““But fear not, O Jacob my servant, nor be dismayed, O Israel, for behold, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and none shall make him afraid. Fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares the Lord, for I am with you. I will make a full end of all the nations to which I have driven you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.”” (Jeremiah 46:27–28, ESV)
Sometimes in life we may come to a point where we think that life has become so bad that there is no hope. Most of our family vacations involved road trips. On these trips by car, we would plot a route and drive, mostly on highways with a clear view of the sky. However, on occasion we would need to drive through a tunnel in a mountain or under a large body of water. Sometimes it is a bit eerie entering a tunnel because we cannot see the end of it, the light at the end of the tunnel. Yet even though we cannot see the light at the end, it is still there.
This is the situation that the exiles of Judah that were in Babylon find themselves. Now the Lord had promised the nation that they would return to the land of Judah. However, something was happening. Babylon would conquer Egypt. You can imagine that when the exiles from Judah saw this and those exiled from Egypt to Babylon, they would lose hope of ever seeing their land again. They struggled to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
To alleviate these fears, the Lord gave this prophetic word to Jeremiah. The Lord who raises up and sets down kings and kingdoms would protect the remnant of His people who were exiled to Babylon and He would return them to their land as He promised.
You see, God had a great plan for Israel. A remnant had to be preserved in order to fulfill His covenant promises to Abraham and David. These promises required the preservation of the nation in the land promised. There was no way that the Lord would allow the decimation of Israel. The Messiah, Israel’s king, would come through the line of Judah just as promised. Jesus is Israel’s Messiah king and He will reign over His people just as the Lord promised.
Sometimes we may find ourselves in a situation where we can see no light at the end of the tunnel. Yet friends, we who have believed in Jesus for eternal life have become the children of God. He has His hand upon us. There is a brilliant light at the end of the tunnel for us. While we may see struggles in this life, we have the promise of eternal blessing. We will live to experience the blessings of heaven, and a time will come when Christ will establish His kingdom on earth and we will reign with Him. (Revelation 20:4-6)
