IT is commonly said that history repeats itself. The treatment of the Word of God by Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and his friends, with that accorded to it by some of the leaders of Christendom to-day is very similar.
Israel had “committed two evils; they had forsaken Jehovah — the fountain of living water — and had hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that could hold no water” (Jer. 2:12, 13). Through disobedience they had forfeited all blessing; they had broken their part of the covenant, and consequently all the curses of a broken law were theirs by right, as Moses had said (Deut. 30:15-18). The Lord is, however, “merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,” and, therefore, even unto the end, “the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by His messengers, rising up betimes and sending; because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling-place. But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His word, and misused His prophets, until the wrath of God arose against His people, and there was no remedy” (2 Chron. 36:15, 16).
Wonderful forbearance and long-suffering did Jehovah show to Judah in the days of Jeremiah the prophet. “Take thee a roll of a book,” were His gracious words almost at the close, “and write... It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them, that they may return every man from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin” (Jer. 36:1-3).
Well might the “heavens be astonished, and horribly afraid and desolate,” in view of the way in which the king and those with him treated such grace, for, as it was read, “Jehudi cut it with his penknife, and cast it into the fire... until all the roll was consumed. Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king nor any of his servants, that heard all these words” (Jer. 36:23, 24). Did, however, the burning of the word hinder the judgments? Not at all; it only added to their severity, and Judah, like Israel, was carried away captive (2 Chron. 36:14-23).
God’s Word at the present day speaks of the certainty and nearness of approaching judgments. It calls upon “all men everywhere to repent, for God hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men in that He hath raised Him from the dead” (Acts 17:30, 31).
God has thus in His Word unveiled the future to men, not to terrify them (because He wills not the death of any sinner, and judgment is His strange work), but that they may turn from their evil way, and that He may “forgive their iniquity and their sins.” He can do it too in perfect righteousness, for “that Man” — Christ Jesus, the Lord — has died, “the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God.” His precious blood, which cleanseth from all sin, has been shed, and in virtue of this, He is able to save from the coming wrath all who, in hearty confession of all their ruin and guilt, come to God through Him. And again we would press the deeply solemn truth —
There is no other way of salvation,
for “there is no other name” (Jesus) “under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
On all sides, however, at the present day, the Bible is assailed by men whose profession and calling cause others to look to them as leaders and guides. The only Book which reveals God’s wondrous grace, and the precious unfathomable love that led Jesus to die, is being cut to pieces like Jeremiah’s roll of old. To the simple believer the reason is plain, and causes no surprise. To use the words of one now with the Lord: ― “The grand object of the devil, in all the skeptical, rationalistic, and infidel theories that have ever been propounded in this world, is to shut out completely the Word of God, the Christ of God, and God Himself. We solemnly call upon our readers, especially our young friends, to ponder this. It is our thorough and deep conviction that the harboring of a single infidel suggestion is the first step on that inclined plane which leads straight down to the dark and terrible abyss of atheism, down to the blackness of darkness forever” (from “The Great Commission,” by the late C. H. M.).
Under the name of “higher critics” these men, having “a form of godliness,” yet denying the power thereof, have deliberately sat in judgment on the Word of God, and, so far as they are concerned, have left us little or none of that blessed Book to rely upon. They have cut out book after book of the Old Testament, and are now seeking to treat the New Testament in the same way. Educated, yet unregenerate, they make their own puny finite minds the standard of all good, and apparently there is neither God nor truth but what exists in their own imaginations. According to Job, “no doubt but they are the people, and wisdom shall die with them,” and far from being afraid, they make their boast in their “criticism” as they call it.
Consequently they love to bring in new and strange doctrines of their own, to fill their fine buildings with vast congregations who cannot endure the
Sound Doctrine of the Word,
but who listen with delight and applause to the fables and vain imagination of their self-appointed popular leaders. If not actual scoffers like those mentioned in 2 Peter 3, they are really worse, answering — many of them — with startling similitude to those spoken of by the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, as Satan’s ministers posing as “ministers of righteousness.”
Oh, reader, beware of men who set themselves up as ministers of Christ, and yet in direct opposition to the positive declaration of that blessed Person tell us that the light-giving revelations of the Bible are mere myths and superstitious traditions. Let the inspired Word of God be your only guide in these matters. Walk in its light, it will prove indeed a lamp unto your feet, and a light unto your path, amid the thick darkness of the night of this world, and utterly reject all teaching which dares to touch the integrity of the Bible.
If the wrath of God arose against His people in the days of old until there was no remedy, how will it fare with those who take His blessed name upon their unworthy lips, and profess to serve Him, and yet practically deny Him and make Him a liar. Strong words you may say, but, reader, they are solemnly true, for they are the words of Scripture — “He that believeth not God, hath made Him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son” (1 John 5:10-12; see also John 5:46-47).
May God, according to His infinite grace, long-suffering, and abundant mercy, open the eyes of these blind leaders of the blind, before the One whom they have slighted come forth in flaming fire, with the angels of His power, to tread the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. There will then be no remedy, but judgment poured out to the full; an eternity of woe and unutterable anguish in the lake of fire, with the devil and his angels — deceiver and deceived all involved in one eternal doom. J. S.