Opening illustration: In Southern Mexico lie the Cueva de Villa Luz, or Cave of the Lighted House. As you make your way to the cave you walk through a veritable paradise of tropical birds and lush rain forest. Underwater the cave is fed by 20 underground springs, beautiful watercourses which teem with tiny fish. The cave itself is home to spectacular rock formations and beautiful ponds. The environment is inviting. Yet accept the invitation and you’ll soon be dead. You see, the Cueva de Villa Luz is filled with poisonous gases. Temptation is just like this. It presents itself to us as something inviting, attractive, life-giving. Yet in reality it’s poisonous and toxic. (Scott Higgins: Information on the Cave obtained from National Geographic, May 2001)
Israel was in a similar situation till Hilkiah found the hidden Word of God and brought it before the King so that the nation would not continue to bear the consequence of their sin by gradually dying out.
Introduction: Josiah became a king when he was 8 years old, a seeker at 16 and a reformer at 20 and a humble servant of God at age 26. His dramatic spiritual growth and leadership resulted from listening to God’s Word and then obeying what he heard.
While the temple in Jerusalem was being repaired and purified, the long-neglected Book of the Law was found and read aloud to young King Josiah. When he heard it, he humbled himself, tore his robes, and wept in the presence of God (2 Chronicles 34:19, 27). Josiah realized the enormous sin of those who had led the nation before him, and he decided that deep and lasting change had to begin with him. His public renewal of the covenant and His commitment to follow the Lord and keep His commands ignited a revival that swept the entire nation (vv.31-33).
What’s wrong with the nation where you live today? Greed? Violence? Indifference toward God? Self-seeking? Self-serving? How long has it been sinking into a moral and spiritual quagmire? Are you feeling too young, or too old, or too powerless to do anything about it?
Josiah - seeker, reformer, servant of God, a 20-something king who wept for his people - has shown us the way. Lord, send a revival, and let it begin in me.
How should a nation respond to God’s Word?
1. Leadership is CONVICTED of the Word of God (vs. 19-21)
Yes, given how wicked Manasseh and Amon had been, but it's still somewhat amazing that such a vital sacred book could have been lost by the time Josiah took the throne. In just a handful of generations, specific knowledge of the covenant had been lost, so much so that it seems the king was hearing its provisions for the first time. It's almost as if the covenant were “born again” in this episode! It is supposed that this was the Book of Deuteronomy; though we have no sympathy whatever with a modern notion with respect to its discovery. In our judgment that book is rightly ascribed to Moses. Apparently, however, it had long been missing, and the young king was filled with horror when he heard the list of evils that were associated with apostasy. “He tore his clothes.”
Josiah was a spiritually discerning leader. He realized immediately the importance of the scroll and how the nation had already broken the covenant and stood under judgment. Tearing his robes showed he comprehended fully the seriousness and sorrow of their sin (v. 21). He led the people in a formal pledge renouncing idols and rededicating themselves to the Lord. Thanks to his leadership, during his lifetime they “did not fail to follow the Lord” (vv. 32-33). The message from the prophetess Huldah indicated that his repentance and humility in response to the Word postponed God's judgment on Judah. The interaction of human choices and divine sovereignty remains a mystery, but obedience is always the best choice.
We should read the Bible with a particular application to the days in which we live. It is well enough to accept its statements as being generally true and credible; but it is better to realize their pertinence to ourselves and our circumstances. The book of the law had been sadly neglected in the years preceding Josiah’s accession; and through the neglect of God’s Word the people had become indifferent to His commands, and deaf to the appeals of His prophets. Josiah turned the lantern on the evils of His time, and saw how God was feeling with respect to them.
Illustration: In 1987, a West Michigan couple, the Zartmans, bought four books at an estate sale. They were excited to find that the books contained two collections of letters and sermons by the preacher and hymn writer John Newton (1725–1807), who wrote the beloved hymn “Amazing Grace.” Also included was a two-volume set of his sermons based on Handel’s Messiah.
Newton’s family had preserved these writings by passing them down through the years. Then in the 1840s his heirs brought the books to the US. They are currently being used by an organization that plans to republish all of Newton’s works in 2007 in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of his death. The books will then be donated to a museum in England.
An even greater find is recorded in 2 Chronicles 34:15. During Josiah’s reign as king of Judah, he ordered the repair of the temple. In the temple, Hilkiah the high priest found the Book of the Law that had been given to Moses by the Lord. When Josiah “heard the words of the Law” (v.19), he felt convicted and later stood before his people to make a covenant to keep all that was written in the book (v.31). God’s written Word reveals the Living Word.
2. Leadership understands the CONSEQUENCES of disobedience (vs. 22-28)
It is human nature to treat sin lightly – to make excuses, blame someone else, or minimize the harm done. Our forefather and mother in the Garden of Eden exemplified it very well. This was not so with Josiah. He was so appalled at the people’s neglect of the law that he tore his clothing to express his grief. True understanding of our sins should lead to godly sorrow that ‘brings repentance that leads to salvation’ (2 Corinthians 7:10). Are you always excusing your sin, blaming others, and pretending that it’s not so bad? God does not take sin lightly, and He wants us to respond with true remorse as Josiah did knowing the eternal consequences it bears in our life if we don’t come to Christ.
When Josiah read the book that Hilkiah discovered, he responded with repentance and humility and promised to follow God’s commands as written in the book. The Bible is God’s Word to us, ‘living and active’ (Hebrews 4:12), but we cannot know what God wants us to do if we do not read it. And even reading God’s Word is not enough; we must be willing to do what it says. There is not much difference between the book hidden in the temple and the Bible hidden on the book shelf. An unread Bible is as useless as a lost one.
Illustration: The builders of the Panama Canal overcame many enormous challenges: the moving of tons of earth, the redirecting of a river, and the cutting down of miles of jungle. But the tiny mosquito threatened to shut down the whole project. The Isthmus of Panama was an ideal breeding ground for this pest. As mosquitos infected canal workers with yellow fever and malaria, the death toll began to soar. Fortunately, a physician who had studied these diseases arranged for an army of workers to spray the area with a chemical to kill mosquitos. The number of illnesses dropped dramatically.
In the Old Testament, we read of Judah’s epidemic of idolatry and its accompanying moral sickness. When the Word of God was rediscovered, King Josiah exclaimed, “Great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the Word of the Lord” (2 Chronicles 34:21). Josiah understood the Scripture’s preventive cure for moral sickness. He began to apply its spiritual truths, and soon a revival swept the land that restored the nation’s spiritual health.
When we neglect the reading of God’s Word, we invite spiritual illness. Let’s be sure to set aside time to absorb its life-giving message. The Bible is God’s prescription for the health of our soul.
3. Leadership corporately CONFORMS to the Word of God (vs. 29-33)
When the workman brought the book to the king, it didn’t look like anything special. But when the king read it, he grew deeply distressed. It spoke of great disaster that was coming upon his kingdom and his people. What could he do? No military or financial solution would help. So he gathered all the people together, and did the only thing he could. He recommitted himself to the Lord and renewed His holy covenant that had been badly broken. The account of King Josiah finding the book of the Law (a portion of Deuteronomy) is one of the most dramatic stories in the Bible (2 Chronicles 34:14–33). But it’s a story with a sad ending. Despite Josiah’s reforms, he couldn’t change the nation’s heart and thereby prevent the coming disaster. He died before the onslaught and was spared seeing his nation destroyed.
This previous public reading of God’s covenant during Josiah’s reign may have been in Jeremiah’s mind in today’s prophecy. This covenant, also called the Sinaitic covenant, used the language of international treaties current at that time. These treaties, or covenants, clearly spelled out the blessings for those who kept the required stipulations and the curses for treaty violators.
Like previous prophets, Jeremiah called the nation back to its covenantal responsibilities. Had they remained faithful, they would have enjoyed prosperity in the land. But the coming destruction only confirmed that they had broken the covenant (vv. 10–11). In their great distress, the faithless people would cry out to their false gods, but these “gods” could do nothing. Only the living God had power to help. But because the people had refused to turn to Him, and had rejoiced in their wickedness, He would eventually become deaf to them.
APPLY THE WORD - The failure to keep the old covenant eventually led to the new covenant, sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ. As believers, we live by grace and not by works.
Application: To renew your love for Christ, review Christ's love for you.
