Sermon for Midweek of Ad Te Levavi – Advent 1
+ Jeremiah 33:14-18 +
The Jews were about to go into exile. The Babylonians armies were already gathering, and the Lord had already revealed through Jeremiah that He was not going to step in to prevent the impending destruction. On the contrary, He was the One bringing it about as punishment against His faithless people who had turned away from His Word.
Nations don’t just come back from exile after being conquered by a foreign power. The ten tribes of Israel to the north of Judah never came back after the Assyrians drove them out. So it seemed inevitable that the city of Jerusalem was going to lie in ruins forever and that the house of David was about to become extinct.
But that couldn’t happen. Because God had promised a “good thing” to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah: the coming of the Messiah, the Son of David, to Judah, His birth in Bethlehem and His reign in Jerusalem. In order for the Messiah to come from David’s line, the captivity in Babylon had to end; Jerusalem had to be rebuilt; and the throne and the priesthood had to be preserved. And so God promised in the words of Jeremiah, David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; nor shall the priests, the Levites, lack a man to offer burnt offerings before Me, to kindle grain offerings, and to sacrifice continually.
Those were comforting words about Judah’s return from exile and the reestablishment of Jerusalem and the temple, the rule and the priesthood. But not nearly as comforting as the other promise: ‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the LORD, ‘that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah: ‘In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David a Branch of righteousness.
David was like a tree that had grown up from the roots of his father Jesse. David’s descendants, the kings of Judah, were like branches that had grown out from David, but they were far from righteous. Some were better than others, but none were as faithful as David, and none had been able to do the most important thing of all: to save Jews and Gentiles from the curse of their sins.
But then along came Jesus, riding into Jerusalem on a donkey on Palm Sunday. And you remember what the crowds sang: Hosanna to the Son of David! There He was! The Branch of righteousness! This descendant of David would truly be righteous in every way, sinless according to God’s holy Law.
And what would He do, according to Jeremiah’s prophecy? He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
Now, in this verse, it sounds like Jeremiah might be saying that the Messiah would come as an earthly King, judging, ruling, even conquering. We can understand, to a point, why the Jews in Jesus’ day thought the Messiah would overthrow the Romans and set up an earthly kingdom, based on prophecies like this.
What they failed to do was to combine prophecies like this with those of the other prophets: with Isaiah’s prophecy of the Messiah’s suffering, death, and spiritual kingdom, and with the Psalms of David himself, which portrayed His greater Son as the afflicted one, even as the crucified one.
When we combine these prophecies, we’re left with exactly what Jesus was and did and said, a King who would come a first time to preach and teach, to make atonement for sin by His death, and to establish a spiritual kingdom on earth made up of Jews and Gentiles, which He would continue to build invisibly until He would come again a second time to usher in the eternal age of justice, righteousness, and peace. First the kingdom of grace, then the kingdom of glory, as we discussed on Sunday.
At His first coming, the Messiah executed judgment and righteousness spiritually, inwardly, by condemning sin in the impenitent and by forgiving sin to the penitent. He judged by means of the Word, by the Means of Grace. And He’s been doing the same through the ministry He established for some 2,000 years.
When He comes again, He’ll execute judgment and righteousness outwardly, openly, and finally. That’s why it’s called the Day of Judgment. All wickedness will be removed; all lies and false teachings will be exposed; all the impenitent will be cast out forever; and we’ll finally live in righteousness and peace.
Jeremiah also prophesied, In those days Judah will be saved, And Jerusalem will dwell safely.
Well, at Christ’s first coming, Judah was saved and Jerusalem did dwell in safety spiritually. What did He say over and over to those whom He healed? Your faith has saved you. Faith in Christ allows sinners to live in safety from God’s wrath, from God’s punishment, from the devil’s ability to drag you to hell. “Judah and Jerusalem” are also meant in a spiritual sense, the true Jews, the true citizens of Jerusalem, according to the Apostle Paul, are those who believe in Jesus the Christ. Here and now we dwell in safety as God’s forgiven children.
And at His second coming, the Church, the New Jerusalem, will be saved and dwell in safety physically, openly, and eternally.
Jeremiah also prophesied something very striking that would take place at the Messiah’s coming: And this is the name by which she will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Now, back in Jer. 23, Jeremiah prophesied that the Messiah Himself would be called by the name: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Notice what he prophesies here. Not “He,” but “she,” that is, Jerusalem would be called by the same name, by the very name of the Messiah, just as a bride takes on the family name of her husband.
Isn’t this exactly what Christ did at His first coming? He placed His name on us, so that we are called “Christians.” He placed His name on us, when He commanded His apostles to baptize “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” He placed His name on us, as Paul says, in that “all who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
This is, again, talking about the spiritual Jerusalem, the baptized believers in Christ. We are already now called by His name. The Father looks at us and says, “Look! It’s My beloved Son!”
Now, I’d like you to think about something that’s repeated a few times in the Book of Revelation. The unbelievers of the world are said to have the name of the beast written on their foreheads. The famous “mark of the beast” is his name. On the other hand, the followers of the Lamb, of Jesus, are said to have the name of the Lamb’s Father written on their foreheads.
But remember, Jeremiah is not only prophesying what will happen at the Christ’s first coming, but also at the second. At His second coming, “she,” that is, the New Jerusalem, the holy Church, will be called by the name of Jesus in perfect fulfillment. Listen to how it’s described in the Book of Revelation:
And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.
This is what Jeremiah foretold. This is what Advent is about: watching and waiting for the great second coming of our Messiah, when we will dwell forever with Him in safety, bearing His name as kings and queens. And, while we wait for that, we prepare to celebrate His first coming, too, because there would be no future glory to look forward to if it weren’t for His first coming as a baby. Amen.
