The End of Captivity

[Jeremiah 30:1-17]

Perhaps you’ve gotten the impression that Jeremiah was a depressed pessimist, always gloomy and downcast. But that is not the case.

As he writes these words, most likely from prison in Jersualem, we see another side of him because these words are words of the comfort and encouragement.

And notice that in verse 2 that Jeremiah isn’t just instructed to speak these words, but to write them down. These words of comfort and encouragement are so important he’s told to do more than just speak them because God intended for these encouraging words to be passed on, and so they have been.

Similar to when God gave Moses the 10 commandments these are the words that the Lord has preserved for his people.

Jeremiah 30:3 CSB

for look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel and Judah,” says the Lord. “I will restore them to the land I gave to their ancestors and they will possess it.”

That’s exactly the kind of message God’s people needed to hear, but it came after chapters and chapters of warning and calls to repentance. First there’s suffering and trial but God’s ultimate end game isn’t for Israel to stay in captivity forever. Nevertheless it’s good to remember how they ended up as captives and what captivity is like.

What is it like to be in captivity?

To be held in captivity means misery. The people were in so much misery they cried out in fear and terror (vs 5). Jeremiah said in verse 6 that he saw “every person (even the men) with his hands on his stomach like a women in labor.” Captivity is miserable.

To be held captive means to be in slavery. The Israelites had a physiological if not a literal yoke of slavery around their necks put on by the Babylonians (vs 8). As slaves (vs 16) the people were plundered and “devoured” — all of there possessions were taken away from them, including their rights and dignity. Captivity is slavery.

To be in captivity also meant they were continually in a state of fear. God told them to not be afraid or discouraged in verse 10 because, of course, they were. They were afraid because they never knew what their captor was going to do. Each day they woke up with the uncertainty of what would happen if they displeased the wrong person. Captivity and fear go hand in hand.

Maybe most significantly, being in captivity means a loss of Identity. In verse 17 the Israelites were describes as outcasts. They were the refugees in a foreign land. Verse 14 tells us that even their “lovers” — their political allies — had rejected them. They had no home, they had no friends and no one particularly cared what happened to them as a people. While in captivity who were they? Were they still Israelites? Were they Babylonians now? Their identity was a jumbled mess.

I’m sure all of us feel like we are in captivity at times, especially with our emotions. We suffer physically. We feel depressed and anxious. We worry about our children or loved ones. Our family lives are tense and sometimes it seems like we don’t have any friends who really “get” us. And on top of all of this we’re less than confident about the future of our county.

While I’m very sympathetic to all of these emotions — because I feel them myself — we need to be reminded that the common denominator for what feeds all this negativity is sin.

Held Captive By Sin

We are held captive by our own sins and while God understands and has compassion towards us, our sinfulness is not excusable.

Jeremiah 30:14–15 (CSB)

I have struck you as an enemy would, with the discipline of someone cruel, because of your enormous guilt and your innumerable sins. Why do you cry out about your injury? … I have done these things to you because of your enormous guilt and your innumerable sins.

See, the Israelites were being held captive because they were sinners. They don’t just have guilt, they have enormous guilt. They don’t just have sins, they have innumerable sins.

The reason for their captivity, misery, fear, and loss of identity was sin — and sin is also the reason for our spiritual captivity — and I’m not just talking about our relatively few sins but our innumerable sins.

Do we recognize that our sins are innumerable? I want to impress upon us all that we will never take the next steps as growing Christians until we do.

Listen to this list. I borrowed it from Philip Ryken because I think he helps us get to the truth about our innumerable sinfulness.

Have I been fervent in prayer? Was there passion and warmth the last time I prayed?

Have I practiced God’s presence, at least every hour? Practicing God’s presence means being very deliberate about “developing habits for discerning, an awareness of God’s presence” as opposed to just thinking about him at meal times or bed times.

Have I, before every deliberate action or conversation, considered how it might be tuned to God’s glory?

Have I sought to focus conversations on the other person’s interest and needs and ultimately toward God, or did I turn it toward my own interests?

Have I given thanks to God after every pleasant occurrence or time?

Have I thought or spoken unkindly of anyone?

Have I been careful to avoid proud thoughts or comparing myself to others? Have I done things just for appearances?

Have I been sensitive, warm, and cheerful toward everyone?

This list is useful because I think it exposes the sinful truth about ourselves. The person who can listen to this list and still not be convicted of their sinfulness, or just shrug it off as irrelevant, either isn’t paying attention or isn’t submitting to God’s work through the Holy Spirit.

So, my pray is that you receive these words with the spirit they are intended. My aim isn’t to crush you but to lead you to Christ who says...

Luke 5:31–32 (CSB)

“It is not those who are healthy who need a doctor, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

So, seeing ourselves as a captives to sin isn’t just about being honest it’s about receiving the only hope we have for healing.

The End of Captivity

The end of captivity is described like this in Jer 30:7 “How awful that day will be! There will be no other like it! It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it.”

When things are at their worst, that’s when salvation comes. The word “awful” in verse 7 doesn’t just mean terrible it also means “great or awesome.” The day of salvation is going to be awesome!

It will be the end of fear...

Jeremiah 30:10 CSB

As for you, my servant Jacob, do not be afraid—this is the Lord’s declaration— and do not be discouraged, Israel, for without fail I will save you out of a distant place, your descendants, from the land of their captivity! Jacob will return and have calm and quiet with no one to frighten him.

When the end of captivity happens fear will be completely replaced with calm and quiet. No one will be around to frighten us any more.

Why?

Jeremiah 30:11 (CSB)

For I will be with you—this is the Lord’s declaration— to save you! I will bring destruction on all the nations where I have scattered you; however, I will not bring destruction on you...

God did exactly what he promised for Israel after 70 years of captivity. In fact many nations have come and gone, but the Jews have not been destroyed and they still live in Israel to this day.

But not everything Jeremiah prophesied has been fulfilled. The end of captivity has not been completely realized because Jeremiah speaks of an unprecedented time yet in the future. In verse 7 he said “There will be no other day like it!”

If we are to take Jeremiah’s words seriously, then we have to accept that this is pointing to a time of salvation, a time of redemption, even greater than the release of Isreal from captivity.

And Jeremiah also refers to a time when even Israel’s descendants will be saved.

Jeremiah 30:10 (CSB)

I will save you out of a distant place, your descendants, from the land of their captivity!

Further, in verse 9 Jeremiah says someone from the line of David would be king after their captivity was over.

Jeremiah 30:9 CSB

They will serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.

Now that didn’t happen in 538 B.C. after Cyrus issued his decree allowing the Jews to return. The people returned from captivity and the temple was rebuilt but a king wasn’t put back on the throne. Zedekiah was the last king of Israel and he wasn’t replaced.

So this prophecy points to a time in Israel’s future when the people would serve God and a king from the line of David. And obvious to us, this is talking about Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, the Messiah.

What kind of Messiah?

As we’ve all ready seen in verse 10 the messiah will be a peacemaker. The messiah, a descendant of Jacob, “will return and have calm and quiet with no one to frighten him.”

Isa 9:6 goes into more detail and says, “For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

When the angels at Jesus birth arrived they said “fear not!” because Jesus’ kingship would be a reign not of fear but of peace (Luke 2:10).

The Messiah is also a king that is with us.

Jer 30:11 again says...

Jeremiah 30:11 (CSB)

For I will be with you—this is the Lord’s declaration— to save you!

This is a reference to Immanuel, God with us (Isa 7:14) and it also sounds a lot like Matthew 28:20 when Jesus said, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The Messiah Jeremiah is talking about is also a Messiah that protects us with discipline. The rest of Jer 30:11 reads…

Jeremiah 30:11 (CSB)

...I will bring destruction on all the nations where I have scattered you; however, I will not bring destruction on you. I will discipline you justly, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.

And as Pro 1:7 says we would be fools to despise his wisdom and discipline. God’s discipline is for a short time and is always for our good so that we can share in his holiness (Hebrews 12:10).

So Jesus is a Messiah that takes away our need to fear because he is with us. He also protects us with his discipline. And he gives justice to all his people’s enemies.

Jeremiah 30:16 CSB

Nevertheless, all who devoured you will be devoured, and all your adversaries—all of them— will go off into exile. Those who plunder you will be plundered, and all who raid you will be raided.

In other words, in the end, everyone who isn’t trusting in Christ will get what they deserve. Jesus the Messiah is just.

Before we close there is one more point that needs to be emphasized. Just in case we’re tempted to rely upon our own goodness or relative lack of sinfulness we need to remember that we have...

An Incurable Disease

We have a sickness that can’t be cured through any man-made method. No matter how many vitamins we take, or how careful we are about our health we’re all going to die, eventually. And worse, every sinner without Christ is eternally hopeless.

In verses 12-13 God says,

Jeremiah 30:12–13 (CSB)

Your injury is incurable; your wound most severe. You have no defender for your case. There is no remedy for your sores, and no healing for you.

Again, in Jer 30 15 God reminds us that we shouldn’t be surprised by this. “Why do you cry out about your injury? Your pain has no cure! I have done these things to you because of your enormous guilt and your innumerable sins.”

Now that’s not a very nice thing to tell a patient. Can you imagine going up to someone in the hospital and telling them the truth like that? Even if death is imminent most of us would probably try to be a little more encouraging.

But God just tells them like it is. He says, “It’s hopeless, there’s no cure for you. You’ve got a terminal illness called sin.”

All of us suffer from this incurable disease and there is no hope that any of us will ever be able to cure ourselves. We aren’t just a little sick, we are completely done for because sinning is a fundamental part of who we are. There’s no vaccine. There’s no antibiotic, treatment, or therapy that can cure us.

It’s in our human nature to sin. Some of us can muster up some human will-power for a while in order to appear to be good, but we’re guaranteed to sin again and again.

See we are all held captive by sin and it’s only by God’s grace that anyone can be set free. Matthew 19:26 says “Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.””

So the good news is God can do what is impossible for man to do. God can cure the incurable disease of sin and end our captivity to it once and for all. With God all things are possible. Amen.

Now, some of you may say it’s a little too early to sing a Christmas song but I think this song fits well. Let’s stand and sing “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”