The Kingdom of God's Citizens at the Grassroots

Sometimes, given America's Judeo-Christian heritage, it's easy to equate America with a kind of "Israel model": We were, at our inception, chosen by God to do His work in the world and are still commanded to do so. 

The patriotic songs I sang as a child in the 60's combined faith in God with a love of our country. In school, we sang "God of Our Fathers," "My Country 'Tis of Thee" and "America the Beautiful." 

Our country put a man on the moon.  Our government fought poverty with housing projects and it was no longer acceptable to pollute the skies, rivers and lakes.  Racism was no longer funny or acceptable. Women demanded an equal seat at the table and largely got it.

Growing up when I did, it looked like America cared about progress--trying to right the wrongs of the past, and doing so in a timely and just way. We also were in a war in a country I had never heard of, and it was becoming more and more obvious that we needed to remove our troops. It divided us and made us angry with each other, while body bag after body bag was delivered stateside and devastated families had to cope with their loss. 

A perfect country?  No.  

But to quote Ayatollah Khomeini, a leader in Iran, we weren't the "great Satan" either.

I have no desire to go back to some golden era in America history.  The 1950's are often invoked as a model, but if you were an African-American in the South, that decade was problematic, to say the least.  You need only to read the story of Emmett Till to see how racism lead to great evil in parts of our country. 

In other words, which America would we return to? America is a complicated mixture of many places and many people, and while some people have done well here, others have struggled and continue to do so.

So, if we see ourselves as modelled on Israel in the Hebrew Scriptures, then Josiah, the last good king of Judah before the Babylonian exile, has a valuable lesson for us. If, as I do, believe God saves people, not nations, then these passages of Scripture hold valuable lessons for us.  

God expects His people, in whatever nation they are in, to act like citizens of the Kingdom of God. 

Josiah was only eight years old when he assumed the throne of "his father David." He is the last "godly king of the Davidic line prior to the exile." [1]  Unlike many of his royal predecessors, "he did right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in the ways of his father David, not turning to the right or to the left." (2 Kings 22:2) 

No compromise.  He followed God.  

When Josiah was twenty-six, the high priest, Hilkiah, at the Temple in Jerusalem, told Josiah's secretary that he found the "Book of the Law in the Temple of the LORD." (22:8). The secretary took the scrolls to the King and read them aloud. 

Before we get to the reaction of the King, it is important to note that he had already done some reforms by getting rid of the idolatrous practices in the southern kingdom of Judah. (Israel, the northern kingdom, had already been destroyed by the Assyrians.) 

Josiah's reaction, upon hearing the word of the Lord was profound: "he tore his robes." (22:11) Why?  The covenant of God was clear about blessings (obedience to the Law) and curses (disobedience to the Law).  Exile was a real possibility.  Thus, Josiah was understandably upset and disturbed at what had been practiced in Judah as compared to what the Law said.  

Josiah commanded the high priest and his court officials:  “Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord’s anger that burns against us because those who have gone before us have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.” (22:14)

Notice that Josiah is not making excuses for Judah's behavior, or trying to minimize it.  The Word of the Lord is the standard.  Period.  Not political expediency nor religious compromise in a polytheistic world; he heard the Word and knew that his country had a lot to answer for. The Word was explicit about what obedience/disobedience looked like and Josiah, whose heart was tender toward the things of God, was deeply troubled and afraid for his country.  

If you haven't already, please note the parallel to America. God's Word is still the standard, and it points to how far we have fallen away from what God expects out of those who call upon His name.

But we have to read it.  Understand it.  Apply it.  

The scrolls appear to have been stashed away, during the time the Temple had been filled up with idols and altars, as well as the land.  Had the Word of the Lord become inconvenient to the people because it interfered with the pagan practices that were so seductive and hard to ignore?  After all, the land of Canaan was a fertile place and is it possible that their gods were as powerful as the God of Israel?  

Look around you!  Abundance everywhere!  Surely those Canaanites couldn't have gotten it wrong!  We're supposed to be a blessing to all the nations. Surely we can't be so narrow-minded as to think we have got all the answers!  Perhaps those scrolls were stashed because they were in the way of us getting along with the local inhabitants. Those scrolls are certainly incompatible with a pluralistic society. 

Ask. Seek. Knock.  Josiah wanted to know not only what was in the book but also the consequences for not having followed it.  

He then "called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. He went up to the temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord. The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord—to follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant." (23:1-3) 

He cleaned house.  He didn't just decry the practices, but got rid of all the things that allowed those practices to go on and he removed all the people who supervised the practices. 

 

The prophetess Huldah told Josiah that he would die before the terrible day of judgment would fall on Judah. God spared Josiah the pain of watching his country destroyed. God honored Josiah's attempt to redirect his country back to the covenant and serving Him alone. 

If we are like Josiah, and we really seek God and obey what is in His Word, will God's judgment be stayed?  God judges nations if they flagrantly disobey His moral order.  It's not that the nation is somehow special or chosen, but He will eventually judge sin in individuals and in nations.  But He also will renew, revive and restore His people when they seek His face and repent.  

Even though Josiah was sincere and obedient, God did judge Judah, because after him, several kings "did evil in the eyes of the LORD."  

In other words, the presence of a godly king was not enough to affect long lasting reform.  The people swore to uphold the covenant, but then, with the advent of other kings, the moral rot resurfaced.  How deep did the reform go in the hearts of the people?  It's one thing to make a commitment to doing right, it's another to be doing right, no matter who is in charge.  It's a grassroots-up-from-the-people kind of reform.  Because the-from-the-top-down can change at any time--but the people, committed to the Word of God will carry on, irrespective of who is in charge.

How deep is our commitment to moral change?  Or are we just excited about having someone in charge to lead us, and we can just catch his wake and be carried along without too much effort on our part?

In other words, are we members of the Kingdom of God, living in the nation we call home, but holding on to set of values ordained by the Son of God?  

We don't look to a leader but to the King who reforms and empowers us to live in a way that reflects Him.

We don't look at others as opponents, but as people who need Jesus.  But we must show them that yes, being a Christian really does make a difference, for we evince change and transformation in our lives. 

We don't allow anger to drive us, but a love that prays for our enemies and seeks to break down walls. 

The Kingdom of God isn't an easy place to live, but what else do we have?  The Kingdom of Man leads to nightmares; the Kingdom of God leads to peace.

[1] Kenneth Barker, Gen. Ed., The NIV Study Bible, New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI:  Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1985), 566.