God Alone Is Worthy (2 Kings 23:4)

And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.
—2 Kings 23:4

Oh, I love this. First, I love this chapter. It’s one of the best chapters by far in 2 Kings, not that there’s a lot of competition. There are a lot of really evil, unjust, adulterous things happening in 2 Kings, but here is a bright light.

As in the beginning of this chapter, Josiah, the king, goes up to the house of the Lord, and he reads the words of God. And all the people are repenting and turning back to God’s Word.

2 Kings 23:4 teaches us to remove idols from our lives.

So what happens in 2 Kings 23:4, and why I want to lead us to pray according to 2 Kings 23:4, is because the king commands the high priest, the priest of the second order, the keepers of the threshold– these officials in the temple– to go into the temple and bring out all these idols and burn them.

Josiah goes on a destructive spree, just abolishing, burning, destroying all the idols that had been set up in Judah’s history before him. And as I read 2 Kings 23:4, I just want to encourage you, even as I am encouraged by 2 Kings 23:4.

Let’s be zealous like this for God’s glory in our lives and our families and our churches, to remove idols from our lives and our families and our churches. I think specifically what comes to my mind when I read this verse is one day being in an underground house church setting out in a very remote place. And somebody had just come to faith in Jesus in this land where all kinds of idols are being worshiped.

And that day, when we were meeting with this church in secret, and these people were following Jesus at the risk of their lives and turning from centuries of idol worship, this person who had just come to faith in Jesus brought all the idols they had from their home to this gathering of this small underground church.

2 Kings 23:4 reminds us that God alone deserves our worship.

And we take all these idols from their home and put them outside in a pile, and we light them on fire. It becomes a bonfire, and it was a powerful picture of this person saying, “God alone is worthy of my worship. Jesus alone is worthy of my worship.”

And this is what it means to be a follower of Jesus: to say this at a point in time and to live this life out over time. A continual turning from idols to worship the one true God. So may it be so, O God, in us, we pray right now based on 2 Kings 23:4 and all of your Word.

We confess together: there is no God but you. You alone are God. All the gods of the nations, little ‘g’ gods, the nations are idols. You made the heavens. You reign supreme. Jesus, you are God. God, contrary to what a lot of people in the world believe, including Muslims.

A Prayer for the Ambalavasi People

I think about the man I was sharing the gospel with from Senegal, who believes you are just a prophet, Jesus. Open his eyes to see that you are God. We pray for that. Not just for him, but for people groups around the world. God, we pray for the Ambalavasi people in India.

God, for 7,000 other people groups in the world that are unreached by the gospel. May they hear the good news that you are the one true God. May people around us who are worshiping all kinds of idols– of money and fame and success and sports and sex, and so many different things.

God, we pray that you would bring all of these idols down, that you might be known and enjoyed and exalted as the one true God. And we pray that that would be so in our lives. God, that you would help us to see ways where we are prone to worship other things, to love other things, to give our attention, affection, and devotion to other things above you.

God, we pray that it would not be so. Give us zeal to continually turn from idols in our lives, in our families, in our churches, that you alone might be glorified in us.

We pray this according to your Word in 2 Kings 23:4. In Jesus’ name. Amen.