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Devotional thoughts (Monday through Thursday mornings) from the pastor of Exeter Presbyterian Church in Exeter, NH // Sunday Worship 10:30am // 73 Winter Street

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Jeremiah 33

Messages of hope delivered from a prison cell can be surprisingly persuasive; surprising because it would appear that the author of the message should have little credibility in speaking about anything going well; yet persuasive, because the person who is able to retain hope in such a dire setting may actually possess the genuine article. The fact that the messenger of hope here is the prophet Jeremiah adds to the intrigue, since the reason he is in prison is that he has refused to be a prophet of false hope.

Many other prophets were willing to speak a false word of peace, or to deliver a false message of a speedy return to the land on the part of the earliest exiles. Jeremiah has been vehement in his denial of these lies spoken by men who pretended to have divine authority for their optimism. When a man of integrity, suffering in prison for the truth, speaks to us from God about a true hope, we should be eager to hear what he has to say.

God, speaking through the prophet, identifies Himself as the Creator who made the earth. He has done so with a purpose. He knows the beginning from the end, and is able to reveal a true hope through Jeremiah, a hope that many people do not seem to understand. This hope focuses on what God alone will do to make things right. What will the Lord do? He will heal. He will restore. He will rebuild. He will cleanse. He will forgive. There is common theme here that involves an honest recognition of a problem. God is speaking the truth about the sickness, the poverty, the brokenness, the filth, and the sinfulness of his people and therefore of the city of Jerusalem, and the land of Judah. His settled intention is to address these horrible problems with the fullness of divine love.

When God fixes the problem, there are no nasty side-affects or unintended consequences. The result is a robust joy. There will be such praise and glory when God repairs His broken city that all the nations that hear of this shall be drawn into the celebration. The fortunes of the city will return and the shepherds counting their flocks in the countryside shall again be seen.

The hope that the Lord announces through Jeremiah is bountiful, and it has one focal point in the chosen descendant of David. There will be a “righteous branch” that will spring up in the house of David. The name of this servant in another place is “The Lord is our righteousness.” Here in Jeremiah 33, His name is the name of the whole city of Jerusalem. There is such a connection between this descendant of David and the city of Jerusalem that they share the same name. For both the Davidic King and the city He loves, this name tells one very important story. It is the story of the Bible from beginning to end: The Lord is the source of our righteousness.

Without this righteousness from the Lord, there can be no healing of the wound of Jerusalem, no rebuilding or repairing, no forgiveness. With this perfect Messianic righteousness we have abundant rejoicing all over the city. Somehow alongside of this great King are a large number of Old Testament priests, making offerings to the Lord. It is as if the city is a city of priests, a kingdom of priests. We are that city as we rejoice in Christ our King, and present our bodies as living sacrifices to the one who is the Lord, our Righteousness.

Also mentioned, in addition to this David and a multitude of priests, is a second multitude called the offspring of David my servant. Not only is this heavenly Jerusalem a city that can rightly be called a priesthood of believers, we are also sons of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. This multitude is said to be more than can be numbered, more than the number of stars, and more than the grains of sand on the shore of the sea, reminding us of the numerous descendants of Abraham that God promised to our father in the faith so many years before.

Especially striking in this vision of the greatest hope of the redeemed is the certainty with which the Lord communicates His message. This hope of a perfectly restored Jerusalem is as certain as God’s covenant with the day and the night and as sure as the fixed order of heaven and earth. Surely the magnitude of blessing that is described here is more than Jeremiah’s earlier word that within seventy years the captives will come back to the land. The promise finds its fulfillment in the One Son of David who is our righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Having said that, we must also admit that it does not feel to us in the church today that we now possess the fullness of hope Jeremiah speaks of from his imprisonment. There is a better day that is coming for the sons of God. There is a more glorious fulfillment for the priesthood of all believers. We long for the perfect gift of a healed, restored, rebuilt, cleansed, and utterly forgiven Jerusalem. We still have mourning in the church here below, and messengers of hope may still rest in prison cells. One day this will no longer be the case, for the redeemed Jerusalem will be the praise and glory of all the nations of the earth, and a place of everlasting joy. Believe in the hope, and live in the promise.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM

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