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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
In the
fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to
Jeremiah from the Lord:
“Take a
scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel,
Judah and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the
reign of Josiah till now. Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every
disaster I plan to inflict on them, they will each turn from their wicked ways;
then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin.”
So Jeremiah
called Baruch son of Neriah, and while Jeremiah dictated all the words the Lord
had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll. Then Jeremiah told Baruch,
“I am restricted; I am not allowed to go to the Lord’s temple. So you go to the
house of the Lord on a day of fasting and read to the people from the scroll
the words of the Lord that you wrote as I dictated. Read them to all the people
of Judah who come in from their towns. Perhaps they will bring their petition
before the Lord and will each turn from their wicked ways, for the anger and
wrath pronounced against this people by the Lord are great.”
Baruch son
of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do; at the Lord’s
temple he read the words of the Lord from the scroll. In the ninth month of the
fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, a time of fasting before
the Lord was proclaimed for all the people in Jerusalem and those who had come
from the towns of Judah. From the room of Gemariah son of Shaphan the
secretary, which was in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the New Gate of
the temple, Baruch read to all the people at the Lord’s temple the words of
Jeremiah from the scroll.
When Micaiah
son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the
scroll, he went down to the secretary’s room in the royal palace, where all the
officials were sitting: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah,
Elnathan son of Akbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and
all the other officials. After Micaiah told them everything he had heard Baruch
read to the people from the scroll, all the officials sent Jehudi son of
Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to say to Baruch, “Bring the
scroll from which you have read to the people and come.” So Baruch son of
Neriah went to them with the scroll in his hand. They said to him, “Sit down,
please, and read it to us.”
So Baruch
read it to them. When they heard all these words, they looked at each other in
fear and said to Baruch, “We must report all these words to the king.” Then
they asked Baruch, “Tell us, how did you come to write all this? Did Jeremiah
dictate it?”
“Yes,”
Baruch replied, “he dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them in ink on
the scroll.”
Then the
officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah, go and hide. Don’t let anyone know
where you are.”
After they
put the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, they went to the king in
the courtyard and reported everything to him. The king sent Jehudi to get the
scroll, and Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary and read
it to the king and all the officials standing beside him. It was the ninth
month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment, with a fire burning in
the firepot in front of him. Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of
the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the
firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. The king and all his
attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their
clothes. Even though Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn
the scroll, he would not listen to them. Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel,
a son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest
Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord had hidden them.
Jeremiah 36:1-26
This ends today’s reading
from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Every day when I share with you the message God places on my
heart, I begin with His holy words. For if you want instruction for life, you
turn to the instruction manual, the Holy Bible. In it, we find the Lord
speaking to us in amazing ways, directing us, convicting and warning us, and
encouraging and comforting us. It really is one stop shopping for all our
needs.
And yet, so many people either ignore it or reject it all
together, similar to the Israelite leaders we meet in today’s scripture
passage. Look again at the first 26 verses of Jeremiah 36:
In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah,
this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord:
“Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to
you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations from the time I began
speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now. Perhaps when the people of
Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, they will each turn
from their wicked ways; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin.”
So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and while Jeremiah
dictated all the words the Lord had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the
scroll. Then Jeremiah told Baruch, “I am restricted; I am not allowed to go to
the Lord’s temple. So you go to the house of the Lord on a day of fasting and
read to the people from the scroll the words of the Lord that you wrote as I
dictated. Read them to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns. Perhaps
they will bring their petition before the Lord and will each turn from their
wicked ways, for the anger and wrath pronounced against this people by the Lord
are great.”
Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet told
him to do; at the Lord’s temple he read the words of the Lord from the scroll. In
the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, a
time of fasting before the Lord was proclaimed for all the people in Jerusalem
and those who had come from the towns of Judah. From the room of Gemariah son
of Shaphan the secretary, which was in the upper courtyard at the entrance of
the New Gate of the temple, Baruch read to all the people at the Lord’s temple
the words of Jeremiah from the scroll.
When Micaiah son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all
the words of the Lord from the scroll, he went down to the secretary’s room in
the royal palace, where all the officials were sitting: Elishama the secretary,
Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Akbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan,
Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials. After Micaiah told them
everything he had heard Baruch read to the people from the scroll, all the
officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi,
to say to Baruch, “Bring the scroll from which you have read to the people and
come.” So Baruch son of Neriah went to them with the scroll in his hand. They
said to him, “Sit down, please, and read it to us.”
So Baruch read it to them. When they heard all these words,
they looked at each other in fear and said to Baruch, “We must report all these
words to the king.” Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, how did you come to write
all this? Did Jeremiah dictate it?”
“Yes,” Baruch replied, “he dictated all these words to me,
and I wrote them in ink on the scroll.”
Then the officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah, go and
hide. Don’t let anyone know where you are.”
After they
put the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, they went to the king in
the courtyard and reported everything to him. The king sent Jehudi to get the
scroll, and Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary and read
it to the king and all the officials standing beside him. It was the ninth
month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment, with a fire burning in
the firepot in front of him. Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of
the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the
firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. The king and all his
attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their
clothes. Even though Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn
the scroll, he would not listen to them. Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel,
a son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest
Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord had hidden them.
Jeremiah 36:1-26
The scene is set early in this passage as we go back in time
in the Book of Jeremiah. The last king we studied was Zedekiah who was the last
king of Judah before the Babylonian invasion and captivity but as Chapter 36
opens, we see that Jehoiakim was king when God sent orders to Jeremiah to write
down on a scroll “all the words” He had spoken “concerning Israel, Judah and
all the other nations” from the time He had begun speaking to the prophet
during the “reign of Josiah” until present.
What was God trying to achieve with this task?
He hoped that His people in Judah (the Northern Kingdom of
Israel had already been wiped out by the Assyrians) would “turn from their wicked
ways” when they heard about “every disaster” God planned to inflict them with.
If they did repent and change their direction toward righteousness, God
intended to “forgive their wickedness and their sin.”
So how did the plan work out?
Well, Jeremiah did his part. We read where he summoned Baruch
who served as a scribe for the prophet, writing down all the words that
Jeremiah spoke on a scroll. After he finished, Jeremiah told Baruch that he was
restricted and unable to go to the Lord’s temple so the scribe would have to go
in his place. Baruch was to go to the house of the Lord on a “day of fasting”
and “read to the people from the scroll the words of the Lord that you wrote as
I dictated.” Like God, Jeremiah hoped that the people might “bring their
petition before the Lord” with each turning from their wicked ways to avoid the
great “anger and wrath pronounced” against them by the Lord.
And so
Baruch “did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do.” He went to “the Lord’s
temple” in “the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king
of Judah, a time of fasting before the Lord was proclaimed for all the people
in Jerusalem and those who had come from the towns of Judah.” There, from the
room of Gemariah” in the “upper courtyard at the entrance of the New Gate of
the temple,” he read to all the people “the words of Jeremiah from the scroll.”
At first,
the reaction seemed favorable. There was hope that the words of God had gotten
the people’s attention because scripture tells us that when Micaiah “heard all
the words of the Lord from the scroll,” he “went down to the secretary’s room
in the royal palace, where all the officials were sitting” and “told them
everything he had heard Baruch read to the people from the scroll.” After
hearing the report of Micaiah, the officials sent for Baruch to hear him read
the scroll in person and he honored their request. Their response again offered
hope that change might happen because after they heard Baruch’s reading they
were “in fear” and immediately felt the king needed to hear what was on the
scroll. They asked Baruch if the words on the scroll came from Jeremiah and
Baruch acknowledged that they had saying, “he dictated all these words to me,
and I wrote them in ink on the scroll.”
What
happened next was odd but could have only have come from God Himself working through
the officials because before they took the scroll to King Jehoiakim, they told
Baruch to get Jeremiah and go into hiding so that no one would know where they
were. We get a sense immediately that the king would not receive the words of
God on the scroll as favorably as everyone else had.
And so with
this, the final scene is set. Everything that had happened was taken to the “king
in the courtyard” who asked for a servant named Jehudi to bring the scroll and
read to him and the officials standing around him inside his “winter apartment”
where a fire was “burning in the firepot in front of him.” Scripture tells us
that Jehudi didn’t even get through the whole scroll (he had only read four
columns) when the king took the scroll in hand, cut it, and tossed it into the
fire where it was completely destroyed. Such was his disdain for the word of
God which he completely rejected as evident by his actions. We read where
neither the king nor his officials showed any fear nor did they rend their
garments, a sign of remorse and repentance in Old Testament days.
In other
words, what God had to say had no impact whatsoever on Jehoiakim or those in
his leadership circle. It’s little wonder why the people were not turning from
their wickedness because their leaders didn’t see a need to. Further, the king
ordered Jeremiah and Baruch to be arrested but they could not be found because “the
Lord had hidden them.”
Friends,
this message has far reaching implications today. For the word of God is
accessible for anyone to read and receive, carrying the same hope of driving
people to turning from sin and toward the righteousness of the Lord’s will and
way. Some people will read it and be driven to fear and a need to change like
all those who heard his word before it got to the king. Others will be like the
king and flat out reject the word of God, showing no interest in changing from
their wicked ways. Further, they will choose to persecute those who are serving
as God’s messengers.
What we see
when we look at present times is that unfortunately, not much has changed since
the days of Jeremiah when it comes to the spiritual attitudes of the people God
is trying so hard to reach. It’s something all believers need to be in constant
prayer over, that hearts that reject God and His holy word, will change their
hearts, turn from sin, and accept His offer to not only lead them to His
righteousness but also to save them so they can live with Him forever by accepting
Jesus, His Son, as Savior.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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