A PLEDGE FOR A SURE FUTURE.
Jeremiah 32:1-3a, Jeremiah 32:6-15.
The wonderful words of hope which are found in Jeremiah 30-33 were spoken whilst Jeremiah was shut up in the court of the prison in the king of Judah's house (Jeremiah 32:2). Jeremiah was accused of committing treason, no less, because he spoke of the imminent defeat and final demise and captivity of the present regime (Jeremiah 32:3-5).
Jeremiah was given God's words to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, before he could ever fulfill the second part of his ministry, which was to build and to plant (Jeremiah 1:10). We cannot plant churches unless we first confront people with the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man, their own need to repent, and the reality of the judgement to come. Following this there are the comforting words of God's grace, of the forgiveness of sin, the imputation of Christ's righteousness to all who will believe, of the hope of glory, and the certainty of heaven.
God spoke a very personal word to Jeremiah concerning a cousin who was about to visit him in prison, not for his comfort but with a view to selling him some land (Jeremiah 32:6-7). This must have seemed quite bizarre to Jeremiah considering his own incarceration on the one hand, and the imminent prospect of exile for the whole nation. Yet he knew it was the voice of God when, sure enough, his cousin came offering him the right of redemption for some land he owned (Jeremiah 32:8).
Although the business was private, yet it involved a transaction which necessarily took on a very public nature. The purchase was sealed with all due order, even in prison, with witnesses and the appropriate evidence of purchase deposited with Jeremiah's faithful amanuensis, Baruch (Jeremiah 32:9-14).
On their part, the witnesses may have thought it strange that this prophet who had predicted exile was still content to buy land in a doomed territory. However, the private proposition gave rise to the public transaction, and the public transaction gave rise to the prophetic proclamation of a prospective restoration (Jeremiah 32:15).
The explanation of God's instruction to Jeremiah to buy land in such a time was that it was a pledge, a guarantee, a seventeen shekel down-payment, if you will, on God's promise that they would eventually return to the land (cf. Jeremiah 32:43-44).
When the New Testament was written, the word “exodus” had become a euphemism for death. It is used as such in 2 Peter 1:15. Likewise, Jesus discussed His own “exodus” with Moses and Elijah in the mount of transfiguration (Luke 9:31). This He accomplished in the cross of Calvary, purchasing our salvation, and sealing the promise with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the pledge, a down-payment if you will, a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until we enter the fullness of our redemption (Ephesians 1:13-14).
