Okay, now this evening we're
going to look at two portions of scripture that are parallel
history. 2 Kings 23, and hold your place
there, and find 2 Chronicles 35. If you want to turn to 2
Chronicles 35, I'm entitling the message from what is said
in verse 18. And this is what grabbed my attention
when I read through this passage and then re-read it. And there
was no Passover like to that kept in Israel from the days
of Samuel the prophet. For this was a high day. This
was a big day. in Jerusalem and for Judah. So the title of the message will
be, No Passover Like That. No Passover Like That. And whenever we see in Scripture
the Feast of the Passover, or one of those other feasts, but
especially in regard to the Feast of the Passover, we should always
consider Christ who is our Passover. Whenever we consider the Passover
sacrifice, even when we look to the first time the Lord instituted
the Passover sacrifice in Egypt, and from the days of Josiah looking
back 850 years, from the day of Josiah looking back to when
the first Passover sacrifice was made there in Egypt. Remember the Lord instructed
them to find the instructions there in Exodus chapter 12. How
were they to slay the Passover sacrifice and put the blood upon
the lintel and the doorpost. And God said, when I see the
blood, I will pass over you. Now there were many feasts appointed
by the Lord in the Law of God given to Moses, but one of the
chief ones was that of the Passover. And I'm thinking also of another
one, the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement. We should
always and immediately think of the Lord Jesus Christ, our
Passover, and Christ who is our Atonement. He is our Passover
sacrifice and He is our Atonement. What began in Egypt those many
years ago in that first original Passover was actually fulfilled
at Calvary, wasn't it? And completed in Christ and Him
crucified for us as our sacrifice for sin. We read in 1 Peter,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the just one, suffered once for
our sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God.
And then I think of this scripture that we often quote, 1 Corinthians
5, 7, for even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. Boy, aren't you glad we have
a sacrifice? The Lord Jesus Christ is our
Passover, The Lord still says, when I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. And God says, when I see the
Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified, His precious blood atonement,
whereby we are redeemed with His precious blood, God still
says, when I see Christ our Passover, I will pass over you." Christ
our Passover, the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanses us
from all of our sin. Because God's justice and wrath
did not pass by Him when He was made sin for us, He endured the
wrath of God, the judgment of God, and died under the wrath
of God. Because God's justice and wrath
did not pass over Him, it found its place in Him and executed
Him and killed Him as our Passover sacrifice. Now because of that,
God is able to be just and the justifier, God is able to pass
over us justly because of the Lord Jesus paying for our sin
debt. You remember the scripture, God
made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be
made to righteousness of God in him. Now, several things I
want to consider in Josiah, leading the people in this time of reformation
and this time of revival back to worshiping the true and living
God in the way that was prescribed and written by the law of God
given unto Moses. Now, the first thing I want us
to notice, you find 2 Kings chapter 23. The first thing I want us
to notice, they made much of reading the Word of God. Notice
verse 1, 2, and 3. And the king sent, that is, Josiah,
and gathered unto him all the elders of Judah, and of Jerusalem. And the king went up into the
house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah, and all the inhabitants
of Jerusalem with him, the priests, the prophets, all the people,
both small and great. And he read in their ears all
the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the
house of the Lord." Now, they must have been there for hours.
How long would it take to read from Genesis all the way through
the first five books of the Bible? It would take a while, wouldn't
it? It would take a while. And I think the king himself
read publicly all the words that God had given. Josiah convened
and assembled all the elders of Judah, the priest, The prophets,
Jeremiah, Zephaniah, they were there. And all the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, they were there in this great gathering, this
great assembly. And Josiah took the book that
was found, remember? That had been neglected for so
long. It was found in the temple of the Lord when they were doing
the repair and the cleaning. And Shaphan said, I found, and
Hilkiah said, I found the book of the law. We considered that
last time, but, and they took it to the king and read it to
the king. Remember it affected his heart greatly. Now Josiah
is determined to read the word of the Lord to all the people. Now, there's nothing can be more
important in our public and private worship than the reading of the
word of God. Did you get that? There's nothing
more important in our public and private worship than the
reading of the Word of the Lord. The first thing we do when we
assemble to worship the Lord, what is the first thing we do?
We read the Word of the Lord, don't we? When the Lord Jesus
Christ went back to his hometown synagogue in Nazareth, remember,
in Luke chapter 4, and stood up to read They gave him the
book of Isaiah and he turned to Isaiah 61 and he read that
prophecy concerning himself, that the spirit of the Lord was
upon him. You remember what he said? This day is this scripture
fulfilled in your ears. So there we have a good example,
don't we? The Lord himself stood up in
the synagogue and read the word of the Lord. In both Colossians
chapter 4 verse 16 and 1 Thessalonians 5 27, the Apostle Paul writes
these words, I charge you that this epistle be read unto all
the holy brethren. It is the charge of the Apostle
and the Lord himself that we are to publicly read the word
of the Lord. Now, we don't do this to be seen
of men. You remember not too long ago
recently, several churches over in town had a reading of the
word of the Lord publicly. And I'm not against reading the
Word of the Lord, but to do that just in a show-off way, I think
it was just all show. It was just nothing but self-righteousness. I wonder how much they actually
read when they gather together in the house where they assemble.
Probably neglect the Word of the Lord, don't they? But we're
to read the Word of the Lord. It reminded me of this. The first
meeting that was held in this building, I was here. because
I drove Pastor Mahan up here that Sunday evening. This was
in May of 1986 when Pastor Mahan came here to
preach the first meeting and the first gospel message that
was preached here. That was some 31 years ago. And
he asked me to stand in that pulpit before
he preached and to read the Word of the Lord. So I thought about
this. The first man who stood in this
pulpit and publicly read the Word of the Lord was your pastor. Now, I had no idea in 1986 that
one day that I would actually be the pastor of this church.
I had no idea. No, I have not one clue. Not one clue, but you never know. You never know what the Lord
has in store. So, it's very important. We make much, we make much of
the reading of the Word of the Lord. The second thing I wanted
to notice in 2 Kings 23 verse 3, they renewed their vow to the
covenant of the Lord. The king stood by the pillar,
maybe one of those great brazen pillars that we remember in the
porch of the temple, and made a covenant before the Lord or
a vow to the Lord to walk after the Lord to keep His commandments,
His testimonies, His statutes with all their heart and with
all their soul to perform the words of this covenant that are
written in this book. And all the people stood to the
covenant. They all agreed with Josiah and
vowed this vow to the Lord. Josiah made a vow to the covenant. He publicly confessed his total
sellout to the Lord's covenant revealed in the word that he
had just read, and all the people also stood with him. We read
in Scripture words are to contend for the gospel that was once
delivered unto the saints, and they were contending for the
gospel. But now here's what caught my
attention. to perform the words of the covenant. Now, they made
a vow that they were going, that's what the law of God says over
Deuteronomy. Worship the Lord your God with
all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. That's what the law
requires. And they made a vow. They had
read that vow. And they were going to vow to
the Lord to do as much as they could to honor God, to perform
the words of His covenant. Now, here's what I thought about.
I'm sure Josiah and the people were sincere in their vow. Now,
probably not all of them, but probably most of them were sincere
in their vow, but what they vowed was impossible for them to do. What they vowed was to keep the
law perfectly. What they vowed to do was impossible
for them to do. We know that the law demands
absolute, complete perfection and obedience in every jot and
every tittle, word, mind, thought, deed, motive, inward, outward,
You reckon they did? No, they didn't. No, they didn't. Not only outwardly the law reaches,
but most importantly, inwardly. No mere man, not Josiah, not
Jeremiah, not Zedekiah, none of the prophets, none of the
priests, performed all the words of the book written in the law
of the Lord. Not one of them. Now, I said
all that to say this. The good news of the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ is that our King and our prophet and
priest and our King, the Lord Jesus Christ, has done that for
us. He is the only one as the Son
of Man and God the Son who performed all the words of that covenant
Right? That's right. He's the only man that ever did.
I quote this psalm often, Psalm 57, 2. He shall perform all things
for us. And he did. Matter of fact, the
Lord says of him, this is my well-beloved son in whom I'm
well-pleased. And then he says over in Isaiah
42, the Lord is well-pleased for his righteousness sake. He
will magnify the law and make it honorable. The Lord Jesus
Christ did that, and he didn't do that for himself. I mean,
he didn't need to work out a righteousness for himself, did he? He's already
righteous. Who's he doing that for? For
us, for his people, those for whom he represented. Christ is the surety of that
eternal covenant of grace. We read in Hebrews 7, the law
made nothing perfect, but bringing in of a better hope did. Christ
is our better hope. By which we draw nigh unto God.
How do we draw nigh unto God? In that law of God. In that law
of God fulfilled in Christ. And then in Hebrews 7, 22, By
so much was the Lord Jesus Christ made a surety of a better testament,
established upon better promises, he's a mediator of a better covenant,
Aren't you glad that we have a prophet, priest, and king that
performed all things for us? His obedience, his faithfulness
is perfect. He established for us an everlasting
righteousness and he freely gives that unto his people. He did
perform all the words of this covenant and he did that as a
representative man for his people by one man's Obedience, many
were made righteous. Here's the second thing, or the
third thing I want us to see, in 2 Kings 23, from verse 4,
verse 4, all the way down through verse 20. Verse 4, all the way
down through verse 20. Josiah went about Jerusalem to
destroy every idol out of the temple, and to put out of business,
and to put down every false priest. And then, you know what he did?
Those who were left, the false priests and the prophets of Baal,
look what it says in verse 20. And he slew all the priests of the high places
that were upon the altars and burned men's bones upon them
and returned to Jerusalem." I mean, he went on a campaign to wipe
out every, every idol. As it says there, verse 4, the
king commanded Hilkiah the priest and the priest of the second
order and the keepers of the door to bring forth out of the
temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and
the grove, and all the host of them, and he burned them all."
How did those sayings find their way into the temple? I know the
Bibles didn't get there themselves. those people whose hearts were
full of idolatry, made them and put them in the place where God
intended for sinners to worship the Lord Jesus Christ, and attempted
to come to God by those idols. You say, how dumb and how ignorant
could they be? After all that these people had
been through, it's just astounding. how fully engrossed they were
with idolatry. It wasn't just a few days when
they marched through the Red Sea and watched God part that
sea and then out in Sinai Desert and Moses is up on the mountain
receiving the law of the Lord and the people led by Aaron are
dancing around a golden idol that they had manufactured. and
said, these be thy God that delivered us from Egypt. I tell you, you
talk about depraved sinners. This is how depraved we truly
are apart from God's restraining grace. Something else that's
most interesting on this third point in verse 13 and 14, watch
this. You remember Hezekiah when he
came to the throne took that brazen serpent that was lifted
up in the wilderness that the people had saved, and that was
a type and picture of Christ, and he grounded the powder. Now
look what Josiah does here in verse 13. The high places that
were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the
mount of corruption, which Solomon, king of Israel, had builded for
Ashtoreth, the abomination of the Zidonians and Chemosh, the
abomination of Moabites and Milcom, the abomination of the children
of Ammon. Did the king defile? He break in pieces the images
and cut down the grove and filled their places with dead, filled
their places with bones of men. Even Solomon in his later life
when he married all those idolatrous women who enticed his heart to
idolatry, and he caved in and gave in to their desires, and
he established these idols there in Jerusalem. And Josiah says,
even though Solomon made them, even though people regarded,
we're going to destroy them. We're going to get rid of them.
Something else he did, verse 15, moreover the altar that was
at Bethel, at the high place with Jeroboam." Now this is when
the thing started going downhill, remember? After the death of
Solomon, there was Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, and Jeroboam,
the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. You remember what he
did? He made two golden calves, put one in Bethel, one in Dan.
He didn't want anybody to go to Jerusalem, who made Israel
to sin. had made both the altar and the
high places, he break down and burned the high places and stamped
it small to powder and burned the grove. Doesn't matter if
it's Solomon, doesn't matter if it's Jeroboam, he's going
to put an end to all the different idols. And then he went about
like Elijah, like Elijah did on Mount Carmel, remember in
1 Kings 18? Remember when they had that contest
as the God that answers by fire, he will be God? And God answered,
the true and living God answered by fire and burned up the sacrifice
and then Elijah said, you take those 450 prophets of Baal and he didn't say indoctrinate them
or pat them on the back, kill every one of them. You see, God's justice is exact
and it's holy. Now, here's what we need to be
keenly, keenly aware of. Our own heart is prone to wonder,
prone to idolatry and false worship. We're all equally prone to such
terrible thing as Israel of old. You say, well, I'd never do that.
I'd never go that way. By nature, left to ourselves,
we are idolaters. Now, I don't know about you,
but I grew up in a religion of idolatry. It was called a religion
of works. We made our works our means to
present ourselves unto God. And that is nothing more than
an idol. Since our father, Adam, Sinned against God, we too have
that same fallen nature. And my prayer for us, may the
Lord be pleased to keep us from every idol. Now, you say, well,
I'm not prone to that. Now be careful. You remember
in 1 John 5, 21, the last verse in that epistle that tells us
so much about God's love for us and how by His grace that
we do love Him. You remember how that epistle
ended? Little children, keep yourselves from idols. So let
us be careful. Let us be aware. Let us set our
heart, our mind, on things above, on Christ. It is only by the
free and sovereign grace of God that He has made us to differ
by His grace alone. Now, one more point on this Reformation
there in Jerusalem. I want us to find 2 Chronicles
35 now. And this is an interesting point
here. In 2 Chronicles 35, verse 1 down through verse 3.
Moreover, Josiah kept the Passover unto the Lord in Jerusalem, and
they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.
And he set the priests in their charges, and encouraged them
to the service of the house of the Lord, and said to the Levites
that taught all Israel, which were holy unto the Lord, now
watch this, put the holy ark, now we're talking here about
the ark of the covenant, put the Holy Ark in the house back
in the Holy of Holies, which Solomon the son of David, king
of Israel, did build. It shall not be a burden upon
your shoulders. Serve now the Lord your God and
His people." Now, Josiah instructed the priest
to take the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord and put it back in
its proper place in the temple in the holy of holy, remember,
behind that veil. And then the high priest, once
a year, would go under that veil, that thick, heavy veil, lift
it up, go in there, and sprinkle the blood upon the mercy seat. And he said, there's no need
for you to bear it upon your shoulders. You put it in the
temple where it belongs. Now, you remember the ark of
the Lord had the golden pot of manna in it, remember? And it had the rod of Aaron that
budded, and the tables of stone, the testimonies of the covenant.
Now, the golden pot of manna is a picture of Christ, our bread.
He is the bread of life. And Aaron's rod that budded,
remember the story about that? as a picture of Christ, our resurrection,
and then the testimony of the covenant is the word of the Lord
which testifies and tells us of Christ, the living word. But
the most important part of the Ark of the Covenant, you remember
what it was? What was on the top of it? That
beaten, gold-covered mercy seat. That mercy seat. That is where
the high priest would sprinkle the blood on the Day of Atonement
upon the mercy seat, Leviticus chapter 16, covering the whole
surface, making atonement for the sins of the people. And he
did that once a year for the sins of the priest, the high
priest, and for the sins of the people. And we know from the
study of the Word of the Lord that Christ is our atonement
for sin. He earned His love, not that
we loved God, but that He loved us, and that He sent His Son
to be our sacrifice for sin. We read in scripture that the
Lord Jesus Christ, he is our high priest, he is our sacrifice,
he is our altar, and he is our mercy seat. God said, that's
where I'll meet you, upon that mercy seat. And that's where
we reconcile to God in Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is a high
priest to represent us before God, and he does so Successfully,
doesn't he? He presents us, he's able to
keep us from falling, and to present us thoughtless before
the presence of God's glory. And he does so with exceeding
joy. Now here's the last thing I want
us to look at. In 2 Kings 23, 21 and 22, don't
turn there, but turn to 2 Chronicles 35, 18 and 19, where we read
the same words. The children of Israel that were
present kept the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened
Bread seven days. There was no Passover like to
that in Israel. From the days of Solomon, Samuel
rather, the prophet, neither did all the kings of Israel keep
such a Passover as Josiah kept. And the priests, and the Levites,
and Judah, and Israel that were present in the inhabitants of
Jerusalem in the 18th year of the reign of Josiah was a Passover. He kept the Passover. He kept
the Passover. Now several things I want us
to notice about this Passover. It was a special, special Passover in that day. The first thing
I want us to notice in verse 7 and verse 8 and 9, notice in
2 Chronicles 35, they were instructed to kill the Passover and then
Josiah gave to the people of the flock lambs and kids, all
the Passover offerings for all that were present and the number
was 30,000 lambs and kids, 3,000 bullocks, These were the king's substance,
and then the princes gave willingly. They gave 2,600, and then the
other chief Levites, they gave 5,000 small cattle and 500 oxen. Now notice, The king and the priest provided
the sacrificial animals. The people were not required
to bring their own sacrifice. Now, can you make a gospel application
there? The Lord Jesus Christ is our
king priest who provides all the sacrifice for us. But he doesn't provide the blood
of bulls and of goats. He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us with His own
blood. But in type and picture, the
king and the priest, they provided for the people. You see the application
there? Christ has provided all the sacrifice
for us. A most excellent, better sacrifice. Secondly, the priest in verse
10, down through verse 14, They killed the Passover, verse 11,
and the priest sprinkled the blood from their hand and they
filleted them for the burnt offering. The priest did all the work necessary. Now these people are just standing
there. The priest did all the work,
they killed the animal, they filleted the animal, they sprinkled
the blood, they killed the Passover lamb, they sacrificed the burnt
offering, they performed their office duty for the people according
to the king's command. Typical, is it not, of all that
Christ our priest has done for us, and much more. For by the one offering he hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified." There were many
offerings under the law that never put away sin. Oh, it pictured
and pointed to Christ, but His one offering, one time, put away
sin forever for His covenant people. much more. You see, they
had the law in shadow, the law having a shadow of good things
to come. They looked to the good things
to come We celebrate mercies fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ
crucified. Christ is our Passover. He's
our Passover sacrifice. He is our priest that brings
the sacrifice, Christ himself. He is the altar. The altar separates
the sacrifice unto God. The Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed
His humanity on the altar of His deity. He is that special
sacrifice of God. God said, Behold the Lamb of
God that takes away my sin. He is our Mercy Seeker. He is
our Reconciliation. He is our Atonement. He is our
High Priest. We have a complete Savior in
Christ, don't we? a complete salvation in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and He makes us complete in Him. Remember the
Scripture, "...in Him dwelleth all the fullness of Godhead bodily,"
and we are complete in Him. And then the Apostle Paul writes
in Colossians 3.11, "...Christ is all, and in all." He's everything. He's everything we need. Christ
is all. We need nothing more. We need
nothing else. And we need nothing less than
Christ our Passover that sacrificed for us. Now, next time you read
that verse, there is no Passover like to that kept in Israel from
the days of Samuel. There's no Passover like the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is blood. avails forever for
us. No Savior like our Savior, no
King like our King, and no priest like our priest. His priesthood
is an eternal priesthood. He ever lives right now, right
now, to intercede for us. Thank God for our Passover.