When Jacob prepared to leave home and go to Haran, God conveyed an important message to him: "Behold, I am with you and and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you" (Ge 28:15).
Twenty years later, God repeated this assurance: "Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred and I will be with you" (Ge 31:3). And indeed, God guided Jacob and his family safely to Canaan.
Now fast forward over a thousand years to the time of Judah's defeat by the Babylonians in the early sixth century BC. At that point a number of Jews were taken away to Babylon. But Jeremiah had an important message for Israel and Judah: God would one day reunite and restore the nation. As he had been with Jacob in the past, so he would be with Jacob's descendants in the future:
"Then fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares the LORD, nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quite and ease, and none shall make them afraid" (Jer 10:10-11).
Jeremiah's prophecy of restoration includes the promise of the Messiah and the coming of the messianic age (vv 21-22).
Kyle Kettering gave a sermon on this motif at Church of the Messiah on July 6, 2024. He carried the motif forward into the New Testament with Jesus' promise to his disciples before his ascension: "And behold I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Mt 28:20).
No comments:
Post a Comment