“The Promise of God” – Dr. C. David Matthews from RLBC Media on Vimeo.

Jeremiah 32:1-3 [show]Jeremiah 32:1-3 Jeremiah Buys a Field During the Siege [32:1]The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. [2]At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah. [3]For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, "Why do you prophesy and say, 'Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it; (ESV)

Jeremiah 32:6-15 [show]Jeremiah 32:6-15 [6]Jeremiah said, "The word of the LORD came to me: [7]Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, 'Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.' [8]Then Hanamel my cousin came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the LORD, and said to me, 'Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.' Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD. [9]"And I bought the field at Anathoth from Hanamel my cousin, and weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. [10]I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales. [11]Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions and the open copy. [12]And I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my cousin, in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in the court of the guard. [13]I charged Baruch in their presence, saying, [14]'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware vessel, that they may last for a long time. [15]For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.' (ESV)

In the late nineteenth century children filled the New York City streets and orphanages. They were children made homeless by poverty, sick parents, and simple neglect. The Children’s Aid Society and the New York Foundling Hospital began placing them on trains bound for the rural West. Across seventy-five years, more than 150,000 children were promised that there were families in the West waiting to take them into their homes. When the children arrived at stations along the way, sometimes they were chosen, and sometimes they were not. Clara Morgan was put on one of these trains at age seven. Years later she said she could not remember getting on the train, but she remembered being lined up for inspection, and she remembered watching each of her two brothers being chosen by new parents, but she was not chosen. These children were called the “orphan train riders” and “America’s earliest foster children.” The practice finally ended in 1929 when the federal government enacted child welfare reforms. (Atlanta Constitution, 5.8.94)

Have you ever thought about how different your life might be if all the promises people made to you had been kept? Have you ever thought about how different your life might be if all the promises you made had been kept? Broken promises, they lead to our greatest disappointments, but they can also lead to our most profound feelings of guilt.

The God of the biblical prophets makes promises that are trustworthy. The formidable courage of these prophets was grounded in their faith in God and in God’s promises. Most of the material in the Old Testament is not in chronological order, so it is difficult for most readers to know where they are historically. To put the prophets in historical perspective, here is a condensed version of Hebrew history.

After the creation narratives, there is the story of the beginning of Israel, the call of Abraham, the promise given to him, and the stories of his children. Then come the years of Egyptian bondage, then the Exodus and the wilderness wanderings, during which the covenant was established and the law was given. The conquest and settlement of Canaan, the “promised land,” led to the people living in tribes, comprising a tribal confederacy. But the people came to feel inferior and wanted a king, like other nations. God finally, reluctantly conceded, and Israel became a monarchy. There were the golden years of David and Solomon, then the inevitable decline. Israel’s kings forgot God and God’s covenant, and made deadly political alliances. Israel split into two kingdoms, southern and northern, and were destroyed by the world powers they had envied so long. You have to wonder if when Jesus wept over Jerusalem, it was because he saw what was coming.

Into this tragic self-destruction of a people, the prophets came to speak for God. It was the worst kind of divine assignment. Their voices were not lifted against the enemies of Israel, but against their own people. Anybody can condemn an enemy. Even children hurl epithets at invading armies. Denouncing the opposition will win you even more friends from among your fellow-patriots. Politicians know this, and know whom to denounce and whom to give a pass. Some preachers fantasize about being a prophet. How satisfying to tell it to them like it is! But for the prophet, these are your own people. These are the people who watched you grow and have taken delight in you. They are the people you’ve always known you could turn to if you were in trouble. Unless you have a truly sadistic streak, it is the worst calling in the world to be a prophet.

Jeremiah has been called the weeping prophet. This is largely because for so long it was assumed that Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations. Modern biblical scholarship has believes he didn’t. But the adjective “weeping” fits him nonetheless. A week ago we looked at Jeremiah’s unenviable calling, and the necessity of uttering the word of judgment to his own people. God said, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. . . . I have set you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” (1:9-10) Did you hear that last part? To pluck up, break down, destroy, overthrow, but also “to build and to plant.”

God’s judgment always has a promise in it.

God’s judgment always has a redemptive purpose. God waits in hope for an opportunity to reconcile, redeem, renew, begin again. One day the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah saying, “Go to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So he went and watched the potter at his wheel. The clay became marred in the potter’s hands, so he reworked it into another vessel altogether. And the Lord said, “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done?” (18:6)

One of the difficulties we have with the Bible is that it sees the world as a three-storied universe made up of single, direct causes. We have a much more complicated understanding of the universe. We know more about the principles of cause and effect even than our grandparents, and we take for granted primary and secondary causes. If it rains, the ancient Hebrew says, “God is sending the rain.” We say, “Hey, it’s raining.” We don’t discount God as the ultimate source of all things, but we also understand there is something called barometric pressure. This keeps us from blaming a lot of things on God. When the Bible says God “hardened Pharaoh’s heart,” we probably understand that to mean “God permitted Pharaoh to harden his heart.” Evil deeds have negative consequences but we are not required to see God as the direct cause of all the things that happen to us. God loves us, and God’s judgment is an expression of God’s love.

What does God promise? Has God made promises to you? Here is what I believe God has promised me: to be ever present in the depths of my being, to give unconditional love, and to honor my freedom – - so that I may choose whether to love God in return. God does not promise me health, or many years, or no losses. God does promise that all we are given in Christ will remain, that we will not be alone on any step of the journey, and that at journey’s end God is all in all. In the meantime, such a promise should be enough.

Today’s text tells of one of the most memorable moments in Jeremiah’s life. He is in prison in the Holy City. The Babylonian armies of Nebuchadnezzar have Jerusalem under siege, and will utterly destroy it, including the beautiful temple. The sky is falling. The enemy’s foot is on your throat. The end has arrived. Have you ever been there? Surrounded, no way out, without hope? You say, Man, you just don’t know. Maybe you’ve been there because someone didn’t keep a promise. Maybe you’ve been there because you didn’t keep a promise. When you are there, it doesn’t matter how you got there. It matters only what you do now.

What does Jeremiah do in his dead-end situation? From prison he purchases some land in Anathoth, where his people are from. What? He buys a field in the land of Benjamin. Why? As a sign. As a symbol. As an act of faith. And he said to his faithful servant Baruch, “Take these deeds and put them in an earthenware vessel that they may last for a long time. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.’”

And it was so. God’s promises are trustworthy.

Prayer:  Have your way with us, Lord. Have your own way. You are the Potter, we but the clay. Mould us and shape us according to your will, as we wait now, yielded and still. Amen.

C. David Matthews  /  Royal Lane Baptist Church , Dallas, Texas  /  8.29.10