Writing and Speaking for Jesus Christ

“The Word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the instruction of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: you said, woe is me now! For the Lord has added grief to my sorrow. I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest. Thus you shall say to him, thus says the Lord: behold, what I have built I will break down, and what I have planted I will pluck up, that is, this whole land. And do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, I will bring adversity on all flesh, says the Lord. But I will give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go.’” Jeremiah 45:1-5

After addressing the Judean people and kings, Jeremiah addresses his scribe Baruch. The Holy Spirit directed other writers of the Bible to mention their helpers in their books. For example, Paul and Peter at the end of their books. If placed in chronological order, Jeremiah chapter 45 would follow Jeremiah chapter 36, but since Jeremiah chapter 44 is the end of his prophecy to those from Judea, he places his message to Baruch at the end of Judean section in chapter 45.

In Jeremiah chapter 36, after Baruch did a good work, bad things happened. Baruch wrote down Jeremiah’s words and read them in the temple. Baruch did something wonderful for the Lord and for his people, but his king seized his writings and burned them in a fire. Friendly officials advised Baruch to go into hiding. Thus, he lamented that the Lord had added grief to his sorrow.

Perhaps, before Baruch read Jeremiah’s prophecy publicly, he envisioned gaining a good reputation for himself, but when he had to hide himself like a criminal, he felt restless.

How many of us have been tempted to stop witnessing for Christ due to poor treatment?

Philip Ryken wrote, “Baruch’s complaint yields two important insights about depression. The first is that every complaint is finally a complaint about God.” “God cut right to the heart of Baruch’s real problem. He was seeking something for himself.”

Phillip Ryken wrote about Baruch, saying, “Maybe he wanted a promotion. After all, he was well educated. He came from a prominent family. His grandfather Mahseiah had been the governor. His brother Seriah was a high-ranking official. But now he was stuck taking dictation.” “Some Christians think the important thing is not God’s will get done, but that they get to do it.” “That is the way the sinful self is. It is unwilling to lie down and die. It will take every advantage of every opportunity to seek great things for itself.” “That is why the self must die. And the place that selves go to die is the cross of Jesus Christ.” [1]

George Orwell wrote, “The farther a nation gets from the truth the more it will hate those who speak it.” Those who hate the truth do not applaud those who speak it. Truth comes from Christ and only Christ supplies sufficient grace and love in our hearts to keep speaking truth.

David wrote in Psalms 27:13, “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:1, 16, “Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not... but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” In Galatians 6:9, Paul wrote, “Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Hebrews 12:3-4 encourages us to think on Jesus: “For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.”

In Jeremiah 12:1-5, Jeremiah grieved in a similar fashion as Baruch. Now, he has words from the Lord to encourage Baruch. The Lord turned his healed hurt into a salve which he could apply to the wound of his partner in ministry.

The Lord’s word to Baruch was, “I will give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go.” The word prize in this verse refers to the spoils of war sometimes referred to as booty. Baruch received two outstanding blessings from the Lord. The first outstanding blessing was that he had the privilege to serve God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe during his life on earth. Such a noble purpose for one’s life! The second outstanding blessing was that the Lord promised to preserve his life from being destroyed by the battle.

In Matthew 6:25-27, Jesus assured us of our Heavenly Father’s provision as we serve Him. He said, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

In Matthew 6:31-33, Jesus urges us to stay focused on serving God and let God take care of our earthly needs. “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

Finally, in Jeremiah 9:23-24, the Lord says, “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight, says the Lord.”

Paul wrote in Philippians 1:20 that his earnest expectation and hope was that Christ would be magnified in his body, whether by life or by death. And in Colossians 3:17 he wrote to others, saying, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

The Lord said to Baruch, “Do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them.” This is a very good word for all who serve the Lord to remember. This word helped me.

On October 13, 2012, I had the idea to write a book about the prophet Jeremiah. At first, I thought if I sensationalized him as a type of tough no-nonsense hero, I could increase the number of people who would want to read about him and learn from him.

Thankfully, the very next morning, the first reading on my daily Bible reading schedule was Jeremiah 45. In Jeremiah 45:5, the Lord told Baruch not to seek great things for himself. I took God’s word to Baruch as God’s word to me. Do not sensationalize the Book of Jeremiah!

Since then, the Lord has helped me to see how most producers of Bible-based movies tend to put more of their own ideas into the story than truth from the Bible. What did Jesus do?

During His ministry in earthly flesh, Jesus said in John 12:49-50, “I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.” Jesus was and is a reliable witness for God. He set this example for us to follow.

John 1:18 says, “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” The Greek word for “declared” in this text is “εξηγησατο.” The word “εξηγησατο” is from the Greek verb “ἐξηγέομαι” (exégeomai), which means to explain, interpret, or declare in detail. Jesus is the interpreter of God for us. He helps us to understand God. Without a personal relationship with Christ, we will misrepresent God. Without seeking the glory of Him who sent His Son, we will misrepresent God. To be a reliable witness for God, we must submit ourselves to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and not set our personal agendas above Him.

In Luke 24:27, Jesus expounded all things about Himself from Moses and the Prophets to His disciples. In Revelation 1:1-2, Jesus is the One who reveals the things which must shortly come to pass to God’s servants.

Jesus only speaks what is true and accurate about God.

I like what the prophet Micaiah said in 1 Kings 22:14. He said, “As the Lord lives, whatever the Lord says to me, that I will speak.’” We should not change what God has said to please politicians, denominations, friends or ourselves. We should speak to please God.

To be reliable a witness for God, we must know Him and His Word accurately.

I find reading the Bible from cover to cover each year helpful. I have done this for many years via a discipline entitled, “No Bible no breakfast.” This means I don’t get to eat after I wake up from sleep until I have read the Bible first. My Bible reading consists of reading two chapters from the Old Testament each day beginning with Genesis 1 on January first and ending with Malachi 4 on December thirty-first. I skip over Psalms and Proverbs during that process. Why – because I read 3 Psalms daily beginning with Psalm 1-3 and work my way through the Book of Psalms every 50 days. Psalms are prayers and prayers are important to our spiritual life. I read one chapter of Proverbs daily beginning with Proverbs 1 on the first day of the month and end with either Proverbs 28, 29, 30 or 31 depending on how many days are in that month. Proverbs are wise sayings that impart God’s wisdom. I read one chapter of the New Testament daily beginning with Matthew 1 on January first. I finish reading the New Testament before the year ends, so I reread portions of the New Testament that I would like to read again until the year ends.

When Martin Luther read the Bible, he compared what the Bible said in one place on a topic with what it says about the same topic in other places in the Bible. He used a simple phrase to explain this method, saying, “Scripture interprets Scripture.” If you don’t understand a Bible verse, find out how it relates to other teachings in the Bible by reading its cross-references.

The Protestant Reformation was an outcome of Luther’s meticulous study of God’s Word. He wrestled with God in prayer over passages that he did not understand until the Lord revealed to him the true meaning of those verses. He also translated the Bible from its original languages into the German language. His bold stand against false teaching in the Catholic Church was an outcome of his certainty about what the Bible said about salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. When asked by Catholic officials to recant his teachings, Luther said that he was “bound by the Scriptures” and his “conscience was captive to the Word of God.”

Before I began writing about the prophet Jeremiah, I read and took notes from Philip Graham Ryken’s book entitled, “Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope” and from Theodore Laetsch’s, “Commentary on Jeremiah.” They did extensive and helpful research on his prophecy.

Bible commentaries and theological books are helpful tools. I like the Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary because it provides the original Hebrew meaning of the English words in his book.

I find making pictures of scenes from Jeremiah’s book helpful. Movie producers use storyboards to pre-visualize the entire film. The storyboards act as a visual roadmap that translates a script into images to plan camera angles, movements, composition, and pacing. This process ensures the creative vision is clearly communicated to everyone involved. After I recreate a scene, I compare my picture with the text. This helps me to see if I rightly envisioned the passage.

I don’t want to seek great things for myself. I want to be a reliable witness for Christ. In Revelation 1:9, John the Apostle wrote that he “was on the island that is called Patmos for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.” As long as I am on the earth, I hope to speak God’s Word and testify for Jesus Christ and help others to do the same.



[1] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, pp. 638-639. See also Jeremiah 32:12, 51:59 and 2 Chronicles 34:8