The Comeback

Then the word of the Lord came to me:

“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:

‘Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah,

Whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians.

My eyes will watch over them for their good,

And I will bring them back to this land.

I will build them up and not tear them down;

I will plant them and not uproot them.

I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord.

They will be my people, and I will be their God,

For they will return to me with all their heart.

Jeremiah 25:3

Jeremiah & Ezekiel spent a lot of time warning people about what would happen if they didn’t repent.  Depending on one’s perspective, those books of the Bible can be downers.  To me, it’s striking and sweet and comforting to get little nuggets of tangible hope from these books, in the midst of the doom & gloom.  “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Joshua 1:5) is a nice sentiment, but a little abstract for me.  Jeremiah was prophesying that Judah would be conquered and that there would be exile and death.  In a time like that, I want something a little more concrete.

Either just before, or right at the beginning, of the recession, a guest Pastor used Jeremiah 32:13-15 as the basis of a message of hope:

“In their presence I gave Baruch these instructions:

‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:

Take these documents, both the sealed and unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time.

For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:

Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land’.

 Pastor’s point was that to buy a house when your nation is about to be conquered and you’re going into exile is foolhardy.  The house won’t be worth anything, and you won’t get to live in it anyway.  It’s a dumb idea – unless you know you’re coming back.  People are forecasting a lot of doom & gloom over the United States.   People are disheartened because of the recession & the direction the country is going in.  People are prophesying the fall of the United States.  Maybe these prophesies are correct.  Nonetheless, Ezekiel 34:25-28 says:

 “I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of wild beasts

so that they may live in the desert and

sleep in the forests in safety.

I will bless them and the places surrounding my hill.

I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing.

The trees of the field will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops;

the people will be secure in their land.

They will know that I am the Lord,

when I break the bars of their yoke and

rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them.

They will no longer be plundered by the nations,

nor will wild animals devour them.

They will live in safety,

and no one will make them afraid.”