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Royalty and Ruin
not to burn the scroll; but he would not listen to them.” The wicked
king sent for Jeremiah and Baruch to be arrested, “but the Lord hid
them.”
Verses 24-26
.
God was graciously seeking to warn the people of Judah for their
good. He pities those who struggle in the blindness of self-will. He
seeks to enlighten the darkened understanding. He tries to help the
selfcomplacent become dissatisfied and seek for a close connection
with heaven.
How God Tries to Save Us
God’s plan is not to send messengers who will please and flatter
sinners. Instead, He lays heavy burdens on the conscience of the
wrongdoer to prompt the agonizing cry, “What must I do to be
saved?”
Acts 16:30
. But the Hand that humbles to the dust is the
Hand that lifts up the repentant one. He who permits the punishment
to fall inquires, “What do you want Me to do for you?”
Mark 10:51
.
But King Jehoiakim and his lords, in their arrogance and pride,
would not accept the warning and repent. The gracious opportunity
offered to them at the time of the burning of the sacred scroll was
their last. God declared He would bring special wrath on the man
who had proudly lifted himself up against the Almighty. “Thus says
the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: ‘He shall have no one
to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to
the heat of the day and the frost of the night.’”
Jeremiah 36:30
.
Jeremiah’s Second Book
The burning of the scroll was not the end of the matter. It was
easier to dispose of the written words than of the swift-coming
punishment that God had pronounced against rebellious Israel. But
even the written scroll was reproduced. “Take yet another scroll,”
the Lord commanded His servant, “and write on it all the former
words that were in the first scroll which Jehoiakim the king of
Judah burned.”
Verse 28
. The words were still living in the heart
of Jeremiah, “like a burning fire,” and the prophet reproduced what
human anger had destroyed.