Sermon Jeremiah 29 Letter to the Exiles

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon Jeremiah 29 Letter to the Exiles

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

October 2, 2016

            I am continuing with my sermon series on Jeremiah - Prophet to the Nations.  We started with God’s desire to have someone speak for him to Judah and to the Nations of the World.  Jeremiah warned all nations not to put their hope in false gods and material things.  These cannot save you.  God wanted the nations reminded that he created them and hold nations in his hands just like a potter hold a piece of clay.  And God announced through Jeremiah that he was not going to destroy the nations and start over, if they turned and were obedient to him.  God also announced that the system of private property that he had established would remain even though nations might rise and fall.  Today we will look at a debate among the prophets in Jeremiah’s day.  We will get to this, but first let’s pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification.  Amen.”   (John Calvin)

            Last week many of us watched a televised debate between two presidential candidates.  They have conflicting views of where they would like to lead our nation.  Prophets in Jeremiah’s day also had different views about where the nation was heading and what it should do about it.  This debate among is recorded in the Book of Jeremiah.  So, let’s begin this morning by looking at the start of Jeremiah’s work as a prophet and the debate which followed.

Jeremiah 26:1 Early in the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the Lord: 2 “This is what the Lord says: Stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s house and speak to all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the house of the Lord. Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word. 3 Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from their evil ways. Then I will relent and not inflict on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done. 4 Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you, 5 and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), 6 then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city a curse among all the nations of the earth.’”

            In 605 BC the Babylonians and Medes met the Egyptians in the great battle of Carchemish.  The Babylonians won and made their general Nebuchadnezzar king of the entire empire.  This would have enormous implication for Judah and its capitol at Jerusalem.  The people came to the temple in Jerusalem to find out from God what was going to happen.  And their priests and prophets told them not worry.  They said that as long as they had a temple and continued to worship, God would always protect them. So there was nothing to worry about.

            But as we just heard, God sent Jeremiah his Prophet to the Nations to tell them that this was not good enough.  He told them that just because they came to the temple in Jerusalem and worshiped the Lord, God would not necessarily save them.  In fact that very thing had happened hundreds of years before.  Then the people believe that no enemy could ever destroy the shrine of Shiloh.  But that is exactly what the Philistines did.  The temple and their worship did not save them because they had violated the terms of their contract with God.  God had blessed his people richly so that they would love and serve him and be a blessing to others.  But when the people pursued their own evil ways, the temple and worship were insufficient to protect them.

            Jeremiah told the people coming to the Jerusalem temple the same thing.  The temple and their worship would not save them from the King of Babylon.  Only if they served God, by loving him and caring for those in need would they be saved.  The prophets of Jerusalem wanted Jeremiah put to death for this prophecy.  They called him a false prophet worrying the people unnecessarily.  The temple and worship were all they needed.  But in 597 BC Jeremiah was proved right when the Babylonians arrived in the city and carried off the king, his family, his government, his army, and all the merchants and craftsmen that could help the Babylonians.  The temple and worship did not save them.

            Several years later Jeremiah was once again asked by God to talk with the people.

27:1 Early in the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 This is what the Lord said to me: “Make a yoke out of straps and crossbars and put it on your neck. 3 Then send word to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon through the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. 4 Give them a message for their masters and say, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Tell this to your masters: 5 With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please. 6 Now I will give all your countries into the hands of my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him. 7 All nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until the time for his land comes; then many nations and great kings will subjugate him.

            And so Jeremiah angered the nations of the region, including Judah, by saying that they are now subject to will of Nebuchadnezzar and Jeremiah is wearing a yoke around his neck to symbolize their subjugation.  Jeremiah told them that Babylon would return and take everything they had left behind if they did not obey the will of Nebuchadnezzar. This angered the prophet Hananiah.  He had been telling the people that God would break the yoke of Babylon and that the exiles would return within two years.  Jeremiah responded that he hoped all of this was true.  But he pointed out that the reason prophets predict disaster is to get the people to change their behavior.  By telling people not to worry he was telling them that everything they were doing was right.  But it wasn’t.  It wasn’t good enough to just show up at the temple for worship.  People had to live their lives as prescribed by their creator in the pages of scripture.  And without a change in behavior the Babylonian yoke would never be removed.  Jeremiah said that Hananiah would die for his false prophecy.  And with a year Hananiah did die.

            Confident in his prophecy that the yoke with Babylon would last a while Jeremiah decided to write a letter to the exiles.  Here is what he said.

           

29:4 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.”

            With this letter Jeremiah has told the exiles to plan for an extended period in Babylon.  As aliens living in a strange culture they are to continue doing what they did in Judah.  They are to buy land and build houses for their families.  They are to fulfill God’s command to be fruitful and multiply.  And they are to pray for Babylon and its prosperity.  By living the way God wants them to live they are preparing themselves and their families to return to Jerusalem as people obedient to their God.  Let’s go back to the letter.

            29:10 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.”

            God will be with the people in exile.  He will continue to bless them.  And one day in a generation or two God will bring his people back to Judah.  But of course the other prophets disagreed with Jeremiah.  Shemaiah, a prophet with the exiles in Babylon read Jeremiah’s letter and was very angry.  He wrote to the priest Zephaniah in Jerusalem:

29:26 ‘The Lord has appointed you priest in place of Jehoiada to be in charge of the house of the Lord; you should put any maniac who acts like a prophet into the stocks and neck-irons. 27 So why have you not reprimanded Jeremiah from Anathoth, who poses as a prophet among you? 28 He has sent this message to us in Babylon: It will be a long time. Therefore build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.’”

            When Zephaniah received Shemaiah’s angry letter he read it to Jeremiah.  Jeremiah then wrote a second letter to the exiles warning them about Sheamiah and telling them that God would deal with this false prophet.

            So what happened in Jerusalem after all this?  The prophets, except Jeremiah, had been telling the people not to worry.  As long as they had the temple and came for worship God would protect them as he always had.  Yes, many people had been taken to Babylon and yes they were living under the yoke of Babylon, but these problems would be over shortly and their kingdom would be restored.  Jeremiah continued to tell them that this wasn’t good enough.  God had given them the Book of the Law and demanded obedience.  In gratitude for the blessing we receive from God we should all obey him.  If we fail to obey God then the covenant is broken and the blessings we enjoy will go away.

            Eventually Jeremiah was proved correct.  In 587 BC the Babylonian army returned to deal with the disobedience of King Zedekiah.  Jerusalem and its Temple were burned to the ground the people killed or scattered.  Jeremiah described it this way.

Lamentations 1:1–6

1 How deserted lies the city,

    once so full of people!

How like a widow is she,

    who once was great among the nations!

She who was queen among the provinces

    has now become a slave.

2 Bitterly she weeps at night,

    tears are on her cheeks.

Among all her lovers

    there is no one to comfort her.

All her friends have betrayed her;

    they have become her enemies.

3 After affliction and harsh labor,

    Judah has gone into exile.

She dwells among the nations;

    she finds no resting place.

All who pursue her have overtaken her

    in the midst of her distress.

4 The roads to Zion mourn,

    for no one comes to her appointed festivals.

All her gateways are desolate,

    her priests groan,

her young women grieve,

    and she is in bitter anguish.

5 Her foes have become her masters;

    her enemies are at ease.

The Lord has brought her grief

    because of her many sins.

Her children have gone into exile,

    captive before the foe.

6 All the splendor has departed

    from Daughter Zion.

Her princes are like deer

    that find no pasture;

in weakness they have fled

    before the pursuer.

            That is what happens when the people of God put their trust in a buildings and empty worship.  Having a church building and coming for worship is not enough.  If that is all we do we are doomed.  But Jeremiah has given us another way.  If we read the Bible and do what it says to do we will be ok.  God blessed us so that we will be a blessing.  We are to bless others.  We are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.  We are to love God with all of our hearts, souls and mind.  If we do these things our God will protect us because he loves us so much.  Let’s pray.

            Father in heaven we pray to you today as your obedient children.  We love this building and this worship so much.  But we know these are not enough.  We are to love and serve you and love our neighbors.  And so forgive us and bless us as we enter the world to love and serve you.  We pray in your son’s name.  Amen.