Jer 29:1-14 The Thoughts That I Think Toward You [Are] Thoughts of Peace and Not of Evil

Jer 29:1  Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon;
Jer 29:2  (After that Jeconiah the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the carpenters, and the smiths, were departed from Jerusalem;)
Jer 29:3  By the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent unto Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon) saying,
Jer 29:4  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon;
Jer 29:5  Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them;
Jer 29:6  Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.
Jer 29:7  And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
Jer 29:8  For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.
Jer 29:9  For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD.
Jer 29:10  For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
Jer 29:11  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Jer 29:12  Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
Jer 29:13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Jer 29:14  And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

This letter is from Jeremiah at Jerusalem to the captives of the Lord’s people in Babylon, and it signifies the words of the Lord to you and to me while we are in Babylon. In practical terms, this letter directs those of us who are coming out of Babylon to be patient with those who are still ensconced in and are now still firmly at home there in Babylon. This letter makes us to know that the Lord knows those who are His ‘while [we] are yet in our sins’:

Rom 5:8  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

This letter from the Lord’s prophet to those who were carried captive to Babylon reminds us all that all of our days are written in His book before any of those days ever came to be:

Psa 37:18  The LORD knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever.

Psa 139:16  Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them.

The Lord knows just “them that are His” long before that great blessing is apparent to us:

2Ti 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

2Ti 2:19  Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

Tit 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

This letter from Jeremiah the prophet to those captives in Babylon was obviously rejected by the false prophets among those captives, but they were a lifeline to those who were granted to hear them and to find guidance and hope in these words even while still living in the bondage of Babylon:

Jer 29:1  Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon;
Jer 29:2  (After that Jeconiah the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the carpenters, and the smiths, were departed from Jerusalem;)
Jer 29:3  By the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent unto Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon) saying,

Take note that among all the trades, professions and careers to whom this letter is addressed, there are also “elders… priests… and prophets”, all of whom are by now undeniably ‘under the yoke of the king of Babylon’.

The Lord’s instructions are what we all will do while in that stage of our spiritual walk.

Jer 29:4  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon;
Jer 29:5  Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them;
Jer 29:6  Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.
Jer 29:7  And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.

Children are spiritual doctrines:

Mat 13:38  The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom [Truth, the doctrines of Christ]; but the tares are the children of the wicked one [the lies of “the wicked one”]

Spiritually speaking we are being admonished to bring forth “good seed” even while we are in Babylon. Outwardly we are admonished to physically procreate even while we are still in Babylon. That is always whence the Lord’s people come:

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her [Babylon (vs 2)], my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Judah and Jerusalem, as types of us, followed these instructions while not even being aware that we are in Babylon. We, the Lord’s own prople, ‘Jerusalem’ are a harlot long before being physically carried away into Babylon. About 70 years before Jeremiah the prophet, Isaiah was inspired to say this about the Lord’s people:

Isa 1:1  The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Isa 1:2  Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
Isa 1:3  The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
Isa 1:4  Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

This harlot is declared to have once been “the faithful city”. This is true in the sense that when we are first dragged to Christ, we are truly broken and sincere. It is the Lord who broke our hardened spirit, and that took place while we were still “under the law”, still in Babylon.

Gal 3:22  But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
Gal 3:23  But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Gal 3:24  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

Our hearts are sincere, and those who are still “under the law… compass sea and land” to drag us down to the altar and “bring us to Christ” and while doing so they are totally unaware of ‘the stumbling block of their [own] iniquity’:

Eze 14:1  Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.
Eze 14:2  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?

Mat 23:15  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

This is “the stumbling block of [our] iniquity” because we, too, become those who self-righteously want to drag others to Christ as we know Him while we are still in Babylon:

Eze 33:13  When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity [“his own righteousness”] that he hath committed, he shall die for it.

Isa 64:6  But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our [“own” (Eze 33:13)] righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Here now is the exact opposite of iniquity. It always helps us understand when we can know what the opposite of anything is:

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of [“our own” (Eze 33:13)] works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For [G1063: ‘gar’, because] we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Truly it is the Lord who working in us both to will and to do His good pleasure:

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

The following verses refer to those who have ‘moved heaven and earth to make one proselyte’:

Eze 14:1  Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.
Eze 14:2  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?

When we first come to the Lord we do so sincerely believing that we want to know His will. While we are in this predestined spiritually immature position the Lord Himself tells us that we are to do what we are told by our leaders who are still under the law, but He also tells us that we are not to do what they do:

Mat 23:1  Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
Mat 23:2  Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:
Mat 23:3  All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
Mat 23:4  For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
Mat 23:5  But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
Mat 23:6  And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
Mat 23:7  And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.

When the Lord tells us “do not ye after their works’ He says it because He knows that is exactly what we will do, and in time we become ‘twofold more the [self-righteous] child of hell’ than those who the Lord used to help drag us to Himself:

Mat 23:15  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

Babylon signifies the great whore who has carried us away captive from the Lord and His land and His temple. In time Nebuchadnezzar will destroy and burn down the house of God in Jerusalem because Jerusalem herself has become this harlot (Isa 1:1-4 and 21)

Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

Therefore the instruction to “seek the peace of the city [of Babylon]” is not an instruction to seek or even pray for the salvation of Babylon in this present time. The statement that “in the peace thereof shall ye have peace” is the same thing we are instructed by the holy spirit in the New Testament with these words:

1Ti 2:1  I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
1Ti 2:2  For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

The prayers we are exhorted to pray here “for all men; for kings and for all that are in authority” are not prayers for the salvation of “all men” in “this present age” (Rom 8:18). Rather, we are simply to ask the Lord “that we may [be granted to] lead quiet and peaceable lives in all goodness and honesty” by ‘seeking the peace of Babylon’ and all men.

“Many are called but few are chosen” in this age. Only those coming out of Babylon are being saved in this age as “the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”:

Mat 20:16  So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb.

The fact that the Lord calls us “the firstfruits” unmistakably implies a later fruit. Both the first and the later fruits are saved only “by grace through faith” (Eph 2:8-10). Our natural man, typified by the spirit of Hananiah, abhors the Biblical doctrine that says, “Grace chastens us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts.” Here is how this verse is better translated:

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching us that [Greek: paideuō, chastening us], denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

The Greek word translated ‘teaching’ in verse 12 is ‘paideuo’, and this is how it is normally translated:

G3811
παιδεύω
paideuō
Total KJV Occurrences: 13
chastened, 3
1Co_11:32, 2Co_6:9, Heb_12:10
chasteneth, 2

Heb_12:6-7 (2)
chastise, 2
Luk_23:16, Luk_23:22
chasten, 1
Rev_3:19
instructing, 1
2Ti_2:25
learn, 1
1Ti_1:20
learned, 1
Act_7:22
taught, 1
Act_22:3
teaching, 1
Tit 2:12

Anyone who tells you the Lord is seeking to save all men in this age does not know the mind of Christ who told His apostles that He spoke in parables “lest they should be converted and I should heal them”:

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:14  And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
Mat 13:15  For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

Any prophet who tells you that you need not be judged for your sins in this present time is a false prophet who prophesies ‘smooth things’. Anyone who tells you that you never need to be in Babylonian captivity, or that the admonition to “come out of her My people” has no personal application, ‘is not sent by the Lord’:

Jer 29:8  For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.
Jer 29:9  For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD.

Hananiah was not taken to Babylon. He was not physically carried off into Babylonian captivity. Yet he was a false prophet who, like many false prophets today, was convinced that not everyone must serve the king of Babylon or fulfill the seven last plagues in their life. He apparently thought that because he had not physically been carried away to Babylon that therefore he was not under the Lord’s judgments.

Hananiah’s doctrine is the same spirit which in Christ’s day had the Jews believing they were “in bondage to no man” when at that very moment they were both slaves to sin, and they were even under the yoke of Rome. In spite of both of these obvious, irrefutable facts, this is what they said to Christ when Christ told them they must believe in Him to be “free indeed”:

Joh 8:30  As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33  They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

These Jews, as types of us. ‘We… were never in bondage to any man’, is the same lying spirit that was in the mouth of Hananiah who said the Babylonian exile of King Jechoniah would be over in two years. It is also the same lying spirit which teaches that Christ’s death was “substitutionary, rather than exemplary”. It is the very same lying spirit which denies that grace chastens us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts (Tit 2:11-12). By teaching that Christ died so we do not need to die, this lying spirit denies that we with Christ are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice unto God (Rom 12:1), that we must “die daily (1Co 15:31), that we must be crucified with Christ (Gal 2:20), and that we must fill up in our bodies that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ for His body’s sake, which is the church:

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

The Babylonian commentaries flatly deny there is anything behind of the afflictions of Christ. Gill is typical of most all commentaries. Here is what he says of Colossians 2:24:

“…there was nothing left behind of his sufferings, to be undergone by any of his people; he had drank of the cup and all the dregs of it; he had sustained the whole of his Father’s wrath, and all the curses of the law, being abated nothing, but was made perfect through sufferings; having perfectly suffered all, he suffered once and once for all, he will suffer no more; nor is there any need of his suffering more or again, for he has finished sin, wrought righteousness, made peace, and obtained eternal redemption; nor had he any partner in his sufferings, nor did he need any, or left any part of his sufferings to be filled up by others; for he endured all and the whole, which the law and justice of God could require in his own body, in the body of his flesh through death; of these sufferings the apostle does not speak, but of such which he filled up in “his” own “flesh”; and design the afflictions of Christ in his members, which are called “his”, because of that near union there is between Christ and them;” (End Quote)

Gill’s commentary is one I use often. Nevertheless, we must all come to see that Gill’s commentary on this verse is nothing less than the lying spirit which the Lord placed in the mouth of Hananiah, who also flatly disagreed with the words of the Lord through His proven, bona fide prophet, Jeremiah.

Today it is the scriptures themselves, and those who are faithful only to “that which is written” (1Co 4:6) which speak for the Lord. Let us compare “that which is written” with the lying spirit of Hananiah.

Here is “that which is written” concerning the sufferings of Christ:

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

Compare those words to these  words of a modern day Hananiah:

“…there was nothing left behind of his sufferings, to be undergone by any of his people”.

Compare Gill’s words to the words of Christ in this story:

Mat 20:20  Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.
Mat 20:21  And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.
Mat 20:22  But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.
Mat 20:23  And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.

Compare these words with the false lying doctrine of a ‘substitutionary atonement’:

Joh 20:21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

Exactly what did His Father send Him to do?

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Christ has sent us “that the world through Him might be saved”, and we are therefore to “fill up in [our] bodies what is behind of His afflictions for His body’s sake which is the church” (Col 1:24).

Gill, who is typical of most all commentaries on Colossians 1:24, has been given the same lying spirit of Hananiah who flatly stood against the words of the Lord through His true prophet, Jeremiah. The Lord had said He would punish the kingdoms “that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon”:

Jer 27:8  And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.

The lying spirit which the Lord had placed in the mouth of the false prophet, Hananiah, said the exact opposite of what the Lord had told Jeremiah to tell the king and the priests, and the people of Judah and Jerusalem:

Jer 28:1  And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, which was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,
Jer 28:2  Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

Being in spiritual Babylon obviously has nothing to do with our physical location. Hananiah, a false prophet, was just as much under the yoke of Babylon while he was lying to the people of Jerusalem, as were those who were carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon. Jeremiah was not physically carried away to Babylon either, yet he obeyed the Lord, and as true prophet of God, he had put his neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and he was praying to simply live a peaceable life with all men. The true prophet will always be true to the Lord’s words which proclaim that ‘all these nations shall serve the king of Babylon’, even those who were not carried away in the first captivity.

Hananiah falsely prophesied from Jerusalem that “the Lord had broken the yoke of Babylon… from the neck of all nations, [and] “within two full years… all the vessels of the Lord’s house… [King] Jechoniah… with all the captives… [the Lord would] bring again into this place”.

This was the Lord’s answer to that lying prophecy:

Jer 28:14  For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him: and… thou [Hananiah] shall die, because thou has taught rebellion against the Lord”.

The rebellion Hananiah taught was that any Babylonian experience we might experience need not be as long as the Lord had said it would be:

Jer 29:10  For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

The rebellion Gill and company teaches is the doctrine of substitutionary atonement which says:

“…there was nothing left behind of his sufferings, to be undergone by any of his people”. (End Quote)

Hananiah had taken the yoke off Jeremiah’s neck and had broken it in the presence of the priests, and of all the people:

Jer 28:1  And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, which was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,
Jer 28:2  Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

Jer 28:10  Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, and brake it.
Jer 28:11  And Hananiah spake in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.

Hananiah was calling the prophet Jeremiah a lying false prophet, and Gill and all who teach the damnable doctrine of ‘substitutionary atonement’ are calling the apostle Paul a lying false prophet for saying that there is yet something “which [is] behind of the afflictions of Christ”. Who are we to believe???

Will we believe the apostle Paul who taught that we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice and be “crucified with Christ”, or will we believe the modern day ‘Hananiahs’ who say:

“…there was nothing left behind of his sufferings, to be undergone by any of his people”. (End Quote)

The spiritual ‘seventy years’ of captivity in Babylon signify the seven last plagues which seem like an eternity when we are enduring them. However, just as the seventy years had to be fulfilled before the Lord’s people could return to their land, so also the seven last plagues must be fulfilled before Christ will dethrone the king of Babylon within our hearts and minds.

Let’s consider the similarities of these two statements:

Jer 29:10  For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

When we have been granted to see that our necks have been under the yoke of the spiritual king of Babylon for a symbolic 70 years, and when we have spiritually come to see that we are coming out of Babylon by fulfilling the seven last plagues of the wrath of God, then, and only then can these promises be give to us:

Jer 29:11  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Jer 29:12  Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
Jer 29:13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Jer 29:14  And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

What wonderful and encouraging words for those who are given to accept the words of the true prophets of God. Those are given to accept the words of Christ, which we all must do “with all [our] heart”.

Jer 29:13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

These words are the foundation for the words of the Lord to the church at Laodicea in:

Rev 3:14  And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
Rev 3:15  I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
Rev 3:20  Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Rev 3:21  To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
Rev 3:22  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Being promised to sit with Christ in His throne just as He sits with His Father in His throne is the spiritual fulfillment of:

Jer 29:11  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

It is my fervent prayer that you and I will say with Paul only “that which is written”, and not deny that it is so written:

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

1Co 4:6  Now these things, brothers, I applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us ye might learn not to think above that which is written, so that ye may not be puffed up, one over the one against the other.

May the Lord grant that we will reject the words of any modern day Hananiah who tells us the exact opposite of the proven and bona fide words of “that which is written” as Gill and almost every commentary teaches with their false lying doctrine of ‘substitutionary atonement’ which teaches:

“…there was nothing left behind of his sufferings, to be undergone by any of his people”. (End Quote)

May the Lord grant us all to perceive Him as our example and not as our substitute.

Joh 13:15  For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

1Pe 2:21  For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

Here is the rest of chapter 29:

Jer 29:15  Because ye have said, The LORD hath raised us up prophets in Babylon;
Jer 29:16  Know that thus saith the LORD of the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and of all the people that dwelleth in this city, and of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity;
Jer 29:17  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
Jer 29:18  And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them:
Jer 29:19  Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the LORD, which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but ye would not hear, saith the LORD.
Jer 29:20  Hear ye therefore the word of the LORD, all ye of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon:
Jer 29:21  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, which prophesy a lie unto you in my name; Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall slay them before your eyes;
Jer 29:22  And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah which are in Babylon, saying, The LORD make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;
Jer 29:23  Because they have committed villany in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours’ wives, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them; even I know, and am a witness, saith the LORD.
Jer 29:24  Thus shalt thou also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying,
Jer 29:25  Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because thou hast sent letters in thy name unto all the people that are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,
Jer 29:26  The LORD hath made thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that ye should be officers in the house of the LORD, for every man that is mad, and maketh himself a prophet, that thou shouldest put him in prison, and in the stocks.
Jer 29:27  Now therefore why hast thou not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth, which maketh himself a prophet to you?
Jer 29:28  For therefore he sent unto us in Babylon, saying, This captivity is long: build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
Jer 29:29  And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.
Jer 29:30  Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying,
Jer 29:31  Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite; Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not, and he caused you to trust in a lie:
Jer 29:32  Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed: he shall not have a man to dwell among this people; neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people, saith the LORD; because he hath taught rebellion against the LORD.