Waiting In Hope

Introduction:

A watched pot never boils. Anyone ever heard this expression? My grandmother used to say this to me every time that I was at her house. She knew that I was impatient. And nothing that I could do would make the pot of water boil any faster, right? And I’d be foolish to think that I could watch the pot and make it boil quicker. I am really bad at waiting. And honestly, I don’t know many people who are actually gifted at waiting. Whatever it is, I am impatient. Each time we boil water, we are testing our own patience and our own desire to control everything in our lives.

Advent is a season of waiting. For these next few weeks, we are going to go through an advent series called ‘Covenant Christmas’. We are going to do the best we can to insert ourselves into the biblical story of God’s people as they were in a long season of waiting. Much longer than waiting for a pot of water to boil. God’s people have been promised a Savior — a Messiah — since the fall in the garden with Adam and Eve. In Genesis 3:15, God promises someone who will come to strike down the serpent who will have caused so much pain:

Genesis 3:15 (CSB)

I will put hostility between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring.

He will strike your head,

and you will strike his heel.

After Genesis 3:15, which we call the Protoevangelion, or the First Gospel, a theme starts to develop in Scripture. Over and over again. What’s the theme? Well, it’s a promise: Time and time again throughout history, God promises his people that he will bring a Savior to them. This Savior would bring about a long-awaited and long-expected salvation. The prophets gave words from God that this Messiah would come. The kings pointed forward to a True King in the line of David: the Messiah who would come. All of the Old Testament, in fact, is leading to the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the World. And so at Advent, we are going to be covering four different texts from the Old Testament Prophets. Each of these texts will help us to prepare us to wait. However, we are going back to the Old Testament with the full knowledge that the prophecies in these texts have come true completely. Christ has come to earth (What we call his Incarnation), and he has lived a perfect life of obedience to God’s law. And he has died a death on a cross that should have been reserved for sinners like you and me. And he rose again on the third day. And he ascended into heaven. So as we go back in time, we do so knowing that we are waiting not for his Incarnation or his first coming, but that we are living in a time where we await his Second Coming, his Second Advent.

So in many ways, we can relate to these Old Testament saints: God has promised a coming of Christ, and we are waiting for it. Knowing this, let’s look at our passage, which is found in Jeremiah 33:14–16:

“Look, the days are coming”—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

“when I will fulfill the good promise

that I have spoken

concerning the house of Israel

and the house of Judah.

In those days and at that time

I will cause a Righteous Branch

to sprout up for David,

and he will administer justice

and righteousness in the land.

In those days Judah will be saved,

and Jerusalem will dwell securely,

and this is what she will be named:

The Lord Is Our Righteousness.

Let’s pray:

Father, thank you for this passage. Thank you for this season of Advent. As we gather to sing, pray, preach, and fellowship, help us particularly during this season to wait with joyful anticipation for Christ who is coming for us. We know that Christ will return for us one day, and make all things right. Give us hope, give us peace, give us love, and give us joy as we wait on our Lord. Help us today to see the covenant that he has promised as a covenant for our good and for God’s glory. Now, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Today, we are centering in on a passage from Jeremiah that reiterates the covenantal promise that God made to his people throughout Scripture as I discussed a minute ago. And in light of this beautiful passage, I want to propose the following to you: Because Jesus came once, he will surely come again and we can have hope in this life. Jesus came once — we celebrate his Incarnation — and based on that fact, we can count on the fact that he will come again. And this is the source of our hope in life. We can have hope in this life because he will come again. To illustrate this point, as we work through our passage, we’ll see three things: The predicament before the covenant, the promises of the covenant, and the purposes of the covenant.

I. Predicament of the Covenant

In order to understand the covenant, and the hope provided by God’s covenant with us, we need to know the predicament that brought about the covenant. But before we look at that, I want to take a minute to define what I mean by covenant. Simply put, a covenant is an agreement between two parties. In ancient times, kingdoms would sign covenants with each other to provide mutual protection and support. The Old Testament contains several covenants, but they aren’t between earthly kings and kingdoms. Biblical covenants are between God and his people.God made a covenant with Adam and Eve in the garden. God made a covenant with Noah, promising to never destroy the earth again by flood. God made a covenant with Abraham, promising land and a great number of descendents. God made a covenant with Israel at Sinai, giving them the Law. God made a covenant with David, promising that there would be a continuous line of David’s descendents on the throne. I would argue that the unifying theme of the Old Testament is the biblical covenants between God and his people. Covenants are the binding principle of the Old Testament. Here’s the distinctive feature of the covenants in the Bible: God — all-powerful and all-wise, sovereign over all creation — alone can initiate covenants with his creation. Men and women cannot initiate a covenant with God. God is the initiator of covenants with people.

In typical ancient covenants, the wealthier or more powerful king could agree to a covenant with a lesser king or kingdom. However, the greater king could make a list of stipulations and hold the lesser kingdom accountable. If the lesser kingdom didn’t hold up their end of the covenant, they were on the hook. They were at the mercy of the greater king or kingdom. “If you don’t keep these obligations, you will have to pay the price.” I want to show you this morning that God operates a little bit differently than human kings and kingdoms when it comes to covenants. And I promise this will all matter to our purposes today and the meaning of Advent. In fact, if we understand how God operates in his covenant relationship with his people, it will make our advent season much more meaningful.

So a greater king would typically say to a lesser king: “If you don’t keep these covenant obligations, you will have to pay the price.” However God operates in this way: He strikes up a covenant with people of his own choosing. He does so knowing that they won’t be able to keep their end of the bargain. No one can keep the law. No one can be righteous, which is what God requires. However, God strikes up a covenant with his people because they are sinful. Why? Because God always acts in the way that will bring himself the greatest glory. God is most glorified in saving sinful people. And he does that through displaying and acting on his covenant love. God swears himself to a people, that he will save them from their sins. Our sin is the predicament that brings about the covenant.

Let’s look at how God operates in this passage. When we encounter Jeremiah, God’s people are very aware of their status as God’s covenant people. They are different than the people around them. God didn’t strike up a covenant with the Amalakites, or the Moabites, or the Egyptians, or with Babylon. God had set his loving-kindness on Abraham’s people, on Jacob’s people. In the context of Jeremiah, however, they are probably feeling a bit desperate and in need of a word from their God. In their sin, they had strayed from obedience to God’s law. They were about to be taken from their land by Babylon, and Jeremiah had prophesied about this. So the first half of Jeremiah is filled with prophecies about the coming Babylonian captivity. However, we have this passage. The predicament — sin — doesn’t change God’s purposes. In the midst of Israel’s great sin, he continues to fulfill and predict his New Covenant. All of the other covenants had been leading up to what we call the New Covenant.

The New Covenant is what God is pointing to in verse 14: “Look — or behold — the days are coming when I will fulfill the good promise that I have spoken...” Even in the midst of their grave sin and idolatry, God promises that he will fulfill and keep the promise that is coming. He is instilling hope in his people.

It’s the same with us today. Even when we are sinful. Even when we fall short. Even when relationships fall apart and it’s our fault. Even when our worship is misdirected. Even when we trust ourselves rather than God. No matter what the predicament, God’s promises stand. God’s covenant is not dependent on our ability to trust him. God’s grace to us isn’t up to us. God will keep and fulfill his good promises no matter how dark the days are. It was dark in Jeremiah’s day: God’s people had fallen deeply into idolatry and sin. It is dark now. But there is light shining in the darkness. For God’s people in Jeremiah’s day, the light was coming. For God’s people today, light has come and is coming today. The darkness of the predicament does not negate the brightness of God’s coming light. So brothers and sisters, where is your hope today? Is your view of God clouded by a perception of yourself that says, “God could never show me grace — I’ve sinned too much”? If so, your predicament is not too much for God. Your predicament is certainly serious, but you can still experience the covenant love of God today. Why? Because God is the initiator, and he chooses to fulfill his good promise with sinful people despite sinful people.

II. Promises of the Covenant

When we see the predicament that brought about the covenant, we will move onto realize the promises of the covenant. Let’s look at our passage: The days are coming when God will fulfill his good promise. This promise is the New Covenant. Now, who gets to receive this promise? He tells us in verse 14: concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Israel and Judah both are Old Testament keywords for God’s people. So when a promise is meant for Israel and Judah, it means that this promise is for all of God’s people.

So, we aren’t talking about an Old Testament promise though. We’re talking about a New Covenant. God is talking about a new covenant for a new people. When he says ‘House of Israel’ and ‘House of Judah’ in this new promise or new covenant, it’s for all of God’s people. The New Covenant, ushered in by Christ, is the culmination and climax of all other covenants in the Old Testament. The covenants in the Old Testament were given to covenant heads like Noah, Abraham, and David. And they extended to Israel and Judah. They were God’s people on earth.

But we’re dealing with something different in our passage. We are dealing with the New Covenant, and this covenant extends further than a physical people called Israel or Judah. Because it’s a spiritual covenant and promise, it applies to a spiritual people. This promise is for God’s new house, his reconstituted house — the house of faith. God’s promise is for God’s people who have been made God’s people by God’s gift of his Son. This is who the promise concerns: Us as Christians! We are now the house of Judah and Israel. We are God’s people. Any of us who are Christians.

Then, what is the promise of this covenant for all of God’s people? Here’s where get into the Advent season. The promise God gives to his people is that on his time and on his day, He will cause a Righteous Branch to sprout up for David. God promised David in 2 Samuel 7:12–13 “12 When your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up after you your descendant, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

From David’s line there would come a King. From David’s family tree a new branch would shoot out. And this Branch would be the righteous one. Now, we can read through the books of Samuel and Kings and Chronicles searching for the righteous branch. They display all of David’s family. And let’s be honest, when we survey David’s descendents in search of this Righteous Branch, we don’t find it. And in Jeremiah’s time, things were looking bleak for David’s line. They were about to be besieged and exiled by Babylon, and would not be allowed to have their own king. It’d be hard to trust this promise in that day.

God’s ways, however, are much greater and grander and deeper than man’s. When all hope seemed and the covenant promise to David seemed too far gone, God gives a reminder through his prophet Jeremiah that there was still going to be a Righteous Branch. We don’t find that Branch in the Old Testament. In fact, David’s line quickly fades into obscurity around the time of the Babylonian captivity. But fast forward a few hundred years to David’s city, Bethlehem when Quirinius was governing Syria. Everyone had returned to their ancestral homes, so all of David’s living family went back to Bethlehem for Caesar Augustus’s census. A young man named Joseph was in the line of David, so he returned to his town. He was engaged to a woman named Mary, who was pregnant. There was no room available for them, and Mary was about to have her baby. She delivered the baby in a manger and named him Jesus, which means Savior. Mary’s baby, Jesus, was from the line of David. He was the Righteous Branch. He was the promised Messiah, the one who would sit on David’s throne forever. But his kingdom was not a physical one, nor is his throne.

People expected a king who would come in a rid the land from Roman oppression. They expected a military leader who would sit on a physical throne. However, the Righteous Branch was born in a manger, not a palace. The Righteous Branch was brought forth in humility, not honor. The Righteous Branch — Jesus himself — did not come to usher in a new age of grandeur in a physical kingdom. Jesus came to usher in a spiritual kingdom of eternal justice and righteousness. And all those who are in and under this New Covenant get to live in this spiritual kingdom. A spiritual covenant for a spiritual people who live in a spiritual kingdom.

The promise of the covenant is Jesus. The promise of the covenant is the kingdom of God. And we live in this kingdom under Jesus’s rule and reign. Let’s look at what that life looks like as we examine the purposes of the covenant.

III. Purposes of the Covenant

The New Covenant has a purpose. In fact, it has many. We see some of those in verse 16. The purposes of the covenant here are salvation, security, and worship. Under the promise, Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell securely. Remember, we are talking about spiritual realities. I know, in today’s culture it is hard to divorce some of this biblical language about Judah and Jerusalem from current events in the news cycle. However, God is promising security to the same Judah as he mentioned above in verse 14: A spiritual Judah. Judah will be saved: God’s people will experience salvation.

Judah will be saved not by anything they will do or any conquering they might accomplish. No, Judah will be saved by the coming reign of the Righteous Branch, Jesus. And if Jesus is the everlasting one to stay on the throne in the line of David, then he brings about an eternal salvation. God’s people will experience salvation in Christ alone, and this salvation will never fail.

Jerusalem will dwell securely. The people of God will dwell in God’s city (spiritually) and will be safe. Jeremiah knew that the people were about to be exiled. They wouldn’t be able to go to Jerusalem to worship, conduct business, or fellowship. But God makes this promise: A time is coming when Jerusalem will dwell securely. What does this mean? Just like a New Covenant was coming, and New People was being formed, a new Jerusalem is also coming. And in this New Jerusalem is described in Revelation 21:1–4 “1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. 3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.”

Talk about security! Nothing brings security like the presence of God.

Finally, the purpose of the covenant is worship. The city of God will be named Yahweh Zidkenu. This means that the city will be known for a group of people who dwell there (God’s city and God’s people) who worship God as their righteousness. These are the people who are under the New Covenant of God and are praising him loudly, known for saying, “It’s not my own works, but God’s righteous works for me that have brought me to this state!” We are in this covenant because God has made the promise, God has made us his people, God has brought us the Righteous Branch, God has administered justice and righteousness to us, God has saved us, God brought us securely, and God himself is our Righteousness!

IV. Conclusion

In conclusion, Our sin has brought about the necessity of a covenant. This covenant can only be initiated by God, and brings Christ to us. God swears himself to us in a promise: A promise that will bring Christ to his people for the purpose of saving them, keeping them secure, and making them worshipers who cry out, ‘Christ is my righteousness.” But what does this mean for us today? This was a prophecy given to people 550 years before Christ. These promises were for those awaiting Christ’s first coming. We stand today knowing that Christ has come the first time, and he lived and died and rose again.

All of these promises, however apply to us today. All of God’s promises find their ‘Yes’ in Christ. Christ’s coming ushered in the kingdom of God, which is already here. Yet we are awaiting the fulness of the kingdom. We call it the ‘already-not-yet’ kingdom. So while they were awaiting Christ’s first coming, we are awaiting his Second Coming. He has promised that he will come again. And when he does, he will set up his kingdom for eternity, where we dwell with him in the new heavens and new earth.

Advent is a season of waiting, but a waiting in hope. What gives you hope today? I pray that this message has given you a source of hope in a dark time. In Christ, you can find life and hope and joy and peace. So yes, you are sinful just like the Old Testament people of God. But yes, God has given a covenant to us, that we can experience salvation from our sins by the blood of Christ. Trust in that today.

Let’s pray.