Posting in FB about Jeremiah 29:11

[gslou]

Pastor Mike, as I read your posting from today in FB about Jeremiah 29:11, I was curious, so I looked up this passage, and also read the whole thing from 29:1 through 29:11. As I read through these passages, I can certainly see your point about it applying to you if you are a Jew living in exile in Babylon on the 6th century BC. Having said this, couldn't this reference in 29:11 (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) be taken as God's promise to all of us concerning Jesus Christ? For God knew the plan to give us a Savior, thus to not harm us, but to prosper us and give us hope and a future? I know that context is very important, otherwise, well, things could be taken out of context ...... sorry for the lame attempt at humor. But again, if the Old Testament is the foreshadowing of the coming of the Messiah, couldn't Jer 29:11 also apply to us this many years later?

[Mike Miller]

Great question. While the Old Testament does foreshadow Christ, we have to ask how each portion does point to Christ. Sometimes there are Messianic promises (promises related to the Messiah--Jesus) that are promises for all of God's people for all time. But sometimes the promises are for specific individuals at specific times.

For example, in Genesis 18, God promised Abraham that he would have a son in the next year. There is definitely some Messianic hope there in that it is through Abraham's lineage that Christ came. However, we wouldn't take that promise and apply it to all believers. I sometimes talk to couples who are grieving because they are unable to have children. I certainly wouldn't say, "But in Genesis 18, God promises that you will have a son within the next year." That promise--though Messianic to a degree--was not for them. It was for a specific person in a specific context.

Now, if we read Jeremiah 29 in context--as a letter sent to the exiles (and after the false prophecy of Hananiah in chapter 28, who said that the people would return in 2 years)--we see that Jeremiah is telling them to get comfortable, to build and plant and seek the welfare of the city in which they live since they will be there 70 years. But then he tells them that God has a plan, which is not to harm them, but to give them hope and a future. That future is to gather them and bring them back to their land. Therefore, if we apply the promise to believers today, we can't just apply a portion of it. We have to say to believers today that God will bring them back (in 70 years!) to the promised land. I don't think that's a promise we can count on.

Moreover, what if I assure people that this promise is for them, and then calamity comes the next day--they are the victims of evil or bankruptcy, or sickness? This promise is not about eternal destinies, but what would happen in 70 years in a temporal setting. Therefore, it would not apply to every believer for all time.

Now, to be sure, there are many promises about our hope in Christ. And we can go to many places in Scripture to find them. Jeremiah 29:11 just isn't one of those places.

[gslou]

Thank you for the clarification. Taking the 70 years out of it, and God's specific promise to the exiled Jews to bring them back to their land after that time would definitely take this passage out of context. Nevertheless, I still take comfort in the knowledge that when God Almighty makes a promise, it is as good as in the bank!! Or maybe I should be afraid that His promises are as good as in the bank!!! No, not really afraid because I can rely on his promise of salvation through his Son and my Savior.

Thanks again Pastor Mike.

[Mike Miller]

Great observation. And if I were to preach this passage, I would make exactly that application--that just as God was faithful to keep His promise of restoration for Israel, He will be faithful to keep all His promises to us.