The People of God: The Story of the ChurchMfano

Even though they are exiled, the Lord promises to return his people to the land he had given them. Until then, they are told through Jeremiah’s prophecy to settle down in the empire they find themselves in. It is in this passage that we find the very famous verse 11 about God’s plan for hope and a future for his people. It is important for us to recognize today that this verse is in the context of a people in exile. There is a promise that after ‘seventy years’ the Lord would visit his people and return them to their land. Notice the fact that after the reason for exile being that the land might enjoy its Sabbaths; the number seventy is used here, a multiple of Sabbath years.

Daniel, after carefully reading the scroll of Jeremiah, realizes that seventy years are almost over, and so the return must be coming soon. It is telling that Daniel’s response to reading this is not to sit back and relax but to repent on behalf of his people’s sins. He was resolved to live as one of God’s chosen people, even in Babylon. However, the answer is not exactly what he was expecting; rather than seventy years, it is seventy ‘weeks’ or seventy years times seven! Although this is much longer than Daniel anticipates, the promise from Jeremiah expands in the message to Daniel. Rather than this being about a return from exile, the seventy-sevens will not just bring them back to their land but put an end to sin itself. An ‘Anointed One’ was coming who was going to not only end Israel’s current exile but the exile of humanity from community with God.

The Sabbath cycle promises are given through Jeremiah, and then Daniel promises that a Jubilee is coming. The Messiah, who will be the ‘Lord of the Sabbath’ (Mark 2:28), will bring about the ultimate Jubilee. Humanity has been exiled from Eden, and the people of God now live in the midst of a world that does not follow the ideals set by God for human flourishing. For the church, there is a sense in which we are also ‘exiles’ (1 Peter 2:11) in this world. We seek to tell the good news of Jesus and the jubilee available to anyone who would receive it.