Redeeming Jeremiah 29:11

So often we approach Scripture with a flat perspective...we pull verses out of context and use them on greeting cards...I see them posted all over facebook. Jeremiah 29:11 is just such a verse. It is probably almost everybody's favorite verse...and for good reason. It sounds spectacular. "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope." Who doesn't want that to be true!! No suffering? Prosperity??? A hope and a future? Count me in!

But what about the graduate who 1 month out of high school is killed in a car wreck. Or what about the 10 year old little girl who just found out her brain tumor is back...for the third time? Where are God's plans to prosper them and not to harm them? Where is their future and their hope?  Could it be that by lifting this verse out of the context of the passage that it is a part of, has not allowed us to fully understanding and appreciate the true meaning of this text and given us a false hope and a false understanding of God?

So let's look at this. Let's redeem our favorite verse. Let's place it back in its context, seeking to understand the author's intent, and see if this understanding will in fact give us back a verse with a much richer and much more meaningful application to our lives.

Jeremiah is writing to a generation of Israelites who are in exile...away from their beloved homeland, their beloved city of Jerusalem. Away from the temple, the place of worship, the place where God dwelt among them. They have lost their homes, their possessions, their land, their inheritance. Families have been torn apart. Because of their sin, because of their pursuit of other gods over the One True God, they have been taken to into captivity and now live in Babylon, a pagan, strange place, with strange people, a strange language, and strange gods. Over and over the children of Israel are brought into captivity by a loving God seeking to turn His people's hearts back to Himself.

God, through the prophet Jeremiah is telling them in the first 10 verses of chapter 29, to put down roots and get comfortable in Babylon because you're going to be there for quite while. He is telling them to build houses. Marry, have children. Tell your children to marry and to have children. Pray for and seek the prosperity of this city...get a job and work hard...in essence...this is your home. If your city thrives, you will thrive. In fact, the Lord said that these exiles would be there for 70 years! That means that most of those who were hearing these words of prophecy would die in captivity. They would never see their homeland again!

But then comes our favorite verse. Jeremiah 29:11. God comes in and reassures them that He will not forget them in their captivity, that He will not forget His promises to them. He would not forget His plans for the nation of Israel..."plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope." This is a verse that reminds the people of Israel of the promises and plans of God in the midst of despair and exile and loss. This is a verse that points us to the faithfulness of God. A God who will remain faithful even when His people are unfaithful. We are pointed to a God whose faithfulness is not dependent on circumstances. God does not forget His promises to His people. He always fulfills them. He always brings them about.  He cannot go against His Word.

And what were those plans that He is talking about? Those plans involved the entire nation of Israel. He will bring them back to Jerusalem...when the time was right. And He did. The exiles were able to go home. But the sad part of the story is that it was temporary restoration. They again rebelled against God and were once more sent into captivity.

But those plans for Israel were much grander than this temporary return to their homeland. Those plans that God has for His people are plans that go back to before the foundations of the world were made. Those plans of God to prosper and give a hope and future are pointing us to His plans to bring a promised seed that would crush the serpent's head. It was those plans that promised Abraham that He would have descendants that were as many as the stars in the sky. Those plans of God that we read about in the Old Testament...the promised Deliverer. The promised Redeemer. The Promised Sacrifice. The Promised Lamb. The Promised King. The promised Messiah. This passage is a beautiful reminder us that Israel's faithful God will bring about His plan of redemption and reconciliation not only for the nation of Israel, but also for every tribe and every nation.

With Jeremiah 29:11 put back in its proper place within the context of the story of the people of Israel, we now have a much greater understanding of what this passage actually meant when it was written. And because we understand that, we can now ask the question, how does this apply to me?

We can read this passage and see that God is a faithful God and we can find rest in that no matter what the circumstances of our lives are like. No matter what our "exile" looks like...whether it's filled with suffering and loss. We can find rest in the faithfulness of a God who never goes back on His Word.

And here on this side of the cross...we have the full picture. The picture that the people of Israel did not fully know and understand. We know that the plans of God were made complete in Jesus. His plan to prosper His people and to give them a hope and a future is fully met in the coming of Jesus the Messiah. Because of Jesus, the fulfillment of all the promises of God, the people of God have a hope...a hope that never fades, never perishes. Because of Jesus the long awaited promise, the people of God have a future. Because of Jesus and His finished work on the cross, the people of God now have been reconciled to God. They are counted as righteous. They are forgiven. Reconciled back into right relationship with God.

St. Augustine said it like this: "You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in  you."  To be prosperous then is to realize that all that you need you have in this promised Messiah. To flourish is to know God. To thrive is to be restored to fellowship with our Creator. I'm reminded of the words of Jesus in John 17:3: "And this is eternal life, that you may KNOW the One True God and the One that He sent, Jesus Christ" (paraphrased).

God's fulfilled plans bring about the flourishing (the prospering) of those who belong to Him. We are given a hope and a future that can not be taken away. Peter writes something similar in his epistles to another group of exiles (1 Peter 1)..."Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." A hope and a future...and inheritance that is kept in heaven for you.

Now this is promise worth holding on to...a promise that has so much more to offer than a life of supposed ease and prosperity.  This is a promise that points us to a faithful God...this is a promise that points us to our Savior...this is a promise that gives us God! And He and He alone is the real treasure. God and God alone is our great reward. And that, my friends, is true prosperity, true hope, and an imperishable future!