11 How Do I Live in Babylon? (Jeremiah 29:1-14)

Krisan Marotta: Thank you for downloading the Wednesday in the Word podcast. I'm Krisan Marotta. Today we'll be looking at Jeremiah chapter 29, verses 1 through 14. This is the 11th talk in our series on the book of Jeremiah. You can follow along with lecture notes and find links to everything mentioned in the talk by going to our website. Just go to wednesdayintheword.com slash Jeremiah 11. So glad you joined us. Have you ever been in a situation where you were lost and all you wanted to do was get home? When I was in college, I studied overseas for a few semesters. And when I was done, I was on my way home, and I was coming home just before Christmas. So I'd shipped most of my belongings back to the States, packed up everything else that I was carrying, turned in my keys, and set off to get home. And that involved taking several trains, making connections until I finally got to Frankfurt, Germany, which was where I was flying back to the States. And you know, if you fly during the winter, it's always a trip. And I, of course, I got snowed in at the Frankfurt Airport. They canceled every flight, and I had nowhere to go. I didn't know anybody in the city. I was running out of cash because back in those days there were no ATMs, and you couldn't, every place that you could change money was closed on the weekends. Things were still actually closed on the weekends. So after 36 hours of waiting in the airport, I finally got like the first plane anywhere out of Germany, and then got stuck in another airport, and finally, eventually I landed in Atlanta, and I was expecting to have another like eight to ten hours of standby flights because I was trying to get to Alabama where my family lived, but it's the holidays, so all the flights are full. And I so I was like, oh no. I was just I just remember that feeling of I'm so exhausted, all I want to do is go home, and I just need a miraculous intervention to get me there. Well, you've probably had that kind of experience somewhere where all you want to do is escape. I was trapped in an airport with no way to go forward, no way to go back. But you've probably faced maybe more serious situations, uh maybe a difficult marriage or a difficult relationship or a boss that you just can't get along with, or a crazy schedule, or a painful friendship, or some circumstances, whether it's short-term or long term, and it feels like I can't get out. There's no way forward, there's no way back, and there's no way out. Well, that's the situation we're going to talk about today, because that's what Jeremiah is addressing. He's writing a letter to the people who are already in exile. They're lost in this foreign land, all they want to do is get home, and there's no way out. So just to review it a little bit, you'll remember that Jeremiah began his ministry as Assyria, the dominant world power, went into decline. So as they went into a civil war and began to lose their power, Babylon and Egypt both said, Hey, we're going to step in and take over. And in the midst of that is the little nation of Judah caught in the middle. And Jeremiah is told, God calls him and tells him to warn the king and the people that Babylon is going to win and that they will be taken into exile as judgment for their rebellion. And all the passages we've looked at so far have been written to the people of Jerusalem before any of the armies of Babylon invaded, or well, before that final exile. This passage is addressed to people who've already been taken into exile. They've been deported to Babylon, but Jerusalem is still standing. So they're in a situation where they want to get home, they want to escape, and there's some political unrest in Babylon at the time, and the Jews see it as a sign that, oh, the exile's almost over. The fall of Babylon is imminent, and we're going to be going home soon. And Jeremiah is writing to set them straight. Surprisingly, he doesn't say the end is near, the end of the exile. He doesn't tell them how to escape, he tells them how to endure. So that's why our question today is what's there to do in Babylon? How do we endure? What do I do while I'm trapped in a situation or a circumstance and I just want it to end? And God is saying, wait, it's not over yet. You need to endure. So that's the that's how we're going to apply it. Because there are many times in our life when we want to escape, when there's some trial, some situation, and God says, no, endure, wait. And endurance is hard. What do we do while we wait for the not yet? What's there to do in Babylon? So we're going to be looking at Jeremiah 29, verses 1 through 14. And Jeremiah is going to tell the people who are in exile already to endure it rather than to escape it, but in the midst of that, he gives them hope. So let's look at the first four verses because this is the context. This sets the historical stage for us. So this is Jeremiah 29, 1 through 4. Now these are the words of the letter which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exile, the priests and the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. This was after King Yaco, I don't know how to pronounce this. Whom Zedekiah, King of Judah, sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. So this gives us the historical context. He's writing to people who've already taken into exile. So who are these people? Well, you'll remember probably that the exile happened in three different waves. And scholars think this letter was written after the second wave and before the third one. So the first wave or the first deportation occurred around 605 BC after the Battle of Karkabesh, which is a pretty significant battle in the ancient world. In that battle, Nebuchadnezzar defeated Egypt. And Nebuchadnezzar took the brightest and best of the people away, and he sent he sent Jehoiakim up as king, as a puppet king over Jerusalem. So the prophet Daniel was taken in that wave. That was the first wave. Eventually, Jehoiakim, who's now king of Judah, rebels. He says, no, we want to be independent. He tries to become independent, so the armies of Nebuchadnezzar come again, they conquer him again, and they take another large group of people into exile. That's the second deportation. And that happened around 597 or 598 BC. And Ezekiel, the prophet Ezekiel, is taken in that wave. And that after that deportation, Zedekiah is placed on the throne. And all of this you can read. I'll put links to I have a chronology of all of this. If if you're trying to frantically write this down, I'll put links to it in the lecture notes, which you can find at wednesdayintheword.com. And it gives you the scripture verses where we know this. So the, for instance, the second deportation you can read about in 2 Kings chapter 24. So since verse 3 tells us Zedekiah is on the throne when this letter is written, that places it after the 597 wave, but before the ultimate destruction of Jerusalem, which was 588. And we know from secular history that in Babylon, around 595 or 594 BC, there was a whole lot of political unrest, and that makes that a very likely date for this letter. So some of the deported Jews seem to have been involved in the protests and in the unrest, thinking they were going to rebel and get back home. Evidently the false prophets who were left in Judah and those who had been taken to Babylon with the exile were saying, Oh, this is a good sign, the exile's about to end. And so Jeremiah's going to say, wait a minute, let's see what God has to say about it. He's going to write a letter to set them straight. So the third and final deportation comes in 588 B.C. That's when Nebuchadnezzar says, We're going to end this rebellion in Judah once and for all. He wipes out the entire city, levels the temple, and that's the final destruction Jeremiah has been predicting. So that was the final destruction when the temple was destroyed, and all but the poorest of the poor were sent to Babylon. So this letter in chapter 29 was written to these people who had gone in the first two waves. And notice verse 4 says, Whom I have sent into exile. So we know right off the bat this is part of God's plan. He's not surprised by this. This didn't take him, you know, this wasn't a curveball. They are not in exile by accident. God has a plan, and that plan involves exile. And exile involves hardship, trials, and suffering. So think about the situation of these people for a moment. They've been deported to Babylon, but they still have a home to go back to. So from their perspective, we may have lost the battle, but we can still win the war because Jerusalem is still standing at this point. They still have a home to go to. It just takes the miraculous intervention of God, and they can be home by the next week. So they're in exile, but they haven't accepted the idea. They're still hoping that something will change immediately and suddenly turn in their favor so that they can go home. And God's been telling them through Jeremiah, you're going to be taken into exile. Now they're here in Babylon, but they still have this crazy idea, well, maybe Jeremiah was wrong, or maybe Jeremiah was right, but the exile is it's just going to be a couple more years. And we find out in other places in Jeremiah that the prophets and priests that went with them are encouraging that idea and saying, oh, yeah, it's all going to be peace and prosperity. God's going to send you home any day now. So the same prophets that said, there won't be an exile in the first place are now saying, oh, you'll be home in no time. So I think that's our first lesson from this passage. The first thing we need to do is realize we're in exile. Now that may seem a bit strange to think about ourselves this way, but I think that's the first thing this passage invites us to do. Realize that just like the Israelites in Babylon, there's a very real sense in which this world is not our home. Now we don't think about ourselves that way as being in exile, but biblically it's a theme that comes up over and over again in the New Testament. The people of God have always been called to understand themselves as being in this type of exile. In a sense, the whole story of redemption is us trying to get back to the garden. We're in exile from the garden and we're trying to get back there. For instance, Peter picks up this idea in his first letter. This is 1 Peter 1:1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens scattered throughout, and he gives all these cities in Turkey who are chosen. So this idea of you are an alien who is chosen is becomes a big theme in the letter of 1 Peter, that they're sojourners, they're living in a land that is not their home. And the idea is that being a believer makes you different. It makes you different than the world around us. So we think differently, we start to value things that that the world doesn't value because now we want the things God wants. We value the things God values. We start to speak differently, dress differently, act differently, respond differently. We do these crazy things like turn the other cheek and show grace and mercy, which makes no sense to the world. So we we become different. We're still here, but we are live, we are this is not our home. And there's a very real sense in which we live as exiles, waiting for the day when we will finally be home. So it's like we've signed the papers, the house is ours, but we don't have the keys. We're still waiting. And we're because we're waiting for a world where God will finally make everything right, well, he will establish his rule in a very uh perfect way, he will do away with the fall, the burden of sin, and the curse, and finally set everything right, and that's what we're looking for. So this world bears a lot of resemblance to our real home. It's a shadow of our real home, but it's not the real thing. There's something else we're waiting for. And if you think about that, we talk about that a lot. You'll realize all of us, we have the sense that this world is not as good as it gets. There's something that needs to be fixed. There's something missing. So even in the best of times, there's just it's just not quite right. And I think the problem is we're like the Israelites in Babylon, we have to realize we're in exile. So we often are tempted to think, oh, if I just if I just had a better job, then I'd be happy. Or if I just found the right job, then I'd be happy. Or if my husband acted the way I wanted to, then life would be fine. Or if we sang the songs in church that I like, then I'd really connect with God. Or if my friends treated me the way they should, then I wouldn't be lonely. Or if I only had that extra $10,000, then whoa, life would be perfect. And let me tell you, it doesn't matter how much money you make, you always think you need $10,000 more. And and we do, you know, if only I had kids, or if only I had more kids, or if only I had less kids, or if only the kids would grow up, you know, then life would be perfect. Or, you know, the list is endless. If I was smarter, if I was younger, if I was thinner, if I was whatever, more educated, or had a different family, or whatever, then it would all be fine. And I think part of that is not realizing we're in exile. This world is sinful. This world is governed by sin. This world has fallen and we have to live in it. So the problem ultimately isn't our family, our job, our spouse, our friends, our car, our church, whatever. The problem is we are sinful people in a sinful world. And while God has freed us from the penalty of sin, he has not yet freed us from the power and the presence of sin. That is a promise he has yet to be filled. So it's like we've been tossed out of the garden into the dirty city streets, and we're trying to dress up the slum to make it better, but we have to realize we are still in exile. So we want to escape, we want to get someplace better now, but how do when God says wait, not yet, how do we endure it? So let's look at what Jeremiah says. Look at verses five through nine. Build houses and live in them, and plant gardens, and eat their produce. Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may be bear sons and daughters, and multiply there, and do not decrease. Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will have welfare. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, do not let your prophets who are in your midst, or your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream, for they prophesy falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them, declares the Lord. So basically, Jeremiah's instructions are unpack the suitcases and put them in the attic, settle in, you're gonna be here for a while. Because he knows that the exile is gonna last a long time. They're in for 70 years of living outside their land. And he wants them to accept the fact they're in exile. So his advice is basically settle in, make the best of it, build houses, plant gardens, make this your permanent home, come to grips with the idea that this isn't the normal. This is the new normal, this is reality. And essentially he says, stop putting your lives on hold. Accept the new normal, live out your calling, take wives for yourselves, have children, take wives for your children. That's a lot of generations. And that means the exile is going to last at least two generations. And his idea is live your life, pursue your calling, engage in the world, and relate to each other in the midst of it. Which I think is good advice for a lot of us, because we're often, especially as women, I think we put our lives on hold. We think, oh, once I get married, then my life will start. So we kind of ignore what's happening now. Or once I have kids, then my life will start. Or once my kids are grown, then my life will start. And we're always kind of putting our life on hold, looking to that next stage. And I think Jeremiah's advice would be this is your life. This is where you need to pursue your calling, this is where you need to engage. Stop putting your life on hold and figure out what God wants me to do here and now with the resources I have and the age and the stage I'm in. But perhaps most surprisingly in verse 7, he says, seek the welfare of the city that you're living in. Now you have to understand what a shocking statement that would have been to the Jews of Jeremiah's day, because Babylon was the enemy with a capital E. Babylon was so hated that later it would become the synonymous. It was like a slang term for anti-God. You could use Babylon to talk about everything that was against God, representing everything that's opposed to him. So for Jeremiah to say, seek the welfare of Babylon, they're like, you've got to be kidding. They're the enemy. They're like, they're the worst people of the worst. Why should I pray for their welfare? And the word he uses is the Hebrew word shalom, like that rich word of peace and welfare and contentment and prosperity. And he says, You want you want me to pray for that? For them? That's that's just scandalous. But those are his instructions. And I think the application point for us would be don't hide yourself off in some kind of little exile enclave and never interact with the world around you. So they're supposed to engage in the city, become part of life in Babylon. And if you think about it, the book of Daniel is a great example of someone who does that very well because he doesn't try to escape the exile. He builds a house, he plants a garden, he seeks the welfare of the city, he takes a job, he serves the Lord in the midst of the Babylonian court, and he basically just engages in the welfare of the city. And essentially that's what God is instructing his people to do. Say, you're not there to escape the exile, you're there to endure it, and part of enduring it is living wherever I have put you, figuring out what you can do there, how you can grow, how you can thrive, uh, what I have called you to do, and so on. Now, I think that's a pretty powerful statement to us today because many of us want to escape our exile by making everything better. We just want to fix it. We just want, you know, go in and make everything right. But what if our first instruction is the world has fallen, sin's not gonna go away anytime soon, therefore, pursue your calling, seek God in the midst of sin and futility. How do we learn to endure that? This is where we're gonna be for a long time. There's a popular notion today, which I personally consider heresy, which is called the renewal of all things gospel or the restorational theology, you'll hear it called that. And one of their key claims is that redemptive history is this slow, steady progress toward perfection. And therefore, they would claim the world is getting better daily, and our job is to continue making it better daily, and that's why they talk about seeking the renewal of all things, striving to fix everything that's broken. So they place, as at least as I've seen it practiced, they place a higher priority on things like social justice than evangelism, and social causes than, say, personal Bible study or seeking God individually, because they would say our job is to fix the world, and if we fix the world and everything in it, then individuals would get saved as a byproduct of that. But we're not really trying to save people, we're trying to fix the world, this renewal of all things. Well, I have to look at that and go, hmm, what would Jeremiah think of that? Because he just said plant houses or plant houses, build houses, plant gardens, live in the world, seek the welfare. And at least as I've seen restorational theology practiced, the good news that Jesus came to die for your sins gets relegated to the closet. And I've heard that at least three restorationists argue that's just too offensive. We can't mention the cross because then nobody would come to our soup kitchens. And the cross is just too offensive. So it's not really that big a deal anyway, because our primary job is to fix society. Well, to me that's a dangerous line to cross. And I think at least part of the lesson we're to learn from the Babylonian exile is this world is not our home. It will end just as it ended for Israel, and God will establish his kingdom, but he will do it, not us. As we saw two weeks ago when we looked at the question who will get us out of this mess? The person who's going to fix it is not us striving. It is the righteous king, the son of David, who will come back and rule with righteousness and justice and set things right. And of course we know that to be our Lord Jesus Christ. And our job is to wait patiently to seek the Lord in his kingdom, pursue our calling, and settle in for the long haul. Now, I don't know about you, but if we're honest, I'd much rather escape than endure. It just sounds a lot more fun, you know. So one of the ways we try to escape is we retreat into a little Christian subculture where we create our own music, our own vocabulary, in our own schools, in our own little villages. And so everything we interact with on a daily basis kind of affirms our beliefs and behaviors. And now I'm not against Christian schools or Christian music or all those things. Those are good things, but what I'm warning is don't treat them as if they offer escape from the world because you realize that in our Christian villages and our music and our culture, we're still sinful. We just bring that sin with us. And we uh we'll still offend each other, disappoint each other, we're not escaping the exile that way. So the question we have to ask is what's there to do in Babylon? How do I endure? How do I engage the world in which I live? So if Jeremiah just said, learn to live here well rather than trying to escape it or creating an alternate universe where everybody thinks like I do, what does it mean? How do I do that? How do I build a house or how do I plant a garden where I work or uh endure the exile and pursue my calling? Well, before we look at Jeremiah says, I want to give you one other way we kind of, I think, try to escape. So one way is we can retreat into a Christian subculture. The other way is we can try to escape is we think that by doing things right, everything will be right. You know, if I just follow all the rules, then everything will be perfect. Now, I don't know about you, but the best example I could think of this was when I got married. Because I thought I'm doing this right. I'm following it God's way, I'm doing a covenant marriage, I am I am doing everything right the way you're supposed to do when you get married, and I'd read all these books on how to have a Christian marriage, and so because I was doing it right, marriage would finally end the exile. No more loneliness, no more insecurity, no more troubles. Well, that didn't take long to be dissuaded of. Because I married a sinful person, and he found out I'm a sinful person. And, you know, now we have to deal with that. And you you live in closed spaces, you rub each other wrong, and you find out just how sinful you are, which you'd never, you know, really like I knew before, but now I knew in new ways. I had even more ways to be selfish that I never had before. And of course, then I've learned things like Prince Charming leaves his dirty socks on the floor, and he expects me to clean them up. What is up with that? That's you know, so the point of all that is this side of Christ's work of redemption, we still live in exile. We're still gonna be in sin. And it's gonna follow us wherever we are. Now, in my opinion, I think we Christians don't talk about hoping for heaven as much as we should. We've become a little too focused on fixing things here and now. And I think just like in Jeremiah's day, we have modern false prophets who say, Oh, the exile's short if you just follow my advice, and my personal worthless opinion is that restoration has fallen that camp because they've developed this whole system of spiritual disciplines, and they kind of say, if you just do your morning and evening devotions right, then you'll be spiritually alive. If you just follow these practices, then you'll have guaranteed growth and maturity. So if you're ever lonely or depressed or angry or lustful or disappointed or whatever, you just apply the right biblical principle, say the right prayer, and you'll feel better again. And I think that's a lie because we know from the Bible what's gonna solve that problem. And it's the blood of Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit, and the grace of God. We're not gonna escape the fact that this world is fallen and governed by sin, that we're sinful people, all our friends are sinful people. We're not gonna escape that by just doing it right. God doesn't guarantee us fulfilling marriages, obedient kids, faithful friends, stimulating jobs, and following biblical principles is not a guarantee that you get all those things. Now, don't misunderstand me. If I avoid sinful acts, I do avoid the consequences of those acts. It is always better not to sin, to avoid sin than to plunge headlong into it. So it's, you know, you've heard it said if you if you hate someone, it's like you've killed them, that they're both sin. This is true, they're both sin, they're both wrong, but if I don't kill you, there are less consequences. And it is better to avoid those. So I'm not saying, oh, we're, you know, rush headlong into sin. No. If you avoid sin, you do avoid the immediate temporal consequences. But the problem is we want this guaranteed. Like I put in my quarter of prayer and I get back a guaranteed answer from God, and that's not the way it works. God has told us how we're going to get better. It's the grace of God, the blood of Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit. And that's a process and it's a journey, and it's not guaranteed to happen by Friday. So He's forgiven us the penalty for our sin. We are no longer held guilty. We are no longer found guilty in the court of his justice. He has promised one day we will be free from the presence and power of sin, but that promise is not yet, and that's why we're still in exile. So our job now is to humbly, hopefully, patiently wait for the Lord to complete his work and figure out what he's called us to do in the meantime. Because the promise is one day all those wrongs will be righted, one day all those tears will be wiped away, one day justice and peace will be established, and all those holes in our hearts are gonna be filled. And those who trust in the blood of Christ will enjoy it. They will find that peace and that guarantee in the kingdom of heaven. But for now, we live in exile. So the sin, the rebellion, the brokenness of the world is going to be fixed by the second coming of Christ. It's not gonna be fixed by all the how-to books in the Christian bookstores or social programs we come up with. And I don't know about you, but if you've picked up any secular and self-improvement books, you've probably done some kind of exercises where they ask you, how would things have to change in order for you to be happy? And then you you make your list, and then they give you these strategies for how you can change those things so that you can be happy. So you make a list of like, here's how my spouse would have to change, or here's the kind of job I'd have to switch to, and then you begin working on that list. Well, we had a marriage counselor in the church I used to go to who did things a little differently. In fact, people were sometimes afraid to go to him for counseling because he understood that we're living in exile and we're in a fallen world and we're not yet freed from the power and presence of sin. So rather than asking questions like, um, how does your spouse or your job need to change for you to be happy? He would ask questions like, How are you going to be happy if nothing ever changes in your life? And people would go, Oh, that's not what I wanted. I wanted you to help me escape that exile, not learn how to endure it. And in a sense, that's what he was teaching them. How are you going to endure? How are you going to live in the place God has put you with the resources he's given you here and now? So he was encouraging them to, I think, encourage the same thing Jeremiah is: build houses, plant gardens, find out how to live well in Babylon. So that's where we start. You know, if you're single and you want to be married, you say, Well, what is God doing in my singleness? If you're out of work, you say, what am I supposed to do with this time off? If you're overcommitted, maybe you need to ask, what is God doing in that situation? Or if you're doubting or skeptical, what is he doing with that? What is he trying to teach you? How do we move forward? Because God is at work and that's where we're headed next. Because this would be really depressing if the whole message was endure. Because if that's all there is, you know, just endure, that's depressing. But there is a promise in the midst of the exile. Let's look at 10 through 14. This is one of the most beloved promises in the Bible, but it's sometimes misunderstood, so make sure you notice the context here. So this is Jeremiah 29, 10 through 14. For thus says the Lord, when seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill my good word to you, to bring you back to this place. And this is the famous verse in Jeremiah. For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon 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, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes, and will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile. So the promise is not just endure, it's endure because there is something wonderful coming. There is a promise, there is a hope, there is a reason behind all of this, and it's going to be wonderful. So he tells them they're going to be in exile for 70 long years, but then he tells them, I will bring you back. So in the midst of endurance, we have this promise. And Jeremiah 20 29, 11 is one of a lot of people's favorite verses because it's so hopeful, and we all want to believe, and it's true, that God has plans to prosper us, plans for our future, and plans to fulfill our hope. But notice verse 10 after 70 years of exile, there is there is this endurance period to get through first. There is this waiting for God to work as before that promise comes true. So we don't want to read it as if it's the inside of a Hallmark greeting card, because it's not just this blind religious promise. The context is first there is suffering, first there is exile, first there is this process to go to to get you where I want you to go. And some of the people in exile are probably not going to live that long. But the promise is, even in the waiting, even in the enduring, even in the exile, I am doing what is best for you. You we may not see it now, we may not understand it. It turns out it's usually a painful promise because as we've seen, God often takes his people through suffering and not around it. But the promise is no matter what, there is a plan, a purpose, a reason, and it is wonderful. And when we get there, we're going to look back on this and go, oh, I get it. It was worth it to get here. So this brings us to the third thing to learn. So the first thing was we need to realize we're in exile. The second one was settle in and endure the exile. And the third thing is to hang on to hope. Because God will eventually bring us home. We need to trust that God is at work no matter what, even in the exile, and that his plan is not negligent or capricious. His plan is to prosper us, to bring about what is best. Because that is true, that theme gets picked up throughout the New Testament when they talk about our suffering. That we are enduring suffering, we are going through trials and tribulations, but they have a great and glorious point. And God's ultimate plan is to bring us home. So our exile will not last forever. Just as the Babylonian the Israelites in Babylon were waited 70 years, they did come back. Sure enough, after 70 years, they were able to return to their land. The Persian king Cyrus came in, conquered Babylon, sent the Jews back home with instructions to rebuild their lives and basically a blank check to make that possible, and they were released from their exile. But if you've read, say, the book of Ezra and Nehemiah, you realize they did come home. They were in Jerusalem, they rebuilt the temple, but they were still in exile in a sense because they were still in sin. So they weren't living, they were living in Jerusalem, but they were still subjects of the Persian Empire. They rebuilt the temple, but it wasn't quite as grand or as great as the temple Solomon built. And they had set free, been set free from Babylon, but they still had this problem with sin that got them back into trouble. And that that's the situation we're in today. Because even if they had built a temple as great as Solomon's, or even if they had been an independent kingdom, there was still a promise that was not yet fulfilled. We still need to get back to the garden. We need to be freed from this fallen, sinful world. And that's the place we find ourselves in today. We live in a world that's not our home. We are broken, sinful people in a broken, sinful world, waiting for God to send us a redeemer to bring us home. We've seen his first coming. We know the promise is sure and solid, and we're waiting for his return. Because we've been promised that God is in the process of bringing us back, of restoring us, of gathering us out of exile. It's a long journey. That's why we're supposed to settle in. We've seen the cross, we've seen the down payment, or the resurrection, we have the downpayment of the Holy Spirit. So we have this, we see the beginnings of new life now. We can see glimpses of the kingdom, but we're waiting for the full installment. Because God has promised to redeem us out of this exile. And he sent Jesus to be our redeemer, to pay the penalty for our sins and to buy us out of slavery. Now, Redeemer is simply a rescuer. This was the word used in the Old Testament of the person who would buy someone else out of slavery. So it's also the word used of someone who would take care of widows or orphans when people have no one else to turn. Their redeemer was usually their closest male male relative who would step in and solve the problems. So if you were out of options, if you were bankrupt, if you had nothing left, your closest male relative was to act as a redeemer. He was the person you could count on to deliver you from your parable, your peril. And isn't that what we long for? Someone to come in, take responsibility, and fix everything that's wrong. So just to finish my airport story, after 36 hours of waiting in various airports, I finally landed in Atlanta. I was just so demoralized because I thought, oh no, I'm going to have another at least day of trying to get home. I hadn't eaten, I didn't have any American money, I was jet lagged, all the flights were full because of the holiday travelers. And I got off the plane and there was my dad standing at the gate. And in those days you could meet people at the gate. And he had money. And he took my heavy backpack off my shoulder and he found me a place to sit and got me something to eat, and then he went off in search of my luggage, which miraculously had come in like a day before me. I don't know how. But he solved all my problems, and then he let me sleep in the warm car all the way home. And I thought, that's a redeemer. Someone who comes in and makes everything right. And isn't that what we long for? A loving father to step in and say, I can handle all the mess, I'm gonna put it all right. Let me take care of everything. And that's exactly the promise we have. There is a Redeemer coming who will fully and finally in the exile. And we know that to be Jesus Christ. So in the meantime, Jeremiah says, settle in, realize it's not here yet, pursue your calling, engage the world, find out what God has you to do, and remember you are a child of God and you are headed for something more. You are headed for something wonderful. And this is why we pray in the Lord's Prayer, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We're praying for that day when God will establish justice. He will establish his rule in his kingdom, and his rule will be on earth as it is in heaven. So we hope for that day when we will be welcomed home. But for right now, we're called to endure, to learn how to love each other, even though we're sinful, to learn how to live in a broken world, to offer the world the hope that we know and that we believe. And as we hope for home, we do ask for the strength to endure. But there's always a sense of which we realize this is not our home. Things simply don't work here, and they never will. So we have to accept that, ask for the strength and the determination to go on, and then to seek our calling to do what God has asked us to do. Because Jesus offers us something more. His word is not just endure, it's there's a reason for this. There's a promise behind this. I know the plans I have for you, the plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you a hope in a future. Yes, there's exile to endure first, but that plans for prosperity and hope and the glory of God is still sure. We can endure the exile now because we know Jesus is coming back and he will bring us home. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this word through Jeremiah. I know on there are many times when we look at our lives, we look at the mess, and it's just hard to believe in the hope. It's hard to count on that plans for prosperity, sometimes to put one foot in front of the other and go one more day. And I just pray that you would write that hope on our hearts and that we would bring it back to our minds in those times of despair or doubt or confusion, that we would see that hope as a bright shining light and an anchor to carry us through the storm, and that we in turn would be able to offer that hope to others in our world who may not know you, that we could share it, and they would see in some way through us your plans, your love, your grace, and your mercy, and I'm in 1616, 1915, and I don't know.