2 Chronicles 35:1-36:1

In this world there is nothing certain except death and taxes. So said Benjamin Franklin and it has been repeated ever since.

I think that we can add another certainty to his list. That is the certainty of judgment. Last week’s message showed us that a righteous ruler can delay judgment. This week we will see that he cannot avert judgment forever.

Last week we saw the fulfilment of Huldah the prophetess’ second prophecy.

2 Chronicles 34:26–28 CSB

26 Say this to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord: ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says: As for the words that you heard, 27 because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and against its inhabitants, and because you humbled yourself before me, and you tore your clothes and wept before me, I myself have heard’—this is the Lord’s declaration. 28 ‘I will indeed gather you to your ancestors, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster that I am bringing on this place and on its inhabitants.’ ” Then they reported to the king.

This week we will see the commencement of the fulfilment of the Huldah’s first prophecy.

2 Chronicles 34:24–25 CSB

24 ‘This is what the Lord says: I am about to bring disaster on this place and on its inhabitants, fulfilling all the curses written in the book that they read in the presence of the king of Judah, 25 because they have abandoned me and burned incense to other gods so as to anger me with all the works of their hands. My wrath will be poured out on this place, and it will not be quenched.’

Last week we saw the largely negative aspect of reformation with th edestruction of idols and ridding the land of corrupt worshipers of Baal and other gods. This week we start with the positive celebration of the Passover

JOSIAH KEEPS THE PASSOVER.2 Ch 35:1–19.

Signficance of the Passover

Deuteronomy 16:2–3 CSB

2 Sacrifice to the Lord your God a Passover animal from the herd or flock in the place where the Lord chooses to have his name dwell. 3 Do not eat leavened bread with it. For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread with it, the bread of hardship—because you left the land of Egypt in a hurry—so that you may remember for the rest of your life the day you left the land of Egypt.

The Original Passover was the great salvation event in ancient Israel where the Angel of death passed over killing the firstborn of the Israelite homes where blood was smeared on the doorposts and lentils. At same time the firstborn of Egypt all died. Pharaoh let the people go. Israel was saved from slavery and it marked the founding of the nation of Israel.

The Passover was then to be celebrated anually as a sacrament to remind later generations of their salvation from slavery in Egypt

The one inadequate comparison I could come up with in Australia is the ANZAC day march, which many mark as the real birth of or the coming of age of the nation of Australia. At that time we mark the bravery of men but also the futility of war.

Preparation for the Passover 2 Ch 35:1–9.

The ark was placed in the temple. Verse 3

Where was the ark?

Priests, Levites were gathered together and consecrated as instructed by David verse 4.

People were gathered together v 5

Sacrifices were assembled. vv 7-9

Passover celebrated 2 Ch 35:10-19

The Passover was celebrated according to book of Moses, which as we have seen was only recently discovered.

37, 600 Passover sacrifices and 3,800 cattle for Burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. There would have been the burning of incense.

The singers, singing continuously.

2 Chronicles 35:18 CSB

18 No Passover had been observed like it in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel. None of the kings of Israel ever observed a Passover like the one that Josiah observed with the priests, the Levites, all Judah, the Israelites who were present in Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Celebrated nationally.

Celebrated faithfully.

Jesus at the last Supper, which was the Passover instituted the Lord’s Supper which is a sacarament where we remember

Josiah’s needless death 2 Ch 35:20-27

In verse 20 we have the words “after all this”, with these words the writer goes forward thirteen years.

The great Assryian empire has been defeated by Babylon and’ the capital moved from Niniveh to Carchemish. Pharoah Neco of Egypt wnt to go to Carchemish to assist Assyria against further attacks from Babylon. To do this trip Neco had to traverse Josiah’s territory north of Mount Carmel.

For some reason Josiah decided to oppose Neco.

Josiah decided to disguise himself, ironically repeating the error of Ahab the most wicked king of Israel. In that disguise he was fatally wounded. He was mourned and the writer commends him for “his faithful love of the law of the Lord.

So what do we learn from this incident in the life of Joshiah.

He was the last of the good kings in Judah who “did what right in the Lord’s sight and walked in the ways of ancestor David. He could rightly have been assumed to be the expected Messiah but by this act of disobedience he showed that he was not the Messiah.

He was killed in a battle that was not his and that he had no right to be involved in.

After his death the judgment upon Judah would come swiftly and surely.

So Judah was left still anticipating their Messiah who would save them from their enemies and God’s just judgment.

Jesus would come as the Messiah. He would not save people from human oppresors but rather than from sin. He would in obedience to his Father’s plan take upon himelf the judgment that all his people rightly deserve when he died on the cross for all this children.