In Second Kings, chapter twenty-two, Josiah desired to know whether the sins of Judah had reached such a point that divine judgment was inevitable. Through the prophets Huldah, God said that His people would someday fall into the hands of their enemies, as in verses fourteen through seventeen. Josiah recognized what Judah had done, and was still doing, those things against which the threatenings of the Law specify. They had forsaken Jehovah and gone after other gods, made themselves high places, and set up images, and done after the customs of the nations whom the Lord had cast out before them. Josiah had fatal wounds in battle, yet he died in peace with God and went to glory.
The generality of the people is coldhearted, and their hearts are unhumbled, but Josiah’s heart is tender. The tenderness of his heart which caused him to humble himself before the Lord. Those who most fear God’s wrath are least likely to feel it. Though Whatever such persons suffer or witness, they are gathered to the grave in peace and shall enter into the rest which remaineth for the people of God.
However, when God’s people persist in sin, there comes a time when He can no longer withhold His judgment. Far too many years, God’s people had “mocked the messengers of God and despised His words, and misused His prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against the people, until there was no more remedy, as in Second Chronicles thirty-six, verse sixteen. Whether we are believers or not, hot or cold, there is no room for being lukewarm, as in Revelation three, verse sixteen. Today, we have two sets of people living on the earth. We have people who care about others and those who do not, folks who genuinely love others and those who hate, and individuals who are willing to lend a helping hand while some will not.