Repent + Stand For God = Revival
2 Chronicles 34-35
The theme of the message this morning is revival and how we get there. We’re going to be going through the story of King Josiah, which is in 2 Chronicles Chapter 34.
Revival is for the Church. Revival is for the Church, not for the world. The world needs to be saved. Revival happens in the Body of Christ when we, as a Church, when we – all of us in this room – return to that first love. Return to that love of having a genuine and real, and tangible relationship with Jesus.
After that, it becomes this deep emotional and real need for being able to express who he is in our lives. It causes us to operate in a way we just can’t contain the truth that has transformed, that has changed our life, which is the basis and the reality of knowing Jesus.
As a result, we are brought to this place in our life of true repentance, where we become broken before the throne of Jesus, asking him to revive the very core of our life.
This message, as I was studying, really reminded me of the season when I got saved. It’s been a short four years and nine months ago, and I was in this room And as I was sitting in this room, the pastor was teaching, and I felt this sense of conviction. And those leading days after I got saved, it was really awesome experiencing God move for the first time in my life.
Some months after I had gotten saved here, we had a young adult worship night here in this room with the ministry called Proclaim. And in that worship night, the worship team led us into this song called “Let Revival Come. And man, that was the first time in my life that I worshiped God not for myself, not for anything else, not to impress, but the first time I worshiped God just because he deserved it. It was so awesome purposing that worship song in my life. And that’s when he created that desire in my heart to see a revival. To see what it was like for everyone around me, myself included, to be totally captivated by who Jesus was in their life.
Psalm 85:6-7 (NLT)
6 Won’t you revive us again, so your people can rejoice in you?
7 Show us your unfailing love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.
Let’s desire this Psalm in our heart this morning and prepare for God to move! Purpose the desire for God to revive us again. Purpose the desire for us to experience the beautiful thing that happens when we experience the salvation of Jesus and watch God move this morning.
Today we are going to be using the story of King Josiah to see how a king stands in the gap to be used by God to bring revival to the people of Israel, in 2 Chronicles Chapters 34-35. We have a big section of scripture to go through this morning, so we will read certain sections, and I will paraphrase other sections.
2 Chronicles 34:1-2 (NLT)
1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years.
2 He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight and followed the example of his ancestor David. He did not turn away from doing what was right.
King Josiah becomes the King of Judah as an eight-year-old boy. His father had just been murdered, so the people made him king.
Unlike his father Amon’s reign, King Josiah did what was pleasing in the sight of the Lord. The first time this is said since the time King Hezekiah, Josiah’s great-grandfather, was in power. And so, we are brought to this place where King Josiah stands in the gap, and he brings God’s people back to God. At this time, the Israelites had gone so far away from God that the judgment of the Lord was inevitable. However, we will see how Josiah responds in standing for God when he realizes how far he and his people had fallen from God. During his reign, the people turned away from sin and turned to God.
2 Chronicles 34:3 (NLT)
3 During the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, Josiah began to seek the God of his ancestor David. Then in the twelfth year he began to purify Judah and Jerusalem, destroying all the pagan shrines, the Asherah poles, and the carved idols and cast images.
For the next six years, King Josiah continued to seek after God. He continues to purify and purge all the pagan worship in the Kingdom of God.
From 2 Chronicles 34:4-7, the Bible describes how King Josiah takes care of business. He ordered the altars of Baal to be demolished and broken down. He makes sure that Asherah poles, carved idols, and the cast images are smashed and scattered. He even burns the bones of a pagan priest on his own altar. In doing all this while seeking God, he is used by God to purify Judah and the temple of the Lord because Israel always had the tendency to fall into pagan religion rather than a real relationship with God. What an awesome zealous heart Josiah had for God as a young man to lead his people back to God. To stand for God.
Then, in 2 Chronicles 34:8-11, this young king, only being twenty-six years old, gave the people of Jerusalem the opportunity to worship the one true Living God by placing people in power to ensure that the High Priest Hilkiah had what he needed to restore the temple of the Lord.
King Josiah stands for God and is used by God to begin the restoration of the extraordinary temple that King Solomon had built. The temple of the Lord that the earlier Kings of Judah had allowed to fall into ruin.
In the coming verses from 2 Chronicles 34:12-17, as the temple is being faithfully restored, Hilkiah the High Priest finds the Book of the Law of Moses, gives it to Shapan, the secretary of King Josiah, and it’s then brought before this young King Josiah to examine.
Let’s pick up the story again.
2 Chronicles 34:18-21 (NLT)
18 Shaphan also told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a scroll.” So Shaphan read it to the king.
19 When the king heard what was written in the Law, he tore his clothes in despair.
20 Then he gave these orders to Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Acbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the court secretary, and Asaiah the king’s personal adviser:
21 “Go to the Temple and speak to the Lord for me and for all the remnant of Israel and Judah. Inquire about the words written in the scroll that has been found. For the Lord’s great anger has been poured out on us because our ancestors have not obeyed the word of the Lord. We have not been doing everything this scroll says we must do.”
This is a monumental point in King Josiah’s reign. This response is a critical part of what brings revival to the Israelites. And repentance is a critical part of what brings revival in our life today, right now, this morning. You see, repentance starts with a conviction of realizing that you have fallen away from God. Of realizing there is something in your life that is keeping you from fully and completely, and utterly living your life for God and God alone. It’s this realization that you need forgiveness for whatever’s been distracting you. But you see, real repentance is when a person turns away from that sin that so easily entangles them and runs back to God and lives a life that is pleasing to the Lord. Lives a life that is remembered as an act of service to God.
On Wednesday nights, we have a group of Jr. Highers and High Schoolers that are beginning to wrestle with God, their foundation and understanding of who Jesus is in their life, and how important it is for them to set that as the foundation of their life. The youth ministry has been going through the book of Acts, and we just recently hit the topic of how Paul speaks on having a clear conscience in the servanthood of the Lord. So, we split into two big groups – one girls, one boys – and spoke on what it meant to have a clear conscience. The conclusion that we came to is in order to have a clear conscience, we have to live in a constant state of repentance, knowing that we fall short of the glory of God. Knowing that there’s moment after moment where we allow our selfishness, our own pride, our own ego, our self to get in the way of what God is doing.
In the room, there was a feeling of a lot of heavy hearts And at the end of the night with the guy’s group, we prayed out, but we left a moment for anyone to say out loud, “Forgive me, Lord.” Or “I’m sorry, Lord.” And it was really awesome seeing each of the boys just one by one ask out loud for God to forgive them as they felt convicted for sins they had fallen into!
When we approach God in that heart of repentance, he moves. He shows up. And what was so cool about that night was seeing God continually moving, God continually showing himself and us understanding we have to enter into the throne of God, humbly, repentfully, saying, “Lord. I am broken, and I need you to revive me, to make me alive again.”
Back to the story of King Josiah. He tore his clothes in despair, repenting to the God we serve here this morning, recognizing that he and his people have been sinning against the Lord for generations. They had fallen so far away from what God’s plan for their lives was, from the principles that they had set out to promise to the Lord to live in. To live a righteous life, to live a life for God. He humbled himself before God and repented on behalf of the people of Judah.
But let’s pause here. What is our response? Just like King Josiah responded with deep repentance before God, we are called to do the same. When we realize we each have personally sinned and have fallen far from God.
Church, revival does not first take place in the White House, in our governor’s office, doesn’t first take place in our children’s school board system. But it takes place here, with you and me, all of us.
What are we allowing to keep us from being revived by God? Completely in awe of the relationship we can have with the King of kings and Lord of lords? Is it religion that makes us act in a way that isn’t even biblical? Is it pride that doesn’t allow us to even humble ourselves before our spouses? Yet alone God? Is it selfishness that makes me think of only me, myself, and I? What do I need? What do I want? What do I want to live for? What’s pleasing to me in the moment?
Church, I’m talking down to you; I’m here in this with you, understanding that there is something that keeps me, that I have to wrestle with constantly to understand that I’m called to live a life for God. And every time that I enter his throne room, I have to enter with the heart of repentance, asking, Lord, forgive me of how I fall away from you.
Our world is broken, and our country plunges further into sin. As a nation, we have aborted 63, 459,781 babies and counting. Homosexuality and transgenderism are pushed further and further into our school system. Every second, over three thousand dollars is spent on pornography, and that’s just in America. Pornography makes over fourteen billion dollars per year in America alone. Not to mention marijuana is legal in almost every state now.
Church, I say this not to attack anyone in the room but to connect that the state of sin the kingdom of Judah is in is similar to that of America. We are called to do the same – to be broken with the sin in our lives, to be broken with the sin of our nation and come before the Lord, come before the King and say, “Lord. Forgive us for how we have fallen so far away from who you are.” And when we get to that place where we understand that the state of the kingdom of Judah is very similar to that of our own, and ask God for forgiveness and truly turn from the sin in our lives and truly repent of what it is that so easily entangles us and run back to God, then guess what? That’s when we see revival.
But when we in this room, myself included, repent of anything that hinders or breaks our relationship with Jesus, and desire a deep spiritual need for a relationship with Jesus…
Then we see revival!
Then we see restoration!
Then we see God move!
Again, going back to my opening story, when I felt God’s presence for the first time when we were singing that song called “Let Revival Come,” I desire for God to move in a way that he’s moved in history time and time again. Where everyone around me, myself included, is in complete awe of who Jesus is and can’t help but speak about him. Can’t help but talk about him. Can’t help but reflect him through their actions.
Guys, we have got to hear what Jesus says to the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2, verses 4-5.
Revelation 2:4-5 (ESV)
4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
This is written to the church of Ephesus, a good and functioning church. But a warning to every believer who has abandoned their first love, which is having a genuine relationship with Jesus.
Have we abandoned our first love? And replaced it with the distractions of this world? Revival can take place at any time that the people of God return to that first love of knowing, of understanding that they can have a genuine and real, and tangible relationship with God. He isn’t some far-out distant God out in space. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords that reigns and rules and dwells within you the minute that you accept him as your Lord and Savior.
And I’m telling you, if you’re sitting here in your chair this morning and you have that wrestle in your heart, if you have that wrestle in your mind, of leaving your first love, of not being where you were once with being in love with who God was in your life, I’m telling you all it takes is for you to say, “Lord, I am sorry for the distractions I’ve allowed to tint who you are in my life. Allow me to run fully and completely back to you, God.”
Continuing the story in 2 Chronicles 34, verses 22-32. King Josiah receives a report from the Lord that the Israelites will still face disaster from the judgment of God. But the Lord says that King Josiah would not see that day because of his repentful and humbled heart before God.
Read with me as Josiah continues to seek God in verse 33.
2 Chronicles 34:33 (NLT)
33 So Josiah removed all detestable idols from the entire land of Israel and required everyone to worship the Lord their God. And throughout the rest of his lifetime, they did not turn away from the Lord, the God of their ancestors.
Look, I don’t know how inevitable God’s judgment is on our nation, but I do know that during the reign of King Josiah, the Israelites lived focused on God, and they saw a great revival. We are called to do the same, to have a heart of repentance. The revival resulted from Josiah taking action in standing against sin by standing for God. We see King Josiah repent before God and direct his people to worship the one and true Living God, which will result in one of the most amazing Passover revivals.
Passover is a picture of Jesus Christ being sacrificed for the sin of the world. Jesus Christ was the ultimate Passover Lamb that was slain for our personal sin.
Let’s read 2 Chronicles 35, verse 1.
2 Chronicles 35:1 (NLT)
1 Then Josiah announced that the Passover of the Lord would be celebrated in Jerusalem, and so the Passover lamb was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month.
In King Josiah’s repentance and cleansing of the temple of the Lord, he sets the foundation for the Israelites to celebrate Passover again. This was a great revival, where there were over 44,000 sheep, goats, and cows sacrificed to God all in one day. Every animal sacrifice was an act of worship. And so, there were over 44,000 acts of worship to God in one day!
Guys, this is an awesome story of revival. As we get into the next section of scripture, we see how God unites his people back to himself. We see how King Josiah’s heart of repentance builds the foundation for the People of Israel to come back to God. Let’s keep reading on the account of this awesome Passover revival.
2 Chronicles 35:16-19 (NLT)
16 The entire ceremony for the Lord’s Passover was completed that day. All the burnt offerings were sacrificed on the altar of the Lord, as King Josiah had commanded.
17 All the Israelites present in Jerusalem celebrated Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days.
18 Never since the time of the prophet Samuel had there been such a Passover. None of the kings of Israel had ever kept a Passover as Josiah did, involving all the priests and Levites, all the people of Jerusalem, and people from all over Judah and Israel.
19 This Passover was celebrated in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign.
It had been some 400 years since the time of King Solomon! All the people were united in this incredible revival. They focused on God and God alone. They focused on who he is, who he was, and who he will always be. Six years ago, these same people were worshiping Baal and all these other false gods and all these wacky things. They were so deep into sin. They were so far gone from God. But because this king stood in the place of saying, “Lord. I am sorry for myself, and I am sorry for my nation.” And repented before the Lord, caused the whole nation to come back to God. Caused the whole nation to experience revival. And now, they were rejoicing in revial, not in some false god but in the one and true Living God. The King of kings and Lord of lords.
Again, I want to emphasize the importance of how awesome this revival is and how it points to our lives. You see, as we sit here this morning, as we go through this section of scripture, God tugs at our hearts, and God convicts of wherever it is of where we are falling short of his glory. Of wherever it is that we’ve been distracted from returning to our first love, which is himself, which is having a relationship with him.
And just like King Josiah steps into that gap and comes before the Lord repentfully and humbled, we are called to do the same. As fathers of our homes, as mothers of our homes, as children, as grandchildren, whatever position in your family you have, you’re called to do that for your home, for your nation, and for yourself. Because when we get to that place when we realize the deep and dire consequences that comes from living away from God, living opposite to God, living in sin against God, and come before his throne room and say, “Lord. I am sorry. Lord, forgive me.” Then we’ll see revival as well. Then we’ll see God move as well. Then we’ll see some awesome things happen – not necessarily only in scripture – not only necessarily in the past – but in our life.
And so, I challenge you with this, this morning. If there is something that you have been wrestling with. If there is something that you have allowed to take control of your life, we serve a God who meets us in an awesome and beautiful way when we come repentfully before his throne.
What a revival!
I’ll close with this, the same verses I started with.
Psalm 85:6-7 (NLT)
6 Won’t you revive us again, so your people can rejoice in you?
7 Show us your unfailing love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.
God is calling you into a personal repentance. God is calling you to humble yourself before his throne.
Revival is for the Church. Revival is for the Church, not for the world. The world needs to be saved. Revival happens in the Body of Christ when we, as a Church, when we – all of us in this room – return to that first love. Return to that love of having a genuine and real, and tangible relationship with Jesus.
After that, it becomes this deep emotional and real need for being able to express who he is in our lives. It causes us to operate in a way we just can’t contain the truth that has transformed, that has changed our life, which is the basis and the reality of knowing Jesus.
As a result, we are brought to this place in our life of true repentance, where we become broken before the throne of Jesus, asking him to revive the very core of our life.
This message, as I was studying, really reminded me of the season when I got saved. It’s been a short four years and nine months ago, and I was in this room And as I was sitting in this room, the pastor was teaching, and I felt this sense of conviction. And those leading days after I got saved, it was really awesome experiencing God move for the first time in my life.
Some months after I had gotten saved here, we had a young adult worship night here in this room with the ministry called Proclaim. And in that worship night, the worship team led us into this song called “Let Revival Come. And man, that was the first time in my life that I worshiped God not for myself, not for anything else, not to impress, but the first time I worshiped God just because he deserved it. It was so awesome purposing that worship song in my life. And that’s when he created that desire in my heart to see a revival. To see what it was like for everyone around me, myself included, to be totally captivated by who Jesus was in their life.
Psalm 85:6-7 (NLT)
6 Won’t you revive us again, so your people can rejoice in you?
7 Show us your unfailing love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.
Let’s desire this Psalm in our heart this morning and prepare for God to move! Purpose the desire for God to revive us again. Purpose the desire for us to experience the beautiful thing that happens when we experience the salvation of Jesus and watch God move this morning.
Today we are going to be using the story of King Josiah to see how a king stands in the gap to be used by God to bring revival to the people of Israel, in 2 Chronicles Chapters 34-35. We have a big section of scripture to go through this morning, so we will read certain sections, and I will paraphrase other sections.
2 Chronicles 34:1-2 (NLT)
1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years.
2 He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight and followed the example of his ancestor David. He did not turn away from doing what was right.
King Josiah becomes the King of Judah as an eight-year-old boy. His father had just been murdered, so the people made him king.
Unlike his father Amon’s reign, King Josiah did what was pleasing in the sight of the Lord. The first time this is said since the time King Hezekiah, Josiah’s great-grandfather, was in power. And so, we are brought to this place where King Josiah stands in the gap, and he brings God’s people back to God. At this time, the Israelites had gone so far away from God that the judgment of the Lord was inevitable. However, we will see how Josiah responds in standing for God when he realizes how far he and his people had fallen from God. During his reign, the people turned away from sin and turned to God.
2 Chronicles 34:3 (NLT)
3 During the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, Josiah began to seek the God of his ancestor David. Then in the twelfth year he began to purify Judah and Jerusalem, destroying all the pagan shrines, the Asherah poles, and the carved idols and cast images.
For the next six years, King Josiah continued to seek after God. He continues to purify and purge all the pagan worship in the Kingdom of God.
From 2 Chronicles 34:4-7, the Bible describes how King Josiah takes care of business. He ordered the altars of Baal to be demolished and broken down. He makes sure that Asherah poles, carved idols, and the cast images are smashed and scattered. He even burns the bones of a pagan priest on his own altar. In doing all this while seeking God, he is used by God to purify Judah and the temple of the Lord because Israel always had the tendency to fall into pagan religion rather than a real relationship with God. What an awesome zealous heart Josiah had for God as a young man to lead his people back to God. To stand for God.
Then, in 2 Chronicles 34:8-11, this young king, only being twenty-six years old, gave the people of Jerusalem the opportunity to worship the one true Living God by placing people in power to ensure that the High Priest Hilkiah had what he needed to restore the temple of the Lord.
King Josiah stands for God and is used by God to begin the restoration of the extraordinary temple that King Solomon had built. The temple of the Lord that the earlier Kings of Judah had allowed to fall into ruin.
In the coming verses from 2 Chronicles 34:12-17, as the temple is being faithfully restored, Hilkiah the High Priest finds the Book of the Law of Moses, gives it to Shapan, the secretary of King Josiah, and it’s then brought before this young King Josiah to examine.
Let’s pick up the story again.
2 Chronicles 34:18-21 (NLT)
18 Shaphan also told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a scroll.” So Shaphan read it to the king.
19 When the king heard what was written in the Law, he tore his clothes in despair.
20 Then he gave these orders to Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Acbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the court secretary, and Asaiah the king’s personal adviser:
21 “Go to the Temple and speak to the Lord for me and for all the remnant of Israel and Judah. Inquire about the words written in the scroll that has been found. For the Lord’s great anger has been poured out on us because our ancestors have not obeyed the word of the Lord. We have not been doing everything this scroll says we must do.”
This is a monumental point in King Josiah’s reign. This response is a critical part of what brings revival to the Israelites. And repentance is a critical part of what brings revival in our life today, right now, this morning. You see, repentance starts with a conviction of realizing that you have fallen away from God. Of realizing there is something in your life that is keeping you from fully and completely, and utterly living your life for God and God alone. It’s this realization that you need forgiveness for whatever’s been distracting you. But you see, real repentance is when a person turns away from that sin that so easily entangles them and runs back to God and lives a life that is pleasing to the Lord. Lives a life that is remembered as an act of service to God.
On Wednesday nights, we have a group of Jr. Highers and High Schoolers that are beginning to wrestle with God, their foundation and understanding of who Jesus is in their life, and how important it is for them to set that as the foundation of their life. The youth ministry has been going through the book of Acts, and we just recently hit the topic of how Paul speaks on having a clear conscience in the servanthood of the Lord. So, we split into two big groups – one girls, one boys – and spoke on what it meant to have a clear conscience. The conclusion that we came to is in order to have a clear conscience, we have to live in a constant state of repentance, knowing that we fall short of the glory of God. Knowing that there’s moment after moment where we allow our selfishness, our own pride, our own ego, our self to get in the way of what God is doing.
In the room, there was a feeling of a lot of heavy hearts And at the end of the night with the guy’s group, we prayed out, but we left a moment for anyone to say out loud, “Forgive me, Lord.” Or “I’m sorry, Lord.” And it was really awesome seeing each of the boys just one by one ask out loud for God to forgive them as they felt convicted for sins they had fallen into!
When we approach God in that heart of repentance, he moves. He shows up. And what was so cool about that night was seeing God continually moving, God continually showing himself and us understanding we have to enter into the throne of God, humbly, repentfully, saying, “Lord. I am broken, and I need you to revive me, to make me alive again.”
Back to the story of King Josiah. He tore his clothes in despair, repenting to the God we serve here this morning, recognizing that he and his people have been sinning against the Lord for generations. They had fallen so far away from what God’s plan for their lives was, from the principles that they had set out to promise to the Lord to live in. To live a righteous life, to live a life for God. He humbled himself before God and repented on behalf of the people of Judah.
But let’s pause here. What is our response? Just like King Josiah responded with deep repentance before God, we are called to do the same. When we realize we each have personally sinned and have fallen far from God.
Church, revival does not first take place in the White House, in our governor’s office, doesn’t first take place in our children’s school board system. But it takes place here, with you and me, all of us.
What are we allowing to keep us from being revived by God? Completely in awe of the relationship we can have with the King of kings and Lord of lords? Is it religion that makes us act in a way that isn’t even biblical? Is it pride that doesn’t allow us to even humble ourselves before our spouses? Yet alone God? Is it selfishness that makes me think of only me, myself, and I? What do I need? What do I want? What do I want to live for? What’s pleasing to me in the moment?
Church, I’m talking down to you; I’m here in this with you, understanding that there is something that keeps me, that I have to wrestle with constantly to understand that I’m called to live a life for God. And every time that I enter his throne room, I have to enter with the heart of repentance, asking, Lord, forgive me of how I fall away from you.
Our world is broken, and our country plunges further into sin. As a nation, we have aborted 63, 459,781 babies and counting. Homosexuality and transgenderism are pushed further and further into our school system. Every second, over three thousand dollars is spent on pornography, and that’s just in America. Pornography makes over fourteen billion dollars per year in America alone. Not to mention marijuana is legal in almost every state now.
Church, I say this not to attack anyone in the room but to connect that the state of sin the kingdom of Judah is in is similar to that of America. We are called to do the same – to be broken with the sin in our lives, to be broken with the sin of our nation and come before the Lord, come before the King and say, “Lord. Forgive us for how we have fallen so far away from who you are.” And when we get to that place where we understand that the state of the kingdom of Judah is very similar to that of our own, and ask God for forgiveness and truly turn from the sin in our lives and truly repent of what it is that so easily entangles us and run back to God, then guess what? That’s when we see revival.
But when we in this room, myself included, repent of anything that hinders or breaks our relationship with Jesus, and desire a deep spiritual need for a relationship with Jesus…
Then we see revival!
Then we see restoration!
Then we see God move!
Again, going back to my opening story, when I felt God’s presence for the first time when we were singing that song called “Let Revival Come,” I desire for God to move in a way that he’s moved in history time and time again. Where everyone around me, myself included, is in complete awe of who Jesus is and can’t help but speak about him. Can’t help but talk about him. Can’t help but reflect him through their actions.
Guys, we have got to hear what Jesus says to the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2, verses 4-5.
Revelation 2:4-5 (ESV)
4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
This is written to the church of Ephesus, a good and functioning church. But a warning to every believer who has abandoned their first love, which is having a genuine relationship with Jesus.
Have we abandoned our first love? And replaced it with the distractions of this world? Revival can take place at any time that the people of God return to that first love of knowing, of understanding that they can have a genuine and real, and tangible relationship with God. He isn’t some far-out distant God out in space. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords that reigns and rules and dwells within you the minute that you accept him as your Lord and Savior.
And I’m telling you, if you’re sitting here in your chair this morning and you have that wrestle in your heart, if you have that wrestle in your mind, of leaving your first love, of not being where you were once with being in love with who God was in your life, I’m telling you all it takes is for you to say, “Lord, I am sorry for the distractions I’ve allowed to tint who you are in my life. Allow me to run fully and completely back to you, God.”
Continuing the story in 2 Chronicles 34, verses 22-32. King Josiah receives a report from the Lord that the Israelites will still face disaster from the judgment of God. But the Lord says that King Josiah would not see that day because of his repentful and humbled heart before God.
Read with me as Josiah continues to seek God in verse 33.
2 Chronicles 34:33 (NLT)
33 So Josiah removed all detestable idols from the entire land of Israel and required everyone to worship the Lord their God. And throughout the rest of his lifetime, they did not turn away from the Lord, the God of their ancestors.
Look, I don’t know how inevitable God’s judgment is on our nation, but I do know that during the reign of King Josiah, the Israelites lived focused on God, and they saw a great revival. We are called to do the same, to have a heart of repentance. The revival resulted from Josiah taking action in standing against sin by standing for God. We see King Josiah repent before God and direct his people to worship the one and true Living God, which will result in one of the most amazing Passover revivals.
Passover is a picture of Jesus Christ being sacrificed for the sin of the world. Jesus Christ was the ultimate Passover Lamb that was slain for our personal sin.
Let’s read 2 Chronicles 35, verse 1.
2 Chronicles 35:1 (NLT)
1 Then Josiah announced that the Passover of the Lord would be celebrated in Jerusalem, and so the Passover lamb was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month.
In King Josiah’s repentance and cleansing of the temple of the Lord, he sets the foundation for the Israelites to celebrate Passover again. This was a great revival, where there were over 44,000 sheep, goats, and cows sacrificed to God all in one day. Every animal sacrifice was an act of worship. And so, there were over 44,000 acts of worship to God in one day!
Guys, this is an awesome story of revival. As we get into the next section of scripture, we see how God unites his people back to himself. We see how King Josiah’s heart of repentance builds the foundation for the People of Israel to come back to God. Let’s keep reading on the account of this awesome Passover revival.
2 Chronicles 35:16-19 (NLT)
16 The entire ceremony for the Lord’s Passover was completed that day. All the burnt offerings were sacrificed on the altar of the Lord, as King Josiah had commanded.
17 All the Israelites present in Jerusalem celebrated Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days.
18 Never since the time of the prophet Samuel had there been such a Passover. None of the kings of Israel had ever kept a Passover as Josiah did, involving all the priests and Levites, all the people of Jerusalem, and people from all over Judah and Israel.
19 This Passover was celebrated in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign.
It had been some 400 years since the time of King Solomon! All the people were united in this incredible revival. They focused on God and God alone. They focused on who he is, who he was, and who he will always be. Six years ago, these same people were worshiping Baal and all these other false gods and all these wacky things. They were so deep into sin. They were so far gone from God. But because this king stood in the place of saying, “Lord. I am sorry for myself, and I am sorry for my nation.” And repented before the Lord, caused the whole nation to come back to God. Caused the whole nation to experience revival. And now, they were rejoicing in revial, not in some false god but in the one and true Living God. The King of kings and Lord of lords.
Again, I want to emphasize the importance of how awesome this revival is and how it points to our lives. You see, as we sit here this morning, as we go through this section of scripture, God tugs at our hearts, and God convicts of wherever it is of where we are falling short of his glory. Of wherever it is that we’ve been distracted from returning to our first love, which is himself, which is having a relationship with him.
And just like King Josiah steps into that gap and comes before the Lord repentfully and humbled, we are called to do the same. As fathers of our homes, as mothers of our homes, as children, as grandchildren, whatever position in your family you have, you’re called to do that for your home, for your nation, and for yourself. Because when we get to that place when we realize the deep and dire consequences that comes from living away from God, living opposite to God, living in sin against God, and come before his throne room and say, “Lord. I am sorry. Lord, forgive me.” Then we’ll see revival as well. Then we’ll see God move as well. Then we’ll see some awesome things happen – not necessarily only in scripture – not only necessarily in the past – but in our life.
And so, I challenge you with this, this morning. If there is something that you have been wrestling with. If there is something that you have allowed to take control of your life, we serve a God who meets us in an awesome and beautiful way when we come repentfully before his throne.
What a revival!
I’ll close with this, the same verses I started with.
Psalm 85:6-7 (NLT)
6 Won’t you revive us again, so your people can rejoice in you?
7 Show us your unfailing love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.
God is calling you into a personal repentance. God is calling you to humble yourself before his throne.