Hope

Read Jeremiah 50:1-40
 
Jeremiah 50:4-7 “In those coming days,” says the LORD, “the people of Israel will return home together with the people of Judah. They will come weeping and seeking the LORD their God. 5 They will ask the way to Jerusalem and will start back home again. They will bind themselves to the LORD with an eternal covenant that will never be forgotten. 6 My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray and turned them loose in the mountains. They have lost their way and can’t remember how to get back to the sheepfold. 7 All who found them devoured them. Their enemies said, ‘We did nothing wrong in attacking them, for they sinned against the LORD, their true place of rest, and the hope of their ancestors.’”
 
DO you think God created sheep, so he could use them as an illustration for his wayward people? Once more, God reminded Israel and Judah they need a shepherd. Even Judah’s enemies understood the LORD God was the hope of Judah’s ancestors to protect and prosper them. He was their rest. The wayward sheep needed to spiritually go home to be with God in their worshipful response to his authority.
   God’s salvation plan is steadfast through his people’s sins. Again, he gives them the hope of home as he has with other prophets with a two-part prophecy for the near and distant future.
   The first promise relates to Judah. As mentioned elsewhere, many of Judah’s citizens descended from exiled families would return. It is an interesting truth of God’s salvation plan that he exiled those he had chosen to continue his plan. He will use such men as Daniel and Ezekiel to help the Jews strengthen their faith while in exile and prepare their children to return.
   The second part of the prophecy is about Israel’s return. Remember the Northern Kingdom, Israel, had been dispersed to many nations. Here God also promised that their offspring will return. But this return will not be after Babylon’s defeat. It will be under the Messiah’s reign. God had also promised this through Isaiah 11:12-13 He will raise a flag among the nations and assemble the exiles of Israel. He will gather the scattered people of Judah from the ends of the earth. 13 Then at last the jealousy between Israel and Judah will end. They will not be rivals anymore.
          Hope is spoken to God’s lost sheep. This is the same hope we have today as we who are wayward in sin repent and confess Jesus, “Lord and Savior”. God says he will defeat our enemies and bring us unto himself. He is our Rest and our Hope. We thank Jesus he is our Good Shepherd. Jeremiah 6:16 This is what the LORD says: “Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls.” Isn’t this what each soul longs to have?