The Whole Bible and Nothing but the Bible

I recently finished reading the book of Jeremiah. And chapter 36 struck a chord with me. It’s interesting that each time I read through a book in the Bible, something new catches my eye. This is why we need to read the Bible and keep re-reading it. God will lay different things on our heart when we do, and through this process we’ll continue to grow in God’s wisdom that comes from His word.

Anyway, here’s the situation in chapter 36. Jeremiah is told by God to dictate to Baruch His words and Baruch is to write them down on a scroll. Jeremiah does this and Baruch reads the scroll in the temple. Some officials of the king of Judah hear the words that God has said to Jeremiah and insist that Baruch read the scroll to King Jehoiakim.

The scroll has some pretty harsh words from God. Basically it says that if Judah doesn’t repent of its ways and return to God, then he will send Babylon to destroy them. (Which God eventually does because both Judah and Israel do not repent and turn back to God).

Here is the passage when Jehoiakim hears the scroll.

Jeremiah 36:20-26 - After they put the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, they went to the king in the courtyard and reported everything to him. 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. Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel, a son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the LORD had hidden them.

Basically, the king ignored God’s word. His burning of the scroll made no difference. God had Jeremiah dictate a new one and then did what He said He’d do anyway, plus made things even worse for Jehoiakim.

It’s easy for us to read this and think, “what an idiot, you can’t just ignore the words of God and think what He says will not be.” But don’t we do the same? Aren’t we often selective about which parts of the Bible we believe? Don’t we often ignore other parts of the Bible that we don’t want to accept as truth?

Though we probably don’t tear out the pages we dislike and burn them, like Jehoiakim we often brush aside or read certain passages and show no fear. It’s easy for us to embrace things like, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8). But when we read, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance” (James 1:2-3) we ignore that and when trials come, we complain and cry, “oh woe is me” and wonder how God can be so cruel to make us go through this stuff.

Guess what! We don’t get to choose which parts of the Bible apply to our lives. All of it does and all of it is The Truth. Therefore, we need to read the entire Bible, we need to ask God for understanding and wisdom, and we need to realize that all of it is relevant to us and all of it is God’s word, and all of it must be followed. We can choose to ignore bad news, but that does not make that news go away. And we can choose to ignore those scriptures we don’t like, but our ignoring them will not make them go away.

Read the Bible. Embrace God’s word. Live the Truth.