2Ki 23:10-18 “Except a man be Born of Water and of the Spirit,  He Cannot Enter into the Kingdom of God”

2Ki 23:10  And he [Josiah] defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.
2Ki 23:11  And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathanmelech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 
2Ki 23:12  And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, did the king beat down, and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. 
2Ki 23:13  And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile. 
2Ki 23:14  And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men. 
2Ki 23:15  Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove. 
2Ki 23:16  And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words. 
2Ki 23:17  Then he said, What title is that that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel.
2Ki 23:18  And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria. 

As we discussed last week, the Lord is going to use the elect of God to clean up the land of idolatry, which defiled lands represent our bodies that must be cleansed. Clearing the land of all idols and false worship in this chapter of Kings (Joh 3:5-6) can represent the first baptism of the world with water during the thousand-year reign of the saints. Josiah’s rule over Judah was accomplished with great zeal and diligence, but the end result of all his efforts did not prevent Judah from going back to idol worship, hence it was really just a water baptism in that sense. Josiah’s actions represent an outward cleansing of the cup but no conversion was, or could be, granted to this dispensation, any more than it could be during the thousand-year reign of the saints. This period of time in Judah’s history can also represent our first baptism as God’s elect who, Lord willing, are permitted to go beyond that baptism, that clearing of the idols of our land, unto perfection on the third day, which brings these verses in Hebrews to mind:

Heb 6:1  Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works , and of faith toward God,
Heb 6:2  Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. [“That which is born of the flesh is flesh.“]
Heb 6:3  And this will we do, if God permit. [“That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.“]

Heb 10:36  For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 

Every action we read of here in chapter 23 that discusses Josiah’s zeal for the Lord is indicative of what the body of Christ will do throughout the thousand-year reign. The resulting way in which the nation of Judah was affected by the corrupt kings that came after Josiah is also symbolic of how mankind can only wash the outside of the cup, just as the old covenant blood of bulls and goats did not change the heart (Heb 10:4) [“That which is born of the flesh is flesh.“] and will only be permitted to do this much physical restoration until Christ’s spirit is given (Rom 8:8-9) at the great white throne judgment so that the inner man can be renewed and become a new creation (Rev 20:6, 2Co 5:17-18). [“That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.“]

Heb 10:4  For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. 

Rom 8:8  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Rom 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. 

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2Co 5:18  And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

The inward application of this cleansing of the temple is an arduous and life-long process (Act 14:22) that is given to only a few to be able to endure until the end (Mat 22:14, Mar 13:13). The powerful strides Josiah took to rid the land of false worship is exactly what those destined for the first resurrection will experience inwardly in this present age (Col 1:24, Col 1:27) so they can be made ready to demonstrate that same zeal outwardly during the thousand-year reign (Oba 1:21). With those principles in mind, we can now jump into this second part of chapter 23 of 2 Kings.

2Ki 23:10  And he defiled TophethH8612, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech. 
2Ki 23:11  And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathanmelech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 

God has to smite (tôphethH8608; a smiting) the earth with a curse (Mal 4:6) in order to bring it to a point where they and we no longer make our sons or daughters pass “through the fire to Molech“, which symbolizes our teaching our children to obey and keep the lies of Mystery Babylon. Our sons and daughters represent our doctrine which is tainted with heresy and connected with the traditions of man (days, months, times and years – 2Ki 23:5) which is vain worship in God’s eyes (Mat 15:8-9). Josiah “took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun” which represents how the elect will take away the power [horses] of mankind to worship Baal, the sun god, whose proximity is “at the entering in of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathanmelech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire.” This is telling us there was pagan doctrinal influence that was perverting the nation of Judah which was supposed to be preserving the oracles of the law of God that typify the law of Christ which preserves His life in us (Act 7:38).

2Ki 23:5  And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. 

Mat 15:8  This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 
Mat 15:9  But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

2Ki 23:12  And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, did the king beat down, and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. 

This beating down of these altars “on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz” reminds us that it takes powerful forces in our heavens to bring our lives into submission to Christ (1Co 9:27). Therefore we should not think it strange concerning the fiery trials that come our way (1Pe 4:12) which make it possible for us to cease from sinning (1Pe 4:1) gaining dominion over those powers and principalities against which we are wrestling (Eph 6:12).

1Co 9:27  But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 

1Pe 4:1  Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; 

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

The upper positioning of the altars represents our pride, which is the hardest of these three to destroy and beat down within us, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1Jn 2:16). 

The altars Manasseh made were in the two courts of the house of the Lord as a negative witness of how we just naturally defile the temple of God (Rom 7:24) with our own wisdom which produces actions that must be destroyed as a result of the defiled way we think that seems right in our own eyes (1Co 3:16-18):  “The altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, did the king beat down, and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them into the brook KidronH6939.”

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. 
1Co 3:18  Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. 

1Ki 2:37  For it shall be, that on the day thou goest out, and passest over the brook Kidron, thou shalt know for certain that thou shalt surely die: thy blood shall be upon thine own head.

2Ki 23:13  And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile. 

God leaves us no doubt as to how He feels about these areas of worship. They are a corrupt abomination to Him that represents our false gods and high places in our heavens that are “before Jerusalem” or before the house of the Lord, making all the land a cursed and defiled place. The proximity to Jerusalem reminds us that evil communications corrupt good manners (1Co 15:33), and so we must ‘come out of her my people’ in order to be received, which is what we are doing when we tear down the idols in our own heavens represented by all these different abominations before Jerusalem (Rev 18:4).

1Co 15:33  Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 

Josiah [our type of Christ our hope of glory within] is going to destroy it all and take away the negative power that masquerades as God’s power “on the right hand of the mount of corruption” [“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Pro 14:12)]. Solomon’s compromising spirit as a king left the land of Judah polluted with all of these abominable practices. “Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon” that only waxed worse and worse after his death. 

2Ki 23:14  And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men. 

Breaking something in pieces and cutting down the groves symbolizes how God must thoroughly destroy everything that breathes within our own land, leaving neither root nor branch (Mal 4:1). Once those things are done, the “bones of men” fill up the areas that were demolished as a reminder of the only thing all this false worship could produce; dead men’s bones that need to be buried, resurrected (Eze 37:7-8) and then sanctified (Eze 37:28)

Mal 4:1  For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

Eze 37:7  So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. 
Eze 37:8  And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.  

Eze 37:28  And the heathen [within me] shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore. 

2Ki 23:15  Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove. 

This verse adds credence to the fact that king Josiah represents the elect during the thousand-year reign by virtue of the truth that he was the only king who took these next actions of cleansing the land of Judah to this degree. Tearing down the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat had erected is symbolic of putting an end to days, months, times and years. Then to further go on and burn “the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove” makes us think of “having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience” after “the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat” was torn down, so that the little leaven “stamped it small to powder” of our life is being constantly put out of our lives as we die daily. The destroying of these idols represents the process God is accomplishing in the life of each of the elect of God. The fiery trials of our life that cause us to cease from sinning is what the burning of the grove represents, and it is the only way sin can be conquered (1Pe 4:12, Heb 12:6, 1Pe 4:1). God is humbling the elect to learn that this process is impossible to do without Christ, but if we are granted to overcome, the experience of overcoming by the grace and faith of Christ will prepare us to rule over the nations during the thousand-year reign (2Co 10:6, Rev 19:7).

2Co 10:6  And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. 

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

2Ki 23:16  And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words. 

Josiah turning himself is a symbolic action just as John who turned and looked backed in the temple in Revelation 1:12. John’s experience was the positive expression of turning back and seeing where he had progressed in his walk in the temple of God which we are by the grace of God (1Co 3:16), whereas Josiah turning and spying the sepulchers is akin to looking narrowly on Satan (Isa 14:12-17) who becomes our rejected father in this life (2Co 4:4, Joh 8:44). In order to witness against these ties to our former conversation (Eph 2:2), we must take those dead man’s bones out of the sepulchers “and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words.” It is according to the word of the LORD because it is only the LORD within us Who can take these actions that purify the temple of God which we are.  When we do this through Christ, we experience the positive use of the word “polluted” as we testify against our past through those actions of polluting these sepulchers that represent our former conversation (Eph 2:2) of which we become sickened (Mat 23:27, Rom 3:13).

Isa 14:11  Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee [Act 12:23, Luk 13:32].
Isa 14:12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations [Mal 4:1]! 
Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north [all happening within us as the man of perdition is destroyed by the brightness of his coming (2Th 2:8)]:
Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Isa 14:15  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
Isa 14:16  They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; 
Isa 14:17  That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners? 

Mat 23:27  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.

Rom 3:13  Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 

2Ki 23:17  Then he said, What title is that that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel. 
2Ki 23:18  And he said, Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.

When Josiah asks “What title is that that I see?” it is akin to Christ asking (Mat 16:13) “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” I say that because the man in question is a type of Christ who was “the man of God, which came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel.” That man is not named as a shadow of the fact that we are hidden in Christ and not known of the world, just like Christ who is the true bread from heaven that is hidden (Joh 6:32, Col 3:3).

Mat 16:13  When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?

Joh 6:31  Our fathers did eat mannaG3131 in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. 
Joh 6:32  Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.

Col 3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 

This story also reminds us of Paul who, when addressing king Agrippa, made a point to speak of the unknown God who was in the midst of all the pagan idols, as this man of God “from Judah” was in the midst of “the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria” who was a false prophet.

What we do with the bones of the prophet of God is we leave them alone as they represent the unchanging foundation of God’s government which has the words of eternal life (Mal 3:6, 1Jn 4:17).

Mal 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. 

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

This last verse of the study encourages us that nothing shall separate us from the love of God. No power or principality will separate us from God, no angel, nothing in the past and nothing in the future, life or death included (Rom 8:35-39), all expressed with this one verse: “Let him alone; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria.“

Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 
Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 
Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

That other prophet who came out of Samaria represents our old man who cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and whose ways led to death, unlike the prophet of God who symbolizes those who, whether they live or die, are the Lord’s (Rom 14:8).

Rom 14:8  For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. 

The Lord reminds us that both these men are baptized into death; both the man of God from Judah and the prophet that came out of Samaria, and symbolize for us the baptism of water that does not convert [the prophet from Samaria] and the baptism by fire into the life of Christ [typified by the man of God from Judah] that changes us. Both these baptisms are summarized for us by Christ with this verse in John 3:5 telling us we have to have this experience of evil in our flesh where we are baptized in Babylon to then ‘come out of her my people’ to be baptized in Christ (Rom 6:3).

Joh 3:5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?