December 5, 2024
The Righteous Branch - Part 4
Jeremiah 23:7-8
12/05/2024
7 ``Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares
the LORD, when they shall no longer say, `As the
LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out
of the land of Egypt,'
8 but `As the LORD lives who brought up and led the
offspring of the house of Israel out of the north
country and out of all the countries where he had
driven them.' Then they shall dwell in their own
land.'' (ESV)
The prophet Jeremiah was preparing the people of Judah and
Jerusalem for the seventy-year Babylonian captivity. God was
about to inflict the punishment which those who had rejected Him
had earned. In His righteousness, grace, and mercy, God had
given His people ample time to repent of their sins, to turn back
to Him, and to live. Even as the punishment due to them was
coming, God sent Jeremiah to call them from worshiping idols,
from turning their back on the One True God.
Although Jerusalem was going to be destroyed, God promised
that a remnant of the faithful would return. Through Jeremiah
God said:
``Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the
LORD, when they shall no longer say, `As the LORD lives
who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of
Egypt,' but `As the LORD lives who brought up and led
the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north
country and out of all the countries where he had
driven them.' Then they shall dwell in their own
land.''
God keeps His promises. Our Lord promised David that from
his line would come a King who would reign forever, which is the
promise of the Messiah. Therefore, a remnant of the children of
Israel would return from captivity, which happened seventy years
after the defeat of Jerusalem.
Those who heeded Jeremiah's warning, those who did not
reject the prophet's message, survived. Those who rejected God
were destroyed.
May our Lord open our hearts and minds to hear His holy
Word, to repent of our sin, and trust in Him alone. Amen.