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July 31, 2024 15 mins

In this Bible Story, Josiah continues his reform over the nation of Judah. He cuts down all the remnants of old idols, and reinstated the Passover to remember the freedom in God. However the people continue to long after their corrupt ways. There will be a reckoning for all the innocent souls that were led astray by past kings. This story is inspired by 2 Kings 23 & 2 Chronicles 34:32-35:1-27. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.

Today's Bible verse is 2 Kings 23:24 from the King James Version.

Episode 154: There was a prophet during the reign of Josiah named Jeremiah, who walked with God and was called to declare judgment on the kings of Judah. God gave Jeremiah visions of His judgment that was coming on Judah for their sins. He showed Jeremiah that through this judgment Judah would be molded into something beautiful for God just like clay in the hands of a potter. Through these visions and lessons, God gave Jeremiah the courage he needed to speak the word of God in spite of the persecution he would face.

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Executive Producers: Steve Gatena & Max Bard

Producer: Ben Gammon

Hosted by: Pastor Jack Graham

Music by: Andrew Morgan Smith

Bible Story narration by: Todd Haberkorn

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let us pray moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and
the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all
the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah
and in Jerusalem. Did Josiah put away second kings? Twenty
three twenty four, My Lord, I want to take time

(00:24):
to thank you for guiding me and protecting me in
my youth so that I could get to the place
where I am now. As I rest and meditate on
your goodness in times past, I will remember that you
are the reason for the celebration and the gratefulness in
my life. Through my intentional devotion, I tear down any

(00:48):
false idols and ungodly ways of being that may have
crept into my life. Anything that I have erected over
your word, like work, money, relationships, or comfortability that serve
as an idol, I tear down right now. Let your

(01:10):
will and your ways be the focus of my attention.
Let your heart be the focus of my affection, for
in your presence is everything I'll ever need. May my
legacy be a mirror of King josiahs in today's reading,

(01:31):
A legacy known for putting your presence before my pleasures
in Jesus name, Amen. Thank you for praying with me today.
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Speaker 3 (02:35):
Josiah's reforms. In our last story, Josiah became king over Judah.
He was only eight years old when he took office. However,
he clung to the wisdom of God and became beloved
as the righteous King of Jerusalem. He restored the temple
and repented on behalf of the people. In this story,

(02:55):
we see Josiah bringing Judah out of the depths of
darkness to sin. He goes throughout the city and wilderness
to rid Judah of all its shrines to past God's
inspired by the Book of Second Kings.

Speaker 4 (03:13):
Hello, Pastor Jack Graham. Here with today's episode of the
Bible in a year, We're always glad to open God's
Word together. In our previous episode, we were introduced to
King Josiah. He began to rule Judah at a very
early age, but his constant search for wisdom and Godly
instruction led him to rule with honor, faith, and integrity.

(03:35):
He tore down the altars of the false gods and
restored the temple, and during the restoration the scroll of
the Law of Moses was discovered God's word. When faced
with the reality of Judah and Israel's unfaithfulness, Josiah sought
a prophet of God for insight on how to make
things right. And even though the prophecy he received foretold

(03:56):
judgment and captivity, Josiah committed himself and his people to
live in obedience before God. Today we'll hear about all
the reforms that Josiah enacted in Judah, cleansing the land
and God's people, cleansing them from sin and idolatry that
had kept them in slavery. So once again let's listen

(04:18):
to the Word of God.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
Midday was beginning to turn into dusk. The sun was
grazing the top of the Holy Temple. The gold adorned
on the pillars spread the light into a hundred different directions.
Josiah climbed the smooth steps into the House of the Lord.
Behind him were all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. All people
young and old, followed their king as their ancestors followed

(04:43):
Moses to the tent of meeting. There, Josiah knelt before
the Lord. He beat his chest and lamented the sins
of his forefathers. The people watched their king weep over sin.
It was a new feeling for them. They had spent
several decades with King Hell bent on destroying all forms
of holiness. To see a king bow before God was

(05:05):
an odd sight. They wondered, if this is what David
looked like all those years ago. Josiah read before them
the law of Moses and exhorted them on the love
and justice of God. The sea of faces were somber
and contemplative as they listened to their king. When Josiah finished,
he closed the scroll and sighed. He raised his hands

(05:28):
high into the air in front of his people, and
cried out to the Lord on their behalf. King Josiah
made a covenant with God that he and the rest
of his people would seek him alone for their worship,
that they would hold fast to him and his statues
with their whole hearts and souls. Josiah fell to his
knees and prayed to God, his hands still lifted in praise.

(05:52):
A hush fell over the vast crowd. Then one by
one they all began to bow as well. For the
first time and nearly four hundred years, God's people bowed
to him in reverence and worship. After a while, the
people returned to their homes, The torches were snuffed out,
and the city became silent. Yet Josiah remained. The echoes

(06:15):
of his slow breaths filled the empty sanctuary. Josiah remembered
how close the Lord had been to him as a child.
Josiah would not have been able to survive being king
as a boy if it weren't for the comfort of
Love and God. Josiah rose to his feet and called
for a few of his men to be gathered. Although

(06:35):
it was late, there was still much work to be
done before Judah was truly free. Josiah stood outside the
temple with his most trusted men in front of him.
The sun had set completely and they all stood with
torches lit in a circle. Josiah looked to the high
priest Hilkiah, and ordered him to take his servants back

(06:56):
into the temple. There were still some old idols, shrines,
and vale and Asherah dwelling there. He wanted them removed
and burned. Outside the city, He looked to some of
the city guards and ordered them to scour the city
for the priests of Baale. Once they were all found,
they were deported out of the city. Lastly, he had

(07:17):
his generals break down the homes of the male colt
prostitutes who lured men and women into the temple to
fornicate on the altar of Asherah. Once all of the
men departed, Josiah took a few of his guards to
the hills that is where his grandfather and other worshippers
would kill and burn their children. The woods were silent,

(07:38):
the trees swayed slightly to the breeze. As Josiah and
his men walked. Josiah looked around. He could see fire
pits and altars in different parts of the woods, charred
infant bones were illuminated in the moonlight. Josiah remembered his
father coming here often. He had lost brothers and sisters
to these wretched rituals. Looming over the charred ground were

(08:00):
large twenty foot wood altars to Moloch. A righteous anger
filled Josiah as he peered up at it. How many
innocent lives were given for this false God? How many
children burned in these forests, all for the vain pleasure
of wicked men. Josiah could hardly stand it. Some of
the altars were much older than others. It was Solomon

(08:23):
himself who first erected altars in the high places. Josiah
gestured to his men, and they tore down the pillars.
They crushed them and burned them. Then they went into
the small shrines and filled them with dead men's bones
to defile it. Josiah wanted to make sure that no
man or woman would come to this place for worship again,

(08:45):
so he could not simply destroy these shrines. He had
to make the ground itself unclean. Josiah descended down from
the high place back into the city. There he lay
in his bed, praying for the Lord to spare him
in his people. Don's light was covered from the lingering
smoke of burning asheropoles and ceremonial brothels. Yet Jerusalem seemed

(09:07):
cleaner than it had ever been before. Priests were making
sacrifices in the temples, and people were freely entering into
the temple's gates to worship. Men who had made a
living corrupting the minds of young people were gone. Families
were restored to one another. Broken marriages were beginning to mend,
and a selfless culture was beginning to blossom. It was

(09:29):
then when Josiah restored the Passover feast as a national tradition.
It had been forgotten with the age of wicked kings,
yet Josiah brought it back as a reminder that God
is the source of true freedom. After Josiah's period of reform,
he marched into battle against Egypt to protect Judah from
further harm. The two armies raged against one another, and

(09:52):
Josiah leaped into battle with his men. Josiah was not
a mighty man of war like his ancestor David. He
was a gentleman, but noblemen filled with courage. Neko, the
king of Egypt, spotted Josiah from the other end of
the battlefield. Neko rode through the enemy lines, toppling Judaeans
in his wake. Neko held his spear high and sent

(10:14):
it whistling through the air. Before Josiah had a chance
to even see it, the spear impaled it. Josiah's heart
stopped beating before he could even hit the floor. Thus
ended the rule of Josiah. Never had there been a
more righteous king before him. He pursued righteousness and loved

(10:34):
his people. Yet all men must face their end. So
Josiah was buried with his ancestors.

Speaker 4 (10:45):
Today. Scripture passage is a fantastic scripture. When King Josiah
gathers the people for a tremendous, momentous occasion, the Book
of the Law of Moses, God's perfect word of instruction
and guide us to who his people has been discovered.
But this was no museum relic. This was the living

(11:06):
word of God, the word of God without error, inspired
by God himself, which is the key to living right
before the Lord and others. Josiah knew that people needed
to hear the word of God. Like David, the Psalmis
and the King. His delight was in the Law of
the Lord, and if the people would only hear it

(11:26):
and read it and open their hearts, healing could begin.
In Judah, God's Law expresses God's love, his incredible love
for his people to protect them and to provide for them.
It was how Israel and Judah were set apart from
all the nations of the world. The Word of God
is how the Jewish people became the people of God.

(11:49):
After reading the Book of the Covenant, Josiah renewed his
promises with God as we read in Second Kings twenty
three and verse three. And the king stood by the
pillar and made a covenant before the Lord to walk
after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his
testimonies and his statues with all his heart and all
his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that

(12:11):
were written in this book. And all the people joined
in the Covenant, don't miss this. Just as an evil
king turns his people away from God, a righteous king
who seeks the Lord shepherds God's people back to the Lord.
It's a spiritual principle for all of us as parents.

(12:32):
We are to live godly lives and serve as an
example to our faith. For our family, as pastors and
church leaders, as national leaders and governmental leaders, we are
to turn from our sins. We are to renew our
hearts always before the Lord, and call people to follow
the Lord obediently. But Josiah knew that this was just

(12:56):
one part of the process. Evil needed to be rooted
out and the land rid of the idolatry that had
plagued the people for so long. He had already torn
down these evil altars in the city and destroyed symbols
of pagan gods. But the country was large, and in
the shadows of the forest were altars and idols hiding,
waiting to seduce people away from the One True God. Again,

(13:18):
these were demonic altars that needed to be destroyed. He
sent his men through the woods, taking down the places
where these horrible evil things happened. Places where women and
children were offered to bloodthirsty gods, Shrines that trapped men
and women with empty promises and powerless deities. What a

(13:39):
lesson is this for us to learn. Though you may
not have an altar or an idol in your life,
they are often dark and hidden places where temptations lurks
that demand our attention. That we need to destroy. If
we are wise as Josiah was, we will pray for
the cleansing fire of God's spirit to burned through any

(14:01):
of these dark places in our lives that threaten to
rob us of the joy of the Lord. Josiah was
truly committed to cleansing the land, and when the work
was done, he called the people to a celebration that
reminded them of how God is all about releasing the
captives and freeing his people from slavery. They observed the passover,

(14:21):
glorifying God for their new found freedom. Our reading ends
with the end of a life very well lived. Josiah,
the most righteous king in Judah, ultimately died in battle.
Never in all of his years did he stray from
seeking the Lord. This does not mean that he was
a perfect man, but he was God's man, and God

(14:43):
had his heart to his last day. Dear God, we
thank you for good King Josiah, for his life and
his legacy. We also pray that we will live for
you to our last day till our very last breath.
That we will live in obe medience to you and
follow you all the days of our lives until You

(15:04):
take us home to be with you forever. Thank you
for the strength of your spirit to do this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Thank you for listening to today's Bible in a Year podcast.
I'm Pastor Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas. Let me encourage
you to download Theprey dot com app and always make
Bible reading and Bible study a priority in your life

(15:27):
along with prayer. If you enjoyed this podcast, share it
with someone you love. Let someone know because by sharing
this podcast you can truly make a difference in someone's life.
And if you want more resources from me, Jack Graham
as to how you can grow in your Christian life,
then go to Jack Graham dot org. That's Jack Graham

(15:48):
dot org. God bless you.
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