“THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS”
(Jeremiah 33:14-16 – Advent 1 – December 1, 2024)
Jeremiah 33:14-16 – 14“‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the LORD, ‘that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah: 15In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David a Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. 16In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.’”
Dear Redeemed of God in Jesus Christ:
In the season of Advent, we prepare our hearts to welcome Him who is named: “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” This is the name of Jesus, the Savior whose coming God had promised for ages. As prophesied, He would born as a descendent of the house of Israel, of the tribe of Judah, and of the family line of King David.
How shall we prepare our hearts to welcome Him who was once born as the royal Son of David? How shall we welcome Him who will come again at the Last Day to judge the nations? In this season of Advent, the color of our paraments is purple. This royal color reminds us that we welcome Jesus rightly by worshiping Him as the King of heaven who humbled Himself to born in our flesh. The color purple is also for repentance, reminding us that we welcome Jesus rightly as we repent of our sins, trusting the forgiveness He came to win for us.
As we welcome Him who is “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS,” let us ask: 1) To whom does He come? 2) What does He come to do?
1) To whom does He come?
To whom would you expect one named “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” to come? Would it be to those counted worthy of that name by the righteous life they lived? To whom would you expect the King of heaven to come, if He were to choose to be born in our flesh and dwell among us? Would it be to a family whose bloodline was pure and worthy of such royalty in the eyes of God?
One of the most striking truths running through Scripture is that He chose to come, not to the righteous, but to sinners. He chose to be born, not to a perfect family, but among the sin-tainted bloodline of the fallen human race. But as the Lord who is our Righteousness, He came in mercy and grace to change all that for us.
Let us go back and trace the family line to which our Savior Jesus was born. We begin in Genesis 3. Adam and Eve had fallen into sin and death was the consequence – not only for them, but for all of us in the family tree of Adam, conceived and born in his sinful image. Yet, God promised the Savior who would come as the Seed of woman, born to redeem a world of sinners to God.
The Savior’s family line continued, as the children of Adam and Eve were born in their sinful image. What troubles we see in the fallen human family right away, as Cain killed his brother Abel in envy. Hope of the Savior continued for Adam and Eve in the birth of their son Seth. Yet even his family line was deeply affected by sin. By the time of Noah, the whole world had forsaken God in wickedness. In judgment, God wiped out the whole family tree in the Flood and started over with only Noah and his family. Noah was not without sin either; yet he was counted righteous through faith in the coming Savior (Genesis 7:1; 2 Peter 2:5).
Fast forward to Abraham, 2000 years before Christ. God called him to leave the pagan land of his fathers and go to a land He would show him. God promised that through his Seed, all the families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3). This did not only refer to Israel, but especially to the Seed who is Christ (Colossians 3:16). Abraham was not without sin. At times he did not fully trust God’s way to give the next child of promise. He and Sarah resorted to having a child through a concubine. But he was counted righteous through faith in the coming Savior (Genesis 15:6).
As we follow the Savior’s bloodline through Israel’s forefathers, we find the effects of sin throughout. We see troubles in the marriages of Abraham and Jacob, with multiple wives and concubines, and all the jealousy and strife that caused in the home. We see it in parents like Isaac and Rebekah, who played favorites with their children; and the sibling rivalry that followed between Jacob and Esau, with deceit and tensions over the blessing of the inheritance. Later, Jacob’s sons sold their brother Joseph into slavery out of envy. We even hear of Jacob’s son, Judah, having a child by incest with Tamar. Yet God’s gracious promise of the Savior continued through this sin-corrupted bloodline. Such sinful families are part of the Savior’ ancestry. We could go on naming Rahab, a prostitute who was brought to faith in Israel. Or Ruth, called out of a pagan past and married Boaz. All these names appear in the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1).
Then we come to David, whom God anointed King of Israel. David was esteemed as an upright King; yet he was not without sin. He committed adultery with Bathsheba, and had her husband killed so he could marry her. Then they had a son, Solomon. Now God had promised David that one day a Son would be born as the offspring of his flesh; yet this coming King would also be the Son of God. This royal Son of David would establish an eternal Kingdom (2 Samuel 7:12-14).
That Kingdom was not Solomon, and that Kingdom was not physical Israel. For by the time of our text (600 BC), rampant sin and apostasy in Israel had so angered God that He was giving them over to captivity. The kingdom would fall to enemies; Jerusalem and the temple would be destroyed.
Yet after all the sin and unfaithfulness among God’s chosen nation, here through his prophet Jeremiah, God repeated His promise to send the Savior among them: “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the LORD, ‘that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah: In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David a Branch of righteousness.’”
To whom would He come whose is “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS”? To those who are counted worthy of that name by their own righteousness? To those whose bloodline is pure and sinless? If that were so, God never would have sent His Son to any of us. As Romans 3:10, 23 says: “There is none righteous, no, not one… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
In that great picture of fallen humanity, all the sinful family of Adam and Eve, we see ourselves. Who of us as spouses have always loved as we ought, unselfishly serving one another? Who of us as parents have always raised our children as we ought, not just in word but in example? Who of us as children have always honored our parents with heartfelt obedience? Who of us as siblings have always gotten along as we ought, quick to put each other’s needs first? Surely, every family on earth continues to deal with sin and its hurtful effects, as it always has been from the beginning. Surely, the entire human race continues to deal with sin and its effects in all the hatred, division, strife, and wars that go on to the end of time.
2) What does He come to do?
Therefore, we join the children of Adam and Eve through the ages who looked in faith to the Savior God promised. We join the faithful in Israel, who longed for the coming Seed of Abraham in whom all the families of the earth are blessed. We give thanks that He chose to come to us, not because we made ourselves righteous, but because He Himself is our Righteousness. We give thanks that He chose to be born to us, not because we are the perfect family, but because He is our perfect Savior.
In the fullness of time, as promised to Adam and Eve, God sent His Son born of woman to redeem us (Galatians 4:4-5). This Seed of Abraham, this royal Son of David, was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary. As the Son of God, He did not inherit the sinful nature passed down from Adam. He who is “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” entered the human family as the sinless Son of Man.
Why did He come this way? As God looked on the fallen human race, He saw only one way to save us. That was by the sacrifice of His Son for us. On the cross, God condemned the sins of the whole world in Jesus. When the blood of Jesus ran, the blood of God in our flesh ran for us. When He died, God in our flesh died for us. Therefore, His sacrifice is worthy to take away all the sins of the world, from Adam and Eve to the last person. By the blood of Jesus, God has paid for all your sins and mine. At the cross He has declared us forgiven, once and for all.
Not only that, Jesus came in our flesh and blood to fulfill all righteousness for us. When He entered the human family, He lived as the perfect Son, always honoring His earthly parents. He lived as the perfect Brother, always loving His siblings, always loving every child of Adam as Himself. Above all, Jesus lived in perfect obedience to His heavenly Father, fulfilling the Law of love, even to the point of giving His life as a ransom for us all. As God in our flesh, His perfect life is the one God counts to us; for Jesus is “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
In view of the salvation Jesus was coming to accomplish, Jeremiah announced: “In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she will be called: ‘THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.’” Jerusalem is where God had placed His name with His temple. The old Jerusalem fell due to the people’s sin. Yet with the Savior’s coming, Jerusalem would be called by a new name – His name. Here Jerusalem represents the Church, all who through faith in the Savior are counted with His righteousness. It is in this New Jerusalem, through faith in Jesus, that we are saved and dwell in safety.
Now by the grace of God, we bear that blessed name: “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” In Baptism, God has put His saving name on us: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We who were born in the sinful image of Adam, have been born again of the Spirit in the holy image of Christ. Through faith in His Son, God the Father has brought us into His family, along with Abraham and all who believe, as His children and heirs. As Galatians 3:29 says: “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
Therefore, in this season of Advent, we rejoice at Jesus’ first coming as the royal Son of David, to win a place for us in His eternal Kingdom. And we look forward to His second coming to take us safely home to His heavenly Jerusalem. We look forward to living in that one great perfect family of God, where at last we will share the perfect sinlessness and love of Him who is “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. Amen.