People often wonder what God thinks of them and their situations. They know he’s powerful, which is either scary or comforting depending upon whether they think they are in his favor or not.

So they ask, “What is the message from the Lord?” Jeremiah 23:33

For many years God answered that question for the Israelites. He sent prophets to them and they argued, rejected and ignored what the Lord said. Now he had one message left:

“‘What message? I will forsake you,’ declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 23:33

God was done with having his communications ignored or modified to suit people’s whims so he ordered them to stop saying to each other, “‘What is the Lord’s answer?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’” (Jeremiah 23:35)

“But you must not mention ‘a message from the Lord’ again, because each one’s word becomes their own message. So you distort the words of the living God, the Lord Almighty, our God.” Jeremiah 23:36

God hates it when people distort his words.

“‘You used the words, ‘This is a message from the Lord,’ even though I told you that you must not claim ‘This is a message from the Lord.’ Therefore, I will surely forget you and cast you out of my presence along with the city I gave to you and your ancestors. I will bring you everlasting disgrace – everlasting shame that will not be forgotten.’” Jeremiah 23:38-39

The Good and Bad Figs

King Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem and then he carried away the cream of Judah’s leadership and talent to serve in his empire. King Jehoiachin, his royal officials, and skilled workers and artisans were among the people exiled to the city of Babylon.

God explained the plan behind all of this to Jeremiah by showing him two baskets of figs. One basket held very good figs, the other had rotten figs that couldn’t be eaten.

The good figs represented  the exiled Judeans. it was terrible that Nebuchadnezzar had captured Jerusalem, but his captives were going to survive and probably even thrive in Babylon. They would go on to raise families and keep the Israelite nation alive, and eventually they were going to turn back to God with all their hearts.

The basket of bad figs represented King Zedekiah, his officials and the rest of the people who remained in Jerusalem after the exile began. Nebuchadnezzar replaced King Jehoiachin with King Zedekiah in Jerusalem. Unfortunately, Zedekiah and the people who remained with him didn’t learn anything from God’s punishment when Babylon defeated Judah. They continued to sin and offend God until he finally prepared an end to them.

“I will make them abhorrent and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a byword, a curse and an object of ridicule, wherever I banish them.” Jeremiah 24:9

God was going to throw out this basket of ‘bad figs” who refused to yield to him even in the face of severe discipline. But he was going to preserve the “good figs” and let them reproduce in the land to which he sent them.

Jeremiah’s Letter

Jeremiah was neither a “good fig” exiled to Babylon, nor a “bad fig” that rebelled against God. He was the servant of the Most High and his only work was to deliver God’s messages to the people. After the exiles were moved to Babylon, God prompted Jeremiah to send them a letter. It was so kind and comforting — and it had such good advice.

“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ‘Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 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.” Jeremiah 29:5-6

God expected his people to do well in Babylon, and to actually increase in number. They were going to have houses and gardens and raise families. Life was going to be good except for one thing, they were going to be captives in a foreign land, subject to a pagan king.

God had good advice for how to handle the culture shock of the exile, too.

“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.” Jeremiah 29:7

A Future and a Hope

Seventy long years were going to go by before the Israelites saw their homeland again, but God told them to be encouraged; good things lay ahead for them.

“‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 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 29:10-11

What a beautiful model for rehabilitating and restoring a broken and sinful people. God gave them a timeout and made them live quiet, obedient lives for a long time. He told them that things would get better, and promised that he had a good plan for their future. Then he let them know that when they were sincerely ready for a good relationship with him, they could call upon him and he would respond.

“‘Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘ and will bring you back from captivity.’” Jeremiah 29:12-13

The people just needed to be patient and not look for shortcuts through this seventy-year timeout. They needed to stick with the message Jeremiah gave them and avoid listening to prophets who told them lies about God.

Two of those false prophets, Ahab and Zedekiah (not King Zedekiah), had already cropped up. To demonstrate that they were not from him, God delivered them to King Nebuchadnezzar who killed them. God no longer had patience for the fake prophets who lied to his people.

Lying Shemaiah

Another of the false prophets was Shemaiah who tried to have Jeremiah arrested and silenced in Jerusalem. He was in Babylon telling the exiles that Jeremiah’s letter to them was a lie and they shouldn’t listen to him.

It became the war of the prophets and Shemaiah lost because God took action against him.

“This is what the Lord says: I will surely punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants. He will have no one left among this people, nor will he see the good things I will do for my people, declares the Lord, because he preached rebellion against me.” Jeremiah 29:32

God’s Everlasting Love

Jeremiah reminded Israel that God loved them as much as he always had, and he wanted to restore his relationship with them. The Lord looked forward to the day when Israel would go up to the temple to worship him again.

“The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. I will build you up again, and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt . . . There will be a day when watchmen cry out on the hills of Ephraim, ‘Come, let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God.’” Jeremiah 31:3-6

Before they were exiled the Israelites demanded to know “What is the message from the Lord?”

At that time — because of their relentless rebellion — the reply from God was, “I forsake you.”

Now they were in exile, they had lost their homeland and worse times lay ahead because the city of Jerusalem and the temple were yet to be destroyed. What did God think of them now?

The Lord had put Israel on the long road to recovery and it was going to take time to work their way back to him. But God’s message to them through Jeremiah was, I love you forever, I have plans for your future, seek me and you will find me.