Jeremiah 29 - Present

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Introduction

Have you ever moved somewhere that you dreaded that turned out to be a good move after all? If so…perhaps you may be able to relate to today’s lesson.

What has the message of Jeremiah been so far? “Repent - for judgment is coming”

Now that judgment is here, what would you expect the message to be? “See - I told you so!”

Jeremiah and Lamentations—From Sorrow to Hope Chapter 38: Seek the Welfare of the City

When judgment finally arrived, something remarkable happened. Jeremiah changed his tune. The next several chapters are filled with some of the most wonderful promises in all of Scripture. After twenty-eight chapters of gloom and doom, Jeremiah came bearing tidings of grace and glory. He promised that God would bring his people back from captivity (30:3). He would love them “with an everlasting love” (31:3) and “turn their mourning into gladness” (31:13). He would make a new covenant with them (31:31) and give them “singleness of heart and action” (32:39). God would even “cleanse them from all the sin they have committed” (33:8).

Chapters 27-28 are fascinating. Read them!

As King Zedekiah’s reign began (597 BC), God instructed Jeremiah to fashion a yoke and wear it (27:1-2). Jeremiah’s actions comprised a warning to Zedekiah, as well as to leaders in Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon (27:3-22). All of these leaders needed to submit to the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon because those who did not would face severe judgment. Jeremiah also added a warning to Zedekiah and Judah’s officials not to listen to false prophets in their midst. They needed to serve Nebuchadnezzar and live, or Nebuchadnezzar would take them and all the temple furnishings to Babylon.

A false prophet named Hananiah challenged Jeremiah (28:1-17). He insisted that within two years, the Lord would rescue all of Judah’s exiles from Babylon. Jeremiah replied that time would tell who was the true prophet. Hananiah broke the yoke off Jeremiah’s neck and again promised the Lord soon would break Babylon’s yoke. However, the Lord’s reply to Hananiah assured him Babylon would judge Judah, and Hananiah would die for inciting rebellion against the Lord.

1. Thrive

Jeremiah 29:1–7 CSB

1 This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining exiled elders, the priests, the prophets, and all the people Nebuchadnezzar had deported from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 This was after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the court officials, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metalsmiths had left Jerusalem. 3 He sent the letter with Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. The letter stated: 4 This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles I deported from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Find wives for yourselves, and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and give your daughters to men in marriage so that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there; do not decrease. 7 Pursue the well-being of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for when it thrives, you will thrive.”

v.1 “elders, priests, prophets, all the people” - the residents of Babylon. Recall that in 605 BC, Daniel was taken to Babylon in the first “wave”, as the “best and the brightest” were taken. Next, a larger portion of captives were taken in 597, and then finally in 586 Jerusalem was utterly destroyed.

v.3 “with Elasah...” - essentially, in the “diplomatic pouch”.

v.4 “the Lord or Armies” (the Lord of Hosts) - who is claiming to be all-sovereign and all-powerful here? Recall that Nebuchadnezzar had to learn the hard way that God alone is sovereign!

v.5 - “Build houses…plant gardens” - in essence, settle down

Jeremiah and Lamentations—From Sorrow to Hope Establish a Presence in the City

This is a reminder that when God first called Jeremiah, he appointed him “over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant”

v.6 - Build Families

v.7 - Build up the city; your success is linked to that of your surroundings

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 6: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel 1) Warning against False Prophets (29:4–9)

The freedom allowed them implies they were neither slaves nor prisoners in their new land. Any feeling that they should not build homes in a foreign, unclean land was thus dispelled (cf. Hos 9:1–9; Amos 7:17; so Bewer). The wives Jeremiah encouraged them to marry (v.6) were Jewish, not foreign (cf. Deut 7:3). The seed of Abraham must continue according to the divine promise (cf. Gen 12:1–3). Unique in ancient literature was Jeremiah’s command for them to pray for their pagan captors. The city referred to in v.7 was any of the Babylonian cities. Throughout the centuries the precepts enjoined here have been followed by the Jews in dispersion. To this day they pray in their worship on the Sabbath and on festivals for the rulers under whom they are living.

The word translated well-being is the Hebrew word shalom, which includes the sense of wholeness or completeness. Life in Babylon would be whole and complete as its citizens experienced well-being at every level. (e.g., “shabbat shalom”)

2. Ignore

Jeremiah 29:8–9 CSB

8 For this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Don’t let your prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you, and don’t listen to the dreams you elicit from them, 9 for they are prophesying falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them.” This is the Lord’s declaration.

And we thought “fake news” was a problem today!

v.8 “prophets who are among you”

This was part of the problem all along - the “prophets” were not delivering a true message

The standard for prophetic accuracy was 100%; the people should have been able to discern who a true prophet was

Deut 18:18-22 “18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. 19 I will hold accountable whoever does not listen to my words that he speaks in my name. 20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a message in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods—that prophet must die.’ 21 You may say to yourself, ‘How can we recognize a message the Lord has not spoken?’ 22 When a prophet speaks in the Lord’s name, and the message does not come true or is not fulfilled, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.”

v.9 “they are prophesying falsely” - why? because their message contradicts that of Jeremiah, whose words have been demonstrated to be true

During Jeremiah’s day, God provided His people other true prophets such as Ezekiel, Daniel, Zephaniah, and Habakkuk, but the people had to be warned about the prophets who spoke lies.

3. Hope

Jeremiah 29:10–14 CSB

10 For this is what the Lord says: “When seventy years for Babylon are complete, I will attend to you and will confirm my promise concerning you to restore you to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12 You will call to me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and places where I banished you”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “I will restore you to the place from which I deported you.”

v. 10 - “When seventy years” - this is an incredibly significant prophecy. We also see it in Jer 25:11

Jeremiah 25:11 CSB

11 This whole land will become a desolate ruin, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.

Daniel 9:1–2 CSB

1 In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, a Mede by birth, who was made king over the Chaldean kingdom—2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the books according to the word of the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah that the number of years for the desolation of Jerusalem would be seventy.

“Note that it is important to keep these stages of the Captivity in mind when computing the seventy years of exile announced by Jeremiah 29:10; the interval between the first deportation in 605 B.C., in which Daniel himself was involved, and 536 B.C., when the first returnees under Zerubbabel once more set up an altar in Jerusalem, amounted to seventy years. Likewise, the interval between the destruction of the first temple by Nebuzaradan in 586 and the completion of the second temple by Zerubbabel in 516 was about seventy years”

v.11 - “For I know the plans I have for you” - what is this really talking about? If there’s one verse that most Christians know from Jeremiah (or think that they know), it’s this one.

Jeremiah and Lamentations—From Sorrow to Hope Known Plans

When God says he knows the plans he has for you, it is important to understand whom he means by “you.” Christians often apply Jeremiah’s promise to themselves individually. “Terrific!” they say. “God knows the plans he has for me.” This shows how self-centered Bible reading can be. Jeremiah’s promise should not be taken individualistically. It is not a private promise. It is for the entire church. The “you” in “I know the plans I have for you” refers to the whole people of God. Before thinking about what the promise means for you, think about what it means for us.

(Rather - the promise is for all of Israel, not for the entire church. Commentary author, Philip Ryken, is Presbyterian.)

What does he say about the church?

Ephesians 1:4–5 CSB

4 For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. 5 He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

Do you see the similarities?

v.12 “you will call to me and come and pray to me” - exactly what Daniel was doing in Daniel 9!

v.13 Is this not the John 3:16 of the OT?

v.14 “I will restore your fortunes and gather you” - what a God of grace! Did Israel deserve any of that? No! Do we? No!