AN AUTHORITY THAT EVEN KINGS CAN'T IGNORE – Jeremiah 36:1-32

Preached November 27, 2011
from
Jeremiah 36:1-32

Theme: The story of King Jehoiakim’s failure to destroy God’s word shows us how God stands behind every word that He has spoken.

(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)

This morning, we begin to consider the life of King Jehoiakim.

Jehoiakim was one of the sons of the godly King Josiah. But this is not at all a case of “like father, like son”; because Jehoiakim was utterly unlike his godly father. Josiah was a man who honored the word of God with great reverence; and who sought diligently to humble himself before it and obey it. But his second eldest son Jehoiakim stands out because of his remarkable contempt for—and rebellion against—God’s word.

In the weeks to come, we’ll spend some time looking the things that the Bible tells us about the details of his reign. But this morning, I’m asking that we turn to the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah; where we learn something of his character.

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Jeremiah was a prophet called to proclaim God’s word during the reigns of five kings of Judah—including King Jehoiakim. Initially, God’s message through Jeremiah was a gracious call to His people to repent of their idolatry and sinful behavior. But because they would not listen to that message, God eventually gave Jeremiah this sad message to give to them instead:

“Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Because you have not heard My words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ says the LORD, ‘and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations. Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years” (Jeremiah 25:8-11).

As you can imagine, a message like that was not warmly welcomed. The people of Judah didn’t want to hear it. In fact, they often threatened to arrest Jeremiah—or even to kill him—for proclaiming it. There were times when he suffered horribly for proclaiming this message from God. What’s more, there were times when Jeremiah himself wanted to stop being a prophet altogether, and to cease speaking the word that God gave him. He even once said, “I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name.” But he couldn’t do it. He said, “His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not ” (Jeremiah 20:9).

And that brings us to the event described in Jeremiah 36. The year was 604 B.C. King Jehoiakim was on the throne. The Babylonian empire was about to fall upon his kingdom. It was a pivotal moment in the history of God’s sinful, rebellious people. And it was at that time that God commanded that this most unwelcomed message be proclaimed to them in the temple itself.

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Now; as you turn in your Bible to Jeremiah 36, please take a moment to think about what it is you have in your hand. Think about what a marvelous thing the Bible is! As a church family, we affirm that it is the very word of God; and that God stands behind everything He has spoken in it! According the testimony of the Son of God Himself, not one single word of it will fail. Jesus said, “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle [that is to say, one tiny letter form, or one tiny stroke of the pen] will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” (Matthew 5:19). He affirmed that “the Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). He said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Matthew 24:35).

In our church, we affirm that what God Himself says about His word is sure and certain:

“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11).

God’s word was not spoken by Him in vain. It does everything that He sends it forth to do; and nothing can prevent it from accomplishing His sovereign purpose.

Now; that’s what we affirm to be true in this church. Many other churches affirm it as well. But I am particularly burdened today that we Christians—living as we do in the midst of an unbelieving world—do not truly believe what God Himself affirms about His own word outside of the walls of the church building. I fear that all too often—when God calls us to speak His unfailing word faithfully to the issues of our time, and to bring what He says into the meaningful arenas of public discourse—we become timid and shy about doing so. Within the church building, we gladly affirm the things that God says about His own word. But as soon as we step outside the church door—and into those situations when it counts the most to proclaim His word to an unbelieving world—we act like everything that He says about His word ceases to be true.

We far too easily buy into the idea that what God has said in His word speaks authoritatively to the church only—but not with equal authority to the so-called ‘secular’ realms of business, or education, or philosophy, or ethics, or politics, or the sciences, or counseling, or the arts. But why? If the Sovereign God of the universe—in whose image all men and women are made—has spoken authoritatively in ways that touches on all the things things that matter most to them (and He most certainly has!), then why should the the word of the living God be sequestered from every other meaningful place of life but inside the church building?

Whose idea was it anyway that the word of God should only be heard in a church—where it would be welcomed and warmly received? The Holy Spirit once gave instructions to a pastor named Timothy through the apostle Paul; and said,

I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables (2 Timothy 4:1-4).

And the fact that people would not always welcome God’s word didn’t excuse Timothy from proclaiming it anyway! Even though they had a mind to reject it, he was nevertheless to convince, and to rebuke, and to exhort people from it. He wasn’t just to do so when it would be well-received or thought ‘appropriate’ by people. Instead, he was to be ready to do so “in seasons and out of season”.

If we want to be used by God to truly change this world for good, then we must boldly declare in the midst of it the very message that God Himself has given for it. And because of the promises of God concerning that message, you and I can be absolutely sure that He Himself stands faithfully behind everything He has said.

That, basically, is what this chapter in Jeremiah 36—and the story it tells us of King Jehoiakim—teaches us.

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How does God show us that He stands behind His own word in dark times—in the dark times of King Jehoiakim; or even in the dark times in which we live? First, this passage teaches us that . . .

1. GOD PRESERVES HIS WORD IN WRITTEN FORM (vv. 1-3).

In Jeremiah 36 read,

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).

Jeremiah had been a “speaking prophet” for the first twenty-three years of his ministry. But now, God commands him to write down those things that had been given him to say. We have the book of Jeremiah in our Bibles today, in part, because he obeyed this command from God.

And note that God commanded that it all be written in “a scroll of a book”. This would be a large roll of several pieces of parchment affixed together; wrapped around two sticks. And upon this scroll was to be recorded—in hand-written form—all the words that God had spoken to Jeremiah against Judah and the surrounding nations over that long, twenty-three-year period of time. Jeremiah was to put it all down in ‘black and white’. And God told Jeremiah why he was to do this. It was to make it possible for them to (1) hear clearly of the adversities that God had purposed to bring on them, (2) turn from their evil ways, and (3) and experience God’s forgiveness. What grace!

I think here of what the Apostle Peter wrote to the believers that were under his care; that they had been “born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever (1 Peter 1:23). God gave His word in written form as an act of mercy. He desires that people hear a permanent record of what He has to say to them, and to believe what was written for them, and to thus receive eternal life through a relationship with His Son Jesus Christ. And thinking of how it leads people to Christ for salvation, I think also of how the written word of God was given in order to help them grow. Peter goes on to say, “Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby . . .” (1 Peter 2:1-2).

When the opportunities come to speak God’s word boldly to this world, let’s remember that the reason He gave it was for the good of people. He loves people, and desires their good. He wants them to be saved and to grow in a deep relationship with Him through His Son Jesus Christ. And so, He has spoken, and saw to it that what He said has been written down. He has preserved His word in written form in order to bring about the good of people; and to ensure that succeeding generations may also hear—and may come to know Him.

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Next, we find that this word is preserved in written from, but also that . . .

2. GOD BROADCASTS HIS WORD THROUGH PROCLAMATION (vv. 4-10).

It’s not enough to God that it simply be written. Not all people could read it—or would even be inclined to do so. God has, therefore, also appointed that the written word be preached to them.

We see this in what happens next:

Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote on a scroll of a book, at the instruction of Jeremiah, all the words of the LORD which He had spoken to him. And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, “I am confined, I cannot go into the house of the LORD. You go, therefore, and read from the scroll which you have written at my instruction, the words of the LORD, in the hearing of the people in the LORD’s house on the day of fasting. And you shall also read them in the hearing of all Judah who come from their cities. It may be that they will present their supplication before the LORD, and everyone will turn from his evil way. For great is the anger and the fury that the LORD has pronounced against this people.” And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading from the book the words of the LORD in the LORD’s house (vv. 4-8)

Apparently—no doubt by Jeremiah’s instruction—Baruch waited until the greatest possible number of the people of Judah would have gathered at the temple for a day of fasting.

Now it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem (v. 9).

It may have been a day of fasting because of the growing threat of Babylon. If that’s the case, then it would have been the perfect day for the gathered people to hear this word from God.

Then Baruch read from the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court at the entry of the New Gate of the LORD’s house, in the hearing of all the people (vv. 10-11).

God doesn’t rely only on the fact that His word was written down. Rather, He also has ordained that what He has written be proclaimed—that it be declared through the mouths of human instruments. The command that He gave to Timothy through Paul was not just, “Write the word”; or “Make copies of the word”. It was, “Preach the word!” The written word is to be taken to people and declared publicly to them; so that they can hear and heed what they would otherwise not have received. As Paul said elsewhere, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14).

So; let’s faithfully declare God’s word in those situations that God gives us to proclaim it. It’s God’s appointed way of spreading His life-transforming truth; and when it is spread in His appointed way, we can be sure that He will stand by it.

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Understand, though, that the power of the proclamation is not in the proclaimer. If it is God’s word that is being proclaimed, then the power is of the very God who called forth His word to be proclaimed! We see this also as we read on in the story of Jeremiah; that . . .

3. GOD AUTHENTICATES HIS WORD TO ITS HEARERS (vv. 11-20).

The common people heard Baruch as he read God’s word in the temple. But there was also an official in the temple who heard. He went and told other officials; and they too heard. It says;

When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the LORD from the book, he then went down to the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber; and there all the princes were sitting—Elishama the scribe, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan the son of Achbor, Gemariah the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes. Then Michaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read the book in the hearing of the people. Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, “Take in your hand the scroll from which you have 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. And they said to him, “Sit down now, and read it in our hearing.” So Baruch read it in their hearing (vv. 11-15).

The written word of God went from being read by Baruch to the people in general, to being read to the officials in particular. And note how eager those officials were to hear more. When God has someone who will faithfully proclaim His word at His command, God also sees to it that His word gets a hearing.

And notice the results . . .

Now it happened, when they had heard all the words, that they looked in fear from one to another, and said to Baruch, “We will surely tell the king of all these words.” And they asked Baruch, saying, “Tell us now, how did you write all these words—at his instruction?” So Baruch answered them, “He proclaimed with his mouth all these words to me, and I wrote them with ink in the book” (vv. 16-18).

Look at how God was authenticating His word to these officials. First, it was piercing their hearts. There was an inward testimony, brought upon them by the Holy Spirit, that these words were from God and that the warnings they contained were true. It was as if they looked back and forth to one another—registering a mutual sense of dread at the message. God’s word was hitting target!

But there wasn’t just an inward testimony. There was an outward testimony as well. They asked Baruch, “Tell us, how did you write these words”; and then, clarified, “at his [that is Jeremiah's] instruction?” They were feeling moved to present this book to the king; but they wanted to make sure of its authority—that it truly came from God’s prophet Jeremiah; and was not simply a matter of Baruch’s interpretations. And Baruch explained the process clearly. It was as if he said, “The words you see written in this book—written indelibly with ink—are ones that I wrote with my hand. But the words themselves are not my words. They are the very words that were spoken to me by Jeremiah. These are God’s own words, straight from the mouth of His prophet. The words in this book faithfully record the message given to us by God.”

This reminds us of the fact that it is not our job to authenticate the word of God for people. The Bible needs no authentication from us. It proves itself to be credible and reliable to whoever sincerely examines it on its own merits. As it says in Hebrews 4:12; “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

We need never fear, whenever God calls upon us to proclaim the truth of His word to the people of this world. He prepares His word to be proclaimed; and He prepares the one who will proclaim it; and He even prepares the hearts of those who will hear it.

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Now, of course; not everyone who hears it welcomes it. In fact, to some people, God’s word so authenticates itself that they seek to silence it and destroy it. But that’s when we next see that . . .

4. GOD PROTECTS HIS WORD FROM ITS ATTACKERS (vv. 19-28, 32).

The officials who heard this word from Jeremiah knew the wicked character of King Jehoiakim. And so, we read,

Then the princes said to Baruch, “Go and hide, you and Jeremiah; and let no one know where you are.”

And they went to the king, into the court; but they stored the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the hearing of the king. So the king sent Jehudi to bring the scroll, and he took it from Elishama the scribe’s chamber. And Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king and in the hearing of all the princes who stood beside the king (vv. 19-21).

This was during the winter of the Jewish calendar. And so, we read of how the king reacted to God’s word:

Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, with a fire burning on the hearth before him. And it happened, when Jehudi had read three or four columns, that the king cut it with the scribe’s knife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. Yet they were not afraid, nor did they tear their garments, the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words. Nevertheless Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah implored the king not to burn the scroll; but he would not listen to them (vv. 22-25).

What an irreverent disrespect this king displayed toward God’s word! As a portion of it was read to him, the king simply cut if off and threw it into the fire to warm himself. That’s how he publicly displayed his contempt for the message—and also displayed his rebellious spirit against the God who gave it.

And his actions present quite a caricature of how many of the people of this world treat God’s word even today. They may not literally cut it up and throw it into the fire; although some have. But they hear it; and then toss off what they hear without a care—doing little less than cutting it off—piece by piece; and casting it to the flames—never to trouble them again. But notice how God protected His word from even the king’s contemptuous assault. First, He protected those who proclaimed it. We read;

And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the LORD hid them (v. 26).

God’s word had not yet been completely delivered to the people through these preachers; and so, God preserved them so that they could finish the job. Until their commission is completed, the proclaimers of God’s word are the most indestructible person on earth! Not even a king can stop them.

Nor can a king destroy the word itself. Jehoiakim thought that simply burning the word of God would be enough to rid himself of it. But he could do nothing to touch the God who gave it. And so, we read;

Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words which Baruch had written at the instruction of Jeremiah, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying: “Take yet another scroll, and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned” (vv. 27-28).

Jehoiakim burned God’s word. But that was no problem for God. He remembers everything that He has said. He simply commanded Jeremiah to dictate another copy. In fact, King Jehoiakim only made things worse for himself; because, as we read in verse 32,

Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it at the instruction of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And besides, there were added to them many similar words (v. 32).

Burning the word only resulted in God giving the word again—and this time, even giving more! We need never fear that man—even great and powerful men—will ever be able to silence a single word of God! God has spoken; and He will not be silenced.

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This leads us, finally, to note that . . .

5. GOD WILL VINDICATE HIS WORD UNTIL FULFILLMENT (vv. 29-31)

Jehoiakim did not accept God’s warning. He would not believe that God would make good on His threat and bring the Babylonians down upon Judah. He sought to silence God by throwing His words into the fire. And God now speaks His word directly through Jeremiah to Jehoiakim:

“And you shall say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘Thus says the LORD: “You have burned this scroll, saying, ‘Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and cause man and beast to cease from here?’” Therefore 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. I will punish him, his family, and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring on them, on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah all the doom that I have pronounced against them; but they did not heed.”’” (vv. 29-31).

One of the ways that God vindicates His own word is through the fact that He fulfills it. Everything happens just as He promises; and when it’s all over, it will be proven that—as it says elsewhere in Scripture—“Not a word failed of any good thing which the LORD had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass” (Joshua 21:45).

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All of this is meant to encourage us with the fact that God stands behind His own word. As we see from this passage, He preserves it, He broadcasts it, He authenticates it, He protects it, and He fulfills it!

We affirm these things in our church. But, dear brothers and sisters; the world needs for us to behave like it’s just as true outside these church walls as it is within them! Whenever God opens a door for us to speak a “Thus saith the Lord” to this world, we must do so faithfully. And we can do so confidently. Our mighty God stands behind every word He has spoken!