Jeremiah 36:32: “Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it at the instruction of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And besides, there were added to them many similar words.”

November 4th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Here we have a fascinating record of God commanding Jeremiah to write down, in one place, every message he had been given since he began his ministry in 627 BC. He was then told to read it to the people in the temple so that all the citizens of Jerusalem could hear exactly what God was saying to warn of the coming storm. By hearing if for themselves, the hope was that they would turn from their sins. But whether or not they choose to heed God’s warning, they would be held accountable for hearing it personally. When it was read to King Jehoiakim, he cut it with a knife and threw it in the fire. God instructed Jeremiah to write it out again, which is how the Book of Jeremiah was preserved after the first one was destroyed. God has made a point of preserving His word for His children so that we can know Him, know the promises He’s made, and what it means to be His child. He has also provided historical facts that can be traced and proved so that we can have an even deeper faith in His word.

We live in an exciting time today, as every year archeologists make new discoveries that prove the accuracy and reliability of the Bible, showing the recorded events and locations exactly as they happened. For decades it has been fashionable in this arena of science to try and debunk Scripture. But thankfully, better scientific methods and greater tenacity by scholars of integrity have led to earlier discoveries being re-evaluated. The British archeologist Kathleen Kenyon dug up Jericho and found vast amounts of grain in the city, proving that it was not under a long siege but fell during a short attack. She also discovered that the walls had fallen outward, as if in a sudden collapse. But Kenyon went on to conclude that Jericho had fallen 150 years before Joshua and the Hebrews arrived, which would mean that the Bible was inaccurate. However, in Time magazine’s science section (March 1990), Canadian archeologist Dr. Bryant Wood challenged Kenyon’s theory, stating that she may have been wrong and the Bible correct after all. Wood, an expert in ancient mid-east pottery, noted that based on pottery unearthed in graves, the city’s walls did indeed come tumbling down during the time of Joshua.

Down through the ages, believers have always been able to rely on God’s word and nothing has changed in this era of skepticism and rude atheism. As American evangelist D. L. Moody discovered many years ago:

I prayed for faith, and thought that some day faith would come down and strike me like lightning. But faith did not seem to come. One day I read in the tenth chapter of Romans, “Now faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” I had closed my Bible, and prayed for faith. I now opened my Bible, and began to study, and faith has been growing ever since.

“LORD, we study Your word so that we might know You better this day.”