03/08/2024 – God has Promised to Give His People a Future.
Jeremiah 29: 10 For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive
God never leaves His people without a promise. He sent His people to captivity, but He placed a limit to that captivity and promised to restore His people. Yes, seventy years is a long time – it is a lifetime. But our hope in Christ must be not for a season but for our entire lives.
Our God is faithful- not just when we are faithful. The covenant by which we are saved is not a covenant of equals. Our faithfulness is conditioned by the faithfulness of others. When they betray us, we feel that we have been released from our responsibility to be faithful to them.
But our God is always faithful to His word. He saves us out of His commitment to His own name. One would expect that the passage of time would make the captives get used to Babylon and forget the promised land. Seventy years was more than enough time for a new generation to become part of Babylon- to learn their culture and follow their gods. But God’s faithfulness would make His remnant persevere and pray for the fulfilment of God’s promise. When the captivity was fulfilled, God promised not only to bring His people back to the promised land, but to bring them back to Him.
How long can you persevere in today’s Babylon? God has promised that Christ will return, and He will bring His church to the heavenly Jerusalem. God has promised to give us a future and a hope beyond our present troubles.