“‘Therefore behold, the days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when they will no longer say, “As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,” but, “As the LORD lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.” Then they will live on their own soil'” (Jer 23:7-8).
It is often said that people who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. While there is much truth in this saying, it’s not the whole truth when it comes to ISRAEL’S HISTORY. Based on Jeremiah’s description of the future in this passage, I’m certain the prophet would say this aphorism about the repeating of history is far too negative. The prophets didn’t study Israel’s history simply to find ways of avoiding Israel’s past mistakes. They studied Israel’s history to discover GOD’S REMEDIES for Israel’s past mistakes.
By reading about God’s past deliverance of Israel from Egypt, Jeremiah saw with eyes of faith that God would do another exodus, and on a far greater scale.
When we consider the fact that secular history ALWAYS teaches us that when a foreign army destroys a capital city and exiles its population, it always spells the end of that particular people. So how could Jeremiah be so optimistic about Israel’s future on the eve of their destruction? Surely his optimism did not come from his study of the histories of the nations around him. Jeremiah knew that Israel’s history is different. Unlike the histories of all the other peoples who worshiped false gods, Israel’s history doesn’t follow the normal rules because Israel’s God is real. By reading about God’s past deliverance of Israel from Egypt, Jeremiah saw with eyes of faith that God would do another exodus, and on a far greater scale.
Despite The Mistakes
We don’t just read stories about Israel in the Bible to learn from their mistakes. We study Israel’s history to learn about God’s miraculous interventions throughout their history despite their mistakes. By reading Israel’s history, we learn to trust God for the future no matter how gloomy things are in the present! For if God overthrew Babylon to redeem his people in the past (just as Jeremiah predicted), so he can and will most certainly do it again!
“After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory. And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.
‘I heard another voice from heaven, saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues'” (Rev 18:1-4).
