22 It was the ninth month, and the king was sitting in the winter house, and there was a fire burning in the firepot before him. 23 As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the firepot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the firepot. – Jeremiah 36:22-23
Feeding The Fire
We will end our look at the indestructible nature of God’s Word where we began, by the fire of Jehoiakim. With his knife and firepot, Jehoiakim thought he could destroy God’s Word. When he looked into the fire and saw the ashes, he probably assumed he had accomplished his task. He could not have been more wrong. It is Jehoiakim who is long gone. His fire burned out long ago, but the Word of God keeps spreading. The original scroll Jeremiah dictated may have been turned to ashes, but God’s message through Jeremiah will endure forever as part of God’s living Word: the Bible. Although Jehoiakim died long ago, the arrogance he exemplified has often been repeated. Too often.
Diocletian
After the resurrection of Christ, Christianity spread like wildfire in the Roman empire filling a spiritual void that paganism could not. Just as the religious leaders of the day had seen Christ as a threat necessary to destroy, the Roman ruler Valerius Diocletian saw Christianity as a threat to the security of his empire. Accordingly, Diocletian issued an edict to destroy Christians and their Bibles. Perhaps with a smugness not unlike Jehoiakim centuries before, Diocletian built a monument over a burned Bible with these words, Extincto momene Christianorum (the name of Christian is extinguished). Although he forbid the assembly of Christians and burned down their churches, Diocletian’s claim of having extinguished Christianity was premature. Twenty years after building his monument over a burned Bible, Diocletian was dead and the new Emperor, Constantine, commissioned fifty copies of the Bible to be prepared at government expense.
Voltaire
I am not sure why, but the enemies of the Bible seem to have a penchant for burning it. When Voltaire was at the peak of his influence, France rejected the Scriptures. To prove their triumph over the “bondage” of the Scriptures, the French tied a copy of the Bible to the tail of a donkey, and dragged it through the streets to the city dump, where it was ceremoniously burned. What did their liberation from the Bible do for France? Since that time, the government of France has fallen thirty-five times. Voltaire was the champion of Rationalism. He was a philosopher and an author. As a deist, his writings were filled with hatred towards the Bible. Voltaire was famous. He was influential. But he was an infidel. In short, he was not the man you would want to shape your culture. Like Diocletian centuries before, Voltaire also overestimated his success in destroying the Bible and wiping out Christianity. In his vanity he proclaimed, “In less than a hundred years the Bible will be discarded and Christianity swept from the earth.” Like Diocletian, Voltaire was wrong. In fact fifty years after his death the Geneva Bible Society purchased his house and used his printing press to publish Bibles throughout Europe. One hundred years after his death, an ancient copy of a Codex (manuscript of Bible) sold for $500,000.00. That same day a copy of Voltaire’s writing sold for eleven cents in Paris. Two hundred years after his death, the Bible continues to be the best selling book, while Voltaire’s writings are “in the dump”.
Thomas Paine
Despite the lack of success, the enemies of the Bible continue to attack it. Thomas Paine, an American influenced by Voltaire and French deism, would write The Age of Reason, a passionate attack against the Bible. He was succeeded by the politician, Robert Ingersoll who was a highly sought after agnostic lecturer. He was paid very well to “tear apart” the Bible in his lectures. In his opinion, the teachings of Darwin would destroy the Bible. Paine and Ingersoll are both dead and the Bible still stands.
Still Standing
Obviously there are many more examples we could share but the conclusion is the same. The Bible has been attacked by men with political power. It has been attacked by philosophers. It has been attacked from within, men claiming to be religious. It has stood up to higher criticism. It has withstood the Enlightenment. It has withstood Rationalism. It will withstand every -ism the world continues to throw at it. It’s enemies will pass away and most of their names will pass into oblivion. Their flesh will wither. Their glory will fall. Some day this earth will be burned, but the Word of God will remain. What are you doing with it?
24 for “All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
And this word is the good news that was preached to you. – 1 Peter 1:24-25
The Anvil — God’s Word
LAST EVE I passed beside a blacksmith’s door,
And heard the anvil ring the vesper chime;
Then, looking in, I saw upon the floor
Old hammers, worn with beating years of time.
” How many anvils have you had, ” said I,
” To wear and batter all these hammers so? ”
” Just one, ” said he, and then, with twinkling eye,
” The anvil wears the hammers out, you know. ”
And so, thought I, the anvil of God’s Word,
For ages skeptic blows have beat upon;
Yet, though the noise of falling blows was heard,
The anvil is unharmed — the hammers gone.
By John Clifford.