may appear more refined, but they are just as deadly. The real tragedy of the whole affair is seen in verse 24 where it is stated: “ Yet they were not afraid.” Men surely ought to be afraid to tamper with the Holy Scriptures. The Permanence of the Roll 36:32 Men only' dash their little ships against the rock of Gibraltar when they try to destroy God’s Word. It is indestructible. Persecution seems only to increase the Word. “ For ever, O Lord, is thy word settled in heaven” (Psa. 119:89). And so, I thought, the anvil of God’s Word For ages skeptic blows have beat upon; Yet, though the noise of falling blows were heard, The anvil is unworn—the hammers gone. Helps for the Children A Scribe of Long Ago Jeremiah 36:4-8 Memory Verse: “The word of our God shall stand for ever" (Isa. 40:8). Frequently God gave important mes sages to his Old Testament servant, Jere miah. One day Jeremiah called a man named Baruch to write down the words which the Lord had spoken unto him. After the roll of a book was written, Jeremiah said unto Baruch, “ Go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the Lord in the ears of the people in the Lord’s house upon the fasting day: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities. It may be they will present their suppli cation [prayer] before the Lord, and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the Lord hath pronounced against this people.” Baruch obeyed Jeremiah’s command. Although the wicked king of the land destroyed the roll, it was rewritten; for, “the word of our God shall stand for ever.” Sometimes, when we read our Bibles, we forget the price that was paid that we may own God’s Word. Baruch was only one of God’s faithful servants who wrote many, hours that the Word of the Lord might be saved for other Chris tians. Some men even gave their lives to bring God’s Word to us! Today dozens of missionaries are spending their entire time translating God’s Word into new languages that thousands of people who have never seen a Bible may own one and learn to love the Lord Jesus. Even today there are those who are trying to destroy God’s Word. How grateful we are for His promise, “ The word of our God shall stand for ever!”
Pointers on the Lesson, H omer A. K ent , T h .D. Helps for the Children, A llison A rrowood
Lesson material is based upon outlines of the International Sunday School Lessons copyrighted by the International Council of Religious Education; used by permission.
August 1, 1948 BARUCH. A COURAGEOUS SCRIBE Jer. 36:4-8, 17-24, 32
The Reading of the Roll 36:5-7
Pointers on the Lesson Baruch means blessed. He was blessed with a faithful, devoted spirit. He was Jeremiah’s secretary, and devoted friend. He stayed true to God’s prophet during very difficult and dangerous times. It is quite likely that he could have had an easier life had he so chosen. According to Josephus, Baruch was a man of un usual abilities. He might have risen to a high position in the secular world but he repressed his ambition»in order that he might serve the cause of God. He re mained fearless in the face of an angry king. He went with Jeremiah into Egypt to share the prophet’s ministry there. He held no high position as the world reck ons things, but he was faithful in the place where God put him and so is truly one of God’s blessed men. The Writing of the Roll Jer. 36:4 It was not for Baruch to create any thing new. His was simply to Write down the very words the prophet told him to write. There was nothing very exciting about his task; it was a rather monoto nous job. But he struck to it until it was finished. What he did becomes a splendid picture of what faithfulness is: careful ly doing the job committed to one’s care, whether it be big or little. Being a sec retary or stenographer may not seem to be very spectacular, but if the work done in connection with the job is done faith fully and with an eye single to the Lord’s glory, there will be an abundant reward. Some critics wonder how Jeremiah could remember all the words which the Lord had spoken through him in times past (v. 2). But this should offer no diffi culty. The same Spirit who first com municated the messages to him could surely re - communicate them to him. These were the words that Jeremiah in turn communicated to Baruch.
Jeremiah was unable himself to go to the house of the Lord to read the Word. He was “ shut up.” Evidently, he was not in prison (v. 19). But he was hindered from addressing the people for some rea son, probably danger to his life, arising from the extreme unpopularity of his recent utterances. However, Baruch was willing to go. The burden upon the prophet’s heart was that the people would listen to the Word of God and turn from their evil ways (v. 7). It ought always to be the desire of God’s servants that when His Word is read those who hear will do something about it. There is nothing so effective in cleaning up a man’s soul as the Word of God (Psa. 107:20). God’s servants have need to give more attention to effective reading of the Holy Scriptures. Many souls have been won to Christ just from hearing the Scriptures read. Many others have found healing of their varied ills. The Burning of the Roll 36:17-24 The “ roll” referred to here was parch ment. Several skins were stitched to gether and attached to a roller of wood at both ends. The writing was arranged in columns parallel to the rollers, so that as the parchment was gradually unrolled from one end to the other, the successive col umns could be read. Our word volume, that which is rolled up, comes from this old form of book. As the roll of Scripture was unrolled and read, the king succes sively had column after column cut off and thrown into the fire until the roll was completely destroyed. This sort of thing is still going on to day. Every Shorter Bible, every attempt to deprive the Scripture of its clear meaning, every H. G. Wells with his de sire for a new Bible, is another attempt to imitate Jehoiakim. Some of these ways
M y Bible! not only true in spots, But true in every sense; True in its tittles and its iots, True in each verb and tense; True when it speaks of Heaven's joy,
True when it warns of Hell; Its truth is gold without alloy— Its source, a Springing Well!
— Keith Brooks. Page Twenty-three
JULY, 1948
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