2Ki 23:19-37  The pillar of the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night

[Study Aired April 27, 2023]

2Ki 23:19  And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel. 
2Ki 23:20  And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burned men’s bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem. 
2Ki 23:21  And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant. 
2Ki 23:22  Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah; 
2Ki 23:23  But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the LORD in Jerusalem. 
2Ki 23:24  Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD. 
2Ki 23:25  And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him. 
2Ki 23:26  Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal. 
2Ki 23:27  And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there. 
2Ki 23:28  Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 
2Ki 23:29  In his days Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him. 
2Ki 23:30  And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s stead. 
2Ki 23:31  Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 
2Ki 23:32  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done. 
2Ki 23:33  And Pharaohnechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold. 
2Ki 23:34  And Pharaohnechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there. 
2Ki 23:35  And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one according to his taxation, to give it unto Pharaohnechoh. 
2Ki 23:36  Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.
2Ki 23:37  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done. 

Christ’s body will be “the pillar of the cloud by day” and “the pillar of fire by night” before the people throughout the thousand-year reign which God will not take away (Exo 13:22). 

Exo 13:22  He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

That witness of God’s pillars (Rev 3:12) will have the same effect the parables of Christ have had on all of us in our time of ignorance and blindness not discerning the word correctly, not having been given the eyes or ears to see and hear the truths (Mat 13:13) which were always right in front of us (Act 17:27) like the pillar in the wilderness.

Rev 3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

Act 17:27  That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

Flesh has no excuse regarding what God has physically witnessed to us about His existence (Rom 1:20), but without the spirit of God within (Rom 8:9), we can’t be anything other than blind and ignorant to what He is showing us His word means spiritually. Therefore, we can say with apostle Paul concerning doing evil that we did it in ignorance and were blind Babylonians in our thinking (Mat 13:16, Eph 4:18, 1Ti 1:13, 1Pe 1:14, Eph 1:11).

This section of 2 Kings highlights for us this blindness God can cause to fall upon us, demonstrated in type and shadow via the nation of Judah who, after the death of their zealous king Josiah, a type of Christ, go back into their same idolatrous ways. God has to make us a pillar and witness to us that we cannot become that new creation without His deliverance: “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar [1Jn 4:17, Joh 5:30, Joh 15:5] in the temple of my God.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

Joh 5:30  I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

Joh 15:5  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.

Remembering that the example of Lot’s wife is an admonition to us that our natural mind wants to go back to a pattern which fashions ourselves “according to the former lusts in your ignorance”, and, God willing, our hearts will be as Lot who lost his wife who represents Babylon out of which we come as we are scarcely saved (1Pe 4:17-18) by being given the power to keep our eyes on the pillar of light set before us, actions typified by Lot who forsook all to ‘come out her my people’ and not look back (Rev 18:4).

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? 

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 

Our labor in the Lord is never in vain, even if it does not produce the immediate effect we are hoping. We need to be encouraged and not discouraged by the failure of the nation of Judah and their ultimate captivity into which God brought them. Their captivity and all the events that unfolded were to admonish God’s elect today that we can become more that conquerors through Christ, overcoming in this life, but we must go through the fiery trials of this life; the judgment that will purify the bride and make it possible for us to discern good and evil (Heb 5:14). This is another way of saying we will be able to be used by the Lord as “a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night” because we have been blessed to be judge and become those pillars by the hand of the Master Potter, of whose workmanship we are (Eph 2:10).

Heb 5:14  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. [“a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night“]

Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

God is seeking an occasion against the world who are being witnessed to (Rev 11:3) through the church that they are blinded (Rom 11:7) and cannot see the light side of that pillar unless they are dragged to Christ (Joh 6:44), which for Christ’s body today is a lifelong process of being dragged to Him. We are being blessed to have Christ as our hope of glory within who can give us the power (Rev 11:3) to go from glory to glory and unto perfection on the third day (Heb 12:2, Php 4:13, Exo 26:31, 2Co 3:18).

Exo 26:31  And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made: 

2Co 3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

In this week’s study, we will look at more of the cleansing process of the land of Judah that typifies a work of the saints that will set the stage for the lake of fire, or great white throne judgment. All mankind must be baptized with water and with spirit as Christ told us in John 3:5. True spiritual baptism is what the elect of God must go through first (Rom 6:1-3, Act 14:22) if we are going to be made meet for the master’s use (2Ti 2:21, 2Ti 2:12) and given the honor to work with the world and bring them into the knowledge of God’s judgments and truth (Isa 26:9).

Act 14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

2Ti 2:21  If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. 

2Ti 2:12  If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: 

Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

2Ki 23:19  And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel. 

The words of the law cannot be performed if we are double minded and unstable (Jas 1:8, Jas 4:8). A cleansing of evil spirits must take place in order for true worship to happen as we draw near to Christ, to whom we are dragged (Joh 6:44), in order to cleanse our hands and purify our double minded hearts so we become stable in Christ (1Pe 5:10, 2Ti 1:7). 

Jas 1:8  A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

Jas 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

1Pe 5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

2Ti 1:7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 

This cleansing process Josiah put the nation through typifies what Christ is doing in the lives of His children today, making the bride ready. “The high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel” represent Christ destroying our pride-filled hearts that contended with God for so long, provoking Him to anger. The Lord takes that spirit away which He caused to be there in the first place (Isa 63:17). This section that reads: “and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel” reminds us that our strength to overcome comes from God, from the house of Bethel, which means bread, which we know represents the true bread from heaven, Jesus Christ our savior (Psa 104:15, Luk 18:1).

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

Psa 104:15  And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart. [Luk 21:26]

Luk 18:1  And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

2Ki 23:20  And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burned men’s bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem. 
2Ki 23:21  And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant. 
2Ki 23:22  Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah; 
2Ki 23:23  But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the LORD in Jerusalem.

It is only through the strength of Christ that we can slay “all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burned men’s bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem” within us and burn “men’s bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem“. After we destroy those things by the grace and faith of Christ, we return to Jerusalem, which typifies our being raised in heavenly places where we are seated together in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:6). 

Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 

“The passover” is a meaningless event if we partake of it unworthily (1Co 11:27-29), and in these verses we’re reading we see an example of the passover being taken worthily as a result of the diligence of king Josiah, who represents Christ, who destroys “the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars of our hearts and minds.

1Co 11:27  Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
1Co 11:28  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
1Co 11:29  For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

Christ commands us, as Josiah did the people, to “Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.” This statement given to all the people of Judah to keep the passover typifies for us today the need to keep our lives undefiled and holy before God which we know is impossible without Christ delivering us from our sins (Joh 8:36) by His body and blood, which represent His word that is the true bread from heaven, the true passover we keep spiritually. The flesh and bones is also part of the passover and represents Christ’s body, the scapegoat (Eph 5:30, Lev 16:21) that is being preserved through the life of Christ within each of us, each member being a joint that supplies in love what we need from one another (Eph 4:16).

Joh 8:36  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Eph 5:30  For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 

Lev 16:21  And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: [Php 2:12-13]

Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

Christ is our passover, and we labor to enter into that communion (1Co 10:16), that rest which is found in Him (Heb 4:11). When we confess our faults, He is faithful to forgive all our sins, all our iniquities, so that “Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah.”  This statement typifies for us today what only Christ is able to do through the body of Christ that is strengthened by His life working in us (Php 4:13, Col 1:27). 

1Co 10:16  The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 
1Co 10:17  For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.

Php 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

What a wonderful blessing to know that the bride will be made ready, and that readiness will come as a result of Christ, who is typified by Josiah, who judged the nation. It is “in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the LORD in Jerusalem” which numbers add up to nine (1+8) that represents judgment. The number one (1) represents the day of the Lord and the eight (8)  represents the new man formed out of that judgment which happens on the day of the Lord.

2Ki 23:24  Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD. 
2Ki 23:25  And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.

The words of the law that the land of Judah was called to perform cannot be accomplished unless “the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem” are put away by Josiah, who represents our faithful High Priest who cleanses us of all our sins and iniquities (1Jn 1:9). He is our advocate to that end and is greater than our conscience which condemns us and is easily beset by the sin in our lives (1Jn 2:1-2). When we are washed and cleansed of our sins, God is merciful to renew a right spirit within us (Psa 51:10), typified by “the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD“; a type of the law of Christ that quickens us (Gal 6:2, Joh 6:63, Rom 5:5).

1Jn 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

1Jn 2:1  My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
1Jn 2:2  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 

Psa 51:10  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

This section, “And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him“,  reminds us that God is a jealous God and with His spirit within us, we are going to experience that jealousy regarding keeping the temple undefiled as we become consumed for the temple of God we are by the life of Christ within us (Col 1:27). That makes us a peculiar people who are zealous of good works, typified by the actions of zealous king Josiah (Tit 2:14-15). Those works are clearly connected to cleansing the temple, which then brings forth fruit and true spiritual worship which our Father seeks out and finds in His people (Joh 4:23).

Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: 

Tit 2:14  Who gave himself for us, that he [Joh 8:36] might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works
Tit 2:15  These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

2Ki 23:26  Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal. 
2Ki 23:27  And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there. 
2Ki 23:28  Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

The conclusion of the matter is to fear God and work righteousness as we learn that God will not be mocked (Ecc 12:13-14). So we have this section of scripture reminding us that God puts us through severe trials so we don’t sin any longer (1Pe 4:1). He does not turn away “from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal“ because he loves us and is receiving us through those corrections (Heb 12:6) that make us one with Him as He gives us the power we need through Christ (Php 4:13) to overcome and endure the much tribulation of this life necessary in order to enter into the kingdom of God (Act 14:22).

Ecc 12:13  Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Ecc 12:14  For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. 

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Php 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. 

Act 14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

What we are being told is that if God can remove a nation, or nations, and cast off His chosen city Jerusalem, then we can be sure He can also do this to us, and will do this and receive us back in this age if we are His (Psa 37:28, Psa 94:14, Psa 138:8, Psa 119:8). We don’t avoid this captivity is what we’re being told, and at the same time we also are being reminded that the same God who has the power to bind and bring us into captivity can also deliver us and reinstate us, if it is His will to do so in this life.

Psa 37:28  For the LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.  captivity can also deliver us from ourselves each one of us at our appointed time.

Psa 94:14  For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.

Psa 138:8  The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.

Psa 119:8  I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly.

2Ki 23:29  In his days Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him. 
2Ki 23:30  And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s stead. 

Pharaohnechoh, king of Egypt, coming up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates, a place that means “break forth”, reminds us that our enemy is given to break forth at times and prevail against our flesh (Job 1:12). That does not mean that our spiritual life is going to be destroyed. Rather, it becomes a testimony for us, and eventually all the world, that nothing will ever be able to separate the body of Christ from the love (Rom 8:35-39) of God that receives us through those severe Job-like trials in our lives which are needful to try the faith of Christ in us (Luk 21:18, Rev 13:7-11).

Job 1:12  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD. 

Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Luk 21:18  But there shall not an hair of your head perish.

Rev 13:7  And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 
Rev 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 
Rev 13:9  If any man have an ear, let him hear. 
Rev 13:10  He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
Rev 13:11  And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. 

This period of time in 2 Kings has an is-was-and-will-be application, as do all the words of God. Looking at the sum of God’s word and considering that God is working all things according to the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11), helps us understand this principle and frees up these stories that were written for the elect’s sake today (2Co 4:15).

Satan, who is the god of this world (2Co 4:4), is figuratively represented by “Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt.” All of the cleansing of the land, which Josiah accomplishes from a physical standpoint, may seem futile to us seeing the kingdom went right back to its evil practices after Josiah is killed. However, the lesson is twofold for God’s elect; one side showing us that our flesh and blood being ruled over by Christ, who is typified by Josiah, cannot inherit the kingdom of God (“according to all the law of Moses” of v25 above), and that it is through that death of the flesh we will inherit eternal life (1Co 15:50). That’s the present way we can look at this section of 2 Kings, but it also has an outward dispensational way of looking at it, knowing that the saints’ rulership during the thousand years will not change anyone’s heart, as was typified by king Josiah’s rule, which is why the corrupt kings kept coming after Josiah was no longer ruling.

2Ki 23:25  And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.

Being slain at Megiddo is another way of telling all mankind that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, but all men will be saved each man in his own order. If we are predestined to be in the first resurrection, then we will have been tried and tested in this life, which is what it takes to keep our garments, otherwise our Megiddo moment will be in the great white throne judgment (Rev 16:14-16).

Rev 16:14  For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. 
Rev 16:15  Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
Rev 16:16  And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon^G717.

ArmageddonG717
– Original: Ἀρμαγεδδών
– Transliteration: Armageddon
– Phonetic: ar-mag-ed-dohn’
– Definition: Armageddon = the hill or city of megiddo

• In Rev 16:16 the scene of a the struggle of good and evil is suggested by that battle plain of Esdraelon, which was famous for two great victories, of Barak over the Canaanites, and of Gideon over the Midianites; and for two great disasters, the deaths of Saul and Josiah. Hence in Revelation a place of great slaughter, the scene of a terrible retribution upon the wicked. The RSV translates the name as Har-Magedon, i.e. the hill (as Ar is the city) of megiddo. 

– Origin: of hebrew origin H2022 and G4023
– TDNT entry: 08:48,8
– Part(s) of speech: Noun Location 
– Strong’s: Of hebrew origin [H2022] and [H4023]; Armageddon (or Har-Megiddon) a symbolical name: – Armageddon. 

These physical locations discussed (Megiddo [2Ki 23:29] and Armageddon [Rev 16:16] which are the same location) remind us that the one thing common to all men is judgment. Gog and Magog is another physical type of judgment that represents the lake of fire judgment that will come upon all the world in the second resurrection when those who have not been blessed to be judged in this age (1Pe 4:17) will be judged by God’s fiery words in the great white throne judgment (Joh 5:29, Rev 20:13-15).

Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 
Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. 

2Ki 23:31  Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 
2Ki 23:32  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done. 
2Ki 23:33  And Pharaohnechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold. 
2Ki 23:34  And Pharaohnechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there. 

Notice who is running the show here. It is Pharaohnechoh who takes the twenty-three year old evil king Jehoahaz in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he [Jehoahaz] might not reign in Jerusalem, “And Pharaohnechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath.” Pharaohnechoh is a type of Satan who keeps this king in bands just as the devil has kept the world in the bondage of corruption (Rom 8:21) until this day. Also, “that he might not reign in Jerusalem” means taking away all possibility for righteous rulership which typically can only manifest from Jerusalem, which typifies Jerusalem above, the mother of us all. Pharaohnechoh was the vehicle God used to stop grace [Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he began to reign. 2+3=5] from abounding in the king’s life which spiritual bondage prevented fruitful growth [Riblah: H7247]. Part of that bondage is expressed by the “tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold“, symbols of God’s word which is being peddled making merchandise of the brethren (2Pe 2:3, 2Co 2:17). A talent is worth 3000 shekels, and one hundred talents would be worth 300,000 shekels. Again we see the process of grace being taken away from the nation with these symbolic numbers reminding us that the way the world is being taxed today is by not being judged, which keeps the world in the bondage of sin, and that is what God has caused Satan to do until this day (2Co 4:4).

Riblah H7247  riblâh rib-law’

From an unused root meaning to be fruitful; fertile; Riblah, a place in Syria: – Riblah.

Total KJV occurrences: 11

Then Pharaohnechoh, who is type of Satan, made “Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there.” This is telling us that the god of this world has the power God gives him to put the basest of men in charge and elevated to positions of power (Dan 4:17), even as others are taken away and destroyed as Jehoahaz was.

Dan 4:17  This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men. 

It is significant that Pharaohnechoh changes the name of Eliakim the would-be predecessor of king Jehoahaz to Jehoiakim as a negative shadow of the devil giving someone who is elevated a new name in this world, unlike the positive rendition of that written in Revelation regarding the new name God’s elect are given in Christ (Rev 2:17, Rev 3:12). 

Rev 2:17  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

Rev 3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

Jehoiakim is also given “the room of Josiah his father” by Pharaohnechoh, a type of the devil who gives people power in places where they ought not to be, symbolizing the man of perdition being on the heart of our thrones until he is not (2Th 2:8). The father’s bed is to be undefiled, and Josiah, who typifies Christ, had a bed that was undefiled, and now with this latest king Eliakim whose name was changed to Jehoiakim (H3079) there was going to be defilement in the nation of Judah once again, symbolized by where Eliakim rested, whom God raised up to defile the bed of his father, Josiah.

H3079 yehôyâqı̂ym BDB Definition:

Jehoiakim = “Jehovah raises up”

1) son of Josiah and the third from the last king of Judah; subject vassel of Nebuchadnezzar who reigned for 11 years before he died a violent death either in combat or by the hands of his own subjects

2Ki 23:35  And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one according to his taxation, to give it unto Pharaohnechoh.

This is how the business of religion is run in this world, and these verses are clearly showing us that it is the god of this world, represented by Pharaohnechoh, who is pulling the purse strings of those who promise us liberty in Babylon but are actually in bondage, revealed by those very actions of putting a tax on the people, symbolizing their wanting dominion over the faith of others (2Pe 2:19, 2Co 1:24).

2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 

2Co 1:24  Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand. 

2Ki 23:36  Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. 
2Ki 23:37  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.

This chapter ends by revealing the fruit of Satan’s world with its false version of grace, symbolized by the age of Jehoiakim who was twenty five (5×5) when he began to reign. He reigned for eleven years [“The Ruin and Disintegration of the Perfection of the Flesh”] telling us that no stable foundation of righteousness was ever established, reminding us that the so-called foundation of Babylon must come crashing down, first in the lives of the elect, and then in the whole world which will be judged by the saints who will bring “lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail” to wipe away the refuge of lies in this world (Rev 18:2, Rev 11:19).

Rev 18:2  And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 

Rev 11:19  And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

That is when the world will begin to see a new version (2Co 5:17) of Exodus 13:22 “the pillar of the cloud by day” and “the pillar of fire by night.”

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 

Exo 13:22  He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

2 Kings 23:10-18 “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” – (Joh 3:5)

[Study Aired April 20, 2023]

2Ki 23:10  And he [Josiah] defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.
2Ki 23:11  And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathanmelech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 
2Ki 23:12  And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, did the king beat down, and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. 
2Ki 23:13  And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile. 
2Ki 23:14  And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men. 
2Ki 23:15  Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove. 
2Ki 23:16  And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words. 
2Ki 23:17  Then he said, What title is that that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel.
2Ki 23:18  And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria. 

As we discussed last week, the Lord is going to use the elect of God to clean up the land of idolatry, which defiled lands represent our bodies that must be cleansed. Clearing the land of all idols and false worship in this chapter of Kings (Joh 3:5-6) can represent the first baptism of the world with water during the thousand-year reign of the saints. Josiah’s rule over Judah was accomplished with great zeal and diligence, but the end result of all his efforts did not prevent Judah from going back to idol worship, hence it was really just a water baptism in that sense. Josiah’s actions represent an outward cleansing of the cup but no conversion was, or could be, granted to this dispensation, any more than it could be during the thousand-year reign of the saints. This period of time in Judah’s history can also represent our first baptism as God’s elect who, Lord willing, are permitted to go beyond that baptism, that clearing of the idols of our land, unto perfection on the third day, which brings these verses in Hebrews to mind:

Heb 6:1  Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works , and of faith toward God,
Heb 6:2  Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. [“That which is born of the flesh is flesh.“]
Heb 6:3  And this will we do, if God permit. [“That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.“]

Heb 10:36  For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 

Every action we read of here in chapter 23 that discusses Josiah’s zeal for the Lord is indicative of what the body of Christ will do throughout the thousand-year reign. The resulting way in which the nation of Judah was affected by the corrupt kings that came after Josiah is also symbolic of how mankind can only wash the outside of the cup, just as the old covenant blood of bulls and goats did not change the heart (Heb 10:4) [“That which is born of the flesh is flesh.“] and will only be permitted to do this much physical restoration until Christ’s spirit is given (Rom 8:8-9) at the great white throne judgment so that the inner man can be renewed and become a new creation (Rev 20:6, 2Co 5:17-18). [“That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.“]

Heb 10:4  For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. 

Rom 8:8  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Rom 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. 

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2Co 5:18  And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

The inward application of this cleansing of the temple is an arduous and life-long process (Act 14:22) that is given to only a few to be able to endure until the end (Mat 22:14, Mar 13:13). The powerful strides Josiah took to rid the land of false worship is exactly what those destined for the first resurrection will experience inwardly in this present age (Col 1:24, Col 1:27) so they can be made ready to demonstrate that same zeal outwardly during the thousand-year reign (Oba 1:21). With those principles in mind, we can now jump into this second part of chapter 23 of 2 Kings.

2Ki 23:10  And he defiled Topheth^H8612, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech. 
2Ki 23:11  And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathanmelech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 

God has to smite (tôpheth^{H8608; a} smiting) the earth with a curse (Mal 4:6) in order to bring it to a point where they and we no longer make our sons or daughters pass “through the fire to Molech“, which symbolizes our teaching our children to obey and keep the lies of Mystery Babylon. Our sons and daughters represent our doctrine which is tainted with heresy and connected with the traditions of man (days, months, times and years – 2Ki 23:5) which is vain worship in God’s eyes (Mat 15:8-9). Josiah “took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun” which represents how the elect will take away the power [horses] of mankind to worship Baal, the sun god, whose proximity is “at the entering in of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathanmelech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire.” This is telling us there was pagan doctrinal influence that was perverting the nation of Judah which was supposed to be preserving the oracles of the law of God that typify the law of Christ which preserves His life in us (Act 7:38).

2Ki 23:5  And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. 

Mat 15:8  This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 
Mat 15:9  But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

H8612 tôpheth to’-feth

The same as H8611; Topheth, a place near Jerusalem: – Tophet, Topheth.

Total KJV occurrences: 9

H8611 tôpheth to’-feth

From the base of H8608; a smiting, that is, (figuratively) contempt: – tabret.

Total KJV occurrences: 1

2Ki 23:12  And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, did the king beat down, and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. 

This beating down of these altars “on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz” reminds us that it takes powerful forces in our heavens to bring our lives into submission to Christ (1Co 9:27). Therefore we should not think it strange concerning the fiery trials that come our way (1Pe 4:12) which make it possible for us to cease from sinning (1Pe 4:1) gaining dominion over those powers and principalities against which we are wrestling (Eph 6:12).

1Co 9:27  But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 

1Pe 4:1  Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; 

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

The upper positioning of the altars represents our pride, which is the hardest of these three to destroy and beat down within us, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1Jn 2:16). 

The altars Manasseh made were in the two courts of the house of the Lord as a negative witness of how we just naturally defile the temple of God (Rom 7:24) with our own wisdom which produces actions that must be destroyed as a result of the defiled way we think that seems right in our own eyes (1Co 3:16-18):  “The altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, did the king beat down, and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron^H6939.”

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. 
1Co 3:18  Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. 

H6939 Kidron From H6937; dusky place

H6937 A primitive root; to be ashy that is dark colored; by implication to mourn (in sackcloth or sordid garments): – be black (-ish) be (make) dark (-en) X heavily (cause to) mourn.

1Ki 2:37  For it shall be, that on the day thou goest out, and passest over the brook Kidron, thou shalt know for certain that thou shalt surely die: thy blood shall be upon thine own head.

2Ki 23:13  And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile. 

God leaves us no doubt as to how He feels about these areas of worship. They are a corrupt abomination to Him that represents our false gods and high places in our heavens that are “before Jerusalem” or before the house of the Lord, making all the land a cursed and defiled place. The proximity to Jerusalem reminds us that evil communications corrupt good manners (1Co 15:33), and so we must ‘come out of her my people’ in order to be received, which is what we are doing when we tear down the idols in our own heavens represented by all these different abominations before Jerusalem (Rev 18:4).

1Co 15:33  Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 

Josiah [our type of Christ our hope of glory within] is going to destroy it all and take away the negative power that masquerades as God’s power “on the right hand of the mount of corruption” [“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Pro 14:12)]. Solomon’s compromising spirit as a king left the land of Judah polluted with all of these abominable practices. “Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon” that only waxed worse and worse after his death. 

2Ki 23:14  And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men. 

Breaking something in pieces and cutting down the groves symbolizes how God must thoroughly destroy everything that breathes within our own land, leaving neither root nor branch (Mal 4:1). Once those things are done, the “bones of men” fill up the areas that were demolished as a reminder of the only thing all this false worship could produce; dead men’s bones that need to be buried, resurrected (Eze 37:7-8) and then sanctified (Eze 37:28)

Mal 4:1  For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

Eze 37:7  So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. 
Eze 37:8  And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.  

Eze 37:28  And the heathen [within me] shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore. 

2Ki 23:15  Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove. 

This verse adds credence to the fact that king Josiah represents the elect during the thousand-year reign by virtue of the truth that he was the only king who took these next actions of cleansing the land of Judah to this degree. Tearing down the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat had erected is symbolic of putting an end to days, months, times and years. Then to further go on and burn “the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove” makes us think of “having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience” after “the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat” was torn down, so that the little leaven “stamped it small to powder” of our life is being constantly put out of our lives as we die daily. The destroying of these idols represents the process God is accomplishing in the life of each of the elect of God. The fiery trials of our life that cause us to cease from sinning is what the burning of the grove represents, and it is the only way sin can be conquered (1Pe 4:12, Heb 12:6, 1Pe 4:1). God is humbling the elect to learn that this process is impossible to do without Christ, but if we are granted to overcome, the experience of overcoming by the grace and faith of Christ will prepare us to rule over the nations during the thousand-year reign (2Co 10:6, Rev 19:7).

2Co 10:6  And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. 

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

2Ki 23:16  And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words. 

Josiah turning himself is a symbolic action just as John who turned and looked backed in the temple in Revelation 1:12. John’s experience was the positive expression of turning back and seeing where he had progressed in his walk in the temple of God which we are by the grace of God (1Co 3:16), whereas Josiah turning and spying the sepulchers is akin to looking narrowly on Satan (Isa 14:12-17) who becomes our rejected father in this life (2Co 4:4, Joh 8:44). In order to witness against these ties to our former conversation (Eph 2:2), we must take those dead man’s bones out of the sepulchers “and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.” It is according to the word of the LORD because it is only the LORD within us Who can take these actions that purify the temple of God which we are.  When we do this through Christ, we experience the positive use of the word “polluted” as we testify against our past through those actions of polluting these sepulchers that represent our former conversation (Eph 2:2) of which we become sickened (Mat 23:27, Rom 3:13).

Isa 14:11  Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee [Act 12:23, Luk 13:32].
Isa 14:12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations [Mal 4:1]! 
Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north [all happening within us as the man of perdition is destroyed by the brightness of his coming (2Th 2:8)]:
Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Isa 14:15  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
Isa 14:16  They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; 
Isa 14:17  That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners? 

Mat 23:27  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.

Rom 3:13  Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 

2Ki 23:17  Then he said, What title is that that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel. 
2Ki 23:18  And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.

When Josiah asks “What title is that that I see?” it is akin to Christ asking (Mat 16:13) “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” I say that because the man in question is a type of Christ who was “the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel.” That man is not named as a shadow of the fact that we are hidden in Christ and not known of the world, just like Christ who is the true bread from heaven that is hidden (Joh 6:32, Col 3:3).

Mat 16:13  When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?

Joh 6:31  Our fathers did eat manna^G3131 in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. 
Joh 6:32  Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.

Col 3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 

G3131 manna
Thayer Definition: manna = “what is it”

1) the food that nourished the Israelites for forty years in the wilderness

2) of the manna was kept in the ark of the covenant

3) symbolically, that which is kept in the heavenly temple for the food of angels and the blessed

This story also reminds us of Paul who, when addressing king Agrippa, made a point to speak of the unknown God who was in the midst of all the pagan idols, as this man of God “from Judah” was in the midst of “the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria” who was a false prophet.

What we do with the bones of the prophet of God is we leave them alone as they represent the unchanging foundation of God’s government which has the words of eternal life (Mal 3:6, 1Jn 4:17).

Mal 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. 

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

This last verse of the study encourages us that nothing shall separate us from the love of God. No power or principality will separate us from God, no angel, nothing in the past and nothing in the future, life or death included (Rom 8:35-39), all expressed with this one verse: “Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.“

Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 
Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 
Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

That other prophet who came out of Samaria represents our old man who cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and whose ways led to death, unlike the prophet of God who symbolizes those who, whether they live or die, are the Lord’s (Rom 14:8).

Rom 14:8  For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. 

The Lord reminds us that both these men are baptized into death; both the man of God from Judah and the prophet that came out of Samaria, and symbolize for us the baptism of water that does not convert [the prophet from Samaria] and the baptism by fire into the life of Christ [typified by the man of God from Judah] that changes us. Both these baptisms are summarized for us by Christ with this verse in John 3:5 telling us we have to have this experience of evil in our flesh where we are baptized in Babylon to then ‘come out of her my people’ to be baptized in Christ (Rom 6:3).

Joh 3:5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

[Study Aired April 13, 2023]

2Ki 23:1  And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. 
2Ki 23:2  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, and the priests, and the prophets, and 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.
2Ki 23:3  And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.
2Ki 23:4  And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests 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 for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel. 
2Ki 23:5  And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. 
2Ki 23:6  And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people. 
2Ki 23:7  And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.
2Ki 23:8  And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man’s left hand at the gate of the city. 
2Ki 23:9  Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren.

In this section of the book of Kings, we will learn how corrupt Judah had become as a nation, and to what extent king Josiah, who is a type of Christ, was going to go to destroy all the idolatry and wicked practices that had become ingrained into their culture over the years.

For God’s elect this story typifies for us the order and progressive nature of judgment which is upon the body of Christ today (Luk 13:32). God is preparing the bride of our Lord through a process that is not going to be superficial but fiery in its nature (1Pe 4:12) so that the mind of Christ can be forged in each of His children, who will have their robes washed in the blood of the lamb first, before the rest of mankind (Rev 12:10-11, Heb 6:3, Jas 4:15). Another way to see this story is the judgment that God’s elect will bring upon the world after they have been judged and made ready in this life (Oba 1:21, 1Pe 4:17)

Rev 12:11  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death [Mat 16:25].
Rev 12:12  Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them [Rev 19:7]. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

Josiah typifies Christ, who in type and shadow is demonstrating to all of Judah what God wants all the world to hear: “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord.” They will hear what the king has to say, and even conform to the changes that are brought about, but in the end the heart of the nation turns again to its idolatrous ways and another series of evil kings will follow after the reign of king Josiah [1Co 8:6, Eph 3:9, Php 3:9, 1Pe 1:5].

1Co 8:6  But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ [“The Lord our God is one Lord“], by whom are all things, and we by him.

Eph 3:9  And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God [Joh 14:20], who created all things by Jesus Christ:

Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

1Pe 1:5  Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time [Rev 20:6].

It is when we hear the voice of the true Shepherd that we tear down the idols and wickedness within our own lives, typified by the actions king Josiah took upon the nation of Israel. His actions typify how “thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.” When Josiah follows through and is zealous for the Lord to clean the land of all of its idolatrous ways, he typifies for those who have God’s spirit what Christ is able to do within His people. We learn from the actions of this King that when we “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment,” the result of those actions is that the second commandment (Mar 12:31) will be fulfilled as well because of the wholeheartedness being expressed in keeping God’s commands which demonstrates our love toward Him and our neighbor (1Jn 5:2, 1Jn 4:20, Mat 5:44).

Mar 12:31  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.

1Jn 4:20  If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 

Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

2Ki 23:1  And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. 
2Ki 23:2  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, and the priests, and the prophets, and 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.
2Ki 23:3  And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant. 

These first three verses are a shadow of the time when Christ will come back to this earth during the thousand-year reign (Rev 20:4-5), gathering the elect from the four corners of the world (Mat 24:31, Rev 11:15) typified by this statement, “And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.“

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

Mat 24:31  And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

Josiah will go “into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great:” and he will  “read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD.” Seeing these scriptures fulfilled in Christ’s time, found in Luke 4:21, did not change the hearts of the people any more than it did during this period with Josiah or during the thousand-year reign of the saints. No matter what measures are enforced to make “all the words of the book of the covenant” evident, without God’s power working in our lives, we will always come short and be found only with our own righteousness that can hear the word of God but not keep it in our hearts (Php 3:9). God always requires a witness to be given to the flesh that cannot fulfill His will without the power of God’s holy spirit as was the case with Peter (Mat 26:34). All of mankind will be shown in their appointed time and order that we can only read and hear the sayings of the prophecy (Rev 20:8), as opposed to God’s elect who will witness to the world that through Christ, who enters into our spiritual house, our temple (1Co 3:16), we can do all three – read, hear, and keep the sayings of the prophecy, which is to keep His commandments as we witness our love and discipleship to one another through Christ (Rev 1:3, 1Jn 5:2, Joh 13:35, Col 1:27-29).

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. 

1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.

Joh 13:35  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

When Christ returns the second time to this earth and is seen of all mankind, He will, like Josiah, stand by a pillar (Gal 2:9) which represents the elect bride of Christ. “And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.”

Gal 2:9  And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision. 

What will be required of the world is obedience and the keeping of God’s laws, and that law and order will be established, as typified with Josiah at this time in history. People will in turn learn of God’s righteousness we are being told because His judgments are in the earth (Isa 26:9). However, conversion is a miracle reserved for all of humanity in the lake of fire where those words and the witness of Christ will finally bring about the long-awaited later harvest that had its time of sowing seed during the thousand-year reign (Ecc 11:1, Isa 55:10-11, Jas 5:7-11).

Ecc 11:1  Cast thy bread upon the waters: [the bread is the word of God that has been cast upon humanity – (Php 1:15-19)] for thou shalt find it after many days.

Isa 55:10  For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: (1Co 3:6) 
Isa 55:11  So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

[…and has been doing just that from the foundation of the world – bringing the results that God wants to further His plan of salvation]

Jas 5:7  Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
Jas 5:8  Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. 
Jas 5:9  Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. 
Jas 5:10  Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
Jas 5:11  Behold, we count them happy which endure (Rev 19:7). Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

2Ki 23:4  And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests 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 for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.

The cleansing process for the world begins with having God’s judgments in the earth (Isa 26:9, Jer 22:29) so that men can learn what is true righteousness before God. 

Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Jer 22:29  O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

Knowing what is right and being able to carry out a life of obedience are two different things. Regardless, there is always order in the house of God when Christ is present, and that order is being typified with this statement of events that were unfolding with Judah at this time: “and the priests 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 for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.” These were the commands king Josiah made of Hilkiah the high priest and represents the elect ruling over all the kingdoms of this world, including the religious kingdoms that are filled with idolatry and lies. We go outside the camp with Christ today (Heb 13:13-15) in order to have every idle word and action in our own lives burned up (Mat 12:36, 2Co 10:5-6), and if we are blessed to endure that process in this life, then we will begin the same process with the rest of the world, symbolized by this statement: “and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel.“

Heb 13:13  Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. 
Heb 13:14  For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
Heb 13:15  By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. 

Mat 12:36  But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
2Co 10:6  And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

2Ki 23:5  And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. 

What Josiah put down at this time typifies for God’s elect what will be put down when they rule a thousand years under Christ. The basest of religious priests, “the idolatrous priests“, will be put down, and there will be an end to days, months, times and years, which days are connected to the celestials: “to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.“

The “idolatrous priests” represent the leaders of the churches of Babylon today and remind us that God can take the weak and base things of the world whom He ordained (Dan 4:17), and typify God’s elect (1Co 1:27) and have them [God’s elect, the weak of the world] become the true leaders of this world who will do away with all of these wicked practices that are in the earth until this day.

2Ki 23:6  And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.

Even the memory of the bones that carried out our former conversation in the earth (Eph 2:2) are witnessed against by taking “the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.” These actions of which we read in Malachi 4:1 are giving us the same message of how nothing of our past is to be kept, in order to become a new creation (2Co 5:17-18).

Mal 4:1  For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2Co 5:18  And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 

H842 The Grove ‘ăshêrâh    ‘ăshêyrâh ash-ay-raw’, ash-ay-raw’

From H833; happy; asherah (or Astarte) a Phoenician goddess [of love]; also an image of the same: – grove. Compare H6253.

H6939 Kidron qidrôn kid-rone’  From H6937; dusky place; Kidron, a brook near Jerusalem: – Kidron.

H6937 qâdar kaw-dar’A primitive root; to be ashy, that is, dark colored; by implication to mourn (in sackcloth or sordid garments): – be black (-ish), be (make) dark (-en), X heavily, (cause to) mourn.

2Ki 23:7 And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.

This verse (2Ki 23:7) typifies the defilement of God’s word via the churches of Babylon whose Laodicean spirit (Rev 3:14) rules over the laity with a control that is likened unto the perversion of sodomy in (2Ki 23:7). The sodomites’ houses are “by the house of the LORD” which symbolizes the closeness of this perversion and the effect and hold it has on the churches of Babylon “where the women [churches] wove hangings for the grove.” ‘Weaving’ in this case is the negative example of its use and symbolizes the intricate pattern of lies that is hung upon the grove^H842 that is connected to a Phoenician goddess who symbolizes Mystery Babylon who is a spiritual whore in God’s eyes.

Rev 3:14  And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

[Rev 3:14 and unto the angel of the church of the (people’s rights) write; these things saith the (truth) the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of god; (PNBkjv)]

Rev 3:15  I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

2Ki 23:8  And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man’s left hand at the gate of the city. 

King Josiah’s actions symbolize for us today how we should feel about our former conversation in the churches of this world, who had promised us liberty but were not able to provide it having been bound to lies, false doctrine, and false worship (2Pe 2:19). We repent of being connected to those “weak and beggarly elements” (Gal 4:9) that had control over our heavens for so long. King Josiah’s actions demonstrate for us the zealous spirit we now have to cleanse the temple of God (Joh 2:15) from “Geba to Beersheba”, which is a distance of about 192 km (119 miles) [according to www.rome2rio.com/s/Beersheba/Geva] and “which were the northern and southern boundaries of the land of Judah” according to John Gill’s commentary]

2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.

Gal 4:9  But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

Joh 2:15  And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;

Breaking “down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city” is also symbolic language that tells us Christ and the elect will take away the power from the rulers of this world which power is “on a man’s left hand at the gate of the city” as opposed to being the power of God that is on His right hand where the elect will rule as kings and priests under our Lord as fishers of men (Joh 21:6).

Joh 21:6  And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.

2Ki 23:9  Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren. 

The priests were not converted at this time is what we are being told in this verse, but continued on in their traditions, not seeing the need to come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem which symbolizes the place where we lay down our life for Christ as a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1). Eating unleavened bread is just a show of our own righteousness and not a heart that is changed and displaying the fruits of sincerity and truth that unleavened bread represents (Amo 4:6-7, 1Co 5:8).

1Co 5:7  Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
1Co 5:8  Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

As mentioned at the start of the study there is a progressive nature to God’s judgment that is upon the body of Christ, and we will continue next week, Lord willing, to look at that order with the second part of this chapter which covers (2Ki 23:10-18).

[Study Aired October 17, 2021]

Jer 21:1  The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,
Jer 21:2  Enquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us.
Jer 21:3  Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah:
Jer 21:4  Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against  the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city.
Jer 21:5  And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.
Jer 21:6  And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence.
Jer 21:7  And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.
Jer 21:8  And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.
Jer 21:9  He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey.
Jer 21:10  For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
Jer 21:11  And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear ye the word of the LORD;
Jer 21:12  O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
Jer 21:13  Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the LORD; which say, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?
Jer 21:14  But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.

At first, I thought King Zedekiah was simply being spiteful by sending the very same person who smote Jeremiah and put him in the stocks to now enquire of him concerning what the Lord had in store for Judah and Jerusalem. As it turns out, this is another ‘Pashur’ whom the King is sending to discover what lies ahead for himself and his people. The ‘Pashur’ who smote and imprisoned Jeremiah was “the son of Immer the priest.” This ‘’Pashur” who is sent to enquire of the Lord is “the son of Melchiah. Both were priests, being the descendants of Aaron.

The king wanted to know if the Lord will deliver His people as He always has in the past:

Jer 21:1  The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,
Jer 21:2  Enquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us.

In sending such esteemed men as these priests to enquire of Jeremiah, King Zedekiah reveals to us that Jeremiah was recognized by all as a divinely appointed prophet of God whose words were the words of God Himself.

Here are the words of God in answer to Zedekiah’s inquiry of what lay in store for carnal-minded Judah and Jerusalem, and their carnal-minded king, Zedekiah:

Jer 21:3  Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah:

Before we look at the Lord’s words to our self-righteous old man, let’s first consider who God is. God is a loving heavenly Father, and as such He chastens and scourges those He loves. This principle of being “chastened to deny ungodliness” is integral to the very character of our heavenly Father.

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

It is first demonstrated by how the Lord punished our original parents for their disobedience when they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. However, this marred, dying body of “corruptible… flesh and blood” (1Co 15:50) is also as integral to what the Lord is doing with us through His loving, chastening grace. Dying, corruptible flesh is the essential first step to becoming an immortal, incorruptible king and priest with Christ:

Gen 2:7  And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Gen 2:17 Yet from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you are not to be eating from it, for in the day you eat from it, to die shall you be dying. (CLV)

Job 5:17  Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:
Job 5:18  For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole.

Pro 3:11  My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:
Pro 3:12  For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

The holy spirit has seen fit to quote these very words and repeat them in the New Testament in:

Heb 12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth [G3811: paideuo], and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

It is those whom the Lord loves who are the first and most certain in “this present time” (Rom 8:18) to receive of His chastening wrath upon their rebellious ways. It is a great trial of our faith when we, as His sons whom He is chastening, must at the same time watch the Lord physically bless the wicked while they continue in their self-righteous, self-centered ways in rebellion to His Words.

King David experienced this trial and said it almost made him lose faith in the Lord:

Psa 73:1  A Psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.
Psa 73:2  But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.
Psa 73:3  For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
Psa 73:4  For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.
Psa 73:5  They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.
Psa 73:6  Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.
Psa 73:7  Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.
Psa 73:8  They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.
Psa 73:9  They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.
Psa 73:10  Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.
Psa 73:11  And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High? [“Love thine enemy” (Mat 5:44) is a very poor foreign policy” gets uproarious applause from all sides]
Psa 73:12  Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.
Psa 73:13  Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.
Psa 73:14  For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.
Psa 73:15  If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against  the generation of thy children. [This is what Jeremiah is commissioned to do and this is our commission. We are called to “offend the generation of thy people”.]
Psa 73:16  When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;
Psa 73:17  Until I went into the sanctuary of God;  then understood I their end.
Psa 73:18  Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
Psa 73:19  How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.
Psa 73:20  As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.
Psa 73:21  Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.
Psa 73:22  So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.
Psa 73:23  Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.
Psa 73:24  Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.

“The sanctuary of God” (vs 17) is His temple, His people (1Co 3:16). It is there among His people that we will be “guided with [His] counsel” by “the multitude of counselors”, all of whom know Him and His voice and His doctrine:

Pro 11:14  Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.

Pro 15:22  Without counsel purposes are disappointed:  but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.

Pro 24:6  For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety.

We avoid ‘falling’, we ‘establish purposes’ and ‘make war’ only with “a multitude of counselors”.

Psa 73:25  Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
Psa 73:26  My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
Psa 73:27  For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.
Psa 73:28  But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.

What a blessing to be given eyes to see and ears to hear the meaning of:

Psa 73:24  Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.

The Lord’s ‘counsel’ which guides us and keeps our feet from slipping is His wrath being poured out upon the kingdom of our self-righteous old man. The Lord’s “counsel” is that we must be the first to endure His ‘fiery, chastening’ words of grace.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall [the later judgment of] the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1Pe 4:19  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

Judgment means chastening. Not one nominal Christian in a thousand realizes that the word for ‘teaching’ in the following verse is the same Greek word (G3811) ‘paideuo’, which is translated as ‘chastens’ in Hebrews 12:6:

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching [Greek G3811: ‘paideuo’, chastening] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

As “the iniquity of the Amorites” had an appointed, pre-ordained time to be fulfilled, so do the iniquities of self-righteous Judah and Jerusalem within us:

Gen 15:16  But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

Just as the Lord worked against the Amorites and Canaanites to defeat them, He does the same to His own people at the appointed time:

Jer 21:4  Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city.
Jer 21:5  And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.

This fifth verse is repeated in the New Testament in Revelation 15 in these words:

Rev 15:7  And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

This pouring out of the wrath of God upon us, which the ministers of Babylon paint as something to be avoided, is clearly stated here to be something which is unavoidable… “and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues [“of the wrath of God”] of the seven angels were fulfilled.”

Here in the United States, we used to have a national hero, who by today’s woke, cancel culture standards would no longer be a ‘hero’. Our national hero is famous for the words he spoke when speaking at the Second Virginia Convention. The words that have made this man famous were, “Give me liberty or give me death.” When we are willing to say those words in defense of the doctrine of Christ, then they are indeed noble words. That was not what Patrick Henry meant when he made that statement. Patrick Henry was more aligned with the spirit of Zedekiah when he said, “Give me liberty or give me death.” Here is this same statement when it is made by the spirit of our Lord Himself:

Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

King Zedekiah typifies that ‘Patrick Henry’ spirit within us. He was placed by the Lord under the domination of Nebuchadnezzar, and he self-righteously thought he could rebel against the man the Lord had placed over him and still expect the Lord to bless his rebellion. However, our self-righteousness does not change the mind of our Lord when it is time for us to be judged. Judah’s judgment had been taking place for decades. Even the righteous King Josiah had been killed by Pharaoh Necho. When Josiah was killed, the people made his son Jehoahaz king. Jehoahaz’ reign lasted only 3 months before he was carried away to Egypt by Pharaohnechoh [a second spelling of that name] who replaced him with his brother Eliakim whom he renamed Jehoiakim.

2Ki 23:34  And Pharaohnechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there.
2Ki 23:35  And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one according to his taxation, to give it unto Pharaohnechoh.

The very next chapter of 2^nd  Kings begins by telling us this same Jehoiakim is subdued by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon:

2Ki 24:1  In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him.

Nebuchadnezzar is the Lord’s servant, and the Lord’s prophets keep telling us that the Lord puts the basest of men into positions of power, and that when we resist them, we are resisting Him.

Dan 4:17  This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.

Rom 13:1  Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
Rom 13:2  Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

We read these words, and we keep doing the same rebellious things, and the Lord continues to judge us:

2Ki 24:11  And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it.
2Ki 24:12  And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.
2Ki 24:13  And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said.
2Ki 24:14  And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land.
2Ki 24:15  And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.
2Ki 24:16  And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.
2Ki 24:17  And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his [Jehoiachin’s] father’s brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

This is the man to whom Jeremiah is prophesying about his impending doom:

Jer 21:6  And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence.
Jer 21:7  And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.

Zedekiah typifies the very heart and mind of our self-righteous old man. He was as pagan as Nebuchadnezzar, and that is why the Lord put Israel under Babylonian domination. Zedekiah was given his position by Nebuchadnezzar himself. The Lord called Nebuchadnezzar “My servant” (Jer 27:6). When Zedekiah rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, he was rebelling against God and His Word:

Jer 27:6  And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.

All the Lord’s people must go into Babylon before they can be called out of Babylon:

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Zedekiah was like the Pharisees who could not acknowledge their own blindness. Zedekiah wanted to use the Lord’s name even while serving other gods and rebelling against the Lord’s commandments. We all, at first, do not acknowledge that we are in Babylon even while we are a manifested part of the great harlot:

Joh 9:39  And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which [think they] see might be made blind.
Joh 9:40  And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
Joh 9:41  Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

Try to get any modern-day Pharisee to admit he is spiritually blind, and see where such a tact will get you. It will get you crucified!

The apostle John was raised as a Jew. Even the apostle John had to “look behind” himself to see that he, too, had to “come out of [Babylon]”, the organized church of his day:

Rev 1:10  I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
Rev 1:11  Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
Rev 1:12  And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;

King Zedekiah was installed as king by Nebuchadnezzar. He was expected to submit to that higher power which the Lord called “My servant Nebuchadnezzar”. Zedekiah had sworn to this submission, and he broke his own word:

2Ch 36:13  And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning unto the LORD God of Israel.

Jer 27:6  And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.

When Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, he was rebelling against God, who gave Israel to Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah was commissioned to tell the Lord’s people to go into Babylon and after 70 years ‘come out of her’. This happened to the Lord’s people, and it was written for our admonition (1Co 10:11):

Jer 21:8  And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.
Jer 21:9  He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey.
Jer 21:10  For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

It is important to note that “the way of life” was by going into and then coming out of Babylon:

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her [Babylon], my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

The lesson for us is that when we try to save ourselves, we will always fail. When we attempt to do anything in our own might, it comes to naught. After we give up because we come to see that “of my own self I can do nothing” then the Lord will give us our heart’s desire.

Joh 5:30  I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

“Abiding in this city” is ‘abiding in self-righteousness’ and telling yourself that you can overcome your sins without God’s help. “Abiding in this city” is living in disobedience to the commandments of God while telling yourself you are fighting against the enemies of God. I have done this and so have every one of you because:

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
1Co 10:12  Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

Our ‘king’ is our desperately wicked heart (Jer 17:9) which claims the name of Christ while it leads us into disobedience as a ‘king’ leads his people.

Jer 17:5  Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
Jer 17:6  For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
Jer 17:7  Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
Jer 17:8  For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
Jer 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

This is what we are told will happen to that carnal-minded ‘king’ within us:

Jer 21:11  And touching the house of the king of Judah, say,  Hear ye the word of the LORD;
Jer 21:12  O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

This verse brings to mind these words of our Lord to our old man:

Luk 12:49  I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?
Luk 12:50  But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!

John the Baptist knew that the doctrine of Christ would be a fiery baptism:

Mat 3:11  I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

John was speaking of Christ’s doctrine because he knew how the word ‘fire’ was used in scripture. Here is an example:

Isa 5:24  Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Here is another way of saying the same thing:

Jer 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them [Isa 5:24].

Jer 23:29  Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

The message in all the judgments of all the prophets is that the Lord comes into our lives to burn out every vestige of the kingdom of our old man. The Canaanites and the Amorites and the giants that were in the promised land all typify various attributes of our old man who must be destroyed. It is a humbling, humiliating thing to come to realize that our salvation comes only through the death and destruction of our carnal mind and any part of our carnal mind that draws breath:

Deu 20:16  But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Col 1:22  In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

The road to the death of our old man goes right through Babylon, and when we deny that fact, we are resisting our own Maker. Zedekiah was as much a part of the Babylonian empire as any of the other nations conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, which included Egypt and Israel. Pharaoh Necho conquered Judah and Jerusalem just before Nebuchadnezzar conquered Egypt along with Israel, which was a vassal kingdom of Egypt at that time.

2Ch 35:20  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.
2Ch 35:21  But he [Pharaoh] sent ambassadors to him [Josiah], 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.
2Ch 35:22  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. [King Josiah had obviously failed to inquire of the Lord before going to battle against Pharaoh.]
2Ch 35:23  And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded.
2Ch 35:24  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.
2Ch 35:25  And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.
2Ch 35:26  Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness, according to that which was written in the law of the LORD,
2Ch 35:27  And his deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

Jeremiah’s prophecies began in the reign of King Josiah, the best king of Judah since King Hezekiah, who was Josiah’s great-grandfather.

King Hezekiah was Judah’s best king since King David. His son Manasseh is considered by many to be Judah’s worst king, who put an idol in the very temple of God. Though Manasseh later repented of his idolatry and cleansed the temple, Manasseh was followed by his son Amon, who was also an evil king. He was so evil his own servants conspired and assassinated him after ruling only two years (2Ki 21:23). The people then killed King Amon’s murderers and made Josiah, his son, king:

Jer 1:1  The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:
Jer 1:2  To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his [Josiah’s] reign.
Jer 1:3  It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

This is part of that prophecy in the reign of Zedekiah:

Jer 21:13  Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the LORD; which say, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?
Jer 21:14  But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it.

That is the last verse of our study today. It sounds so negative, and for our old man it is indeed his doom. Nevertheless, the doom of our old man is the very best news any man will ever be given. If the doom of our old man is accomplished in “this present time”, then we are blessed to be the few who are numbered to partake of his death first. That means we will not be in the second group “which no man can number”, who will also “come up through great tribulation and wash their robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb”:

Rev 7:2  And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
Rev 7:3  Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
Rev 7:4  And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty  and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

In Revelation 14, this same numbered group is called “the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”:

Rev 14:1  And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

At the end of chapter seven there is a second group “which no man could  number”:

Rev 7:9  After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

Rev 7:13  And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
Rev 7:14  And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation [the “lake of fire [which] is the second death”], and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

The “great multitude which no man can number” is the workers in the vineyard who were the first to be hired and the last to be paid. Their salvation is their “penny a day”, their day’s wages which is promised to all men:

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all,
die even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

1Ti 2:4  Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

1Jn 2:2  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

This “great multitude which no man could number” is “the rest of the dead” of this verse which is revealed earlier in this same 20^th chapter of Revelation:

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, strong and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

“Until the thousand years are finished” is the same as saying “give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first”:

Mat 20:8  So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.

The few thousand “firstfruits unto God and the Lamb” are contrasted with the “great multitude which no man could number (Rev 7:9). This “great multitude which no man [could] number” is “the rest of the dead” of Revelation 20:5. The “one hundred and forty and four thousand…  firstfruits unto God and the Lamb” are those who are given their “penny a day”, their day’s wages, first of whom we are specifically given this qualifying statement:

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death [which “is… the lake of fire”] hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

The “first resurrection” is contrasted with “the second death” because those in the first resurrection gave up their life in this present time and were the first to “present their bodies a living sacrifice” (Rom 12:1), “die daily” (1Co 15:310), and the first to be “crucified with Christ” (Gal 2:20).

They are the “blessed and holy [who will] have part in the… first resurrection [and] shall reign with Christ a thousand years… and … judge angels… [in] the lake of fire” (1Co 6:3).

That is our study for today, and here are the verses for our next study:

Jer 22:1  Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,
Jer 22:2  And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates:
Jer 22:3  Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.
Jer 22:4  For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.
Jer 22:5  But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation.
Jer 22:6  For thus saith the LORD unto the king’s house of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.
Jer 22:7  And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.
Jer 22:8  And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this great city?
Jer 22:9  Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.
Jer 22:10  Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him that goeth away: for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.
Jer 22:11  For thus saith the LORD touching Shallum the son of Josiah king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place; He shall not return thither any more:
Jer 22:12  But he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.
Jer 22:13  Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;
Jer 22:14  That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is cieled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.
Jer 22:15  Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him?
Jer 22:16  He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the LORD.