Jeremiah 36 Devotional

The Word That Outlasts Fire

““Take another scroll and rewrite on it the very words that were on the original scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah has burned.”Jeremiah 36:28 (BSB)

God has Jeremiah write down everything he has spoken since King Josiah's day, hoping the people will turn from their evil and be forgiven (36:2-3). Baruch writes as Jeremiah dictates, then reads the scroll aloud in the temple on a fast day (36:4-10). The officials who hear it are afraid and know the king must be told (36:16).

The king's reaction is chilling. Sitting by a fire in his winter quarters, Jehoiakim listens as the scroll is read, and every few columns he cuts off the section and drops it into the fire, until the whole scroll is gone (36:22-23). Neither he nor his servants show any fear (36:24). Then the LORD has Jeremiah write it all again, and many more words are added (36:28, 32). The king could burn the scroll, but not the word. Isaiah contrasts fading grass with the word of God, which lasts forever (Isaiah 40:8). You cannot cut away the parts of God's word you dislike. You can receive it, warnings included, as an offer of mercy.

To think about: Is there a part of God's word you have been quietly cutting away, and what would it mean to receive it as mercy?