Everyone has mates
JEREMIAH 26
Baruch was the scribe for Jeremiah. We will see this stated in chapter 36. As secretary and friend he wrote down all of Jeremiah’s prophecies. We are reading Jeremiah today because of Baruch. We can see Baruch in today’s chapter in v20-23. Read it again, see the brackets? This is Baruch, adding his own insight into the situation where Jeremiah’s life is on the line as he faces his attackers. He mentions Uriah, another prophet like Jeremiah, but who in similar situations fled to Egypt but who then was killed.
The point is this: Baruch tells us that just like Jeremiah did, we must face up to that which opposes us and not run from it. Do not flee in fear, stand in faith. The Apostle Paul wrote “we face death all day long” (Rom 8:36); Isaiah prophesied the Messiah would set his face like flint (50:7) and Luke records how Jesus “resolutely set out to Jerusalem” (9:51). I used to sing as a child: “Because He lives I can face tomorrow …” So face it, don’t run from it.
Thanks to Baruch we are introduced to another friend of Jeremiah early on, Elnathan. He was an accomplice to the murder of the prophet Uriah. However by chapter 36 he has become one of a group of godly leaders who defended Jeremiah and Baruch.
The point is this: How you start, what has happened is one thing but how you turn out, what you will become, is another.
The third friend of Jeremiah is Ahikam, v24. As one of King Josiah’s counsellors he had been sent to seek God over what the finding of the book of the Law meant in 2 Kings 22. His past work meant he had authority, power and influence in the present and he used it to support Jeremiah.
The point is this: Use your influence to help those who are doing God’s work. Use your skills, your status, the people you know to do all you can to give support and the hand of friendship.
Missions Paul 