Gripped By A Radical New Vision

When the king heard what was written in the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes in despair.   2 Kings 22:11

The “Book of the Law” contains the Ten Commandments and all the regulations about how God’s people were to live when they entered the land. The book of Deuteronomy describes the blessings and curses that would follow obedience or disobedience, and it ends with a record of how the people of God renewed their covenant with him and committed themselves to live according to his law.

When Josiah heard this, he tore his robes. He took the Bible seriously. When the commands were read, he said, “We’re not doing this. How could we have strayed so far from God’s requirements?” Without God’s Word, the people had no criteria for telling right from wrong, so they operated on consensus. By the time of Manasseh, the consensus said, “It’s sometimes right to sacrifice your children in the fire.”

The Bible has a very simple definition of righteousness. What God calls “right” is right, and what God calls “evil” is evil. And if righteousness is to be restored to our nation, then the Bible must be restored in the churches, and those who love God must get serious about putting the Bible into practice.

Josiah gives us a wonderful model of this. He heard the Word of God, took it seriously, and then he said, “This is how I am going to live.” Josiah did more than read the Bible; he wanted to put it into practice, and he began with his own life.

Then Josiah called for a rally at the Temple. Imagine the sea of faces as a great crowd gathered in the Temple area. Josiah read the whole book of Deuteronomy to the people and made a personal commitment to obey the Lord (see 2 Kings 23:2-3). Then he had all the rest of the people make the same commitment (see 2 Chronicles 34:32).

As Josiah listened to the Scriptures, he was gripped by a radical new vision of obedience to the Word of God: What would life be like if it was lived fully according to the Law of God?

For further reading, see 1 Thessalonians 1