THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Jeremiah: Prophet Of Judgment Followed By Blessing

Part LX: God's Encouragement In Affirming The Davidic And Levitical Covenants

(Jeremiah 33:1-26)

 

I.                 Introduction

A.    When God's people face hard times, be they trials due to punishment for sin or persecution for the sake of righteousness, the Lord knows they need to be encouraged.  Thus, He provides such encouragement.

B.     After predicting Judah's captivity, what would stop the function of her civil and religious institutions, God needed to reaffirm the future of those institutions so His people might hope for a functioning future nation. 

C.     God addressed Jeremiah in this difficult time with edifying insight on these institutions, instructing us today:

II.              God's Encouragement In Affirming The Davidic And Levitical Covenants, Jeremiah 33:1-26.

A.    When Jeremiah was in prison, the city under siege, God sent him a word of encouragement, Jeremiah 33:1-2.

B.     The Lord urged Jeremiah at this dismal time in the nation's history to call unto Him and He would answer him and show him great and hidden things he had not known, Jeremiah 33:3 ESV. 

C.     Those "great and hidden things" that Jeremiah "had not known" are disclosed in Jeremiah 33:4-26 as follows:

1.      First, God was about to use the houses of Judah's kings and people that they had thrown down to defend against the Babylonian siege mounds set up outside the city walls as places for the filling up of Judah's dead bodies.  God in wrath would use the Babylonians to slay the sinful people of Judah, Jer. 33:4-5 ESV.

2.      However, this destruction of kings and people, picturing the cessation of the function of Judah's civil [and religious institutions], would one day be wonderfully reversed in God's goodness and grace, Jer. 33:6-22:

                             a.         One day the Lord would bring health and healing and an abundance of prosperity opposite the tragedy of destruction and death Judah was about to face at the hands of the Babylonians, Jeremiah 33:6-7.

                            b.         God would cleanse His people from all their sin and forgive them so the city might be full of praise and a glory before all nations who would hear of God's blessings upon Judah, Jeremiah 33:8-9a.

                             c.         These Gentile nations would fear and tremble because of all the good and prosperity God would provide for it in great contrast to the disrespect the attacking Gentile Babylonians then had for Judah, Jer. 33:9b.

                            d.         Jerusalem's society would be restored: where the city was about to become a wasteland without man or beast, there would be heard again the voice of joy and gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and bride, the voices of those who sang and brought thank offerings to the Lord, Jeremiah 33:10-11.

                             e.         Indeed, shepherds would again rest their flocks all over the nation in an era of peace and order, v. 12-13.

                             f.          The basis for all of this restoration following the destruction of Judah's civil and religious order would be God's fulfilling His promises to the house of Judah regarding the Davidic Covenant of her civil order and the Levitical Covenant of her religious order, Jeremiah 33:14-26: (1) God would cause a righteous Branch from the figuratively cut off stump of the Davidic monarchy to grow up, picturing the coming of Messiah Jesus Christ, Jer. 33:14-15a.  (2) Messiah would execute justice and righteousness in the land resulting in Judah's security and the Lord being upheld as the righteousness of the nation, Jer. 33:15b-16.  (3) Indeed, David would never fail to have a man [Christ] sitting on Israel's throne, reestablishing the civil order of the nation, Jeremiah 33:17.  (4) In addition, God would reestablish the religious order of the nation in having the Levitical priests always available to offer up sacrifices unto the Lord, Jeremiah 33:18.

                            g.         God backed up His assurance to this reestablishment of the functioning of the Davidic and Levitical institutions with His promise of the sustainment of the natural order of day and night, Jer. 33:19-21.

                            h.         God also promised to multiply the nation's Davidic and Levitical people groups as the hosts of heaven that cannot be numbered for multitude, establishing a strong civil and religious national order, Jer. 33:22.

3.      These promises on God's restoring Judah's civil and religious functions countered the complaint by some that God had forsaken His covenants with David and the Levites, which complaint revealed a despising of Judah as a nation, Jer. 33:23-24.  Rather, God claimed that His commitment to fulfilling the Davidic and Abrahamic Covenants was as strong as the fixed orders of day and night and of heaven and earth, v. 25-26.

             

Lesson: Regardless of the temporary loss of function of Judah's civil and religious institutions, God reaffirmed that He would surely reestablish them forever, as sure as the institutions of day and night and heaven and earth!

 

Application: Though God may severely punish, He keeps His promises to bless His people in the end.  May we always hope in God's promises as being surely fulfilled regardless what we face to the contrary in the short-term.