Key verse: "The days are coming," declares the
Lord, "when I will raise up to David a righteous branch, a king who will
reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In His days Judah will
be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which He will be
called: 'the Lord our righteousness."
Jeremiah 23:5-6
The sign posts pointing to Jesus are few and far between in
this section. We have now moved another
four hundred years beyond the time of David. Do you realize how much time that is? If we were to go back 400 years in our own
nation's history, the Mayflower wouldn't have even set sail yet. Yet, we have had at least three such spans of
time pass for our purposes, 1,200 years and Messiah is still only being talked
about and promised, not yet seen.
Israel is steeped in
sin. God has already allowed ten of the tribes of Israel, or the Northern
Kingdom, to be destroyed due to their extremely corrupt practices. (See 2 Kings16) Now, the last two tribes, Judah, and Benjamin, or the Southern Kingdom, are
to face punishment of their own for their blatant disregard for God's law. All the way back in Deuteronomy, before Israel
crossed the River Jordan to possess the land, God had promised a curse if His
people disobeyed. Now, the people are on
the verge of learning just how seriously the Lord takes His covenant for
blessing and for cursing.
The Lord, through Jeremiah, places much of the blame for
Israel's disobedience on the priests themselves. The priests have not led the people in the
ways of righteousness. They have not
instructed the people in the way they should go. They've allowed the people to scatter their
allegiance to other gods and foolish behavior. Many of the priests are corrupt themselves.
Those who love the
Lord will be sent into exile in Babylon. The rest of the people will be destroyed. There is, however, still hope for the devoted.
God has not forgotten his promise to
Abraham, Isaac, Israel, Judah and David. There will still be someone, descended from
David, a righteous branch, who will still fulfill all of the promises that God
has made to His people. He will lead
with righteousness and bring peace. He
will gather the scattered remnant of God's people and make them dwell in
safety.
Living in our day as we are, we know this is about Jesus. He is the king who will reign one day. Yet we know he came and went and this world is
still in turmoil. A lot has remained the
same. We are waiting for fulfillment of God's promises. And while we wait, there are blessings and
sometimes curses. There is joy, but
suffering and tragedy remain as well. Some leaders are faithful. Some are not. We are also waiting and must be patient and
keep the faith.
Fortunately for us, a lot has changed as well. Jesus is with us by his Holy Spirit in a way
that the children of Israel could never experience. We have their entire recorded history so we
might not make the mistakes they made. We
know that they returned from exile later which assures us that God's promises
still hold. One day, surely, Jesus shall
reign!
Hymn: "Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us"
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