15 September 2019
Text: 2 Chron 34:1-4, 8-11, 14-33
In the name of + Jesus. Amen.
King Josiah began his reign at the age of eight. He was one of the minority of kings of Judah who “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.” Moreover, he “walked in the ways of David his father; and he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.”
When he was only sixteen years of age, King Josiah began to pray to the Lord. At the age of twenty, he boldly destroyed the pagan idols of Jerusalem. He ordered the altars of the Baals, that is, the false demon gods, to be chopped down.
The Lord used Josiah in a great reformation, restoring God’s Word to the people after their previous leaders led them into idolatry, and a neglect of the Word of God. The kings of Judah had even allowed the beautiful temple to “go to ruin,” and Josiah oversaw its restoration. And you’ll never guess what turned up during the project: “The Book of the Law.” It had been lost for generations.
It is no wonder that the country fell to idolatry. They had neglected the Word of God. “And when the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his clothes” in shame and distress. Can you just imagine, dear friends, the Bible had not been read in so long, that the entire nation forgot what was in it! Things had gotten so bad that there were not even any male prophets left, and Hulda, the prophetess, bore the Word of the Lord that Judah would be judged for this grievous sin, but that King Josiah would be spared, because he humbled himself before the Lord.
King Josiah ordered the people to gather and to hear the reading of the Word of the Lord. The people repented, and the king restored worship of the true God to Judah.
Dear friends, this kind of reformation took place in the Church as well, as reformers in the city after which our school was named, restored the reading of the Holy Scriptures to the people, bringing the Word back to the people in the language of the people, teaching students the true Word of God and not pagan superstition. But we must be careful not to rest on the laurels of King Josiah and Martin Luther. For we must continue to hear the Word of God, study it, pray it, proclaim it, and take it to heart. We must raise up young men and women who will, like Josiah, hold the church accountable to submit to the Word, who will raise children in the Word, and who will lead our country away from the idolatry and paganism that surrounds us and threatens us with divine wrath.
Let us indeed take up the mantle of Josiah’s Jerusalem and Luther’s Wittenberg, centering our faith and life on the living Word of God, the Holy Scriptures that testify to the Word Made Flesh, by whom we have forgiveness, life, and salvation! Thanks be to God!
Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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