It is quite possible that King Manasseh, after his fifty-year ruthless reign of terror, was the most wicked king to sit on Jerusalem’s throne. His son Amon was not much better. Yet after them came Josiah, son of Amon and grandson of Manasseh. Josiah loved God and repaired his house. He tore down the high places where atrocious acts of idolatry and perversion were commonplace. He was an undeterred, focused young man who would “not turn aside to the right or to the left.” He kept God’s commands ever before him.
From the darkness shone a light. From death grew life. And from disease came health. Josiah, despite the unfortunate legacy of his father and grandfather, reached back into the generations, breaking the curse of his father’s choices. He reached back to the legacy of his great-grandfather Hezekiah, and then even further to King David to seek out his true destiny as a man of God. Josiah would not succumb to the insidious temptations from the ungodly kingdoms all around him, but would lead Yahweh’s people back to Yahweh’s house. He craved worship. He would not sit still until the Lord was back in his rightful place at the center of his beloved people.
Josiah’s bright illuminecence encourages me in our time. One might begin to wonder if any good thing can come from Nazareth (John 1:46) or from our own day and age, but God has reserved 7,000 who have not bowed their knee to Baal (1 Kings 19:18). There is no dark canyon that God’s light cannot penetrate—and he can raise up men and women of righteousness and valor from any generation, in any place, during any time. And, as I gaze at the horizon, I am encouraged to know there is an army of young people who will rise up as a generation devoted to Yahweh once again. New Josiahs will emerge from the ashes of Amons and Manassehs, breaking the chains of their parentage or time to show themselves completely focused on God and his kingdom. They will not turn aside to the right or left and, once again, the gates of hell will not prevail against Christ’s church.
