Christian Churches of God

No. 245z

 

 

 

Summary:

Josiah’s Restoration

 

(Edition 1.0 19980422-19980422)

 

The Restoration under King Josiah had a number of significant features which are of importance to our understanding as Christians today.

 

 

Christian Churches of God

PO Box 369, WODEN ACT 2606, AUSTRALIA

E-mail: secretary@ccg.org

 

 

(Copyright ã 1998 Wade Cox)

(Summary edited by Wade Cox)

 

This paper may be freely copied and distributed provided it is copied in total with no alterations or deletions. The publisher’s name and address and the copyright notice must be included. No charge may be levied on recipients of distributed copies. Brief quotations may be embodied in critical articles and reviews without breaching copyright.

This paper is available from the World Wide Web page:
http://www.logon.org and http://www.ccg.org

 

 

Joshiah’s Restoration

Between the restoration of the Law under Hezekiah, and the restoration under Ezra, there was a significant restoration under Josiah, which was the last under Solomon’s Temple.

The Assyrians had conquered Israel and most of the people were taken into captivity, 721-718 BCE. God had used the Assyrians to do this because of the continuing apostasy of Israel in worshipping under the Easter and Sun cults from the East.

Jeroboam, as king of Israel, introduced a false religious system that embraced the worship of the Golden Calves. This was part of the ancient Babylonian system of the worship of the Moon God Sin (see paper No. 222). He also set up a pseudo Feast of Tabernacles in the Eighth month, and caused Israel to sin.

God raised up a man of God to point out to Jeroboam the error of his ways, and to declare the name of the person who would restore the ways of the Lord (1Kgs. 13:1-6). This was a true prophecy.

Even the prophets are not exempt from obedience to God and His Laws as can be seen from 1Kings 13:7-10, where the prophet has specific instructions. He did not obey, being enticed by another man of God who lied to him, with fatal effects (1Kgs. 13:13-32).

Towards the end of this period of intense idolatry, Manasseh became King of Judah, leading Judah further into depravity and filling Jerusalem with innocent blood. It must be noted he did repent deeply, and restored much of Jerusalem and cleansed the temple before he died.

His son Amon was evil, and when he was murdered, his son Josiah aged 8 became King of Judah, and so the prophecy commenced (2Kgs. 22:1-2).

He followed the Lord, and when he had reigned for 18 years, being 25 years old, God began to use him in a mighty restoration of the Temple, the Law, and the destruction of the accumulated filth in the Temple, and throughout the land.

In this eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign the Book of the Law was found in the Temple (2Kgs. 22:3-13).

Josiah had a mind to obey God, and he saw the truth of the Book and acted on it, repenting and making the changes necessary to conform to the Law.

Through his advisers, and by consulting with the prophetess, he learned that God had determined to bring evil on Judah, but that his eyes would not see the destruction (2Kgs. 22:14-20). Judah’s fate was the result of having forsaken God, and going after other gods.

2Kings 23:1-20 is a litany of idolatry, false priests, male and female prostitutes at the temple, children being offered to the pagan gods as living sacrifices, and high places built for the gods of other lands.

Josiah attacked all of the filth, and it was a period of cleansing, leading to the great Passover of 2Kings 23:21-23. Verses 24,25 show the complete commitment of Josiah to follow the Law of God, as written in the Book that had been found. "There was no king like him" and "nor after him did any arise like him".

It is of note that in 2Kings 23:18 Josiah ordered that the bones of the prophet who had proclaimed his name to Jeroboam be left undisturbed.

This is the background leading up to the restoration, which has significance for the present.

Josiah reigned from ca. 640-609 BCE. From the eighth year of his reign, he began to seek the Lord, and at 20 he began the purging of Judah, and Jerusalem, and into the areas of the remnants of Manasseh, Ephraim and as far as Naphtali (2Chron. 34:3-7).

This process extended into Samaria, and continued until, and was preparatory to the restoration of 622 BCE. The Jubilee year was 624/23 BCE and the restoration had begun with Hezekiah in 715/14 BCE.

Josiah’s restoration was the culmination of his massive effort and work done by Hezekiah, and some by Manasseh, after his repentance.

By 1 Nisan 623/2, being the first year of the new Jubilee he had cleansed Israel and restored them to the faith. The Passover was once again operational in the Temple (2Chron. 35:1-19), and the false and idolatrous priests were removed or dead.

Because the people were inherently idolatrous, and their religion tainted by the Babylonian system, it was almost impossible to remove such Sun worshipping practices. Indeed, modern Christianity remains tainted with the same idolatrous systems, as do Islam and the religions of the East and the Americas.

The lessons of Josiah’s restoration are a warning to the world of the last days and the restoration under Messiah.

God did not act in the restoration in isolation. The Assyrians were defeated. The Babylonians and Medes fought at the battle of Carchemish 609 BCE against the Egyptian king Necho. Josiah was killed in that battle at the valley of Megiddo (2Chron. 35:20-27).

God the Father is rounding out the last days, prior to Christ’s return and the greatest restoration of all. The powers of the English speaking nations have been weakened by the World Wars, and as Egypt was brought down in the valley of Megiddo, so all the nations will be brought there and destroyed at Christ’s return.

From the next Jubilee Atonement 2026 to Atonement 2027 CE there will be a restoration that will see a new religious restoration and order established. Then the world will be ruled under a different system of law, with a new religious order based on righteousness and justice and upright behaviour.

As seen from the accounts by Ezra and Nehemiah, cleansing and restoration will begin with the priesthood, and will spread worldwide. By the activity of the elect is the world made ready for the Messiah.

Solomon’s Temple was destroyed and the next restoration will be to a different Temple – a spiritual one (1Cor. 3:16; 6:19).

The past restorations pointed to the restoration by Messiah, and a chart attached to paper No. 245 presents the comparisons clearly.

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