Jeremiah 31:7-11
(See text here: http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=98225582 )
These words, again of promise and blessing, must have been heard for the first time with incredulity. A people who for three generations and had been strangers in a strange land. To put it into context, I know nothing of my great grandfathers aspirations and hopes.
But it must be so different when you are torn from your home, your faith and your traditions. When once you owned a proud city and a wonder of the world to be cast down to be servants. How intense must have been the sense of identity that the exiled remnant of Israel had to hold onto and accept again these words of prophecy. How deep the faith and sense of promise in their very being to have embraced this hope.
As a Christian I have dared to take this promise for myself too. That these mighty promises made to a people 2,500 years ago were in fact the start of something much bigger. That the inheritance of these people distilled and concentrated in to the person of Jesus Christ who drew me into the eternal promise of God's blessing and peace. He has taken this promise and shown it to be a type or shadow of all that is to come for the people who choose to accept it. There is no limit or national boundary around this promise and like all promises it is something to keep until the time is right. It is now the job of our generation to hand this promise on to the next generation so that three generations from now, God's promise of blessing and peace in Christ is still known and received.
These words, again of promise and blessing, must have been heard for the first time with incredulity. A people who for three generations and had been strangers in a strange land. To put it into context, I know nothing of my great grandfathers aspirations and hopes.
But it must be so different when you are torn from your home, your faith and your traditions. When once you owned a proud city and a wonder of the world to be cast down to be servants. How intense must have been the sense of identity that the exiled remnant of Israel had to hold onto and accept again these words of prophecy. How deep the faith and sense of promise in their very being to have embraced this hope.
As a Christian I have dared to take this promise for myself too. That these mighty promises made to a people 2,500 years ago were in fact the start of something much bigger. That the inheritance of these people distilled and concentrated in to the person of Jesus Christ who drew me into the eternal promise of God's blessing and peace. He has taken this promise and shown it to be a type or shadow of all that is to come for the people who choose to accept it. There is no limit or national boundary around this promise and like all promises it is something to keep until the time is right. It is now the job of our generation to hand this promise on to the next generation so that three generations from now, God's promise of blessing and peace in Christ is still known and received.
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