After twenty-eight chapters of gloom and doom, Jeremiah came bringing a message of hope!   He promised that God would bring his people back from captivity (30:3). He would love them “with an everlasting love” (31:3) and “turn their mourning into gladness” (31:13). He would make a new covenant with them (31:31) and give them “singleness of heart and action” (32:39). God would even “cleanse them from all the sin they have committed” (33:8).

Jeremiah summarized all these blessings in one wonderful promise: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’ ” (29:11). The promise meant that God knew what he was doing. He had known it all along, as he always does. God makes his plan and then he carries it out. Everything he does is for the ultimate good of his people.

The promise of Jeremiah 29:11 is a theme verse for our family. We have an image of it on the wall.

God’s promise for the future is for God’s people in the city! “For I know the plans I have for you” (v. 11) comes just a few verses after “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city” (v. 7). The promises of Jeremiah 29 are for those living in exile in Babylon.

The problems of Your city

It is not always easy to live, work, or worship in the city. Thomas Jefferson viewed cities “as pestilential to the morals, the health, and the liberties of men.”²

Things were even worse in Babylon. In 597 b.c. King Nebuchadnezzar carried the best and brightest of Judah off to Babylon. The chapter begins: “This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon” (v. 1). The reference to “surviving elders” shows how badly things had gone. The survivors were the lucky ones, so to speak: “This was after King Jehoiachin and the queen mother, the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem” (v. 2). The Babylonians had done terrible things to the Jews. They had destroyed their city, ransacked their temple, ruined their economy, removed their leaders, and enslaved their populace. Babylon had done its worst to Jerusalem.

It is not surprising, then, that Saint Augustine (354–430) viewed Babylon as a symbol of evil. In his classic work The City of God, the great North African theologian described human history as a conflict between two great cities—the city of God and the city of Man.

This race we have distributed into two parts, the one consisting of those who live according to man, the other of those who live according to God. And these we also mystically call the two cities, or the two communities of men, of which the one is predestined to reign eternally with God, and the other to suffer eternal punishment with the devil.⁴

Augustine later identified Babylon as the Biblical symbol of the city of Man.

To read Jeremiah 29 with the two cities in mind is to recognize that God’s people were prisoners in the city of Satan. They were refugees in Babylon, which represents everything hateful and odious to God.

Most postmodern cities are like Babylon. They are Cities of Man, ruled by Satan, and Satan is doing all he possibly can, all in line with his condemnation, to turn them into suburbs of Hell. One can see it in the abandoned buildings, the graffiti, the tired faces of the prostitutes, the racial altercations, the slow shuffle of the poor, and the great buildings built for human pride. Satan has been very busy.

Influence Your City for God

What should God’s people do when their zip code places them in Satan’s precincts? When God’s people were captives in Babylon, they might have expected God to tell them to run away. Or revolt. What he did instead was tell them to make themselves at home. The gist of Jeremiah’s prophecy was that God was going to build his city in the middle of Satan’s city.

Jeremiah was still living back in Jerusalem, perhaps because the Babylonians did not consider him important enough to deport. So he needed to fax this prophecy to the exiles in Babylon. Actually, the letter was written on papyrus and carried in a diplomatic mailbag.

He entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It said: This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “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. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (vv. 3–7)

God practically sounded like the ad man for Babylonian Realty. Anyone who has tried to buy a house knows how realtors tend to exaggerate. “Charming,” the ad will say, which means the house is roughly the size of a telephone booth. “Needs some work” translates as “Bring your own wrecking ball.” “Luxurious library,” means a walk-in closet with bookshelves.

Imagine the reaction when Jeremiah’s prophecy was read in the Jewish ghetto in Babylon. There God’s people were, languishing in captivity, bemoaning their fate, complaining about the crime rate and the wretched Babylonian city school system. But God gave them the hard sell. “You’re going to love this place,” he said. “Wonderful place to raise a family! Exciting opportunities for small business! Great location, right in the heart of the Fertile Crescent!” One senses God’s passion for urban planning. Yet he was talking about the city of Babylon, of all places. His surprising plan for the redemption of the city meant building the City of God smack-dab in the middle of the City of Man.

No doubt when the captives discussed their sojourn in Babylon they used words like “abandoned” or “banished” or “condemned” to describe what God had done to them. But that is not how God saw things. He viewed the Exile as a mission. Literally, what he said was, “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have sent you.” Nebuchadnezzar did not take them to Babylon. God sent them there. The exiles were not captives—they were missionaries.

Establish a Presence in the City

What did God send his people to the city to do? First, he sent them to establish a presence in the city.

God wanted them to get involved in community development: “Build houses and settle down” (v. 5a). That sounds like a good slogan for Habitat for Humanity. God wanted to establish a presence in the city, which meant living in the city. God’s people were resident aliens. Aliens because they were not living in their hometown anymore. But also residents because they lived where God wanted them to live. Since God had planned an extended stay for them, there was no sense renting; they might as well build.

God also wanted his people to get involved in agriculture: “Plant gardens and eat what they produce” (v. 5b). This is a reminder that when God first called Jeremiah, he appointed him “over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant” (1:10). After twenty-eight chapters of uprooting and overthrowing, Jeremiah finally got around to building and planting.

God wanted his people to do some matchmaking as well, maybe even start a singles group at the local synagogue: “Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage” (29:6a). Then he wanted them to start families. They should marry off their kids, “so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease” (v. 6b). In short, God wanted his people to go about their business as usual. Despite the fact that they were living in a godless city, he wanted them to lead normal lives. Furthermore, he wanted them to build for the future.

These verses teach the importance of daily family life for the redemption of the post-Christian city. The construction of the house, the planting of the garden, and the raising of the family all build the City of God. The most important thing a Christian parent can do in his or her lifetime is to raise a godly family. And nowhere is the godly family more valuable than today.

The Lord does not just call people to jobs and to spouses—he also calls them to churches and to communities.

The exiles thought their exile would end any minute, so they still had their bags packed to go back to Jerusalem. They were working part-time jobs. They were renting rather than buying. They were not committed to the city.

Seek the Peace of Your City

A second reason God sent his people to the city was “to seek [its] peace” (v. 7). Here the Revised Standard Version best captures the sense of the Hebrew: “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.” The recurrent word for “welfare” is the word shalom. “Seek the shalom of the city; its shalom is your shalom.”

Shalom is comprehensive peace. “More than the absence of conflict and death,” says Clifford Green, “this rich term fills out the word community by embracing well-being, contentment, wholeness, health, prosperity, safety, and rest.”¹² Shalom means order, harmony, and happiness. It means that all is right with the city.

God hereby commands Christians to do anything and everything to further the public good. Seeking the peace of the city means being a good neighbor. It means shoveling the sidewalk. It means cleaning the street. It means planting a tree. It means feeding the poor. It means volunteering at the local school. It means greeting people at the store. It means driving safely and helping people with car trouble. It means shutting down immoral businesses. It means embracing people from every ethnic background with the love of Christ.

Still, a church could do all those things and fail to bring shalom to the city. By themselves, random acts of kindness cannot bring enduring peace. The only basis for real and lasting shalom is the work of Christ on the cross. The city cannot be at peace until the city knows Jesus Christ, and him crucified. In its sin, the whole city is at war with God. It deserves the wrath and curse of God. But Jesus Christ came to make peace between God and humanity. The Bible says that “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). Anyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ has peace with God.

Whatever shalom the Hebrews offered to Babylon, Christians are able to offer a much greater peace to the postmodern city. What we offer is eternal peace with God through the work of Christ on the cross. That peace is the basis for everything else we do in the city. It is what makes us neighborly, compassionate, and charitable. When the city finds peace with God, all will be well with the city.

Pray for the Prosperity of Your City

Once they had established a presence in the city and had begun to seek its peace, God’s people were to pray for its prosperity. Jeremiah urges the exiles, “Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (Jeremiah 29:7). This is the Biblical version of the proverb, “A rising tide lifts all boats.” Christians have a vested interest in the welfare of the city. When the city prospers, the church prospers.

That is not how Christians usually think about the city. Many Christians write the city off. At most, they try to establish their own fortress within the city. But God does not tell his people to seek peace in the city; he tells them to seek the peace of the city. God is not trying to establish a ghetto but a government.

One of the best ways to seek the peace of the city is through prayer

In fact, Jeremiah 29:7 is the only verse in the entire Old Testament in which God’s people are explicitly told to pray for their enemies.¹³ Prayer for the Babylonians is a foretaste of the forgiveness of Jesus Christ, who teaches, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).

When the Jews in Babylon were at a loss to know how to pray for Babylon, one psalm may have come immediately to mind:

Pray for peace in Jerusalem:
“Prosperity to your houses!
Peace inside your city walls!
Prosperity to your palaces!”
Since all are my brothers and friends,
I say, “Peace be with you!”
Since Yahweh our God lives here,
I pray for your happiness
(Psalm 122:6–9, Jerusalem Bible)

The same prayer should be offered for the post-Christian city. Notice four things to pray for.  First, pray for the economy of the city (“Prosperity to your houses!”). Pray for the “common wealth” of the city, asking God to bring justice to the poor and prosperity for everyone within the economic systems of the city.

Second, pray for the safety of the city (“Peace inside your city walls!”). Pray that citizens will be kept safe from harm and violence on the streets. And pray that criminals themselves will be transformed by the love of Christ.

Third, pray for the politics of the city (“Prosperity to your palaces!”). Ask the Lord to grant wisdom and integrity to the authorities who govern the city. Pray for the restoration of virtue to public office.

Fourth, pray for the people of the city (“Peace be with you!”). Pray for the Lord’s blessing on all people and all people groups in the city. Pray neighborhood by neighborhood, church by church, business by business, and house by house for the welfare of the city.

The prosperity of the city comes through prayer.

In the next post we’ll examine the hope we have for the future.

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¹ See Linthicum, City of God, City of Satan, pp. 149–153.

² Thomas Jefferson, quoted in Harvie M. Conn, The American City and the Evangelical Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1994), p. 31.

⁴ Augustine, The City of God, ed. Philip Schaff, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 2 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994), XV.1.

⁶ Pieter Bos, City Cries, quoted in Floyd McClung, Seeing the City with the Eyes of God (Tarrytown, NY: Revell, 1991), p. 72.

⁷ Roger S. Greenway and Timothy M. Monsma, Cities: Mission’s New Frontier (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1989), p. 44.

¹² Clifford J. Green, ed., Churches, Cities, and Human Community: Urban Ministry in the United States, 1945–1985 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1996), p. viii.

¹³ Paul Volz, Der Prophet Jeremia, Kommentar Zum Alten Testament, Vol. 10 (Leipzig: Deichert, 1928), p. 269.

Philip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations: From Sorrow to Hope, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2001), 416.