First Sunday in Advent (2023)

Jeremiah 23:5-8

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we have in our Old Testament Lesson today the Word of God spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, which foretold the coming of Christ and all that He would accomplish for our sake. By raising up a righteous branch for David who would reign as King. Let us see what great blessing we have in the work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who is King of Kings.

Jeremiah the Prophet

Jeremiah was a priest.

He was also of the tribe of benjamin, Benjamin was also known for Ehud a Judge of Israel, and the first King, Saul. Jeremiah is called to be a prophet. In the first chapter, The Lord put out his hand and touched Jeremiah’s mouth, and put His Words in Jeremiah’s mouth, and set him over nations and kingdoms, to pluck up and break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant. This was needed, because

Josiah was king initially.

He was a good king, and he became king at the age of 8, and he ruled for 31 years, and Josiah brought the land back from paganism to the worship of God, and re-established the Passover in the land. But he was the only good King while Jeremiah prophesied.

During Jeremiah’s time, Jerusalem and Judah go into slavery.

That well known verse, for I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, the plan is that God is sending the Babylonians to enslave the people for 70 years. As though that weren’t enough

The temple would be destroyed.

Because it had been given over to paganism and desecrated by idols and other abominable practices in the house of God. The only way for it to be properly cleansed was for it to be utterly destroyed.

Wickedness in the Land

The Temple was restored by Josiah.

He was a King that was fervent about the worship of the true God, and went thorugh the land to restore worship of the True God. It had gotten so bad that they had lost the Torah. When Josiah heard it read he tore his clothes for the people of God had abandoned the true faith.

The people gave glory instead to idols.

They had fashioned with their own hands pieces of wood and stone and bowed down and worshipped them, and expected to be heard. But whatever you devote yourself to, you become like with time. When you devote yourself to lifeless stone, or wood, you become like them.

By doing so Israel became worthless.

They were mute, blind, deaf, mindless like the stones that they bowed down and worshiped. There was no life in them. They exchanged worship of the Creator who had made them, and worshipped the work of their own hands. Thinking that it was something and gave the glory to the creation. As though that weren’t enough,

The shepherds were scattering God’s people.

Those who were meant to lead the flock of Israel to their shepherd were instead taking them to different gods, encouraging them to follow their own heart, and their own desires. This is why Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet, for he wept for the people of Israel, and for all that they had lost, and the hardship that they would endure as they abandoned God. That gives us context for our lesson today.

Israel’s Hope

God promises to raise up a king.

That king is referred to here in our text as the Righteous Branch. He shall reign as a king. Instead of the wicked kings that followed Josiah and many that had preceded him. He would be a blessing to the people of Judah and Israel.

This is a message of comfort.

For at this time the 10 tribes of Israel had gone into slavery about 100 years earlier. Their family had been removed for their wickedness and taken into slavery. A group of people that were bound together by blood, and had been brought up out of Egypt together, but were now separated. God will not abandon them forever.

The line of David will endure.

For God had promised to David that His throne would last, but in these dark moments it looked doubtful. For the children of David did not have a heart like His, that loved the Lord and the Word of the Lord deeply. They chased after their own desires. Instead of abiding by the Word. Then we look at our Gospel lesson for today, why

Why is the crowd rejoicing on Palm Sunday?

Hosanna to the Son of .... David. Here is the righteous Branch whose coming has been foretold who comes to save the people of God.

Jesus, True King

Jesus preached about His kingdom.

He was preaching repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God is at hand. He is the promised Son of David who had come to establish an eternal throne and kingdom that would gather together the people of all nations, for the people of God were no longer found only in Israel, but throughout the world.

How does a King differ from a president?

We aren’t getting too politically on this one, I mean in terms of function and power. A president is in office only for a short period of time, and his power is limited by a system of checks and balances. But a King, His Word is Law, and it doesn’t matter what you think

He will execute justice and righteousness.

This means that he will deal with people fairly and properly. When you have a king or ruler that has no fear of God, or has no care for him you see corruption spread. They have nothing to fear, and they do not consider that there is someone that they will be held accountable to as well.

Wickedness in our Days

People still worship idols.

Idols aren’t just physical statutes that we bow down to, they can be other things as well. The God mammon is a common one, that is money and property and think that if they have material wealth, and an abundance that God must favor them. They feel secure and happy and fearless as though they have paradise already, and when its gone are certain that God must have abandoned them.

People look to the stars.

They are trying to figure out what is going to happen to them each and every day. This goes back to the ancient pagan religions and they would guide their life by what the stars and position of the planets showed them, but why would you look to the creation, and not the creator?

People try to blend religions.

They try to make the things fit together in ways that can’t be. They dip their toes into the waters of Eastern Religions and Spiritualities and think that they can offer something better, but if you break them down, you find that they too are empty in the end. Because anytime you try to combine the truth with a lie, it ends up being a lie. How

These things are worthless.

If we worship them or follow them, then will become like them as well. That is not why God created you. He fashioned mankind in His own image that we might know Him, and be with Him and dwell with Him, and it is in him that we find our worth, our value, and our meaning. But if you chase after these other things that are perishing you will have nothing in the end.

Jesus our Righteousness

It is only in Jesus that we have hope.

For Jesus has come to do what no other religion has been able to accomplish, to provide what money and land and all other riches couldn’t offer, and He has come that we might be guided by He who is the life and light of men, not by stars that mark the change and passing of seasons.

Jesus is the one who sought us.

Jesus sought out you when you did not yet know him, or care for him. He was righteous for you. WHicih means that on your own you could not enter into heaven, but Jesus became your righteousness so that you might have a place in his kingdom for your sins are forgiven.

It is Jesus’ kingdom that endures.

This is what we look forward to, for God will gather all of his people from around the world and take them into this everlasting kingdom, and shall dwell in a land that is our own. We will dwell there securely which means that we will never be afraid of any of things that stalk this land and threaten us. For Jesus will make His home there with all of us.

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, this is why we celebrate in Advent not only the coming of Christ to Bethlehem on Christmas Day, but we also celebrate the coming of our King who will come to take us into His everlasting Kingdom. Today, He comes to us in, with, and under the bread and the wine for the forgiveness of our sins. That is why we join in singing Loud Hosannas for Our King comes to you today. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.