Tuesday, December 4, 2018
Jeremiah 33:14-15 "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."
THE PROMISED BRANCH OF DAVID (1)
Old Testament believers knew that when the LORD Jehovah God, the Covenant God, said "The days are coming . . ." that wasn't a cross-your-fingers kind of hope. It wasn't a vague expression that the Lord might some day get around to a certain course of action. Far from it. The prophet Jeremiah uses the phrase at least a dozen times in his book, and it always expresses certainty, either of coming judgment or of coming days of deliverance for the exiled believers.
Through the prophet the Lord says: "The days are coming . . . that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah . . ." Note well the word "promise." Jeremiah knew the LORD could be counted on "to perform that good thing" He had promised.
As then, so today. Our gracious, faithful God can be counted on at the beginning of yet another church year! He knows what He has said. He knows what He has committed Himself to on behalf of His people. He will execute and carry out just what He has promised!
And what is "the good thing" He had promised? For centuries God's Old Testament people knew the Lord had promised to send the Savior. They waited for the fulfillment of the Father's promise.
Advent means coming. In the midst of the darkness of this sinful, fallen world, the promised Light of the world would and DID come--a Branch of righteousness from David, of the stem of Jesse!
Behold, a Branch is growing Of loveliest form and grace,
As prophets sung foreknowing;
It springs from Jesse's race And bears one little Flow'r
In midst of coldest winter, At deepest midnight hour.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 645:1)
