2 Kings 22:8 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.
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.
AS a nation we have red letter days, dates that are memorable in our history as a people. Independence Day, Memorial Day, President’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, and others, have important places in our national life.
One of the most important in Biblical history is when Hilkiah, the High Priest, found the Book of the Law and sent it to King Josiah.
A mighty revival wave was sweeping over Judah.
2 Kings 23:2 And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD.
3 And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.
Every great revival has its human leaders. The Reformation had its Luther, the English revival its Whitfield. The leader of the Judah revival was Josiah the king. The first thought to which our attention is called is that this Book which Hilkiah found in the temple was a…
LOST BOOK
I am led to inquire, Can the Bible be lost? In a general sense, No. The books of men have their day and become obsolete. The Word of God is like Himself eternal, “the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Fifteen hundred years after Herodotus wrote his history there was only one manuscript copy of it left. Twelve hundred years after Plato wrote his book there was only one manuscript copy of that left. God was so particular that we should have the Bible in just the right shape that to-day we have manuscript copies of the New Testament from one thousand to fifteen hundred years old. Thirty-nine books in the Old Testament and twenty-seven in the New Testament hundreds of years ago, and they are all in it now. In a certain sense the Bible can never be lost. But in a more particular sense, Yes; it can be lost, and it is lost. This Book was lost in the temple. There are churches where it is neglected today.
The Bible is lost in our homes and in our lives, if unread and unstudied. It is well to carry a Bible under your arm. And better still if you have much of the Bible in your head. Put the Bible in your mouth and quote Scripture often. (But be careful how you quote the sacred Word. The devil often quotes Scripture, but to his own purposes.) Hide the Bible in your heart and you’ll not sin against God.
Psalm 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
Feed upon the Word of God
It is lost because its teachings are disobeyed. Evildoers cannot love and cherish the Word of God. “The entrance of Thy Word giveth light.” They love to walk in darkness, and fear the light. When you are reading a book in a dark room, and come to a difficult part, you take it to a window to get more light. So take your Bibles to Christ.