What Does Jeremiah 29:11 Really Mean?

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WHAT DOES JEREMIAH 29:11 REALLY MEAN?

Pastor Mike here.

This is the first in a series under the heading, What Does This Bible Verse or What Does This Bible Passage Really Mean?

I want to talk to you about Jeremiah 29:11 today, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

And to begin I want just cite a familiar example of a pastor receiving a “vision from God.”

And let’s just say “God speaks to him” or “God speaks to this pastor about building a new church facility.

And then the pastor quotes Jeremiah 29:11 as the basis of what God told him and what God told him to do.

Now this is just wrong on so many levels.

And especially since it’s a misuse of Jeremiah 29:11.

And it’s also a breaking of the second commandment:

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” (Exodus 20:7)

When you use a Bible verse or passage and you say it means something that it doesn’t mean you are sinning.

You are committing blasphemy.

It’s not something to be taken lightly.

And so why is this not the real meaning or a twisting of Jeremiah 29:11 in the way the pastor in my example used it?

Well, we need to look no further than the context of the verse and the verses that surround it for an answer.

The three rules in real estate are: Location, location, location.

The three rules in Bible interpretation are: Context, context, context. (hat tip Pirate Christian)

THE CONTEXT OF JEREMIAH CHAPTER 29

The context of Jeremiah chapter 29 is: Jeremiah is writing a letter to the Jewish exiles taken by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon long ago.

And let me just insert this right here before we actually read out the text.

If you’re not a Jewish exile taken by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon long ago then the letter Jeremiah writes to those people of that time is not written to you.

It would be like, let’s say, my best friend wrote me a note and said in it that he was going to buy me a new TV.

And then you picked up the note when you were in my house.

And you read it.

And then you thought my best friend said he was going to buy you a new TV, too.

Now that doesn’t mean that there is nothing for us to be gleaned from the letter Jeremiah writes to the Jewish exiles long ago.

But we first must understand it in its context and then we’ll be able to understand it as it relates to us.

And now just by simply reading Jeremiah chapter 29, the first half of the chapter, we’ll discover the context of the verse Jeremiah 29:11 in particular.

In Jeremiah 29, verse 1, it reads…

1 These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

2 This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem.

3 The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said:

4 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:

5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce.

6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.

7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,

9 for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord.

10 “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.

And now here’s the verse we’re talking about today…

11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear 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 I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

And let’s just stop right there.

Again, we’re determining the context of Jeremiah 29:11 by reading the surrounding verses – in particular Jeremiah 29:1-14 – and by doing so we’ll able to rightly understand what Jeremiah 29:11 means.

And let me just continue by stressing the fact that the Bible is about Jesus.

He’s the point of the Bible.

Luke 24:27 states…

Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, [the Risen Christ] explained to [the two men walking on the road to Emmaus on Easter Sunday] the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.

And so there is something about Jesus in all the Scriptures.

And so it is with Jeremiah 29 also in its entirety and Jeremiah 29:11 in particular as we’re studying it here.

Let me explain.

What God is saying in Jeremiah 29:11 to the exiles in Babylon is this:

Number 1: He had not abandoned them in their exile;

Number 2: After 70 years He would bring them back to their land;

And finally…

Number 3: He had not forgotten His promisse that He first spoke to Adam and Eve in the Garden to send the Messiah to save them.

The people promise of Israel is so that the Messiah would be born.

The land promise of Israel is so the Messiah would have a place to die on the cross for the forgiveness of sins and rise again from the dead on the third day.

And this is what Jeremiah 29:11 is all about.

PASTOR BRYAN WOLFMUELLER QUOTE

And as it has to do with us, I want to close with a quote, hat tip Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller:

Here’s the quote:

[T]he plans that the Lord has for us are not plans that we would have a big building or a long and healthy life or a fancy car or health or anything else. The plans that the Lord has for us is the death of Jesus and the forgiveness of our sins.

And that is our exclusive Christian comfort – that God the Father is not holding our sins against us, but rather He has put up Christ as the ransom for our sins so that He could give us His love and mercy and eternal life to us.

And that is the plan that God is promising to the people in exile through Jeremiah and that is what He’s promising to us through the same preaching of Jeremiah.