Jeremiah 29:10

 Jeremiah 29:10 says, For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.  God assured the people of Judah that after seventy years He would once again restore their land to them.  We don't have a specific time, but we have God's assurance that He will bring us to our everlasting home in glory.  Verse eleven adds, For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.  God said that His thoughts toward Judah were of peace and not evil.  It was not God's thoughts that had caused the people to be defeated, but heir own thoughts.  Those who were restored would be those who continued to believe in God even while in captivity.  It is our acceptance of Christ because of our belief in God's word that assures us of our heavenly home.  Verse twelve declares, Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.  God said that at this time that the people would once again call on Him in prayer and He would hear them.  I don't believe that this means that He didn't hear them during this time, but that He was not going to change their circumstances until it was in His time frame to do so.  Verse thirteen adds, And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.  God said that when they sought Him with all their heart that they would find Him.  We cannot be half-hearted in our relationship with God, but must seek Him with all our heart.  Verse fourteen continues, And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.  God said that when the people once again began to earnestly pray that He would hear them and return them to their land.  Verse fifteen states, Because ye have said, The LORD hath raised us up prophets in Babylon;  God said that the people would say that He had raised up prophets in Babylon and would not accept the letter from Jeremiah.  Verse sixteen adds, Know that thus saith the LORD of the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and of all the people that dwelleth in this city, and of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity;  God once again had a warning for the people, and that was that they not listen to the false prophets who were declaring peace.  No matter how many people may claim that God's word is not true and that His judgment is not coming, we must believe God's word.  Verse seventeen declares, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.  God said that defeat and destruction were coming, and that the people of Judah needed to accept that fact.  Verse eighteen adds, And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them:  God said that their defeat would cause the nations to marvel.  Verse nineteen concludes, Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the LORD, which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but ye would not hear, saith the LORD.  God said this was going to happen because those who were supposed to be His people would not listen to His word.  If we face everlasting punishment today. it will be because we have not listened to God's word and accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.  The fault will be ours and not God's.