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King Josiah fulfilled the words of prophecy

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[ 1 Kings 13:2 ]

He cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD : "O altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: 'A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.' "

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After King Solomon's son Rehoboam became king, Israel was divided into two countries: Judah in the south and Israel in the north. Jeroboam was the first king of northern Israel.

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The fact that Jeroboam became king was what the prophecy prophesied through the prophet Ahijah(Reference Bible Verse: 1 Kings 11:29-40).

God promised him that Jeroboam would bless the house of David just by following the word of God.

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Jeroboam, who became king, feared that the northern Israelites would return to Rehoboam again. Jeroboam decided that the people would not be allowed to go to the temple in Jerusalem. So, he built idols of golden calves in two places, Bethel and Dan. And he ordered the people to serve the golden calf there.

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God sent a man from Judah to Jeroboam on the wrong path. At that time, Jeroboam was offering a sacrifice at the altar of the golden calf idol. The man of God prophesied to Jeroboam by the word of God.

 "O altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: 'A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.' "(1 Kings 13:2)

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Much time has passed since the man of God prophesied. In Judah, “Josiah,” an eight-year-old, became king. When Josiah became king, there were many idols in Judah

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Josiah was a religious king. He started doing things that pleased God from the 18th year of his kingship, when he was twenty-six years old. First, God's temple was to be repaired.

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While repairing the temple, the high priest “Hilkiah” discovered an old book of the law. Hilkiah handed the book of the law to the secretary Shaphan.

The secretary Shaphan said, “Hilkiah the priest gave me a book.”

After reporting to the king, in front of him he read the book of the law aloud.

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Upon hearing the words of the law read by Shaphan, Josiah was so sad that he tore his clothes. Josiah realized that God was angry with Judah because their ancestors did not obey God's Word.

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Josiah, who realized the word of God, brought all the people to the temple. Then they read the book of God's law. On that day, King Josiah and all the people stood by the pillars of the temple and made a covenant with ‘Jehovah’. From now on, they have promised to follow only ‘Jehovah’ and keep the commandments, regulations, and laws with all their heart.

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Josiah did what he promised God. All the idols in the temple were burned in the Kidron Valley. They broke the idol altars built by their ancestor kings and destroyed all the idols of many countries, including the Asherah idol.

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Josiah did not stop here. He went up to Bethel, north of Israel, and destroyed all the high places established by King Jeroboam of King Israel 300 years ago. The stones of the altar were crushed into powder, and the Asherah idol burned. Josiah burned the bones in the tomb above the mountain on the altar of the idol, making the altar no longer usable.

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The Bible records what Josiah did.

“Then Josiah looked around, and when he saw the tombs that were there on the hillside, he had the bones removed from them and burned on the altar to defile it, in accordance with the word of the LORD proclaimed by the man of God who foretold these things.”(2 Kings 23:16)

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. The Bible records that the words foretold at Jeroboam's offering 300 years ago were fulfilled during King Josiah.

“O altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: 'A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.' "(1 Kings 13:2)”

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One of the tombs was built with a tombstone. “What is this tombstone?” Josiah asked the Bethelites. They said, “It is a tomb from Judah where God's man is buried. He was the one who predicted what you would do about the altar of Bethel. ” They replied. The tomb was the tomb of the man of God who foretold Jeroboam 300 years ago by the word of God. Josiah said to his servants, "Let the tomb be that way. Let no one move his bones.”

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. Josiah, who removed all of Bethel's idols, went to 'Samaria', the capital of North Israel, and destroyed all the temples of idols that were built there. He returned to Jerusalem only after killing all the priests in the temple of the idol.

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Through the story of King Josiah today, we see that God is the one who fulfills the words of prophecy. 300 years before Josiah's birth, the prophecy of a man sent from God from Judah was fulfilled without any disparity through King Josiah.

In addition, we must realize that serving God is not the way we want, but we must obey the Word and serve it. Just as King Josiah heard the word of the law, we also hear the Bible from the church.

 I know that only through the Word can I discern and do what God is pleased with, I hope that God's Word to us is precious, and that all of my friends will be happy.

(This is the sample conclusion provided by CTM. Please feel free to change the conclusion to best suit the listeners of your sermon.)