Some prophecies in the AD1611 King James Version of the Bible have been more readable in later translations, and Jeremiah 29:11 is one of them. The KJV reads: “For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”
The New International Version reads: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord,” plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
This was good news indeed for the Jews, who two years later would be defeated by the Babylonians, their city of Jerusalem destroyed, and most of its residents taken away to Babylon, the world’s then greatest city.
Jeremiah wrote his prophetic promise from Jerusalem. Its rulers had treated him badly for prophesying God’s truth, which was that the Jews’ captivity in Babylon would last for seventy years — a lifetime. This was in the face of prophecies to the contrary from false prophets and diviners, who told them what they wanted to hear rather than what they needed to know.
The best-known false prophet was Hananiah, who removed a wooden yoke that Jeremiah had made and placed on his own neck to illustrate the seventy years of bondage the Jews would endure in Babylon. Hananiah not only prophesied lies but also removed the wooden yoke that Jeremiah had made neck and broke it. Jeremiah prophesied that Hananiah’s lies would become “yokes of iron” on not only the neck of his people but also on the necks of other nations.
“Build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat the fruit of them. Take wives and beget sons and daughters, and take wives and give your daughters to husbands; that you be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city into which I have called you away to be captives, and pray unto the LORD for in its peace you shall have peace.” (Jeremiah 29:5-7)
“For thus says 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.” (Verse 9)
It is then that the LORD reveals His good intentions toward His people. Their future freedom from the bondage of Babylon and their return to the beloved Jerusalem would be a lifetime away. Jeremiah speaks ‘beyond beyond’ as prophets do, but his people’s cry was insistent: “What do we want? — Freedom! When do we want it?’ — Now!” God’s answer through his prophet was: “Not in your lifetime!”
It’s one thing to extrapolate a verse or two from Old Testament history and apply it to a need today, but another thing entirely to compress them into “feel-good” proof texts that deny the reality of God’s dealings with us in our everyday lives. Yes, “All things are Yes and Amen to us in Christ” in the short term, but what if God is dealing with us long term? What if God’s Good Intentions are that we become better over time through learning obedience? Who wants to build a house and grow a garden in Babylon when Jerusalem needs to be rebuilt?
The Lord Jesus once said to me: “You are impatient to the degree that you believe that I am late.” I was about to respond with: “Lord, you are never late…” but thought it better to say nothing. So, by all means, quote Jeremiah 29:11 as an indication of God’s Good Intentions toward you, but turn away from those who would have you believe that a prophetic promise from a visiting prophet will release you from being “bound in the spirit” (as the Apostle Paul was) to accept the Lord’s will for you in a preferred shorter term minus Divine Discipline.
Resistance is not just futile: it breaks off wooden yokes of discipline and replaces them with iron ones of regret.