Friday, January 8, 2016
Jeremiah 36:21-15 The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary and read it to the king and all the officials standing beside him. It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment, with a fire burning in the firepot in front of him. Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, 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 and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes. Even though Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.
DON'T BURN GOD'S BRIDGE
Have you ever burned a bridge and come to regret it? Perhaps it was a word spoken in haste or in the heat of the moment that ruined a friendship. Maybe it was pride that compelled you to leave a job in a rude manner, a job which you would later wish you had back. Sometimes burning brides can really come back to haunt us!
In Jehoiakin's case, the bridge he burned was God's word. Through Jeremiah, God was giving the King and his people a chance to repent, a way out both of the terrible punishment he was bringing through the Babylonians and from eternal condemnation. But the King was too proud. He didn't want to hear it. He didn't think he needed it. He preferred to keep living his life unfazed by God's Law and Gospel. He preferred to think of God's prophet as criminally insane.
Often, it's no different today. God's word is roundly rejected. Those who proclaim Law and Gospel, warning of the doom to come and calling people to Christ's cross for forgiveness are often written off as "extreme" or "out of touch." God's Word is being held out day after day, the only answer to sin, the only bridge to eternal life and far too often it gets thrown into the fire. And what about us? Do we always take God's Word to heart? Perhaps we don't burn it, but do we sometimes lay it aside in favor of more "exciting" or "entertaining" alternatives? The message that God's Word brings is the only way out of the judgment that our sins deserve. The news that Jesus has paid for our sins and forgiven them, that we should repent of our sins and trust Him, that news is our only hope, the bridge God has provided. Don't burn it.
