Burning of the Scroll

​Jeremiah 36:23 ~ “As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the fire pot.”
 
What would cause the king to burn the Scriptures? Do we see the same troubling situation in our world today? I fear that we do, but let every Christian understand that no matter how the world will treat the Word of God, the LORD Almighty will preserve it. Our LORD Jesus declared, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35). People deny the Word of God to their own detriment, they ignore it to their own destruction. Our world is filled with the rejecters of God’s Word, and very much like in the days of Jeremiah, it will only get worse until the judgment from the Almighty falls upon all who forsake Him. If you have a moment to reach for your Bible, let me encourage you to read Jeremiah, chapter 36.
 
Jehoiakim was a wicked king. He ruled in Jerusalem over the people of Judah. Josiah was his father and Josiah feared the LORD and worshiped God Almighty. Josiah was righteous as a king in Jerusalem and restored the worship of God. Consider what it says of Josiah, “Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. 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 22:1-2). Concerning Jehoiakim, 2 Chronicles 36:5 says, “Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God.” Why do I tell this to you? Because it is important to understand that though a man may have all the advantages of godly guidance, it is possible that they will turn away from the truth and follow their own wickedness. And that was Jehoiakim.
 
There was no fear of God with this wicked king. Disregarding all the reformations that his father, Josiah, had brought to the nation in the restoration of the temple and the worship of the LORD, this wicked ruler stood in open hostility to the ways and Word of God. We can see the very disdain of Jehoiakim in the casual way he burned the scroll. Consider what it says in Jeremiah 36:24, “Yet neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words was afraid, nor did they tear their garments.” In verse 25 those who were there urged the king not to burn the scroll, but it was of no use—the king did not care. And, dear Christian, know that the same condition exists in our world today. Many who are rulers over the nations of this world despise the Word of God and regard the LORD Jesus as merely a person to be ignored. They would, if possible, restrict or even remove the Scriptures from the earth. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 states, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myth.” Peter describes them as people who do not even tremble (see 2 Peter 2:10).
 
But God will preserve His Word. The LORD says in Jeremiah 36:28, “Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned.” No matter how much the world might despise and reject the Word of God, no matter how the wicked would burn the Scriptures to avoid the warning it gives, God will always sustain His Word and it will be a testimony against them on the Day of Judgment. Jesus said this in John 12:48, “The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.” The world might believe that if they ignore the Word of God that it will not matter how they live. But on that Day when Christ returns there will be no escaping His Word. So, beloved, stand firm on the Scriptures no matter the response from those who despise it. They may wish to destroy it, but it will be their judge. You, however, hold fast to the Word of Life (Philippians 2:16).
 
In his Grace,
Pastor Michael
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