Baruch reads the Lord's prophecies

JEREMIAH    CHAPTER 36

During the 4th year of King Jehoiahim's reign, the Lord sent Jeremiah the message that  he need to buy a scroll and write down all the Lord's messages against Israel and Judah and other nations. He told him to begin with the first message during the time of Josiah, right up to the present time. The Lord thought the people might repent if they saw in writing all the terrible things planned for them. Then the Lord would be able to forgive their sins and wrongdoings.

So Jeremiah did as instructed, but because he was a prisoner in the Temple, he had Baruch do the writing of the prophecies that he dictated. Then he asked Baruch to go read them to the people. Baruch did as told and because the day was one of the sacred fast, many people from all over Judah had come to attend services at the Temple. When Micaiah heard the messages, he contacted the administrative officials and they asked him to have Baruch come and read the messages to them too.

By the time Baruch was finished reading, the officials were badly frightened and were going to tell the king what they had heard. They recommended that both Baruch and Jeremiah hide, but they left the scroll in the Elishama room of the temple for safekeeping.   Then the king had the scroll brought to him, and he read  four columns, and slashed the sections off the scroll and threw them into the fire. Then he threw the entire scroll into the fire until it burnt up. He demanded that Jeremiah and Baruch be arrested, but the Lord had hidden them.

The Lord gave Jeremiah another message to get a new scroll and write again just as he did before, then say to the king that the Lord would destroy this land and everything in it. King Jehoiakim would have no heirs to sit on the throne of David. His family and officials would be punished as the Lord promised. So Jeremiah wrote another scroll, but added much more to it.

BIBLE NOTES SHOW: Most of the people could not read or write, so those who could were highly esteeemed. Baruch was Jeremiah's scribe. Scribes would become teachers of the law after the exile.

HOW DOES THIS CHAPTER RELATE TO US TODAY? Most of the people of the world are literate these days. And they have the advantage of instant communication through radio and television.  But God's Word will stand forever!

The burning of the scroll shows how insensitive and complacent the people had become toward God.  History tells that King Jehoikim died on the way to Babylon which showed the truth of the prophecy.

History can teach us so many lessons. Don't you wonder how the people of the world will react when God  himself  shows his hand in the last of days? This is not a time for us to doubt. This is not a time for us to distrust the word of the Lord. This is a time for us to trust our God and do as he asks us to do. Praise his name forever!

Yours in Christ,
Mary

Prayer Requests are needed for:


HEALTH:

Pray for my grandson and new baby Gunar who was born with kidney problems.

Pray for Gabe.

Pray for Gary and Steve my insurance men who have prostate cancer.

Pray for Arlene’s nephew David and for my neighbor Al who is nearing the end of his life.

Pray for Carolyn’s brother Ronald who has cancer.

Pray for our friend Michelle who was diagnosed with a form of MS.

Pray for Robert Sargent who is quite ill with lung cancer.

Pray for Gary Summers, my friend from church, who has cancer.

Pray too for Charly’s husband Robert who has been undergoing chemo. Pray also for Charly who longs to be 100 percent again and walk without an aid.

Pray for James’s sister Cynthia whose chemo has lost its effect as the cancer grows powerful.

SPIRITUAL UPLIFTING: Gail, Mary

RESTORATION OF FAITH: Al, John

LOVE AND SUPPORT: Claire, Hunter, Brian

SUPPORT: Pray for our country’s leaders and our military people who die each day for our freedom. Pray for our famers and those who raise livestock during this terrible drought.