Praise - Cayden and Jacob Adoption/Foster Situation
Students Traveling
David preaching Next Wednesday
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Dave and Brooke First Day
Ben and Holly First Day
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Dave and Brooke First Day
Ben and Holly First Day
Kyle's Family
Text – Jeremiah 29:1-23, 1 Peter 1-5
Since we’ve got so many students out of class today and the importance of 2 Peter 2, especially verse 4, I’ve decided not to continue but take my one safety day to teach on something else. I hope that we will still be able to finish Second Peter by August, but if not we’ll have to deal with it.
Let’s look briefly today at Hermeneutics, this is a big cool theological word which means “The art and science of interpreting the Bible.” It is basically how to read the Bible and derive the Author’s intended meaning from it. The word Hermeneutics comes from Greek Mythology, a dude named Hermes whose job it was to deliver the messages of the gods. When we talk about Hermeneutics we are looking at how to discern the full meaning of what God is telling us.
Some hermeneutical principles are:
1. What is the plainest meaning of the text?
2. How would the original audience understand this text?
3. How does it apply to us today?
4. Which words are repeated?
5. How does this book relate to other books of the Bible?
6. What would we lose if this were not in the Bible?
And the one I want to look at today is which words are repeated across Bible books and something huge jumped out at me which is rather neat and will really open up our passage for us today. We’re going to look at the letter in Jeremiah 29 and compare it to First Peter. Jeremiah 29:11 is one of the most wickedly misquoted verses in the whole Bible, if I have a least favorite verse it is this one when it is taken out of context:
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
The reason I dislike it so much is because people try to make it say that God won’t let anything bad possibly ever happen to you, which is quite ironic because God is doing something quite painful to the original audience in the midst of this letter. But first lets look at how we got to this point.
I was looking at the end of First Peter and saw Babylon, which when coupled with the beginning of First Peter, which says exiles, draws a line straight back to Jeremiah 29,
1 Peter 1:1 To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion
1 Peter 5:13 She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings
Look at how Jeremiah 29 starts,
Jeremiah 29:4 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon
This doesn’t automatically say that Peter was thinking of this letter when writing his letter, but it is interesting enough to look into it, and the more I researched it the more I feel that Peter used Jeremiah 29 as a basic outline for his letter.
So let’s look at the beginning of Jeremiah 29:
Jeremiah 29:1-3 These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said:
The context is that God has given his people into captivity as punishment for their lawlessness. He sends everybody from the king and queen to the laborers; some stay back in Jerusalem but their lot is worse than those who go into captivity in Babylon, life in Jerusalem at this time was not nice.
The beginning of First Peter is very similar talking about all of the people groups who are God’s exiles: everybody from hoity toity Asia, to rural Cappadocia, to maritime Pontia. Truly God is no respecter of persons.
Let’s read the letter:
Jeremiah 29:4-23 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD. "For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. "Because you have said, 'The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,' thus says the LORD concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile: 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, behold, I am sending on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten. I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the LORD, that I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the LORD.' Hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon: 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes. Because of them this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: "The LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire," because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, they have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. I am the one who knows, and I am witness, declares the LORD.'"
The beginning of this letter is glorious and expanded in Peter. If Peter hadn’t talked about this we might have a hard time making this point from Jeremiah, we’d say, “This is just to the Jews, we ought not apply it to ourselves.” But Peter does apply it to us, and changes our exile to this world where we are away from Heaven, and the foreign land we are in is this world.
vv.5-7 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
Jeremiah says make yourself comfortable, and strive for the welfare of the city you are in. Even though whichever city the Jews were in, be it Susa or Babylon or Nipur or wherever, was not their city, they were called to seek the welfare of that city. Where is our city?
Hebrews 13:14 here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.
But where is our exile? Kennesaw, Acworth, Atlanta…Here is what Peter says,
1 Peter 2:16-17 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
Besides that Peter tells us how to treat our husbands and wives. What does a husband need in order to honor his wife? He needs a wife, so in the exile we get married, have children, get jobs, and live our life as a testament to God.
vv.8-9 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD.
These prophets, we learn in chapter 28, were telling the Jews not to unpack or get comfortable because they would be heading back to Jerusalem soon. God tells the people not to listen to these liars who say they are speaking for God. Our modern equivalent is people who think Jesus is coming back this afternoon, who are so caught up in eschatology that they don’t have any sort of plan for ministry and life. Baptists are bad at this, but Jehovah’s Witnesses are infinitely worse, they don’t build hospitals or orphanages because they’re sure Jesus will be here by noon and a hospital would be a waste of money.
But we’re in this exile for a while, we ought to build hospitals, orphanages, and ministries that address both felt needs and eternal needs. Any preacher who tells you anything different is a liar, according to God.
vv.10-13 For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
God has a definitive plan for the Jews, and we know that they returned to Jerusalem right at 70 years. God likewise has a definitive plan for us, and we will not leave this earth a moment before or after he intends, neither will Christ return early or late, he will be exactly on time.
On that day we will be gathered to Heaven, when he returns or calls us home, and his ultimate plan is for our good, we will have unending health and overabundance of hope and an eternal future. On that day we will be perfect and seek God with all of our heart. Check how Peter puts it:
1 Peter 4:1 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh (and died) has ceased from sin,
Here on earth we will never seek Christ with our whole heart, but if he has saved us then we have the assurance that in Heaven we will cease from sin and our whole undivided affection will be on Jesus Christ.
Look at what God is going to redeem us from:
v.14 I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
The Christian exile has an eternal hope, but those who refused to obey God (vv.15-16) have a much different future, because we’re running out time I’m just going to read it but I think it will speak for itself, these people followed men rather than God:
vv.16-19 concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile: 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, behold, I am sending on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten. I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the LORD, that I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the LORD.'
Peter puts it this way:
1 Peter 4:17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
Finally God turns the letter back to the exiles but points out the wicked false prophets who claim to be speaking for him, but really aren’t
vv.20-23 Hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon: 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes. Because of them this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: "The LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire," because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, they have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. I am the one who knows, and I am witness, declares the LORD.'"
This is basically your application, pay more attention to the Bible than to people, don’t listen to people who say that they are speaking for God unless they can back-up their point with an explicit Bible verse in context. More importantly, don’t misrepresent God.
We’ve touched on the major neat points of the link between Jeremiah and First Peter, but we’re out of time to look at more. The most important thing about this isn’t though that we’ve discovered a great parallel in the Bible, but that we take both letters seriously as God-breathed instructions from Heaven. There are many such parallels in the Bible, and finding them is cool, but if we don’t obey the most basic interpretation of the scriptures then our latter end is worse than if we didn’t even know.
The direct application for how to live your life is to first trust in Jesus Christ knowing that he is the one who wills that we be in exile, and he commands us to live this life representing him seeking the welfare of the city we live in.
We live in exile for a long time, approximately 70 years, which I don’t think at all is a coincidence that this is the average life expectancy;
Psalm 90:7 The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.
Not everyone is guaranteed 70, you might even get less than 20, but beloved the beauty of this passage is that for the one who obeys and trusts God for salvation is that God’s plan for us is health and an eternal future when we step out of this world we are present with the Lord, and we will never sin again.
So live your life with this in view, love widows and orphans and keep yourself unstained from the world, for this is religion pleasing in the sight of God.
Text – Jeremiah 29:1-23, 1 Peter 1-5
Since we’ve got so many students out of class today and the importance of 2 Peter 2, especially verse 4, I’ve decided not to continue but take my one safety day to teach on something else. I hope that we will still be able to finish Second Peter by August, but if not we’ll have to deal with it.
Let’s look briefly today at Hermeneutics, this is a big cool theological word which means “The art and science of interpreting the Bible.” It is basically how to read the Bible and derive the Author’s intended meaning from it. The word Hermeneutics comes from Greek Mythology, a dude named Hermes whose job it was to deliver the messages of the gods. When we talk about Hermeneutics we are looking at how to discern the full meaning of what God is telling us.
Some hermeneutical principles are:
1. What is the plainest meaning of the text?
2. How would the original audience understand this text?
3. How does it apply to us today?
4. Which words are repeated?
5. How does this book relate to other books of the Bible?
6. What would we lose if this were not in the Bible?
And the one I want to look at today is which words are repeated across Bible books and something huge jumped out at me which is rather neat and will really open up our passage for us today. We’re going to look at the letter in Jeremiah 29 and compare it to First Peter. Jeremiah 29:11 is one of the most wickedly misquoted verses in the whole Bible, if I have a least favorite verse it is this one when it is taken out of context:
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
The reason I dislike it so much is because people try to make it say that God won’t let anything bad possibly ever happen to you, which is quite ironic because God is doing something quite painful to the original audience in the midst of this letter. But first lets look at how we got to this point.
I was looking at the end of First Peter and saw Babylon, which when coupled with the beginning of First Peter, which says exiles, draws a line straight back to Jeremiah 29,
1 Peter 1:1 To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion
1 Peter 5:13 She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings
Look at how Jeremiah 29 starts,
Jeremiah 29:4 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon
This doesn’t automatically say that Peter was thinking of this letter when writing his letter, but it is interesting enough to look into it, and the more I researched it the more I feel that Peter used Jeremiah 29 as a basic outline for his letter.
So let’s look at the beginning of Jeremiah 29:
Jeremiah 29:1-3 These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said:
The context is that God has given his people into captivity as punishment for their lawlessness. He sends everybody from the king and queen to the laborers; some stay back in Jerusalem but their lot is worse than those who go into captivity in Babylon, life in Jerusalem at this time was not nice.
The beginning of First Peter is very similar talking about all of the people groups who are God’s exiles: everybody from hoity toity Asia, to rural Cappadocia, to maritime Pontia. Truly God is no respecter of persons.
Let’s read the letter:
Jeremiah 29:4-23 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD. "For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. "Because you have said, 'The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,' thus says the LORD concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile: 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, behold, I am sending on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten. I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the LORD, that I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the LORD.' Hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon: 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes. Because of them this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: "The LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire," because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, they have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. I am the one who knows, and I am witness, declares the LORD.'"
The beginning of this letter is glorious and expanded in Peter. If Peter hadn’t talked about this we might have a hard time making this point from Jeremiah, we’d say, “This is just to the Jews, we ought not apply it to ourselves.” But Peter does apply it to us, and changes our exile to this world where we are away from Heaven, and the foreign land we are in is this world.
vv.5-7 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
Jeremiah says make yourself comfortable, and strive for the welfare of the city you are in. Even though whichever city the Jews were in, be it Susa or Babylon or Nipur or wherever, was not their city, they were called to seek the welfare of that city. Where is our city?
Hebrews 13:14 here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.
But where is our exile? Kennesaw, Acworth, Atlanta…Here is what Peter says,
1 Peter 2:16-17 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
Besides that Peter tells us how to treat our husbands and wives. What does a husband need in order to honor his wife? He needs a wife, so in the exile we get married, have children, get jobs, and live our life as a testament to God.
vv.8-9 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD.
These prophets, we learn in chapter 28, were telling the Jews not to unpack or get comfortable because they would be heading back to Jerusalem soon. God tells the people not to listen to these liars who say they are speaking for God. Our modern equivalent is people who think Jesus is coming back this afternoon, who are so caught up in eschatology that they don’t have any sort of plan for ministry and life. Baptists are bad at this, but Jehovah’s Witnesses are infinitely worse, they don’t build hospitals or orphanages because they’re sure Jesus will be here by noon and a hospital would be a waste of money.
But we’re in this exile for a while, we ought to build hospitals, orphanages, and ministries that address both felt needs and eternal needs. Any preacher who tells you anything different is a liar, according to God.
vv.10-13 For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
God has a definitive plan for the Jews, and we know that they returned to Jerusalem right at 70 years. God likewise has a definitive plan for us, and we will not leave this earth a moment before or after he intends, neither will Christ return early or late, he will be exactly on time.
On that day we will be gathered to Heaven, when he returns or calls us home, and his ultimate plan is for our good, we will have unending health and overabundance of hope and an eternal future. On that day we will be perfect and seek God with all of our heart. Check how Peter puts it:
1 Peter 4:1 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh (and died) has ceased from sin,
Here on earth we will never seek Christ with our whole heart, but if he has saved us then we have the assurance that in Heaven we will cease from sin and our whole undivided affection will be on Jesus Christ.
Look at what God is going to redeem us from:
v.14 I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
The Christian exile has an eternal hope, but those who refused to obey God (vv.15-16) have a much different future, because we’re running out time I’m just going to read it but I think it will speak for itself, these people followed men rather than God:
vv.16-19 concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile: 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, behold, I am sending on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten. I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the LORD, that I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the LORD.'
Peter puts it this way:
1 Peter 4:17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
Finally God turns the letter back to the exiles but points out the wicked false prophets who claim to be speaking for him, but really aren’t
vv.20-23 Hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon: 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes. Because of them this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: "The LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire," because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, they have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. I am the one who knows, and I am witness, declares the LORD.'"
This is basically your application, pay more attention to the Bible than to people, don’t listen to people who say that they are speaking for God unless they can back-up their point with an explicit Bible verse in context. More importantly, don’t misrepresent God.
We’ve touched on the major neat points of the link between Jeremiah and First Peter, but we’re out of time to look at more. The most important thing about this isn’t though that we’ve discovered a great parallel in the Bible, but that we take both letters seriously as God-breathed instructions from Heaven. There are many such parallels in the Bible, and finding them is cool, but if we don’t obey the most basic interpretation of the scriptures then our latter end is worse than if we didn’t even know.
The direct application for how to live your life is to first trust in Jesus Christ knowing that he is the one who wills that we be in exile, and he commands us to live this life representing him seeking the welfare of the city we live in.
We live in exile for a long time, approximately 70 years, which I don’t think at all is a coincidence that this is the average life expectancy;
Psalm 90:7 The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.
Not everyone is guaranteed 70, you might even get less than 20, but beloved the beauty of this passage is that for the one who obeys and trusts God for salvation is that God’s plan for us is health and an eternal future when we step out of this world we are present with the Lord, and we will never sin again.
So live your life with this in view, love widows and orphans and keep yourself unstained from the world, for this is religion pleasing in the sight of God.
