Since last week we have been thinking about Jehovah Tsidkenu –the Lord our Righteousness –and seeing that God’s righteousness is an essential part of His character. This means that morality is rooted not in the Will of God but in the very Nature and integral part of God. Many people think that God arbitrarily decides certain things to be right and certain things to be wrong, and issues commands accordingly as He likes. They argue that since God’s commands are based on His arbitrary Will they are not to be questioned but simply obeyed. These notions however, are not the Christian position. That is, this is not how Christians believe God to be. The above idea or notion about our God is capitally wrong and is not Scriptural! In giving the promise of One who would come whose righteousness would cover the nakedness of the human condition in terms of Sin, true divine knowledge and wisdom; it is vital to know that God first does or carry out everything that He commands us do. He even does it first as an exemplary to showcase for us to see and follow! God obeys His own laws of right and wrong. He commands us to obey them because He Himself does so –to obey them because they are inherently right as God Himself is Right. The Almighty God is not a cosmic signpost pointing the way; He is a Shepherd who goes before His sheep and leads them. He initiates nothing that He does not illustrate. Cosmic relates to the universe, especially as distinct from the earth. It is immeasurably extended in time and space; vast. When, in the winter of 1776, General Washington, the man for whom America is known, found that his troops at Trenton New Jersey had no shelter except cold tents, he made the decision to join his men and live in the same condition as his soldiers, as an example of what our Lord God did for humanity when He wore our Sinful flesh to demonstrate righteousness in a bid to teach man how life should be lived on earth. No wonder they loved and followed a man like that. You and I could not be followers of an immoral God. As I read Jeremiah’s promise, first given in Chapter 23:6 and repeated in our today’s text, of a Messiah Who will come and wear my flesh, measure its frailty and provide me with a righteousness that will satisfy the highest demands of a holy God, then I simply run of words to appreciate this unparallel Love! This kind of God has my wholehearted allegiance and gratitude and love forever. Can you now understand the Nakedness of Adam and Eve that was talked about in the Garden of Eden and how it relates to Righteousness, and our Lord Jesus came to demonstrate and showcase this righteousness for man to emulate which is why an Igbo song demanded that we should ‘wear righteous character like a dress’ yiri ezi omume dika uwe to cover your naked unrighteousness!

Now let us read Jeremiah 33:15-26; 15 In those days and at that time will I cause a righteous Branch [the Messiah] to grow up to David; and He shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days Judah shall be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name by which it will be called, The Lord is Our Righteousness (our Rightness, our Justice). 17 For thus says the Lord: David shall never fail [to have] a man [descendant] to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, 18 Nor shall the Levitical priests fail [to have] a man [descendant] to offer burnt offerings before Me and to burn cereal offerings and to make sacrifices continually (all day long). 19 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, 20 Thus says the Lord: If you can break My covenant with the day, and My covenant with the night, so that there should not be day and night in their season, 21 Then can also My covenant be broken with David My servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign upon his throne, and [My league be broken also] with the Levitical priests, My ministers. 22 As the host of [the stars of] the heavens cannot be numbered nor the sand of the sea be measured, so will I multiply the offspring of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me. 23 Moreover, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, 24 Have you not noticed that these people [the Jews] are saying, The Lord has cast off the two families [Israel and Judah] which He chose? Thus My people have despised [themselves in relation to God as His covenant people], so that they are no more a nation in their [own] sight. 25 Thus says the Lord: If My covenant with day and night does not stand, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of the heavens and the earth [the whole order of nature], 26 Then will I also cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant and will not choose one of his offspring to be ruler over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captivity to be reversed, and I will have mercy, kindness, and steadfast love on and for them.

In Jeremiah 33:15-26, God promises to raise up a righteous Branch of David who will execute justice and righteousness, and that Judah and Jerusalem will be saved and dwell in safety, with the title "The Lord Our Righteousness". God also emphasizes the permanence of His covenant with the descendants of Jacob and David, reiterating that He will restore their fortunes and have compassion/love on them. Also in Jeremiah 33:15-26, God promises a "righteous Branch" from David's line who will execute justice and righteousness, and that His covenant with David and the Levites is as assured as the laws that rules heaven and earth. This signifies hope and restoration to mankind, even in times of despair, with the promise of a future king who will bring justice and a nation whose people are restored to God's favor. Do you ever feel like your life is out of kilter and you’re in a hot mess? Do you ever feel like you’re out of sync with yourself, others, or God? Kilter is out of harmony or balance and sync means agreeable! “The days will surely come,” says the Lord, “when I will fulfill the good promise I have made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.” When have the walls of your life been breached, your security violated, and your life overrun by circumstances bigger and more powerful than you? Just know that: “The days will surely come,” says the Lord, “when I will fulfill the good promise I have made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.” When has your life been turned upside down? When have circumstances left you with no plan and no foreseeable way forward? “The days will surely come,” says the Lord, “when I will fulfill the good promise I have made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.” Do you ever feel like you’re a stranger in your own life? Do you ever feel as if you’re living in a foreign land where nothing fits or feels right? “The days will surely come,” says the Lord, “when I will fulfill the good promise I have made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.” Have you ever wished for the good old days and the way things used to be? Do you sometimes just want to go home? Are you waiting for something to come but not even sure what it is you’re waiting for? “The days will surely come,” says the Lord, “when I will fulfill the good promise I have made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.” If you answered yes to any of those questions and you know what any of those situations are like, then you also know what it’s like to live in the tension between the reality of what is and what will be. It’s a time of waiting in the darkness of not knowing. That in between place is the Season of Advent. The gap between what is and what will be is a place of anticipation and expectancy. It’s the birthplace of hope and the canyon/deep from which God calls. The community to which Jeremiah is speaking in today’s Old Testament reading (Jeremiah 33:14-16) is/was living in that tension just like we are in today. The Babylonian army has devastated Jerusalem. Some of the Jews have been deported from their homeland. Others are occupied citizens in their own land. And Jeremiah is/was in prison. It’s a time of turmoil and chaos, and my guess is that we all know what that’s like. How are we to live in the gap between what is and what will be? How do we hold that tension when it feels like it’s pulling us apart? Or as the Psalmist asks, “How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign/strange land” (Psalm 137:4)? “Escape is not a response, neither is mourning for some illusory or illusion not real, imagined perfect age gone by. We have to recognize what can be changed, and not pine/desperation for worlds that once were, for to live in memory alone destroys our chance for the only sane attitude in life, which is to live in hope.” (David J. Wolpe, The Healer of Shattered Hearts, 138). Hope is our only way forward and “the only sane attitude in life,” and it’s what Jeremiah offers in today’s Old Testament reading. “The days will surely come,” says the Lord: + When I will fulfill the promise I made; + A righteous Branch will spring up; and + Justice and righteousness will be done in the land. This is the Lord’s message for all of us today! Those are big words from a man who is in prison, big words for a people who have been overrun, deported or occupied or who are facing serious challenges in life. They are words of hope but we have to be careful that we don’t misunderstand what hope is. Hope is not passively waiting for God to show up and do something. That’s just wishful thinking or wishful praying. To live in hope means remaining open to the future and refusing to let the present moment close us in. It’s the belief that the future is always better, not because it necessarily will be, but because it might be. The future holds a potential or possibility for something more or better than the actual reality of the present moment. That’s our hope throughout the Season of Advent. Every time we live in hope we are trusting that “there is nothing too hard for our [God] to do” (Jeremiah 32:17), and that “for God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). Hope, however, is not something we have. It comes to us as a call asking for a response. Maybe that’s why, in today’s gospel (Luke 21:25-36), Lord Jesus says, “Stand up and raise your heads.” Maybe that’s the response to hope’s call. When there are signs in the sun, moon, and stars; when there is distress among nations; when people are fainting from fear and foreboding of what is coming; when the powers of heaven are shaken; when it looks like things are getting worse “stand up and raise your heads.” “Stand up and raise your heads” when you want to run away. “Stand up and raise your heads” when you want to duck and hide. “Stand up and raise your heads” when you are tired and overwhelmed. “Stand up and raise your heads” when everything seems hopeless. It is as if Lord Jesus is saying, “Don’t just sit there. Do something. Get a new perspective. Look from a higher vantage point. Recognize what can be changed and then make the change.” That’s what it means to live in hope. More often than not that change is about us, not the circumstances. That change is about our attitude, our character, our behavioral pattern, and our life style! Once we are able to transform these to conform to Christ, then surely things will appreciate for good in our life. What if you and I are the righteous Branch God is causing to spring up? What if you and I are the ones to execute justice and righteousness in this land? What if you and I, in whatever circumstances we find ourselves today, were to stand up and raise our heads? I wonder what we would see. I wonder what hope would call us to be or do. If you’re curious about that, “stand up and raise your heads.” Take a look at your life today, take a look at what is happening in the world, and then finish this sentence: “The days will surely come,” says the Lord, “when I will fulfill the good promise I have made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. What is the “when” you are hoping for today and what is it asking of you?

14 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the good promise I have made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time will I cause a righteous Branch [the Messiah] to grow up to David; and He shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days Judah shall be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name by which it will be called, The Lord is Our Righteousness (our Rightness, our Justice). 17 For thus says the Lord: David shall never fail [to have] a man [descendant] to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, 18 Nor shall the Levitical priests fail [to have] a man [descendant] to offer burnt offerings before Me and to burn cereal offerings and to make sacrifices continually (all day long). a. I will perform that good thing which I have promised: These promises of restoration – fulfilled in part under Ezra and Nehemiah, fulfilled in whole with the completion of the new covenant – these promises were a remarkable contrast to the present state of destruction in Judah and Jerusalem. God repeats them for assurance and emphasis. i. “This beautiful passage (Jeremiah 33:14-26) is not in the LXX and has therefore been subject to many commentators.” (Feinberg) b. In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David a Branch of righteousness: In the context of the new covenant promises, God promised that a descendant of the line of David would be the Branch of righteousness (as in Isaiah 4:2 and Isaiah 11:1; as in Jeremiah 23:5). i. “Jeremiah does not reveal as much about the coming Messiah as Isaiah does, but nevertheless Jeremiah provides glimpses of Christ as the Fountain of living waters in Jeremiah 2:13, as the good Shepherd in Jeremiah 23:4; 31:10, as the righteous Branch in Jeremiah 23:5, as the Redeemer in Jeremiah 50:34, as the Lord our righteousness in Jeremiah 23:6 and as David the king in Jeremiah 30:9.” (Harrison) c. He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth: The great promises of restoration and blessing under the completion of the new covenant would come about through an appointed Man, the Branch of righteousness, who would be a descendant of David. He will reign not only over Jerusalem and Israel, but also over the earth, bringing judgment and righteousness. d. This is the name by which she will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness: This would be the title of restored Jerusalem under her Messiah, the Branch from the line of David. No more would it be a place of idolatry, rebellion, shame, and the destruction that came from all those. It would be a city and a people who truly found their righteousness in the LORD. i. “Salvation and safety are in store for Judah and Jerusalem because of the presence of justice and righteousness personified. The name given the Messiah in Jeremiah 23:6 is here given to Jerusalem. She can have the same name as the Messiah because she reflects that righteousness the Messiah bestows on her.” (Feinberg) has the Messiah bestowed righteousness on you? ii. “There is, however, no need to allegorize the name of the city as though it were the NT Church. On what grounds could the impartation of such a concept be justified here? Jerusalem will be called by His name because she will partake of His nature, which has been graciously imparted to her.” (Feinberg) has the Messiah imparted righteousness on you? This impartation and bestowing of righteousness in our life cannot be achieved except we are transformed to conform to Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives! The permanent character of God’s covenant: 2. (19-22) The covenant to David is as certain as day and night; 19 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, 20 Thus says the Lord: If you can break My covenant with the day, and My covenant with the night, so that there should not be day and night in their season, 21 Then can also My covenant be broken with David My servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign upon his throne, and [My league be broken also] with the Levitical priests, My ministers. 22 As the host of [the stars of] the heavens cannot be numbered nor the sand of the sea be measured, so will I multiply the offspring of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me. a. If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night: God’s covenant with David –which is the promise to bring the Messiah who will reign from his line as seen in 2 Samuel 7:12-16 – was as certain as the reliability of day and night. And eventually the Messiah came in the Person of Lord Jesus Christ and did exactly all the things He came to do on earth. And will come again to complete it. b. A son to reign on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, My ministers: The promised Messiah would reign on David’s throne, and with many around Him to reign with Him. i. “However prosperous, a people kingless and without a priesthood would consider itself no better than a rabble: so here is the climax of the promise.” (Kidner) ii. “The promised dynasty will be permanent, and will have a succession of levitical priests who will constitute a valid ministry.” (Harrison) iii. These words do not claim a constant reign of David’s line and service of Levitical priests; it claims an unending reign and service of different categories of God’s servants and people. c. So will I multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me: God promised innumerable servants to come alongside of the Messiah to come from David’s line. This is fulfilled in the multitudes who reign with Lord Jesus under the new covenant as seen in Revelation 7:9-10. i. “As for the pledge that David would never lack a man to sit on the throne … of Israel (Jeremiah 33:17, 21a), we can see how profoundly the fulfillment in the person of Christ transcends the expectation (Revelation 11:15; 22:16). The same is true of the promise to the Levitical priests, since all their atoning work was done to perfection and for eternity by Him, and their role in offering ‘the sacrifice of praise’ has been perpetuated and extended in the royal priesthood of believers.” (Kidner) ii. “In our passage, however, the promise contains no hint of the hidden elements in its fulfillment, but (as A. W. Streane puts it) is ‘clothed in a Jewish dress, the only form in which it could present any meaning to those to whom it was delivered’.” (Kidner) iii. “Monarchy and priesthood were the two bases of the OT theocracy. When these appeared to be most in danger of extinction in Jeremiah’s day, we find their continuance couched in sure and irrevocable terms.” (Feinberg)

23 Moreover, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, 24 Have you not noticed that these people [the Jews] are saying, The Lord has cast off the two families [Israel and Judah] which He chose? Thus My people have despised [themselves in relation to God as His covenant people], so that they are no more a nation in their [own] sight. a. The two families which the LORD has chosen, He has also cast them off: The two families are those of the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. There were some (and are some today) who say that though God once chose them, He has now cast them off. b. Thus they have despised My people as if they should no more be a nation before them: God said of those who thought that Israel was cast off from His love or plan that they despised His people and therefore sinned. They denied that Israel continued as a nation, a collective people with whom God had a special plan and purpose, and a nation before them – not only before God, but also before the world. i. In the new covenant, the purpose of God extends far beyond Israel but never forsakes Israel. Those who say God has cast them off and that He is finished with them as a nation commit the great sin of despising His people. 4. (25-26) The promise repeated. 25 Thus says the Lord: If My covenant with day and night does not stand, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of the heavens and the earth [the whole order of nature], 26 Then will I also cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant and will not choose one of his offspring to be ruler over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captivity to be reversed, and I will have mercy, kindness, and steadfast love on and for them. a. If My covenant is not with day and night: For emphasis, God repeated the same figure used in Jeremiah 33:19-21 to communicate the permanence of the covenant. i. “God placed the sun and the moon on the bargaining table. He offered the heavenly bodies as a security deposit for His covenant promise. If God ever fails to provide an eternal King or a permanent priest, then the sun and the moon will be yours to keep!” (Ryken) ii. “Nature will utterly collapse before God will go back on the slightest promise to His people.” (Feinberg) iii. “It should be noted, if only in passing, that these verses form part of the foundation for the modern study of science. They assert that the regularity of day and night is not the product of evolutionary chance. Rather, God has established a covenant with the sun and the moon.” (Ryken) b. Over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: God spoke regarding the genetic descendants of Israel, not only spiritual descendants. Again, the new covenant reaches out to the whole world, not only to Israel; but it does not ignore or set aside Israel. i. “This passage has been a crux interpretum (refers to the crux of the matter or the most difficult point to understand) for expositors. It is especially difficult for those who hold an amillennial position in eschatology. The only resort for them is in allegorization refers to the act of expressing something or interpreting something in the form of an allegory of the text or the use of a dual hermeneutic.” (Feinberg) hermeneutic relates to interpretation, in this case it means, giving things dual interpretations. Here we are referring to those who hold the amillennial position, which is the denial that an earthly millennium of universal righteousness and peace will either precede or follow the second advent of Lord Jesus Christ compare post millennialism, premillennialism. Amillennialism is a chillegoristic eschatological position in Christianity which holds that there will be no millennial reign of the righteous on earth. All of these have to do with belief, this is why as a true Christian, one has to guide the purity of his/her belief in Christ Jesus very well so that nobody corrupts it for you! And you can only be able to do this with a good understanding and embodiment of the Word of God in the Bible.