Heed the Word of the Lord



Is anything too difficult for God? We’ve been studying our way through Jeremiah and we’ve come across some really hard scenarios. We’ve heard God Himself say that He will abhor His own people—that He will abandon His city—His beloved city. We see kings coming and going. We see wars coming up. We see lots and lots of trials ahead of us and it’s all because of the sin and the rebellion and the hard hearts of His people. We come across a question today in our text: Is anything too difficult for God? It begins in a prayer with Jeremiah and then it comes in an answer from God, His Father. Let’s look at our text today. We have here before us chapters 32, 33 and 34 and I want to just ask: Can you relate, can you relate to the feeling of despair that seems to be in this text? Do you ever wonder if God has somehow let you off? If He’s somehow left you behind? If He’s somehow walked away from your scenario—from your trials? And do you ever wonder how God is ever going to make things right in this world? It’s a question that I’ve wrestled with sometimes in my life when I’ve come across situations where I feel like somehow God must be busy. He must be busy over in Iraq or He must be busy in Africa somewhere but He doesn’t seem to be really with me here in Chattanooga. I imagine that Jeremiah had this thought quite often. Now we call him the weeping prophet for a good reason. He was often weeping. He was often in turmoil. Well in these chapters 32 to 34 he has a prayer—it’s a beautiful prayer—and in it he asks “Is there anything too difficult for God?”

PURCHASE LAND—YOU WILL RETURN. There’s a great summary then…go with me to Jeremiah 32 and let’s look at this summary here in Jeremiah 32:21. This is what we read in his prayer, 21 ‘You (speaking of God) brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and with wonders, and with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror; 22 and gave them this land, which You swore to their forefathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. 23 ‘They came in and took possession of it, (so far the story is good then in verse 23 we read this:) but they did not obey Your voice or walk in Your law; they have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do; therefore (therefore he says) You have made all this calamity come upon them. 24 ‘Behold, the siege ramps (and here he is speaking of the siege ramps that Nebuchadnezzar has building up against the walls) have reached the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword, the famine and the pestilence; and what You have spoken has come to pass; and behold, You see it. Then in verse 25 we read this, 25 ‘You have said to me, O Lord God, “Buy for yourself the field with money and call in witnesses”—although the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ ” Here in his prayer he refers to how our text starts off with God—He says, “Listen I’ve got a word for you, I want you to go and redeem some land. I want you to go cough up some good money for some land and the land I’m about to give away—and the land I’m about to give away—not to another family member, not to a neighbor, I’m about to give it to the enemy himself—King Nebuchadnezzar.” That’s not a good real estate investment is it? To purchase land that you know you are about to lose. And in his prayer he is praising God in the first part of it and he says in verse 17, 17 … Nothing is too difficult for You… And yet he lays out the scenario—what a great scenario here—of just a summary of what has happened. God has delivered His people out of Egypt with His great power, His great outstretched arm. He’s brought them into the land of milk and honey, but they have decided to go their own way. They’ve decided to not obey, to not listen, and to not take the things seriously that God has laid before them—His laws and His precepts. Then we come across in verse 24 the triad: the sword, the famine and the pestilence. If you’ve not been marking this by the way in Jeremiah, let me encourage you to go back and find these three things—they always come in threes—the sword, the famine and the pestilence—and let me encourage you go back to Leviticus 26 and see that triad and see where it comes from and see the promise of the judgment that God will send His people if they disobey. Well here he says, “Here it comes,” and then in 25 he says, “But you told me to go and buy some land although the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ ” In my research I came across a very similar story not too long after this. It was in the 200’s and it was a great North African general named Hannibal and he had worked his way across what he at that time thought was the earth. He took his elephants up over the Alps. He now finds himself at the gates of Rome. He’s about to besiege Rome, about to take over Rome and establish his world-wide authority when all of a sudden the land he discovers he is camped on outside the walls is for sale and a Roman citizen in his presence buys the land and the history book tells us that it was at full price. And Hannibal was noted as saying, “What conceit these Romans have for tomorrow I’m about to take this city.” A very similar concept here. God has already told Jeremiah, “Look, I’m about to give the land up. I’m about to give this land up but I want you to go and I want you to purchase some land.” Why? We find out in the text: “Because you are coming back. It’s a down payment.” You know I can’t help but think of the connections that we have here in this earth which we know is going away. It may not be completely gone way but however God deals with it—it will be made new eventually—this land is not home for us. And yet we are told to invest in it—we are told to works towards it—we are told to sacrifice—we are told to give—we are told to sweat and to labor over the kingdom that is here, but when we do this Matthew (6:33) tells us that we are seeking first the kingdom of God. It doesn’t mean which some Christians often mistake the Scriptures to say—it doesn’t mean that you ignore the city, the culture, the world that you live in and you go and you hide in your little circle of Christian cliques and you just try and stay safe—you try to not get tarnished by the world and you are simply waiting for the return of the King. No, that’s not what He says is it? Matthew 5 tells us that we are to be a light and we are to let our light shine—that we are to engage with the enemy—that we are to pray for those who persecute us. We’re to be salt of this earth (right?) to engage in it. And when we do that we recognize that we are investing in a kingdom. Yes it’s here on earth but it’s a kingdom that really the investment will pay off four-fold. That’s what He says in Matthew 6:19-20—store up your treasures in heaven. I can’t help but make that connection between this “you’re going to buy land here—yes it’s going away—but it will be returned to you.” There’s a sense in which that when we invest in the Kingdom it will come back to us. There will be rewards for us and though we cannot see them now, they are yet to come—so a very similar kind of connection there.

GOD’S ANSWER. So how does God answer this question: Is anything too difficult for Me? Well look at the answer there in 32 beginning in verse 26 the word of the Lord shows up again. You should mark this phrase the word of the Lord. It helps you see the organization of the text. And in verse 27 He says this. 27 “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; (those two facts then give us this summary—this conclusion) is anything too difficult for Me?” What is the answer? Absolutely not. In fact, it’s written in such a way that the answer is obvious. “There’s nothing too difficult.” Why? “Because,” He says, “I am the Lord. I am the God of all flesh; (and therefore in response) nothing is too difficult for Me.” There’s the answer to the question brought up in the prayer in verse 17. There’s nothing. So what does He say He’s going to do? 28 … “I am about to give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will take it. How does God answer? Well He answers, “No, there’s nothing too difficult.”

HOW GOD WILL SAVE HIS PEOPLE. Is there any clue in our text this week of how God will save His people? Is there any clue at how He will make things right? Well, we know it’s not going to be through King Zedekiah because look at chapter 34 the first couple of verse there. 1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army, with all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his dominion and all the peoples, (this is a pretty big team He’s building here, right?) were fighting against (who?) against Jerusalem and against all its cities, (so that’s a pretty big army—Nebuchadnezzar—Babylon—his army—all the kings of the earth that were under his dominion and all the peoples. Do you feel the odds are against Jerusalem? Right? That’s the scenario—verse 2) 2 “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and say to him: “Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I am giving (we’ve got to keep marking that word “giving” because it’s all over this text) I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire. 3 ‘You will not escape from his hand, for you will surely be captured (he is speaking to Zedekiah) and delivered into his hand; and you will see the king of Babylon eye to eye, and he will speak with you face to face, and you will go to Babylon.’ ” ’ Now interestingly he tells him in verse 4 that he will not die by the sword but rather he will die in peace. So yes it’s not quite the disastrous death you would expect like what we saw with some of the others happening, but it’s not a happy ending is it? It’s not a happy ending. Look at verse 21, chapter 34. 21 ‘Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon which has gone away from you. 22 ‘Behold, I am going to command,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring them back to this city; and they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.’ ” These are dire straits. This is a horrible situation for the people of God.

HOW WILL GOD RESTORE HIS PEOPLE? THE BRANCH. Any clue in our text how He’s going to bring His people through—how is He going to make things right? Well we’ve got a couple of neat little glimpses throughout the text. We see in chapter 32:36 to the end of the chapter we get the idea that God is going to do something. He again makes that summary statement—they will be My people; I will be their God. And He tells us about the covenant again. We saw in 32:40 and we looked at that last time we were together at this covenant—the new covenant—the everlasting covenant. And He finishes out that chapter with I will restore their fortunes. But the question is HOW? Any clue to how God is going to make things right? Well the answer is a branch off the old tree. The answer comes in chapter 34. What a beautiful piece of text. Let’s look at Jeremiah 33 and we’ll begin in verse 14 and we’re going to see this branch off the old tree. Look at verse 14. He says, 14 ‘Behold, days are coming,’ (time phrase—future past or present? What do we say? Future right?) the days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good word (that phrase “fulfill the good word” has covenantal language in it—it’s promise fulfillment—it means “I’ve said something and now I’m going to act on it. I’ve made a prophecy—I’ve made a declaration—I made a promise—and I will fulfill it) 14 ‘Behold, days are coming, when I will fulfill the good word which I have spoken concerning (two houses, right?) the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 ‘In those days (in what days? The days that are coming.) 15 ‘In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth. 16 ‘In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell in safety; and this is the name by which she (she who? Jerusalem) will be called: the Lord is our righteousness.’ 17 “For thus says the Lord, ‘David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; 18 and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to prepare sacrifices continually.’ ” This is the answer. This is the clue to how God will make things right. This is the number one instrument in God’s tool bag which He will then set things straight and true and right. Often times I wonder about Christians’ interpretation of the Scripture. Oftentimes we think of the Old Testament as being a book of stories and examples and great dialog and then we think of the New Testament as being teachings and explanations and some prophecies, right? So we’ve got oftentimes a very great divided Bible. We have fans of the Old Testament (which I’m one of them) and then we have fans of the New Testament. If you were to survey and get on one of these preaching websites and you were to survey sermons you would find out that most of the sermons are here (pointing). You would also discover that many of the sermons that are here (pointing) are simply telling a story—or trying to pull out a moral or a principle. So you’ll get sermons like this: Are you going to be brave like little David against Goliath? And then the application sermon that comes: Who are the Goliaths in your life? Who are the giants in your life that you are trying to fight. And they miss that the story of David and Goliath is not about David nor about Goliath—it’s about GOD! (AMEN!!) So they miss this story. Well there’s a sense when we get to the New Testament we have these great passages—Jesus Himself says on the road to Emmaus—He stops them after His resurrection—after His death on the cross—after coming up out of the grave and defeating death He now has a conversation with a couple of guys on the road to Emmaus and says, “Look, it’s all about Me—the Law and the prophets and Moses—“beginning with Moses,” He said, “I began to show them it’s about Me.” “That doesn’t mean that I’m just “predicted” in there.” And there are little tiny clues that somehow the Bible is about Jesus. John has the same feel when he begins to talk in his gospel—he opens up and begins with: In the beginning was the Word. He calls Jesus the LOGOS. It describes how it was created by the Word and it was for the Word. There’s this idea that it’s about Jesus. Hebrews opens up in chapter 1 and says, God spoke through prophets and in many and various in sundry ways He spoke to the prophets but now He has spoken in essence His final word through Jesus. And then the rest of Hebrews is about Jesus and what a great prophet, great priest, and great King—He’s the better, the better, the better, the better, the better for it. Even in the New Testament we feel this. We get into Galatians and we’re in Galatians and Paul is furious! Oh he’s mad! Unlike any other letter he’s written he’s absolutely furious. What is he mad about? Is there incest going on in the church? Is there demonic worship happening under the guise of the worship of church? No, there was in Corinthians. He wasn’t that mad in Corinthians. Or Thessalonians where they—are they doubting the prophecies? Are they weakening? Are they backing away? No. It’s not that in Galatians either. You know what he’s mad about in Galatians? They are going backwards! They’ve somehow gone backwards and he’s got accusation against Peter in Galatians—it says “Peter, cut it out! Cut it out! You remember! When God says something is clean, it’s not unclean.” Remember the sheet in Cornelius and the unclean animals come in. They are reverting back to the law as a means of righteousness and he says at the end of chapter 2, “Listen, if it’s about the law then Christ died needlessly.” You see, the Bible—the Bible—is about Jesus. Now that doesn’t mean that we need to go through the Bible and look for red threads hanging out of Rahab’s window and say, “Ah, that’s the blood of Jesus.” That’s allegory blah. That’s not what I mean. It’s not just predictions about Jesus although those are there, that somehow Jesus—remember at the very beginning in Genesis 3—they have fallen—man has fallen—it’s over—why continue—we have sinned against God—He’s about to cast us out of the Garden. In Genesis 3:15 He says the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. This is Jesus at the very beginning. In Genesis 12:3 he says, “Abram I’ve got a promise. This will fix things. I’ve got a promise. I’m going to bless all the families of the nations of this earth in you.” We don’t know how that’s going to work, but when we get to Galatians 3:16 we find out … not seeds referring to many, but seeds referring to one, that is, Jesus (the Messiah) Jesus Christ. Christ means Messiah by the way. It’s not His last name right? Jesus the Promised One—the Anointed One—the One that all history is pointing to. So even when we are in Jeremiah we might say, “How is God going to fix this? These people are horrible. They keep going back and back like a dog returning to its vomit (Proverbs 26:11) they keep going back to their sins. Is there anything, is there any clue how God will fix this? Oh it’s beautiful. The answer is in a twig, a root, a stem. Let’s look at this.

CHART ABOUT THE BRANCH. Now we’ve read about this branch before and I would encourage you to make a chart. First of all on the left hand side I would make a chart of what we learn about this Branch in 33 and then I would do it again in 23 you know it begins in verse 5 there. And then we’ll go over here to Isaiah 11. So we have three different texts in the Old Testament prophets that talk about this Branch. Let’s look at them. Let’s just make a couple of observations from the one in our text this week chapter 33. So look again with me at chapter 33 beginning in verse 14 what are some of the things that we learned about this Branch—this righteous Branch?

• First of all, we find out that it is a fulfillment of the Good Word. Remember I told you that that is covenantal language—prophetic language—language that “I told you I was going to do this—now here it is”—foretelling of that. First of all, we find out that it is not Plan B. It’s not God going “Okay, what can I do now? What can I do now? What can I do now?” He’s not a coach in the fourth quarter trying to figure out how to win the game. He has a plan. He is sovereign and in control. This is a fulfillment of His Good Word.

• Secondly, we find out that this righteous Branch is “sprung forth.” When I think about this, it’s not just that He looked for a righteous Branch. “Oh look, there’s one. Maybe I could use that one. Maybe, just maybe, I could rework this guy right here and turn him into a righteous Branch.” No, no, no He “springs forth.” And in each one of these columns you’re going to see that same kind of idea. He comes out of.

• Thirdly what is He going to do? I love this. In chapter 33 He says on our list here on this king He will “execute” two things. What is He going to do in verse 15? Justice and righteousness on earth. Now this is so important that you understand. This is not a king that comes along with just morals and principles and good ideas which by the way is the accusation of the world to Jesus: Yes he was a great teacher. Yes he had some great ideas, but he’s not the Son of God. He’s not deity, right? No. This King doesn’t just talk but He’s got the walk to back it up. He’s going to execute justice and righteousness (where?) on earth—here in everyday life—in our families—in our court systems—in our nations. He is going to execute it. He’s going to do justice. He’s going to do righteousness.

• Now what is the result for Judah and Jerusalem then? What does He say is going to happen to them? They will be saved. Now I love this! When we read about Him in Matthew 1:20-21 in the prophecy (to Joseph) he’s talking about Mary and he says His name shall be called Jesus for He will come to save His people from their sins. This idea of saving it’s not just that He’s just some neat guy that He’s just going to come along and try and make things cheerier, but He is the One who is the Rescuer. Now He is coming in to rescue them and without His presence, without the righteous Branch entering into the story, Judah and Jerusalem are (what?) they are doomed. Exactly! They are doomed! He will come and He will save them.

• And then look at the name given here at the end of verse 16 (Jeremiah 33:16). What is the name given there at the very end (of verse 16)? Just the name—the ‘Lord is our righteousness.’ But who is named the ‘Lord is our righteousness?’ Jerusalem—right! So Jerusalem as the city is called the ‘Lord is our righteousness.’ (That’s my abbreviation for “righteousness.” That’s the name of the city.

• Now, go to chapter 23 and let’s make a quick list on what we see in 23. You’ve already done this so we don’t want to spend too much time here on this text. Remember the context here—I love this—is shepherds—talking about good shepherds and bad shepherds—and he’s just setting them up for THE Good Shepherd—capital “T,” capital “G,” capital “S.” The Good Shepherd which we read about in John 10. He says though in verse 5 of Jeremiah 23, same time phrase, 5 “Behold, the days are coming,” (So that is past, present or future? Future) 5 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; (Okay again, it’s for David and it’s “raised up”—so it’s that same idea that we saw in chapter 33 of “springing forth”—He is “raised up.” That is showing God as the initiator.) a righteous Branch; (and then what does he say in verse 5?) He says, And He will reign as (a what?) as a king and act wisely (So what kind of king will He be? A wise king. He will reign and He will be successful in His kingship.

• What is He going to do according to verse 5? There it is again. This same thing. He is going to) … do justice and righteousness (I love that! When you turn those into verbs they have a whole lot more punch to it. Instead of just talking about justice and talking about righteousness he says, “No this is what the King DOES. He DOES justice and righteousness.” And where does He do it? in the land. Again here with His people. What’s going to be the response for Him? Verse 6. How’s it going to work?) 6 “In His days Judah will be saved, And (who?) Israel will (do what?) dwell securely; (remember that’s what the goal is here. How is God going to rescue His people? Where here we find out in verse 6 they will be rescued. Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell securely. How is that different than what we saw in this list (pointing)? Who was saved here? Judah and (who?) Jerusalem. He’s tightening the focus—down to (what city?) THE city right? The city of Jerusalem.

• So another thing—there’s a name given here in 23—what is that name at the end of verse 6? Yeah, he says, this is HIS name. Who’s name? Right. Jesus or in the text we’re calling Him the righteous Branch, the Branch off the old tree. And this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The Lord our righteousness.’ Now this is interesting. There’s a little difference isn’t there? Who is called ‘The Lord our righteousness’ in chapter 33? Jerusalem right? Jerusalem is labeled this. Who is it called in 23? Right—it’s the righteous Branch. This is beautiful. Do you see the connection? Where does Jerusalem get her righteousness from? From Jesus—from the Branch! When we get to the New Testament and we get into the epistles and we get into places like Ephesians and Paul talks about us being IN Christ—I mean—he’s setting us up! It’s like a great story. He’s setting us up. He’s saying, I’m building so when you get to the New Testament and I describe you as “your righteousness is found in Christ” you’re going to know what I mean because your union with the righteous Branch is HOW you get out of trouble. Your union with the righteous Branch is HOW you will be delivered.

• Now let’s quickly go to Isaiah 11 and add a couple of things to our list. Isaiah 11 very similar prophecies, very similar timeframes and we’ve got Him—chapter 11—and see if you hear some connecting things—some similar things between the righteous Branch that we see in Jeremiah to this thing described in Isaiah 11. He says, 1 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, (Him who? Right—the Branch—the shoot.) Verse 2, 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, (What is that spirit?) The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 And He (He who? Jesus or the stem of Jesse) 3 And He will delight in the fear of the Lord, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; 4 But with (what?) righteousness He will (do what?) judge the poor, (Now judge the poor does that mean like condemn them? No! It means justice right?) And (He will) decide with (what?) fairness (another synonym for justice) And (He will) decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. (And what is He wearing in verse 5?) 5 Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist. So we can add to this list over here in Isaiah 11—we could say first of all He’s also a shoot, a branch, a stem—He’s something that is raised forth, right? That’s why I took you to Isaiah 11 because of that verbal connection. The branch there (in Isaiah 11) is NETSER (or NESER—H5342) and in Jeremiah it’s TSEMACH (or SEMAH —H6780) so don’t get confused because there’s two different Hebrew words, the visual image is still there—the visual image is still there—it is a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

• Now what do we know about this one—this Branch? Well, not only is He bearing fruit, but He has (what?) resting on Him? The Spirit of the Lord. This is great—the Spirit of the Lord. What comes with the Spirit of the Lord? What are the characteristics? We see a great list (right?) in verse 2. Wisdom—now think of a king that has this—think of a king that has this. Wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge and above all he fears and delights in the fear of the Lord. He has a healthy respect for God. This is His resume—this is what He brings to the table. He is overwhelmed by wisdom and understanding and counsel and strength and a godly fear of His heavenly Father. Right?

• What does He do with this resume? Does He sit and get fat and happy and spend our tax dollars? No. What does He do? What does He do? He says with righteousness He will judge the poor and with fairness He will take care of the afflicted of the earth. Not only does He execute justice and righteousness that we saw on the other two lists but He also adds to it. Out of His mouth comes a (what?) a rod that will slay the earth. We have a victorious king in other words. We have a victorious king—and then we get to verse 5 and we know sometimes these really strong kings aren’t dressed really well. They are dressed in violence and ego and kind of towards David’s end –how he kind of got there for awhile – dressed with swords on. This king is adorned in righteousness—He is adorned in faithfulness. Just for fun you ought to write Ephesians 6 next to that and go look at it sometime—just for fun.

WHERE DOES THE BRANCH COME FROM? DAVIDIC COVENANT. So this great list—we’ve got this Branch off an old tree. We find out this righteous Branch is going to be – this IS the solution isn’t it? This IS the solution for the problem that we have. So what’s He going to do? Where’s He going to come from? Well, in your homework you went to 2 Samuel 7—remember 2 Samuel 7? In 2 Samuel 7 he is telling—David wants to build a house for God. He says, “Look, it’s not right. I’ve got a house; You live in a tent still. Let me build You a house.” I love it. God flips it and says, “No, no, no you don’t get to build me a house. I’m going to build you a house.” Not a house but a family—a throne—and in chapter 7 here comes the godly kingship that God sets up for him. But does anybody remember what happened in Samuel before that? Back all the way up to 1 Samuel 8—don’t go there—but back up in your mind to 1 Samuel 8 and you have the people of God being ruled directly by God and the liaison was Samuel, right? And you’ve got this relationship and the people have a problem—they want a king. And God makes it very clear to Samuel. If they take a king they are rejecting Me—but give them one—they want one. So they get a king—Saul. How does that work out for them? Not so good right? Then comes David. And now that they have a king, He gives a covenant with the house of David and says, “Look, your throne will last forever.” And there are things you need to see in 2 Samuel 7. He tells them, “Look, if he sins I will bring punishment and discipline.” So sin cannot annul this covenant. Let me say it again. Sin cannot annul this covenant. God says, “I will deal with it.” Time cannot exhaust it and death cannot destroy it. The three things that usually go after a kingship and his throne—usually to take him out—those three things God says, “I will take care of.” Y’all this is the covenant that He makes with David and we read about it in Psalm 132 where He says, “It’s an oath that God swore to David.” Anytime God swears on oath to His people you know it’s good. You know it’s going to last. And we get into Isaiah 9:6-7; you know this prophecy. And he says to them, “There is no end. Upon his shoulders the government will be placed. There is no end. This kingship will last forever.” But we’re sitting here in Jeremiah going, “Where is He? This is horrible, where is the promise that You made way back here God to David and his throne? For heaven’s sake, have you seen who’s on the throne lately?”

THE END OF THE STORY--JESUS. Jump with me to the end of the story. Go to Jeremiah 52—go to the very end of the story.

• Jeremiah 52:31 this is the end of the book. Let me give you a sneak peak. 31 Now it came about in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, showed favor to Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison. (This is the final king in the book of Jeremiah.) 32 Then he spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon. (Evil-merodach’s got all the kings around him, of course his throne is the highest, but he’s lifted up Jehoiachin’s throne just a little bit—shown him a little favor.) 33 So Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes, and had his meals in the king’s presence regularly all the days of his life. 34 For his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king of Babylon, a daily portion all the days of his life until the day of his death. How does it end? Jehoiachin? It’s not really great is it? This is not the happy ending we were hoping for.

• Go to Matthew 1. This is not the end that we were saying, “ah, yes, finally God keeps His promise—the righteous Branch—yes—here it is.” No we get to Jehoiachin—I mean he’s on the throne—it’s a little throne—it’s a puppet throne—he’s a vassal—he’s a servant of Babylon—this is not the righteous Branch that we read about. Matthew is the conclusion of Jeremiah. We get to Matthew 1 and you know how it opens up. It opens up with a genealogy—good old Jewish genealogy. Look at verse 11. 11 Josiah (remember this, he’s going through the fathers—he’s tracing the genealogy of Jesus.) 11 Josiah became the father of Jeconiah (or also known as Jehoiachin—the guy we just read about in Jeremiah 52) and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. 12 After the deportation to Babylon: Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, and then comes this list all the way through down to verse 16. We get to Jacob. 16 Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom (who?) Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah. The righteous Branch—the end of the story. He is there. We have gone from Genesis 3 through Genesis 12 where the promise was made to bless all the families of the earth.

• We get to Galatians where he tells us it was Jesus. It was Jesus there on that cross. He IS the righteous Branch. He IS the solution. You see, Israel could never get their act together. Israel could never get the whole nation together and to live righteously. They needed—they needed—a Savior. And we find this Savior prophesied way back in Jeremiah in the midst of Jeremiah’s horrible life where he’s crying out “Is there anything You can do Lord? Anything too difficult for You?” the answer is no. There’s nothing too difficult, but the solution is Jesus Christ—the righteous Branch, King of kings and Lord of lords—the long awaited Messiah—the Anointed One—the second Person of the Trinity—God Himself. What is the solution to the problem of mankind and our sin? It is not us trying harder – it is not us figuring out a different king and different ways and rules and things like that. It’s not education; it’s not money; it’s not prosperity. It is only through Jesus Christ the King that we will be saved. His name shall be named Jesus and He has come to save His people from their sins. Let’s pray together.

Father, we thank you for your Word. We thank you for Jesus. We thank you that this is a Book that is all about Jesus. Lord help us now to not be caught in the trap of trying to figure out things on our own without Jesus. Lord, You did not call us to a faith, You did not call us to a religion, You did not call us to an organization, but rather you called us to a Person—to Jesus Christ Himself. Lord we thank you for the precious gift of your Son. Help us to live under His kingship, under His authority, seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness. In His name we pray. Amen.

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