Context No. 3124 of 4322 · Jeremiah

Jeremiah 36:27-32: in context

27Then the LORD’s word came to Jeremiah, after the king had burned the scroll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, 28“Take again another scroll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. 29Concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, ‘The LORD says: “You have burned this scroll, saying, ‘Why have you written therein, saying, “The king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cause to cease from there man and animal”?’” 30Therefore the LORD says concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: “He will have no one to sit on David’s throne. His dead body will be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. 31I will punish him, his offspring, and his servants for their iniquity. I will bring on them, on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them, but they didn’t listen.”’” 32Then Jeremiah took another scroll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire; and many similar words were added to them.

King Jehoiakim has taken Jeremiah's scroll of warnings, cut it apart, and burned it piece by piece in the fire. And the word of the LORD comes to Jeremiah: take another scroll, and write on it all the former words that Jehoiakim has burned. So Jeremiah dictates again to Baruch, and this time many similar words are added to them.

The king thought that by burning the scroll he could destroy the word itself. But you cannot burn God's word out of existence. God simply has it written again, and fuller than before; the flames could touch a single copy, but not the truth of it. Jehoiakim's contempt, slicing and burning the scroll column by column, only brought judgment down on himself and left God's word standing, and even enlarged. Human power can attack, ban, or burn God's word, but it cannot silence or destroy it. It outlasts every fire and every ruler who defies it.

Do I trust that God's word cannot finally be destroyed by those who oppose it, that it stands when every effort to burn it away has failed?

Sources

Jeremiah 36:28: "Take again another scroll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim... has burned."
Jeremiah 36:32: "[Baruch] wrote... all the words of the book which Jehoiakim... had burned in the fire; and many similar words were added to them."
Isaiah 40:8: "The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever."