Ask Pastor Scott - Jeremiah 29:11
I have many questions asked, emailed, or texted to me regularly. I always try to reply to these questions. However, if one person is asking the questions, others of you might be wondering the same thing without taking the time to ask. Because of that, I'm going to start occasionally publishing the question and my response to it on our website! I pray that this will be a blessing to you! (To protect the confidentiality of the person asking the question, some details of the original question or response may be changed.)
“How do we understand Jeremiah 29:11? It seems like it’s often used by those teaching a “prosperity gospel” to say that God wants to prosper us. Is that promise just for the Israelites who received Jeremiah’s words? or can it be applied to us today?”
"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." Jeremiah 29:11
This is a great question! Jeremiah 29:11 certainly is one of the most common passages to be misquoted or misapplied. I find it very helpful to think of it in terms of the immediate or primary audience. It's very common for Old Testament verses and promises to be run afoul here. Generally, the misapplication of the verse will skip the immediate or primary audience and try to apply the same exact promise to us, who are merely a secondary audience.
Given within the Old Covenant, a particular promise or declaration may have been conditional upon the Hebrew peoples’ obedience. And, the blessing and “prospering” was, generally, not for the people themselves, but as part of God’s plan to bring the savior of the world through Israel. God was promising to “prosper” the Hebrew people, NOT primarily for their enjoyment, but so that there would be a faithful remnant through whom Jesus would come.
2 Corinthians 1:20 reminds us that all of God’s promises from the past find their “Yes in Christ”. They were all pointing forward to him. So the Christian hears a promise like Jeremiah 29:11 and doesn’t say, “If I behave, God will bless me and make me succeed at everything.” Instead, we say, my true and eternal riches are in Christ — I’m a co-heir with him. I’ve been made a child of God, something far better than an Israelite could have hoped for. But it’s all based on the obedience of Christ. In the old covenant, Israel had obligations. In the new covenant, Christ has fulfilled all that is necessary and we are included based on his credentials, merit, and righteousness.
We don’t pretend like we are the recipient of the prospering that God promised to Israel, because we have something far better in Christ. Though now for a “little while” as Peter says, we may suffer and experience testing and trouble, we await our true and final union with the one to whom Jeremiah 29:11 points.
If you have a question that you'd like Pastor Scott to address, please email him today!
Unmarked Graves
With these words, Jesus lays upon the Pharisees a double insult: one obvious to us and one that might be hidden from us.
We continue in our Advent Bible Reading plan with our reading today in the Gospel of Luke, the 11th chapter. I want to share one brief insight that might give you a more complete understanding of our reading today.
Luke 11:44: “Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which people walk over without knowing it.”
With these words, Jesus lays upon the Pharisees a double insult: one obvious to us and one that might be hidden from us.
The most obvious insult is the fact that Jesus called the Pharisees "unmarked graves." The offense of these words might be obvious since graves are the location that houses death. The Pharisees contain no life and are filled with death.
Understanding the context helps explain the rest of the verse, however. Why does it matter that people "walk over" the graves without knowing?
According to the Old Testament ceremonial law (Numbers 19:18), anyone who touches a grave is "defiled" and must undergo a ritual cleansing process. So, not only was Jesus saying that the Pharisees were empty and dead, but that they actually brought spiritual harm, defilement, and condemnation upon anybody they came in contact with.
In other words, the Pharisees weren't just misguided, they were spiritual poison.
On this side of the cross, we can give thanks that Jesus fulfilled and brought an end to the Old Covenant's ceremonial laws. Additionally, we give thanks to God that he has given us his Word so that we might be protected from false teachers who bring spiritual confusion, death, and condemnation.
Blessings as you spend this Advent season under the Word!
Asking For A Friend
After receiving numerous requests for printed copies of the sermon manuscripts for our Asking For A Friend series, we have decided to make the manuscripts available online in booklet form.
Please feel free to download the booklet below!
The Lord Has Spoken
Whenever the Bible declares "Thus saith the Lord" or "The Lord has spoken" we should listen up and pay attention. We encounter this in our reading from Isaiah 25:6-9 this week.
6 On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
the best of meats and the finest of wines.
7 On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
8 he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.
When a bereaved family asks me for a recommendation of an Old Testament passage to read during a funeral service for a loved one, this is almost always my first recommendation. Why? Because it, with great certainty, proclaims what God will do. It pulls back the curtain and gives us a glimpse of the fulfillment of God's work.
He will invite all who are in Christ to a great feast of victory.
He will destroy the shroud of death that covers and suffocates all people.
He will wipe away every tear from every face.
He will remove our disgrace.
The Lord has spoken. Thanks be to God!