A Song to Remember

Everyone loves music. Everyone has a favorite song. Music is something ethereal, even supernatural. When we hear a certain song, it brings back memories, emotions, and even reminds us of things that are important. Songs have a way of capturing people's hearts. Things have a way of staying in our hearts; this is where the thoughts of the mind come from. This is how we make decisions based on thoughts from the heart.

We live in a time where the contents of the average person's heart are no longer biblical. That can be true for Christians and nonbelievers both. Too many of God’s children look for emotionalism and an experience over a relationship. We believe the Holy Spirit still woos the lost and works in the hearts of God’s children unto obedience. But sadly, the world’s song has replaced the Lord's song in the hearts of both groups.

Believing fully in the plenary and infallible Word of God, I didn’t have to go far to find a time when this was true. The value of biblical truth is that, like God Himself, it never changes. Truth is eternal and is given for our comfort and encouragement.

2 Kings, especially the latter chapters, show the results of a nation who turned its back on God. By the time of Josiah, Israel (the northern 10 tribes) had been gone for a century. Judah and Benjamin remained but were still rife with sin. God had warned Israel, shown Israel mercy, and she still turned her back. Judgment came, and Samaria was repopulated with foreigners as Israel was blown into the winds of history.

The same sin that led to His judgment of Israel festered in Judah. Josiah came to the throne in a time of what I would call the last gasp. This is the last gasp a man takes as he surfaces right before he drowns. The time also coincides with the prophet Jeremiah, known as the weeping prophet, who lamented for Judah because God’s judgment was coming. The book of Jeremiah can give you a deeper understanding of his lament for Israel and their apostasy.

2 Kings 22:8–13

8 And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.

9 And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD.

10 And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.

11 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.

12 And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king's, saying,

13 Go ye, enquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.

Verse 8

Here we see the religious leadership found the book of the Law in the house of the Lord. The implication of irony is not lost on me. Religion, in general, often ignores what is right in front of it for its own selfish purposes. Josiah brought a revival to Judah along with the men who followed him. They found the book of the law because when we search for God, He will always reveal Himself. Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you. “Have found” implies they were searching and heard God’s song. With many religious leaders in America, how many are searching for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Truly? Praise the Lord, He is faithful and always has a remnant.

Verse 9

Here we see the house of the Lord had fallen into disrepair, but men who sought God stepped forward to serve God. They didn’t have the book of the Law, but they sought something else other than the apostasy and heresy of their own day. Every journey toward God begins with repentance, and every journey away from Him begins with sin. Josiah, Hilkiah, and Shaphan sought the Lord their God. Faith has a connotation of action. Don’t just wait for the bus at your house; you should probably go to the bus stop where it shows up at the proper time. This is because you know it will show up there. Step out in faith; God will answer because He knows where to show up. Repentance is a note we can all hear and leads us to a better path.

Verse 10

The men of God showed the king the book of the Law and read it to him. Israel was once a united nation where the men of God preached the law and read it before the people. The kings of Israel were required to make and keep a book of the law with them.

Revival fires began to burn under Josiah because men repented of their sin and sought the Lord their God. America turned from the Bible long ago as Israel did. Is America a better place than it was since the Bible was replaced in her schools, institutions, and government?

French historian Alexis de Tocqueville once made some observations when he visited America: Christianity is the first of America’s political institutions. Churches were guardians of morality. American government depended on Christian virtue. Liberty could not survive without Christianity restraining the heart of man.

Verse 11

We see a leader who fears the Lord and follows the biblical pattern back to restoration. This is why we should pray for our leaders for wisdom. If God always has a remnant, what power have we lost if the church doesn’t pray? What good is the King James Version on your coffee table if you don’t believe Him? It would seem the book of the Law has been lost in the church house today. Is it lost in your house? Should we, as believers, stand around as America slips further away? Judgment starts at the house of God, especially when the book of the Law has been lost, ignored, and perverted. We should search for God’s Word like Hilkiah, read it like Shaphan, and sanctify ourselves with it like Josiah. As there is no salvation without repentance, there is no restoration either. God’s people need to listen to the song that God has given us.

Verse 12

This shows us that when a leader gets on fire for God, change begins to happen. God established the nations, human government, and puts all rulers into authority. All authority is given by God to man. When men fear the Lord, those they direct will do so as well. We all just need to dance to the same tune; it needs to be the right tune.

Verse 13

We see similarities to the Church Age dispensation command of our Lord in His Great Commission of “Go ye...” The God of the OT and the God of the NT are the same. As we today are told to “Go ye,” so Josiah the king said to his own people to warn them of the coming judgment. The “Go ye” is the same. We are to warn others against sin and of our Savior because judgment is coming. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise; He is coming back. The haunting thing is that Josiah was born into this situation. I imagine him growing up in a religious and idolatrous country like many today who look around and wonder what happened. Rather than go along, Josiah decided to cling to his Lord when everything around him was wrong. We should conduct ourselves as Josiah and his men did. For a truth, America is in the very same state of immorality today as Judah was then. The world’s song is not what God wants for His people.

Conclusion

Living in apostasy, the king makes a choice to walk with God and begins to fix the house of the Lord. This was the first step. That step leads to finding the Word of God again. People had forgotten about the book of the Law. God’s remnant found it in the house of God. The king and his men begin to repair the house of God. They realize what’s in the book of the Law. They commit themselves to the book of the Law that it would not depart out of their mouths. Revival fires begin to burn in Judah because God is faithful and merciful even in the face of His own coming judgment. Sin must be judged because God is holy.

It’s the book, not a book. If God can’t preserve His own Word, He’s not God. I believe that He (Jesus) is God, and I believe His Word. I believe He is not the author of confusion. I believe that judgment is coming, but I also believe that the darkness can be pushed back if Christians read the book of the Law in their own devotions, to their own families, and if the man of God does from behind the pulpit at the Lord's church. And we don’t just have the book of the Law; we have the full, finished and plenary Word of God.

Obedience is a choice. There is no revival without repentance. If we are not choosing God, we are choosing ourselves. Jesus said He is the way, the truth, and the life. The book of the Law was given to show man his sin; the New Testament was given to show us grace through the shedding of Christ’s blood. We received a better covenant, not a nullification of the old one.

Music is a powerful thing; it gets into our ears, our mind, and then our hearts. Should we let the song of the world into our hearts or His? Zechariah means “the LORD remembers.” He remembers us; He remembers His promises. Did He not preserve Lot even as death reigned on Sodom?

Josiah was spared seeing the taking away of Judah to Babylon and the fall of his nation. May God grant us the same mercy. What would it be that God’s children repented before judgment comes?

Psalm 40:3 And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

The Psalmist said it best, and that is a song worth remembering.

Oh Lord, remember me. Remember your promises to your children. Strengthen me, oh God, that I would stand, arise, and “go ye” into all the world.