Seventy Years in Exile

Hey, hey, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to coffee and devotions this morning. We're at Jeremiah chapter 25 verses 1 through 14 answering How long are they gonna be in exile we're gonna find out let's have some coffee we'll pray no getting God's Word You don't want any black coffee You're spits in it. No. Yeah back flush. I look at all the floaties in there. Yeah All right, let's pray Father we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for time together Pray that we would follow after you and love you help us God We need your spirit to be our instructor and to lead us into your truth in Jesus's name. Amen. All right, Jeremiah chapter 25 the first 14 verses So why don't you read 1-7, I'll read 8-11, and you read 12-14.
Josiah, king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, From the thirteenth year of Josiah, the son of Ammon, king of Judah, even to this day, this is the twenty-third year in which the word of the Lord has come to me. And I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened. And the Lord sent to you all his servants and prophets, the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear. They said, Repent now every one of his evil ways and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers forever and ever.
Do not go after other gods to serve them and worship them, and do not provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, and I will not harm you. Yet you have not listened to me, says the Lord, that you might provide me to... That you might provoke me. Provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.
Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, Because you have not heard my words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, says the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations.
Moreover, I will take from them the voice of myrrh, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years." Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, says the Lord, and I will make a perpetual desolation. So I will bring on that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations. For many nations and great kings shall be shall be served by them also. And I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands.
Okay, so what's that section about? That they're going to be taken into Babylon for 70 years. Why? Because they're being evil. Yeah, because of their sins, right? Yeah, so he sent them all the prophets, he warned them, and did they turn their ways? Nope. No. Right, so he's taking them into exile.
How long? 70 years. Isn't that interesting? It's starting off with a date. It tells us exactly when this is being said in the year of King Nebuchadnezzar, and it's giving us an exact time frame, 70 years. It's like the Lord knows he has a plan and the Lord is doing things in actual history. Alright, so what do you think is the best verse to summarize this?
14. Why do you do 14? And I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands. Hmm, who's that talking about? I guess it's talking about... I don't know. That's talking about the nations. Yeah. God was going to actually punish the Chaldeans for their bloodthirstiness and for their desire to try to destroy Israel. So it's interesting, God is still going to even... He's not forsaking His people forever.
So maybe 11 would be better. verse 11 you think this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment and these nations shall serve the king of babylon 70 years i like that yeah i think that's a good one oh actually i don't know why i don't see that oh that pins broken it's not broken okay it's just one of these ones Oh, okay. Well, I'm going to underline verse 11 in my Bible, because for some reason I don't have anything underlined. I have notes in my margins, but I don't have anything underlined. So I like that verse for the best verse to summarize. All right, let's talk about seek calling.
What are we called to do? Should I kick you out of the house until you're 82? No. No? But isn't that kind of what God is doing here? Kicking them out of the house? So shouldn't that be what I do to you? You're not God. Oh! Okay, so what is the call to action or how does it show us Jesus Christ? Maybe we shouldn't be like those with hard hearts. They send us his word and we hear things even in preaching and teaching and we hear people who do Bible studies and they teach us God's word and then we don't want to be hard-hearted, right? We want to turn our hearts towards the Lord. I mean, that's a good one.
I think it's interesting as well, though, that the Lord is doing this redemptively, though. He says, "...and these nations shall serve the King of Babylon." 70 years then it shall come to pass when 70 years are completed that I will punish the king of Babylon And the nation the land of the Chaldeans for their iniquity says the Lord. I will make it a perpetual desolation All right So I will bring on that land all my words which I pronounced against it and all that is written in this book which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations right and I think we can sometimes be like nearsighted. We just see what's right in front of us.
And it's hard for us sometimes to think about like, hold on, God is the king of all the nations. And so even now when I talk to persecuted Christians online and I'll be video chatting with them and figuring out what's going on in their lives, and sometimes they have to remind me as I'm like getting all sad and like, oh man, I can't believe that I'm so sorry this is going on in their life. And they're like, God is still King. What are you talking about, man? Really, it's okay. I think we need to have sometimes our eyes on the horizon, remembering who God is. There might come seasons where even God's people have to be corrected.
But God is still King. So we can trust in our Lord. We can trust in Christ, the King of Kings. You ready to pray? God, you are the King, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. There is no place of hiding from you, for you fill the heavens and the earth. And Father, we pray that we would take seriously the things that you've told us. What is ugly to you? What is sin? What is unrighteousness? What is injustice? We pray, Lord, that you would turn our hearts to you. And that, Lord, when there is times of fatherly displeasure that you have towards your children, we pray that we would indeed listen, that our hearts would turn toward you.
But God, even in the midst of this moment where Jeremiah is talking about and there's a king who has been captured, Lord, we thank you that you are our king. and that you reign forever. And so no matter what may be going on in our lives now, we pray that we would remember that our King reigns forever and ever. So Father, we pray that you would encourage us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Well, may you walk in the ways of your Lord, your King, Jesus Christ, and may you love Him all the days of your life. We'll see you next time. Bye.