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The Word of Truth Ministries | |
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Finding
the Book of the Lord |
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When Josiah was King of Israel, in his 18th year, he wanted to repair the breaches that were in the House of the Lord, so he sent Hilkiah the priest to reckon the money in the House of God to pay for the repairs. And when Hilkiah was summing up the money, for the priests that kept the House of God were honest men and had not even counted the money, let alone used it, Hilkiah found the Book of the Lord that had been misplaced and lost in God's House. On the one hand, the priests dealt honestly with the money that was in God's House, but on the other, they had let God's House deteriorate and had actually misplaced and lost God's Word in the House of God. But God demands honesty and good stewardship in all matters. Hilkiah said to Shaphan the king's scribe, "I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord." [2 Kings 22:8] Shaphan took that book and read it; then he took it to King Josiah and read it before him. And when Josiah heard the words of the book, he was so shaken that he rent (torn) his clothes and said inquire of the Lord for me about what God will do to us for having violated his word and not having done the words written in His book. [2 Ki. 22:8-13] This king knew that although the patience of God is long, He will not let His word fall void and undone. Consider the behavior of this king in the presence of God's word and their having violated that word: Josiah humbled himself and submitted to the word of God. He was an example of right behavior in the face of God's word, but that nation did not adhere to his modeling, as many today do not behave rightly toward the word of God. No one likes to think he/she is wrong, even in the face of the undeniable fact that one is wrong. It is a part of human nature to justify oneself, rather than admitting his/her wrong. Even the behavior of first man among us, Adam, was so structured to denial that when God confronted him with his sin, Adam said, "This woman whom thou gavest me…." [Gen. 3:12] Was that not excusing himself somewhat, hence, rationalizing? And in rationalizing our behave, we attempt to justify it and place blame for our wrong on another. The essence of human nature is to, at least, want to be right/correct, even though that want is merely a mental/head want rather than a heart want. I have seen many students in my college courses who want to be correct so badly that they fail to speak in class, having not done the necessary work to assure a correct answer and uncertain of the answer they would chance to give, they surrender to silence instead. They want to be correct/right, but they have not paid the price to ensure themselves of their right standing/answer. After breaking the silence and finding themselves wanting, people often rationalize a wrong position or state of being they find themselves or are found by others to be in. James Robinson,* one who many years ago set forth rationalization as a major way many people think--although it is, of itself, not the best way of thought. Many today, and throughout human history, will not readily admit their wrong/incorrectness when confronted with it, but will find shelter in rationalizing. Seemingly, people abhor being wrong/incorrect regardless of what they are doing or have done. As a professor, I wrestle regularly with a many young minds desperately wanting to be correct when, in fact, they are incorrect.** And as a result, some are offended and drop out of courses because their fragile sensitivities are confronted; others harden themselves and their fragile sensitivities, for knowledge and understanding require such a posture to grow; then there are others who stand their incorrect ground and attempt to rationalize (justify) a position already arrived at, but quite incorrect. As these behavior methods are common in academia, they are also common in the church and the world of Christendom among ministers and congregants. The message of II Kings 22, is one many would do well to comprehend: King Josiah heard the word of God and saw his and the nation's deficits in the light of God's word; instead of taking one of the typical reactions many take, he simply humbled himself to God's word and sought an audience with God about their transgressions. Josiah was afraid of God for not having done what God had commanded the people to do. Hurriedly, the King summoned the Prophetess Huldah to get to God and see what He would do about their situation. He recognized the crisis he and the nation were in--they had violated God's holy, precious, and divine word, and the Lord from glory would not allow His word to be violated without a response. Were we in Josiah's stead today, would we act as prudently and expeditiously as he did or would we twist and torture a form of reasoning/rationalization that would suffer us to sear our consciences and assuage our guilt into thinking, "It's OK. God hadn't done anything yet, so He probably won't do anything now. We must be OK in the way we see and interpret His word because He hasn't done anything to us." Josiah knew the terror of God, even as the Apostle Paul wrote, [2 Cor. 5:11] so he humbled himself and sought God's face to see what the judge of all the earth would do. [Gen. 18:25; 2 Kings 22:13] And God sent him a word through the prophetess Huldah, and His word was not pleasant. God said to Josiah that He would bring evil upon the people and do all He said He was going to do, according to the words of that lost book they had now found. Because God's word is put away, misplaced, or lost from men, it does not mean that His word will not accomplish whereunto it is sent. Simply because men misinterpret God's word and play hocus pocus with holy things, it does not mean that God's word has been made void or that God has allowed the corruption of truth to change His position. God's word, whether we know it or understand it, is forever settled in heaven. And it shall accomplish what God pleases. God said because the people had forsaken Him and burned incense to other gods, He was provoked, and His anger would not be quenched. But Josiah, because he humbled himself, wept when hearing God's word, and changed his behavior greatly, (renting of the clothes) and because his heart was tender unto God, he would be exempted from the trouble and evil God was going to inflict upon His people--he would be drawn unto his fathers (death) before God unleash His evil upon the people. (Yes, saints/Christians, God does evil. Amos asked the rhetorical question, Can there be evil in the city, and the Lord has not done it?) King Josiah heard the word of God and humbled himself. The true word of God is delivered by holy men/women of God to stir and shake his people into examining themselves as Josiah did and Paul admonishes us to do. [2 Cor. 13] We examine ourselves by the word of God, the rightly- divided word of God, not by men's customs, men's traditions, and men's standards that have raised themselves in the church as if they were God's word. King Josiah humbled himself, the people didn't; what is your reaction to God's word? Do you behave as many do today: denial, rationalization? Why not do as Josiah did? Since the people of God did not follow his example, they were destroyed by God. How shall you escape if you neglect so great a salvation for the things of this world? Consider what Josiah could have done: he could have killed the bearer of bad news--a frequent behavior of ruthless and evil men; he could have attempted to rationalize with God--a behavior peculiar to many who superficially want to be right but are unwilling to engage in the hard work of righteousness; he could have asserted his own interpretation of the word of God--a behavior of vaunting one's own righteousness and making ineffective God's righteousness. Instead, Josiah heard God's word, accepted it as the word of God, and humbled himself to it. How many of us are so embedded in our own traditions and righteousness--many of those are church, preacher, pastor traditions that substitute as God's word--that we have lost the word of God, even though we are going to church week after week and shouting the praises of God without a knowledge of God's word about their state of sin? A few weeks ago, I was at a church in Berkeley. I sat and listened to a minister speak and shout and tell the people that God was in that place. My heart was grieved and almost in a state of mourning for the poor state of God's people and His house--that house too. You see, I have found the book of God that is today lost, and I have read it with eyes wide open, and I weep for the poor state God's people are in, for the blemishes, spots, and putrefying sores that are upon the beautiful body of Christ, and brought upon it by the carnal behavior of wicked men who have a form of godliness, but that is all. Whether others see it or not does not change the reality of God. There is an obligation of saints in light to show others who are not in the light what they see. I call that obligation the Obligation of Light. That is why this ministry writes, preaches, publishes books and literature; we must show others in and out of the church what God has allowed us to see, even as Huldah showed King Josiah what she saw. We wish the response to our preaching was as Josiah's response to God's word, but most of the time it is like the people of Judah under Josiah--rationalization, obfuscation, continuity of sin, and an attack on the minister. But we rejoice because of it, for we are vilified for the truth, as we cut into the money-flow of wicked ministers and the sin-quotient of many who have been tutored in behavior that does not conform to God's word. Many of God's people are burning, in a spiritual sense, incense to the gods of this world: money, possessions, artifacts of men, the pleasures of this present world, etc. I do not only weep when I read the word and see the misbehavior of many in the church; I also cry against sin and teach the truth with all the fiber of my spiritual being and with the power of the Living God. Dearly beloved, we are not wrestling against flesh and blood, our battle is against organized principalities and powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wicked in high places. There are realities that are spiritual but are true--there are physical realities and spiritual realities. Our battle is with spiritual forces that seat themselves in men. When Peter rebuked Jesus' trip to Calvary, a vital component of His ministry, as a way of loving him and being protective of the Master's physical interest, Jesus recognized that it was not Peter who spoke, but Satan. He therefore turned to Peter and said, "Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offense unto me; for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." [Mat. 16:23; Eph. 6:11-13] This is the nature of the spiritual forces we fight against: they have the cloak of men but speak not the word of God, but tradition of men. We speak the things of God, and they are often bitter, even as were the words of Huldah painful upon the ears of Josiah. Just as the people of Judah had allowed the house of God to deteriorate and had lost God's word, so has the Church of God done today! It has a form of godliness, but just the form and not the power of that form. But the things of old were written for our learning, Paul said, and Jesus said the Scriptures testify of him--him physically and him spiritually, his body, the Church. God knew the state his body would fall into, the state it is in today, and He warned us of the process for turning from His wrath! Josiah is God's model in this passage. This model is repeated over and over in scripture. If God's people would humble themselves and pray and rent their hearts and not their garments, God will hear from heaven.... But the people today are sold on the things of this world and NOT that world to come! I have found the book of the Lord that has been lost in God's house, I have read that book, and the words of that book have given me light. It is that light that obligates me to cry against sin, to show you what I have seen from the Lord. One brother minister said, "Frank thinks he knows everything." I would not presume to think such a thing, but that I know from the Lord, I know and that cannot be shaken. Yet I stand to be corrected by men, and certainly by God, if I am wrong. I stand to be questioned by men concerning anything I have said in this ministry. Mine in a teaching and challenging ministry. I hear from people in many places throughout the world. You see, I have found GOD's book; I have read GOD's book; and the words in that book are not good concerning this present church generation and its leaders: "Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch...." [Acts 20:28-31] This prophecy by Paul has largely been overlooked by many Christian, but it is one of the most instructive for today. What I see, having found the book of the Lord is this. Two types of false leaders are in the church today: 1.) wicked men who came from outside, and 2.) wicked men who arise from within--you know them, they grew up with you, they may have even preached Christ to you, but they are now backslidden and have not gone from among the people of God but remain there in positions of authority, drawing saints to their pernicious way of perversion, and away from God's word. The second type that Paul cites in this Acts passage is the more dangerous to the people of God; the people have a residue of trust in them, and it is difficult to believe they have gone astray from God's word. But believe it; they do go away from God's word while sitting in the seats of authority and seats next to you. That is why Paul said to watch. Finally, when the tribe of Judah finally found the book of the law/Lord that was lost in God's house, Josiah's heart was tender toward God--he was willing to see and adhere to the true of God's word. What is the state of your heart, and what is your reaction to the truth of God? Do you rationalize your wrong or the wrongs of others, or do you respond as Josiah? Your response may well condition your standing with God. ______ | |
Copyright © 2004 by The Truth of God