Christ as King

The Lord is Our Righteousness

People: Babylon

King gone

Priestly duties gone

Covenant Created

v. 15: “I will cause a branch to spring up”

Calvin: “I will cause to germinate.”

“The Illusionist”

v. 15: Branch will execute justice and righteousness in the land

v.16: Judah will be saved and Jerusalem secure.

God will germinate because the people were degenerate.

Kingdom is spiritual. “The justice and judgment of which the Prophet speaks, do not belong only to civil and external order, but rather to that rectitude by which it comes that men are reformed according to God’s image, which is in righteousness and truth.” Calvin, 253

Think spiritually about this! “The salvation of which Jeremiah now prphesies, is not to be confined to the boundaries of a fading life, nor is it to be sought in this world, where it has no standing; but if we wish to know what it is, we must learn to raise our thoughts upwards, and above the world and everything that exists here...” Calvin 254

Jeremiah 23:6= “The Lord is our righteousness”

v. 16: Jerusalem get new name: “The Lord is our righteousness.”

Covenant Confirmed:

v.17: “David will never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel”

v. 18: Levitical Priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever.”

“Restoration of the Church”

“For where the kingdom and priesthood of Christ are found, there, no doubt, is the Church; but where Christ is not owned as a king and a priest, nothing is there but confusion...” 257

Covenant Guaranteed

v. 19: If you break covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night will not come at their appointed time… then also my covenant will also be broken…” So, No King and No priests.

“As surely as day follows the night...” Patrick Miller

“He shews that GOd’s covenant with the people of Israel would not be less firm than the settled order of nature.” Calvin 261

“God’s covenant with his Church shall be no less fixed and unchangeable than what it is with mankind, with regards to the government of the world.” 261.

There is no change to day and night. There will be no change to my covenant.

v.22: Covenant

Covenant Ensured

“If I had not made a promise the natural and spiritual orders, than I would have rejected my people.”

“I will restore their fortunes and I will have mercy on them.”

Hebrews 7:14 “14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.”

Descended=”our Lord spring forth (or sprouted) from Judah.”

The Nations wrote them off

Israel wrote themselves off

“Think upwards”

What does restoration look like?

“Richly material, life-enhancing, socially sustaining, and enjoyable… Salvation from Babylon oppression.” Miller 828

Guaranteed Leadership

King and priests

Establishment of the good old days??

Hope: “Restores the fortunes”= Catchphrase of 30-33

Big Idea: Restoration King

Introduction:

“Do you promise?”

Murder:

“I promise”

That didn’t go well!

14 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

God’s Guarantees

A Germination Guarantee

Someone’s going to come!

Branch will come

Genesis

Isaiah Branch

A Restoration Guarantee

That person will save you from Babylon!

King and City get the same name!

“The city is the place of God’s rule, and the human ruler is the agent of that rule.” Patrick Miller

Place and the person are the same!

A Creation Guarantee

If you can stop the sunrise, I’d break covenant.

If you can stop the sunset, then my covenant can be broken.

If you can stop gravity, then perhaps I wouldn’t send a King for you.

But you can’t stop the sunrise

You can’t stop the sunset.

Walter Brueggeman: “”God’s love to Israel is as sure as God’s ordering of creation.”

You can’t stop gravity. It’s a basic fundamental force that operates with the rules of all of reality.

Therefore you can’t stop me from send a King for you.

It can’t stop me from establishing the priests.

But what if he breaks his covenant?

Christmas: From Shoot to Root

Early Church Interpretation

Acts 13:22-24: He raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ 23 Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.

Jesus own Understanding of Himself

Revelation 22:16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

Groot: Sprouted

Jesus, “I am Root!”

Forged, Fictitious, or Phony Guarantees?

23 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 24 “Have you not observed that these people are saying, ‘The Lord has rejected the two clans that he chose’? Thus they have despised my people so that they are no longer a nation in their sight.

Review their situation: In Babylon:

People: Depleted and Doubtful

We’re nothing!

Babylon: Skepticism and Cynism

“The Nations think by you not having a King, that I’ve rejected you”

“Let earth receive her king!”

From Guarantee to Warranty

25 Thus says the Lord: If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, 26 then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them.”

Guarantee=Verbal Agreement

Covenants are more that verbal agreements. They are signed contracts!

Remember Abraham? If anything goes wrong with this covenant, I WILL PAY THE PRICE!

Weak Warranty?

Covenant Misunderstood

Guarantee (Promises for us!)

List of Covenants:

Covenant coming together, merging together…

David, Levitical, Abrahamic: I will rise up someone who will fulfill all of these agreements. They’re all sprouting up from them.

Abraham Covenant

David’s Covenant

Priestly Covenant

Branch Came:

Salvation