Other's Stand As Well

“And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.” (2Ch 34:32 AV)

One wonders how Josiah caused all that were left in Judah and Benjamin to stand to the vow of holiness unto the LORD.   If we can discover this, perhaps the man of God can do the same for the family of God of whom he oversees.  Although the man of God is not a lord or king, he does and should have influence over the flock of which the LORD tells him he is an overseer.  The Bible commands the sheep to submit to them who have the rule over them.  Which suggests there are things of which the church has no say.  Otherwise, the man of God does not rule over them.  Although there is insufficient room here to expand this truth, there are only five areas in which the church has the responsibility and liberty to voice their will.  Five and only five.  If an issue does not fall in one of those five areas, then the man of God is to rule over the church of God.  Getting back to our question is prudent here.  What did Josiah do to cause the people to stand to it?

There are two factors that I believe Josiah established that the pastor can also excise.  The first is personal integrity.  The people will follow the example of the man of God before they will follow his words.  Josiah removed from his own house the things that would hinder the lives of those who were following him.  He removed the high places which his father had established.  He removed the idols that his father had put away yet remained intact.  He destroyed from his own house that which God condemned.  Josiah faithfully offered sacrifice and kept the Passover.  His life was about learning and applying the word of God.  Secondly, and this is where most works fail, Josiah created a culture of obedience to the word of God.  He could not control what the citizenry did in the privacy of their own homes.  But he could control what was done in the temple and in their public life.  Preachers, we need to have the boldness to create a culture of obedience.  We need to cleanse the house of God and refuse to allow a spirit of worldliness or ungodliness to fester in our churches.  If the people of God or the world’s visitors do not want to respect the house of God with godly standards, they should seek another fellowship.  We are too afraid of offending the self-willed and not worried about offending God.  The preacher should call out wicked behavior of God’s people conducted in full view of the outside world.  Specially that which occurs on-line.

Josiah had nothing to lose.  The remaining kingdom was under the eventual judgment of God.  God was going to judge the people no matter what they did.  Revival or no, Babylon was coming.  The revival under the leadership of Josiah was the purest of all because they had nothing to gain other than the glory of God.  Because of this, Josiah caused the people to stand to it!