COVENANT RENEWAL IN JUDAH
This is the second in a short series of articles considering the principle of Covenant Renewal
Covenant Renewal at any time or in any place must consist of a renewed pledge of loving loyalty and devoted obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. When the ‘Book of the Covenant’ (Exodus 24:7a), with the Ten Commandments at its core, was first read to God’s redeemed people, their immediate response was unequivocal; they answered collectively, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient” (Exodus 24:7b). That response must have been music to the ears of Moses!
It is important to note what Moses did next: “And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words” (Exodus 24:8).
The sprinkling of the blood upon the covenant people of God had a two-fold significance:
It symbolised the people being set apart as God’s redeemed people in fulfilment of the promise of Exodus 19:6: “… you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”;
It also recognised that One would come into the world whose blood shed on the altar of Calvary would redeem, forgive and set apart all God’s elect people, past, present and future, as holy – the Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 7:27; 9:12).
Commitment to the Covenant
Would the children of Israel live up to their covenant commitment? They may well have been sincere in their pledge of loving loyalty to the Lord and his Word but they soon committed a flagrant breach of the Second Commandment. Aaron made for them a ‘golden calf’, a visible representation of the “… gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 32:4) and “gods who shall go before us” (Exodus 32:1). It wasn’t that they had rejected Yahweh as their God, but they wanted a visible representation of him.
The making of the golden calf was met with God’s holy and righteous anger. Had Moses not interceded for them they would have been completely consumed by God’s wrath.
Yet in wrath, God did remember mercy (Habakkuk 3:2) and he forgave their iniquity. The people responded by willingly contributing to the Tabernacle furnishings (Exodus 35:20, 21).
There would be many occasions when God’s people became disloyal and disobedient. For example, during the era of the Judges, “… everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25).
The eventual arrival of King David – described by God as “a man after my heart” (Acts 13:22) – marked a time of reformation and revival. Sadly, not all the kings of Israel and Judah were like him. Many of them “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” (2 Kings 21:20). The people largely followed the kings’ example, to such an extent that it seemed that faith in God and adherence to God’s appointed worship would never recover. But remarkably, God, in his infinite grace and mercy, raised up an 8-year-old boy by the name of Josiah to bring further reformation. The description of Josiah brings much encouragement:
“And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left” (2 Kings 22:2).
King Josiah and Covenant Renewal
When Josiah was 26 years old he instigated a programme of repair and renovation in the Temple. During this process, a book was found – the ‘Book of the Law’. If this was not the entire first five books of the Bible it was certainly Deuteronomy. This was a most significant discovery, and it had a profound effect on the king: “When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes” (2 Kings 22:11).
King Josiah realised – to his horror – that without a knowledge of God’s Word the nation had wandered far from God and sin had become endemic in the hearts and lives of God’s covenant people. The king ordered his men to seek the face of God (2 Kings 22:13). As a result, God turned to Josiah in grace and mercy: “because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before the LORD, … you shall be gathered to your grave in peace” (2 Kings 22:19, 20).
King Josiah then provided an example of godly leadership. He called for a great assembly to come to the Temple precincts, including all the elders, priests, prophets and “all the people, both small and great” (2 King 23:2), to discover what he had heard from the ‘Book of the Law’, now called the ‘Book of the Covenant’.
What followed is something of monumental significance. We read in 2 Kings 23:3a:
“And the king stood by the 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 his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book.”
The impact of the king’s act of covenant renewal, his determination now to “keep the covenant”, was not lost on the vast multitude that stood before him: “And all the people joined in the covenant” (2 Kings 23:3b).
Following this national act of covenant renewal Josiah inaugurated what can only be described as ‘a root and branch spiritual reformation’. Idols were smashed, idolatry banished (2 Kings 23:4-20) and the true worship of the Lord reinstated (2 Kings 23:21-25).
Conclusion
The times in which we live are not unlike that which prevailed when Josiah began to reign. In our generation wickedness has come in like a flood and the church has not been immune from this period of declension. The call for repentance and covenant renewal is unlikely to come from those who hold the reigns of power in our nations. It therefore falls upon the leadership of the church (teaching and ruling elders) to give such spiritual leadership.
At a time of spiritual backsliding in our nation, we need to be truly penitent, to rekindle our love and loyalty to Jesus Christ our Covenant King, and resolve to walk in his ways and keep his Covenant.
This article was originally written for the Covenanter Witness, the official magazine of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland. Make sure you check out their magazine as it arrives in your churches every month for more great articles like this!
