A Righteous Branch
Jeremiah 33:14-16
12-04-2022
Advent
I didn’t grow up with advent like many of you did. In fact, for years after working retail at Christmastime, I was a pretty big Scrooge. But, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve grown to love advent and the reminders that it gives us every week.
Last week, the candle of hope was lit and this week the candle of peace burn alongside it.
Advent simply means “to wait.” Just as the Jewish people waited in the dark for a great light to shine, we too wait. We wait with eager anticipation for the second coming of Jesus to set everything right.
This morning, we will begin a two-year study in the prophetic books of the Bible and we will begin our advent series.
Many of you have heard the Christmas story so many times that you may nod off during the Christmas season.
I’ve preached many Christmas sermons but I’ve never preached from Jeremiah 33 and, I’m really excited to share what God has been teaching me this week.
Turn with me to Jeremiah 33:14-16.
Prayer.
Context
The year is 587 BC. Jeremiah, known as the weeping prophet, has been put in jail by King Zedekiah for prophesying that the Babylonians would conquer the city of Jerusalem and that the king would be taken to Babylon and see their king face to face.
The Babylonian army would soon surround the city, build siege ramps, and break down the walls.
It truly looked like all hope was lost. But God, through the prophet Jeremiah had a message of hope to the Jewish people and for us today.
“This is what the Lord says: ‘You say about this place, “It is a desolate waste, without people or animals.” Yet in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted, inhabited by neither people nor animals, there will be heard once more the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of the Lord, saying,
“Give thanks to the Lord Almighty, for the Lord is good;?his love endures forever.”
For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before,’ says the Lord.” (Jer 33:10-11)
In the midst of the hopelessness and darkness, God promises to restore their joy and singing will be heard again in the land.
Our passage begins with the word, “Behold!” This term means to pay attention, what I’m about to write is very important.
The Days are Coming
Jeremiah looks into the future and says, “the days are coming.” We see that again in verse 15, “in those days” and in verse 16, “in those days.”
This is prophetic language. This is not Jeremiah but God speaking. In fact, “declares the Lord” is used over 170 times in the book of Jeremiah. If God says it, then He can be trusted to fulfill His promises.
What does God declare? That He will fulfill the good promise, (the good words that I have spoken), that He made to the people of Israel and Judah.
God is a promise-keeping God.
In Genesis 3:15, God gives the first hint of hope after the Fall:
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Gen 3:15)
What is this promise that God makes through Jeremiah in this hopeless, dark time?
The Righteous Branch
“In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land.” (Jer 33:15)
This isn’t the first time Jeremiah has written about this righteous branch:
“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch…” (Jer 23:5)
Notice that the word “Branch” is capitalized in most translations.
Jeremiah is just telling the people what God was telling him. He didn’t understand it all but, the prophets, all proclaimed the mystery of the Messiah that was to come.
In the midst of complete destruction, barrenness, and hopelessness, Jeremiah reminds them that there is someone coming to save the day.
What can we learn about this righteous branch?
sprout from David’s line
Isaiah picks up the same imagery:
“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord— and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.” (Isaiah 11:1-3)
This is a word picture of a barren stump that used to be a flourishing tree. There were a lot of stumps in the land of Israel.
Jeremiah writes that this Branch will be from the line of David.
In 2 Samuel 7, God promises David that his descendants would
“The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son…Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’” (2 Sam 2:7)
Ethan wrote in Psalm 89:
I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself. You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant, ‘I will establish your line forever and make your throne firm through all generations.” (Psalm 89:2-4)
he will do what is just and right in the land
Throughout the book Jeremiah, he laments and weeps and begs and commands the Jewish people to turn back to God. He likens their idolatry to adultery. They cheated on God with foreign gods. They were stiff-necked and rebellious.
He also calls them to account again and again for injustices committed against the weakest and most vulnerable in their culture.
This David King will rule with absolute justice and will also do what is right in the land.
“…a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.” (Jer 23:5b)
Isaiah proclaimed:
“See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice.” (Isaiah 32:1)
Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety.
“In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety.” (Jer 33:16)
This ruler will bring salvation and security to those who follow Him.
Isaiah wrote that this Messiah would be anointed by God to:
“…to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners…” (Isaiah 61:1)
The Lord our Righteous Savior
This is the Hebrew name for God - Yahweh Tsidkenu.
In the context of Jeremiah 33, he is speaking of a new Jerusalem.
Speaking of Jerusalem, Isaiah prophesies,
I will restore your leaders as in days of old, your rulers as at the beginning. Afterward, you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.” (Isaiah 1:26)
Mystery
Jeremiah proclaimed God’s Words, not really understanding the full reality of the promises that were to come.
In fact, in verse 3 he says as much:
“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ (Jer 33:3)
But we are so blessed to live in the time that we live in!
Paul writes in Colossians:
“I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col 1:26-27)
The word “mystery” means something not previously known but now revealed.
Augustine said, “The new is in the old concealed; the old is in the new revealed.”
What happens at the end of “It’s a Wonderful Life? George wants to live again and Clarence gets his wings. How do we know this? Because we’ve watched the movie. We know, as Paul Harvey used to say, “the rest of the story.”
Jeremiah couldn’t even begin to fathom how God was going to bring this promise to pass. But we, living on this side of the Incarnation of Jesus, know exactly how it happened.
Let’s go back through our verses this morning, and take a closer look:
In those days
Look how Luke 2 begins:
“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.” (Luke 2:1)
And the angels told the shepherds:
“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” (Luke 2:11)
The days that Jeremiah, and the other prophets, spoke of, came to pass in a little town called Bethlehem.
Peter wrote of this:
“Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.” (I Peter 1:10-11)
The Righteous Branch
Isaiah in his famous Messianic prophecy wrote:
“He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of the dry ground.” (Isaiah 53:2)
The Apostle Paul quotes Isaiah when he writes:
“The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; in him, the Gentiles will hope.”
The shoot, the root, the branch that the prophets talked about?
It’s Jesus! He is the Righteous Branch that Jeremiah predicted.
Jesus, taking the word picture and adding a twist said, “I am the vine and you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
from the line of David
700 years after Jeremiah died, Matthew begins his Gospel with this proclamation:
“This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham…” (Matt 1:1)
When Mary responded with confusion to the angel’s message that she would carry the Messiah in her womb, the angel comforted her:
“Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:30-33)
When Jesus confronted demons they acknowledged Him as the Son of David. When Jesus came into Jerusalem riding on a donkey, (another prophecy from Zechariah), the people shouted,
“Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!” (Matt 21:9)
Combining the word pictures, John wrote in Revelation:
“Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” (Rev 5:5)
The King brings salvation
Jesus had the opportunity to teach in His home synagogue and read these verses:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)
After reading and sitting down He shocked the crowd by saying, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21)
Back in Jeremiah 33:15, he wrote that Judah would be “saved.” That word in Hebrew is yah-shaw. Jesus’ Hebrew name is Yeshua!
When the angel gave Joseph the assurance to marry Mary:
“Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matt 1:20-21)
The baby in the manger was born to die, in our place, to save us from the penalty of our sins.
We will save the last phrase for the end.
What does this Mean?
There is hope because God is a Promise Keeper.
Ezekiel makes this clear that God can be trusted:
“Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: None of my words will be delayed any longer; whatever I say will be fulfilled, declares the Sovereign Lord.’” (Ezek 12:17)
God may take His time, as we saw last week, but He always keeps His Word.
“The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrew 8:8-10)
What promises do you need to lean into right now?
There is hope for our growth because of the Branch.
Some of you may feel like a stump right now in your life. You may feel like you’ve blown it or that your sins are too many for God to forgive.
If you are 1,000 miles away from God, how many steps back is it? One.
Jesus came to set the prisoners free!
There is hope for us because Jesus is our righteousness.
“the Lord our Righteousness”
Jeremiah was predicting the destruction of Jerusalem, the very place where Jewish people could come to sacrifice to God. How could they pursue righteousness if the ?Temple was destroyed?
Not that they were actually trying to be that righteous, but even at their best, their righteousness was filthy rags.
In Jeremiah 33, Jeremiah writes, “this is the name by which ‘it’ will be called.” But in chapter 23, he writes,
“This is the name by which he will be called: “The Lord Our Righteous Savior.” (Jer 23:6)
The place of righteousness was replaced with a person!
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5:21)
Ancient Jerusalem represents the place where I earn righteousness by what I do, by Jesus, the Righteous Branch is where I receive righteousness by what He has done!
Luke wrote of the angel's message to the shepherds:
“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” (Luke 2:11)
You don’t have to try to be good anymore. It’s a losing game. All you need to do is to trust Jesus’s sacrifice for you, in your place, to pay for your sin.
The people reading Jeremiah’s words had to wait for it all to become clear.
You don’t have to wait:
“In the time of my favor I heard you, and
in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you,
now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor 6:2)
There is hope in the darkness.
No matter the circumstances, there is always hope!
When Jeremiah spoke these words, it couldn’t have been any darker for the Jewish people.
When Jesus was born it was also dark. God hadn’t uttered a word in nearly 400 years.
But Matthew wrote, quoting Isaiah, “a people living in darkness saw a great light on those living in the shadow of death a light has dawned.” (Matt 4:7)
In Jesus, there is hope in the most terrible of circumstances.
Ending Video: Broken Ornaments
Ending Song: O Come All Ye Faithful
