Josiah's reign came immediately after Manasseh's, which was a bad, foul fifty-five years of desecration of God's way. Josiah very quickly began to act, and as a result God's immediate punishment was averted. God gave Josiah a promise that His taking of Judah into captivity would not take place during Josiah's reign, but after Josiah died, the people went back to their old ways again.
This is just another way of saying, "I'm in the church. I'm okay. I'm safe. I am part of the body of Christ. I am part of the body that is going to go to the place of safety."
The people believed they were safe as long as they were in the church. They believed that somehow or another their attendance at services gave them absolution from having to pay for things they had done, and maybe for the things that they were planning to do in the future. This is dangerous thinking that amounts to nothing more than superstition. In the midst of their gross wickedness they were so naïve as to believe that they would be delivered from impending destruction and disaster merely by going through the motions of attending church.
God's Temple is living people who are submissive to His way of life. We have to understand that the Temple of God—the church of God—does not afford protection of and by itself. The determining factor is obedience to the commands of God.
And again if you can perceive it, in verses 5 and 6, there is a direct relationship between idolatry and the things that are happening in the streets, the things that are happening in people's families.
