Week #33 | "Three Men, Three Missions, One Message"

LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?

Read 2 Kings 24; 2 Chronicles 36; Jeremiah 7-20, 24, 27-31, 52; Daniel 3

THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Jeremiah's letter to the exiles (Jeremiah 29). Do you ever wonder how Jeremiah got an open letter sent to the Jewish community in Babylon, from Jerusalem, during the exile (Jeremiah 29:1-3)? The answer comes from last week where we saw the story of Daniel in the court of King Nebuchadnezzar: subsequent groups of Jews arrived in Babylon only to be surprised to find that the most trusted advisor in the court of Nebuchadnezzar was also an exile, named Daniel, from the tribe of Judah. Not only that, but after the events of Daniel 3, we know that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego also became senior officials in the area where the Jews were relocated. We know of at least two Jewish settlements in Babylon, from a contemporary group of records called the Al-Yahudu Tablets. One was a settlement called "Judahtown," and the other was the "Kebar River Village"--which was the place where Ezekiel received his first visions. (1) This letter tells the Judeans to make themselves comfortable in Babylon. In a passage that has become important for Christians in much of the post-Christian West, Jeremiah exhorts the exiles to "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" (Jeremiah 29:7). This passage still calls us to seek the good of the place to where he has called us, to be engaged in the improvement of the cities and towns where God has placed us, so that we can be a good influence on those areas. (2) This letter provides a timeline for the end of the exile. In Daniel 9:2, we see Daniel explicitly refer to the promise of Jeremiah's letter in Jeremiah 29:10 where Jeremiah wrote that the exile would come to an end after 70 years. This happened, historically, later that same year when Daniel gained the ear of King Cyrus of Persia (Daniel 10:1) who then decreed the return of Judah from exile (Ezra 1:1).

Jeremiah on the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31). As incredible as the return from exile was, it was not Israel's ultimate hope. The problem of sin still remained, and without a lasting solution, things were not likely to be any better once the exiles returned (and sure enough, if you read the book of Nehemiah, there were still a lot of problems once the people returned to the land). A brand new kind of covenant -the agreement that a relationship is based on- needed to be made between God and his people. According to Jeremiah 31, God was preparing to make a new covenant which was not like the covenant that was made with the Israelites at the foot of Mount Sinai all the way back in Exodus. No, this new covenant would involve God inwardly renewing the people by putting his law on their hearts, and by promising to remember their sin no more. So this New Covenant is (1) Different, or not like, the already existing covenant between God and the people of Israel; (2) Involves God providing spiritual renewal and knowledge of him; and (3) has to do with forgiveness of sins. These things are all true of the fundamental message of Christianity, and are the basis for Jesus being able to refer meaningfully to the "new covenant in my blood" (1 Cor. 11:25). Now, there are still disagreements over the ways in which the Old and New Covenants are different, but Jeremiah shows us indisputably that there is basis for a New Covenant which has at least some points of discontinuity with the Old Covenant.

The Ministry of Daniel, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. Like I pointed out above, the ministries of Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel are all highly intertwined. (1) Jeremiah and Ezekiel wrote about many of the same events and prophesied about some of the same things, occasionally offering different but complementary predictions of things about to take place in their own day. (2) Ezekiel also refers to Daniel, his contemporary, in Ezekiel 14:14, 14:20, and 28:3. (3) Daniel references the prophesies of Jeremiah, which he had access to and read, in Daniel 10:1-3. (4) It's clear that they each had different locations and roles within God's plan: Jeremiah was God's messenger in Jerusalem -and then, unwillingly, Egypt- who witnessed to the downfall of the Kingdom of Judah. Daniel had a more careful ministry among the high officials in the court of Nebuchadnezzar, and then of Belshazzar, and then Darius the Mede and King Cyrus of Persia. Meanwhile, Ezekiel had a much more outspoken street-level ministry in the same area that Daniel oversaw, saying the kinds of things that Daniel couldn't in his position, and having more of an influence at ground level. From Jerusalem, to the high court of the King of Babylon, to the streets and settlements below, God provided multiple witnesses working together to assure the people that he was still at work in their midst. This also gives us a good reason to read these books in light of each other, as they each prophesied a unified message where all of their words were meant to be read in light of each other.

DO | HOW DO WE RESPOND?

How can we respond in our worship, attitude, and actions? I won't lay out exact responses in this space because the possibilities are often endless. But it is worth it to think about application in the categories of worship, attitude, and actions. Does this reading direct me to God in worship and thanksgiving and praise, or does it direct me towards a change that I need to make here and now? If it's about a change that I need to make, is this something inward in my attitude, or outward in my actions? This helps to rescue application from just being a series of how-to tips, or one-size-fits-all instructions that go beyond what the Bible actually states. Sometimes, the most helpful application we can make is to get a different perspective on what's the most important thing, or about how we should respond inwardly to the things going on around us.

PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US TO GOD?

Whether in response to anything pointed out here, or to something else in your Bible reading time, take a few moments before you close up your Bible to pray in response to God. If you need a format for prayer, both the ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication), CALL (Confess, Ask, Love, Listen), and PRAY (Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield) methods are helpful ways to stay consistent.

-Sean