If you have read the last few posts, you know that we have been discussing the various descriptors Peter uses for Christians. So far, we have covered: chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation, peculiar people, those who show forth God’s praises, God’s people, those who have received grace, beloved, and sojourners. Whew! Now, that’s a spicy meatball! Today, we want to look at Peter’s use of the term exiles.
11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
1 Peter 2:11-12
Why exiles?
So, what can Peter mean by calling Christians exiles? Well, with all of the previous epithets, we have looked into the Old Testament to see if there is a parallel with the people of Israel. This has been really clear from first to last so far. We know, for example, that the people of Israel were God’s chosen people, they were holy – set apart by God, etc. Yesterday we discussed the Patriarchs and their status as sojourners in the land that would become the inheritance of their descendants. Were the people of Israel ever exiles?
That was a bit of a rhetorical question. Of course the people of Israel were exiles. But, what I have honestly not yet wrapped my mind around is any connection between the people of Israel being carried away to Babylon, and Christians living in this world. I suppose I will start with some examples of God’s chosen people living as exiles. Then, we will have to see if a correlation jumps out.
After much study…
For you, dear reader, this is simply the next line. But, for me, this line comes after reading some of Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel, and much of Isaiah. What has dawned on me, going back to 1 Peter 2:11, is that perhaps Peter is remembering the prophets and urging us to have the mindset of those among the people of Israel who attended to the prophets. It is true that much of the writing revolving around the exile of the people of Israel recorded for them all of their misdeeds. I think it is important to read these, and to take them to heart. Their covetousness of the nations around them, and their constant return to worshiping the gods of these nations were horrible sins. These sins resulted in their oppression by neighboring empires and their captivity in Babylon.
A practical guide to living as exiles
However, once they were exiles in Babylon, they were given a promise of return. Not only that, but they were told how to live whilst exiles.
4 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But 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.
Jeremiah 29:4-7
Of all of the passages we will look at today, this is by far the most practical. First, we have Peter urging us as exiles. And, second, here we have Jeremiah expressing God’s command as to how we should live as exiles. There is a beautiful simplicity in these commands.
Build houses and live
Are we exiles here in this world? Fine, build houses and live in them.
Plant gardens and eat
Should we only fast and watch the heavens for God’s return? No, we are to plant gardens and eat their produce.
Raise generations
Should we forsake marriage and children because the tribulation is immanent? Absolutely not. We are to take wives, have sons and daughters. What’s more, we are to encourage our sons and daughters also to marry, and to have their own children.
Seek the welfare of your community
Should we huddle alone afraid to interact with the people in our communities? Nope. We are to seek the welfare of our cities, praying to the Lord on the behalf of the people who live around us. Why? Because, when our communities prosper, so will we.
Isn’t it wrong to pray for prosperity? It is wrong to teach that prosperity is the goal of the gospel. But, it is clearly not wrong to pray for welfare. Why? God commanded it.
God’s command to exiles
From this passage in Jeremiah alone, we have some excellent instruction in how to comport ourselves as exiles. We are to build families. Those families are to not only build broader communities, but to help those communities prosper. And, these are not just good suggestions for those living as exiles. These are God’s commands to us.
The mindset of exiles
But, I also think there is a mindset exiles have that Peter may very well have had in mind. In our study on sojourners that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, while prosperous in the land in which they dwelt, were looking forward to a promised land. Their descendants would, of course take that land for their own possession in future generations. But, the patriarchs were not simply looking forward to the physical land of Canaan. They were looking toward a promised land that was eternal (Hebrews 11:8-10).
In the same way, the people of Israel, living in captivity in Babylon, longed for their return to Jerusalem. While many obeyed the command of the Lord, building homes, gardens, families, etc., they remained mindful of their true home. In this way, we too can keep the perspective of exiles.
5 Fear not, for I am with you;
Isaiah 43:5-7
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you.
6 I will say to the north, Give up,
and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the end of the earth,
7 everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”
God will gather exiles from all nations
Through Christ God has made for Himself a people. Those people are not limited by genealogy. Men and women of all nations belong to God. He has chosen them, and they become believers by His unfathomable grace and the efficacious work of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. As exiles, we know that we will one day be gathered together in a city with eternal foundations.
25 “Therefore thus says the Lord God: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name. 26 They shall forget their shame and all the treachery they have practiced against me, when they dwell securely in their land with none to make them afraid, 27 when I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from their enemies’ lands, and through them have vindicated my holiness in the sight of many nations. 28 Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them into exile among the nations and then assembled them into their own land. I will leave none of them remaining among the nations anymore. 29 And I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord God.”
Ezekiel 39:25-29
10 “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
Jeremiah 29:10-14
How should we then live?
Now we too have these promises. They are extrapolated from the Babylonian captivity and applied now to us thanks to Peter’s urging. Let’s obey God’s command to build houses, make things grow, and have families. We have a duty to raise generations in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:1-4, Deuteronomy 6:4-9). Let us also have the mindset of exiles. We should live, knowing that pone day we will be gathered together with all the body of believers in our true home.
