Readings for today: Jeremiah 37-38, 1 Timothy 6, Psalms 89:38-52, Proverbs 25:28
I want to tag back to yesterday’s reading for our devotional today because it speaks to our relationship with God’s Word. The Bible declares God’s Word to be living and active. Breathed out by God Himself. It is sharper than a two-edged sword and pierces to the innermost parts of our beings. God’s Word has a power all its own. It never returns empty. It always accomplishes the purposes God sets out for it because God Himself guarantees it.
God is faithful. God is true. God never breaks His Word. From the beginning, God has set His heart on having a people He will call His very own. He made an unbreakable covenant with Abraham. He renewed that covenant at Mt. Sinai. He raised up prophets, priests, and kings to protect the covenant. Over and over again, God declares His covenant to His people. Each generation needing to commit themselves anew. Sadly, God’s people were not faithful. They rejected their God. They rejected His Word. They rejected His ways. Perhaps the saddest story of all comes at the end of Israel’s national life, where the king literally cuts up God’s Word and burns it in the fire.
“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. 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." (Jeremiah 36:2-3) Jeremiah obeys. He writes everything down on a scroll and gives it to his servant, Baruch, to proclaim. Baruch goes to the Lord’s House and reads it in the presence of all who’ve gathered. Officials from the king’s household hear the news and they ask Baruch to come and read the scroll to them. Eventually, the scroll makes it’s way into the king’s presence for one final hearing. The tension builds. How will the king respond? Will he repent? Will he turn back to the Lord? Will he humble himself and bow the knee? Sadly, the answer is no. He takes out a knife and cuts the scroll to pieces as each line is read and then proceeds to burn it in his fire pit. His rejection of the Word of God is complete and final. So is his doom.
One cannot so easily dispose of God’s Word. Coming from the Holy Spirit, it is eternal. Unquenchable. Inflammable. Unbreakable. The grass may wither and the flower may fade but the Word of God endures forever. (Isaiah 40:8) So again the Word comes to Jeremiah. Only this time, judgment has replaced grace. Justice has replaced mercy. God’s wrath is about to be fully unveiled. “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 will cut off from it man and beast?" Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have none to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by night. And I will punish him and his offspring and his servants for their iniquity. I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the people of Judah all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, but they would not hear.” (Jeremiah 36:29-31)
It is a serious matter to reject the Word of God. To disobey His commands. Whether by ignorance or by deliberate defiance, we rebel against God to our own peril. God takes our sin seriously. Far more seriously than we know. He is so holy. So righteous. So just. His nose cannot bear the stench of sin. His eyes will not behold the stain of sin. His presence will not endure even the appearance of sin. It must be dealt with. It must be done away with. A price must be paid. A sacrifice offered. It will either be us or it will be Christ. Either you receive Christ as your perfect sacrifice. Receive Christ as your perfect substitute. Receive Christ’s atoning death on your behalf or you will bear the punishment yourself. You will receive all the judgment and righteous anger of God. It will be eternal and unending because the depth of your sin and rebellion is eternal and unending.
I know this sounds harsh. I know this doesn’t feel good. What about God’s love? It is there! In Christ! One cannot separate Christ from the love of God for Christ Himself is the love of God! “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10) God has provided a way for you to escape the coming judgment just as He provided a way for Jehoiakim to escape his coming judgment! Repentance! Faith! Accepting the perfect sacrifice God Himself has offered on your behalf! Do not reject the Word of God, friends! Receive Christ and live!
Readings for tomorrow: Jeremiah 39-41, 2 Timothy 1, Psalms 90-91, Proverbs 26:1-2