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Hope for the Future

Jeremiah 23.1-6

Good News Translation (GNT)

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  1  How terrible will be the Lord's judgment on
   those rulers who destroy and scatter his
   people!
  2  This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says
   about the rulers who were supposed to take
   care of his people: "You have not taken care
   of my people; you have scattered them and
   driven them away.
   Now I am going to punish you for the evil
   you have done.
  3  I will gather the rest of my people from the
   countries where I have scattered them, and
   I will bring them back to their homeland.
   They will have many children and increase in
   number.
  4  I will appoint rulers to take care of them. My
   people will no longer be afraid or terrified, and
   I will not punish them again. [a] I, the Lord,
   have spoken."
  5  The Lord says, "The time is coming when I will
   choose as king a righteous descendant of
   David. That king will rule wisely and do
   what is right and just throughout the land.
  6  When he is king, the people of Judah will be
   safe, and the people of Israel will live in peace.
   He will be called 'The Lord Our Salvation.'

   Footnotes
   Jeremiah 23:4 I will not punish them again;
   or
   not one of them will be missing.

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Taken from 'word-on-the-web' supplied by the
Scripture Union

The Good Shepherd

     Jeremiah 23.1-6

Amid the carnage, total devastation and utter dejection in these words, sounds a message of hope.

Following the Babylonian conquest and fall of the monarchy, a people in exile are given a promise of better times.

The ravaged nation had been failed by its leaders, and ruled by kings who didn't listen, oppressed the weak and vulnerable, and heeded lying prophets.

Now, reeling from its come-uppance, the people learn they are to be restored. Only this time it will be different. 'Real shepherds' will ensure God's people are properly cared for.

And the divinely appointed 'Good Shepherd' - 'an honest king from the family of David, a king who will be wise and rule with justice' - will usher in a new era.

God's people will return 'home', both spiritually and physically, gathered 'as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings'. Errant leaders will receive their just deserts.

Finally, all God's people will be reunited under a reign of peace, citizens of a future utopia ruled by a true king, Jesus.

Most of us are familiar with the picture of the 'Good Shepherd' in John. Fewer people know that Jesus is drawing on passages in the Old Testament which prophesy the coming of a good shepherd to replace all the bad ones.

After all the scary warnings about judgement in Matthew 24 and 25 it is good to ground ourselves in the rich promises of God, who has sent us Jesus to be 'The LORD our Righteous Saviour'.

He wants all people to be saved.

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