August 13
August 13
God’s plans for his children are never evil. He works for our welfare, to give us a hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29 not only tells us the story of Israel’s history; it reveals who God is and how he works:
Thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. (Jer. 29:10–14)
To understand this passage properly, we must remember that underlying it is the enormous patience of the Lord. God had been patient with his people as they forsook his commandments and gave their hearts to false gods. With a tender, merciful heart, he sent prophet after prophet to warn them and call them back to worship and service of their Lord. God is patient.
But God’s children are taken into captivity in Babylon; this discipline reminds us that God is perfectly holy, and, because he is, he takes sin seriously. Because of his hatred of sin, God disciplines his children. This discipline is not final judgment, but he uses it as an instrument to drive his people to confession and repentance. God’s discipline can be hard. After seventy years in captivity, the people of God may have felt forsaken. But they were not forsaken, because God’s plan for his children is never evil. It is always for their welfare, to give them a future and a hope.
This passage reminds us of the good news of the gospel. This gospel news is just as present in these Old Testament passages as it is in the New Testament. What is this good news? God’s discipline, because of his exhaustible grace, is followed by his restorative mercy. Because God’s discipline is not a final judgment or an ultimate turning of his back on his chosen children, it is followed by restoration. For his children in the Old Testament, this meant a return from exile in Babylon to the promised land. Restoration reminds us that even the harshest of God’s discipline is a tool of his grace.
God will not abandon his children—not because they have earned his loyalty with their obedience, but because he is zealous for the success of his eternal redemptive plan. That plan will end our exile too, and he will welcome us into the final land of promise, forever.