Have you ever lost something? Let me rephrase that. Have you lost something in the last couple of hours? That’s probably more accurate of a question. I lose things all the time which is why I own several of the same tools. At least I know that I own them, but I have trouble remembering just where it was that I put them which explains why I have more than one.
Something "lost" is the basic story line of our lesson today. I was studying for a class presentation the other day and happened across an incident occurring back in the days of Judah (the kingdom). I got to thinking about what occurred back then and it brought to mind something we see in the New Testament. It’s regarding how the "law" is written. Let me try and tie the Old Testament incident and its "law" with what we find said about the "law" we have today.
We read about this event in Judah in the 22nd chapter of 2 Kings and I found it very interesting, especially when you consider our human propensity for losing things. Here’s what happened. In that chapter we find Josiah becoming King of Judah when he was 16 years old. About 18 years into his reign is where we find this interesting event occurring.
I see this incident as going a long ways into explaining how Judah had gotten itself in the spiritual condition it was in as a nation when this occurred. I’ll take writer’s liberty here paraphrasing what took place, but I’d appreciate it if you read that chapter for yourself and make sure that I paraphrase it correctly.
Josiah sent orders to the High Priest telling him to take inventory of the temple receipts. The purpose of this was to pay for the renovation taking place there at the time. While taking this inventory, guess what happened? They "found the Book of the Law in the Lord’s House." (Vs.8) "FOUND?" "In the Lord’s House?" Amazing, isn’t it?
Can’t you just picture it being found in some dark, dusty storeroom of the temple? We know that it certainly wasn’t readily visible, as it should have been, because if it was, they wouldn’t have had to "find" it. The word "found" means things like "discovered" or "located," depending upon the context where it’s used. Thus, we can determine that it was not where it would have normally been located.
So, they took the "Book" to the King and probably said something like "Look what we found. It’s the Book of the Law." King Josiah read it and I can almost picture his face turning pale and his knees getting weak at the words of God that he read therein. How does the Bible describe his demeanor at the time? It says, that upon reading it, "he rent his clothes." (Vs. 11) In today’s vernacular we’d say "he went ballistic."
What was in there that sent him "over the edge" so to speak? He immediately realized that they (Judah) had not been doing what they were supposed to be doing as regards to what God’s Law commanded. That God was very angry ("wrath kindled") with them.
Yes, when Josiah read the words in the "Book of the Law" it was pretty obvious to him that they had not been keeping the "Law" and that God’s anger was righteous towards them. Shortly thereafter, he ordered a wholesale cleansing of the temple resulting in all of the idol worshiping accessories being removed and destroyed. Does it seem strange to you to read that things pertaining to the worship of Baal were apparently openly being used in the "house of the Lord" and the "Words of God" were lost or hidden away in some storeroom? Sure does to me.
Josiah’s next move was to call everyone in the nation together and basically, he preached them a sermon. (Chap. 23) Josiah is known by Bible historians as one of the few Kings of Judah that was righteous before God. He’s known also as the "great reformer."
Because of Josiah’s doing all that he could to return Judah back to God, he was granted the blessing by God of not living to see Judah’s destruction. Shortly after his death, the wrath of God fell upon Judah in the form of the Babylonian army and they ceased to exist as a free nation. IE: What the words of the "Book of the Law" said came true.
God had promised them wrath if they kept not His Commandments and they didn’t. Shouldn’t that serve as a lesson to us today that the same thing will happen to those who neglect or refuse to recognize and serve the Savior sent by God to save us? Absolutely! One Bible truism that we should never forget is "The Lord is not slack concerning His promises." (2Pet. 3:9)
I could stop here and the lesson today would be adequate enough, but I said that I wanted to tie the "lost Book of the Law" to something we read about in the New Covenant so we will do that in this last portion of our lesson. It shows us another difference between the "Law of Moses" and the "Law of Christ."
The "Law" found in the temple was written on paper, or whatever its equivalent was in those days, and over the course of probably 80-90 years had been "lost." The words of God were forgotten because they weren’t being read or used. The Judeans were humans just like us today. There’s an old saying, "if you don’t use it, you lose it." They just gradually quit using "The Book" and it got "lost."
But, our "Covenant," our "Law" isn’t written on man-made material, is it? It’s written on God-made material - our "hearts." "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord: I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people" (Heb. 8:10)
The apostle Paul puts it in these words: "...written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart." (2Cor. 3:3)
Ok, here’s where I’m going with this: God’s covenant given through Moses was "written" on "tables of stone." God’s covenant with His people today are "written in their hearts." Why is this important to note? Because it can’t be "lost" or put away in some storeroom.
The key to realizing this is found in what Paul wrote just before the one I cited above from 2Cor. 3:3. Look at the words of verse 2: "Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men." The key part of that verse is the words "known and read of all men."
Over many centuries, a lot of men have tried to hide, destroy or somehow render God’s Word unavailable to people. In times past, people have been tortured and put to death for just possessing a Bible. Others have burned Bibles to keep them out of people’s hands. Or, like the Judeans, simply stashed it away, out of sight, and forgot what it said.
Why did (and still do) they do that? To me it’s very simple - they don’t want to be reminded of sin. If it’s not there to tell them it’s wrong to do whatever it is they’re doing or not doing, then eventually people will just forget about what God says. And, that’ll work, as we saw with the people of Judah.
But, if written in men’s hearts - and kept there by constant use - it can always be "read by all men." But, we have to be aware that by not using it, or if we’re allowing the world’s "writings" to be inscribed in our hearts, then we’ll be providing the wrong message to be "read" by others. The accouterments of sin had replaced God’s "Book of the Law" in the temple. Let’s not let them replace our copy of Christ’s Law in our hearts.
Respectfully submitted,
Ron Covey
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