2 Chronicles 35:11-19
Notes
Transcript
Song: Choose Someone
Song: Choose Someone
Prayer: Choose Someone
Prayer: Choose Someone
Scripture: Choose Someone
Scripture: Choose Someone
Give Scripture: 2 Chronicles 35:11-19
Give Scripture: 2 Chronicles 35:11-19
11 And they killed the passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hands, and the Levites flayed them.
12 And they removed the burnt offerings, that they might give according to the divisions of the families of the people, to offer unto the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so did they with the oxen.
13 And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance: but the other holy offerings sod they in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and divided them speedily among all the people.
14 And afterward they made ready for themselves, and for the priests: because the priests the sons of Aaron were busied in offering of burnt offerings and the fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron.
15 And the singers the sons of Asaph were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and the porters waited at every gate; they might not depart from their service; for their brethren the Levites prepared for them.
16 So all the service of the Lord was prepared the same day, to keep the passover, and to offer burnt offerings upon the altar of the Lord, according to the commandment of king Josiah.
17 And the children of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days.
18 And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
19 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept.
Give A Review
Give A Review
So, Josiah assumed the throne at 8. He sought the Lord for himself at 16. He began to restructure and reorder the Kingdom at 20. He purified the lands of the false gods, false alters, high places, groves, and other things that were displeasing to God. Once he purified the lands of Israel, he returns to Jerusalem and begins restoration of the Temple which had fallen into physical disrepair. He calls for skilled laborers to begin work and instructs the priests to pay for it using the monies they had saved up.
In that process, the priests found a book of the law hidden with the money. They read it to the King who is despondent due to the failure of the Kingdom to heed the Word of God. He sent the priests to get word from the Prophetess Huldah, who let them know that God was not pleased with what he had seen during the time of the Kings and she made God’s wrath abundantly clear. However, she made clear that God’s will was to withhold his anger and wrath from Josiah and to gather him up to his fathers before that season of wrath came.
We closed out last week talking about the actions of the King to teach the people the right way to hear and obey the Word of the Lord. We finished last week, with the King and the people of God making a commitment to serve the Lord God and honor his word. And while Josiah was King, the people of God honored their word. The Chronicler then moves to tell us the story of Josiah’s institution of the passover, which is described in great detail. Josiah places everyone in accordance with the law’s given by moses and the instruction given by David-Solomon concerning worship in the temple.
He sets the house of God in order, in preparation for the biggest day of the year. I am reminded of my home Church, St. Thomas Chapel. Every year we have the Pastor’s anniversary in Mid-September, Revival in early October, and Homecoming in mid-October (with little variation in that schedule). This is also followed by the holiday season which is generally full of church events. But I remember in preparation for these events, their is a week where the Church is closed. We trim the trees, plant new flowers, we till the new mulch in some years, and lay new mulch in other years. We steam the carpets, clean the pews, get the gum out the seats (because Church folk have precious little respect for the House of God today), and we deep clean the house of God.
As the old saints say, the men folk have a place, the women folk have a place, even the children have their place (they finally get to crawl under the pews to be sure everything is clean and trash is thrown out. It is all done in preparation for what God is getting ready to do and we saw that last week in our lesson as the Passover celebration was coming.
Three Key Takeaway Points
Will you die to your own self and desires to become what God desires for you?
Josiah saw his role and the role of the Levites as to lead the people to God… are we doing this?
What example are you setting through your leadership, either at home, work, school, or church?
Allow for Questions?
Allow for Questions?
Write some of the questions down if possible.
Scripture Study
Scripture Study
11 And they killed the passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood from their hands, and the Levites flayed them.
12 And they removed the burnt offerings, that they might give according to the divisions of the families of the people, to offer unto the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so did they with the oxen.
This describes the high point of any offering because it is the point at which the most people are actively present.
The laying of hands on the sacrifice and the sacrifice then being slain at which point the blood is dripped on the altar.
This is occurring on mass because it is the only part that requires participation of the person giving the offering.
After this point, the priests must make various offerings of the different parts of the animals as part of their own sacrifice.
Imagine hundreds, possibly thousands of people, trying to make their way into the Temple with their families in tow and animals in their hand or possession.
We wait in line for phones, tables, food, shoes, and other things but the people of God waited in line to make their sacrifice during the passover.
13 And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance: but the other holy offerings sod they in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and divided them speedily among all the people.
This provides us one of the most detailed descriptions of the passover celebration in the scripture, as no description is given to this event to this level of detail.
Even the law does not offer words that govern the passover celebrations as it relates to the handling of sacrifice.
They moved fast because the number of people was so large that they had to move to maintain the flow of people.
14 And afterward they made ready for themselves, and for the priests: because the priests the sons of Aaron were busied in offering of burnt offerings and the fat until night; therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron.
The Priests are so consumed with the work of lifting up the passover offerings that they were unable to do their part in preparing the Passover meal for themselves or the people. So the Levites served the men of God for their obedience in fulfilling the law.
What are we doing to serve those that lead us in worship?
What are we doing to serve with those that lead us in worship?
Let me be clear… the Levites are not serving because the Priests are laid up in bed and sleep but they are serving because the Levites are doing their part in service to the Lord.
The bible says whomever would be great among you must first be a leader…
It says whomever would be great among you must first be a pastor...
NO. Whomever would be great among you must first be a servant.
So we see the Priests taking their role in the Passover celebration as the LEAD servants.
Seeing this, the Levites go to prepare food for themselves and the Priests… following the servanthood of their leaders.
Good servants beget other good servants.
15 And the singers the sons of Asaph were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and the porters waited at every gate; they might not depart from their service; for their brethren the Levites prepared for them.
Everyone was in their proper place and everyone was working to ensure the continuity of the Passover celebration.
16 So all the service of the Lord was prepared the same day, to keep the passover, and to offer burnt offerings upon the altar of the Lord, according to the commandment of king Josiah.
16 Everything went without a hitch in the worship of God that day as they celebrated the Passover and the offering of the Whole-Burnt-Offering on the Altar of God. It went just as Josiah had ordered.
Can we serve the Lord in such unity that nothing goes wrong?
Can we serve the Lord in such a way that everything happens according to the will of God?
Can we serve the Lord on ONE ACCORD?
17 And the children of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days.
18 And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
So long had it been since they worshipped the Lord in this way for Passover that it had been since the days of Samuel that such had been observed.
Samuel had died between the reigns of Saul and David.
Samuel anointed David King and that was, essentially, his last act in life.
At this point it had been since Saul was King that the nation had kept such a Passover.
David did not keep such, Solomon did not keep such, Jehoshaphat did not keep such, Hezekiah did not keep such....
13 kings reigned between Saul and Josiah and he was the one to observe a proper passover.
19 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept.
Some things take time.
This passover celebration took him 18 years to observe… bearing in mind he spent 12 years learning about God and waiting for the proper time to get rid of the false worship.
With that fact in mind, it took him 6 years of active rule to reach such a passover...
it is not about perfection but it is about the steps you take to getting there.
Provide Key Takeaways
Provide Key Takeaways
Try to provide three key items we can take away from this text and where it applies today.
These would be items that tie the text back to the cross but also tie it into our daily lives in a real and profound way.
Try to pre-define these items but allow the discussion given to inform the takeaways
Are you willing to wait on God in your life… or are we so impatient we cannot wait on GOD’S PROCESS.
Do you have a servant’s heart or are you trying so hard to lead that you cannot serve?
God does many things through a process and we have to learn how to wait on HIM.
Allow for Final Questions?
Allow for Final Questions?
Write some of the questions down if possible.
Roll Call & Prayer Requests
Roll Call & Prayer Requests
Prayer: Do yourself unless otherwise led
Prayer: Do yourself unless otherwise led