Jeremiah: Part 2
Light At The End
As we proceed with our study of Jeremiah, we must remember where exactly our story picks up and what the first half of this book revealed to us. God has revealed to Jeremiah a great judgment that is coming on Jerusalem and Judah and the disciplinary action will be great. God uses evil to punish His people by allowing the nation of Babylon to take them over and enslave them. This by no means implies that God approves of Babylon; they will certainly be judged one day as well. What this means is that God will use all things for His glory, even the wickedness of other nations. As John Piper says, “God can oversee and ordain and plan that evil happens without himself committing evil or loving evil or doing evil himself.” So how does this story conclude? As we will see in just a moment, God gives Jeremiah a word of encouragement to give His people before they embrace this suffering and much hope can be taken from this. But beyond this, we see the hardship of this discipline having its effect on these people near the end of this book and especially in Lamentations which we will dive into with this post as well. The book of Lamentations may only be five chapters long, but the effects of this judgment are seen in a great light in this book as well. With this in mind, let’s see what the second half of Jeremiah has to offer us today.
Coming Hope
To begin, we must look at how God encourages His people amid this judgment. No better place can we see this than in Jeremiah 29 & 30. In these chapters, we see Jeremiah writing a letter to the exiles who have been taken captive by Babylon, and we see God tell His people that He will return for them. An amazing message is given to Jeremiah from the Lord as he writes this message intended for Judah and Jerusalem which is seen in Jeremiah 29:4-7. It says, “This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. ‘Take wives and father sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may give birth to sons and daughters; and grow in numbers there and do not decrease. ‘Seek the prosperity of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD in its behalf; for in its prosperity will be your prosperity.’” Fascinating message isn’t it? It would appear that God’s message to His people during this hard difficult season is to just keep on living… Not only that, but we even see God tell His people to seek the prosperity of the city so that they may prosper as well. Imagine being told this…You’re suffering because of an evil nation that has enslaved you, and God’s promise to you is that you will ultimately prosper as long as you seek the prosperity of this evil nation… Now why would God do this? Why would He punish His people by using an evil nation while at the same time telling His people to seek the prosperity of this nation?
Lamentations
Our answer actually comes in God’s encouraging word to His people in Jeremiah 30:11 “‘For I am with you,’ declares the LORD, ‘to save you; For I will completely destroy all the nations where I have scattered you, Only I will not destroy you completely. But I will discipline you fairly And will by no means leave you unpunished.’” It would seem that the reason God wants His people to seek the prosperity of this fallen nation is because it is meant to humble them. Seeking the good of a wicked nation is the discipline. No doubt Judah and Jerusalem struggled with pride and sought for the good of only themselves. This is probably a huge reason why they are in this mess in the first place. So how does God reconcile this issue? By promising that Babylon will get what it deserves one day, but for now, seek its prosperity even though they are persecuting you. This type of living is meant to humble the hearts of God’s people as they live through suffering rather than having God reveal a quick way out to avoid suffering. We could learn a lot from this.
Furthermore, we see the lamenting of God’s people as they embark on this judgmental journey. Yes, they know hope ultimately awaits them, but for the foreseeable future, they will be paying the price for their wickedness. This is clearly seen at the end of Jeremiah and specifically in the book of Lamentations. Look at what Jeremiah notes about Judah’s suffering in Lamentations 2:5 “The Lord has become like an enemy. He has engulfed Israel; He has engulfed all its palaces, He has destroyed its strongholds And caused great mourning and grieving in the daughter of Judah.” It is without question that the suffering that Judah is going through is certainly great. When you consider God to be your enemy, you know that hardship has really taken over you. However, just like we saw halfway through the book of Jeremiah, what eventually lies at the end of this hardship? Hope. Lamentations 3:25-27 “The LORD is good to those who await Him, To the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently For the salvation of the LORD. It is good for a man to bear The yoke in his youth.” Suffering will certainly be a part of life, as will discipline. But one thing that we can always hold onto is that God will never forget His people. We may be disciplined for our sin or brought through suffering for the glory of God, but we can always have hope in the fact that God will always be our salvation. May you take hold of these amazing truths today.
Sources
[1] Blue Letter Bible. (n.d.). Blue Letter Bible. https://www.blueletterbible.org/
[2] Piper, J. (2024, November 7). Does it make God evil to ordain evil? Desiring God. https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/does-it-make-god-evil-to-ordain-evil
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