![]() God has a hope and a future of eternity with him awaiting everyone who trusts in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins. Since the penalty for sin is death, Jesus broke the power of sin when he rose from the dead. He suffered as our representative, bearing all our sin when he died on a cross, and was forsaken by God on our behalf. So God sent us his Son, Jesus, into our world to bridge this gap. He knows he has made us for a close relationship with him, though we choose to love other things. We are all estranged from God by our rebellion against him, but his good plan and hope for us is that we might not be eternally separated from him. ![]() ![]() Instead it is his way to open their eyes to see how much they need God, so that they might cry out to him to restore their broken relationship. But like a loving Father, God reminds them that his discipline is not his ultimate judgment. The people receiving this letter were grieving the destruction of both their home and the discipline of God. Their exile was not a sign of his hatred towards them it was God’s painful pursuit to win their hearts back to him. He wants them speaking to him and seeking him. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘And will bring you back from captivity’” (v.12-14 NIV).ĭo you hear God’s desire for his people? He doesn’t want to harm them. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. The verse that follows Jeremiah 29:11 says, “’Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. But more importantly, he had plans to restore their relationship with him. He had plans to restore them to their land. But, he wanted them to know that his discipline was not definitive of his thoughts towards them. God sent hardship into these people’s lives as discipline for their rebellion against him. This was no accident and God sent prophets like Jeremiah to warn the Israelites what would happen if they continued to rebel against God and break the covenant they made with him. The superpower Babylon conquered Israel and took these Jews captive. The recipients of this letter were exiles, Jews displaced from their homeland. He wants you to know him better through their experience. God recorded their experience to tell you about himself. But it’s also a letter from a long time ago written to someone else. 29 Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon Ģ (After that Jeconiah the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the carpenters, and the smiths, were departed from Jerusalem )ģ By the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent unto Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon) saying,Ĥ Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon ĥ Build ye houses, and dwell in them and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them Ħ Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.ħ And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.Ĩ For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.ĩ For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the Lord.ġ0 For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.ġ1 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.Jeremiah 29:11 is in your Bible. ![]()
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