mattbraunlin
Member
Finding Out that You're Found
There is a story in the Book of 2 Kings which does not get the attention it deserves.
1 and 2 Kings are the story of just that: a generation by generation summary of the lives and reigns of the kings of Israel and Judea. A few of these rulers are good; most are bad, and some of them are monsters to the highest degree. Some of Israel's darkest days are described in these Books.
But God chose one of the best to create a major highpoint in the history of Israel. And the way God incited this revolution is simultaneously simple, beautiful, inspiring and sobering. It is also profoundly relevant today, and runs directly parallel to what I am convinced God is about to do in the 21st century.
The man to whom I am referring is Josiah, King of Judea, whose story begins in 2 Kings chapter 22. Josiah was the son of Amon, an evil but mostly insignificant king who reigned only two years before he was assassinated by his servants.
Josiah was a righteous king who served the Lord faithfully in spite of his father. And during his reign, God dropped a bombshell.
But not of the kind he is best known for.
Upon ordering reparations to the Lord’s Temple (which in those troubled times had been neglected and was falling apart) Josiah is informed that the book of the law has been discovered there by the high priest.
It is hard to put into words just how enormous this turn of events is.
Here we are, in the very beating heart of God's presence in his holy and chosen nation. And the appointed high priest is cleaning house in some back room full of papers, and something catches his eye. It's a scroll, covered by decades - maybe centuries - of dust. He cleans it off, reads it, and realizes he has discovered the book of the law, an ancient writing from a time long past.
For our purposes, I will henceforth call the book of the law by its common name: The Bible.
Here we see how warped and demented Israel had become by this stage in its restless and tragic history: the high priest of God's greatest Temple of God's greatest nation reads an ancient scroll tossed away in a closet and says, 'Holy moly, I think I found a Bible!'
After centuries of hideous sin, Israel had become a spiritual wasteland. A desolate haze of idols and violence and child-sacrifice. All that was good about her had been stripped away, torn down and forgotten, and devilry put in its place. Not even in the Temple of Jerusalem could a Bible be found.
Until it was.
God never lets evil win, you know. It is a Biblical fact. Sometimes it might seem that way, sometimes it seems like he has forgotten his people (also Biblical facts.) But sooner or later (usually when our insanity is at its peak) he intervenes and sets us right, in ways so great and majestic that they echo through history forever.
Now back to King Josiah. When he hears the words of God for the first time, he tears his clothes in anguish, and fears God's wrath upon his people. He immediately initiates a massive, nationwide reform. He cleanses and restores the Temple. He destroys every idol he can find. He executes the priests of the pagan gods infesting Israel (again, they were sacrificing children). He abolishes all witchcraft and reinstitudes the celebration of Passover. Judea rises up almost overnight out of the depths of the hell she had created for herself.
But what did it take for it to happen? It wasn't the parting of a sea, or a river turned to blood, or a host of angels shouting God's majesty in the heavens.
It was one guy, who opened a Bible.
So. Here we are in 2023. And in light of all that we have discussed, do you think it means a thing that we are living in a post-Christian society? God has done far more with far less than what he has to work with right now.
A couple years ago I was discussing my faith with a young woman I used to work with. She laughed awkwardly and said 'Yeah, I don't really know much about religion other than… Jesus… did things.'
Jesus is all but forgotten. We have reached that point, where the God who built the western world is now recognizable only as a cuss-word. The forces of darkness are toasting their victory.
Just as they have, time and time again, throughout all of history.
And then God sends a Josiah. An Elijah. A Moses. A Peter and a Paul. A Thomas Aquinas. A Martin Luther. A William Wilburforce. A Winston Churchill. A C.S. Lewis. A Billy Graham. A Martin Luther King Jr. A John Paul II.
When I look at today's young people, and their total ignorance of Jesus and what he has done for them, I do not see a tragedy; I see a fantastic opportunity. I see the Father biding his time, setting the traps, and ready to unleash his Son once again, in a way which young people can understand and relate to.
And they will react to him like new astronauts, getting their first view of the earth from above.
Sooner or later, the young are going to encounter the Gospel. A mass-revival the like of which the world has never seen is incubating behind the scenes, and when it hits, it will hit like a bull in a china shop.
It's gonna be scary, and I can't wait.
There is a story in the Book of 2 Kings which does not get the attention it deserves.
1 and 2 Kings are the story of just that: a generation by generation summary of the lives and reigns of the kings of Israel and Judea. A few of these rulers are good; most are bad, and some of them are monsters to the highest degree. Some of Israel's darkest days are described in these Books.
But God chose one of the best to create a major highpoint in the history of Israel. And the way God incited this revolution is simultaneously simple, beautiful, inspiring and sobering. It is also profoundly relevant today, and runs directly parallel to what I am convinced God is about to do in the 21st century.
The man to whom I am referring is Josiah, King of Judea, whose story begins in 2 Kings chapter 22. Josiah was the son of Amon, an evil but mostly insignificant king who reigned only two years before he was assassinated by his servants.
Josiah was a righteous king who served the Lord faithfully in spite of his father. And during his reign, God dropped a bombshell.
But not of the kind he is best known for.
Upon ordering reparations to the Lord’s Temple (which in those troubled times had been neglected and was falling apart) Josiah is informed that the book of the law has been discovered there by the high priest.
It is hard to put into words just how enormous this turn of events is.
Here we are, in the very beating heart of God's presence in his holy and chosen nation. And the appointed high priest is cleaning house in some back room full of papers, and something catches his eye. It's a scroll, covered by decades - maybe centuries - of dust. He cleans it off, reads it, and realizes he has discovered the book of the law, an ancient writing from a time long past.
For our purposes, I will henceforth call the book of the law by its common name: The Bible.
Here we see how warped and demented Israel had become by this stage in its restless and tragic history: the high priest of God's greatest Temple of God's greatest nation reads an ancient scroll tossed away in a closet and says, 'Holy moly, I think I found a Bible!'
After centuries of hideous sin, Israel had become a spiritual wasteland. A desolate haze of idols and violence and child-sacrifice. All that was good about her had been stripped away, torn down and forgotten, and devilry put in its place. Not even in the Temple of Jerusalem could a Bible be found.
Until it was.
God never lets evil win, you know. It is a Biblical fact. Sometimes it might seem that way, sometimes it seems like he has forgotten his people (also Biblical facts.) But sooner or later (usually when our insanity is at its peak) he intervenes and sets us right, in ways so great and majestic that they echo through history forever.
Now back to King Josiah. When he hears the words of God for the first time, he tears his clothes in anguish, and fears God's wrath upon his people. He immediately initiates a massive, nationwide reform. He cleanses and restores the Temple. He destroys every idol he can find. He executes the priests of the pagan gods infesting Israel (again, they were sacrificing children). He abolishes all witchcraft and reinstitudes the celebration of Passover. Judea rises up almost overnight out of the depths of the hell she had created for herself.
But what did it take for it to happen? It wasn't the parting of a sea, or a river turned to blood, or a host of angels shouting God's majesty in the heavens.
It was one guy, who opened a Bible.
So. Here we are in 2023. And in light of all that we have discussed, do you think it means a thing that we are living in a post-Christian society? God has done far more with far less than what he has to work with right now.
A couple years ago I was discussing my faith with a young woman I used to work with. She laughed awkwardly and said 'Yeah, I don't really know much about religion other than… Jesus… did things.'
Jesus is all but forgotten. We have reached that point, where the God who built the western world is now recognizable only as a cuss-word. The forces of darkness are toasting their victory.
Just as they have, time and time again, throughout all of history.
And then God sends a Josiah. An Elijah. A Moses. A Peter and a Paul. A Thomas Aquinas. A Martin Luther. A William Wilburforce. A Winston Churchill. A C.S. Lewis. A Billy Graham. A Martin Luther King Jr. A John Paul II.
When I look at today's young people, and their total ignorance of Jesus and what he has done for them, I do not see a tragedy; I see a fantastic opportunity. I see the Father biding his time, setting the traps, and ready to unleash his Son once again, in a way which young people can understand and relate to.
And they will react to him like new astronauts, getting their first view of the earth from above.
Sooner or later, the young are going to encounter the Gospel. A mass-revival the like of which the world has never seen is incubating behind the scenes, and when it hits, it will hit like a bull in a china shop.
It's gonna be scary, and I can't wait.
