A second word from the Lord while Jeremiah was confined.
The King of Judah, Zedekiah, has Jeremiah confined for speaking God's true prophesies. God has already given Jeremiah a powerful word about Israel's future, but has a second message for him.
“Thus says the Lord who made the earth, the Lord who formed it to establish it, the Lord is His name, ‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ Jeremiah 33:2-3
Can you imagine?
The Creator of everything promises to share great things, if asked. It reminds me of Jesus in Mark 6: 48-49. He was going to pass by the disciplines in the boat, but when they cried out He came to them. But we do have a role to play. It's not in our own power to contribute, but we are expected to participate and not be passive takers.
Back to Jeremiah 33. In verses 4-5 the Lord points out that they are having to tear down their own houses and palaces to support the siege defenses. And they have stacks of dead men to include because of the wrath of the Lord.
But God.
From this dismal assessment of their present catastrophe, the Lord offers this:
Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them an abundance of peace and truth. I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel and will rebuild them as they were at first. I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me. Jeremiah 33:6-8
Health. Healing. Abundance. Peace. Truth. Restoration. Cleanse. Pardon.
I'm not even under siege from the Chaldeans and those words are like a warm, healing salve to my soul. It must have sounded like a dream to these people in crisis. But it is for us as well. That's what He wants to be for us while we are strangers in a strange land; but like Jeremiah, we have to cry out and participate in the relationship with God as He offers it. It's His covenant; He sets the terms.
I could meditate on this list for six months...what an amazing and generous and forgiving God we serve. Health. Healing. Abundance. Peace. Truth. Restoration. Cleanse. Pardon.
Verse 9 tells us why He does these great things:
It will be to Me a name of joy, praise and glory before all the nations of the earth which will hear of all the good that I do for them, and they will fear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace that I make for it. Jeremiah 33:9
This will bring glory to His name before the people of the world. God does all of this as part of His plan to heal and restore the earth and people. His will will be done!
Verse 10 repeats the comparison. There will be no man and beast in the land; but then there will be restoration to the point everyone will bring an offering of thanks to the Lord. The same is true about verses 12 and 13. Waste land with no flocks to abundance because of the Creator who will bring back abundance. His work. Our blessings. But we will be different this time. Filled with the Holy Spirit and changed from the inside by Him.
Verses 15-16 goes into more detail about how this will happen.
In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ Jeremiah 33:15-16
The name at the end of verse 16 in the Hebrew interlinear is Yᵊhōvâ ṣeḏeq הָיָה צָדַק
The Lord is committed to righteousness and justice. Everyone wants to own the concept of justice to mean what they want it to. Social justice. Criminal justice. Just desserts. Righteous based on the sins that are easy for me to decline. But God is eternal and sees the whole system and whole plan. There will be a barren Judah with no man, herd, beast, or crop. And there will be forgiveness, healing, and the lifting up the name of our Lord in glory. No one else gets to own the name that only can belong to the one who has the whole plan in His hands.
Starting in verse 17 we get into a topic that I need to learn more about. God reasserts that David will never lack a man to sit on the throne or a Levitical priest to bring offerings. He points out that if God's covenant can be broken for any time, there is not time. He is everything and cannot be wrong. If he promises us that day and night will always follow one another, then day and night will always follow one another. He shows us His faithfulness in that very visible truth. The same is true for His covenant with David. We can have that same confidence in His faithfulness to the Patriarchal Fathers and the House of David.
What will require more research on my part, and maybe I'll learn this in upcoming chapters; but the last King of David does fail and that particular line does end in the fullness of the upcoming captivity. It grinds to an end slowly because of the back and forth as a underling of Babylon. But Babylon does eventually have enough of their antics and just destroys Jerusalem and David's last king. So I need to learn how we get the line back to flow to Jesus. I know Mary's line is a bit easier to prove, but I don't even remember how that works. And then I think there is a leap we take somewhere in Joseph's line; but I need to figure that out.
However, I am confident the answer is there. I just want to know it so that I can answer that question. I know day follow night. Even when there is a severe storm and I can't see how we will get out of it; but I don't fear that the next day or night might get missed. I know there is an answer and God is 100% faithful.
It's interesting that neither the Ryrie Study Bible or the MacArthur Bible Commentary comment on it for this chapter. It makes me think I am missing something obvious. All that Warren Wiersbe (Be Decisive) had to say on it for this chapter is that these promised outcomes didn't happen when they came back from captivity, so we can be confident that they will happen in the ends time- and I agree with him on that.
I guess more to come on that question.
He is faithful. That's where my heart can rest for today.
Amen.