Don’t see the audio player? Click here.
An unscientific survey revealed that 21% of people believe peace will come to the Middle East, but 79% say no. They are pessimistic that all the efforts to bring people together in that region will ever get peaceful results. Now who dares to predict what may happen in the near term, but we can have confidence in what the Bible indicates as a long-term outcome. That optimism is based in part on a message God told Jeremiah to give ancient Israel. Even though the message had a short-term application to their current situation, it also had a long-term application. Here is a portion of God’s word to Jeremiah Chapter 12: “Now this is what the LORD says: I will uproot from their land all the evil nations reaching out for the possession I gave my people Israel. And I will uproot Judah from among them. But afterward I will return and have compassion on all of them. I will bring them home to their own lands again, each nation to its own possession. And if these nations truly learn the ways of my people, and if they learn to swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives’, then they will be given a place among my people!” God’s prerequisite for peace and prosperity never changes—repentance from sin and submission to Him, the God of the universe. That principle applies to all ethnic and racial groups, as well as to individuals.
