The Man Who Burnt God's Word

by L.A. Hickling | Category: General | Aug 1990

There is an incident recorded in Jeremiah chapter 36 which has a message for us today. It is the story of a king who cut up and burnt the word of God that had been given to him.

The people of Israel had failed to keep the commandments of God, and, as a consequence, were to come under His judgement: But God is merciful. Through His prophet He gave a warning to the people of the judgement that was about to fall, and with the warning He gave a message of mercy. He promised that if they would take heed to the warning and turn from their evil ways, He would forgive them. The message given to the prophet was written down by a scribe called Baruch. The scripture says:

Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD, which He had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book (Jer. 36:4).

The words written in the book were in fact God's words. Those words were intended to be given to the people, and so the book was taken on a special day to the house of God, and Baruch read it in the hearing of the people who were present: One of those who heard was so impressed by the importance of the message that he brought it to the notice of some of the chief men, and in due course it was read to them. They, in turn, recognized its importance and determined that it ought to be read to the king. So the words were read again, this time to the king. He had no liking for what he heard, and so, as column after column was read, he cut up the book and threw the pieces into the fife. He treated God's word as of no account and burnt i~ The man did not realize how foolish he was to think that he could destroy God's word by burning the book on which it was written. The message was written down again and more was added to it, and the king learned the tragic consequences of disregarding God's word.

Today we have more of the Word of God than that man had. We have a complete Bible easily available to us in a language we can understand. The message it contains came to us in the same way as it came in the days of Jeremiah. The words are God's words written down by His chosen servants. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2 Tim. 3:16 AV). That being so, how important it is that we should read it: It was the reading of it that brought Out the various responses in Jeremiah's day. Perhaps today there are few who would consign the book to the flames, but there are many who would pick and choose which parts of the Bible they would accept as being the very words of God. Much more noticeable today is the general apathy towards the Bible - it just is not read.

Amos was a prophet living in the reign of Jeroboam, king of Israel. He, too, spoke the words of God. It was a time of prosperity and affluence, but the people of Israel had no mind to listen to the word of God. Amos spoke about a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.

We have seen the sad consequences of a famine of food and water, but a famine of hearing the words of God has more serious consequences because they are eternal. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, Mary of Bethany was a woman who sat at His feet to hear His words. He commended her, saying that she had chosen the good part. She took time to listen to Him. Shall we in all the hurly-burly of modern life, with all its distractions and false values, take time to listen to the words of God?

L.A. Hickling | Aug 1990
General