Tear Down the High Places

2 Kings 23:15 ~ "Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place he pulled down and burned, reducing it to dust. He also burned the Asherah."

Upon the hills and mountains of the nation of Judah stood places of worship for the false gods of the surrounding nations. They were not there from the time of Joshua who entered and conquered the land. Those high places had been built by the kings of Israel and Judah during the history of the nation. Even from the time of Solomon, these centers for despicable worship were established, "And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites" (2 Kings 23:13). There are some who might think that religious freedom is an acceptable condition in a nation. And, truly, in a secular nation who is not the people of God, such provisions for religious tolerance could be acceptable.

But let me give you a different view. This is Israel, the people of God, the nation delivered from captivity and slavery in Egypt and established to be a nation whose God is the LORD. To allow this type of religious tolerance would be like permitting in the church of the LORD Jesus Christ the idolatrous worship of the various pagan and false gods of our day. For we are the purchased ones, the saved who look to Jesus Christ and no other. We who have fled to take hold of the hope found in Jesus must have no grip on any other object of worship--and when we do, we must tear down our high places.

Josiah, the boy king who took the throne at the generous age of eight years old, grew into a man of deep conviction and absolute resolve to restore the land of Judah to the worship of the One True God. A clear expression of how God viewed Josiah is found in 2 Kings 22:19, "Because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before the Lord, when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the Lord." And though Josiah had a father whose kingship was marked by idolatry and rebellion toward God Almighty, yet the young man did not follow in his father's steps, but walked in the ways of the LORD.

When Josiah was done with his reforms, the idolatry of the land was removed. He restored the worship in the temple, restarted the celebration of the Passover, and re-established the law of God in the land. It was said of Josiah, "Before him there was no king like him, who 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, nor did any like him arise after him" (2 Kings 23:25).

Now, dear ones, why do I tell this to you today? It is both meant as a warning and an encouragement.

A warning comes from this record of Josiah as we clearly discover God's unbending anger at idolatry. The high places were an abomination to the LORD God, despised by Him and yet tolerated in the kingdom. His wrath was kindled against His people and He would discipline them. It is a call to examine yourself, and see if there is any "high places" remaining in your heart. Do you have a lingering tolerance within for that which the LORD hates? Are there old idols that remain untouched? Let us fear the LORD as the Scripture teaches and hate evil, even as Proverbs 8:13 teaches, "The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate."

There is also an encouragement that is found in this epic narrative of Josiah. Josiah grew into a man of deep conviction and absolute determination to remove all that which the LORD despised. He hungered for truth, was repentant from sin, and desired above all that God should be esteemed as Holy. Let this give you great hope, for God will uphold you in your desire to remove all that which is not set to honor Him. It is not enough to merely hold an indifference to the lingering sins and idols that remain, God is mighty and will empower you to remove them. Heed the words of Isaiah 1:16-17a, "Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good."

We can, as Josiah, humble ourselves before the LORD and examine every place in our own lives. And when we discover another high place, another hold0ver from our former fallenness, let us remove them in repentance and grow in the worship and fear of the LORD.

In His Grace,
Pastor Michael

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