If you’re in the Legacy Reading Plan, we’re right in the middle of spring, and during the month of May, we read through 1–2 Kings and 1–2 Chronicles. I just finished the book of Kings.
It is quite stunning to read about how in 2 Kings 22-23 that Josiah finds the Book of the Law in the Temple, and tears his royal robes because he is undone by the fact that from the time of the judges the kings did not celebrate Passover. Israel is called to be a light to the nations and through types and shadows demonstrate to the world that God had provided a plan of redemption through a coming Christ. Yet, the very ones who are called to bring this light to the nations had forgotten the Book of the Law.
So you read in 2 Kings 23 that Josiah gave the order to all the people to “Celebrate the Passover to the Lord Your God as it is written in this Book of the Covenant. Not since the days of the judges who led Israel, nor throughout the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah, had any such Passover been observed. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem” (2 Kings 23:21–23, NIV).
Of course, we know the rest of the story, just as the Northern Kingdom had gone into captivity, so the Southern Kingdom would soon forget the Book of the Law again, and go into exile in Babylonia.
Think about today. The biggest problem we face is the problem of biblical illiteracy. It is not a problem, it is the problem. If we forget the Book of the Law—if we forget the Law that God has in fact inscribed upon the very tablet of our consciousness—we are guilty before the Lord. We are those whom God has revealed Himself to, and we are called to be priests to the people around us. It is no longer necessary to have a priest, we are the priesthood of all believers, and therefore we are called to be witnesses for Christ to a lost and searching world, which of course is the mission of the Christian Research Institute—equipping God’s people so that, first and foremost, they become so familiar with truth that when counterfeits loom on the horizon, they know it instantaneously, and to equip God’s people for works of service so that the body of Christ might be built up and strengthened.
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“For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And, "If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?"
1 Peter 4:17-18 NIV
Being a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that we may declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9 NIV) is very difficult with out the Love and Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ (especially, if you’re daily routine is working around God haters and atheists).
But by the Power of the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us, we work hand in hand in standing for truth.
“We are called to be witnesses for Christ to a lost and searching world”
These are God’s commands, God’s Law, that begin with the family of God.
“If we forget the Book of the Law—if we forget the Law that God has in fact inscribed upon the very tablet of our consciousness—we are guilty before the Lord”.
I cringe at the memory of my life before Christ. I know the misery of being dead in SIN.
Where would I be with out God’s Loving Commands for my life. His words are life.
It was the Book of the Law, God’s spoken Word that said: “…Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death”. (Rom 8:2-3 NIV)
I am forever irresistibly in His dept. Life is too short to not have answers.
Truly, it is as Hank says: “The biggest problem we face is the problem of biblical illiteracy.”
We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? Heb 2:1-3 NIV.
Hank -
you wrote:
"We are those whom God has revealed Himself to, and we are called to be priests to the people around us."
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This is a curious statement. Presumably if there is a "we" to which God has revealed "Himself", then there is likely a "them" to which "He" has not revealed "Himself". One has to wonder, then, why God would withhold this revealing, since God allegedly does not want anyone to parish.
You might contend that God HAS revealed "Himself" to all people via nature and the Bible, but what makes Christianity prima facia reasonable? I would wager to contend that the existence of our universe is not sufficient to lead one to the conclusion that God must be real.
Furthermore, if the human condition is as serious as you claim and there is no hope after death, then why would God, who wants all to be saved, put the task of spreading this urgent news into the hands of finite, fallible humans, while "He" remains curiously hidden??? This seems like a very inefficient way of going about achieving the goal of saving as many as possible.
Entire books are written adressing these questions. Try "I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist" by Geisler and Turek. The beginning of the universe from nothing(cosmological argument), the design of the universe(teleological argument), and the existence of a moral law(moral argument) all point to a First Cause that is outside time and space, powerful, intelligent, and personal.
If the purpose of the creation is to glorify the Creator, then the intelligent and thinking creatures (ourselves)glorify Him by our choice to do so. The rest of the universe has no choice but to glorify God by its mere existence; we on the other hand have been put in the peculiar position of having a choice in the matter. Perhaps this is part of what is meant by created in God's image.
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