Is Jeremiah 29:11 a Promise to Christians?

00:00:05.000 | Pastor John, as you know, Jeremiah 29 11 is a favorite passage for a lot of Christians.

00:00:10.000 | It's one of the most popular verses in the Bible, and it reads like this, quote,

00:00:14.000 | "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil,

00:00:19.000 | to give you a future and a hope," end quote.

00:00:22.000 | Pastor John, can a Christian legitimately lay claim of an Old Testament promise like this one?

00:00:28.000 | Why or why not?

00:00:30.000 | Yes, Christians can lay claim to this, and they do it because of Christ.

00:00:35.000 | And here's the way I see it fitting together.

00:00:37.000 | That promise was spoken by God through Jeremiah in Jeremiah 29.

00:00:45.000 | Explicitly it says, "To the exiles in Babylon."

00:00:48.000 | If you start reading at the beginning of the chapter, they're in Babylon.

00:00:52.000 | Seventy years is going to pass, but a hope and a future are coming for them.

00:00:57.000 | And so we Christians, we Gentiles especially, go to it, and we love it

00:01:02.000 | because it holds out the prospect of not destruction for us, but life and hope and joy in the future.

00:01:12.000 | Now, the reason we can do it is because at the Last Supper, Jesus lifted up the cup,

00:01:20.000 | which represented his blood, and he said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood."

00:01:29.000 | And when he said that, he meant, "When I die tomorrow morning and shed my blood on behalf of my people,

00:01:37.000 | I am securing for them all the new covenant promises that God has made."

00:01:43.000 | Everything that God meant to be fulfilled for his people Israel,

00:01:49.000 | now is going to be fulfilled in his people of the new covenant,

00:01:55.000 | so that not only Jews, but also Gentiles, through faith in the Messiah,

00:02:01.000 | become part of the covenant people of God,

00:02:04.000 | so that every promise can be laid hold on by Gentiles who are in the Messiah, in Christ Jesus.

00:02:13.000 | And we know that because in 2 Corinthians 1, verse 20, Paul says,

00:02:20.000 | "All the promises of God are yes in Christ Jesus."

00:02:25.000 | And I think that's what's behind Romans 8, 32,

00:02:29.000 | "He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us,

00:02:35.000 | will he not with him, because of that sacrifice, give us all things freely?"

00:02:42.000 | And that would include all the promises that God made to his covenant people.

00:02:46.000 | So there is an understanding of the flow of redemptive history that comes to a climax in Jesus,

00:02:53.000 | purchasing for all those who are in him as the head of this new covenant people,

00:02:59.000 | the promises of the Old Testament.

00:03:01.000 | So I love the verse, and I lay hold on it as a "Johnny-come-lately" Gentile,

00:03:06.000 | and I believe Christ has warranted that for me.

00:03:10.000 | Thank you, Pastor John, and thank you for listening to this podcast.

00:03:13.000 | Please email your questions to us at AskPastorJohn@DesiringGod.org.

00:03:16.000 | At DesiringGod.org you'll find thousands of other free resources from John Piper.

00:03:20.000 | I'm your host Tony Reinke. Thanks for listening.

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