A Letter to the Exiles
In this chapter, Jeremiah gives us letter that he sent to the
exiles that were taken when Nebuchadnezzar dethroned Jehoiachin and his mother
in 597 BC. Of course, this means that
the letter was written sometime after the deportation.
More False Prophets
Again we see that one of the main thrusts of this chapter is God’s
concern through Jeremiah that there are false prophets among the people. There were prophets among the exiles who
shared Hananiah’s view from the prior chapter.
There were prophets who were teaching that the exile into Babylon was
going to be short. They taught that God
would rescue them soon.
As a bit of an aside to this chapter, I really have to worry about
the logic of some people. Let’s remember
the history of the Jews, shall we?
Abraham was given a covenant of child {and then even a multitude of heirs!} by God. Many years went by before it was fulfilled –
and Abraham actually tried to fulfill God’s promise out of his impatience. Or maybe we should talk about the Egyptian
captivity. That lasted almost half of a
millennium. Or maybe we should talk
about the exodus itself – it was 40 years of wandering in the desert while the
whole generation died before Joshua led the people into the Promised Land.
Although they certainly wouldn’t know it in Jeremiah’s day, just
think how long the Hebrew people waited for a Messiah between David and Jesus
(roughly 1,000 years). Or think about
how long it took for the Gospel of Christ to spread throughout the known world
(at least a millennium and a half … and there are still places unreached by the
message of the cross).
What is my point? I don’t
think God ever does any kind of large scale movement quickly. I certainly think that there are decisions
that we need to make quickly, of course.
But I don’t believe that God ever moves mountains of faith quickly. His pattern is slow and steady. God takes His time. In fact, to be even more accurate I would say
that God takes His time in order that humanity should have time to
expose itself, come to an understanding of its sin, and come to a genuine place
of repentance. Because humanity is so
stubborn, God must take His time. God
knows that it is far more important to learn His lesson than to escape out of
the consequences. In that respect He is
actually quite merciful.
So when I hear that there were prophets who spoke of a very short
captivity, I wonder how well these prophets were trained in their own
scripture. God doesn’t deal with sin –
national sin especially – quickly. God
doesn’t make major movements quickly.
What on earth would cause people to believe that the captivity in
Babylon would be terribly short? {In fact, in the light of the examples that
I listed earlier, I think 70 years is actually remarkably short!}
Prosper Where God Has
Planted You
So Jeremiah gives them some godly advice: prosper where God has
planted you. Pray for the cities in
which the exiles now reside. Sons are to
marry. Daughters are given away in
marriage. Children are to be born. Every indication is that the people should
settle into the land. For as the
security of Babylon goes, so will their exile.
The.Most.Famous.Verse.In.Jeremiah.Evah
I’ve got to confess. I
think yesterday I discovered that I like the end of Jeremiah 28:11 far more
than the whole of Jeremiah 29:11. I say
that because I think far too many people abuse this verse. Far too many people look at this verse and
actually turn it into a message of which Hananiah or the false prophets of
exile would be proud.
You see, if you actually read this verse in its genuine context,
you have to understand that the Lord is setting up a pattern of behavior. God says that it’s going to take 70 years
worth of strife before the exiles actually figure out what repentance looks
like. Then – and ONLY after repentance –
will God remember His promise. Then – and
only then – will God return the people to their land. {And
for the record, once more this process will be very slow.} Finally, notice that the plans of the Lord
are His plans, not our own.
Far too many people read this verse and jump straight past the
context of repentant living. Yes, God absolutely
does desire to give us hope and future.
But this is after we humble ourselves to Him. God desires our hope and future even more
than we desire it, but only after we have left our agenda and picked up His
agenda. Hope and future come from the
Lord and are defined by the Lord, but they come on His timeline and after a
season of learning to humbly abide in Him.
When we make up our own plan and use this verse to support it, we
do a horrible injustice to the Lord.
When we use this verse to leap past repentance, we do an injustice to
the Lord. When we use this verse to
ignore the true work of the Lord and only focus upon His blessing, we do a
grave injustice to the Lord.
After all, what does Jeremiah 29:13 tell us? You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me
and find Me with all of your heart.
Those are real words by which we can live. We will have the Lord’s future and the Lord’s
hope when we have come to a place of humbleness before the Lord.
The Rest of the Chapter
I believe that from Jeremiah 29:14 through the end of the chapter
we actually have a condemnation of people who are of the mindset to abuse
Jeremiah 29:11. Because they focus on
peace and forget about repentance, they will be punished. Because they try to prevent the speech of those
who try to call the people to repentance first, there will be famine and sword. It is natural to want to jump ahead to God’s
grace, but we must abide in the season of His pruning first.
<><
No comments:
Post a Comment