"They knew not... the voices of the
prophets which are read every sabbath" (Acts 13:27).
The
Two Rolls (Jeremiah 36)
When the Apostle Paul
made this reference to the Prophets, he was bringing
their ministry right up to date some seven hundred years
after the days of the Prophets. Thus he showed that those
"Voices" were of enduring meaning. The context
also shows that there is a voice in the
Scriptures which is more than the words. The words could
- and can - be heard "every Sabbath", but the
voice unheard. This is an indictment, a condemnation, a
warning.
We have taken note of
several of the double messages of Jeremiah; that is, two
contrasting things set over against each other. In what
we are now going to consider it is not a matter of
contrast, but of duplication: the two rolls. It is the
story of the king's penknife with which he cut up the
roll of prophecy and cast it to the flames.
This incident has - as
far as our knowledge goes - been invariably fastened upon
in relation to destructive criticism and the battle
between conservative and liberal theologians or Bible
interpreters. It certainly does provide a first-class
instrument for such a controversy as to the authority of
the Scriptures, but it is not our intention so to use it
here. If we shut it up exclusively to such a connection
we may miss a "voice" which has a spiritual
meaning and message of - at least - equally important
significance. This is connected more with the second roll
than with the first.
The seriousness of this
message is found in the judgment of God upon that
offender. In fulfilment of the prophecy the body of
Jehoiakim was thrown over the wall to the invaders by the
very people who had not repudiated his action. That,
however, is going a long way ahead in order to show that
an action such as his does eventually issue in
disaster and calamity; in shame and retribution, however
long it may tarry.
What then is the
message or "Voice" of the two rolls? The first
was ruthlessly destroyed and cast away. No copy of it was
kept by Jeremiah or Baruch, his scribe. There were no
carbon copies of documents in those days. The
reproduction had to be like the first, a direct
inspiration by God. God had to speak the same thing a
second time (although in the second there were
additions). The point is that God did speak again
in the same terms. Do what we may in repudiation of
anything that God has revealed, either to neglect, brush
aside, or - as in this case - vehemently throw to the
flames, that which God has spoken will appear again,
undiminished, and destiny will be determined thereby.
This fact appears again and again in the Bible. Two
outstanding instances are Jesus Christ, and the churches
in Asia. It is quite evident that, whether or not Saul of
Tarsus was actually a participant in the crucifixion of
Jesus, he was spiritually so, and having believed
that the Leader had been well got rid of, he was going to
send the followers also to their death. No doubt, when
Jesus was killed, Saul's idea was that He was for ever
out of the way and had come to His deserved end. All that
remained to be done was to wipe out all that remained in
connection with Him. We can never, with the most vivid
imagination, enter into the surprise, devastation, and
shattering bewilderment of the man Saul when Jesus of
Nazareth met him with the announcement of who He was on
the road to Damascus: "I am Jesus." The second
roll, so to speak, had turned up and confronted him. He -
Saul - had used his penknife and cast Jesus of Nazareth
to the flames. He had extended that work to Stephen. Now
the encounter with Jesus Himself, but with additions. We
cannot imagine what calamity would have befallen Saul of
Tarsus if he had persisted like Jehoiakim in rebellion.
Paul wrote - perhaps
with a sob - from his prison: "All that are in Asia
turned away from me" (2 Timothy 1:15). Under God
they owed everything to Paul. Now, at length, they have
turned from him and perhaps repudiated his ministry of
"the whole counsel of God". Well, is that all
that there is to it? No, only thirty or so years later
and we have that matchless presentation and description
of Paul's Master given in the first chapter of the
Revelation. That description and presentation needs to be
considered in the light of what took place in the
forsaking of Paul, and the development of the subsequent
thirty years. With that detailed, symbolic presentation
the churches in Asia are challenged, interrogated, and
judged, with their destiny in the balances, as to their
reaction to Jesus - yes - and to Paul's
"Voice". The second roll came up,
and it was decisive.
These instances are
such as to give very forceful argument to this principle:
we can never ultimately get away from anything that God
has shown, whatever may be our present attitude. It will
come back again, and our eternal position will be hanging
upon it. This, of course, is of many-sided application.
In Acts 13 Paul is
showing that Israel's tragedy - which has lasted for
these many centuries - was because they thought that
their neglect, or violence, would not return upon them in
judgment. But they are under the aegis of the Second
Roll. "Today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not
your heart."