Joie de Vivre A Wretched Man’s Quest To Follow Jesus Christ

In Jeremiah 36, we read of how Jeremiah the prophet was instructed by God to write down all the warnings against Israel and Judah on a scroll and have it read to King Jehoiakim and the people of Judah during the fourth year of the latter’s reign.

This was during the time when the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar had subdued both Israel and Judah and made the latter a vassal state.

After spending a period of time in Babylon, Jehoiakim was restored to his throne by King Nebuchadnezzar and made a vassal.

Alas, he continued to sin against the LORD, and stubbornly refused to turn away from his evil ways even after having tasted punishment when he lost the kingdom of Judah.

Jeremiah was thus instructed by God to write on a scroll all the warnings against Judah, Israel and all the nations, and the scroll was to be presented and read to the king and people of Judah so that they might turn away from their sins and therefore have their sins and iniquities forgiven (Jeremiah 36:2-3).

Because he was banned from going to the house of the Lord, Jeremiah instructed Baruch to go in his stead on a day of fasting and read what was written to the assembled people.

After some ministers of the king’s court had heard for themselves the warnings that were written on the scroll, they warned Jehoiakim, who demanded it to be read to him also (Jeremiah 36:11-21).

It being winter, Jehoiakim was in his winter residence and seated in front of a fire burning in a fire pot.

As the warnings were read to him by Jehudi, King Jehoiakim would cut off every third or fourth column of the scroll and throw it into the fire burning in the fire pot. Neither Jehoiakim nor his servants were afraid of the warnings in the scroll, nor did the king take the advice of his other advisors not to burn the scroll (Jeremiah 36:22-26).

When I read this account, I was immediately reminded of how the scroll corresponds to the word of God — the Bible — and all the warnings against sin and exhortations to repent written therein. It also reminded me of how we often can be alike Jehoiakim and be without fear of God and disregard His warnings.

Just as God told Jeremiah to write down the warnings against Israel, Judah and the nations on the scroll, so is the Bible inspired of God (or dictated to faithful men by God) as His word to us.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

– 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Well, I don’t burn the Bible, you say, so how can we be compared to Jehoiakim?

Firstly, weren’t there times when there’s no fear of God in you when you wilfully sin, i.e. practise lawlessness?

Secondly, though we do not literally burn the Bible as Jehoiakim burned the scroll upon which the warnings were written, I reckon that when we shut out the words of God or throw His words and warnings to the back of our minds, we are figuratively burning God’s word in that same fire.

While I was thinking about this, it also dawned on me that King Jehoiakim was also in a rather comfortable position — he was still king of Judah, albeit a vassal of King Nebuchadnezzar’s, had his own winter residence, and was warm and snug.

In other words, despite the much-reduced authority, Jehoiakim was safe and comfortable when he decided to not heed the warnings that God specifically gave him and Judah. There was no fear probably because he saw that everything was fine, and therefore those warnings won’t come to fruition.

Aren’t we sometimes like that? When things are going well, we think that we must be doing alright in God’s eyes and what harm can a few sins here and there do? Or, for that matter, what harm might be done if we don’t read the Bible, or pray, for a few days (which then sometimes turn into weeks and even months) because of our comfortable, busy lives?

In King Jehoiakim’s case, his total rejection of God’s well-intentioned warnings led to his horrific and violent demise when he was crushed by the Babylonians in an attempted revolt.

God didn’t give him a second chance, but spelt out the punishment on him and Judah in the second scroll that Jeremiah was to write (Jeremiah 36:27-31), and swift destruction was soon poured on him and Judah.

It is by the grace of God and His infinite mercy that we today, though having figuratively burned the scrolls as Jehoiakim did on numerous occasions, are still given the chance to confess and repent and have our sins forgiven.

Those who persevere and continue to be doers of the Word and not just hearers shall inherit eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ.

But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

– Jude 1:20-21

Shalom Aleichem.