New Horizons

Please turn to Jeremiah 23 (p.650)

Rather than bind up, heal, protect, and feed their sheep, Judah’s leaders have destroyed and scattered them. But God will honor his covenant with David (2 Sam. 7:1–25) in bringing forth a righteous Branch (see notes on Zech. 3:8–9; 6:12) and He shall reign as king. The process to bring back Judah from exile began in 538 B.C. (Ezra 1–2) Isaiah 40–66, which foretells the return from exile, which leads to the raising up of David’s heir. (Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 1415). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.)

Jeremiah 23:1-8 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD. 2 Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the LORD. 3 Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the LORD. 5 “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. 6 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.’ 7 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 8 but ‘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.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.” (ESV)

• The old patterns of exodus and deliverance pale in comparison to what they point to.

• In the incarnation, we see the a “branch” from the tree of David, born in Bethlehem. But as momentous as this event is, it pales in comparison to what is going to happen.

• The false shepherds contrast with Jesus the true shepherd (John 10:11, 14) and the desire for a righteous King came in the coming king, which part of the larger complex of messianic expectations, seen by the NT authors as fulfilled in Jesus (Matt. 2:2; Luke 1:32; 19:38; John 1:49). The forthcoming Messiah’s subsequent reign will be so great as to overshadow the exodus itself (cf. 16:14–15) (Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 1415). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.).

Therefore, in Isaiah 43:18 to Remember not the former things is not an absolute prohibition, but a rhetorical device to show that even the momentous events of the Exodus, do not limit the extent of how God can act. Deliverances of the nation in the past will pale into insignificance in comparison with the future deliverance the Lord will give His people (Isa. 42:9; 48:6; Jer. 16:14–15) (MacArthur, J., Jr. (Ed.). (1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed., p. 1021). Nashville, TN: Word Pub.).