A very special chapter in the book of Jeremiah is chapter 45. Jeremiah 45.
This chapter seems almost out of context with the whole book, but it is part of the book of Jeremiah.
The word that Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,
Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning thee, O Baruch:
Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the Lord hath added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.
Thus shalt thou say unto him, Thus saith the Lord: Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up; and this in the whole land.
And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not; for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord; but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.
And seekest thou great things for thyself?
Baruch is a very interesting character. He is not a prophet like Jeremiah, and yet he is very closely associated with Jeremiah. His very name, Baruch, means “blessed,” and surely he is blessed of the Lord.
Now, who is this man, Baruch? He is a scribe. In Old Testament times, a scribe could be a government official or secretary, a chronicler—one who records the important events of the state. Or a scribe could be one who copies the law, not only copying it but teaching it.
Baruch is a scribe. Now, in the beginning, before the exile—that is, before the children of Israel were taken into captivity—the scribes were usually Levites. They were the ones who served as scribes.
But after the exile, a special group of people were trained especially for this work, and mostly they were laymen, not Levites.
As the work of a scribe gradually developed, they not only copied the law, but they began to formulate and gather together all those interpretations by authorities concerning the law. In other words, the scribes not only copied the law of God, but they also gathered the traditions of the elders, the so-called oral laws. These became the main work of the scribes.
Whether Baruch was a Levite—most likely he was—whether he was a government secretary, or simply one who copied the Scriptures, we do not know for sure. But one thing we know: he was closely associated with the prophet Jeremiah.
He was a person who was of one mind and one heart with Jeremiah. Oftentimes, when you read the book of Jeremiah, you probably have the impression that Jeremiah was all alone. He was a man raised by God as God’s spokesman. He was to speak against not only the nation of Israel, but all the nations. He was to oppose the kings, the priests, the other prophets, and all the people. He stood alone by himself for God.
Jeremiah must have been a very lonely prophet. And yet the Word of God tells us that Jeremiah was not alone. God gave him a companion. Baruch also stood for God and stood with Jeremiah, and thank God for that.
At one time Elijah felt that he was all by himself. He even complained to God and said, “They have killed all the prophets, and now I am all by myself, and they want to kill me.” But God told Elijah that He had seven thousand who had not bowed their knees to Baal. God has His hidden ones everywhere throughout the ages.
Dear brothers and sisters, if we want to follow the Lord, the way of the cross is a very lonely way. If you want to follow the Lord, if you want to take up your cross and follow Him, you will sense a loneliness. From time to time, you will feel that you are all by yourself alone.
Our Lord Jesus had to tread the winepress alone. He had to go to the cross and be crucified there by Himself. The way of the cross is a very lonely way.
And yet, even with our Lord, when He went to the Garden of Gethsemane, He took three especially with Him. He went a little further to pray, and He asked His three companions to watch and pray. Unfortunately, they fell asleep.
Even when He was hung on the cross, all alone between heaven and earth, His beloved disciple John and some of the women were there at the cross. They could not share His suffering, and yet they were there. They were there.
Dear brothers and sisters, when you follow the Lord, when you walk in the way of the cross, you will sense that loneliness. In a sense, you are all alone. There is nobody else, as it were, who can share with you. It is as if you are the only one in the universe walking and following the Lord.
This is very true so far as our feeling is concerned. You will experience such a feeling. But do not forget that, at the same time, there are other brothers and sisters who are feeling the same thing, and they are your companions. You are not alone. God has many of His hidden ones, and they are all going the same way.
Even the great apostle Paul had companions. God gave him Timothy, Silas, Titus, and others. So, in one sense, the way of the cross is very lonesome; but in another sense, God gives companions that you and I may stand, that we may be able to encourage one another and strengthen one another in the Lord.
Now, this man Baruch was not given the gift of prophecy. God did not make him a prophet. He was just a scribe. Was he bitter and jealous because of this? Not at all.
Even though he was not given the gift of prophecy, certainly God raised him up as a teacher. He had a very important job. He was to transcribe, from the mouth of Jeremiah, all the words of God.
What would happen if Jeremiah prophesied and there was no record? The prophecies might profit the men of Jeremiah’s time, those who heard Jeremiah; but how many heard Jeremiah? The generations afterwards, we today, would not benefit from the prophecies of Jeremiah.
Thank God, whatever words God gave to Jeremiah were recorded in writing by the scribe Baruch. He recorded every word of God that came out of the mouth of Jeremiah. A very important ministry.
In the body of Christ, God raises up different ministries. God does not give everyone the same gift. To some He may give the gift of prophecy; to others, the gift of teaching; to others, the gift of helps, sympathy, compassion, mercy, government, and every kind of service.
In the body of Christ, we are all members one of another. Everyone is given a gift, and there is a ministry that we must fulfill. We cannot fulfill other people’s ministry. God does not want us to copy others. God does not want us to substitute for others. God gives us different gifts as He puts us in different parts of the body of Christ, and every one of us has a ministry to fulfill.
Jeremiah’s ministry was prophesying. Baruch’s ministry was to record, so that the Word could be passed on to the following generations. Very important.
Of course, revelation is basic to all spiritual things. How can a prophet prophesy if he does not receive revelation? A prophet is one to whom revelation is given—an unveiling of the mind of God concerning specific situations, and an unveiling of the mind of God regarding His eternal purpose.
Having received such revelation, he is in a position to prophesy. He is in a position to speak forth the whole counsel of God, to speak forth the judgment of God. Revelation is basic to all spiritual things.
But, dear brothers and sisters, faithfulness is also a very essential ingredient. Baruch did not receive revelation, and yet he faithfully recorded every word of God. Faithfulness is essential to revelation. These are two things that are very, very essential.
Do you remember the apostle Paul saying, “I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision”? First, he needed to receive a heavenly vision—that is revelation. But even after he received that revelation, second, he had to be faithful to that revelation.
Revelation is rare, but faithfulness is even rarer. These are the two things that are very necessary to us today.
Oh, how we need people who have revelation. By revelation, we do not mean that you can have new revelation outside of the Scriptures—not at all. But revelation is a new discovery, an unveiling of what is already in the Scripture.
We need to have the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of God. This is something that God’s people need very much. We need to ask for wisdom. James said, if we need wisdom, ask for it and do not doubt; then He will answer us and give it to us.
We need to ask the Lord to give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation. We need to acknowledge before God that, by ourselves, through human reasoning, we can never understand the things of God. We need to acknowledge our utter dependence upon the Spirit of God.
If we acknowledge it, if we seek Him, He will reveal Christ not only to us but in us, because it is His pleasure to do that. If we do not receive revelation, it is not because God does not want to give. It pleases God to reveal. It is because we are not humble enough.
We depend on ourselves too much. We think we know. We think we can understand. We do not seek His face. Oh, if only we humble ourselves and seek His face, He will reveal Christ to us in such a way as we may never have experienced before.
But, dear brothers and sisters, revelation is only one thing. There are people who do see something, who do know something, who have had something revealed to them. But how many are faithful to the revelation that has been given?
What is our obedience? How far have we followed the Lord of glory who has appeared to us? Here you find, in Jeremiah and Baruch, a good combination: Jeremiah had revelation, and Baruch had faithfulness.
Furthermore, Baruch was a person who recorded all the words that came out of the mouth of Jeremiah. He added nothing, neither did he delete anything. In other words, every word that came out of the mouth of Jeremiah—the Word of God—he recorded word by word. He did not miss anything, neither did he add anything.
When you approach the Word of God, we need to be very, very objective. Brothers and sisters, sometimes it is very difficult to be objective. You can test it yourself. Even when you are reading the Bible, suppose you take a chapter and read it. You will discover that you somehow read aloud something that is not in the Scripture. You change some words.
Why? Because you are not that objective. You have your thinking, your interpretation, your thoughts. You think it must be that way, so when you read it, somehow it comes out that way. I often find that when people are reading the Bible, they do not read it exactly.
But in approaching the Word of God, we need to be very, very objective. We should not inject our thoughts, our views, or ourselves into the Bible. We should read it as it is written.
This is very important. People who are too subjective can never read the Bible well, because every time they read the Bible, they read it with their own thoughts.
You have to be very objective to read the Word of God. Your feelings, your affections, your views, and your opinions should never interfere with the Word of God. Let the Word of God speak as it is. If it hurts, let it hurt. If it convicts, let it convict. You have to be objective.
Even at the very end of the Bible, in Revelation 22, it is said that if anybody adds anything to the Word, God will add to him the plagues recorded in the book. If anyone takes away anything from the Word, God will take away his portion from the tree of life and out of the holy city, the New Jerusalem. Very serious.
Oh, brothers and sisters, people inject their own thoughts and their own things into the Word of God which are not there. We are too subjective, and that includes every one of us. You try it.
So, in the first place, in approaching the Word of God, you have to be very, very objective. But if you are only objective, you will never know the Word of God either.
You have to begin very objectively, but it has to become subjective afterwards. In other words, you cannot read the Word of God as if you are reading a history. You have to read the Word of God until your whole being is absorbed by the Word of God.
Look at Baruch. He was so objective that he could write every word that came out of the mouth of Jeremiah. He did not change even one word.
Yet, at the same time, when he recorded these words, his heart was so absorbed by the Word of God that he cried out:
Woe is me now! for the Lord hath added sorrow to my pain;
I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.
He was a person in full sympathy with God. He saw the situation of his brethren, of his own people. These were his sorrows. He sighed a lot, as Jeremiah wept a lot, when they considered the condition of their brethren and their people. They wept. They sighed. These were their sorrows.
But now grief was added to sorrow. Why? Because when he recorded the Word of God, these were words of judgment. God said He would pluck up; He would destroy. The children of God would be taken into captivity in Babylon. The judgment seemed irrevocable because they would not repent.
Here you find that he was not only in full sympathy with the people; he was in full sympathy with God. He knew that this judgment would come, and grief was added to sorrow. He could not rest. Brothers and sisters, that is the way to approach the Word of God.
If you can read the Word of God as a professor giving a class, you are merely teaching something or reading something. It has nothing to do with you. You are completely out of the picture. You will never know the Word of God.
When you approach the Word of God, first you have to be so objective that it can remain pure and unadulterated. But then, when the Word of God is read, does it touch your heart?
You find this with the prophet Ezekiel, and later with John the apostle. When they received the Word of God, they had to swallow it; they had to eat the little book. When it was in their mouth, it was sweet, but after it came into the belly, it was bitter.
You find the Word of God and the person being merged together. The Word of God has to be your very life, your very feeling. It has to take hold of your whole person. You have to sigh with the Word of God. You have to weep with the Word of God. You have to laugh with the Word of God. You have to cry with the Word of God. It has to be intensely subjective.
Well, how do you reconcile objectivity and subjectivity and join them into one? Thank God, it is possible. God never compromises. We often try to compromise and say, “Well, less objective and less subjective; then it will work.” No. You have to be completely objective and perfectly subjective, and then it works.
This is the way to approach the Word of God, and this is the way Baruch approached God’s Word. He was a scribe.
If you know from history how these scribes transcribed the law, the Word of God, you know how careful they were. When they transcribed the Word of God, they were so careful because it was sacred to them. They dared not change it at any point. They had to be very, very careful.
They washed their hands, and whenever they wanted to write the name of God, they had to wash themselves before they wrote the name of God. Tremendous. Of course, even with such objectivity, they were still human. We are human, you know.
How careful we must be with the Word of God. Yet, at the same time, how we need to be absorbed by God’s Word. God’s Word has to be assimilated into us. It has to make us feel it—make us feel it.
Oh, brothers and sisters, if we read the Word of God and do not feel it, we have not read the Word of God.
That was Baruch, the scribe. Because he faithfully recorded the Word of God, and Jeremiah at that time was in prison in the court, Jeremiah could not go out and speak to the people.
So, after Jeremiah commanded Baruch to record all the words of God, Jeremiah said, “You go. You go to the gates of the temple, and there you read it to the people.”
Most likely, this was done in the ninth month of the fifth year of King Jehoiakim, because at that time he called a great fast. He called the people together for a great fast, a national fast. People came from all directions, and Baruch took that book, stood at the gates where the people would come, and read the book before the public.
Because of that, something happened. First, the nobles heard about it. So they called him and asked him to bring the book and read it to them. He read it to the nobles, to the princes, and they were frightened. So they said, “We have to report to the king.”
They reported to the king, and the king asked for the book. The princes asked Baruch to hide himself. The book was brought to the king, and after the king read a page or two, he threw it into the fire and burned it. Then he sought the life of Jeremiah and Baruch.
God hid them. The king could not find them. In other words, here you find that, in being faithful to the Word of God, Baruch was persecuted. He had to suffer.
And not only that: after the Jews were taken into captivity, a remnant remained in the land. They wanted to go to Egypt, and they asked Jeremiah to seek the Lord as to whether they should remain or go to Egypt. Actually, they had already decided to go. But when God said, “Do not go,” what did they say?
They said that Baruch was behind Jeremiah, trying to build up a conspiracy to deliver them into the hands of the Chaldeans to be killed. They accused Baruch. It was a false accusation, of course. But you know his unpopularity. You know what happened to this man, the sufferings he had to go through.
Dear brothers and sisters, this was not only true of him. Everyone who is faithful to the Word of God has to suffer for God’s Word.
Do you think being faithful to God’s Word will give you a smooth, popular, easy life to live? Not at all. The Bible tells us very, very clearly that if anyone wants to follow the Lord, he has to deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Him.
If we save our life, we will lose it. But if we lose it for His sake, we shall gain it for eternity. Anyone who is to enter into the kingdom of God must suffer persecution. It is unavoidable.
Brothers and sisters, do not be surprised. It is not a strange thing. If you are faithful to God and to His Word, you will suffer. You will never be popular. People will misunderstand you. People will falsely accuse you.
But thank God, the Lord Jesus said that if you are persecuted for His sake, rejoice; leap for joy, for your reward is great in the kingdom.
We do thank God for this man Baruch, a scribe. He was not as prominent as Jeremiah, probably unknown to you until this morning. Yet what a man he was.
But Baruch had a weakness. In spite of his one mind and one spirit with Jeremiah, in spite of his faithfulness in recording the Word, and in spite of the fact that he suffered much for God, this man had a weakness.
And what was this weakness? God said:
Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up; and this in the whole land.
And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not.
Isn’t that strange? A man who was so faithful to God, faithful to God’s Word, stood with God and with Jeremiah, yet secretly seeking great things for himself. Isn’t that a contradiction?
As he recorded the Word of God through the mouth of Jeremiah, the Word plainly said that the nation of Judah would be destroyed. The people would be taken into captivity. There was no hope. The judgment was complete.
Yet, even though he faithfully recorded these words, read them, and suffered for them, secretly he was hoping that it might not be so. Probably he could still gain something in the world. Maybe he could advance in the court. Maybe he could become popular. Maybe he could gain something for himself—great things for himself.
In other words, he was still dreaming. Under such a situation, under such circumstances, God had already pronounced judgment, and yet he was still hoping that it was not that bad, or that he could still gain something—great things for himself. He had ambition for himself.
Last time we mentioned Jeremiah 33. God says:
Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and will show thee great things, and difficult, which thou knowest not.
God said, “You call unto Me, and I will answer you, and I will show you great things—impossible things, unattainable things, hard things, hidden things that you know nothing of.”
Yes, God had great things. God had great things that He was going to do. In the case of Jeremiah, it was the return from captivity—not only the return, but eventually the establishing of the kingdom of the Messiah, the Branch of David, the coming of Christ.
You see, God had great things. God says, “You call unto Me, and I will answer you, and I will show you these great things”—the great things of God. Brothers and sisters, these are the things that we should seek after.
And yet, over against the great things of God, you find Baruch seeking great things for himself. If you see the great things of God, then your great things really are nothing.
What are you seeking for? Do you just want something for yourself—some gain, some popularity, some fame, some position, some wealth, some recognition, or even spiritual recognition, so that people think you are a great spiritual person? Are you seeking something for yourself?
Oh, brothers and sisters, there are the great things of God, and these are the things that you should seek. But do not seek great things for yourself. They are nothing.
Do you think this was something special to Baruch? Not at all. Look at the disciples of our Lord Jesus.
When our Lord was on earth, you remember the twelve disciples who followed Him so closely. They left everything and followed the Lord. They were faithful to the Lord in a sense. When other people left, they stayed with the Lord. They continued on with the Lord. They were very faithful.
But again and again, the Bible says that when the Lord began to reveal to them that He must go to Jerusalem and must die, but on the third day He would be raised from the dead, the Lord was showing them great things—the great work of redemption.
Yet while the Lord was telling them of the great things of God, what were these disciples doing? They were arguing among themselves as to who was greatest.
Did they not leave everything for the Lord? Were they not faithful to the Lord? They were. Yet they sought great things for themselves.
Whether they were thinking of the physical kingdom, expecting the Lord to establish the Messianic kingdom, or whether they were seeking a position in the spiritual kingdom, the tendency was the same.
The Lord said, “If you lose your life for My sake, you gain it for eternity. If you gain it now, you will lose it.” And Peter said, “Lord, we have left everything for You. What shall we have?” The Lord said, “The first shall be last, and the last shall be first.”
Do we seek great things for ourselves in following the Lord? Do we have an ulterior motive? Or is our whole motive simply to follow the Lord—follow the Lord?
Dear brothers and sisters, we are human. There is the weakness of the flesh, and the weakness of the flesh is that we seek great things for ourselves instead of seeking to know the great things of God.
So the Word of God to Baruch was, “Do not seek it. Do not seek it.” God said, “What I have built, I will destroy. What I have planted, I will pluck up.”
In other words, the nation of Israel was built up by God in the beginning. It was planted by God. But God said, “I am going to destroy it. I am going to pluck it up. Evil will come upon the nation.”
The situation would not change. Baruch would not be able to gain great things for himself. The whole thing would go, including his dream. But God said, “I promise you one thing.”
But thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.
God did not promise Baruch any great thing—popularity, position, or wealth. But because he followed the Lord so faithfully, God promised him his life. God said, “Wherever you go, nobody can touch your life. You may lose everything, but your life will be preserved.”
Brothers and sisters, if you gain the whole world and lose your life, what profit is it?
Evidently, Baruch went to Egypt too. When the remnant decided to go to Egypt, they brought Jeremiah and Baruch along with them. But wherever he went, nobody could touch him. His life was given to him for a prey.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, we are living in a time when God is going to pluck up and destroy the world. The earth, the world that God has built, is going to be destroyed. The whole system will collapse. Everything will be plucked up.
We are living in a time when nothing is stable. Everything will go. The world and the things of the world shall pass away.
But if we are faithful to God, He promises one thing: life. Wherever we go, we have life.
Everywhere is destruction. Everywhere is death. But we are promised that nothing can swallow up that life, because that life is the life that comes out of resurrection.
The Lord said, “I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth on Me, though he die, yet shall he live.” The Lord has promised us life.
No matter what circumstance you may be in, no matter what hardship you may have to suffer, no matter what problem you may have, no matter what temptation you may encounter, no matter how people may treat you, thank God, He has promised us one thing: there is life there.
And this life shall overcome everything.
God does not promise you wealth. God does not promise you fame. God does not promise you popularity, position, power, material gain, or even spirituality. But He does promise you this: if you follow the Lord faithfully, He promises you life.
You remember the promise of God to the church in Smyrna: the crown of life. I believe this is the best promise.
What do we desire? Dear brothers and sisters, if we desire great things for ourselves, we will die. But if we desire God, we will live, and live forever. This is a precious promise.
So may the Lord use these words to encourage us at this end of days.
Our heavenly Father, how we praise and thank Thee. Thy Word is so clear, so direct, so precious.
We do desire that Thou wouldst search us with Thy Word. See if there is any evil in us. Lead us in the way of life.
Oh, we do desire to love Thee with all our hearts, in purity. Deliver us from seeking great things for ourselves.
Oh Lord, we want to see great things of Thee. And Thou dost promise us to give us life. Oh, how we praise Thee. In Thy precious name, amen.