Welcome to Daily Plunge. We are in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 36 verses 1 through 10. Now it starts off by telling us that this is during the time of Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim is the king, but he's only the king because he dethroned his brother, and he is an Egyptian puppet, right?
And the Lord says to Jeremiah, I want you to write down my words on a scroll. And so here the Lord is directing, that he writes it down. This is a heavenly authority that commissions the writing of Scripture. And I want us to really grasp what this means.
God is saying that his word is not just to be passed on orally, but that it has authority and power even in its written form. And he says, perhaps when the people of Judah hear of the disaster that I'm going to bring, hear of the wrath of God that perhaps they would hear, which is the Hebrew word of Shema, right? And turn, which is Shubah. So the scroll is given from Jeremiah to Baruch, right?
And Baruch has to read it in order to evoke faith and transformation, faith and response to God's word. And so Baruch writes down the words of the prophet and he publishes the book by reading it out loud. And it is a sermon from Mr. Doom and Gloom.
You have to recognize that Jeremiah is an unwelcome outsider and people by this time do not want to hear from him. But the thing is, is that while his message is not received well because they perceive it to be an unnecessary interference, as they perceive it to be political, partisan political speech, that's not what it is. It is an ethical speech. It is a spiritual message.
And what Jeremiah is proclaiming in his scroll is the reign of God. He's proclaiming God's justice and righteousness, whether they want to hear it or not. And this message is not neutral. It's even though it is not partisan, it is also not neutral because it is not about propping up the regime.
It's about conveying the will of God. And it's a challenge for us as Christians. Are we going to speak circumstantially into society, into the lives of our people? Are we going to speak in a way that is derived from panic because society is going off the rails, right?
Or will we speak evangelistically? Will we speak about the will and the purpose of God? Will we speak eternally that looks beyond the current crisis and circumstances? And so, as Baruch reads this and he reads it to all the people, I think the challenge for us as Christians will we heed the scroll, just like they would they heed God's word that's given by Jeremiah.
It's written down. Will they heed that? Will we heed the scriptures? You know, it's a public word that is meant to impinge upon us, to be heard and to provoke a response in order to transform individuals and to transform public life.
Well, thanks friends. Have a blessed day. Thanks for joining us today for The Daily Plunge. We hope you hear the Lord speaking into your life.
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