The Return Key

“For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the LORD.”

Jeremiah 33:11

Too Far To Go Back

Jeremiah preached through a time in history where God said there would be no going back. The people had rejected the Lord for the last time, and His judgments for their sin had commenced. There was no expectation of a second chance, or an extended grace period, nor an exception to the invasions that were coming. Jeremiah had a hard message to deliver and few people accepted it.

The only path the nation of Israel had at this time was forward. They could not avoid what was coming, but they could endure it. If they would only heed the lone prophet’s cry to surrender to their captors, they would survive. How unpatriotic and unbecoming for the proud Israeli citizen! But it was God’s way this time, and they could listen and live, or harden their heart and pay the price.

Israel a Pattern for the USA

Many politician-deceived Christians follow the lie that America and Israel are prophetically linked. They are not. And if they were, who is that ONE Bible reader who actually pays attention to Jeremiah, or any of the Old Testament prophets?

If only they would read Jeremiah, they would learn that God tried everything in His power to keep Israel under His protection. They constantly rebelled and removed themselves from the place of God’s blessing. And they reached a point of no going back: no revival, no repenting, no second chances. They were doomed to the stockyards of Babylon and the slave colonies of Assyria.

More damning yet, the Lord told them to give up and go. He had HAD it with their rebellion. They would either listen to Him now, or die. He would not erase the judgment He had so long warned them about. He would not postpone it, nor would he lessen it. They could not go back. He would not let them take it back.

But there was a way forward. The Lord named it ‘the return of their captivity.’ This was a new concept for them.

“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”

Jeremiah 33:3

Through the Judgment, not Around It

Like the old typewriter I learned to write on years ago- there was no going back. Sure, there was a ‘BACKSPACE’ key, but it could not erase the mistake that was made. Instead, it would slap a glaring ‘X’ over the last letter, which called more attention to the error! A ‘typo’ was not something you could ‘delete’ and fix, you just had to live with it, and accept the grade that you earned.

The computerized idea of life tries to leave an error-free impression. Take dozens of pictures to get the right one. Allow a chatbot program to rewrite that essay to make it look smart. Assemble your wardrobe on Temu to match the modern fashion. Wash the outside of the car, even if the frame is rusted through. Erase those negative posts on your feed, block those unappreciative people from your timeline. Edit out the slip-ups to make ‘good content.‘

And all the while branding an undeniable ‘X’ over each interaction. Be not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. At some point, whether a child of God or a citizen of the world, your sins will reach the tipping point, despite your best efforts to ‘backspace’ them all.

The Return Key

Once you turn to face what are the inevitable wages for your sin, you are given a new instruction, a new hope. God pledges to “return the captivity of the land, as at the first.”

“Return” means you have to live with what’s been written.

“Return” means you will have to go through it.

“Return” means you can go through it.

“Return” does not mean liberation, freedom, revolution, or escape from. There will be no great effort, legislation, war, or accident that reverses the course of time. Just as the captivity was certain for Israel, so judgment is certain on your nation; and so reaping is certain for past sins.

The “Return” key is also called the “Enter” key on some keyboards. Both tell of a new line, leaving the old one as you left it. You cannot undo what has been done. It is time to go to the next line.

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,”

Philippians 3:13

Stop trying to backspace life, and believe the word of God. Embrace the truth, even if it is negative. Missionary and pastor David Haveman understood it this way: “God cursed Adam’s sin with sweat. When you try to avoid the curse, it costs you dearly. The best way to survive the curse, is to embrace it. It is healthy to sweat, it is good to work, eating from the ground is the best food. When you try to get around what God said, even when it’s negative, it will cost you every time.”

Christ’s Return is as sure as Israel’s captivity returning.

I am not happy about what my latter years will bring personally, or nationally. But I have a promise far better than the return of a captivity- I look for “that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” I’ll not wait for the good old days to return, or some great revival to break out- I have God’s word on the return of Christ! Though I will have to face Jesus Christ at the Judgment seat for everything I’ve done in this life, it is better to trust in the ‘return,’ than to waste precious time hitting ‘backspace.’

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