Jeremiah 36 reminds me of the emotional reaction we sometimes see after a relationship ends. Pictures are cut up and letters are burned in an attempt to destroy the memories. It is an act of anger directed at the former love, symbolizing the death of what was. In today’s chapter, the prophet Jeremiah is instructed by God to “Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations”. God also includes His desire, “Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, they will each turn from their wicked ways; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin”. Understand that Israel had been unfaithful to God. They had turned to other gods and rejected God their provider and protector. Israel got wild and began to party all night and not come home. Not only had they quit going to the house of the Lord, but they brought pagan god into the sacred place. But God does not easily reject His first love. Instead, He wrote out the details of the unfaithfulness and the steps to reconciliation. “Jeremiah called Baruch… Jeremiah dictated all the words the Lord had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll”. These words were not written in haste, they were written with measured precision, clear purpose and actions required. They were reminders of the past present and future.
Jeremiah sent his scribe to the House of the Lord, “read to the people from the scroll the words of the Lord that you wrote as I dictated… Read them to all the people… Perhaps they will bring their petition before the Lord and will each turn from their wicked ways”. The letter is written to all the people, but each one, individually had to repent. The offer was extended to all, but each had to personally accept. There is no such thing as mass forgiveness. “When Micaiah… heard all the words of the Lord from the scroll, he went down to… where all the officials were sitting… told them everything he had heard Baruch read”. The recognized the importance and asked, “Sit down, please, and read it to us”. How did they react after hearing? “They looked at each other in fear”. They knew this was from God Himself and every word was true. How do you react when you hear God’s Word?
The Temple officials said, “We must report all these words to the king… You and Jeremiah, go and hide. Don’t let anyone know where you are”. Then they went to the king in his winter apartment and read him the word from the scroll. After only hearing three or four columns, “the king cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire… The king… showed no fear”. The Temple officials “urged the king not to burn the scroll”. The king did not want to hear the truth, “he would not listen to them… Instead, the king commanded… arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet”. I their secure hiding place, God commanded Jeremiah and his scribe “Take another scroll and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll… I will bring on them and those living in Jerusalem and the people of Judah every disaster I pronounced against them, because they have not listened”. Maybe the king was too busy. Maybe he was enjoying life. Maybe he did not want to admit he needed God, but in the second scroll, “many… words were added”. Friend, how do you react when you hear God’s Word? Or have you been cutting Him out of your life? I pray you will “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,and to know this love that surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:19).