A Faith That Acts
Exiles • Week 10
The Kinsman Redeemer
In Jeremiah 32, God tells Jeremiah to buy land in a war zone as a sign that ruins will not have the final word. Even when suffering is the result of our own sin, God delights in redeeming what is broken through the true and better Redeemer, Jesus.
Sometimes life falls apart because of things that happen to us. But sometimes life becomes painful because of decisions we have made. Jeremiah 32 meets God’s people in that uncomfortable place: a place where the suffering is real, the consequences are deserved, and yet God is still speaking redemption.
Jerusalem is under siege. Babylon is closing in. Jeremiah is imprisoned because his prophecy is considered too dangerous. The city is collapsing, the king is desperate, and God’s people are facing the consequences of generations of disobedience.
And in the middle of all of that, God gives Jeremiah an unusual command:
Buy the field.
At first, that sounds absurd. Why buy property when the land is being conquered? Why invest in a place that looks like it has no future? Why purchase real estate in the middle of a war zone?
Because God is giving His people a sign. Ruins are real, but ruins are not the end of the story.
God’s people are facing consequences.
Jeremiah 32 does not allow us to pretend that every hardship is random or every pain is simply an attack from the enemy. Sometimes the pain we carry is connected to our own lack of wisdom, discipline, obedience, integrity, or faithfulness.
That is not always easy to admit.
We would often rather blame someone else, blame circumstances, or spiritualize every consequence. But Scripture is honest: sometimes the pressure we feel is connected to choices we made.
- Sometimes relational strain is connected to how we have handled relationships.
- Sometimes financial pressure is connected to patterns of stewardship.
- Sometimes conflict is connected to pride, avoidance, or self-protection.
- Sometimes suffering is connected to sin we refused to confront.
Jerusalem was not innocent. God had been patient. God had warned them. God had called them back again and again. But they had turned away from Him.
Sin has consequences, but consequences do not cancel God’s ability to redeem.
God is not indifferent toward sin.
One of the uncomfortable but necessary truths in Jeremiah 32 is that God is angry with His people.
That may feel difficult if we have only imagined God as loving, kind, and patient. And Scripture does reveal God as gracious, compassionate, and slow to anger. But slow to anger does not mean never angry.
God’s anger is not petty, insecure, or impulsive. His anger is holy. It is the settled opposition of a good God toward everything that destroys His creation and distorts His people.
Jeremiah 32 gives several reasons for God’s anger.
They turned their backs on God.
God says His people turned their backs to Him and not their faces.
To turn one’s face toward someone is relational language. It speaks of attention, covenant, love, and presence. But God’s people had turned away from Him—the very God who rescued them, provided for them, protected them, and brought them into a land they did not earn.
They called on God in trouble, but when trouble passed, they returned to their own way.
That is a warning for us too. It is possible to want God’s help without wanting God Himself.
They were brazen in their idolatry.
Idolatry is anything or anyone sitting on the throne of our hearts where only God belongs.
Israel’s idolatry was not hidden. They brought their idols into God’s house. They attempted to mix worship of the Lord with devotion to false gods.
That level of idolatry was not accidental. It was brazen.
Anything that sits on the throne of your heart in the place of Jesus is an idol.
Our idols may look different, but they are no less real. Money, comfort, ambition, family, success, control, image, politics, romance, approval, even good things can become ultimate things when they replace God.
They defiled human life.
Jeremiah 32 also confronts one of Israel’s most horrifying sins: the sacrifice of children to false gods.
God’s anger burns against the defiling of human life because human beings bear His image. To treat people carelessly, exploitively, or violently is to dishonor the God whose image they carry.
Most of us may assume we are far removed from that kind of evil. But the broader principle still confronts us.
- When we preserve ourselves while ignoring the vulnerable, we dishonor God’s image.
- When we care more about comfort than compassion, we drift from God’s heart.
- When systems matter more to us than people, something has gone wrong.
- When we devalue others, we defile what God calls sacred.
God is not indifferent toward human life because every person bears His image.
Is anything too hard for God?
Jeremiah does what many of us do when God’s promise feels impossible. He prays honestly.
He acknowledges God’s greatness. He confesses that God made the heavens and the earth. He recognizes that nothing is outside God’s power or sovereignty.
And yet, he still wonders how God is going to turn this around.
God’s response is one of the central questions of the chapter:
Is anything too hard for the Lord?
If God created the cosmos, can He redeem a ruined city? If God holds history in His hands, can He restore a broken people? If God has carried His people before, has His hand lost its power now?
The answer is no.
Nothing is too hard for God. Not even the situations we helped create.
God delights in doing good.
Jeremiah 32 does not minimize sin. It does not pretend consequences disappear. But it also refuses to let judgment have the final word.
God says He will gather His people again. He will restore them. He will make an everlasting covenant with them. He will rejoice in doing them good.
That is staggering.
The same God who is rightly angry over sin is also the God who delights to redeem sinners.
God does not merely tolerate redemption. He rejoices to do good to His people.
That is why Jeremiah’s purchase of the field matters. It is a sign-act, a visible sermon, a physical declaration that God still has a future for His people.
The deed says what the situation cannot yet show: houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land.
The kinsman redeemer points us to Jesus.
Jeremiah buys the field because he is the nearest relative. In Israel’s law, a kinsman redeemer had the right and responsibility to redeem property so that land and inheritance would remain within the family.
In the middle of a collapsing city, Jeremiah becomes a picture of redemption.
He purchases what looks worthless. He buys land in enemy territory. He acts on the promise that God will restore what appears ruined.
And in doing so, Jeremiah points beyond himself.
Jesus enters enemy territory and purchases ruined people so they can belong to the family of God.
The gospel is not that we were lovely, strong, or valuable by worldly standards and Jesus made a smart investment. The gospel is that we were lost in sin, trapped in enemy territory, unable to redeem ourselves—and Jesus came for us anyway.
He purchased us not with silver or gold, but with His own blood.
Jesus redeems what sin has ruined.
Jeremiah 32 is not ultimately about real estate.
It is about redemption.
It is about a God who steps into the consequences of sin and declares that destruction will not have the final word. It is about a God who tells His people the truth about their rebellion and still promises a future beyond judgment.
And it points us to Jesus, the true and better Redeemer.
Jesus comes into the war zone of this world. He enters the ruins. He takes on the cost. He redeems what we could not redeem. He brings us into the family of God and secures an inheritance that cannot be destroyed.
There is hope even when it is your fault.
One of the most pastorally honest gifts of this passage is that it speaks hope to people who are suffering consequences they helped create.
God does not excuse sin. God does not wink at disobedience. But in Christ, our sin does not get the final word.
If you are carrying consequences from your own decisions, Jeremiah 32 does not invite you to deny it. It invites you to bring it honestly before the God who redeems.
- He can redeem your story.
- He can redeem your relationships.
- He can redeem your finances.
- He can redeem your marriage.
- He can redeem broken trust.
- He can give you reason to live and breathe again.
Not because consequences are unreal, but because Jesus is a real Redeemer.
Reflection Questions
- Where am I experiencing consequences that I need to honestly bring before God rather than excuse, minimize, or blame on someone else?
- What would it look like to trust Jesus as Redeemer in a place that currently feels ruined, costly, or beyond repair?
