2 Chronicles 35:1

2 Chronicles 35:1 says, Moreover Josiah kept a passover unto the Lord in Jerusalem: and they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.  Josiah began to keep the Passover once more.  If we have strayed away from God as Christians, we need to repent, return to Him and begin to keep His commandments once more.  Keeping God's commandments does not free us from the penalty of sin, but once we have been saved by putting our faith in Jesus Christ, we must then obey God's commandments by following the leadership of the Holy Spirit.  Though we are freed from the penalty of sin, we are not freed to go on sinning.  Verse two adds, And he set the priests in their charges, and encouraged them to the service of the house of the Lord,  Josiah set the priests back to doing what they should have been doing all along and encouraged them as they did.  I don't know how successful they would have been just because they started doing what they should have been doing all along by the order of the king and not because they knew that was what God required of them.  We cannot be successful spiritually by doing what anyone other than God Himself calls us to do.  If we do anything for God just because someone has ordered us to, it is not real worship.  We also need to encourage those who are doing what God called them to do.  Verse three continues, And said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, which were holy unto the Lord, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; it shall not be a burden upon your shoulders: serve now the Lord your God, and his people Israel,  Josiah told the Levites that taught all of Israel to return the Ark of the Covenant to the temple, and when they did, it would not be a burden on their shoulders.  Of course, they should have been doing this by the leadership of God. We need to do what is right in God's eyes, and if we do, it will lift any burden we have been carrying.  Verse four states, And prepare yourselves by the houses of your fathers, after your courses, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son.  Josiah told them to follow the teachings of David and Solomon in regard to how they served God.  We need to base our worship and our service on God's word.  Verse five adds, And stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the families of the fathers of your brethren the people, and after the division of the families of the Levites.  Josiah was just continuing to tell the Levites that they needed to do what God had said they should, but it shouldn't have taken the king telling them to do so in order for them to do so.  We should be following God because of personal relationship with Jesus Christ, no matter what the government says.  Verse six continues, So kill the passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.  Josiah also told them to kill the Passover sacrifice and prepare their brethren so that they might do what God's word said.  As Christians, the Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ, has already sacrificed Himself for us, and all we need to do is put our faith in Him and the live according to His word.  Obeying God's law cannot save us, because we will always fall short of total obedience, but once we are saved, we need to obey God's law because we know that is what brings honor and glory to Him.  Verse seven concludes, And Josiah gave to the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all for the passover offerings, for all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks: these were of the king's substance.  Josiah then gave them the necessary animals for the sacrifice, so they didn't even have to provide that.  All they had to do was offer the Passover sacrifice in accordance with God's word.  Our Passover sacrifice has already been offered for us when Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of all people for all time, and all we have to do is accept this free gift.  When we do, we need to live guided by God's law.