Old Prospect, October 20-22

Old Prospect Baptist Church will have a weekend meeting, Friday October 20, Saturday October 21, and Sunday October 22, Lord willing.

John 1:46 Come and see.

Return for thy servant's sake

Return for thy servant's sake.  Isaiah. 63:17. 

1. O our Redeemer, God,
      On Thee Thy people wait;
   We faint beneath Thy chastening rod,
      Thy house is desolate. 
2. Yet are we not Thine own,
      Though now in deep distress?
   Then be to us Thy mercy shown,
      Thy mourning people bless. 
3. Spirit of God, return,
      Thy cheering light impart;
   O may Thy love within us burn,
      And warm each languid heart. 
4. O’er all assembled here
      Assert Thy gracious power;
   And to our friend and kindred dear
      Be this salvation’s hour. 
5. O Lord, our God, descend!
      Our fainting hearts revive:
   On Thee alone our hopes depend,
      For Thou canst make us live.

By Abram M. Poindexter
No. 880 in The Baptist Psalmody

Repairing the house of God

II Kings 22-23; II Chronicles 34


Josiah was the 15th king of the divided kingdom of Judah, one of the few good ones. He came to the throne when he was only 8 years old, about 316 years after the division of the kingdom of Israel into two nations. The division occurred after Rehoboam’s ascent to the unified throne. Josiah reigned 31 years. It is perhaps hard to imagine how wicked the people of God had become in these intervening years. At a young age Josiah began to seek the Lord, and in the 18th year of his reign (when he was 26 years old) he set about to repair the house of God.


By the time of Josiah the glorious temple of Solomon had been standing some 360 years. It had fallen into disrepair. Just how much I don’t know. But the repair required hiring carpenters, builders, and masons, and buying timber and stones. This implies a good deal of work that needed to be done. When the sincere young king undertook the project he could not imagine the events that were to be set off.


The book of the law of the Lord was lost in the house of the Lord. How sad to think, that right there in the very house of God the law of God was lost, misplaced, unread, unknown. Oh, how much like our day, when even churches are unfamiliar with the word of God.


The book of the law of the Lord was read after it was found. First the scribe read it himself. Then he read it to the king, and later the king read it to the people. The effect on the king was his tearing of his clothes in anguish and despair, realizing how far they had departed from the words of this book. Next he inquired of the Lord. Then he called the people together and read the book. There they made a covenant before the Lord.


The reform and its effects were great. Having made a covenant to keep the words of the book of the law, Josiah set about to reform the house of the Lord and the nation of Judah according to its words. Vessels of all sorts of false worship – from Baal to the grove to the hosts of heaven – were removed from the house of God. The houses of the Sodomites (apparently male homosexual prostitutes, since associated with worship) were torn down, and the ax was set at the root of false worship in every way possible. Afterward a Passover was held that was so amazing that there was not “such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah.”


When the book of the Lord is forgotten, the house of the Lord falls into disrepair, the feasts of the Lord are not kept up, and false worship invades. The house of the Lord can only be repaired by taking heed to the word of God. Our congregations, not the temple, are the houses of the Lord today. May God help us.

Hoping for a revival

My harp untuned, and laid aside,
(To cheerful hours the harp belongs)
My cruel foes, insulting cried,
"Come, sing us one of Zion's songs."

Alas! when sinners, blindly bold,
At Zion scoff, and Zion's King;
When zeal declines, and love grows cold,
Is this a day for me to sing?

Time was, whene'er the saints I met,
With joy and praise my bosom glowed;
But now, like Eli, sad I sit,
And tremble for the ark of God.

While thus to grief my soul gave way,
To see the work of GOD decline;
Methought I heard my Savior say,
"Dismiss thy fears, the ark is mine.

Though for a time I hide my face,
Rely upon my love and pow'r;
Still wrestle at a throne of grace,
And wait for a reviving hour.

Take down thy long neglected harp,
I've seen thy tears, and heard thy prayer;
The winter season has been sharp,
But spring shall all its wastes repair."

LORD, I obey, my hopes revive,
Come join with me, ye saints, and sing;
Our foes in vain against us strive;
For God will help and healing bring.

John Newton (1725-1807)
Olney Hymns, 1779.