How God Tries to Save Us

God’s plan is not to send messengers who will please and flatter sinners. Instead, He lays heavy burdens on the conscience of the wrongdoer to prompt the agonizing cry, “What must I do to be saved?” Acts 16:30. But the Hand that humbles to the dust is the Hand that lifts up the repentant one. He who permits the punishment to fall inquires, “What do you want Me to do for you?” Mark 10:51.RR 154.3

But King Jehoiakim and his lords, in their arrogance and pride, would not accept the warning and repent. The gracious opportunity offered to them at the time of the burning of the sacred scroll was their last. God declared He would bring special wrath on the man who had proudly lifted himself up against the Almighty. “Thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: ‘He shall have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night.’” Jeremiah 36:30.RR 154.4