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Jeremiah – Words from the Heart (3 of 4)

Focus Text: Jeremiah 36

One who knows the prophets cannot think about Jeremiah without thinking about his courage. From the world’s perspective, Jeremiah was a failure. He was frequently isolated, alone, lonely, and incessantly persecuted during his ministry. Yet, in spite of all the hardships that Jeremiah endured, he never quit! His desire to please God was greater than his desire for personal comforts and popularity. Even after years and years of teaching and preaching, Jerusalem and Judah were not greatly affected as a whole by Jeremiah’s work; only a few souls were won and that one by one! Perhaps aside from Jesus Christ, there is no greater profile of courage than that displayed by Jeremiah. One chapter, Jeremiah 36, will be considered as we think about the courage demonstrated by this Old Testament worthy.

“Now it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying: ‘Take a scroll of a book and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah even to this day. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the adversities which I purpose to bring upon them, that everyone may turn from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.’” (Jeremiah 36.1-3). The charge which God gave Jeremiah was to make more solemn and permanent his words by committing them to writing. Jeremiah had spoken warnings of destruction, unpopular words of defeat and embarrassment, but now he was commissioned to write them down!

Without an apparent second thought, Jeremiah proceeded immediately to dictate his unpopular prophecies to his scribe Baruch. For reasons unclear to us, Jeremiah was not able to take his newly written scroll to the temple, but he made sure that it found its way there; he sent Baruch, scroll in hand, to the temple so that his prophecies could be read in the hearing of all Israel as they came there to observe one of the annual feasts in Jerusalem. Jeremiah certainly knew that his prophecies would receive no warmer welcome than before, but he wanted to give everyone an opportunity to hear. Once again, Jeremiah knew that the public reading of his prophecies would only add fuel to the fires of persecution which he was already feeling.

To make a longer story short, the king heard of Jeremiah’s deeds and wished to hear the contents of the scroll. Upon hearing the reading, Jehoiakim slashed the scroll with a pen knife and cast it into the fire. He repeated this over and over until the whole of the scroll was consumed. Then he sent for Jeremiah and Baruch with the intent of bringing some undisclosed punishment on them, possibly even death. Jeremiah was delivered from the king by God’s own hand (see Jeremiah 36.20-26).

Courageous? Beyond measure! But as if this were not enough, God then instructed Jeremiah to rewrite the scroll and add yet other prophecies to the former ones; once again, Jeremiah readily obeyed without any apparent concern for his safety. Jeremiah, truly a profile in courage!

Questions:

1. Why would the world consider Jeremiah a failure?

2. Why would God consider Jeremiah a success?

3. Why would Jehoiakim burn the scroll that Jeremiah had written? Why was he not afraid to do so?

4. How could Jeremiah have remembered all that he had said and written? What does this say about the work of the Holy Spirit in Jeremiah’s ministry?

"Voice of Inspiration" from Andy Castro

A Lot Of Salt