God Speaks
July 28, 2024
Preached by Ron Smith
Scripture Reading
Jeremiah 36:1-26
1 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until today. 3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster that I intend to do to them, so that every one may turn from his evil way, and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”
4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord that he had spoken to him. 5 And Jeremiah ordered Baruch, saying, “I am banned from going to the house of the Lord, 6 so you are to go, and on a day of fasting in the hearing of all the people in the Lord's house you shall read the words of the Lord from the scroll that you have written at my dictation. You shall read them also in the hearing of all the men of Judah who come out of their cities.7 It may be that their plea for mercy will come before the Lord, and that every one will turn from his evil way, for great is the anger and wrath that the Lord has pronounced against this people.” 8 And Baruch the son of Neriah did all that Jeremiah the prophet ordered him about reading from the scroll the words of the Lord in the Lord's house.
9 In the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem proclaimed a fast before the Lord. 10 Then, in the hearing of all the people, Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the scroll, in the house of the Lord, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the secretary, which was in the upper court, at the entry of the New Gate of the Lord's house.
11 When Micaiah the son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the scroll, 12 he went down to the king's house, into the secretary's chamber, and all the officials were sitting there: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan the son of Achbor, Gemariah the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the officials. 13 And Micaiah told them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the scroll in the hearing of the people. 14 Then all the officials sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi, to say to Baruch, “Take in your hand the scroll that you read in the hearing of the people, and come.” So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them. 15 And they said to him, “Sit down and read it.” So Baruch read it to them. 16 When they heard all the words, they turned one to another in fear. And they said to Baruch, “We must report all these words to the king.” 17 Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, please, how did you write all these words? Was it at his dictation?” 18 Baruch answered them, “He dictated all these words to me, while I wrote them with ink on the scroll.” 19 Then the officials said to Baruch, “Go and hide, you and Jeremiah, and let no one know where you are.”
20 So they went into the court to the king, having put the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the secretary, and they reported all the words to the king. 21 Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the secretary. And Jehudi read it to the king and all the officials who stood beside the king. 22 It was the ninth month, and the king was sitting in the winter house, and there was a fire burning in the fire pot before him. 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. 24 Yet neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words was afraid, nor did they tear their garments. 25 Even when Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.26 And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king's son and Seraiah the son of Azriel and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel to seize Baruch the secretary and Jeremiah the prophet, but the Lord hid them.
What is one of your most precious possessions in the world? What is something that you value, even something abstract (freedom, relationship, job)? I mean really value – if you don’t have that thing, it would have a noticeable impact on your life. Something that you think about often; that you cherish; that is a treasure of inestimable value.
Now consider one more question. Does the word of God reach that level of value in your life? Is it precious to you?
God’s word is valuable because it is so much more than ink and paper. This morning, as we consider this shocking story in Jeremiah 36, I want us to simply reflect on God’s word. We will see its value and the depths that we can go in order to reject it. The chapter is pretty straight forward. The Lord gives his word to his people through a prophet, it is written down, it is read, some people respond favorably, but the king emphatically rejects it. Why? Why would the one person who should know and receive and do God’s word, why would he reject it?
I have four observations about God’s word. Let’s begin by considering how God seeks his people through his word.
1-3 God seeks his people through his Word.
The prophecies that Jeremiah gave, and that we have looked at as we have gone through this series, are the very word of God. He is reciting what God told him to say. I know that is obvious. “Duh.” I point it out because we see in this chapter God’s word taking a form that we are more familiar with – written. The instruction that God gives Jeremiah in verse 2 is to write down on a scroll all of his prophesies that he had given up until that point, from the time he started prophesying during the reign of Josiah until the 4th year of Jehoiakim. That’s about 22 years of ministry.
And now he is being told to write down those very words. 4 times in the first 8 verses it is clear that the words being written down in the scroll are indeed the Lord’s words.
Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you (2)
Baruch wrote on a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord that he had spoken to him. (4)
You shall read the words of the LORD from the scroll (6)
And Baruch the son of Neriah did all that Jeremiah the prophet ordered him about reading from the scroll the words of the LORD in the LORD’s house. (8)
While these words were directly from the Lord, we also learn these words were words of judgement. God tells Jeremiah in verse 2 to write on the scroll, “all the words that I have spoken against Israel and Judah and all the nations.” As we have seen, this did not win Jeremiah many friends. People did not want to hear what he had to say. The words were too hard.
That’s relevant to us too. Sometimes God’s word is difficult to accept. Hard to hear. Sometimes pastors or people who faithfully teach God’s word can get harshly criticized simply because they faithfully preached God’s word. Amy’s grandparents were asked to leave a church in Atlanta in the 1960’s precisely because of this. They were faithfully teaching a small Sunday school class when people started to get converted, and the class began to grow in leaps and bounds. When deacons and their wives were getting converted, it offended the pastor and the other leaders and they were asked to leave the church.
In Jeremiah’s case we learn in verse 5 that he was banned from the house of the Lord. He could no longer go freely to deliver God’s word. Probably because the people and the leaders had grown weary of his words of judgement.
However, what they missed was the fact that God seeks his people through his word. Even though the message was difficult to listen to, God was giving an invitation to his people. Look again at what God says is the motivation of writing down his word in verse 3. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster that I intend to do to them, so that everyone may turn from his evil way, and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.
God’s desire was to forgive his people. He gave them difficult words of judgement in order that their hearts would be turned back to him. He was ready to forgive. His word of judgement was a message of love. Love says hard things sometimes.
Listening to and receiving God’s word, no matter how difficult it might be, is a gateway to God’s grace and mercy.
But, we don’t want to have our sin exposed. If we would only listen and do what God says, we will find ourselves in the middle of God’s love and forgiveness.
My encouragement to us is to allow the word of God to examine us. To approach his word with a humility ready to be molded; transformed. I think that means reading God’s word more reflectively. Perhaps slowly. Thinking about it throughout the day. God seeks his people through his word.
The next observation I want to point our attention to is that God speaks his word through is people.
4-8 God speaks his word through his people.
God chose certain ones of his people to speak his word to his people in a special way. These are prophets. But notice that in this chapter there someone else involved in speaking God’s word.
As we already saw, Jeremiah cannot go and speak God’s word himself because he was banned from the temple. So, Jeremiah sends Baruch to read the scroll containing the word of the Lord. He is instructed to go to the temple on a day of fasting. This meant that there would have been more people at the temple than usual as they came from the surrounding towns and villages. It would allow for more people to hear God’s word.
Baruch’s task was simple – read the scroll. By doing just that, God spoke through Baruch. Can you see yourself being a Baruch?
Let me pause on this idea that when you read the Bible or when you hear God’s word being read, God is speaking! He spoke in Jeremiah’s time and the same words speak to us today!
I remember when this simple truth came home to me very clearly. I was reading an article that pastor John Piper wrote. The words he started off with grabbed my attention. He wrote[1],
“Let me tell you about a most wonderful experience I had early Monday morning... God actually spoke to me… I heard the words in my head just as clearly as when a memory of a conversation passes across your consciousness… they had about them an absolutely self-authenticating ring of truth. I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God still speaks today.”
And then he goes on to reveal what the Lord said to him,
“come and see what I have done.”
“I am awesome in my deeds toward the children of man.”
“I turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot. There they rejoiced in me — who rules by my might forever.”
“I keep watch over the nations — let not the rebellious exalt themselves.”
Piper concludes giving some reflection of the impact this experience had on him. He says,
It filled me with a fresh sense of God’s reality… It strengthened my faith that he is for me and cares about me and will use his global power to watch over me…
It has increased my love for the Bible as God’s very word, because it was through the Bible that I heard these divine words and through the Bible I have experiences like this almost every day. The very God of the universe speaks on every page into my mind — and your mind…
And best of all, they are available to all. If you would like to hear the very same words I heard …, read Psalm 66:5–7.
God still speaks through his written word. That means, like Baruch did in Jeremiah 36, we can speak God’s word to those around us. We don’t need to think of the message ourselves. We just need to be faithful to say what God has said.
The next time you go to visit someone, ask the Lord to give you his word for that person. What Bible verse could you share with them to encourage them, or to challenge them?
We see in Jeremiah 36 that God seeks his people through his word, he speaks his word through his people, and we also see that God’s word will be received.
9-19 God’s word will be received.
When Baruch read the scroll to the people, one of the king’s officials heard it. He immediately went and reported what he had heard to some of his colleagues. They send for Baruch to come to them. They have him read the scroll in their presence. Listen to their response. Verse 16, When they heard all the words, they turned one to another in fear. They were in fear because they recognized what they had just heard as the word of the Lord. The positive response to the reading of the scroll is further seen in what they do next. They go on to say that they need to bring this word to the king. Then they verify that it was indeed from Jeremiah who prophesied these words. And finally, they tell Baruch that he and Jeremiah need to go and hide. They were not sure of the king’s response.
But for now, at least, we see a group of people recognizing this scroll for what it is – the word of God. They are doing their job in trying to get it read to the one person who could do something about it.
What is even more interesting is that a few of these men are relatives of the officials who were involved in King Josiah’s reforms. The current king is Jehoiakim. His father was Josiah. Josiah was one of the kings who did what was right in the eyes of God. He embarked on a project to restore the temple. During the restoration the book of the Law was found. It was read to him, and he tore his clothes – as a sign of sorrow for the sins that Israel had committed. He and his officials led the people in another kind of restoration – spiritual restoration.
These men to whom Baruch read the scroll, knew the story of Josiah’s restoration. It happened only about 18 years before this. Like their relatives, they too responded well to the reading of God’s word.
How do we respond to God’s word? Do we treat it with the worth that it is due? Do we cherish it? Is it truly valuable to us? Can we say with the Psalmist that God’s word is perfect reviving the soul, more to be desired than gold, sweeter than honey? (Psalm 19)
There is more to our story here in Jeremiah 36. I have one more simple observation to share with you. We have sees that God seeks his people through his word. He uses his people to proclaim his word. His word is accepted. Unfortunately, God’s word is also rejected.
20-26 God’s word is rejected.
These faithful servants bring the existence of the scroll to the attention of the king and the people in his inner circle. Perhaps there was a small spark of hope that they had. Just like the book of the law had been found and King Josiah responded by repenting and overseeing spiritual restoration in the land, God’s written word was being delivered to King Jehoiakim. Maybe he would repent too. Maybe he would do what God’s word says to do.
And yet, it appears that they knew the king. They had a hunch of his probable reaction. Verse 20 tells us that when they went to the king, they did not bring the scroll with them, but rather left it in one of the offices of the officials. But the king calls for the scroll to be brought and read.
We are told that it was winter. It was cold and there was a fire in a pot next to the king. Then the unimaginable happens. Read verse 23 again.
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.
Can you believe that? The king of Judah burns God’s word. Zero value to him. Just words on a piece of paper.
Why? What would cause the king to have such a response? One reason is that he thought he knew better than God.[2] We have seen in other weeks that Jeremiah’s prophesies called for surrender to Babylon. That is the opposite of what you would think God would say. Why would God say to surrender to your enemy? And it is also true that Jehoiakim was looking everywhere except to God for help. He looked to false idols, he looked to the other nations around him, but he did not go to God. He thought he knew better.
I think another reason Jehoiakim rejected God’s word is because he didn’t like being under the authority of another. In this story there is a power struggle taking place. Essentially king Jehoiakim was ripping up the decree, the command, of the King of the Universe. He was unwilling to submit.
This is all the more shocking in light of how his father Josiah responded to God’s word. Why wasn’t it “like father like son?” There is a total opposite reaction here. Josiah tore his clothes when he heard God’s word read. But here we see not onluy was Jehoiakim not afraid and did not tear his garments, he tore the scroll into pieces. Josiah was ready to listen, Jehoiakim would not listen (25). Josiah burned the altars of the idols, Jehoiakim burned the word of God (23). Josiah sent people to inquire of the Lord for him, Jehoiakim sent people to arrest Baruch and Jeremiah (26).
This brings up a painful question, why do our own children reject God’s word? Is there something we can do? Yes and no. We need to be faithful to present God’s word to our children. God’s word. Not our own rules and regulations. God uses his people to proclaim his word to his people. God uses parents to proclaim the beauty and glory of his word to their children. However, there is no guarantee that they will follow. They have to decide rather to receive and fear God’s word or rip it up and burn it in the fire. So, parents, on the one hand take very seriously your responsibility to teach your children the word of God. Not just take them to church to hear the word , or not even just when you are doing family devotions. But at all times. Let the word of God bubble up naturally when you are in the car going to school, or the next sporting event, when you are around the table. You be such lover of God’s word that it just come out of you. However, on the other hand, don’t forget that it is not your responsibility to save your kids. It is the Lord’s. You don’t need to carry around guilt if they, like Jehoiakim, reject God’s word. Jehoiakim, it seems, had a father that pointed him in the right direction. We need to labor and toil to present God’s word to our kids, and all the while, leave them in God’s hands.
We need to hear God’s word. The people around us, our kids, our colleagues, our family and friends, all need to hear God’s word. Unfortunately, some people will reject it. Don’t grow weary in doing good by sharing God’s word.
This story of ripping up and burning God’s word seems extreme. But I want to conclude by pointing out that this kind of thing has been happening throughout history. One of our founding fathers here in America, Thomas Jefferson, cut out all the passages that had to do with miracles. He felt that the miracles were too hard to believe and not in line with the “Enlightenment-era sense of reason.”[3]
More recently, it has been reported that in China, the communist party has undertaken to rewrite the Bible that will be more in line with their ideology. So, for instance, it is said that the story of the woman caught in adultery in John 8 whom Jesus forgives, in their version ends with Jesus stoning her. They can’t have someone getting away with breaking the rules.
But what about us? Those are extreme examples. Do we effectively do the same thing as Jehoiakim even if we don’t mean to? We do it when we ignore certain verses or try to explain away verses that perhaps don’t fit our theology. We do it when we try to reinterpret the Bible to make it more appealing to our culture. When we apply the Bible out of context to support our worldviews. Or when we, like Jehoiakim, think we know better than God. We want to do our own thing, chart our own course. We refuse to submit to his authority.
I think the antidote to this ripping up of God’s word, is to come to the realization that God’s word is so much more than ink and paper. We don’t just learn about God in the Bible, but we meet with God himself. God reveals himself through his word. This means through his word we know God. To read and mediate on his word, is to spend time with God.
And more specifically, we meet Jesus in the word. He is the supreme revelation of God. The whole Bible reveals Jesus. The writer of Hebrews declares
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…
In the Bible we meet Jesus, the one who makes a relationship with God possible. The one who gave his life, to purify us from our sins, so that we might approach the Living God.
Don’t just approach the Bible to know a bunch of facts – facts about God, the world, whatever. Our approach to the Bible must be to know the living Jesus. He will speak to us!
[1] https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-morning-i-heard-the-voice-of-god
[2] We see this in 36:29 which we did not read.
[3] https://www.history.com/news/thomas-jefferson-bible-religious-beliefs
Sermon Discussion questions
Read Deuteronomy 17:18-30. How might have putting those verses into practice prevented this story from taking place?
How have you seen the power of God’s word at work in your life?
How do allow God’s word to examine your life?
What are ways we could share God’s word with others that will help them see its beauty?
What are ways you might “rip up” God’s word like Jehoiakim?
Who are people you want to be more intentional with sharing God’s word?