Approaching Doom
285
In bringing to the attention of the temple worshipers, and of the
princes and king, the written admonitions contained in the inspired
roll, God was graciously seeking to warn the men of Judah for their
good. “It may be,” He said, “the house of Judah will hear all the evil
which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man
from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”
Verse 3
. God pities men struggling in the blindness of perversity; He
seeks to enlighten the darkened understanding by sending reproofs and
threatenings designed to cause the most exalted to feel their ignorance
and to deplore their errors. He endeavors to help the self-complacent to
become dissatisfied with their vain attainments and to seek for spiritual
blessing through a close connection with heaven.
God’s plan is not to send messengers who will please and flatter
sinners; He delivers no messages of peace to lull the unsanctified into
carnal security. Instead, He lays heavy burdens upon the conscience
of the wrongdoer and pierces his soul with sharp arrows of conviction.
Ministering angels present to him the fearful judgments of God, to
deepen the sense of need and to prompt the agonizing cry, “What must
I do to be saved?”
Acts 16:30
. But the Hand that humbles to the dust,
rebukes sin, and puts pride and ambition to shame, is the Hand that
lifts up the penitent, stricken one. With deepest sympathy He who
permits the chastisement to fall, inquires, “What wilt thou that I shall
do unto thee?”
When man has sinned against a holy and merciful God, he can
pursue no course so noble as to repent sincerely and confess his er-
[436]
rors in tears and bitterness of soul. This God requires of him; He
accepts nothing less than a broken heart and a contrite spirit. But
King Jehoiakim and his lords, in their arrogance and pride, refused
the invitation of God. They would not heed the warning, and repent.
The gracious opportunity proffered them at the time of the burning
of the sacred roll, was their last. God had declared that if at that time
they refused to hear His voice, He would inflict upon them fearful
retribution. They did refuse to hear, and He pronounced His final
judgments upon Judah, and He would visit with special wrath the man
who had proudly lifted himself up against the Almighty.
“Thus saith the Lord of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have
none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast
out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. And I will