebellion in both nations continued.
One would have thought that the surviving, relatively tiny Southern Kingdom of Judah would have seen and appreciated the misfortunes that befell their brothers and would have repented. Sadly, as we have studied previously, they did not listen. Jeremiah 19 warns that when people in the covenant sin and ignore the warnings, the judgment of God moves swiftly and inexorably.
(19:3-9)
CONCLUSION
Do not forget this Passover was 18 years in the making.
This Josiah was a young man who was determined to do precisely what God had ordered. What are you determined about?
He turned away from the path of the older kings and may leaders in Israel.
He would content himself with not doing the commandment breaking, and carrying out the God resisting habits of his parents.
This Lesson on the life of King Josiah and his Passover celebrations stand as a guidepost for all the young who profess to follow the God of the Covenant.
So young people, ask yourself what you are doing for God, and how you are doing that!
Are you taking care in what you are doing? What is your pattern?
We today are living in dark days. We have conflicting information bathed in error and designed to deceive us.
We know change is coming and we know judgment is beckoning.
We know not everyone supported Josiah’s spiritual leadership and they were waiting to bring back evil to the nation.
The same evildoers are here today.
But we also know God would prepare a remnant to preserve His truth when the determined captivity came.
The Apostle Paul has warned professing believers that if they refuse to obey the commandments of God and slip deeper and deeper into idolatry and abominations, there is no remedy but painful exile and death.
He reminded believers that God dealt harshly with the angels that sinned, as well as with unbelieving Israel. He will treat friends in the same way if we reject Him and His word.
The Apostle John also, in Revelation chapters 2 and 3, warned several churches that if they continued in sin, their churches would be destroyed.
The evil kings serve to point us to a better and more perfect King, the Lord Jesus Christ who came and wrought our redemption on the Cross.
Josiah was young but he opposed idolatry and breaking of the Covenant
You can do the same. You can bring renewal, even though it may be hard to do so.
Do the hard work.
Commit yourself to the Good News.
So let us cleanse the ‘Temple’ which is what Christians are and restore the Word of God to its place of primacy, restore the broken things, follow the path that God has laid down for us and trust in God for every step of our life. If we do not, our lives will read like the
2 Chronicles 36 history of Israel, a short but sad account of utter ruin.
When Josiah was alive, judgment had been delayed, but now that he was dead the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem was imminent. The behavior of the four godless kings after Josiah hastened the destruction of the kingdom.
Note that this did not come all at once. It came bit by bit. God would have preferred that Judah and Jerusalem repent and live, for the prophets still prophesied, exhorting them to repent and to throw themselves on the mercy of God. The punishment came in several stages, with different sieges, tribute demands at different times and deportations at other times.
“The Exile was not a permanent defeat but, ultimately, a triumph of God’s Providence. History is a process, not of disintegration, but of sifting and selection. When the dross, therefore, is removed, a faithful remnant is disclosed.”
Remember, so it is with us. When we sin and rebel, after suffering and exile, sifting and selection and the removal of the dross, we will be restored and rejuvenated. Of course, obedience and sanctification is the better way. It is a sad fact that even with the godliest of parents, sometimes their children turn out to be corrupt – so were the sons of Josiah. They did not walk after their father. Sat on the throne, but did evil in the side of the Lord. Do not be like those sons