King Jehoiakim Burns the Scroll (Day 57)

Read Jeremiah 36:21-32
 
   Only three leaders protested this evil act of burning the scroll containing God’s Word. This shows how complacent and insensitive to God the people had become. 
   Jehoiakim’s son, Jehoiachin, was king for three months before he was taken into captivity, but this did not qualify as sitting on the throne of David: an expression that implied permanence. Jehoiakim did not secure a dynasty. Zedekiah, the next ruler, was Jehoiachin’s uncle. Thus, the line of mortal human kings descended from David’s son Solomon was finished, but in less than 600 years the eternal King would come through the descendants of Solomon’s brother Nathan (Luke 3:23-38).
 
   God told Jeremiah to write His words on a scroll. Because he was not allowed to go to the Temple, Jeremiah asked his scribe, Baruch, to whom he had dictated the scroll to read it to the people gathered there. Baruch then read it to the officials, and finally Jehudi read it to the king himself. Although the king burned the scroll, he could not destroy the Word of God. Today many people try to put God’s Word aside or they say that it contains errors and therefore cannot be trusted. People may reject God’s Word, but they cannot destroy it. God’s Word will stand forever (Psalm 119).