Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, they will each turn from their wicked ways; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin.” [Jeremiah 36:3 NIV]
Read Jeremiah Chapter 36.
Jeremiah Chapter 36 is perhaps not an easy chapter to understand but it is very important for two reasons. The first reason why this chapter is worth reading is that it gives some insight into how the book of Jeremiah came to be written. Jeremiah was a preacher. He was first and foremost a spoken prophet. God communicated a message to him and he then proclaimed the words God had given him to the people or to identified individuals exactly in the way that God had specified. But here we see part of the process of converting the spoken word into the written word. Jeremiah did not personally write anything. He dictated his message to a man named Baruch who was his personal scribe.
Obviously, this would be a slow process. Not only would there be no technology such as word processing on a computer with the facility to correct any mistakes and to edit easily. There would not even be a typewriter such as I used as a young man. Baruch would not even have a notepad and a Biro pen. He would have a huge scroll of parchment and he would use an old style quill with some sort of ink and carefully write each letter of the Hebrew alphabet working from right to left. He would do 'one page' at a time and then roll that page up into the scroll and have another clear page on which to write.
In this chapter the entire contents of what Baruch has methodically written down are deliberately burned in an open fire. So this conscientious scribe is told to start again and once more Jeremiah dictates to him the message which has just been reduced to ashes. This tells me that God's plan was for Jeremiah's message to be recorded accurately. By the way, he added some more detail which had not been in the first scroll. (Jeremiah 36: 32) So you begin to see the way the book was constructed. It was not written in a strictly chronological order. It is a compilation of various addresses which Jeremiah made as well as biographical detail inserted at various stages. There are also personal reflections and perspectives from the mouth of the prophet. It is the inspired word of God preserved according to God's sovereign plan so that we would have this amazing book readily available to us. God wanted us to read it in our century and in our culture. It is so relevant to us today.
There is a second message which is even more important. I am indebted to Hetty Lalleman for this insight [Hetty Lalleman: Jeremiah and Lamentations (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries)] She argues that the incident recorded in chapter 36 of Jeremiah is the turning point in God's dealings with his people. It is dated as the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim (604 BC). This was when a king who was descended from King David totally rejected God's message delivered by His prophet, Jeremiah. He even went as far as burning the scroll containing the words which Jeremiah had dictated to Baruch. To emphasise his total rejection of the message. Lalleman argues that this was 'the point of no return' in the history of Judah. Jeremiah is no longer proclaiming a message of repentance. Judgement in the form of the Babylonian invasion and captivity is inevitable. Babylon, 'the enemy from the north' will carry out God's righteous judgement on his people. For a king to turn his back on God and deliberately refuse to listen to the message from God must have been hurtful to the faithful prophet, Jeremiah. It was even more hurtful to God.
I am wanting to reflect for a couple of paragraphs on the concept 'the point of no return.' This is a very solemn thought. Has there been a point in the history of our nation where the politicians took a decision which was, in effect, a point of no return. God was turning his back on our nation from that point onwards and the spiritual and moral decline would accelerate rapidly.
The same principle would apply to the history of individual local churches. If we read the early chapters of Revelation, we find the words of the Lord to the seven churches in Asia. The message to Ephesus provides a stark warning to all churches in all situations.
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. [Revelation 2: 4-5 NIV]
Sometimes, God does act in judgement and 'remove the lampstand from a church.' The church has not repented and has continued in its path of disobedience to the word of God - in this case they have forsaken their first love.
God also acts in judgement on individuals. An example would be Pharaoh of the time of the Exodus. It says that the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart so that he would not willing to let the Israelites leave Egypt. (Exodus 10:27 - 28). Moses told Pharaoh that he would never see his face again and there followed the worst judgement of all - the death of the firstborn.
[Picture by roya ann miller on Unsplash.]
The burning of the scroll by Jehoiakim was his 4th year. This was the breaking of the Old Covenant, by the people not by God. This took place exactly 666 years before the first major persecution of Xns by Nero in 62 ad, see Rev 13 for reference back to Jeremiah, exile, 666 and Nero (whose name also adds up to 666 using gematria).