“See You In 2022!” (Jeremiah 25:11-12)

The letter was sent to me by my health insurance provider reminding me that I was due for a colonoscopy. I couldn’t recall when my last screening was but I knew it had been at least several years. I called my gastroenterologist to schedule an appointment. After giving the receptionist my name, his response surprised me. 

“Sir, according to our records, you are not due for another two more years. Your last colonoscopy was in 2012 and your doctor cleared you for ten years.”

I was confused. “Then why did I get this letter from my health insurance?”

“Sometimes their record keeping is not up to date. We will notify them of the proper date.”

“Darn! And I was soooo looking forward to doing that lovely bowel prep!”

“Ha! I am sure you are disappointed, Doctor!”

I had to praise the office’s medical records system. “That is an impressive EMR (electronic medical record) you have! It can put in reminders for an appointment scheduled for ten years later. So, I can be confident that you will notify me in two years, correct?”

“See you in 2022!” He laughed. 

It was interesting to see two professional organizations, so dependent upon the precision of their information systems, be so discongruent on a very important future date. I rely upon both organizations for the accuracy of their medical records and although I verified the gastroenterologist’s office was correct about my future appointment, I wondered if their system was as good as they claimed, given the snafu by my insurance company. If only our lives ran with the precise efficiency and perfect timing that God ordains for his people!

This entire land will become a desolate wasteland. Israel and her neighboring lands will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years. “Then, after the seventy years of captivity are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and his people for their sins,” says the LORD. “I will make the country of the Babylonians a wasteland forever.”

Jeremiah 25:11-12 (NLT)

In this passage above, the Prophet Jeremiah proclaims God’s judgment upon Israel for their hundreds of years of disobedience by sending them into captivity and exile in Babylon. Their exile was decreed by God to last seventy years. Jeremiah issued this prophecy about twenty years before it occurred. 

During the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, learned from reading the word of the LORD, as revealed to Jeremiah the prophet, that Jerusalem must lie desolate for seventy years.

Daniel 9:2 (NLT)

Nearly seventy years later, the Prophet Daniel, living in exile in Babylon, read Jeremiah’s prophecy and learned that the Israelites would be allowed to return home after seventy years of exile. To Daniel who lived his entire life in exile, it must have seemed impossible. Yet, God, who cannot lie, fulfilled His promise in a most unexpected way. He changed the heart of Cyrus, the reigning Babylonian king, to allow the Israelites to return to their homeland. The Prophet Ezra records the amazing transformation of Cyrus. 

In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the LORD fulfilled the prophecy he had given through Jeremiah. He stirred the heart of Cyrus to put this proclamation in writing and to send it throughout his kingdom: “This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: “The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build him a Temple at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Any of you who are his people may go to Jerusalem in Judah to rebuild this Temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, who lives in Jerusalem. And may your God be with you!”

Ezra 1:1-3 (NLT)

See you in seventy years!

A prophecy made through God’s prophets and His promise fulfilled exactly seventy years later! No faulty record keeping or discongruent information between three different prophets of God, who never met or directly communicated with one another. God directed the events of the world to keep His promise. It is a magnificent reminder that God is very precise in keeping His appointments with His people! 

He wants to do the same for your life. Will you trust an omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent God to keep His appointment with you? Will you allow Him to tell you about His Son, Jesus Christ? Will you accept His appointment for salvation and eternal life?

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.