FINDING THE BOOK

“Then Hilkiah the high priest said to 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” (2 Kings 22:8 NKJV).

When the Temple was being repaired under good king Josiah, a copy of the Book of the Law was found in the Temple by the high priest Hilkiah. The book, (actually a scroll), consisted of the Pentateuch (Genesis - Deuteronomy). The Book of the Law was the Word of God. In those days people did not have personal copies of the Word. Only in the Temple was there a copy of the Scriptures. To learn some lessons from this find, we note why the book was lost, where the book was found, who was given the book.

Why the Book was lost - The Book was lost because idolatry and all that went along with it had filled the land and the Temple. Because idolatry rejected the Word of God, the Book of the Law got pushed aside and was lost. This is still happening in many churches today. A lot of ‘rubbish’ gets in the church in the form of programs and activities so much so that the Word of God is pushed aside and is no longer prominent in the program of the church.

Where the Book was found – The Book was found in the Temple where it should be. The value of the Temple had much to do with the presence of the Word of God. So it is with our churches. It is the place where the Word of God should be found. However, take the Word of God out of a church and it will cease to be of value. If the Word of God cannot be found in our church, we need go to a church where it can be found.

Who was given the Book - Hilkiah the high priest gave the Book to Shaphan the scribe. It was the duty of the scribe to read the Word of God to the people and teach them the Word. This is still a needed ministry today. The Word of God is not to be left around to be admired as a decorative piece on some pulpit or table. It is to be given to those called of God to teach it. When Shaphan was given the Book, he immediately went to the king and read it to him. This resulted in a spiritual revival. If we want a spiritual revival in our churches we need to emphasize the Word of God.

(Adapted from Butler Daily Bible Reading)

Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be The Glory)

Quotation of the Week

“When you open your Bible, ask the Author to open your heart!”

Anonymous

Word Study

Perish (destroy)

In Rom. 2:12 we read, “For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law!” (NKJV)

Perish (destroy) is the Greek word apollumi (‏‏ἀπόλλυμι = ap-ol'-loo-mee). It is made up of two words: apo which means away from or wholly, and olethros which means state of utter ruin. Thus the word means to destroy utterly but not to cause to cease to exist. In classical Greek apollumi means to lose or to destroy. Passively it means to disappear or to get lost. In the Septuagint apollumi is most often translated as to be lost, to perish. In the New Testament, the word is translated as destruction, ruin.

Apollumi as it relates to men, is not the loss of being per se, but is more the loss of well-being. It means to ruin so that the person (or thing) ruined can no longer serve the use for which he (it) was designed. It is to render useless. In Matt. 9:17, the Lord Jesus used apollumi to remind His disciples what happens when men “put new wine into old wineskins” - the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined (apollumi). New wine is put into new wineskins so that both the wine and wineskins “are preserved.” The point is that the wineskins did not cease to exist but they cease to fulfill the function for which they were created. In short they were rendered useless. In a similar way all men are created by God for fellowship with Him and for His glory (cf Isa 43:7). However, when men refuse to come to Him for salvation they lose their opportunity for redemption and for becoming what God originally created them for. Thus their lives are wasted and useless (apollumi). This is the awful picture of what it means to “perish.” Yet, this is not the desire of God for as Peter writes, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9 NKJV)..

Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus

Old Testament Prophecy – That He would have a forerunner (Isa. 40:3-5; Mal. 3:1)

New Testament Fulfillment – Matt. 3:1-3; Luke 1:76-78; 3:3-6

Bible Facts

Oceans contain springs - The Ocean is very deep. Almost all the ocean floor is in total darkness and the pressure there is enormous. It would have been impossible for Job to have explored the “springs of the sea” (Job 38:16). Until recently, it was thought that oceans were fed only by rivers and rain. Yet in the 1970s, with the help of deep diving research submarines that were constructed to withstand 6,000 pounds-per-square-inch pressure, oceanographers discovered springs on the ocean floors!

Bible Quiz

What did king Josiah of Judah do after hearing the words of the Book of the Law that was found in the temple?

**Answer to last week’s trivia: According to Psalm 19, what uses no words or voices, yet shouts, ‘God, the Creator, exists?’ The beauty and wonder of creation – “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork,” (Psalm 19:1).

That’s in the Bible

“Turn the other cheek”

“But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also!” (Matt. 5:39 NKJV).

When someone slaps or punch us in the face, our normal response is to hit back. Turning the other cheek never entered our minds. ‘Turning the other cheek’ in the literal sense, is not the easiest thing to do, but it is a commandment of the Lord. Jesus did this very thing when He was struck on the face by His enemies. This expression is also applied to non-violent matters; we tell others to ‘turn the other cheek’ and not to seek revenge when someone does something to them that upsets them.

Did You Know – Christian History

Henry Alline was born June 14, 1748 in Newport, Rhode Island. He was a minister, evangelist, and writer, who became known as “The Apostle of Nova Scotia. After years of desperate search, years in which he trembled that he would be forever damned, Henry discovered the love of Christ in 1775. He described the transformation as instantaneous.

Immediately, he began telling others about Christ. His ministry took him across Nova Scotia and back into New England. Alline became the leader of the New Light movement in the Maritimes, and everywhere he went, he spoke of each person’s need for a heart relationship with the resurrected Christ. The impact of his words and life were so great that he became known as “the Whitefield of Nova Scotia.”

Alline is Canada’s most prolific 18th Century writer. He wrote more than 500 hymns, some of which expressed his new-found joy. His Journal is considered a classic of North American spiritualism and he is Canada’s first great Protestant and one of its most important theological writers. He died of tuberculosis at age 35 and was buried at North Hampton, New Hampshire.

A Little Humor

A minister was talking to a children’s Sunday school class about kindness to animals. He spoke about the Biblical references to substantiate his case. “Now let’s suppose,” he said, “that you saw a bad person cutting off the tail of a cat. What Biblical quotation would you use to tell him of the terrible wrong he was doing?” “Sir, I would point out to him,” one of the students said, “What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder” (Matt. 19:6).

Thought Provoking Church Sign

“The new birth is not optional – it’s imperative!”