The prophet made plain the fact that our heavenly Father allows His judgments to fall, “that the nations may know themselves to be but men.”Psalm 9:20. “If ye walk contrary unto Me, and will not hearken unto Me,” the Lord had forewarned His people, “I, even I, ... will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.”Leviticus 26:21, 28, 33.
(PK 429.1)
MC
VC
At the very time messages of impending doom were urged upon princes and people, their ruler, Jehoiakim, who should have been a wise spiritual leader, foremost in confession of sin and in reformation and good works, was spending his time in selfish pleasure. “I will build me a wide house and large chambers,” he proposed; and this house, “ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion” (Jeremiah 22:14), was built with money and labor secured through fraud and oppression.
(PK 429.2)
MC
VC
The wrath of the prophet was aroused, and he was inspired to pronounce judgment upon the faithless ruler. “Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong,” he declared; “that useth his neighbor’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work.... Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? Did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him? He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know Me? saith the Lord. But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.”Jeremiah 22:13-17.
(PK 429.3)
MC
VC
“Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory! He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”Jeremiah 22:18, 19.
(PK 430.1)
MC
VC
Within a few years this terrible judgment was to be visited upon Jehoiakim; but first the Lord in mercy informed the impenitent nation of His set purpose. In the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign “Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem,” pointing out that for over a score of years, “from the thirteenth year of Josiah, ... even unto this day,” he had borne witness of God’s desire to save, but that His messages had been despised. Jeremiah 25:2, 3. And now the word of the Lord to them was:
(PK 430.2)
MC
VC
“Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Because ye have not heard My words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations. Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle. And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.”Jeremiah 25:8-11.
(PK 430.3)
MC
VC
Although the sentence of doom had been clearly pronounced, its awful import could scarcely be understood by the multitudes who heard. That deeper impressions might be made, the Lord sought to illustrate the meaning of the words spoken. He bade Jeremiah liken the fate of the nation to the draining of a cup filled with the wine of divine wrath. Among the first to drink of this cup of woe was to be “Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof.” Others were to partake of the same cup—“Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people,” and many other nations of earth—until God’s purpose should have been fulfilled. See Jeremiah 25.
(PK 431.1)
MC
VC
To illustrate further the nature of the swift-coming judgments, the prophet was bidden to “take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests; and go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom,” and there, after reviewing the apostasy of Judah, he was to dash to pieces “a potter’s earthen bottle,”(Jeremiah 19:1) and declare in behalf of Jehovah, whose servant he was, “Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again.”Jeremiah 19:11.
(PK 431.2)
MC
VC
The prophet did as he was commanded. Then, returning to the city, he stood in the court of the temple and declared in the hearing of all the people. “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear My words.” See Jeremiah 19.
(PK 431.3)
MC
VC
The prophet’s words, instead of leading to confession and repentance, aroused the anger of those high in authority, and as a consequence Jeremiah was deprived of his liberty. Imprisoned, and placed in the stocks, the prophet nevertheless continued to speak the messages of Heaven to those who stood by. His voice could not be silenced by persecution. The word of truth, he declared, “was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.”Jeremiah 20:9.
(PK 432.1)
MC
VC
It was about this time that the Lord commanded Jeremiah to commit to writing the messages He desired to bear to those for whose salvation His heart of pity was continually yearning. “Take thee a roll of a book,” the Lord bade His servant, “and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”Jeremiah 36:2, 3.
(PK 432.2)
MC
VC
In obedience to this command, Jeremiah called to his aid a faithful friend, Baruch the scribe, and dictated “all the words of the Lord, which He had spoken unto him.”Jeremiah 36:4. These were carefully written out on a roll of parchment and constituted a solemn reproof for sin, a warning of the sure result of continual apostasy, and an earnest appeal for the renunciation of all evil.
(PK 432.3)
MC
VC
When the writing was completed, Jeremiah, who was still a prisoner, sent Baruch to read the roll to the multitudes who were assembling at the temple on the occasion of a national fast day, “in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month.”“It may be,” the prophet said, “they will present their supplication before the Lord, and will return everyone from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the Lord hath pronounced against this people.”Jeremiah 36:9, 7.
(PK 433.1)
MC
VC
Baruch obeyed, and the roll was read before all the people of Judah. Afterward the scribe was summoned before the princes to read the words to them. They listened with great interest and promised to inform the king concerning all they had heard, but counseled the scribe to hide himself, for they feared the king would reject the testimony and seek to slay those who had prepared and delivered the message.
(PK 433.2)
MC
VC
When King Jehoiakim was told by the princes what Baruch had read, he immediately ordered the roll brought before him and read in his hearing. One of the royal attendants, Jehudi by name, fetched the roll and began reading the words of reproof and warning. It was the time of winter, and the king and his companions of state, the princes of Judah, were gathered about an open fire. Only a small portion had been read, when the king, far from trembling at the danger hanging over himself and his people, seized the roll and in a frenzy of rage “cut it with the penknife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed.”Jeremiah 36:23.
(PK 433.3)
MC
VC
Neither the king nor his princes were afraid “nor rent their garments.” Certain of the princes, however, “had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll: but he would not hear them.” The writing having been destroyed, the wrath of the wicked king rose against Jeremiah and Baruch, and he forthwith sent for them to be taken; “but the Lord hid them.”Jeremiah 36:24-26.
(PK 434.1)
MC
VC
In bringing to the attention of the temple worshipers, and of the princes and king, the written admonitions contained in the inspired roll, God was graciously seeking to warn the men of Judah for their good. “It may be,” He said, “the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”Jeremiah 36:3. God pities men struggling in the blindness of perversity; He seeks to enlighten the darkened understanding by sending reproofs and threatenings designed to cause the most exalted to feel their ignorance and to deplore their errors. He endeavors to help the self-complacent to become dissatisfied with their vain attainments and to seek for spiritual blessing through a close connection with heaven.
(PK 435.1)
MC
VC
God’s plan is not to send messengers who will please and flatter sinners; He delivers no messages of peace to lull the unsanctified into carnal security. Instead, He lays heavy burdens upon the conscience of the wrongdoer and pierces his soul with sharp arrows of conviction. Ministering angels present to him the fearful judgments of God, to deepen the sense of need and to prompt the agonizing cry, “What must I do to be saved?”Acts 16:30. But the Hand that humbles to the dust, rebukes sin, and puts pride and ambition to shame, is the Hand that lifts up the penitent, stricken one. With deepest sympathy He who permits the chastisement to fall, inquires, “What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?”Luke 18:41.
(PK 435.2)
MC
VC
When man has sinned against a holy and merciful God, he can pursue no course so noble as to repent sincerely and confess his errors in tears and bitterness of soul. This God requires of him; He accepts nothing less than a broken heart and a contrite spirit. But King Jehoiakim and his lords, in their arrogance and pride, refused the invitation of God. They would not heed the warning, and repent. The gracious opportunity proffered them at the time of the burning of the sacred roll, was their last. God had declared that if at that time they refused to hear His voice, He would inflict upon them fearful retribution. They did refuse to hear, and He pronounced His final judgments upon Judah, and He would visit with special wrath the man who had proudly lifted himself up against the Almighty.
(PK 435.3)
MC
VC
“Thus saith the Lord of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them.”Jeremiah 36:30, 31.
(PK 436.1)
MC
VC
The burning of the roll was not the end of the matter. The written words were more easily disposed of than the reproof and warning they contained and the swift-coming punishment God had pronounced against rebellious Israel. But even the written roll was reproduced. “Take thee again another roll,” the Lord commanded His servant, “and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned.”Jeremiah 36:28. The record of the prophecies concerning Judah and Jerusalem had been reduced to ashes; but the words were still living in the heart of Jeremiah, “as a burning fire,”(Jeremiah 20:9) and the prophet was permitted to reproduce that which the wrath of man would fain have destroyed.
(PK 436.2)
MC
VC