Without the Holy Bible there is no Gospel message, no good news about Jesus Christ.  It is through the pages of Holy Scripture that we learn the truth about Jesus.  And the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the very power of God unto salvation for every human being who believes it.  For this very reason the Bible, including the Gospel message, is under attack in every generation.

This is no small fact.  Satan has been trying to rid the world of God’s truth from the beginning.  Even in Old Testament times evil people tried in various ways to destroy the Scriptures.  Jeremiah the prophet experienced this first hand when he had God’s message read aloud to Jehoiakim, the king of Israel.  As each portion of the scroll was read in the presence of the king, Jehoiakim had it removed with a knife and thrown into the fire.

God’s will, however, cannot be stopped, slowed down or turned aside by human or demonic intervention.  The Lord did not prevent the king from destroying the scroll.  Instead He simply instructed Jeremiah to produce another scroll.

No doubt Jeremiah had been recording the visions and words he had received from God since he was young.  His home may have been filled with the bits and scraps of leather, papyrus, potshards, and cloth on which notes and writings had been recorded.  It would not be difficult for Jeremiah to again piece together the message God had been giving him since his youth (see, for example, Jeremiah 1:1-10).

In fact, the latter scroll included more material than the original, according to 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. (NKJV)”

Knowing how God works, I would not be surprised to learn (someday, up in heaven, when I get to talk to Jeremiah in person) that the first scroll had lacked some important element or two of the message God had given to the prophet.  Such things happen, even when we try our very best to avoid making such mistakes.

If such is the case, then God may have actually used the devil (and his puppet king) to get rid of Jeremiah’s earlier work, which forced the man of God to prepare a new scroll — a larger scroll that included “more words” — the entire message of God.

One thing is known for certain: the Book of Jeremiah the prophet contains more words than any other book in the Bible.  And for me, this is God’s answer to all evil intents.  No matter what forces of evil come against the Bible or against God’s people, no matter what efforts or strategies Satan or evil men come up with to rid the world of God’s truth, the Lord will always give back to us more than He allows to be taken away.  Seven times more, and seventy times seven, until the end of the age.

Jesus cannot be beaten because He alone is Lord of heaven and earth.  Whatever God says will happen, whatever God wills is always going to be done, no matter what.  As the Lord Jesus Himself once said, “”Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”  (Matthew 24:35, NKJV)