Christ is the hope for all

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” — Jeremiah 29:11

When my wife and I got married, someone gave us a picture frame as a gift that had Jeremiah 29:11 quoted on it. At the time it seemed like an appropriate enough verse to adorn a picture of a newly married couple who were looking to their future together with joy and hope in Christ. But that picture frame — more importantly the Bible verse written on it — became something of a marker for my own theological journey, which was still in its early stages at the time.

Over the next year or so after that, I came to see that many people, myself included, tend to misinterpret Scripture by failing to discern the context in which it was given. In the case of Jeremiah 29:11, the context was the promise of God to Israel (Judah) that though he was punishing them by exile to Babylon, he would not leave them forever or abandon his covenant promises to them. Specifically, Jeremiah 29 speaks of how God would bring his people back from Babylon after 70 years.

I then concluded that the Bible verse on our picture frame had little to do with my wife and I — it was a promise to Israel in the 7th century B.C., not to Christians living today. So away the frame went.

But as time went on and I continued to study the Scriptures, I came to see that both of my previous conclusions missed the mark. It would be wrong to blindly apply Jeremiah 29:11 to Christians today, but we are equally mistaken to conclude that it has no application to them.

I got to that place by recognizing what we have addressed in previous articles, that the Bible teaches that there is only one people of God. For there is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:5-6) Therefore all Scripture, being God-breathed, is “profitable” for God’s people. (2 Timothy 3:16)

So the question Christians must ask of every passage is not, “Does this apply to me?” but rather, “How does this apply to me?” And the way to answer this question is by seeking to understand how the passage finds its fulfillment in Christ, since “all the promises of God find their Yes in him.” (2 Corinthians 1:20)

In the case of Jeremiah 29:11, Christ was and is the future and hope of Israel. He was and is the future and hope of all of God’s people. Therefore, the return of Israel from exile was only a means to an end. The end for all of God’s people is the full forgiveness of sin and the inheritance of eternal life for all who believe in Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.

The Rev. Will Barnett is the pastor of Sovereign Grace Reformed Church in Doniphan. He and his wife, Hannah, are the parents of two boys, Henry and Judson. They are from the Puxico and Bernie areas and are excited and thankful to be back serving in Southeast Missouri.