Over the past two decades as a Christian in America, I have watched as my beliefs and values are increasingly marginalized or despised. I feel extremely safe in saying we are experiencing a post-Christian transition in America. While I may be uncomfortable with falling out of the majority, this is nothing new to followers of God.
Many of my brothers and sisters in Christ across the world live in countries where their faith is not the majority or even illegal. In much of Biblical history, God’s people (the nation of Israel) weren’t in power. Unfortunately, due to their repeated disobedience and lack of trust in God, they were often politically defeated, exiled, and enslaved.
From Egyptian enslavement to being under the rule of the Roman Empire in Jesus’ time, often God’s people were not in charge. Yet, this did not make God any less powerful nor His Word less true. What if God’s Word is not the cultural norm? How did God direct His people?
Keep on Living
Let’s start in Jeremiah 29. The prophet is given a Word from God that Israel would fall to Babylon and many people would live in exile in Babylon for 70 years.
10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:10-11
The pretext of one of the most oft-quoted inspirational verses in the Bible is actually God telling his people how they should persevere and behave during their punishment. Jeremiah 29:11 isn’t the victory lap. It’s a promise to give people hope through a very dark time.
What could your exile look like today? Is it an ungodly boss or other authority in your life? Is it the pressure of an increasingly secular education system?
Like the Jews exiled to Babylon, every Christian is currently living in exile. This world is not our home. The world we live in is an enemy of the kingdom we belong to. Despite that, we do have to live here. I find God’s instruction to his people who are just about to enter a 70-year punishment fascinating. God tells them to keep living, to increase and not decrease. We are not to live defeated lives. We are never to give up.
I might be the meanest mom alive, but I have a limit for how long my children can be upset about a punishment. My oldest really struggles with this. She likes to wallow in emotional despair and/or anger. I give her a warning, but if she stays there too long, it will result in additional consequences. We all have to learn how to cope with bad things, often best done by clinging to God’s promises.
Love Your Enemies
While Jeremiah 29:11 is widely known, Jeremiah 29:7 is much lesser known. God instructs that, when living in exile, His people should pray for the peace and prosperity of the land of their captors. Do we pray for the peace and prosperity of land we live in whether it’s a Judeo-Christian society or not?
4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”
Jeremiah 29:4-7
The logic is obvious (if it prospers, you will prosper), but the instruction is hard. Read through Jeremiah 39 and how brutally Nebuchadnezzar’s army felled Jerusalem. Pray for the people who killed your countrymen and maybe family members, brutalized your leader, destroyed your country and pillaged its wealth? Pray for their peace and prosperity? Actually, this sounds familiar…
Love Your Enemies
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 [o]But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
Matthew 5:43-45
When living in exile, we’re also called to pray for those we perhaps would naturally hate and despise. We are called to love. It is one of the most radical and inspirational messages of Christ.
Live Counter Culture
I believe God’s Word is ultimate, universal Truth, without error. That plants me in what the secular world would call a radical sect of Christianity. I believe the pressure will become more intense for people who have faith like I do to abandon it. It’s part of living in Babylon. So, what should we do about that? Live counter culture.
Jeremiah lived counter culture amidst a culture made up of God’s chosen people. Jeremiah was imprisoned and his life threatened before the Babylonian exile simply because people didn’t like God’s message. He refused to compromise God’s truth. That is as true today as it was then. My Life in the Spirit Bible study Bible notes “False religious leaders often predict that God’s blessings come unconditionally, without the need for repentance or holy living, such a message always has popular appeal.” Popular appeal can’t be trusted, even if it comes from the church.
Daniel, who lived the majority of his life as a Jewish exile in Babylon, is a great example of how to live counter culture. His beliefs and integrity were tested early during his exile, while in training for the Babylonian royal court. Daniel and his friends were shrewd in their commitment to God’s ways. They didn’t obstinately refuse orders. Instead, they made a proposal. They put their beliefs to the test because they had great faith in God.
8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
Daniel 1:8
This situation (concluded in Daniel 1:12-16) epitomizes what I believe Jesus was trying to tell us in Matthew 10:16: “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless[f] as doves.” Sometimes zealous Christians are overly ready to rush themselves to the chopping block of martyrdom when they find themselves in Babylon. I don’t want to sugarcoat that possibility. Sometimes, as we read later in Daniel 3 about the golden image and fiery furnace, a commitment that could cost us our life may be required to remain faithful to God.
Accept You May Find Yourself in a High Rank or a Lion’s Den
While it might seem surprising, God may give us favor while living in Babylon. God may cause us to be successful and prosper in exile just as He did for Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Daniel 1:19-20, Daniel 2:47-49). Daniel spent most of his life assisting Babylonian rulers (his conqueror) and helping the Babylonian kingdom prosper as a high-ranking administrator. Daniel prayed and dedicated much of his efforts to the peace and prosperity of the city in which he was exiled, and he was 100% in God’s will. I know some believers who would probably disown their own children if they held a high-ranking position in an administration led by an opposition political party, much less a conquering country.
Daniel never wavered in his beliefs, regardless of how much personal success he found living in Babylon. In Daniel 6, Daniel’s great success did not protect him from jealous government officials. Daniel steadfastly continued living counter culture to remain faithful to God in prayer. God honored Daniel’s faithfulness with the miraculous rescue from the lion’s den. We should lean on the Holy Spirit’s guidance and be wise enough to know the difference between when accepting a high rank is God’s favor and when it is time to face the lion’s den for our faith.
If you find yourself having a hard time adjusting to the post-Christian transition in America or actually living in exile, the promise of Jeremiah 29:11 isn’t an empty one. Even if your current circumstances look dire, remember that as God’s people we have a hope and future. He plans to prosper us, and faithful Christians belong to a kingdom that will never end (Luke 1:31-33).
Dara, Love reading your post and believe every word! Love you for sharing. Dixie
Dixie, thank you for reading!