Dig in and Take Hold

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are a reflection on Sunday’s message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/hear-a-message]


It seems to me that there are a few themes in the Bible that run so deep they simply can’t be overlooked, and yet, somehow, I managed to do just that. We have been meditating on some of these deeply embedded themes recently at Encounter Church, and I was surprised to find that I had somehow overlooked much of the story of Israel for many years. As we’ve been living in both the Old Testament stories of Israel’s unfaithfulness and the New Testament grace of Jesus Christ, God has continued to bring us a word about about idolatry and repentance, filling this earth, and the grace of God that can only be found through Jesus Christ.

Much of what happens in the Old Testament revolves around God urging his people to leave behind their idolatrous ways and to trust him only as the one true God. It makes sense that the Israelites would want to worship a variety of gods--the sun god and the water god and the gods of crops or fertility or health--and it takes more trust in Yahweh that many of us muster on a daily basis to trust that only one God could look after our many needs. Still, God warns his people time and time again to repent and to turn away from their idols, for if they would refuse, then they knowingly choose defeat, capture, and torture at the hands of Babylon. No nation was to be feared more that Babylon; no captor promised a more agonizing obliteration than Babylon. And yet, despite God’s warnings and reminders that he would keep his promises to carry the people into exile, the people chose captivity and idol worship over freedom in God. The destruction and captivity of Israel by Babylon very nearly wiped the people off the face of the earth, but after 70 years, still a remnant remained to return to Jerusalem. After all, God had promised that the remnant would persist (Jer. 29: 14).

In the book of Revelation, Babylon reappears, this time as prostitute riding upon a scarlet beast. Revelation 17:5 records, “The name written upon her forehead was a mystery. BABYLON THE GREAT/THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES/AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” One chapter later in Revelation, Babylon falls, and with her the “dwelling for demons” and “haunt for every impure spirit” (Rev. 18:2). The word of the Lord is pretty clear on this: idolatry will captivate our hearts and steal away our lives until we find our salvation in the promises of God, which are fulfilled through Jesus Christ.

Perhaps this is why it became popular for a while to say that Christians are to be “in the world but not of the world.” Christians recognized that we are here on this earth to build the kingdom, but over time the spirit of the wary pilgrim surfaced, the spirit of one passing through this earth who had put on the armor of God to beat back any earthly temptations. Christians were told to long for the renewing of this earth, and not to get too comfortable while here in the physical realm. The image of the Christian pilgrim is popular still today, and perhaps, rightly so.

But as I read the Bible, I find that God continuously leads me back to the commands to “be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it,” or to stories like the Tower of Babel where God scatters people across the earth so that they’ll really dig in to this life (Gen. 1:28; Gen. 11). Even the Great Commission, it seems, includes an imperative to fill the earth, subdue it, and to really grab ahold of it (Matt. 28:16-20).

So when I read a story like the one in Jeremiah 29, where the people Israel have finally been exiled from Jerusalem into Babylon and God commands that they “build houses and settle down, plant gardens and eat what they produce. 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”, it seems to me that he is once again urging his people to dig into this place; to really grab ahold of it.

One of the most well loved (and misused!) passages from the Bible comes from this same story about exile into Babylon found in Jeremiah 29. God has just ushered his people into exile for their idolatrous and spiritually adulterous ways, but even there, God leads with grace. He says, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you plans to give you a hope and a future.” It appears that God’s plans include exile. The ultimate plan necessitates Jesus, of course, but our instructions for our day-to-day plans for prosperity and hope include filling the earth, making disciples, and waiting for the return of the King.

The instructions are practical: “build houses, settle down, [and] plant gardens” (Jer. 29: 5).  So while we may feel like sojourners passing through, God reminds us that because of our sinfulness we live as in exile, but under his promise he will collect us back at the appointed time. In the meantime, we dig in.

[Kristin vanEyk attends Encounter Church and teaches English in Grand Rapids, MI. She passes most of her time reading, laughing, and playing with her kids.]