Purged By Christ

King James Bible Study Daily Devotional

Message Title: Purged By Christ
Date: Tuesday May 31, 2011
Chapters: II Chronicles 34-36
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Details of Today's Chapters: The godly reign of Josiah, the Book of the Law is found and read, the passover is observed and kept, the death of Josiah, the evil reign and dethronement of Jehoahaz, and Judah is carried away to Babylon.

Hello My Friend/Guest,

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing...If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.“ - John 15:1-7

To purge means to cleanse or purify by separating and removing whatever is impure, when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior we become attached to Him through His blood. Being attached to Jesus is what cleanses us and keeps us from withering and being cast into the fire. Since Christ abides in us we can expect some separating and removing impurities from our lives as He works in and through us. Now, Christ can not do it alone, we have to do our part as well. The only way to God and receiving answered prayers is through Jesus.

For over sixty years God was no where to be seen in Jerusalem, at least that is what many of God's faithful probably thought as they grew up not even being able to worship God in the Temple. However, all that was about the change when Josiah became king. Josiah began purging Jerusalem.

“Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left. For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images...Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God.” - II Chronicles 34:1-3..9.

Josiah did not want the same fate as his father, he purged himself of everything that he witnessed from his father and chose to serve God. Josiah served God the best he knew how according to what he learned from other godly people, which is what most of is try to do. Sometimes we always do not know the right thing to do, but if we let Christ lead us He will guide us step by step. Until we are willing to set the example and live our lives for Christ it is highly unlikely that others will make the first move. As Christians we have to be the ones to step up and be the example that God has chosen us to be. “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.“ - John 13:14-17.

As the Levites were cleaning up the Temple they made a huge discovery, they found the Book of the Law. A man named Shaphan brought the book to king Josiah and read it to him, immediately he learned that they were not doing all they could to live in the will of God and that they were in grave danger. He prayed to God then sent for someone who could explain exactly what they were headed for, a prophetess named Huldah came to explain.

“Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, and shall not be quenched. And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to enquire of the LORD, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard; Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the LORD. Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same. So they brought the king word again.” - II Chronicles 34:25-28.

Josiah was the last king to restore Temple worship to the One True God before the destruction of the southern kingdom and Jerusalem. Josiah's leadership abruptly ended when he attempted to stop Pharaoh Necho's plans to attack the Assyrians, which fulfilled the prophecy by Huldah that he would not have to see the destruction that was about to take place.

“After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him. But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not. Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded. His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.” - II Chronicles 35:20-24.

Sometimes thing happen that we never understand, but God has a reason for all of it and one day we will get our answer. This is a foreshadowing of Christ's return. When He returns all the world will face destruction, but those who have accepted Him as their Savior will be carried away and spared from the tragedy. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” - I Thessalonians 4:16,17.

Nebuchadnezzar's soldiers eventually broke through the north wall and mercilessly butchered both young and old. This time there was no room for repentance, the Lord left the Israelites to their ruin, some escaped, but most were carried off as slaves to become exiles in Babylon and for seventy years the Jews were under control of the Babylonians.

“But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy. Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand. And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:” - II Chronicles 36:16-20.

God gives sinners ample time to repent and graciously awaits for them to believe in and accept His Son. God’s methods to reclaim sinners by His Word, faithful ministers, faithful servants, and by their own conscience, shows His great compassion through Christ and His unwillingness that none should perish. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” - II Peter 3:9. However, He will not save anyone who will not purge themselves by receiving Christ into their lives first.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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