A Wakeup Call for Us All

“Hilkiah the priest has given me a book”¹—so reported Judah’s secretary Shaphan to his king, Josiah. It was an understatement for the ages.

With the temple under repair, the king had sent his secretary to Hilkiah, the high priest, with instructions to fund the workers for their materials. Task accomplished, Hilkiah raised a new topic, telling Shaphan, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.”² What?!? He found the book of the Law? He found it in the house of the Lord? How long had God’s people been without God’s Law? Who chucked it into storage in the first place? And how far had they strayed without it? We have a clue, for when Shaphan, in turn, read the book of the Law to the king, Josiah “tore his clothes”³ and commanded Hilkiah, “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book.”⁴ The Law was there all along with truth, wisdom, guidance and power, yet the people strayed without it. How far? Plenty far.

We read this amusing account from the distance of place and time, yet it remains relevant. For while the Law of the old covenant resided in the man-made temple, the Spirit under the new covenant lives in God’s new temple—us, the church. God through Ezekiel foretold the day when “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”⁵ Forever faithful, God has sent us the Holy Spirit who lives in us through faith. It is vital that we know this, yet clear we sometimes do not. Paul’s wakeup call to the Corinthian church alerts us still today: “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”⁶ “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?”⁷ and “Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you?”⁸ One message, three times, in two letters—it must be important: Through faith in Christ, the Spirit dwells in in us, His temple.

We live in God and He in us.⁹ And of His living, breathing dwelling place, He says, “the word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart.”¹⁰ Then let may it not be relegated to storage and neglected there, but may it spring forth from us at the Spirit’s urging.

Father, thank you for choosing to live in us. Grace your people, your dwelling place, to hear your Spirit’s voice and obey in His power. Be glorified in your church. In Christ we pray. Amen.

¹ 2 Kings 22:10 ESV
² 2 Kings 22:8 ESV
³ 2 Kings 22:11 ESV
⁴ 2 Kings 22:13 ESV
⁵ Ezekiel 36:27 ESV
⁶ 1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV
⁷ 1 Corinthians 6:19 ESV
⁸ 2 Corinthians 13:5 ESV
⁹ 1 John 4:13
¹⁰ Romans 10:8 NIV