Jeremiah 29:1-14 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
Build on the Rock Summer Series 9 July 29, 2018 “Houses In Babylon”
It has been said that there are three rules to consider in order to understand real estate, and they are: “location, location, location.” And while that may be overstating the point just a bit, there is a good deal of truth to the saying. One of the reasons that many of us are excited about a building project for GraceSahuarita is that the new location seems to have so much to offer. Instead of forcing people to make their way to this place west of the freeway, we’re looking to move to a location where people very naturally travel and conduct business, and that appears to be a very positive development. And certainly it’s the same way with our personal homes. So many of the factors that go into our decisions are based on the particular location of the house. How are the schools in that area? What are the views like? Crime rates? What activities or amenities are available? We look for a location that suits our needs and balances with our available finances. The biblical building project that we are discussing this morning comes with a bit of a surprise about this very point: its location. In our lesson, we hear about God instructing his people, the Israelites, to build houses in a most surprising location: in Babylon. That is surprising because Babylon was the enemy. Babylon was far from the Promised Land, that special place where God had established his people. I have been trying to come up with some sort of modern equivalent for us here in Sahuarita, but I’m not sure there’s any way to quite capture the situation. It would be something like God telling us not to build our houses in Sahuarita or Green Valley, but maybe to build in Mexico where we might not know the language as well. Or maybe to build in Phoenix where, let’s just say if you thought it was hot here this past week… Or if you think Tucson traffic is bad… So maybe it’s more like we have to imagine that Phoenix attacked Sahuarita and Green Valley, carried us away from here and brought us there, and then God instructs us to build houses and settle down with our new friends in Phoenix. That’s why the Israelites were in Babylon. They were carried off into captivity. But there is a little more explanation necessary. Our lessons throughout our summer series have taken us through highlights of Old Testament history, the history of God’s people the Israelites. We discussed how they left Egypt and eventually made their way to the Promised Land. And we heard how God promised success and prosperity to them in the land. But that was conditioned on them obeying his laws and decrees. God’s promises were dependent on the people listening to his instructions. But throughout their time there, they failed to live up to what God had said. Again and again they worshipped other Gods or joined in the pagan practices of their neighbors. Again and again they forgot what God had commanded. Finally, God carried out the punishments that he had threatened. Briefly described, God allowed the nation to be split into two. The northern tribes eventually were carried away by the Assyrians and disappeared. The remaining tribes of Judah in the south were the ones years later attacked by the Babylonians. And God was using this, too, to accomplish his purpose of chastising his people. There in Babylon, the people heard different messages. It is clear from our verses that some people were telling those who had been carried off to Babylon, including the king and court officials and skilled workers, that they would be leaving Babylon soon. They would be able to head back home and this was a very brief setback for them. Meanwhile, Jeremiah, God’s true prophet, sent them a letter with the opposite news. He told them that the captivity would last for seventy years, which almost certainly meant that many of them would never make the return trip. And so he also had the surprising advice that they were to build their houses in Babylon and settle down. They were to plant gardens and eat their produce, raise families, and do in Babylon almost all of the things that they would have been doing in the Promised Land. And just as surprising, maybe even more so, they were to pray for their captors. They were to pray for the land where they were living as captives,
pray that it would enjoy peace and prosperity. And as that place enjoyed peace and prosperity, so would these Israelite people who were there. And God had big plans for them. He said, “For I know the plans I have for you…plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” He wanted his people to turn back to him and to trust him. He wanted them to obey what he commanded. And then he was going to accomplish amazing things for and through them. He was going to bring them back out of captivity. He was going to return his people to their home in the Promised Land, and in that land he was going to send the world’s Savior. God through his prophet Jeremiah was telling the people that they should listen to him and trust the promise. God would keep his word, even if the specific directions he was giving were not what they wanted to hear. And in spite of what seemed like a serious setback for this amazing plan, God was still in control. So what do these house in Babylon have to do with us today? There are many aspects of this lesson that we might consider and take to heart. One concerns the entire history of the people and what brought them to Babylon. This is another episode from Old Testament history that illustrates both human sin and the grace of God. The people were in Babylon for one reason: their sin. They were receiving punishment and chastisement. They were facing consequences of their own actions. But God was not abandoning them or giving up on them. And like he had in every previous instance, God continued to hold out his promises by grace. God loved his people and sent them a Savior to live and die in their place. Our context today is different in so many ways. That’s one of the reasons it is hard to come up with a comparable situation to what the Israelites were facing. But there are also many ways in which we are no different from them at all. How many times have we forgotten to follow God’s commands? How many times have we failed to live up to his expectations? How many times have we had to suffer consequences, sometimes painful ones, brought about because of what we have done? And still God is gracious to us. He loves us. He sent his own Son to die for us. And he gives us a promise that says all our suffering will be temporary. He has an eternity of blessings and nothing but blessings awaiting us. But right now, we live in a world that is not exactly like we might want it to be. We live in a world that challenges our desire to live peaceful and productive lives. We live in an era of politics that divide us to extremes. We live in a society that attacks opposing viewpoints, including many that align completely with God’s Word. And God calls on us—we’ve heard these sorts of admonitions several times today— God calls on us to pray for our leaders, not just the ones we like. He calls on us to pray for our enemies. He calls on us to look at our situation and to honor him by obeying his Word and not just doing what we might think feels right. God wants us to live peaceful lives. He wants us to care for each other. He wants us to share his good news with others. He invites us to recognize his gifts of peace and stability and how they serve the spread of his gospel. These lessons go beyond any particular location. No matter where we are or where we go, we are sinners who depend totally on the grace of God and the sacrifice of his Son for us. No matter where we are or where we go, we need to listen carefully to his Word and his instruction. And this is what that Word tells us: right now we are living in our own earthly Babylon. It is not our final destination. It is far from perfect and far from everything we might want or need it to be. But God calls on us to build our houses, to build our lives in this place, to honor him in what we do and to serve others. And he invites us to trust that he has a plan to bring us out of Babylon and into our heavenly Promised Land.
The Text: Jeremiah 29:1–14 (NIV) This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 (This was after King Jehoiachin and the queen mother, the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the skilled workers and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem.) 3 He entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It said: 4 This
is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” 8 Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. 9 They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord. 10 This
is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”