2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
As you know Jehovah Tsidkenu, the Lord our Righteousness, has led me often in this series to citations from Jeremiah. He continues to do that today, because I am convinced that He wants us to know that not only did Jeremiah warn the sinful Jews of his time about impending punishment, but he also gave them a message of hope. You will see this in the nature of today’s citations from Jeremiah’s writing.
Before we delve into Jeremiah, I must cite HE 8: 6-13, which gives us another description of what is meant by the new covenant that we began discussing yesterday. “But now, Jesus has been given priestly work which is superior to theirs [earthly high priests], just as the covenant which He arranged between God and His people is a better one, because it is based on promises of better things. If there had been nothing wrong with the first covenant, there would have been no need for a second one. But God finds fault with His people when He says, ‘The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will draw up a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt. They were not faithful to the covenant I made with them, and so I paid no attention to them. Now, this is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel in the days to come, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. None of them will have to teach his fellow citizen or tell his fellow countryman ‘Know the Lord.’ For they will know Me, from the least to the greatest. I will forgive their sins and will no longer remember their wrongs.’ By speaking of a new covenant God has made the first one old; and anything that became old and worn out will soon disappear.”
One thing that should jump out in our minds is that this is restatement of JER 31: 31-34. You might ask why is that necessary? The answer is found in HE 6: 17-18, “To those who were to receive what He promised, God wanted to make it very clear that He would never change His purpose; so He added His vow to the promise. There are these two things, then, that cannot change and about which God cannot lie. So we who have found safety with Him are greatly encouraged to hold firmly to the hope placed before us.” The point here is that God is unchangeable, immutable. That matters to us, because we know we can rely on Him for consistent teachings and the truth. You might ask, why didn’t He give us more information in Hebrews than we had gotten in Jeremiah? The answer is that it wasn’t necessary to carry out Jehovah Tsidkenu’s purpose to encourage hope and to promise what Jesus Christ’s death on the cross gave us, access to eternal forgiveness. What a difference this is from the temporary forgiveness that the old animal sacrifices and today’s Yom Kippur services offer in traditional Judaism! That, Dear Ones, is the “something better” referred to in Jeremiah and Hebrews.
Now let’s look at some of those delicious Jeremiah citations that balance the message this wonderful prophet wrote giving hope. JER 23: 5-6, “The Lord says, ‘The time is coming when I will choose a King, a righteous Descendant of David. That King will rule wisely and do what is right and just throughout the land. When He is King, the people of Judah will be safe, and the people of Israel will live in peace. He will be called ‘The Lord our Righteousness’ [Jehovah Tsidkenu].” This use of names here shouldn’t confuse us. Remember that the name, Jesus Christ, wasn’t known in Jeremiah’s time. I have often said that because we have one God in three persons, we are really talking about the visible person of Jehovah Tsidkenu when we talk about Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus Christ is from the royal line of David. Look at the hope that Jeremiah was offering to the people of his time. It’s the same hope that our immutable Deity offers us today. If I am to make anyone the Lord of my life, praise Him, and trust Him, I want it to be our God Who is always there for us and Who is consistent. I know He tells the truth all of the time. So when I am given the promise (and the vow) by Him that His Kingdom will be established, I can take that promise seriously and revel in the hope that it provides. How about you?
Of course we know that this same promise is mentioned in many places in both the OT and the NT. Since most of you are from a Christian background, you are more familiar with the NT. That is why I will share two places in the OT with it for your prayerful consideration. IS 11: 1, “The royal line of David is like a tree that has been cut down; but just as new branches spout from a stump, so a new King will arise from among David’s descendants.” This is the familiar “root from the stump of Jesse” citation in the modern language of the Good News version. However, the use of the word, “branch,” isn’t only here. ZECH 3: 8 also uses it. “Listen then, Joshua [Joshua, son of Jehozadak who lived in the 500’s BC, not Joshua, son of Nun, who lived much before that], you are the High Priest; and listen, you fellow priests of his, you that are the sign of a good future; I will reveal My Servant, Who is called the Branch!” Again, the name, Jesus Christ, is never used in the OT, but here He is anyway! Meditate on how blessed we are that Jehovah Tsidkenu is always righteous and always there for His children including each of us. Ask what does this really mean for my life?
PRAYER: O Lord, You have opened Your heart to us in a magnificent way. When we surely didn’t deserve it, You sacrificed Your only begotten Son on the cross. By doing so, You opened the new covenant to us. MK 15: 38 tells us crucial information about what happened at the moment of Christ’s death on the cross. “The curtain hanging in the Temple [the inner veil separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies] was torn in two, from top to bottom.” This could only be done by You. It opened the Holy of Holies to us all, instead of keeping it available only to the Jewish high priest once a year on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This makes eternal forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ available to those who believe. It replaced the old covenant with its temporary forgiveness and animal sacrifices. As if this wasn’t enough, dearest Jehovah Tsidkenu, You gave your prophet, Jeremiah, messages of hope to balance out the dire warnings the people didn’t want to hear. Every day that You take us through these citations, You bless our lives by allowing us to know You better. You do that out of Your love for us and to give us the same hope that evil will eventually be conquered and that Your Kingdom will be established. For that and so much more, we humbly offer You our adoration, worship, trust, obedience, loyalty, honor, glory, praise and thanks. In Christ’s name, amen.
Truthfully, I didn’t get to go as far as I wanted to today with Jeremiah’s citations, so I will continue with more of them tomorrow. Our Jehovah Tsidkenu, the Lord our Righteousness, keeps me encouraged to go on, because He has so much to say to each of us. How can we not feel adored and loved by Him with all of this? How comforted we can be that He is always there for us and consistent in what He teaches us. It is like the child who finds it much safer to be guided by a Parent with a few really important rules and much wisdom, rather than the one reared with a myriad of inconsistent messages without wisdom. The former child is raised with self-confidence and a clear vision of what is right and what isn’t. The latter child is confused, angry, and can’t see his own self-worth. Bask in the warmth of the love that Jehovah Tsidkenu has for each of us who are faithful. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn