Prelude to Revival

In 2 Kings 23 we read of all the good that Josiah di: so much evil overthrown, so many false gods and idols destroyed and purged.  Even some that had been there since the time of Solomon more than 300 years before.  It's interesting to note that there had already been several kings of whom it was said they "did what was right in the eyes of the Lord," yet Solomon's idol-worshiping place stayed.  How tradition and history becomes a part of everyday life so that we can't see how sinful it really is—until God brings revival.

Note, this was a time that was prophesied about during the early years of Jeroboam I, almost 300 years earlier.  God's word and promises are always true.  But why did it happen in Josiah's 18th year of reign?

There were steps leading up to this.

Josiah became king at age 8.  The summary statement about him was that:

 “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and followed completely the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.”
 2 Kings 22:2

So he did a little in the limited knowledge he had and God worked in his heart to seek Him more:

 “In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David.”
 2 Chr. 34:3

Thus when he was sixteen years old, he followed God more.  God blessed that and gave Josiah a heart to start purging the land of all sorts of idols by the time he was almost twenty:

 “In his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles and idols.”
 2 Chr. 34:3

God further blessed this further obedience by sending a prophet, Jeremiah, who began preaching, teaching and exhorting the people when Josiah was 20 or 21 years old.

 “For twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day—the word of the Lord has come to me and I have spoken to you again and again...”
 Jer. 25:3

It's obvious that Josiah took the words to heart because he started purifying the land and the temple in his 18th years (when he was 26 years old):

  “In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, to purify the land and the temple, he sent [people] to repair the temple of the Lord his God.”
  2 Chr. 34:8

That's when the Book of the Law was discovered.  Notice that obedience is rewarded with further revelation of God and His will.  The proper response is humility and zealous obedience.  In view of the Law being found and read, Josiah is humble and wants to hear from the Lord.  In view of the Lord's response, he goes out and obeys with great joy and zeal.  Suddenly things that had been accepted as normal and tradition for hundreds of years were understood to be detestable in God's sight so they no longer wanted those things around.

The only way to have real revival is to obey the revealed truth that you already know, then humbly ask for more revelation and then obey the new understanding with great humility, joy and fervor.

That is why Josiah served God all his days and had a revival in his time.