Let's check out this scripture from the book of Jeremiah:
“Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans. For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.’” (Jeremiah 24:4-7)
Now these verses are not referencing the results of an election, they are referring to a hostile takeover. Some of the people of Israel were stripped of their land, separated from their families, and taken away to a foreign country where they were to live as slaves. Feeling better about your post-election status now?
Judgment came (and was to come) upon Judah as a whole; the entire nation would feel the pain of it. Yet that did not mean that everyone in Judah was the same in God’s eyes. Some were like the good figs – and were essentially sent out of Judah to Babylon for their own good. You see, judgment upon a nation or community means that all suffer, even those who may be individually innocent of the sins that brought God’s judgment. But remember that even when all suffer under a national judgment, God still knows the difference between those caught up in the judgment and those who brought down the judgment.
I realize this doesn't track with our thinking, good people should reap justice and blessings and bad people should, well you know the rest. But the results of God's will toward His people is the opposite of this theology. Some of the people of Israel were allowed to stay in Judah, keeping their lands and possessions, remaining with their families, and retaining their freedoms and status. And those were the people that God said were cursed!
It is a startling comparison. It is most natural to suppose that those remaining would assume that their status was favorable to God and those who were carried away were the more corrupt. Yet God reveals that their conclusion was a false assumption, a reprieve from their true reality.
You see God blessed those who were taken away in captivity, and God gave them a heart to know Him. There lives were changed for all of eternity because of their suffering and their forced dependence upon God. Not so for those who remained, who were free from the perceived suffering of the people taken captive. Those people were cursed, destined to wander from God and His mercies, left to their own devices, to enjoy the temporary but be deprived of the eternal. God was acting in mercy in both situations, one set of people He set aside to draw near to Him, the other enjoyed the best that this life offered, but due to their hardened hearts, would fail entry to the paradise to come.
God's methods to draw His people to Himself oftentimes fails to compute with our limited knowledge and perceptions. Up is down, and down is up. God's Kingdom doesn't work the way we think it should, it works the way God wills it to work, and there is a chasm of danger awaiting those believers who fail to grasp this theological truth. The most important truth to grasp is this, God promises everyone who still draws a breath this truth, "Draw near to me and I will draw near to you." James 4:8. Don't wait, tomorrow is promised to no man, today is the day of salvation. To learn more about how you can give your heart and life to Jesus Christ, click HERE.
