God has long-term plans for His people. As sinful humans, we tend to think in the short term. We like our plans to come to fruition quickly. It was the same with the exiles. False prophets predicted they would be back in Jerusalem in a couple of years.
These false prophets were popular because people wanted to hear that kind of message. They wanted to return to normal because they liked their lives before exile.
Jeremiah 28: 11 And Hananiah said again to the crowd that had gathered, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Just as this yoke has been broken, within two years I will break the yoke of oppression from all the nations now subject to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.’ ” [1] God had not sent this message and pronounced judgment on the lies. Hanaiah died two months later.
Jeremiah’s Advice
Jeremiah cared for the people enough to give them an unpopular warning from God. If they didn’t repent, God’s judgment and destruction would result. They continued their sinful ways and ended up as exiles in Babylon. Even in their sin, God had a message for the exiles. Jeremiah got a letter to those in exile, but the message was not what they had expected.
Jeremiah 29: 5 “Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce. 6 Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! 7 And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.”
8 This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let your prophets and fortune-tellers who are with you in the land of Babylon trick you. Do not listen to their dreams, 9 because they are telling you lies in my name. I have not sent them,” says the Lord. [2]
Don’t Miss God’s Plan
The exiles indulged in considering false hope, but if they followed through on it, they would miss God’s plan for them. Jeremiah 29: 10 This is what the Lord says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.[3]
This must have been a shocking message for the adults. Their generation would never see their homeland again. Only their children and grandchildren would be able to return to Jerusalem. God has long-term plans for the exiles and for us.
The Father planned to send a Savior immediately after the fall into sin. Jesus did not come for many generations but came in God’s timing. Jesus and His work on the cross gives us a hope and a future. As we follow Jesus, He restores us so that we can fulfill God’s plans for us. To learn more, listen here:
https://podpoint.com/light-of-christ-church-podcast/exile
[1-3] Tyndale House Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Tyndale House Publishers.