Ep 277 ｜ Most Misused： Jeremiah 29_11
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Summary
In this episode, we take a verse that is used a lot and is often misapplied or misinterpreted to mean something that the context tells us it doesn't actually mean, and in so doing, it waters it down.
Transcript
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We are doing a most misused about Jeremiah 29 11.
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If you have not heard my previous most misused episode, what we do is we take a verse that
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is used a lot and is often misapplied or misinterpreted to mean something that the context tells us
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it doesn't actually mean, and in so doing, it waters it down.
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And so we go through the context of verses like this and we ask ourselves not what do
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we want this to mean or what does this mean to me in my specific situation, but what does
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And what we always find is that the true meaning, according to the context of not just the
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chapter and book, but the entirety of the biblical canon, is always so much better than the superficial
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applications of the verse that are so often decontextualized and watered down.
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For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil
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So that indeed is a very hopeful and a very positive verse, and it should be read like that.
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However, like I said, there are so often superficial applications of this verse that often manifest
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He's not going to let anything bad happen to me because of Jeremiah 29 11.
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God is going to ensure that my dreams come true.
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He's going to make sure that I get into the college that I want to get into.
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He's going to make sure that a lot of people like me or that I will find my soulmate.
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He'll make sure that I don't have to go through anything super hard.
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This is also used in the same way that Psalm 37 4 is.
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Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
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If you're interested in the correct interpretation according to the Bible of that verse, I have
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a most misused on Psalm 37 4 that you can listen to.
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These are verses that I call magic eight ball verses.
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So a verse that someone flips open to and says, okay, this is God speaking to me about
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This is the answer that he is giving to me about my specific desire.
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It fills us with a kind of affirmation of what God can do for us and what we believe
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It's also used as kind of this blessing verse or an affirmation of what we're doing.
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So if we have material blessings in our life, so if we've made a lot of money off of something,
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we take that as an affirmation of what we're doing, as God's approval of what we are doing.
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And we take something like Jeremiah 29 11 to mean, okay, well, if God is giving me prosperity
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right now, then that must mean he likes what I am doing.
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And we will talk about why these interpretations and applications of this verse simply are not
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But in order to talk about this, we do have to back up just a little bit and ask ourselves,
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Like, why do I get to say what verses actually mean?
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I am not the arbiter of what verses actually mean.
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So what we do when we read the Bible is there is a systematic way to read the Bible.
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And it's true that there are people who have a variety of interpretations of things.
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But the truth is there's only one interpretation to the Bible.
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There might be a variety of ways to study a verse.
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But the systematic way that we study the Bible is that we look at a verse and we say, okay,
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Not just the context of this chapter and the context of this particular book in the Bible,
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but the context of the biblical canon, the context of history.
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This is why I love the ESV Study Bible, which actually provides you with all of this context.
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And the John MacArthur Study Bible, there are a lot of good study Bibles.
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But those are two that I trust that I think are just really, really good in their scholarship.
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So that is one way that we can know the historical context and the biblical context of a particular
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And again, a study Bible is really, really helpful in giving you that information.
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The real meaning of verses based on the context, based on the author, based on the purpose of
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the verse always has significance to us because the Bible is about Jesus and about his glory
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And the Bible tells us how to live in such a way that we can glorify God.
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So when I say that when we look at a verse, we don't say, what do I want this to mean?
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By the grace of God, we have his written word, that there are many people in the world today
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and many people throughout history that didn't have access to his written word.
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But we, by his sovereignty and according to his grace, have the privilege of being able
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And the Bible, the biblical canon, is about Jesus.
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It is the driving force behind the biblical text in every single verse that we read.
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We should be looking for the characteristics of God.
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We should be looking for how this betters our understanding of who he is, who the Messiah
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is, and why God sent him, and what the gospel is, and then, of course, what that means
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So we ask ourselves, does this ask me to repent of a particular sin?
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What does this say about God's character that should shift my perspective of what I think
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So yes, it changes not just our theology, but also our practical everyday obedience.
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Jeremiah, who wrote this book, is known as the weeping prophet.
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Most scholars think that he wrote Lamentations as well.
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He was a prophet for over 40 years of his life.
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He started out really young, as I will read in just a second.
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He was a prophet to God's people, specifically those in the nation of Judah who lamented over
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the people's sins and their need for repentance and warned them, warned the people about God's
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And Jeremiah comes on the scene after years and years of God telling his people to repent
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from their wickedness and the people just outright refusing.
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He has given him the task of not just lamenting, but also warning his people about the impending
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suffering that they will endure because of their rebellion and sin.
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Here is what is said about Jeremiah and by Jeremiah in the first chapter of the book.
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Then I said, O Lord God, behold, I do not know how to speak for I am only a youth.
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But the Lord said to me, do not say, I am only a youth for to all to whom I send you,
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you shall go and whatever I command you, you shall speak.
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Do not be afraid of them for I am with you to deliver you.
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So God consecrated or set aside Jeremiah for this task of weeping over and warning a rebellious
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Jeremiah did not believe that he was qualified.
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And one thing that we know about God throughout scripture, we see it, for example, specifically
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in the story of Moses, that Moses also said, look, you know, paraphrasing here, God, I've
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Like, I'm not the person that you want to lead Israel out of Egypt.
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And God answers in much the same way that, hang on here, I'm going to be with you.
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And what we learn from this, that it is God's presence, not our talents that empower us to
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Now, Jeremiah, in this calling to be a prophet of the people, to be this lamenting, weeping
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He was bearing the cross of telling God's people to stop sinning, telling them of the
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wrath that was to come through a Babylonian exile by King Nebuchadnezzar, something that
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God orchestrated, not just allowed, but orchestrated to judge his people.
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It is very similar, his attitude to Psalm 119.36, my eyes shed streams of tears because people
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So Jeremiah's heart was broken because of the sinfulness of God's people.
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And knowing, according to God, what was to come for them.
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But Jeremiah was also tasked to bring news of God's impending mercy and restoration, as
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Jesus says this, and he said, truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own town.
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We also see in the book of Acts, in Stephen's monologue, before he gets executed by the angry
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Jewish people that he was trying to share the gospel with.
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He talks about how their forefathers, how the Jewish forefathers rejected the prophets and
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Jeremiah is certainly one of those people that was mistreated because he was sharing the truth
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of God to a rebellious people who didn't want to hear it.
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Interestingly, he only had two people recorded, at least, that listened to him and actually
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And yet, even though we only read of two converts, two people who actually listened to him and
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repented, Jeremiah was still seen as faithful, held faithful by God.
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So not because of how many people followed him or listened to him, but because of his
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And even in his loneliness, God promised to be with him.
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Even in his rejection, God promised to be with him.
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Even in his sorrow, God promised to be with him and strengthen him, to give him words to
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And as we see throughout the book of Jeremiah, God does just that.
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So I often say, I often say that we are not the point in the Bible.
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And I said that in the beginning of this episode as well, that we are not the stars of the show.
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But from what we see about Jeremiah in God's word, we see the character of God that does
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apply to us today, that God is faithful to equip those whom he has called.
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And he does not judge faithfulness by our perceived fruit or the worldly definitions of what fruitfulness
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So number of followers, number of likes, or the number of people who agree with you, or how many
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downloads you have on a podcast episode, but whether or not you are obeying him in word
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Hebrews 13, 20 through 21 says this about God's insistence upon equipping those whom he had
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called and what kind of standards he holds his followers to.
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Now, may the God of peace who brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd
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of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may
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do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be
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Whether or not we see superficial standards of success in our own lives, it is obedience and
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adherence to his word that God is looking for and brings him glory.
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And he graciously equips us to do just that, as we see through the prophet Jeremiah and
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And when the road is lonely, when the journey is hard, he is with you.
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That is not inserting ourself into the biblical story where we don't belong.
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That is looking at God's character that he exemplifies in the book of Jeremiah and throughout
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the Bible, realizing that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, as Hebrews
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13, 8 tells us, and realizing that we benefit from that characteristic of God today.
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So already, we see how much we draw, how much good news we see in studying the context of
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Like, how awesome is all of that that we've already learned?
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We haven't even gotten into Jeremiah 29, 11 yet.
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In looking at the whole picture, we see more of who God is, and we see how that benefits
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us, and it draws us into true and right and humble worship before God.
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Rejoicing in the faithfulness of God is so much better than demanding favors from God.
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Now, that does not mean that we cannot pray for things that we want in accordance with his
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It does mean that our relationship with him isn't about what we can get out of him, but
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is about us enjoying him for who he is, and who he is, as we see in the book of Jeremiah,
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is faithful and merciful and sovereign and good.
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And we are going to talk about this idea a little bit more as we dig into Jeremiah 29,
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So let's start then at the beginning of chapter 29 to see what this verse really means.
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These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving
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elders of the exiles and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar
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had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
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To Israelites, so this is to Israelites that were captured by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon,
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Babylon was used multiple times by God as an agent of judgment on Israel because of sins
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Nebuchadnezzar had already captured and exiled many Jews to Babylon, but the full destruction
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of the temple of Israel in Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar hadn't happened yet.
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So Jeremiah is writing to those that have survived the exile who are currently in Babylon.
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He is telling them how to conduct themselves while they are in exile, and he is assuring
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them that after they turn to God, God will restore them and will allow them to return
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So this is what the Bible says in 29 verses 4 through 7.
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Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile
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So again, I just want to emphasize that God is actually the one who purposely orchestrated
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So many times we say, oh, God just, he doesn't cause bad things to happen.
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Well, the Bible over and over again, disproves, disproves that he does cause suffering to happen
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So to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, build houses and
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live in them, plant gardens and eat their produce, take wives and have sons and daughters,
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take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage and that they may bear sons and
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daughters, multiply there and do not decrease, but seek the welfare of the city where I have
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sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf for in its welfare, you will find
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Verses 4 through 7, he tells them not to listen to false prophets or soothsayers after that
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and to make sure that they are only listening to that, which is true.
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And then we get to the verses surrounding verse 11, starting in verse 10, for thus says the
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Lord, when 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and I will fulfill to you my
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For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil
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Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will hear you.
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You will seek me and find me when you seek me with your whole heart or actually just with
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I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather
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you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord.
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And I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
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So Jeremiah is talking about the restoration and forgiveness of God's people after righteous
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So even after God's people rebelled over and over again, they rejected God's prophets.
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They continued to do what is right, what was right in their own eyes.
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They continued to worship idols, taking on the customs and the religious traditions of
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the surrounding areas and cultures and welcoming all kinds of impurity and immorality that God
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had commanded them to resist, not just arbitrarily, not just because he wanted to, but because
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he desired and called them to be holy, to be pure, to do that, which honors him in a way
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that also protects them, protects them from the heartache that comes from sin, but also
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from the physical consequences of things like murder and theft and sexual immorality and
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So they are wise in some ways, if you mean wise in foolishness, but how to do good, they
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Jeremiah 5.1 says run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note,
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search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth
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that I may pardon her, her being Jerusalem.
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Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to bail and go after
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other gods that you have not known and then come and stand before me and this house, which
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is called by my name and say we are delivered only to go on doing all of these abominations.
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We see idolatry and them turning around and saying they still follow the Lord.
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There's not a single one of them who does justice.
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There's not a single one of them who even knows what good is.
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The only thing that they are wise about is being stupid.
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Please don't tell the Tome police because they will be coming after God in the book
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Do you not see that they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
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The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes
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And they pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger.
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Therefore, thus says the Lord God, behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on
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this place upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground.
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So God is very angry, righteously angry at his chosen people because they continue to rebel
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no matter how many times he has asked them, told them, warned them to please repent and
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to return to him so that they can take part in all of the good promises that he has offered
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God sets the rules and gives the commands for his people out of goodness and compassion,
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And the people refused to see the goodness in God's laws.
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And God's judgment came out of, yes, anger and wrath, but also out of a relentless, undying
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Rather than rejecting them forever, cutting ties with them and saying, I'm done with you.
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I am going to cleanse them so that they will repent and be restored and be reconciled to
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I am going to allow them and cause them to basically receive the natural consequences
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of their rebellion, not for the sake of destruction, but actually for the sake of restoration and
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That is how committed he is to keeping his promises, that they may repent and stop doing
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the things that they are doing that are not just dishonoring to him, but also harmful to
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themselves and to worship him as their good and true God.
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So in verse 11 of Jeremiah 29, when he says, I have plans to prosper you and not to harm you.
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He's clearly not saying, I will never allow you to be hurt or to go through anything hard.
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Actually, he is promising that they are going to suffer a lot for their rebellion.
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The prosperity and hope that he is talking about is reconciliation to him, restoration in
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And that is what biblical prosperity actually is.
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Not the absence of suffering, but the presence of communion with our Redeemer.
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So first, we need to understand that Jeremiah 29, 11 was not written about us, but we can with
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proper contextual knowledge, draw something, something really good from this verse about
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So what we learn about God from this book is that he hates sin, that sin must be dealt with.
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He will go to any length, any length to rid people of it and to call his people to repentance.
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We also learned that he has relentlessly committed to forgiveness, redemption, and restoration,
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not because he has to be, but because he is good and gracious.
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And where do we see this reality, this characteristic of God proven most?
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So this is what we get to draw from this as Christians, that you and I deserve the same
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wrath poured out on Israel and Judah and then some.
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We deserve not just earthly exile, but eternal exile.
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We deserve separation from God forever because we too are idolaters.
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So we are sinners and rebels like God's people in the Old Testament and like God's people in
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the Old Testament, we are deserving of his judgment and wrath.
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But God, instead of pouring out that judgment on you and me, he poured it out on his son, Jesus
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Christ, sending him to die a death he didn't deserve to die on a cross, paying for all of
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our sins of wickedness so that we could be redeemed, so that we could be restored, so
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But God, the two most hopeful words in the whole Bible, but God, but God being rich in
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mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, made us alive together with Christ
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For those of us who were dead in our sin, which is all of us, Ephesians 2 goes on to say,
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following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, we were
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This chapter says that we were children of wrath.
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God, by his grace, through our faith, has made us alive in Christ, saved by God's goodness
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to be his children, his heirs, his friends forever.
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So the hope and the prosperity that God was promising to his people in Jeremiah 29 11 was
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The hope and prosperity that God has promised to us is restoration and reconciliation after
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a judgment that was poured out not on us, but on his only begotten son.
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So when we read Jeremiah 29 11, we know that God is not promising us an easy life.
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Actually, 2 Timothy 3 12 says, indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus
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He is saying that I have made a way for you to be with me, to be in relationship with
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me, your creator, your good father, not because you deserve it, but because I am gracious and
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good, not because I need you, but because I want you.
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That's such a better God than the one who is promising you superficial satisfaction and
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No, in this verse, he is offering rebellious people living water and bread of life.
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That is how Christians can read this verse and rejoice and be glad for a relationship with
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Now, the judgment that is described in Jeremiah is still poured out on those who do not have
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And it will be poured out eternally for those who are not in Christ, for those who have not
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had their slate wiped clean by the blood of Christ.
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It shows us a picture of how God does and will deal with sin, not just with temporary suffering,
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But what we as Christians get the privilege of drawing out of this text is that the judgment
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that you and I deserved as rebellious sinners was satisfied, was satisfied in Christ, in
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his death, in his resurrection, and the defeat of death through his resurrection.
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He's also the one that carries us over the bridge to God so that you and I can stand before
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God with confidence because of our faith in Christ.
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Again, not because of anything that we have done, but because of what Christ has done
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It's so much better than the interpretation of this text, which means that God is not going
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He's not going to allow you to go through hard things.
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He's going to give you all of the things that you want in life.
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Like how small of a God is that, that he is basically just the genie from Aladdin?
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Is that the God that you want to bear your burdens?
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Is that the kind of God that you see avenging evil and defeating Satan and death forever?
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I want to worship the God that promises, that promises out of his own grace, not our deservedness,
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eternal life with him, and not just forgetting that sin exists, but actually paying for that
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And that is what we can rejoice in when we read Jeremiah 29 11.
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Again, there is so much richness in studying the Bible in context.
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Well, one, I did a podcast called Reading the Bible, so I recommend listening to that.
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Now, I will kind of change something I said, so I do typically go verse to verse.
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It's really hard for me to read entire chapters or a few chapters at once because I typically
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have so many questions that it just takes me forever.
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And so I typically read small chunks or verses at a time, and I kind of break it down.
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I've got a Greek and Hebrew Bible, so you can look at keywords, and you can look up the
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original Greek or Hebrew, and it tells you the context and what they actually mean, how
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I have my ESV study Bible that gives me context and historical analysis and things like that.
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However, I will say one caveat that I would give to my Reading the Bible episode is that
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it is okay and good to read whole chunks of the Bible at once, especially if you are trying to
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Like, I'm doing Same Page Summer right now with Christ Church and Rachel Jankovic, and
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That's not how I'm used to reading it, but there's a lot of benefit to that, too, because
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if you're trying to read as much of the Bible as possible, it would take you several lifetimes
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So go listen to my podcast, Reading the Bible, but also understand that you don't have to
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go only verse-to-verse in order to get something out of the biblical text.
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Also, Politics According to the Bible by Wayne Grudem is something that just kind of helps
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build your worldview, but those are just some of the few resources that I like.
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Like, really good resource if you've got any questions about, you know, how the biblical
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Systematic theology is also good for that, but how different Bible verses are interpreted,
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different forms of eschatology, and that means the end times, things like that.
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But I hope that—I mean, we can talk about this particular verse and the book of Jeremiah
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for weeks and weeks and weeks to come, there are people who are a lot smarter than us who
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have done that, that we can draw a lot of wisdom from.
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But I hope that this was a good dive into a verse that, unfortunately, I think is not
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just misused, but is misapplied in a way that misses the heart-changing and the life-changing
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and perspective-changing truth that it signifies.
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So anyway, thank you guys so much for listening.