Jeremiah 33

Jeremiah 33:1

Jeremiah is still in jail, you see.

Jeremiah 33:2

This last verse I have heard quoted frequently at testimony meetings. It is a very wonderful verse, but I think it is more meaningful if it is remembered in the context of this chapter. Despite the fact that he is in prison, this man was told by God to buy a piece of real estate. Jeremiah acted by faith and bought the real estate, but he has a great many questions in his mind. Why was God permitting Judah to go into captivity? Frankly, I think it is an example of great faith when a believer has these moments of doubt.

Someone will ask how that can be. My friend, if you are walking with God and are in fellowship with Him, He is so wonderful and He does such wonderful things that there will be times when you do not understand what He is doing. Our question is bound to be, “Why are You doing this?” Don’t you have questions like that? I have had questions like that. I remember one evening going to the hospital to see my wife and our firstborn baby. The nurse said to me, “The doctor wants to speak to you,” and she looked very serious. The doctor said to me, “The little baby died.” He hadn’t told my wife, so he and I went in and told her and we wept together. I walked out (I never shall forget) to an open-air porch there at the hospital. It was summertime, and I looked up at the heavens and the stars.

I had a question. Do you know what that question was? Why? Why? I still look up and ask that same question. Over the years I have learned to put my hand in His and just keep walking in the dark.

Many times I talk this over with Him, and I tell Him about my doubts, but I also tell Him that I trust Him. I’m glad that Jeremiah was that kind of a man. And there are other men in Scripture who also had questions they asked God. In the Book of Habakkuk, we find that Habakkuk had a lot of questions. In fact, his book is just a great big “WHY?” Jonah also had some questions to ask the Lord. My friend, such questions are not a revelation of a lack of faith, but it is hypocrisy to pretend that we have accepted God’s ways and are walking in complete submission to Him when actually we are having questions deep inside.

I believe that God wants us to be completely honest with Him above everything else. And this is His promise to us: “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” Now God is going to reaffirm the covenant He made with David in 2 Samuel 7. He made a covenant with David that there would be one to sit on his throne forever. This covenant became the theme song of every prophet, so much so that they all sound like a stuck record. They all refer back to this covenant and rest upon it. Listen to Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 33:14

“In those days” refers to the day which is coming, the Day of the Lord. “The Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David.” There hasn’t been a righteous branch so far except One, the One who was born in Bethlehem. “He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.” We haven’t had any ruler like that yet.

Jeremiah 33:16

“The LORD our righteousness” in the Hebrew is Jehovah-tsidkenu. If you and I have any righteousness it is in Jesus Christ. He is our righteousness.

Jeremiah 33:17

Where do you think this man is today? There is not an Israelite on topside of the earth who can make the claim to David’s throne. The One who has that claim is sitting at God’s right hand as the psalmist explained: “The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool” (Psa_110:1). God is busy calling out a people to His name, getting things ready to put His Son on the throne of this universe.

Jeremiah 33:19

At the time this prophecy was given, Zedekiah was on the throne of Judah. He was as corrupt as any man ever was. Nebuchadnezzar will put out his eyes and carry him into captivity. You would think that this would put an end to the line of David. It would end the line of any other nation, I can assure you. There is no one around to claim the throne of the king of Babylon. There is no one to take Alexander the Great’s place. There is no pharaoh in Egypt today. But there is One in David’s line who can claim his throne. God says that He intends to put Him on the throne of this universe someday. This is a great prophecy and one which is very difficult to ignore or to spiritualize. I think God means exactly what He says.