Sermon Tone Analysis

Scene:

Screen writers need a new schtick - many of them seem to be foretelling catastrophe by having one of the characters say “I promise”.

couch at home, watching a show like “The Flash” or “Agents of Shield” together.

(Lemony Snickett - Brother promises to a friend his safety and return, but in the very episode, ends up dying.)

the main characters find themselves in a life-threatening crisis

the character with super-hero abilities says something like: “I promise, I won’t let anything happen to you.”

As if foreshadowing the next several minutes of the show, the character who promised works hard to save the day, but ultimately can’t fulfill the promise.

So if you’re watching TV or a movie and a person says “I promise” - you can almost be sure that the promise will be broken because they are insufficient to fulfill the promise.

Some of us make promises all the time.

We promise to do some work.

We promise to take out the trash or do the dishes as soon as we’re finished playing a video game.

We’ promise to...

Sometimes we’re able to fulfill the promises we make, because we limit our commitment to what we can control.

Other times however, there are circumstances outside of our control.

No matter how much we promise, fulfillment won’t come.

What about when God makes a promise?

Is He good for it?

Let me give you another scenario:

God made a promise to Abraham - he promised that his people would occupy a certain area of land - but they would be sent away for about 400 years.

(Gen.

15:12-21)

The people of Israel end up in Egypt for nearly 400 years!

God directs Moses to lead the people out of Egypt.

God enacts a covenant with the people of Israel through Moses - initiating the sacrificial system.

After 40 years of waiting for a rebellious generation to die off, the people get to enter the land that God promised them.

- Promise of Land fulfilled.

Over the next several hundred years, the people of Israel go through seasons of faithful living and rebellion.

Eventually the Kingdom is divided.

After a few centuries of rebellion and warnings through the prophets, the Northern Kingdom of Israel is destroyed and taken into exile.

A little over a century later, the Southern Kingdom of Judah is conquered and taken into exile.

During the reigns of the kings and before the exiles, various prophets called the people to return to the Lord.

One of those prophets was a man named Jeremiah.

He was a priest who served primarily in the southern Kingdom.

Jeremiah had been preaching for years about the coming exile.

He called the people to repent and return, but to no avail.

The first 29 chapters of Jeremiah are filled with warnings of judgment on Judah.

Many of the last chapters deal with warnings of judgment on the surrounding nations.

In the middle of the book, chapters 30-33, God leads Jeremiah to convey some message of hope to His people.

Some call these chapters the “Book of Consolation.”

Throughout these chapters, God reiterates his commitment to his people and His plan to return them from exile.

But when?

When will these things happen?

This book of consolation provides a sense of hope through promises of God amidst the suffering they were enduring.

Now these weren’t empty promises, they were promises of the Lord, promises of a return to the land, promises of prosperity, promises of a Messiah.

Some of those very promises are contained in the short passage that we’re going to consider today.

As we think through these verses, let’s ask a few questions of the text, Scripture, and history in order to understand what this would have meant for the people of Israel and what it means for us today.

First of all...

Who is making the promise and why does that matter?

It’s clear from the text that Jeremiah states “the days are coming declares the Lord.”

This is not a hopeful wish that Jeremiah is presenting - it’s a revelation from Yahweh.

In our Bibles, when we see LORD in all caps, that’s the Hebrew word YHWH or Yahweh.

This is the covenant name that God gave to Moses for the people of Israel.

One of the things that God frequently called the people of Israel to do was to look back and remember.

They were called to remember what Yahweh did at a various times throughout their history.

remember how he brought them out of Egypt - just as he promised.

remember how he gave them victory over their enemies.

remember how he brought them to the land that he promised them

All of this looking back was designed to help people be grateful for all that God had done and the help them look forward in confident hope of all that Yahweh will do.

They could find hope in the future because of promises fulfilled in the past.

I think this is one reason why holidays like Thanksgiving are so important.

You see, we can have a general attitude of gratitude, but to whom are we thankful?

In giving thanks, it’s important to recognize that it is God who is working, providing, leading, protecting.

Psalm 136 is a song of the people of Israel that caused them to look back on all that God did - so that they would have confidence into the future.

As Jeremiah utters this promise on behalf of God, he is in a sense calling people to think back to what God had done in the past and look forward in hopeful expectation, in spite of the difficulties in which they find themselves - exiles in a foreign land, disciplined because of their rebellion.

So, Yahweh made the promise.

That matters because he has made multiple promises in the past and fulfilled them.

They can trust that he will be faithful into the future.

This brings us to a second question...

What is promised?

There is a two-fold promise here:

a person

protection

Let’s think about these separately.

The person

Jeremiah refers to this person as a “righteous branch,” but what does that mean?

A “branch” was essentially a way of referring to a descendent of a certain person - in this case David.

But notice, this person will “spring up for David.”

As I read this, it seems to indicate that this person as a branch will be of David, a descendent, but as a branch will also be on behalf of David.

This name (“the branch”) is one of many names that the OT prophets used to describe the Messiah.

Don Carson notes that Jeremiah “depicts the coming one” [or Messiah] “as the good shepherd (23:4; 31:10), the righteous Branch (23:5; 33:15), and as David the king, the Lord's servant (30:9; 33:21, 26)” (August 5).

So this descendent of David will come and he will be regarded as “righteous.”

The God’s Word translation defines righteous in three ways:

“1.

without sin; completely good and moral.

Only God is righteous in this sense (Ps.

143:1–2; Isa.

24:16); 2. a person who does what is right (1 Sam.

24:17; 2 Cor.

9:9); 3. a person whose sins are completely forgiven by God.

A person who has put his or her faith in Jesus is seen as righteous in God’s eyes (Rom.

1:17; 3:21).”

The third definition clearly refers to people who have been made righteous.

The second definition could refer to qualities of this “righteous” branch.

The first, as it said, only refers to God.

But notice what this righteous branch will do.

Not only will he act righteously, but he will govern that way as well.

Jeremiah says that he will execute justice and righteousness in the land - for Israel and Judah - it seems to be land and people specific.

Now, if we were to think back over all of the previous Kings and rulers that Israel and Judah had experienced - some could be considered righteous.

Most would be considered corrupt.

All of them would be considered sinful.

Think about this - David - who was the standard for many of the Kings who would follow - did devote himself fully to the Lord.

He was a faithful worshipper of God.

But he was far from righteous.