Jeremiah 23:5–8
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
If you’re preparing for something, you’re going to actively get ready for it, maybe even get a little busy. But you’re also waiting, and that should probably imply a sense of calm and stillness—waiting for something to happen. That’s what’s going on in Advent. While the commercialized world is running ragged in its preparations, the Church is doing a lot of waiting. While we wait for our Lord we should also prepare to receive Him. Yet sometimes the waiting takes its toll. We don’t like to sit and wait for something to happen. We think we have to be the ones doing the happening.
Waiting for the Lord certainly took its toll on Jeremiah the Prophet. In fact, all of the Old Testament is like one huge season of Advent—waiting for the coming of the Lord, the Messiah, the One who would save His people from their sins. Ever since God promised Adam and Eve that the Offspring of the woman would come to crush the serpent’s head, God’s people had been waiting. And Jeremiah was no different, except that he certainly had a hard time of it while he waited.
I don’t think many people would pick Jeremiah as their favorite Old Testament prophet. He is known to be quite depressing. After all, he also wrote the book called Lamentations. But if anyone had reason to lament, it was Jeremiah. His ministry as a prophet of God was one of the toughest. He had to preach to the people of Jerusalem in that city’s darkest hours. By Jeremiah’s time, the northern half of Israel had already been destroyed by the Assyrians. Those Israelite tribes had been killed, enslaved, and scattered to the wind, because they would not repent and trust the Lord’s Word. Now all that was left was Judah, the southern tribe, and its capital, Jerusalem. And the shadow of destruction was looming over them as well. The Babylonians were on their doorstep, and Jeremiah saw what was in store for Judah and Jerusalem: exile. Their king would be thrown down, their people carried off to Babylon, and their city and temple destroyed. Because they also would not repent and trust the Lord’s Word.
So it was Jeremiah’s God-given task to preach this message of judgment. Do you think the people or their rulers were happy to hear this gloomy message? Do you think they thanked Jeremiah for his faithfulness to God’s Word? Do you think they listened and turned away from their sinful deeds? Far from it. They continued sacrificing to false gods, even slaughtering their own babies. They continued to ignore God’s commands and live like the rest of the godless nations surrounding them. They even tried to kill Jeremiah on numerous occasions because he wouldn’t leave them alone. And if they couldn’t kill him, they could at least keep him in prison.
The people and their rulers didn’t like Jeremiah—he was a downer. Besides, the king of Judah was sure that he could save Jerusalem from the Babylonians. The priests of the temple were sure that God was pleased with them and all their sacrifices. So, instead of repenting and waiting for the Lord to save them, they continued their busy lives, making their own preparations, playing the games with politics and money, and dabbling in the worship of idols alongside the true God. Although they used His Name, they did not truly believe in the Lord their God. Although they read His Word, they did not truly listen to it or trust it. And so God judged them to destruction. He used the Babylonians to bring them to ruin.
And do any of us operate the same way? We use God’s Name and sit in church and listen to His Word, but then do we care when babies are slaughtered for the idols of choice, freedom, and convenience? Do we care when people live in sin and deliberately ignore God’s commands? We don’t throw prophets into prison, but do we spread lies about pastors and other Christians? These things are not true about everyone, but they are certainly true of many people today. It makes me wonder who our Babylonians will be? Will God bring His judgment down on us and what will that look like? None of us are innocent. We all must repent and trust the Lord’s Word.
In the midst of sadness and destruction, God also gives a message of hope to Jeremiah and to those faithful people who still believed in God. But it wouldn’t be a quick fix. They would have to wait. They would have to live and suffer through this horrible destruction and exile, and wait for God to save them, trusting that the Lord made a promise and that He always comes through on His promises. So, the Lord gave them this hope and comfort for the future, so that they would know that the ruin of their city was not the end: Behold, the days are coming declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He shall reign as King and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely.
There was already a king in Jeremiah’s day, but clearly he was not doing a good job. The Lord says He will raise up a new King. From the old dying family tree of King David, with the rotten limbs of wicked kings, the Lord will make a righteous Branch come forth. He will be a King like none other, because this King will be the Lord Himself. His name will be called, “The Lord is our righteousness.” Ironically, the evil king of Jeremiah’s day was named Zedekiah, which means, “The Lord is my righteousness.” Yet, he was not the promised king. Unbelieving Zedekiah clearly had none of the Lord’s righteousness. He was not right with God, and so he was judged to destruction.
But this new King, He will be righteous and He will be the righteousness for His people. He is the Lord, our righteousness, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Branch sprung up from the tree of David. In Mary’s womb He became the heir of that ancient king—a descendant of David’s house and line. He is the Promised One, the One Jeremiah and all the Old Testament waited for.
From the Gospel today, we see that our King Jesus is humble. He comes to us riding on a donkey on His way to the cross. Meekly, He came to do His Father’s will, obedient to the very end. He fulfilled all of God’s demands, He was perfectly righteous. And yet God judged Him to destruction. All of God’s wrath over sin was poured onto that righteous Branch, so that we can escape the destruction we deserve. There is no more condemnation for those who believe in Jesus.
And not only do we escape God’s judgment of destruction, but we are also given God’s judgment of righteousness. You who believe and are baptized into Jesus your King, you have Him for your righteousness! You have no righteousness that can be called your own. Nothing that you have done can save you from His anger. But the King gives you His own righteousness—His goodness, His life, His glory. God declares you to be righteous and holy because of Jesus. And so with a King like that, you are saved and dwell securely.
There are two times in Jeremiah’s book, where the promised righteous Branch is mentioned along with this name, “The Lord is our righteousness.” The first time is what we have heard today from Jeremiah 23: The Lord will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He shall reign as king… In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which HE will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ But the second time is just a bit different, in Jeremiah 33: The Lord will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David… In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which IT will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ (v.16) Did you catch the difference? The second time, the name of the King, the name of the righteous Branch is also given to Judah and Jerusalem. The righteousness of Jesus is declared, imputed, given to God’s people, and so they actually bear His holy name. Our sin has been removed from God’s sight, and instead He sees us covered in the King’s holy blood, His innocent life, suffering, and death, and His glory.
In the Old Testament the event that really defined God’s relationship with Israel was the Exodus. The people often said, “As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt!” That was how they knew God, that He was their Savior. But Jeremiah saw a time when the people of God would no longer talk about Egypt and that old Exodus. There would be a far greater Exodus with the new and righteous Brach—the King. Then the people would say, “As the Lord lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where He had driven them.” Here Jeremiah references the Lord’s promise that the people who are exiled to Babylon will return to Jerusalem one day and rebuild it. And that certainly happened.
But the new Exodus, the ultimate end to all exile and destruction, the reign of the righteous Branch who will gather all His people into His eternal city, that is the Exodus of Jesus Christ. Through His death and resurrection He has brought you up out of the land of sin and death. He has forgiven you, freed you, and given you a home in His Church. And over this new home He is a King who rules you with His forgiveness and love. No longer do we say, “He is the Lord who brought us out of Egypt.” Nor do we say, “He is the Lord who brought us out of the land of Babylon.” But we say, “As the Lord lives, He has brought us from the ends of the earth. He has gathered us by His death on the cross and His resurrection from the grave. And He makes us His people by declaring us righteous.”
And that is precisely how you prepare for your King’s coming again: you receive His righteousness. You confess your sins and are absolved. You are taught His Word and trust it to be true, whether you feel it or not. You are fed with His body and blood so that His own life is in you and your life is found in Him. No frantic, stressful season for you. You prepare for the King by waiting in the calm and stillness of a sure faith and a confident hope.
Come quickly + Lord Jesus. Amen.
