Seek the Peace (5)

“Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace. For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the LORD.” Jeremiah 29.5-9

What’s the use?
God had revealed to Jeremiah that the people of Jerusalem would be in exile in Babylon for seventy years. This meant that many of those who were being taken into captivity would die in Babylon. They would not live to see the promise of revival, renewal, and awakening. Indeed, it is quite possible that most of the exiled Israelites believed that would be the case for them.

When prospects are bleak, incentive to build for the future can be in short supply. Why work hard and seek to prosper if it’s all going to be taken from you anyway?

And if our leaders aren’t casting a vision for revival, renewal, and awakening, how will the rest of us maintain and live toward such a hope?

The way people view the future affects the way they live in the present. If one’s attitude toward the future is that things are only going to get worse, the bad guys are going to increase in strength, and the good guys will be reduced to a small remnant, waiting for the Lord to lift them out of their troubles into heavenly bliss – if that’s what we believe, it will have a huge effect on how we do our work, raise our children, and seek the welfare and peace of our neighbors.

And if that’s what we’re hearing from our preachers, then our preachers aren’t hearing the Word and promises of the Lord.

Working for a better tomorrow
Today there is no shortage of preachers and evangelists declaring such a dim view of the future. They seem to believe the world is a weed field, waiting to be burned, rather than a wheat field to be harvested, in which we must sow and work toward filling the barns of the Lord (Matt. 13.24-30, 36-43). Their counsel to the Church is, “There’s nothing we can do to avoid the growth and progress of evil. We just need to hang on until Jesus comes and raptures us up to heaven.”

Such words do not line up well with God’s promise to revive and renew His people, and to awaken the world to the Good News of Jesus and His Kingdom.

The Jews in Jeremiah’s day might have been of a similar mind, but God commanded them instead to build for the future, to seek prosperity for themselves and their families, and to contribute to the social, cultural, economic, and spiritual wellbeing of the people around them. Circling the wagons and hoping for the best was simply not an option.

The Scriptures teach the followers of Christ in every age to build for the future. We are to grow in the grace of our Lord; take every thought captive for Jesus; reconcile all things back to God; and live for His glory in every area of our lives. The Daystar has arisen, as John declared in 1 John 2.8-17, and the Light of Christ was even in John’s day advancing against the darkness, bringing truth, hope, and new life to a world long-shrouded in darkness and unbelief. And though he was in exile on the isle of Patmos, still he believed the exceedingly great and precious promises of the Lord, and counseled his readers to seek the Lord, and not to heed those who taught contrary to God’s Word.

A growing stone for Jesus
In exile in Babylon, Daniel saw the Kingdom of God as a growing stone. From its beginnings in the time of the Roman Empire throughout the course of history, God’s Kingdom would grow, expand, overcome all opposition, and fill the earth with the knowledge of God and His glory (Dan. 2.44, 45; Hab. 2.14). Yes, there would be difficult times, even times when it would seem as though evil was ascendant and impossible to resist. Yet the purpose of God is that His Church and Kingdom might prevail, and not merely at the end of days, but throughout these last days (cf. Dan. 7.13-27; Mic. 4.1-8).

This is not the vision of the future held by many Christians today, or taught by many pastors. But God calls us always to build for the future, to lay the foundations of blessing and spiritual advance in every area of life in our own day, so that those who inherit our “houses and fields” will find them strong and fruitful in their day as well (Ps. 45.16, 17).

Beware the false prophets who counsel a defeatist, withdrawing attitude toward the future. God has plans for our future, to fill us with hope, make Himself known, and use us as His people to bless the nations of the world. Let’s work toward what God has promised, not away from what we’ve been taught to fear.

For reflection
1.  Meditate on Daniel 2.44, 45. What evidence can you see from Church history that Daniel’s vision of the Kingdom of God was correct?

2.  How would you summarize your church’s attitude toward and vision of the future? Is it large, expansive, and growing? Explain.

3.  How can believers help one another to nurture and maintain a Biblical vision of the Kingdom and future?

Next steps – Transformation: Does your attitude reflect the teaching of Daniel 2.44 and 45, Daniel 7.13-27, and Micah 4.1-8? Why or why not?

T. M. Moore

This is part 1 of a 5-part series, Living toward the Promises. You can download this week’s study as a free PDF, suitable for personal or group use, by clicking here. You can learn more about living toward the promises of God by ordering a copy of the book, I Will Be Your God, from our online store (click here).

We invite you to register for the free online course, One in Twelve: Introduction to Christian Worldview. In this course T. M. Moore provides a sweeping panorama of how life in the Kingdom of God unfolds in an age in flight from God such as ours. Set your own schedule and study at your own pace. Learn more, and register for One in Twelve, by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.