Jeremiah 29:1-14 (Please open your Bibles to follow along in God Word)
This chapter contains a Bible verse which is a favorite among many Christians and that verse is
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
This verse was written directly to the Jewish exiles but in an overarching sense it conveys the incredible patience hope for those like the Jewish exiles who have forsaken the Lord.
In the first verse of this chapter it is giving the context of what this actually is, it is a letter. It is a combination of instruction and prophecy and warning.
Jeremiah 29:1
"This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon."
Jeremiah 29:2
"(This was after King Jehoiachin (Jeconiah - Hebrew variant) and the queen mother, the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the skilled workers and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem.)"
Jeremiah takes great pains to establish the exact historical context of not only the exile but the date of the letter as well.
Jeremiah 29:3
'[Jeremiah] entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It said:
"This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:"
Did you get that? The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel is the One who carried His own chosen people into exile.
Now in verse two is says that Nebuchadnezzar had carried them away into Babylon, so, why is the LORD saying that He carried them into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon?
The Israelites had replaced the LORD, creator of heaven and earth with idols made of wood and metal. They had forsaken the LORD their God.
The LORD had raised up Babylon in order to discipline the Israelites.
In all of this what was the Lord’s purpose? Was He just trying to be a mean, angry God?
No! NO! NO! His purpose was to bring them back to Himself.
Next we see in verses 5-6 the Lord giving some instructions that seem strange to us.
Jeremiah 29:5-6
“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease."
Why does He want them to do this? It seems like He wants them to settle in and become part of the Babylon culture.
First of all, from verse 10 we know that they are going to be there for seventy years!
Second, if the Israelites know anything at all about the Lord their God they know that they are NOT to intermarry with the Babylonian people.
Jeremiah 29:7
"Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”
When the Babylonians conquered a nation they would place the inhabitants in various cities.
Possibly enough for a community but not enough for a rebellion.
But the Lord does NOT want the exiles to rebel, He wants them to seek and pray for the peace and prosperity of the city.
Even in this we see the kindness of the Lord. The Lord could have raised up a nation that would enslave if not exterminate the Israelites! Instead, even in His punishment of the Israelites He is showing them kindness and mapping out a way for them to have a prosperous life.
Now, we as American’s always seem to jump to riches when we here the words prosper or prosperous.
Other translations say it this way:
… for in its welfare you will find your welfare
… for in its peace you will have peace
OK. Let’s jump down to verses 10-14 (We'll get to verses 8-9 next week ...)
Jeremiah 29:10-14
"This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill My good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
The Lord God was already looking 70 years into the future when the time of the exile would come to an end.
Look a these promises the Lord makes that He would complete at the end of the exile:
I will come to you
I will fulfill My good promise to bring you back
I know the plans I have for you
I will prosper you
I will give you hope and a future
I will listen to you
I will be found by you
I will gather you from all the nations
I will bring you back
And, what will the Israelites do when they return from captivity (or at least, what SHOULD they do???)
They will call upon the Lord
They will pray to the Lord
They will seek the Lord with all of their heart
What does this mean for us who are followers of the Lord God Almighty today?
Jeremiah sent a letter to the exiles in Babylon telling them how to live and what would happen in the future.
The Lord God Almighty has given us a letter telling us how to live and of a glimpse of what will happen when He returns.
When the Lord took the people of Judah into captivity He took the righteous along with the unrighteous. Most of them had turned their backs on the Lord and had become idol worshipers. Some like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were faithful followers of the Lord GOD, yet, they, too, were taken into captivity.
The exiles were in a foreign land
In 1 Peter 1:17 we see that as Christians we are foreigners in this world.
To hear most of us talk you would think we were citizens of this world
Just as the Israelites were instructed to live in peace in the towns in which they were placed and to pray for the welfare of that town.
We, too, in a spiritual sense, are foreigners in a strange land.
When we pray for the welfare of the place in which we live what does it mean for us?
We live in a way that will glorify the Lord
with compassion, honesty, patient endurance, faithfulness
with a righteousness that comes from a transformed life
When we pray for the welfare or prosperity of the place in which we have been placed by the Lord it goes beyond the temporal to the eternal
Do you know the spiritual condition of those who live around you?
Do you know the spiritual condition of those with which you work?
Do you know the spiritual condition of your classmates?
Do you pray for their spiritual welfare, spiritual prosperity?
Sometimes we are placed in the foreign land if sickness. When that happens do we ask the Lord:
Did You put me here to speak to this doctor who has a lost soul?
Did You put me here to speak to this nurse who is eternally lost?
Did You put me here to show compassion to the suffering person in the
next hospital bed?
Perhaps the ambulance EMT just saw someone die and is thinking about
eternity? Did the Lord place you there for them?
You see, contrary to what many TV preachers will tell you, the Lord did not leave you here for your benefit. I am here for His benefit and if you belong to Him, He has left you here for His benefit until you draw your next breath.
Salvation doesn’t mean you get a better house, a better car, better health, a promotion at work or a bigger bank account.
Salvation means you get to work hand in hand with the King of Glory for the benefit if His kingdom here on earth.
It doesn’t matter if you live in the USA, France, Yugoslavia, Benin, South or North Korea or any other country in the world; if you belong to Jesus you are here to live in a way that will benefit Him and His Kingdom here on earth.
You see, God didn’t just send a letter to us, He sent His Son who died on a cross and rose again from the dead for the salvation of all who would come to Him.
Yesterday, sixteen people in a hot air balloon died when the balloon caught fire and crashed. Were they saved? Did they know Jesus? Did they live next to Christians who were more caught up in the things of this world than they were in eternal matters?
Jeremiah 29:11 These are the plans I have for you ….
Closing comments and prayer …
