“And the king [Josiah] went up to the house of the Lord, and with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the prophets, all the people both small and great.
And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord.
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 and all the people joined in the covenant.”
(2 Kings 23:1-3)
At the heart of one of the greatest revivals in all of history was an intersection of two simple things: a willing heart and the Word of God.
“Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, ‘Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.’ And Shaphan read it before the king. When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes.” (2 Kings 22:10-11)
No fanfare, no elaborate worship music, no heartfelt sermon, just a reader who had the Word of God and a listener who was willing to accept into his heart the truth that was presented to him. And through this simple event, God brought a change, not only upon King Josiah’s soul, but on the entire nation of Israel and changed the course of that generation.
“Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.” (2 Kings 23:25)
I believe that God is always calling his people to participate in this process, both to present the Word to those who would listen and to be the one that listens and is changed. Before Josiah led the people in a revival back to the Lord, he first repented himself and allowed the Word to bring him back into relationship with the Lord.
“As it is said, ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’” (Hebrews 3:15)
It wasn’t necessarily a vision, but when I was sixteen years old the idea came to me to try and create a place where people could come and encounter the Word and allow it to change them. It took a number of years for it to come to fruition, but when I was at the University of Northwestern, St. Paul, a group of fellow students got together, pitched a tent on the lawn (classrooms being difficult to reserve for a whole week), and read through the whole Bible in a week as a community.
It was amazing to see how people’s understanding of God was changed throughout that week by the simple reading of the Word. I remember a good friend of mine talking about reading Leviticus, a book that most people dread. She said, “I had never understood the holiness of God until I read through the whole book of Leviticus in one sitting.”
“And Moses commanded them, ‘At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.” (Deuteronomy 31:10-11)
The Tent of Meeting is about a community who love the Word coming together to remind themselves of who their God is. It is about reminding themselves of what God wants from them and says about them. It is about declaring the truth of the Word to those who have never heard. It is about believing in the promise that God makes about his Word:
“So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)