Hope in the Worst of Times

Pursued

Seized

Passed sentence

Slaughtered

Blinded

Bound

Brought to Babylon

Kept in custody

Babylon regarding the temple (vv. 12-19)

Entered

Burned

Tore down

Broke in pieces

Carried to Babylon

Babylon regarding the people (vv. 15, 24-30)

Deported

Took (x 3)

Put to death

Evil-merodach regarding Jehoiachin (vv. 31-34)

Pardoned

Released

Spoke kindly

Gave a portion

In this dense summary the verbs tell the story of a king in rebellion, a city being taken, people who are exiled, and a king who receives mercy. Yet, with all of this action, it is easy to forget that God is controlling it all. Even all the evil done to Jeremiah was done with God’s oversight. God knew it would take a strong prophet to withstand all that he had asked him to do, so he made him stronger through suffering.

The most quoted verse of the book of Jeremiah is probably 29:11, which reads, “‘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.’” However, the passage is really only hopeful in its context:

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. 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. You will call to me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. 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.” (29:10-14)

Note three things about God that are implied in this passage and that help us understand the ending to this book.

He is not just saying they have a hopeful future. That is only part of it. He is saying, “Despite the fact that you will be isolated for seventy years, you will have a hopeful future.” He will restore them but not at the moment. God is always on time, but he is rarely early. All that he promised would come true but not until seventy years had passed.

He is the one who sent them into exile. With all the action verbs of this chapter, this is something God is doing. God is allowing them to be punished as a result of their rebellion. Yet God is giving them a hopeful future through exile. And this is what he always does. To every believer God gives a hopeful future through suffering. There is no resurrection without a cross. There is no victory without waiting. There is no glory without pain. There is no heaven without the suffering of this life. This brings us to the bigger picture of the book.

Jeremiah existed to call a nation back to repentance. That nation would not repent, so God allowed them to go into exile. Yet even the exile was redemptive because they would come back to the land. The return was something new, yet it was in the same trajectory of God’s plan. God was in the process of fulfilling his promise to Abraham. He was in the process of fulfilling his promise to Moses. He was in the process of fulfilling his promise to David for an everlasting kingdom. All that Judah was experiencing and all that Jeremiah was experiencing was not wasted. It was all bringing about a plan.

This plan would culminate when the Messiah, the Righteous Branch, would come for his people. He would come to his own, and his own would reject him. He would be led like a lamb to the slaughter for his people, even though they rejected him. All of the pain Christ experienced, all of the isolation he felt from his Father, all of this was allowed by the hand of God in the process of the plan. This was God’s plan to bring peace to the world—peace through suffering.

This was God’s plan for Judah: security through exile, peace through suffering. This is God’s plan for us. This is the way of God. God allowed all of this suffering, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom 10:13).

Praise God that there is life in suffering! This is the hope of judgment.