The Righteous Branch

A Righteous Branch

Jeremiah 33:14-16

12-04-2022

Advent

I didn’t grow up with advent like many of you did. In fact, for years after working retail at Christmastime, I was a pretty big Scrooge. But, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve grown to love advent and the reminders that it gives us every week.

Last week, the candle of hope was lit and this week the candle of peace burn alongside it.

Advent simply means “to wait.” Just as the Jewish people waited in the dark for a great light to shine, we too wait. We wait with eager anticipation for the second coming of Jesus to set everything right.

This morning, we will begin a two-year study in the prophetic books of the Bible and we will begin our advent series.

Many of you have heard the Christmas story so many times that you may nod off during the Christmas season.

I’ve preached many Christmas sermons but I’ve never preached from Jeremiah 33 and, I’m really excited to share what God has been teaching me this week.

Turn with me to Jeremiah 33:14-16.

Prayer.

Context

The year is 587 BC. Jeremiah, known as the weeping prophet, has been put in jail by King Zedekiah for prophesying that the Babylonians would conquer the city of Jerusalem and that the king would be taken to Babylon and see their king face to face.

The Babylonian army would soon surround the city, build siege ramps, and break down the walls.

It truly looked like all hope was lost. But God, through the prophet Jeremiah had a message of hope to the Jewish people and for us today.

“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 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.” (Jer 33:10-11)

In the midst of the hopelessness and darkness, God promises to restore their joy and singing will be heard again in the land.

Our passage begins with the word, “Behold!” This term means to pay attention, what I’m about to write is very important.

The Days are Coming

Jeremiah looks into the future and says, “the days are coming.” We see that again in verse 15, “in those days” and in verse 16, “in those days.”

This is prophetic language. This is not Jeremiah but God speaking. In fact, “declares the Lord” is used over 170 times in the book of Jeremiah. If God says it, then He can be trusted to fulfill His promises.

What does God declare? That He will fulfill the good promise, (the good words that I have spoken), that He made to the people of Israel and Judah.

God is a promise-keeping God.

In Genesis 3:15, God gives the first hint of hope after the Fall:

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Gen 3:15)

What is this promise that God makes through Jeremiah in this hopeless, dark time?

The Righteous Branch

“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.” (Jer 33:15)

This isn’t the first time Jeremiah has written about this righteous branch:

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch…” (Jer 23:5)

Notice that the word “Branch” is capitalized in most translations.

Jeremiah is just telling the people what God was telling him. He didn’t understand it all but, the prophets, all proclaimed the mystery of the Messiah that was to come.

In the midst of complete destruction, barrenness, and hopelessness, Jeremiah reminds them that there is someone coming to save the day.

What can we learn about this righteous branch?

sprout from David’s line

Isaiah picks up the same imagery:

“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;  from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.  The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord— and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.” (Isaiah 11:1-3)

This is a word picture of a barren stump that used to be a flourishing tree. There were a lot of stumps in the land of Israel.

Jeremiah writes that this Branch will be from the line of David.