All Things Accomplished Through The Righteous Branch, Jesus Christ

Jeremiah 33:1-26                                                              Kevin E. Jesmer
Key Verse: 33:15                                                                3-15-18

“‘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.” (NIV)

Part 1: Blessings Poured Out On Us By God (1-11)

Verses 1-11; “While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the Lord came to him a second time: 2 “This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it—the Lord is his name: 3 ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ 4 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the houses in this city and the royal palaces of Judah that have been torn down to be used against the siege ramps and the sword 5 in the fight with the Babylonians[a]: ‘They will be filled with the dead bodies of the people I will slay in my anger and wrath. I will hide my face from this city because of all its wickedness.
6 “‘Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. 7 I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity[b] and will rebuild them as they were before. 8 I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me. 9 Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it.’
10 “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 11 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.”

While Jeremiah was in prison, God’s word came to him. Even when Jeremiah was in prison God was with him. God was communicating with him. No walls, not prison, nothing, can keep God way from his people. He is with them, strengthening them, guiding them and teaching them continually.

God affirms his identity to Jeremiah. He is the Creator God who forms and establishes the earth. (2) That means that God is the all-powerful one, who is more than able to keep his promises and the covenants he makes with people. He is the sovereign Lord. We can trust and rely on his promises, because we can trust and rely on him. Who else and where else can we place our trust in this fallen world? Nowhere. Our trust can only be found in Christ, through whom all things were made. (John 1:3) Lord, thank you for letting us know that you are the Creator God and our Savior. Thank you for allowing us to place all of our hope and trust in you. What a blessed assurance!

God invites his people to call on him. Look at verses 3 again. “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” This is God’s invite to anyone who has enough faith to utter a simple prayer to God. I love this invite. It is so simple and so inviting. Because of God’s love and grace, we can approach his throne. Hebrews 4:16 reads, “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” We can approach God and call out to him and he will answer us and show us many things because of what Jesus has accomplished for us… the grace of forgiveness. What a blessing!
God wants to reveal great and unsearchable things, things we do not know. God wanted to reveal to Jeremiah what he had in store for his people. It was not all judgement. There would be blessings galore. God would also reveal how he would accomplish it.

People usually rely on old knowledge. They do not grow beyond what they presently are. A person can “stretch” if they go to school or are challenged at their job. But the great and unsearchable things of God are given to us, freely by God him makes many promises to his people in verses 4 -11. God’s hand of judgment would fall on his rebellious people. But he also promised that he would forgive and heal and restore them. He would bring them back from captivity.

I found at least fourteen things that God will accomplish among his people. Here is a list of them: healing, joy, peace, security, rebuild, restore, cleanse, forgive, to be able to glorify God, prosperity, provision, gladness, marriage joy, thanksgiving and a willing heart to make offerings to God. God wants to bless his people with so many wonderful things. He does bless his people of faith with these precious gifts.

In this world, people think that material things are the only blessing that they need. But this is not so. We need all of the things that God offers his people here. These blessings are inner blessings. They are spiritual. These blessings are more precious than any blessings that this world promises to deliver. God knows our hearts. He knows what we need and want but can never ask. He is ready to pour out such blessings on his people. Again, this the grace of God and the fruit of the Gospel.

Part 2. God Accomplishes Everything Through The Righteous Branch. (12-26)

Verses 12-26, “’This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In this place, desolate and without people or animals—in all its towns there will again be pastures for shepherds to rest their flocks. 13 In the towns of the hill country, of the western foothills and of the Negev, in the territory of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah, flocks will again pass under the hand of the one who counts them,’ says the Lord.
14 “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.
15 “‘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.
16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior.’
17 For this is what the Lord says: ‘David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of Israel, 18 nor will the Levitical priests ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices.’”
19 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 20 “This is what the Lord says: ‘If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, 21 then my covenant with David my servant—and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me—can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne. 22 I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars in the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore.’”
23 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 24 “Have you not noticed that these people are saying, ‘The Lord has rejected the two kingdoms he chose’? So they despise my people and no longer regard them as a nation. 25 This is what the Lord says: ‘If I have not made my covenant with day and night and established the laws of heaven and earth, 26 then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his sons to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them.’”

God has made a lot of promises. These promises warm and enliven the hearts of his people. Look at these verses, …“in all its towns there will again be pastures for shepherds to rest their flocks”, as well as “flocks will again pass under the hand of the one who counts them,’ says the Lord.” And look at verse 16 again, “In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior.’”
This imagery is full of peace and security. God really cares about the peace and security of his people. God has always had this in mind. But it would come through faith and trust in him and in obedience to his way. The problem, at that time, was that the people of Judah had rejected the Lord and disobeyed him for centuries. The suffering they were endure at this time was never God’s intent. It became necessary to draw them back to himself and to give his people a hope and a future.

But now back to the beautiful imagery of what God had in store for his people and what he was going to manifest among them. How was God going to accomplish this and when was he going to do it? Look at verse 15, “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.” And also verse 17-18, “For this is what the Lord says: ‘David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of Israel, 18 nor will the Levitical priests ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices.’”

God was going to accomplish all of his wonderful promises through a descendent of David who would always be sitting on the throne of Israel. God promised to make a righteous branch sprout from David’s line. Through him, God’s people would be saved. He would be the Lamb of God, the all sufficient sacrifice, whose shed blood procured for us forgiveness. He would be our intercessor forever. This man, is actually Jesus, the God-man. He is God, come in flesh to dwell among us to be our Savior, our Eternal King and our High Priest forever.

This salvation, the Lord was speaking to Jeremiah about, would be accomplished through Jesus Christ, who would come over six centuries from the time of Jeremiah. All of the promises would be accomplished for anyone who puts their faith and trust in Jesus and holds onto the Gospel.

Would the people of Judah experience it in their lifetime? Probably not. However, they would be blessed along their restoration journey. The people in exile in Babylon would be struggling to make a life for themselves in their land of exile. A small percentage of them will return from their exile after seventy years. Then they would be working hard to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and they would be wearing swords at their sides as they built the wall. This small group of returnees would have a deep sense of victory in their hearts as they worked hard to rebuild the walls of their capital. Their hope in the coming Savior King would enliven their hearts. They would find joy as God restored their nation through them. They were filled with joy as they celebrated their faith and worshipped God, hoping in the Savior to come 600 years later. But the real salvation would come when Jesus came and died on the cross and rose again from the dead.

Jesus is the God-man, God was speaking to Jeremiah about. He is the King forever, seated on David’s throne because he died and rose again, never to die again. He lives forever and seated at the right hand of the Father. Jesus is the Priest because he is sinless and the shedding of his blood on the cross was more than enough to grant us forgiveness. He offers up prayers for us forever, as our intercessor. Jesus is the Savior that makes all the blessings of the Gospel manifest among people who have faith in Jesus.

Through the Righteous Branch, Jesus, God would accomplish two additional things, according to this passage. In verse 22, “I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars in the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore.’” And verse 26b, “…For I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them.’”

Jesus’ people are the true Israel, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, appointed to bring the world back to worship its Creator (Ex 19:6; 1Pe 2:9; Rev 1:5b,6). Through the Gospel Jesus would establish ministers of the Gospel, as countless as the stars in the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore. All believers are called to be ministers of the Gospel. Over the last 2,000 years there have been billions of them. They are sent out into the world, by God to declare that Jesus is Lord and through Jesus they many become children of God and enter into eternal life in the Kingdom of God.

All of this will surely come to pass because of the unchanging nature of God. He is the one who has made a covenant with the day and the night. He is the Creator. He is unchanging. He has fulfilled these promises and he will maintain them. How refreshing it is to have a God that we can trust.

Prayer: “Lord, thank you for blessing our lives through the Gospel. You have born so much peace and joy and spiritual security in our lives. It is all because of your love and grace and power. Help us live as ministers of this Gospel.”

One Word: God accomplishes everything through his Righteous Branch…Jesus.