Finish Strong

Jeremiah 29:1-14; Ezra 6:13-16

‘“For I know the plans that I have for you’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope’” (Jer. 29:11, NASB).

I am doing my shopping at the grocery store. As I am walking down the aisle, I see a lady with a shirt on with the words “Finish Strong” engraved. I move to the front of her shopping cart so that I will not scare her. When she sees me I introduce myself to her and tell her that I write religious articles and publish them on my website. She tells me that her name is Shera.

I ask the young lady what the inscription means to her. She responds, “Well I moved to Nashville after Katrina in 2005.” She further explains that they are really rebuilding the city. The idea of the inscription on the shirt means that regardless to what happens in our lives, it is how we finish that really matters. I tell her that I remember that time period very well. I had gone to a funeral and at the repast some of the men were expressing their opinion that God had punished New Orleans for their great sins. I told them that I hoped not because I live in Nashville. One of the men stated, “I don’t think that you can compare the sins of Nashville with those in New Orleans.” I thank the lady for her inputs. I tell her that her shirt is inspiring, and I will likely use some of the things in our discussion for one of my articles. I give her one of my cards and thank her again.

The Bible has lots of stories about people that finish strong. Hebrews 11 is known as the hall of fame of people with great faith and by their faith they accomplished great things. In this article, I am comparing the journey of the people of Judah from their exile to Babylon in ca. 605 B. C. to the completion of the rebuilding of the temple after their return to Jerusalem in 538 B.C. Judah’s story is our story. Especially, it is the story of every believer that has hope of eternal life. Let us look at Judah’s story.

God sends Moses to deliver the descendants of Jacob from bondage in Egypt. Led by Moses’ successor Joshua the sons of Jacob (Israel) take possession of the land of Canaan. The people are twelve tribes that share a common belief in the one true God. Later, David unites the tribes. Under his reign and the reign of Solomon the Israelites experience their glory days. However, the people sin and turn from God to the gods of the land. God sends His prophets to warn the people, but they do not listen to the prophets. God raises Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and the people of Judah are taken away into exile. It is a low point in Judah’s history. We can only imagine how many of the people feel. They have lost everything, and they are in a strange land. Jeremiah the prophet writes a letter to those who are in exile. In this letter Jeremiah tells the people that they will be in exile for seventy years. At the end of the seventy years God will bring them back to their homeland. They will finish strong. In this letter Jeremiah gives us three things for us to consider when we are going through rough times so that we can finish strong.

The first thing to be considered is that the people are in exile because God has sent them there (29:4). In Jeremiah 27-28 we read about the words of the false prophets that oppose the words of Jeremiah, the prophet of the Lord. The false prophet, Hananiah, states that the exiles will be in Babylon for only two years (28:3). On the other hand, God speaks through Jeremiah the prophet, and God says that the people will be under the yoke of Babylon for seventy years (25:11-12; 29:10). There are difficult days ahead for Judah and some people believe that the Lord punishes people to destroy them. They believe that when God punishes a people, God has cast them from His presence forever. How often do we give up on people because we believe that God has no further use for them? How often do we give up on people when we see them doing something wrong? If we listen to the words of the naysayers we may give up on ourselves.

The second thing to be considered from Jeremiah’s letter is that we are to make the best of a bad situation. Jeremiah tells the people to build houses, get married, and seek the welfare of the city. At the beginning of this article I quote 29:11. I did this because I hear people quoting this verse from time to time. God does have plans for our good, but this is what is wrong with how many people use these words. Often, they speak as if God is going to end their troubles right away. These people sound like the prophets and diviners in verses 8-9 that continue to tell the people that they will be in Babylon for only two years. Although they will be in Babylon for seventy years, God promises to visit them and restore them in His own time; and when they return to the Lord (vv. 12-14).

Go to Ezra. In the meantime they are to live with hope for a better day.

A third thing that we are to consider is that God uses the seventy years to prepare the people for their return. In 29:15-32 the letter that Jeremiah writes describes how God will purify the people. He will remove the false prophets by turning them over into the hands of the king of Babylon (v.21). At the same time the Lord will raise up leaders that will seek the Lord.

The people of Judah live in exile for seventy years. Babylon falls by the hands of the Medes and Persians under the reign of Cyrus. Cyrus makes a decree that the people may return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple (2 Chron. 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-11). The people under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Jeshua begin to rebuild the temple. They overcome opposition when King Darius finds the decree of Cyrus and issues his own decree permitting the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra 6:1-12). The temple is completed according to the command of God and the decrees of the kings of Persia (6:14-15). “And the sons of Israel, the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles, celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy” (6:16, NASB). The people finished strong.