Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 21:1-26; 2 Kings 22; 2 Kings 23:1-30
In this message we will first consider the reigns of Manasseh, Amon, and Josiah over Judah and then say a word concerning the essence of the typology in the books of history in the Old Testament.
The record of the reign of Manasseh is found in 21:1-18.
At the age of twelve, Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, began to reign over Judah and reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem (v. 1).
Manasseh did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah, like the abominations of the nations. He rebuilt the high places which his father had destroyed and raised up altars to Baal, as Ahab king of Israel had done. Manasseh worshipped all the host of heaven and built altars in the house of Jehovah and altars to all the host of heaven in both courts of the house of Jehovah. Furthermore, he burned his son as a sacrifice to an idol, practiced soothsaying and enchantments, appointed mediums and spiritists, put the engraved image of the Asherah in the temple, and shed very much innocent blood. Manasseh led the people of Judah astray to do more evil than the nations, not listening to the law given through Moses and doing what was evil in the sight of Jehovah beyond measure and provoking Him to anger (vv. 2-9, 15-16).
Because of all that Manasseh did, Jehovah would then bring evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, as He had done over Israel and the house of Ahab. He would wipe Jerusalem like a pan and deliver the people into the hand of their enemies (vv. 10-14).
Hezekiah was the best king and his son Manasseh was the worst. It is hard to explain how such a good king could have such an evil son. It was Manasseh's sin in particular that caused God to determine no longer to tolerate the people but to destroy the temple, devastate the holy land, and send the people away into captivity. With the reign of Manasseh God's toleration reached its limit, and He gave up the holy people, the holy temple, the holy city, and the holy land.
Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his own house, and Amon his son reigned in his place (vv. 17-18).
Second Kings 21:19-26 gives an account of the reign of Amon.
Amon began to reign over Judah at the age of twenty-two and reigned for two years in Jerusalem (v. 19).
Amon did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah, as Manasseh his father had done. He walked in all the way that his father had walked and served the idols that his father had served, forsaking Jehovah and not walking in His way (vv. 20-22).
Amon's servants conspired against him and killed him. The people struck down all the rebels and made Amon's son Josiah king in his place (vv. 23-24).
Amon was buried in his grave in the garden of Uzza (vv. 25-26).
Second Kings 22:1—23:30 describes the reign of Josiah.
Josiah began to reign over Judah at the age of eight and reigned for thirty-one years in Jerusalem (22:1).
Josiah did what was right in the eyes of Jehovah and walked in all the ways of his father David, not turning to the right or to the left (v. 2; 23:25).
In the eighteenth year of his reign, Josiah repaired what was broken in the temple of God (22:3-7).
The book of the law which was found in the temple by the high priest was read to Josiah by the scribe. When Josiah heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes and commanded the high priest and his servants to inquire of Jehovah for him, for the people, and for all of Judah concerning the words of the law (vv. 8-13).
Through Huldah the prophetess Josiah received the answer of Jehovah that, because his heart was tender and he humbled himself before Jehovah, tearing his garments and weeping before Him, Jehovah would gather him to his fathers, to his grave in peace. Josiah's eyes would not see all the evil which God would bring upon the land (vv. 14-20).
Josiah gathered to him all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem, the priests, the prophets, and all the people and read to them all the words of the book of the covenant. Then he made a covenant before Jehovah, to walk after Jehovah and keep His commandments, His testimonies, and His statutes with all his heart and with all his soul, so as to establish the words of this covenant which were written in this book. All the people stood with the covenant (23:1-3).
Josiah made a thorough clearance of all the idol worshippers throughout the country (vv. 4-20, 24). He removed, did away with, and burned the idols, especially those set up in the quarters of the temple (vv. 6, 11, 14, 24). He destroyed all the high places and other places for idol worship and the altars with the vessels built for the idols, particularly the altar, the high place, which Jeroboam the son of Nebat built, for the fulfillment of the prophecy by the man of God (1 Kings 13:1-3; 2 Kings 23:4, 7-10, 12-19). He cut off all the idol worshippers and evildoers in the land (vv. 5, 8a, 20, 24a).
Josiah held the Passover to Jehovah according to all that was written in the book of the covenant (vv. 21-23).
Regardless of how much Josiah had done that had pleased Jehovah, He still would not turn from His great burning anger against Judah because of all the provocations by Manasseh. He would still remove Judah from His sight, as He had done with Israel, and would cast off the city of Jerusalem, which He had chosen, and the temple where He had put His name (vv. 26-27). Josiah's goodness could not rescue Judah out of God's destroying hand.
When Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates, Josiah frustrated Pharaoh Neco's expedition and was killed by him (v. 29).
Josiah was brought to Jerusalem by his servants and was buried there in his grave (v. 30).
The history recorded in the Old Testament is a type. The history books were put into the Holy Scriptures because, in typology, they give us a vivid view of God's economy. The essence of the typology of the Old Testament history is God's economy with Christ and His Body as the center and reality.
In one of the books of history, 2 Samuel, we see that David, a man according to God's heart, wanted to build a house, a temple, for God (7:2-3). However, God did not need that kind of house (vv. 4-7). Rather, God wanted to build David a house (v. 11b). Through a prophecy in typology, God told David that eventually the house that He would build for him would have a seed and that this seed would be God's Son. The seed would therefore be both human and divine. It would be a human seed, yet it would also be God's Son. Christ was God becoming the seed of David. This means that God Himself, the divine One, became a human seed, the seed of a man, David. This seed was Jesus, the God-man, Jehovah the Savior.
Jesus is our Creator becoming our Savior, our salvation. He is the creating God who became a man by being born of a virgin. He remained in the womb for nine months according to the principle ordained by God for man. When He came out of that womb, He was no longer only God; He had become the God-man. This God-man lived on earth for thirty-three and a half years and then entered into death through crucifixion. In His crucifixion He accomplished redemption and terminated the old creation.
The death of Christ was the death of a God-man. In one of his hymns Charles Wesley wrote, "Amazing love! how can it be/That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?" (Hymns, #296). The One who died on the cross and shed His blood was a man, yet Acts 20:28 tells us that this blood was God's own blood. The death of this wonderful God-man was all-inclusive. It terminated the entire old creation. The One who created Adam died on the cross as the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45), the last of mankind, to end Adam.
Within Adam there is a sinful nature, or sin. When Adam was terminated by the cross, the sin within Adam's nature was also terminated. Furthermore, this sinful nature in Adam is just Satan himself. Thus, when Adam's nature, sin, was terminated, Satan was also destroyed (Heb. 2:14). In addition, the world, which was invented by Satan and is one with Satan, was also destroyed through the death of Christ on the cross (John 12:31). Christ's wonderful death ended the fallen man, and through this He ended man, sin, Satan, and the world. At the same time, through His death Christ released the divine life within Him to be dispensed into all God's chosen and redeemed people, regenerating them with the divine life. Then Christ entered into resurrection, and in resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit.
The life-giving Spirit is the Creator God who became a man, lived a human life, passed through death, and entered into resurrection. Today our God, unlike the God of the Jews, is not only divine but also human. He is not only God but also man, with Christ's death and its effectiveness and with His resurrection with its power, all compounded together to be the life-giving Spirit, the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God. The Triune God was embodied in Christ, who eventually became the life-giving Spirit, the pneumatic Christ, who is the reality of resurrection. Today we have the consummated Triune God, the pneumatic Christ, and the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit who is the reality of resurrection.
Resurrection is not just a matter; resurrection is a living person, the Lord Jesus Christ (John 11:25). He is the resurrection and in resurrection He has become the life-giving Spirit. For us today the reality of resurrection is Christ as the life-giving Spirit.
Christ is now in resurrection as the life-giving Spirit, the consummation of the processed Triune God. Since He is in resurrection, we, His believers, should also be in resurrection and live in resurrection. Resurrection means that all the old, natural things have been terminated and that something new and spiritual has been germinated. This is resurrection — the termination of the natural and the germination of the spiritual, to transform the natural into the spiritual. In resurrection we do not live a natural life but a life that was terminated in the old nature and germinated in the new nature to make us members of Christ.
Christ today is a corporate Christ with many members (1 Cor. 12:12). This means that He is not only the Head but the Head with the Body. Here we have the very essence of God's economy, with Christ and His Body as its center and reality.
In this economy God became man in order to make man God in life and nature (but not in the Godhead) through a marvelous process. With God this process was incarnation, human living, death, and resurrection. With us this process is regeneration, sanctification, renewing, transformation, conformation, and glorification. God has become man, and eventually man will become God in life and in nature. Then the eternal economy of God will be accomplished.
