September 6, 2020 King Josiah's Faithfulness 2 Chronicles 35:16-27

 
There is a quote from T.S. Eliot that I think gives us a fitting start to talking about King Josiah today. Eliot wrote, “We fight for lost causes because we know that our defeat and dismay may be the preface to our successors’ victory, though that victory itself will be temporary; we fight rather to keep something alive than in the expectation that anything will triumph.”

In last week’s long reading about King Josiah’s rise to power and the massive reformation campaigns he brought to Judah we didn’t give any time to a disturbing prophesy that was made. Quite likely you don’t remember that when a long lost copy of the law from Moses was discovered King Josiah has a consultation set up with the prophetess Huldah. If ever there is a woman in the Bible who deserves more attention it is her! In 2 Chronicles 34:22-28 is recorded her sincere but saddening, perhaps enraging, message from the Lord. She says that the Lord knows and sees Josiah’s humble and penitent heart. The Lord knows the reforms and improvements taking place all across the nation. Reading from a distance and not knowing the end of the story we expect her to continue: thus the Lord will bless the nation and continue its prosperity. The Lord will give Josiah a long life and reign. After all, this is the kind of message given to kings like David and Solomon. Josiah is described as being far more faithful than either of them.

However, her message from the Lord is, “This says the Lord: I will indeed bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the book that was read before the king of Judah. Because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods, so that have provoked me to anger with all the works of their hands, my wrath will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched.”

To make a huge understatement… that’s disappointing! I want to cry out in rage. For centuries the prophets and priests have been crying out to the kings telling them to change their ways. And for centuries they didn’t, or rarely did. Now, finally, a truly faith-filled leader is running the country correcting the many wrongs that have existed. Josiah is a deeply faith-filled man, despite being very young. Surely God should give this nation another chance. For the first time ever things are looking promising.

But God’s word is that it’s simply too late.

That’s a theological point that deserves a whole sermon, if not a sermon series. Why would God not be kind and loving to this finally faithful people? We’re not talking about grace or forgiveness here. The situation doesn’t need the unmerited favor of grace. No forgiveness is needed because things are being done correctly. But God says, nope. I’ve decided to punish and destroy you. There’s no changing my mind.

When word of this reaches King Josiah we’d expect him to say something like, “Well, what’s been the point of all this? If God won’t even accept up when we’re acting in the right way then what’s the point of acting the right way!?!” We’d expect Josiah to give up on his reforms, to just sit back and indulge in whatever came to his whims.

But what does Josiah actually do? What does he do even though he has it from the Lord that his efforts will not be blessed, things will not succeed, and no matter how deeply righteous Josiah is his life’s works will be erased? Josiah stays faithful and continues his reforms. Among the things Josiah does is what we read today, institutes a Passover celebration the likes of which never happened before in terms of genuine faithfulness.

Even though Josiah knows God is going to ultimately destroy the nation anyway Josiah stays faithful. That is truly faith! In my opinion this is one of the greatest signs of faithfulness in the entire Bible.

If your faith is a strategy to get ahead or to have an easy life, or if your faith is a calculation on your part in order to get to heaven and not go to hell, then you faith is ultimately self-centered. It is a plan to get good stuff from God.

Josiah has no such plan or strategy. He loves God, and he loves God so much that he will remain faithful whether God rewards him or not. He will remain faithful even though none of his faithfulness will change God’s plans of destruction. Josiah’s faith is on par with Jesus’ when he prays in in Gethsemane before his arrest. That’s why we had that as a gospel reading today.

It is that level of faith that causes the Bible’s authors to call Josiah the most faith-filled king ever to reign. Remember that T.S. Eliot quote we began with: “We fight for lost causes because we know that our defeat and dismay may be the preface to our successors’ victory, though that victory itself will be temporary; we fight rather to keep something alive than in the expectation that anything will triumph.”

Next week and the week after we will look at the promised destruction that God brings. Without revealing too much here, we will find that in destruction and defeat the Jewish people discover a new, deeper, and more powerful understanding of God. It’s not a nice message to consider but it’s true. It would take that for the Israelites to truly understand the power and intentions of God.

The prophet Huldah does prophesy that the destruction will not come right away but will be delayed, and that Josiah will die and be buried along with the other kings.

The account of Josiah’s death comes so suddenly. Everything seems to be going so well. And then Josiah goes out on a military campaign against the Egyptians. Interestingly it is the pharaoh of Egypt who speaks a word of God to Josiah saying that Josiah should not fight. But he does anyway. He is killed. It happens fast and without ceremony. The Bible does not elaborate.

Exactly what Josiah was thinking we aren’t sure. He attacks the Egyptians after their army has already traveled most of the way across Josiah’s territory. The Egyptians were going to help prop up the declining Assyrian Empire against the growing threat of the Babylonians. Possibly Josiah wanted to allow the Assyrians to be destroyed. The Assyrians had threatened his nation and been enemies for centuries after all. Possibly he was defending himself against the Egyptians. Possibly he was supporting the rise of the Babylonian Empire. 100 years earlier King Hezekiah, who we noted as being a trusting king, had begun building a diplomatic relationship with the Babylonians. Perhaps Josiah was supporting that. It was certainly foolish if he did because within a couple decades the Babylonians would be the ones to finally destroy Jerusalem. Whatever the case, Josiah does something both strategically foolish and he ignores a warning from God.

Very striking in all of this, 2 Chronicles tells us that the prophet Jeremiah utters a lament at the death of Josiah. This is striking because if you’ve ever read the book of Jeremiah you know that he never has anything good to say about anyone in authority.

Josiah stayed faithful even when faithfulness would not bring benefit to him. His love and commitment to God was so strong that nothing could make him sway from it.

Such faith is not easy to come by, but it is something we strive for. May your faith give you commitment to God whether you can feel benefits from it or not. Ultimately God is our creator and our savior. We do well to trust, knowing that we are loved by God forever, and that this life, important as it is, is also not ultimate in God’s designs.