Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 277 ｜ Most Misused： Jeremiah 29_11

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable.

00:00:11.760 Happy Monday.

00:00:12.760 I am super excited about today's episode.

00:00:15.400 We are doing a most misused about Jeremiah 29 11.

00:00:20.360 If you have not heard my previous most misused episode, what we do is we take a verse that

00:00:28.160 is used a lot and is often misapplied or misinterpreted to mean something that the context tells us

00:00:37.800 it doesn't actually mean, and in so doing, it waters it down.

00:00:42.920 And so we go through the context of verses like this and we ask ourselves not what do

00:00:49.460 we want this to mean or what does this mean to me in my specific situation, but what does

00:00:54.840 this actually mean?

00:00:55.900 And what we always find is that the true meaning, according to the context of not just the

00:01:01.400 chapter and book, but the entirety of the biblical canon, is always so much better than the superficial

00:01:07.360 applications of the verse that are so often decontextualized and watered down.

00:01:14.480 So Jeremiah 29 11,

00:01:16.800 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil

00:01:23.280 to give you a future and a hope.

00:01:26.240 So that indeed is a very hopeful and a very positive verse, and it should be read like that.

00:01:34.020 However, like I said, there are so often superficial applications of this verse that often manifest

00:01:41.040 itself like this.

00:01:42.780 God is going to spare me from suffering.

00:01:45.180 He's not going to let anything bad happen to me because of Jeremiah 29 11.

00:01:49.280 God is going to ensure that my dreams come true.

00:01:52.300 He's going to make sure that I get into the college that I want to get into.

00:01:56.120 He's going to make sure that a lot of people like me or that I will find my soulmate.

00:02:01.020 He'll make sure that I don't have to go through anything super hard.

00:02:04.120 This is also used in the same way that Psalm 37 4 is.

00:02:10.160 Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

00:02:13.280 If you're interested in the correct interpretation according to the Bible of that verse, I have

00:02:18.880 a most misused on Psalm 37 4 that you can listen to.

00:02:22.560 Jeremiah 29 11, Psalm 37 4.

00:02:25.640 These are verses that I call magic eight ball verses.

00:02:29.220 So a verse that someone flips open to and says, okay, this is God speaking to me about

00:02:34.920 my specific situation.

00:02:36.860 This is the answer that he is giving to me about my specific desire.

00:02:40.860 It fills us with a kind of affirmation of what God can do for us and what we believe

00:02:46.460 he will do for us.

00:02:47.780 It's also used as kind of this blessing verse or an affirmation of what we're doing.

00:02:54.000 So if we have material blessings in our life, so if we've made a lot of money off of something,

00:02:59.340 we take that as an affirmation of what we're doing, as God's approval of what we are doing.

00:03:06.140 And we take something like Jeremiah 29 11 to mean, okay, well, if God is giving me prosperity

00:03:13.500 right now, then that must mean he likes what I am doing.

00:03:17.360 And we will talk about why these interpretations and applications of this verse simply are not

00:03:23.100 correct.

00:03:23.640 But in order to talk about this, we do have to back up just a little bit and ask ourselves,

00:03:28.660 why is it important to get these things right?

00:03:31.400 And who am I?

00:03:32.340 Like, why do I get to say what verses actually mean?

00:03:36.460 Well, I don't.

00:03:38.180 I am not the arbiter of what verses actually mean.

00:03:41.360 So what we do when we read the Bible is there is a systematic way to read the Bible.

00:03:46.380 And it's true that there are people who have a variety of interpretations of things.

00:03:52.100 But the truth is there's only one interpretation to the Bible.

00:03:55.140 There may be a variety of applications.

00:03:57.340 There might be a variety of ways to study a verse.

00:04:01.180 But the systematic way that we study the Bible is that we look at a verse and we say, okay,

00:04:05.760 what is the context of this?

00:04:07.720 Not just the context of this chapter and the context of this particular book in the Bible,

00:04:11.980 but the context of the biblical canon, the context of history.

00:04:15.440 This is why I love the ESV Study Bible, which actually provides you with all of this context.

00:04:21.380 And the John MacArthur Study Bible, there are a lot of good study Bibles.

00:04:24.600 But those are two that I trust that I think are just really, really good in their scholarship.

00:04:29.680 So that is one way that we can know the historical context and the biblical context of a particular

00:04:34.700 verse.

00:04:35.440 And we also need to know the authorship.

00:04:37.460 So who wrote this?

00:04:38.700 Why is he writing this?

00:04:40.140 To whom is he writing?

00:04:42.720 And again, a study Bible is really, really helpful in giving you that information.

00:04:47.780 The real meaning of verses based on the context, based on the author, based on the purpose of

00:04:56.900 the verse always has significance to us because the Bible is about Jesus and about his glory

00:05:05.340 and his glory is our good.

00:05:07.460 And the Bible tells us how to live in such a way that we can glorify God.

00:05:12.520 So when I say that when we look at a verse, we don't say, what do I want this to mean?

00:05:17.900 I'm not saying that the Bible isn't for us.

00:05:19.960 Of course it is.

00:05:20.640 By the grace of God, we have his written word, that there are many people in the world today

00:05:25.980 and many people throughout history that didn't have access to his written word.

00:05:29.500 But we, by his sovereignty and according to his grace, have the privilege of being able

00:05:34.400 to read his written word.

00:05:36.440 And the Bible, the biblical canon, is about Jesus.

00:05:40.020 Everything points to the gospel.

00:05:41.540 The gospel is the scarlet thread.

00:05:44.000 It is the driving force behind the biblical text in every single verse that we read.

00:05:49.040 We should be looking for the glory of God.

00:05:51.140 We should be looking for the characteristics of God.

00:05:53.440 We should be looking for how this betters our understanding of who he is, who the Messiah

00:05:59.180 is, and why God sent him, and what the gospel is, and then, of course, what that means

00:06:05.580 for our lives.

00:06:06.180 So we ask ourselves, does this ask me to repent of a particular sin?

00:06:11.900 What does this say about God's character that should shift my perspective of what I think

00:06:17.240 about God?

00:06:18.340 So yes, it changes not just our theology, but also our practical everyday obedience.

00:06:25.320 Jeremiah, who wrote this book, is known as the weeping prophet.

00:06:29.460 Most scholars think that he wrote Lamentations as well.

00:06:32.720 He was a prophet for over 40 years of his life.

00:06:35.280 He started out really young, as I will read in just a second.

00:06:38.580 He was a prophet to God's people, specifically those in the nation of Judah who lamented over

00:06:44.480 the people's sins and their need for repentance and warned them, warned the people about God's

00:06:49.720 impending judgment.

00:06:51.480 And Jeremiah comes on the scene after years and years of God telling his people to repent

00:06:57.360 from their wickedness and the people just outright refusing.

00:07:00.180 So God has called up Jeremiah.

00:07:03.800 He has given him the task of not just lamenting, but also warning his people about the impending

00:07:11.840 suffering that they will endure because of their rebellion and sin.

00:07:16.440 Here is what is said about Jeremiah and by Jeremiah in the first chapter of the book.

00:07:23.840 Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,

00:07:27.100 Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.

00:07:30.060 And before you were born, I consecrated you.

00:07:32.440 I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

00:07:35.540 Then I said, O Lord God, behold, I do not know how to speak for I am only a youth.

00:07:41.400 But the Lord said to me, do not say, I am only a youth for to all to whom I send you,

00:07:47.500 you shall go and whatever I command you, you shall speak.

00:07:51.280 Do not be afraid of them for I am with you to deliver you.

00:07:56.260 So God consecrated or set aside Jeremiah for this task of weeping over and warning a rebellious

00:08:01.860 people.

00:08:02.840 Jeremiah did not believe that he was qualified.

00:08:05.840 And one thing that we know about God throughout scripture, we see it, for example, specifically

00:08:09.860 in the story of Moses, that Moses also said, look, you know, paraphrasing here, God, I've

00:08:15.860 got a stuttering problem.

00:08:16.840 Like, I'm not the person that you want to lead Israel out of Egypt.

00:08:21.560 And God answers in much the same way that, hang on here, I'm going to be with you.

00:08:27.720 I'm going to give you the words to speak.

00:08:29.420 I'm going to empower you.

00:08:30.720 And what we learn from this, that it is God's presence, not our talents that empower us to

00:08:35.320 do the things that he has called us to do.

00:08:37.560 Now, Jeremiah, in this calling to be a prophet of the people, to be this lamenting, weeping

00:08:41.960 prophet was a lonely, sorrowful guy.

00:08:45.220 He was bearing the cross of telling God's people to stop sinning, telling them of the 0.58

00:08:49.700 wrath that was to come through a Babylonian exile by King Nebuchadnezzar, something that

00:08:55.300 God orchestrated, not just allowed, but orchestrated to judge his people.

00:09:00.720 It is very similar, his attitude to Psalm 119.36, my eyes shed streams of tears because people

00:09:07.580 do not keep your law.

00:09:09.320 So Jeremiah's heart was broken because of the sinfulness of God's people. 0.99

00:09:13.520 And knowing, according to God, what was to come for them.

00:09:16.880 But Jeremiah was also tasked to bring news of God's impending mercy and restoration, as

00:09:23.420 we will discuss today in verse 11.

00:09:26.220 But the people didn't listen to Jeremiah.

00:09:28.460 He, his own hometown rejected him.

00:09:30.840 This is what Jesus talks about in Luke 4.24.

00:09:33.920 Jesus says this, and he said, truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own town.

00:09:40.200 We also see in the book of Acts, in Stephen's monologue, before he gets executed by the angry

00:09:47.860 Jewish people that he was trying to share the gospel with.

00:09:52.060 He talks about how their forefathers, how the Jewish forefathers rejected the prophets and

00:09:57.520 mistreated all of the prophets that God sent.

00:10:00.680 Jeremiah is certainly one of those people that was mistreated because he was sharing the truth

00:10:05.660 of God to a rebellious people who didn't want to hear it.

00:10:09.360 Interestingly, he only had two people recorded, at least, that listened to him and actually

00:10:14.380 converted, Baruch and the Ethiopian eunuch.

00:10:17.300 And yet, even though we only read of two converts, two people who actually listened to him and

00:10:21.840 repented, Jeremiah was still seen as faithful, held faithful by God.

00:10:27.120 So not because of how many people followed him or listened to him, but because of his

00:10:31.960 obedience to God's voice.

00:10:34.800 And even in his loneliness, God promised to be with him.

00:10:37.920 Even in his rejection, God promised to be with him.

00:10:41.140 Even in his sorrow, God promised to be with him and strengthen him, to give him words to

00:10:45.080 speak, to uphold him.

00:10:46.420 And as we see throughout the book of Jeremiah, God does just that.

00:10:50.100 So I often say, I often say that we are not the point in the Bible.

00:10:54.720 And I said that in the beginning of this episode as well, that we are not the stars of the show.

00:10:59.220 We are not Jeremiah.

00:11:01.440 But from what we see about Jeremiah in God's word, we see the character of God that does

00:11:06.960 apply to us today, that God is faithful to equip those whom he has called.

00:11:12.160 And he does not judge faithfulness by our perceived fruit or the worldly definitions of what fruitfulness

00:11:18.420 is.

00:11:18.940 So number of followers, number of likes, or the number of people who agree with you, or how many

00:11:22.940 downloads you have on a podcast episode, but whether or not you are obeying him in word

00:11:29.300 and in deed.

00:11:30.620 Hebrews 13, 20 through 21 says this about God's insistence upon equipping those whom he had

00:11:38.760 called and what kind of standards he holds his followers to.

00:11:42.700 Now, may the God of peace who brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd

00:11:47.520 of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may

00:11:54.440 do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be

00:12:01.300 glory forever and ever.

00:12:03.200 So he equips us to obey him.

00:12:05.200 And that obedience brings glory to God.

00:12:07.460 Whether or not we see superficial standards of success in our own lives, it is obedience and

00:12:14.640 adherence to his word that God is looking for and brings him glory.

00:12:18.280 And he graciously equips us to do just that, as we see through the prophet Jeremiah and

00:12:23.240 his life.

00:12:24.180 God will equip you for his glory.

00:12:26.480 He will empower you to obey him.

00:12:28.380 And when the road is lonely, when the journey is hard, he is with you.

00:12:31.200 That is not inserting ourself into the biblical story where we don't belong.

00:12:34.960 That is looking at God's character that he exemplifies in the book of Jeremiah and throughout

00:12:39.640 the Bible, realizing that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, as Hebrews 0.79

00:12:44.340 13, 8 tells us, and realizing that we benefit from that characteristic of God today.

00:12:49.800 So already, we see how much we draw, how much good news we see in studying the context of

00:12:57.540 a verse.

00:12:58.460 Like, how awesome is all of that that we've already learned?

00:13:01.540 We haven't even gotten into Jeremiah 29, 11 yet.

00:13:03.960 In looking at the whole picture, we see more of who God is, and we see how that benefits

00:13:10.500 us, and it draws us into true and right and humble worship before God.

00:13:16.460 Rejoicing in the faithfulness of God is so much better than demanding favors from God.

00:13:22.860 Now, that does not mean that we cannot pray for things that we want in accordance with his

00:13:28.080 will.

00:13:28.360 We do.

00:13:28.840 It does mean that our relationship with him isn't about what we can get out of him, but

00:13:35.380 is about us enjoying him for who he is, and who he is, as we see in the book of Jeremiah,

00:13:42.780 is faithful and merciful and sovereign and good.

00:13:46.360 And we are going to talk about this idea a little bit more as we dig into Jeremiah 29,

00:13:52.000 verse 11.

00:13:52.760 So let's start then at the beginning of chapter 29 to see what this verse really means.

00:13:59.800 Jeremiah 29, 1.

00:14:01.560 These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving

00:14:06.200 elders of the exiles and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar

00:14:11.420 had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

00:14:14.840 To Israelites, so this is to Israelites that were captured by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon,

00:14:19.720 exiled from Jerusalem.

00:14:21.160 Babylon was used multiple times by God as an agent of judgment on Israel because of sins

00:14:27.740 like idolatry.

00:14:29.240 At the time, Jeremiah 29 is being written.

00:14:32.220 Nebuchadnezzar had already captured and exiled many Jews to Babylon, but the full destruction 0.84

00:14:36.860 of the temple of Israel in Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar hadn't happened yet.

00:14:42.360 So Jeremiah is writing to those that have survived the exile who are currently in Babylon.

00:14:47.400 He is telling them how to conduct themselves while they are in exile, and he is assuring

00:14:54.480 them that after they turn to God, God will restore them and will allow them to return

00:14:59.540 to Jerusalem after 70 years in exile.

00:15:02.440 So this is what the Bible says in 29 verses 4 through 7.

00:15:07.100 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile

00:15:13.560 from Jerusalem to Babylon.

00:15:15.820 So again, I just want to emphasize that God is actually the one who purposely orchestrated

00:15:22.180 the exile.

00:15:22.980 So many times we say, oh, God just, he doesn't cause bad things to happen.

00:15:26.680 He just allows bad things to happen.

00:15:28.260 Well, the Bible over and over again, disproves, disproves that he does cause suffering to happen

00:15:35.340 at times.

00:15:36.120 So to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, build houses and 1.00

00:15:41.560 live in them, plant gardens and eat their produce, take wives and have sons and daughters,

00:15:45.520 take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage and that they may bear sons and 0.98

00:15:49.980 daughters, multiply there and do not decrease, but seek the welfare of the city where I have

00:15:55.420 sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf for in its welfare, you will find

00:16:01.380 your welfare.

00:16:02.380 Verses 4 through 7, he tells them not to listen to false prophets or soothsayers after that

00:16:09.140 and to make sure that they are only listening to that, which is true.

00:16:13.220 And then we get to the verses surrounding verse 11, starting in verse 10, for thus says the

00:16:18.220 Lord, when 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and I will fulfill to you my

00:16:24.240 promise and bring you back to this place.

00:16:26.900 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil

00:16:32.780 to give you a future and a hope.

00:16:35.000 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will hear you.

00:16:38.960 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with your whole heart or actually just with

00:16:44.020 your heart.

00:16:44.760 I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather

00:16:49.700 you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord.

00:16:54.060 And I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

00:16:58.960 So Jeremiah is talking about the restoration and forgiveness of God's people after righteous

00:17:06.940 judgment for their persistent sin.

00:17:09.560 So even after God's people rebelled over and over again, they rejected God's prophets.

00:17:15.280 They rejected his warnings.

00:17:16.820 They continued to do what is right, what was right in their own eyes.

00:17:20.720 They continued to worship idols, taking on the customs and the religious traditions of

00:17:25.780 the surrounding areas and cultures and welcoming all kinds of impurity and immorality that God 1.00

00:17:32.360 had commanded them to resist, not just arbitrarily, not just because he wanted to, but because

00:17:39.520 he desired and called them to be holy, to be pure, to do that, which honors him in a way

00:17:45.720 that also protects them, protects them from the heartache that comes from sin, but also

00:17:50.720 from the physical consequences of things like murder and theft and sexual immorality and

00:17:55.720 child sacrifice.

00:17:57.220 Jeremiah 4.22 says this,

00:17:59.020 So they are wise in some ways, if you mean wise in foolishness, but how to do good, they

00:18:19.300 know not.

00:18:19.840 So they don't even know how to do good.

00:18:21.780 Their hearts are so depraved.

00:18:23.360 Jeremiah 5.1 says run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note,

00:18:28.480 search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth

00:18:33.940 that I may pardon her, her being Jerusalem. 1.00

00:18:38.020 Jeremiah 7.8 through 10.

00:18:39.680 Behold, you trust.

00:18:41.580 This is God's people.

00:18:42.700 You trust in deceptive words to no avail.

00:18:45.140 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to bail and go after

00:18:51.960 other gods that you have not known and then come and stand before me and this house, which

00:18:57.000 is called by my name and say we are delivered only to go on doing all of these abominations.

00:19:02.640 So we see hypocrisy.

00:19:04.180 We see double-mindedness.

00:19:05.440 We see idolatry and them turning around and saying they still follow the Lord.

00:19:09.100 But God is saying, these people don't know me.

00:19:11.080 They don't know me at all.

00:19:11.880 There's not a single one of them who does justice.

00:19:14.260 There's not a single one of them who even knows what good is. 1.00

00:19:16.780 The only thing that they are wise about is being stupid. 1.00

00:19:19.520 That is what God says. 1.00

00:19:20.400 Please don't tell the Tome police because they will be coming after God in the book

00:19:25.080 of Jeremiah.

00:19:26.300 Jeremiah 7.17 through 20 says this,

00:19:30.680 Do you not see that they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

00:19:35.720 The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes

00:19:41.360 for the queen of heaven.

00:19:43.080 And they pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger.

00:19:47.280 Is it I whom they provoke, declares the Lord?

00:19:49.500 Is it not themselves to their own shame?

00:19:53.020 Therefore, thus says the Lord God, behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on

00:19:58.300 this place upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground.

00:20:02.920 It will burn and not be quenched.

00:20:05.880 So God is very angry, righteously angry at his chosen people because they continue to rebel

00:20:14.640 no matter how many times he has asked them, told them, warned them to please repent and

00:20:20.260 to return to him so that they can take part in all of the good promises that he has offered

00:20:25.060 them.

00:20:25.700 God sets the rules and gives the commands for his people out of goodness and compassion,

00:20:31.420 not greed or malice.

00:20:33.500 And the people refused to see the goodness in God's laws.

00:20:37.520 They turned away, doing whatever they pleased.

00:20:40.640 And God's judgment came out of, yes, anger and wrath, but also out of a relentless, undying

00:20:46.800 love for his people.

00:20:48.540 Rather than rejecting them forever, cutting ties with them and saying, I'm done with you.

00:20:52.740 No more.

00:20:53.320 I'm not dealing with this.

00:20:54.560 He said, I am going to judge them.

00:20:56.780 I am going to cleanse them so that they will repent and be restored and be reconciled to 0.57

00:21:05.200 me.

00:21:05.360 I am going to allow them and cause them to basically receive the natural consequences

00:21:10.580 of their rebellion, not for the sake of destruction, but actually for the sake of restoration and

00:21:16.120 redemption.

00:21:16.600 That's how good and merciful God is.

00:21:19.200 That is how committed he is to keeping his promises, that they may repent and stop doing

00:21:25.420 the things that they are doing that are not just dishonoring to him, but also harmful to

00:21:29.780 themselves and to worship him as their good and true God.

00:21:34.060 So in verse 11 of Jeremiah 29, when he says, I have plans to prosper you and not to harm you.

00:21:41.780 He's clearly not saying, I will never allow you to be hurt or to go through anything hard.

00:21:46.900 Actually, he is promising that they are going to suffer a lot for their rebellion.

00:21:51.260 The prosperity and hope that he is talking about is reconciliation to him, restoration in

00:21:57.580 their relationship with him.

00:21:59.200 And that is what biblical prosperity actually is.

00:22:02.580 Not the absence of suffering, but the presence of communion with our Redeemer.

00:22:07.620 So first, we need to understand that Jeremiah 29, 11 was not written about us, but we can with

00:22:14.960 proper contextual knowledge, draw something, something really good from this verse about

00:22:20.820 God's character that applies to us.

00:22:22.820 So what we learn about God from this book is that he hates sin, that sin must be dealt with.

00:22:30.800 He will go to any length, any length to rid people of it and to call his people to repentance. 0.94

00:22:38.300 We also learned that he has relentlessly committed to forgiveness, redemption, and restoration,

00:22:43.340 not because he has to be, but because he is good and gracious.

00:22:47.040 And where do we see this reality, this characteristic of God proven most?

00:22:51.520 In the cross of Jesus Christ.

00:22:54.240 So this is what we get to draw from this as Christians, that you and I deserve the same

00:22:59.100 wrath poured out on Israel and Judah and then some.

00:23:02.420 We deserve not just earthly exile, but eternal exile.

00:23:06.960 We deserve separation from God forever because we too are idolaters.

00:23:11.420 We too love the ways of the world.

00:23:13.640 We too are rebels.

00:23:15.500 So we are sinners and rebels like God's people in the Old Testament and like God's people in 0.99

00:23:20.600 the Old Testament, we are deserving of his judgment and wrath.

00:23:25.040 But God, instead of pouring out that judgment on you and me, he poured it out on his son, Jesus

00:23:30.980 Christ, sending him to die a death he didn't deserve to die on a cross, paying for all of

00:23:36.920 our sins of wickedness so that we could be redeemed, so that we could be restored, so

00:23:41.100 that we could be reconciled.

00:23:43.140 But God, the two most hopeful words in the whole Bible, but God, but God being rich in

00:23:48.500 mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, made us alive together with Christ

00:23:53.040 by grace we have been saved.

00:23:54.620 For those of us who were dead in our sin, which is all of us, Ephesians 2 goes on to say,

00:23:59.380 following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, we were

00:24:03.860 sons of disobedience.

00:24:05.160 This chapter says that we were children of wrath.

00:24:08.360 God, by his grace, through our faith, has made us alive in Christ, saved by God's goodness

00:24:15.160 to be his children, his heirs, his friends forever.

00:24:18.620 So the hope and the prosperity that God was promising to his people in Jeremiah 29 11 was

00:24:23.960 restoration and reconciliation after judgment.

00:24:26.140 The hope and prosperity that God has promised to us is restoration and reconciliation after

00:24:31.800 a judgment that was poured out not on us, but on his only begotten son.

00:24:36.400 So when we read Jeremiah 29 11, we know that God is not promising us an easy life.

00:24:42.400 He's not saying that we won't suffer.

00:24:43.780 Actually, 2 Timothy 3 12 says, indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus

00:24:48.740 will be persecuted.

00:24:50.280 He is saying that I have made a way for you to be with me, to be in relationship with

00:24:54.900 me, your creator, your good father, not because you deserve it, but because I am gracious and

00:25:00.080 good, not because I need you, but because I want you.

00:25:02.960 That's how good God is.

00:25:04.760 And that is what this verse points to.

00:25:06.620 That's such a better meaning of the text.

00:25:08.860 That's such a better message.

00:25:10.140 That's such better news.

00:25:11.200 That's such a better God than the one who is promising you superficial satisfaction and

00:25:16.440 temporary happiness.

00:25:17.520 No, in this verse, he is offering rebellious people living water and bread of life.

00:25:23.840 And that is so much better news.

00:25:26.680 That is how Christians can read this verse and rejoice and be glad for a relationship with

00:25:31.580 a good and holy God.

00:25:33.120 Now, the judgment that is described in Jeremiah is still poured out on those who do not have

00:25:39.740 faith in Christ.

00:25:41.260 And it will be poured out eternally for those who are not in Christ, for those who have not

00:25:47.800 had their slate wiped clean by the blood of Christ.

00:25:52.080 It shows us a picture of how God does and will deal with sin, not just with temporary suffering,

00:25:58.740 but also with eternal suffering.

00:26:00.660 But what we as Christians get the privilege of drawing out of this text is that the judgment

00:26:05.380 that you and I deserved as rebellious sinners was satisfied, was satisfied in Christ, in

00:26:12.320 his death, in his resurrection, and the defeat of death through his resurrection.

00:26:17.620 He is the propitiation for our sins.

00:26:19.400 He is our reconciliation to God.

00:26:21.600 He is the bridge.

00:26:22.860 He's also the one that carries us over the bridge to God so that you and I can stand before

00:26:27.680 God with confidence because of our faith in Christ.

00:26:32.420 Again, not because of anything that we have done, but because of what Christ has done

00:26:35.860 for us.

00:26:36.520 So what we read in this verse is gospel truth.

00:26:41.740 It's the best news ever.

00:26:43.480 It's so much better than the interpretation of this text, which means that God is not going

00:26:49.080 to allow you to suffer.

00:26:50.280 He's not going to allow you to go through hard things.

00:26:52.280 He's going to give you all of the things that you want in life.

00:26:56.040 Like how small of a God is that, that he is basically just the genie from Aladdin?

00:27:01.260 Is that the God that you want to rescue you?

00:27:04.140 Is that the God that you want to worship?

00:27:06.060 Is that the God that you want to bear your burdens?

00:27:10.980 Is that the kind of God that you see avenging evil and defeating Satan and death forever?

00:27:16.540 It's not the God that I want to worship.

00:27:19.000 I want to worship the God that promises, that promises out of his own grace, not our deservedness,

00:27:25.720 eternal life with him, and not just forgetting that sin exists, but actually paying for that

00:27:34.980 sin with the sacrifice of his own son.

00:27:38.200 And that is what we can rejoice in when we read Jeremiah 29 11.

00:27:42.340 Again, there is so much richness in studying the Bible in context.

00:27:48.880 I will recommend some resources for you.

00:27:51.620 Well, one, I did a podcast called Reading the Bible, so I recommend listening to that.

00:27:56.420 Now, I will kind of change something I said, so I do typically go verse to verse.

00:28:00.600 It's really hard for me to read entire chapters or a few chapters at once because I typically

00:28:04.580 have so many questions that it just takes me forever.

00:28:07.620 And so I typically read small chunks or verses at a time, and I kind of break it down.

00:28:12.140 I've got a Greek and Hebrew Bible, so you can look at keywords, and you can look up the

00:28:19.580 original Greek or Hebrew, and it tells you the context and what they actually mean, how

00:28:23.400 they show up in other places in the Bible.

00:28:25.160 I have all of this in an Instagram highlight.

00:28:27.040 I have my ESV study Bible that gives me context and historical analysis and things like that.

00:28:32.680 However, I will say one caveat that I would give to my Reading the Bible episode is that

00:28:40.260 it is okay and good to read whole chunks of the Bible at once, especially if you are trying to

00:28:46.640 read the entire Bible.

00:28:47.980 Like, I'm doing Same Page Summer right now with Christ Church and Rachel Jankovic, and

00:28:53.780 we're reading big chunks of the Bible at once.

00:28:56.180 That's not how I'm used to reading it, but there's a lot of benefit to that, too, because

00:28:59.440 if you're trying to read as much of the Bible as possible, it would take you several lifetimes

00:29:04.040 to go through, like, one verse at a time.

00:29:07.720 So go listen to my podcast, Reading the Bible, but also understand that you don't have to

00:29:13.700 go only verse-to-verse in order to get something out of the biblical text.

00:29:18.680 So I've got my study Bible.

00:29:20.220 I've got my keyword Greek and Hebrew Bible.

00:29:23.960 I love systematic theology from Wayne Grudem.

00:29:28.540 I think it's a really helpful resource.

00:29:31.940 Also, Politics According to the Bible by Wayne Grudem is something that just kind of helps

00:29:35.500 build your worldview, but those are just some of the few resources that I like.

00:29:39.440 I also love gotquestions.org.

00:29:41.420 Like, really good resource if you've got any questions about, you know, how the biblical

00:29:46.400 canon came together.

00:29:47.640 Systematic theology is also good for that, but how different Bible verses are interpreted,

00:29:51.920 different forms of eschatology, and that means the end times, things like that.

00:29:55.780 And so those are all really good resources.

00:29:57.680 But I hope that—I mean, we can talk about this particular verse and the book of Jeremiah

00:30:01.940 for weeks and weeks and weeks to come, there are people who are a lot smarter than us who

00:30:05.340 have done that, that we can draw a lot of wisdom from.

00:30:07.300 But I hope that this was a good dive into a verse that, unfortunately, I think is not

00:30:12.540 just misused, but is misapplied in a way that misses the heart-changing and the life-changing

00:30:20.880 and perspective-changing truth that it signifies.

00:30:23.680 So anyway, thank you guys so much for listening.

00:30:25.980 I will be back here on Wednesday.

00:30:28.180 See you next time.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - July 20, 2020

Ep 277 ｜ Most Misused： Jeremiah 29_11

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