One of the most interesting studies on the Passover observance is found in the days of King Josiah. It intrigues us because we find ourselves in the same situation today as he did. The story begins long before the days of King Josiah, at the time of the division of the kingdom into the northern and the southern tribes. After Solomon had died, ten tribes revolted from the rule of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. Jeroboam was the leader of all the labor battalions in the big building enterprises of Solomon. Today we would call him a labor-union leader. He had organized things so well that when the people revolted, they made him king.
And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Bethel: and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. Jeroboam turned the northern tribes to idolatry, not because he really believed in the idols, but because he did not want the people to go back to Jerusalem to worship in the temple. He knew if they went back to Jerusalem to worship God, eventually the nations would be unified again. In order to keep them divided, he had to give them other gods, and therefore he raised up idols at Samaria and Bethel. So he was standing by the altar to burn incense. And he cried against the altar by the word of Jehovah, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith Jehovah: Behold, a son shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he sacrifice the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall they burn upon thee. And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which Jehovah hath spoken: Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.
And it came to pass, when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, that Jeroboam put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so he could not draw it back again to him. The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of Jehovah.
And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Entreat now the favor of Jehovah thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God entreated Jehovah, and the king’s hand was restored him again, and became as it was before. And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward. And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thy house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place; for so was it charged me by the word of Jehovah. … I Kings 13:1–9. Later the man of God was deceived into thinking that the Lord had changed His mind and given another word, and consequently he was destroyed under the judgment of the Lord.
Early in the history of the kings of Israel this man of God prophesied that a king would come by the name of Josiah. In II Kings 23:15–18, we read of the fulfillment of that prophecy. Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he brake down; and he burned the high place and beat it to dust, and burned the Asherah. And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount; and he sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and defiled it, according to the word of Jehovah which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things. Then he said, What monument is that which I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, who came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel. And he said, Let him be; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.
Three hundred years before Josiah was born, a man of God had stood before this altar and prophesied that it would come down by the hand of a king named Josiah. At the age of eight, Josiah began to rule; and in the eighteenth year of his reign he fulfilled that prophecy. Josiah had one thing in his favor: he was open to the Lord. Hilkiah the high priest had found hidden away in the temple the law of God, which had not been seen for years. He sent it to Josiah, and the young king had it read to him. He opened his heart to God and wept before the Lord, and the judgment that God was ready to bring on Judah was deferred during his days. Although his son turned the hearts of the people back to idols, Josiah set his heart to seek the Lord.
There are two accounts of the Passover observance under King Josiah: one in the twenty-second and twenty-third chapters of II Kings, and the other in the thirty-fifth chapter of II Chronicles. The difference in the two accounts is nothing short of fantastic, though both came to pass in the same year—the eighteenth year of King Josiah. Kings gives an historical account, dealing primarily with the political issues, whereas Chronicles gives a priestly account, emphasizing the spiritual issues involved. Let us first direct our attention to II Kings 23:19–26.
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. And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there, upon the altars, and burned men’s bones upon them; and he returned to Jerusalem.
And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the Lord your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant. Surely there was not kept 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; but in the eighteenth year of king Josiah was this passover kept to the Lord in Jerusalem.
Moreover them that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord.
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. Notwithstanding, the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath.… Josiah did all he could, but the idolatry was not taken out of the heart of the people; and after his death they reverted to it again.
Josiah came to rule as a young man, and when he was exposed to the law of God, he wept and tore his clothes. He kept the Passover as it had never been kept before, not just as a ritual observance, but believing that the Passover then would be as valid in delivering Judah from their oppressions as the first Passover had been to deliver the Israelites from the bondage of Egypt.
Every generation and the people within that generation have a different kind of an Egypt to battle. Today we do not have a literal Egypt from which we need to be delivered, nor did Josiah (though he was later defeated by an Egyptian king). The Passover which Josiah kept was to deliver the people of God from witchcraft, from the wizards, and from idolatry. And that is exactly what we are fighting today. I am believing that there will be many tombstones planted over the graves of those who have tried to cast their spells against the house of God. God is going to bring down such evil. God has to bring it down. Babylon has become a hold of every foul spirit.
It is interesting to note that almost all the Satanists and almost everyone who practices witchcraft is enrolled in an organized church. They have to be a part of Babylon. The Satanist churches practice a mass, reversing the rituals of the Roman Catholic mass. Because so much of it is satanic, it lends itself as a beautiful vehicle by which things can be brought into Satan’s power. Oh, God is going to deliver a lot of good Roman Catholics in this day. As never before in the history of the world, many of them are finding that God is liberating them into a born-again experience and into the fullness of the Holy Spirit as they begin to walk with God. We cannot look down upon them, for some of them have learned such a deep reverence for God that when they start moving, they will move ahead of some of the rest of us. They have such a dedication, such a reverence for the Lord, such an understanding of order and submission to those who are over them in the Lord that they are not fighting a lot of the rebellion that is in many of the Protestant groups.
Now let us read the priestly account of Josiah’s Passover in II Chronicles 35:1–19. And Josiah kept a passover unto the Lord in Jerusalem: and they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. And he set the priests in their offices, and encouraged them to the service of the house of the Lord. Nothing is mentioned here about witchcraft and putting away witchcraft. That is emphasized in Kings. This is speaking about the spiritual factors involved in that Passover.
And he said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, that were holy unto the Lord, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; there shall no more be a burden upon your shoulders. The ark was carried as a burden upon the shoulders of the priests. It was not to be that way; it was to be placed in the temple of God and left there, for the presence of the Lord was to be in the temple.
Now serve the Lord your God, and his people Israel (this instruction was directed to the priests); and prepare yourselves after your fathers’ houses by your courses, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son. And stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the fathers’ houses of your brethren the children of the people, and let there be for each a portion of a father’s house of the Levites. And kill the Passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare for your brethren, to do according to the word of the Lord by Moses.
It seems almost as if we are reading two different accounts; and if both accounts did not specifically state that this was the eighteenth year of King Josiah, one might think that two different Passovers were involved. Each emphasizes a different facet of it. The first speaks about the spiritual warfare that took place as they put down the wizards and the witches. The second speaks of the internal ministry that existed among the people of the Lord.
Notice how they were all giving to one another and serving each other. Josiah had commanded the priests to serve God and their brethren. They were to serve one another. This serving went beyond the original Passover, when they invited the neighbors to share a lamb if a household was too small.
And Josiah gave to the children of the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all of them for the passover-offerings, unto all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks: these were of the king’s substance. This was unusual. Usually governors and presidents are taking from the people, not giving to them. We have not had a ruler like that since the days of Josiah.
And his princes gave for a free-will offering unto the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, the rulers of the house of God, gave unto the priests for the passover-offerings two thousand and six hundred small cattle, and three hundred oxen.… So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites by their courses, according to the king’s commandment. And they killed the Passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood which they received of their hand, and the Levites flayed them.
And they removed the burnt-offerings, that they might give them according to the divisions of the fathers’ houses of the children of the people, to offer unto the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses. And so did they with the oxen. And they roasted the passover with fire according to the ordinance: and the holy offerings boiled they in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the children of the people. What a feast! They rushed out with the food to serve people while it was still hot.
And afterward they prepared for themselves, and for the priests, because the priests the sons of Aaron were busied in offering the burnt-offerings and the fat until night: therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron. 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 were at every gate: they needed not to depart from their service; for their brethren the Levites prepared for them.
The singers sang and worshiped the Lord all day. They did not even have to stop to prepare the Passover meal because the Levites were rushing in and feeding the priests and the people. That was real body ministry and one busy Passover.
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. And the children of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days. And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did any of 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. In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this passover kept.
Although these two accounts record a different phase of that Passover, I think they are keys to interpreting each other. The Israelites would never have succeeded in putting away witchcraft and putting down the idolatry if something had not been moving within the people that made them unified in one spirit before the Lord, ready to serve and minister to each other. The Levites were helping the priests, as well as the singers—the custodians of the threshold, as they are often called in Kings and Chronicles. They were singing and playing their instruments all day long, and they did not have time to prepare the Passover; so others did it for them. They ministered to one another.
Warfare cannot be successful unless the whole Body ministers one to another. If you expect to have two or three intercessors run ahead and open the door to the Kingdom, you are mistaken. All will have to believe God together, in the same unity spoken of in the book of Acts when on the day of Pentecost, they were all with one accord in one place (Acts 2:1). Then the Spirit began to move over them and results began to come forth.
This message includes many Scriptures for only one purpose: to establish the fact that we are believing we will see the judgments on all the gods of Egypt. We will see witchcraft put down and every inroad coming in spiritual warfare against the people of the Lord defeated. Many releases that we do not even anticipate or understand at the present time will come, because this walk has been led in the same way as Josiah’s Passover was led. The entire emphasis has been on moving as one Body, to decentralize this from any one specific church, but rather that everything should be initiated with the whole apostolic company in constant communication and a unity. We should not think about any church as being large or small, but we should think in terms of them all constituting the Body of Christ in its manifestation in this walk. We should think collectively, in unity, as a Body. We should react as a Body. We are in the walk in this Body that Christ is raising up unto Himself in the end time. If we gain that unity, we will also gain the effectiveness in our spiritual warfare. Let there be no division among us. There can be nothing within our thinking for a single minute that brings us to the place where we become critical of one another, until we miss the will of God completely.
I will go a little further in a very practical application. Let there also be no age distinction in the Body. Many of our young men are coming forth, exercising themselves with great zeal and great violence. Maybe because they are young, it is easy for them to manifest that enthusiasm, but let there be no criticism of them. If you put out those fires, you will never get them started again. Encourage these young people. Build them up. God will season them and give them good judgment.
On the other hand, let the young have a respect for those who have borne the heat of the day. If it were not for some of them, there would not be any walk for the young to walk in. The veterans learned what it was to be in battle, and they laid everything on the line, living with their very lives in jeopardy in constant battle. They are the veterans who go cautiously down the road, always on the lookout for some sniper. The new recruits walk unafraid, unaware of the possible dangers. We need those veterans. Pray for them that nothing happens to them, for they know more about spiritual warfare than many of you will learn in years. They have faced it. When we all work together we keep a unity of the spirit.
We need each other. We must build one another up in faith, for there is no turning back. We have a grim battle before us. Young men—keep your zeal and fire; some of you will die for this walk. Some of the older ones will die for it, too. If we walk in that unity of the faith, the world will be shaken in the next few years. Satan will have no way to stop it except by trying to kill every man of God he can.
This is God’s great gospel of the Kingdom, and it must be preached in all the world for a witness. Do not think it is going to be a picnic or a lark; it will be deadly serious warfare, but before we are through principalities and powers will be brought down and put into the pit; demon powers and witches’ covens will be buried.
New militant songs of worship need to be written because we will be a marching people from now on. No longer are we on the defensive. We are in the age of attack. We are going to plunder and spoil, for we are leaving Egypt with the spoils of Egypt, and by the judgments of God we will prevail.
Now is the hour that the Lord brings an end to that which has been witchcraft and Satanism, when the enemy has come in like a flood. The Spirit of the Lord doth lift up a standard against it. We cannot walk in defeat because the victory is ours in the Lord. For this purpose hath the Lord allowed the enemy to come against thee, that you should rise up in the Spirit of the Lord and manifest Christ’s victory over him. You are not defeated. Behold, you are not in warfare as though the issues were yet to be resolved. From the foundation of the world hath not the Lord ordained that the downfall of Satan should be through Jesus Christ in His many-membered Body? This is thy heritage, O house of the Lord, to manifest the victory of the Lord.