“I will restore everything that was lost. God’s Decree.” (Jeremiah 32:44 MSG)
We come to the final chapter of Jeremiah and find the prophet has written his closing words from the palace’s prison cell. He had been tossed in the clink by his own country’s king, Zedekiah, for preaching an unpopular truth: “Exile is coming.” We get the impression from scripture that the Babylonians were already barking at the city gate, siege ramps had been set in place – large earthen ramps hastily assembled in order to scale the walls and occupy the city. It reads as thought hoarding and shortages had already begun: “killing and starvation and disease are on our doorstep.” (Jeremiah 32:44) The writing was on the wall for Jerusalem, but rather than consult the prophet, the king was in denial about the accuracy of his claims.
Jeremiah did a strange thing while incarcerated. His cousin, Hanamel, came to visit and asked the prophet to purchase his field. This sounds like an act of desperation on Hanamel’s part; he was ready to leave town and thus liquidating his assets. Or maybe fighting to feed his family amidst the sudden siege-related inflation. Either way, it seems a strange thing for a prophet predicting destruction to make a land investment in a city about to be destroyed.
Jeremiah bought the field. The reader starts to wonder, did he give up on his own prophecy? Did he crack under the pressure of a prison cell? Not at all. He responded obediently to God’s leading. Buying the field was a physical expression of his absolute belief in God’s promises. The Babylonians were about to invade and set fire to the entire city, but seventy years later, a field would be fertile again and therefore a viable investment for returning Israelites. Jeremiah was thinking long term. He was faithfully making investments in a future he couldn’t see, but he believed God’s promise. In buying the field, he was leaving his family a physical connection to the holy city, an anchor to pull future generations towards return.
I’m learning that pastors have to believe what they preach. Before you call that out as obvious, I mean really believe. Like-buy-the-field-for-future-generations believe. We need to let our absolute belief in God’s word shape our investments; in people, in belongings, in land. We need His word to shape our attitudes, our actions, our words. Jeremiah invested seventeen shekels in an unseen future, very likely the last seventeen shekels he possessed, because he believed the word of the Lord more than the evidence at hand.
I spent some time this morning examining my life against Jeremiah’s and I see shortfalls. I want to learn to live with fullest faith in the promises of God. I want to trust His word above the things I can see and feel. I want His report to ring truer than the news report on the tv. I want the realities of heaven to eclipse the everyday hustle of humanity.
So that leaves us to ask the question; what exactly is God promising? The final sentence of Jeremiah grabs my attention, maybe because it contains my word for 2019 but also because it is a concise summary of everything the Bible is about from Genesis to Revelation:
“I will restore everything that is lost. God’s decree.” (Jeremiah 32:44 MSG)
Mark Batterson’s Whisper book taught me how when God decrees something, it continues on forever. He wrote about God saying; “Let there be light” and how, since that moment in history, light continues to burst forth and expand throughout the universe. Scientists agree with this summation; the universe is still getting bigger by the day.
Jeremiah reminds us; God decreed restoration. It’s still happening. It’s still in the works this very hour and year.
Yes, restoration included Jerusalem and the Temple and the Israelite way of life seventy years later, but God’s also talking about humanity as a whole and everything that shattered when Eden was breached by sin. Both Testaments point over and over to the restoration of all things, and that includes you and me. That’s the hope I’m running toward, the truth that I want to long-term invest in.
Lord, again we thank You for Your promise of complete restoration. Help us hold Your truth in our hearts. May it be more real to us than anything we see or feel. May it frame our lives on the solid foundation of Your love. May we never forget, surrender or sway from absolute trust in You. Amen.