Peter Misselbrook's Blog

Aug 26 2019 - Jeremiah 36 – The king and the scroll

Jeremiah was given a message from the Lord for the people and leaders in Jerusalem. But he had been banned from going to the temple – his words had already upset the leaders in Jerusalem. So Jeremiah recruited a man skilled in reading and writing, and dictated to him all that the Lord had told him to say. As Jeremiah dictated, so Baruch the scribe wrote what he said in a scroll. The purpose of this whole exercise was to persuade the people to turn to the Lord. The Lord told Jeremiah, "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" (v.3). The Lord longs to rescue his people from judgment – if only they will turn to him (see Matthew 23:37).

When Jeremiah and Baruch had finished recording the word of the Lord on the scroll, Baruch is told to go to the temple on a fast day when people, not only from Jerusalem but also from the surrounding towns, are gathering there. Baruch is to read out the words of the scroll to them.

Word is soon sent to royal officials telling them of Jeremiah's words being read out in the temple. The royal officials, "Elishama the secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Akbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah" (v.12), sent for Baruch and had him read to them the words the Lord had given to Jeremiah. As soon as they had heard it they were afraid and said, "We must report all these words to the king" (v.16). But first they told Baruch that he and Jeremiah should go into hiding. They obviously knew how the king would react to the words.

When the king was told of the scroll he ordered it be fetched and for Jehudi, one of his officials, to read it to him and to his officials. King Jehoiakim was sitting before a brazier as it was winter time. We read that, "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 brazier, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire" (v.23). Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah were horrified and vainly urged the king not to burn the scroll (v.25). They recognised that the words it contained were neither those of Baruch nor of Jeremiah who had dictated them but of the Lord their God. The king called for the arrest of Baruch and Jeremiah but was unable to lay his hands on them because, "the Lord had hidden them" (v.26).

The Lord then told Jeremiah to take another scroll and, using Baruch, write on it all that was written in the first one. Furthermore he was to send a personal message to the king:

This is what the LORD says: you burned that scroll and said, ‘Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon would certainly come and destroy this land and wipe from it both man and beast?’ Therefore this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: he will have no one to sit on the throne of David; his body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night. (vv.29-30).

The king will need to learn in the most awful way that he could burn God's word and seek to kill his messengers, but he could not prevent the word of the Lord from being fulfilled. The Lord had longed for his people to listen to his word, turn to him in repentance and prayer that he might save them. But, like Pharaoh, many years before, the king had hardened his heart against God's word.

We live in a world where many seek to tear up God's word and sit in judgment over the words the Lord has spoken. They may mock the Bible's message and destroy Bibles; they may imprison and even kill Christians, but they cannot prevent God's word from accomplishing all that God has purposed. That was the lesson the Lord was teaching the king in the days of Jeremiah. That is the lesson that the world should have learned through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank you Lord our God that your purposes cannot fail and that your deepest longing is to save men and women from judgment and disaster. We love your word and place our trust in your promises. Continue to work out your purposes to save through us.

Aug 26 2020 - Matthew 5:27-48 – Faithfulness and Love

Jesus calls us to live lives marked by complete faithfulness. We are to be people whose word can be trusted because we have a God whose word never fails. Jesus calls us to reflect the character of God in our relationships with one another.

In particular, those who are married should be faithful to their marriage partners. And not only outwardly faithful, affections and sexual passions are to be directed exclusively to the one to whom we have pledged our love. We need to take great care over what captures our attention and fills our eyes, guarding the life of our imagination so that it does not lead us away from exclusive devotion to our spouse. The sexual images that are prevalent in our culture and which many consider harmless can be a deadly drug that does not satisfy but leaves an incessant craving for more – a drug that will poison our relationships and lead to death.

Marriage is for life. It is not the chains of a life sentence but the bonds of a covenant faithfulness that never cease to embrace the beloved. It is a reflection of God's great love for us declared in every page of Scripture and displayed most clearly in the Lord Jesus Christ; a love that will not let us go. We are to love like that.

And as if that were not enough, kingdom people are called to love those who do not love us – love even those who are opposed to us or mistreat us. Such love breaks the endless cycle of bitterness, hatred and revenge; it is love that breaks the petty retaliations of tit-for-tat.

Love like this does not come naturally to fallen human beings. If we feel that we have been treated unjustly we want to strike back – or at least seek some redress. Nor is this entirely wrong: it is rooted in a desire for justice; a desire to see wrongs righted and for situations to be resolved equitably. But in a fallen world such desires easily become twisted; the desire for justice becomes a desire for revenge – a desire to hurt the one who has hurt us.

The Old Testament law sought to limit revenge and restore the principle of equitable justice with its rule of "Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth". Jesus lays a new foundation in his call, "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven". Justice seeks recompense; love seeks to reconcile and transform.

Such love is divine. In his grace, God has not treated us as our sins deserved. In his love he sent his Son into the world to save sinners. The love that has appeared in Jesus embraces the unlovely, loves the undeserving; it is love that draws the unholy into the embrace of a holy God. We cannot live without such love. We cannot live with God on the basis of justice but only through the loving embrace of his grace.

We who have known the love of God are called to show that same love to one another and to the world around us. We are even to love our enemies. This is how God has acted towards us. Such love can transform the world.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.

Father God, thank you that you are the ever-faithful God of love. Your affections never stray, neither do you cast us off despite our many failings. Help us by your Spirit to love as you have loved and to be faithful as you are faithful and in this way transform the world through the love of Jesus.

Peter Misselbrook