1988 issue 2 - jeremiah: judgment and restoration, part iii - counsel of chalcedon

8/12/2019 1988 Issue 2 - Jeremiah: Judgment and Restoration, Part III - Counsel of Chalcedon

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ible Study

eremiah

Judgment and Restoration

by Joe Morecraft, III

Part III: Introduction

The Christ of Jeremiah

I. THE PROMISE OF THE

THRONE OF GOD (3:14-18)

The Lord of the Covenant graciously

calls his apostate people to himself in

repentance, 3:14. He still loves them as

a father, seeing that he calls them,

sons, although they were unworthy of

the name. Moreover God reminds them

that he is their Husband, ( master to

you ). His bride has committed spiri

tual adultery, but still he calls her back

to himself and to their marriage. In

order to stimulate his people to return

to him, God through the mouth of Jere

miah makes some rich promises that

would be fulfilled in those days,

(3:16,18, and at that time in verse

17), i.e., in the days

of

the longawaited

Messiah. We know that these phrases

and others similar to them, (such as in

the latter days, 30:24 and the days are

coming, 31:27,31), have the Mes

sianic Age, beginning with the birth

of

Christ, in view, because the New Cove-

. nant

of

Jeremiah 31:3lf. is introduced

with . the words: Behold, days are

coming....

nd

in 31:33 we

re

told

that this covenant is made after those

days. Hebrews 8:8-12 and 10:1518,

which quotes Jeremiah 31:31f., clearly

refers

it

to Christ and to the Messianic

age, commencing two thousand years

ago.

The Promise of a Faithful

Shepherd (3:15)

Parallel passages, (II Sam. 5:2; Ho

sea 3:5; and Ezekiel 34:23) teach us

that the meaning of this messianic pro

phecy is that the succession

of

godly

shepherd ruler pastor. eachers, which

were absent in Judah, during Jeremiah's

day, 2:8,26, would be restored and cul

minated

in

that great Shepherd

of

the

sheep, the Lord Jesus Christ Jesus iden

tified himself as the fulfillment of this

promise in John 10:14, when he said:

I am the good shepherd.

In

contrast to

Judah's unfaithful prophets, priests,

kings, and princes, Jesus, the Messiah,

will be a shepherd after God's own

heart, who will nouris.h and guide his

people as the source

of

wisdom and

knowledge, which are bestowed upon a

lif

in living communion with the

Lord, Deut. 4:6; 29:8.

The Promise of Multiplica

tion (3:16a)

Here God promises to increase vastly

the number

of

His people, which have

been thinned

by

his judgments. The

promise of numerical multiplication

of

the people

of

God and numerical in

crease

of

God's church

is

a characteristic

trait

of

messianic prophecy and

of

cove

nant hope: Gen. 15:56; 17:2; 28:14;

Jer. 23:3; Ezek. 36:11; Hos. 1:10;

2:23. The point is that during the

sianic age, the true people of God will

greatly multiply so that their numbers

will become greater than the stars of the

sky and the sand on the seashore.

We

see this beginning to come true in the

book

of

Acts, 1:15; 4:4; 2:41.

The Promise of the Absence

of the rk

of

the Covenant

(3:16b)

Jeremiah prophesies of a time

wh

en

the ark of the covenant will no longer

exist, when people shall no l o

nger

miss

it. The ark was prominent in the wor

ship of the Old Testament The prophe

cy that

it

would disappear was quite

shocking; but the prophecy that no one

would long

for

its restoration was even

more shocking.

The ark of the covenant was the only

piece of furniture in the second room

of

the Tabernacle, behind the veil, called

the Holy of Holies. The ark was a chest

made of

acacia

wood

of precise dimen

sions, overlaid with gold inside and out

with a crown of gold about t It had

gold rings at the comers, so

it

could be

carried. On top was a mercy-seat

of

gold, with two winged cherubim

of

gold over-arching

it.

It contained the tab

lets

of

stone, the

pot

of

manna, and

Aaron's

rod

that budded.

t

was a pledge

and guarantee

of

Jehovah 's special favor

and presence; the supreme place

of

di-

vine revelation; the

symb

ol of God's

rule over Israel; and, as a mercy-seat

or

propitiatory, was the place of

atonement of sin, I Sam. 4:1-11; 5:16;

7:1-14; Jer. 3:16f. The ark teaches us

that the goal of atonement, of redemp

tion, is the rule of God over a kingdom

wholly subject

to

the law of the cove

nant, joyfully so. -Rushdoony

Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the

ark

of

the covenant, Hebrews 9:11f. He

is our

ark

of the covenant in that he is

the sign and guarantee and dwelling

place of the very presence of God with

his people, Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:23. More

over,

in

a very real sense, the Church

of

Christ is the ark

of

the covenant, for

it

is a redemptive body with covenant law

written (deposited) in our hearts, the pil

lar

of

the truth, the dwelling place of

the Lord, and the symbol and instru

ment of God's covenantsovereignty.

This is what Jeremiah is referring to

when

he

says that the literal ark

of

the

covenant will disappear and

no

one will

long for its return--its fulfillment in

Christ is far more satisfying. He brings

God's presence near.

He

reveals God's

will to us. He fully atoned for sin. He

rules over all.

E.W. Hengstenberg, in his great

book,

Christology in the Old Testa

The Counsel of Cbalcedon, February, 988 Page

15


2/5

ment

made some insightful remarks on

this prophecy. The following is an' ex

t e n d e ~

quotation:

In

the ark

of

the covenant God "gave

them (his people) not a symbolical re

presentation merely, but an embodi

ment

of

the idea, so that they who

wished

to

seek Him the God

of

Israel, could find Him

in

the temple,

and over the ark of the coveD.anr.only.

T h e r ~ was in this no partial favor for

Israel, nothing from which careless sin

.ners could derive comfort. God's dwel

ling among Israel rested

on

his holy

Law.

A c ~ o r d i n g

as the covenant is

kept

or not, and the law is observed or not,

it manifests itself by increased blessing,

or by severer punishment. f the cove

nant be entirely broken, the conse

quence i ~ that God

e ~ v e s

his dwelling,

and it

is

only the curse which remains,

and which is greater than the curse in

flicted upon those .among whoin he

never dwelt, and whiqh, by its great

ness, indicates the greatness

of

the for

mer grace. Now, i f this be the case with

the ark

of

the covenant;

if it

be the sub

stance and center

of

the whole former

dispensation, what, and how much

would not fall along with

it,

i f

t fell;

and how infinitely great muSt

the com

pensation be which was to be granted

for it,

if

in consequence

of

it, no.desire

and longing after it .was to rise at all.

.

.."Without the ark

of

the covenant--no

temple,

II

Chron.

8: 11.

Without ark

of

the covenant, no priesthood;

for

what is

the use of servants when there is no

Lordpresent?Withouttemple and priest

hoOd, no sacrifice. We have thus.before

us the announcement

of

the entire des

truction

of

the previous form

of

the

kingdom

of

G


3/5

God's people by their leaders, God re

veals is mercy for them by promising

his faithful people a blessed future un

der a kingly Messiah. He promises

them that they will be restored to their

own land, under the Messiah's rule and

protection,

so

that their safety would be

secure and permanent,

not

temporary.

This would take place with the restora

tion of the church in Christ

In these verses God calls attention to

the promised Messiah to remind them

that there is no hope of salvation pos

sible except through the Mediator sent

from God and that they were not wise

or knowledgeable unless they turned the

concentration

of

their minds upon him.

Without Christ God will not be a

Father

or

a Savior to men. And without

Christ, the Jewish people cannot hope

for the fulfillment

of

the promises

of

salvation.

The Promise of Regathering

2 3 : 3 - 4 ~

7-8)

God promises that he personally will

re-gather the remnant of his people

back to himself and to covenant life. He

shall re-gather them from

ll

over the

world. Andwhen they are back in God's

pasture : (1). they will be fruitful and

increase, in fulfillment of the Abraham

ic Covenant; (2). they will be governed

and provided for by the Good Shepherd

himself, the Messiah, instead

of

the

ungodly leadership

of

the day. This is

the True Shepherd promised by God in

Jeremiah 3:4-8. (3). They will

e

safe

and secure under the Messiah's care.

And (4). the promised land, (extended to

include the whole earth according to

Matt. 5:5; Rom. 4:13; and I Cor. 3:21-

23) will be theirs

to

enjoy and to build

a God-honoring culture.

This re-gathering, this second Exo

dus, will be so remarkable that it will

make the first Exodus

of

Moses' day

pale into insignificance in comparison,

23:7. The ultimate restoration and re

gathering

of

God's people in Christ was

promised

by

Moses in Deuteronomy

30:1-10. Moses promises that beyond

the Exile lay the promise of restoration.

In Deuteronomy 28:64ff., Moses des

cribes the hopelessness

of

unbelieving

Israelites in their dispersion throughout

the earth. In Deuteronomy 30 Moses

looks beyond their dispersion to a new

gathering, a (re)New(ed) covenant in

Christ. The hope of Moses and Jere

miah was that the Jews and Gentiles

would be restored to the covenant Lord

in his Kingdom (Theocracy). This is

fulfilled in Christ and his kingdom.

Meredith Kline has written: As the

development of this theme in the pro

phets shows, the renewal and restora

tion which Moses foretells is that ac

complished by Christ in the New Cove

nant

The prophecy is

not

narrowly

concerned with ethnic Jews but with the

covenant community, here concretely

denoted in its Old Testament identity

as

Israel. Within the sphere of the New

Covenant, however, the wall

of

ethnic

distinctions disappears. Accordingly,

the Old Testament figure used here

of

exiled Israelites being regathered to

Yahweh in Jerusalem, vv. 3,4; 28:64,

rmds

its chief fulfillment in the univer

sal New Testament gathering of sinners

outof

the human race, exiled from Para

dise, back

to

the Lord Christ enthroned

in

the heavenly Jerusalem.

E.W. Hengstenberg makes this help

ful comment: How indeed could

t be

said

of

the bodily bringing back from

the captivity, that

it

would far outshine

the former deliverance from Egypt, and

would cause it

to

be altogether forgot

ten? The correct view was stated as

a r ~

ly as by Calvin, who says: 'There

is

no

doubt that the prophet has in view, in

the first instance, the free return of the

people; but Christ must not be sepa

rated from this blessing of the deliver

ance, for, otherwise, t

would be diffi

cult to show the fulfillment

of

this pro

phecy.' The right of thus assuming a

concurrent reference to Christ is afforded

to us by the circumstance, that Canaan

had such a high value for Israel, not

because

it

was its fatherland in the

lower sense, but because it was the land

of God, the place where his glory dwelt.

From this

it

follows that a bodily

return was to the covenant-people of

value, in so far only as God manifested

himself as the God

of

the land. And

since, before Christ, this was done in a

manner very imperfect,

as

compared

with what was implied in the idea, the

value of such a return could not be

otherwise than very subordinate. And,

in like manner,

it

follows from it, that

the gathering and bringing back by

Christ is included in the promise. For

wherever God is, there is Canaan.

The Promise

of

the Righteous

Sprout of David (23:5-6; 33:15)

All

of

these great promises center

around the greater promise

of

the com

ing of a Messiah, in fulfillment of the

Davidic Covenant, who would bring all

of

them

to

certain realization. 23:5-6

tell us

of

this Messiah's person, reign

and accomplishments.

First, concerning his person. He

would be raised up

by

God from the

descendents

of

King David. He, who

would be a kingly Messiah, was fully a

human being. He was a sprout grow

ing out

of

the stump

of

the fallen dynas

ty

of

David. He was a fresh growth

from the seemingly dead root

of

the

house

of

David, growing

by

the ornni-

potence

of

the covenant Lord into a new

tree,

a

family tree with innumerable

branches and leaves. Furthermore, this

human Messiah will be a thoroughly

righteous person. His character was in

perfect conformity to the holy character

of God

himself. Righteousness was

(and is)

of

his very essence, his nature,

his

being.

The Messiah was not only fully hu

man, according to

our

passage, he was

truly God. In verse 6 he is called Je

hovah, meaning he was fully and truly

Almighty God, the God

of

Abraham,

Moses and Jeremiah in human flesh.

This divine-human Messiah would be

the direct fulfillment

of

the Davidic

Covenant. (See my paper on Jeremiah

and the Covenants

of

Promise ) [In

next month's issue -Editor]

Second, concerning the Messiah's

reign. This Messiah would be a mighty

King, whose reign would be character

ised by wisdom, justice and righteous

ness, 23:5. His kingdom will reflect his

character--it will be a living, life-pro

ducing kingdom that will never perish.

Because the King is God, he knows

fully the will of God; so he is able to

carry out God's plan

of

.salvation to

successful completion. He also knows

The

ouusel

of Chalcedonr February,

988

Page 17


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the s c h e ~ e s of. ~ l i s m i e s so

krtows

how to

utterly

defeat

thein.

He not only

righteous himself; s

King he will execute or establish : a

new norm

of

,righteousness, by which

his

people

will be governed.

It

is a

norm

that

is

established by the righ-

teous King,

and

a

righteousness ,that

this righteous King, whose righteoUs- '

ness is

that

o ehovah, acknowledges

as

an

all-suffiCient righteousne,ss,

wtote Laetsch. The present state of dis-

9rder

and injustice will be replaced

by

a

' new order o righteousness Under

the

kingly Messiah.

This reign

of

righteousness will se-

.

cure tbe eternal salvation

of

all

of

God's

people, 23:6. And this salvation shall

be accomplished

by

him

who will be

called, The Lord our Righteousness,''

23:6 .

Careful note should

be

made

of

the

manner

in which this

name

is in

troduced:

And

this is his name

by

wltich he will be called, 'The Lord our

Righteousness.

'

Name

.is

not a mere

labelor tag. Rather

it

denotes the very

nature,

e s s e n c ~ anc;l

being

of him

who is

the Sprout

of

David.

And

God ex-

presses.his sovere]gn will that .

all hu

manity should know this messianic

Sprout by that .God-giV,eri mune

which describes to us . his innermost

essence, as God hin)selfunderstand(

t

Jehovah our i g h t e o ~ s n e s (Yahweh

tsidk.enu in Hebrew).

'

ls

nail)e. l l ~ a n s ,

Jehovah is the vindication o'f

our

right,

or

Jehovah is .our .Justice,

ferring to

his

.saving .PreSence.

and

sav

ing activity.

He is

'

the

ODe by

whom

and under whom Jehovah will be

our

righteousness; and that divine righteous

ness is

our

a l v a t i o n

In this title, the ttue charaCter of

Christ is revealed,

not

just

in

oo:leJ:

to

manifest the divine character,

but to

bring that righteousness to us which is

able

to

secure our salvation. God in

Christ

is

righteous,

b u ~ i f

we

are

to

be

saved, his righteousness

must

lxlcome

our

righteousness, in

some

way, Im-

puted to us, i f we are to be accepted by

him. If,

then,

we

desire to have God as

our righteousness we

must seek

christ;

fot this cannot be found except

in

him.

The righteousness of God has been

set

forth for us in Christ;

and

all who turn

away

from

him, though they may take

'

'

many circuitous courses, can yet never

fmd

the

righteousness' of God, wrote

John Calvin.

Jeremiah anticipated Paul's gospel

of

justification by faith, that sinners are

received by God as righteous

thrOugh

faith

in

die

Messiah Jesus; because

Jehovah imputes his righteousness to

them, charging his righteousness to

their empty account, exchanging olir

demerits for is merits. To be accepted

with the holy God, sinner.s mus t have a

righteousness that is as holy

as

God's

righteousness. Sinners cannot produce

it, but in the gospel of Christ, God be

stows what

he

himself demands through

faith

in

Jesus. For I am not ashamed

of the gospel, for

it

iS the power of God

for salvation

to

everyone who believes.

. .

For

in

it

the righteousness

of

God

is revealed from faith

to

faith; as it is

written: 'But the righteous man shall

live

by

faith,' Romans 1:16-17. But

now apart from the Law the righteous

ness

of

God has been manifested, being .

witnessed

by

the

Law

and the Prophets,

even the righteousness

of

God through

faith in Jesus Christ for all those who

believe

. . . .

Romans 3:21f. He

(Jehovah) made Him (Jesus) who knew

no sin

to

be sin

on

our behalf, that we

might become the righteousness of God

in

him. Corinthians 5:21.

The Additions of

Jeremiah

33:14-18

Basically this passage is a

reaffll111a

tion of the Messianic promise of Jere

miah 23:1-8 .

God

promises to be faith

ful to his people by sending them a

kingly, divine-human Messiah who.

will

save

them

by

establishing judg

ment

and

righteousness in the earth.

the

Psalmist says that Righteous

ness and judgmentare the foundation of

His Throne, (89:14; 97:2). And the

Strength

of

the King loves judgment;

thou hast

established equity; Thou hast

executed judgment

and

righteousness in

Jacob, (99:4). But the Lord abides for

ever;

He

has established His Throne for

judgment, and He will judge the world

in righteousness.

;,

(9:7-8) .

. To

say that

the Messiah is righteous

is to

say that he never acts out

of

aecord

with

his

holy character. He always act

in strict adherence to his own character,

therefore he is always tnistworthy and

reliable--The Lord is righteous in all

His

ways, (Psa.145:17).

To

say tha

he will establish righteousness and judg

ment

in the earth is to say that

he wil

govern men and nations, ruling o er

them, judging them, discriminating fair

ly between them,

and

maintaining

his

covenant, always in accordance with his

character as revealed in his word. Judg

ment is the process-whereby the Mes-

siah discerns between

right

and wrbn

g

and takes action as a result. He

see

ks

out the wrongdoer to punish him and

the

righteous

to

. vindicate his c a u s e

Judgment, then, is divine discrimina

tion plus vindication which lead to the

destruction

of

the wicked and the de

liverance

of

the righteous,

t

10:18

Ps. 25:9. The Messiah's righteous judg

ment is the outworking of his mercy

and

his anger fOr the salvation

of

ltis

people. It creates a pr

oc

ess that tries and

sifts men. t separates the righteous

from

the wicked. Psa. 90:13. They

that take the gospel to themselves

m u ~ t

either

live by the glory of the gospel Q

perish beneath the ju dgment

of

the

gospel. -Casserley. The message .o,f

Jesus is not only a proclamation of sal

vation, but also the announcement

of

j

udginent, a cry .

of

warning, and a cal

to.

repentance in view of the terrible ur

gency

of

the crisis. -Jeremias.

Jeremiah .33:17-18 reveal that in this

Davidic Messiah, God's people wil

have an eternal king

to rule

over them

lead them and protect them; and an eter

nal priest, who will make a pentUlnen

atonement for their sins, and who ~ i l

contiriually intercede for them VitP

God. The book ofHebrews clearly iden

tifies Jesus as this perpetUat priest, fa

superior

to the

Levites, 7:1-28_ lt i

absolutely certain that this ~ p r i

ly

Messiah will c

ome

and briilg salva

tion, because the covenant-faithfulness

of God

guarantees it, 33:19-22

Through Him, Jehovah will

c e ~ l y

resto

re

their (his people) fortunes and

will have mercy on them. 33:26 Th

divi ne mercy will reverse all the devasta

tions

of the

past and

revive the des

troyed institutions in a new age when

Page 18 .... The Counsel of Cbalcedon, February,

1988


5/5

the seed

of

Abraha.m, Isaac, and Jacob

will enjoy all the expectations ever

entertained for the nation. Only in

Yahweh's mercy could that happen." -

R. Carroll.

The most significant difference be

tween

the prophecy of 23

:

1-8 and that

of

33:14-26

is

the identity

of

the one

called, "The Lord our Righteousness. In

23:6 it is the d i v i n ~ ~ } l u m n Messiah

himself that bears that name. But in

33:16 it is a different matter. There we

read: "In those days Judah shall be

saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell in

safety; and this is the name by which

SHE shall

be

called: the Lord is our

righteousness." What a glorious and

heart-satisfying statement. The people

of

God are given the name of their Lord

and Savior. We are called "the Lord our

righteousness " How can this be? God

is the uncreated Reality and we are

created reality. The distinction between

Creatorand creature is unequivocal. And

yet this verse (33:16) stands. What does

it mean? We will let Theo. Laetsch

answer: "This does not mean that the

Church will be essentially Jehovah,

equal

to

God. She shall be called, one

shall give her the name Jehovah,

because she is Christ's, Jehovah's, .

spouse, one with Him in mystical

union. The Chureh is 'our righteous-

ness' because only through the Church .

do we obtain the righteousness

of

Christ by means

of

the Gospel the

Church preaches. If Christ is our righ

teousness, then the Church, one with

Christ,

is

our righteousness."

The

Scottish preacher

of

the last cen

tury, Robert Murray McCheyne, wrote

a moving poem on the phrase "the Lord

our Righteousness," which

in

Hebrew

is

"Jehovah

Tsidk:enu.

I once was stranger

to grace and to God,

I

knew

not my danger,

and

felt not my load;

Though

friends

spoke

in

rapture

of Christ on the tree

Jehovah Tsidkenu

was nothing to me.

I oft read with pleasure,

to ~ t h or engage,

STUDIES IN BIBLICAL DO TRINE

What is Calvinism

or

the Confession

of

Faith

in

Harmony

with the

Bible

and

Common

Sense

n

a series of dialogues between a Presbyterian

minister and a young convert

by

William

D. Smith, D.D.

DIALOGUE XIII

Sinless Perfection

Minister. The

doctrine we proposed

to examine this evening, viz: Whether

any one in this life ever attains to abso

lute sinless perfection is thus plainly ex

pressed in our Confession of Faith: 'No

mere man since the fall, is able in

this

life perfectly to keep the command

ments of God, but doth daily break

them, in thought, word, and deed."-

Shorter Catechism, Ans. to Qu.

82.

I

need not stay to prove, that "the com-

Isaiah's wild me sure '

and John's simple page;

"But e'en when they pictured

the blood-sprinkled tree

Jehovah Tsidkenu--

'twas nothing to

me.

Like tears from the daughters

of Zion that roll,

I wept when

the

waters

went over His soul;

Yet thought not that my sins

had nailed

to

the tree

Jehovah Tsidkenu-

'twas nothing to me.

When

free grace

awoke me,

by light from on high,

Then legal fears shook me,

I trembled to die;

No refuge, no safety

in self could I see-

Jehovah Tsidkenu

my Savior must be.

My terrors all vanished

before the sweet name;

mandments of God" are our standard

of holiness, and anything that comes

short of a perfect fulfilment

of

all their

requirements, in

all

respects, is not per

fect obedience. And we not only sin in .

every positive violation

of

the law, but

also in every want of perfect conformity .

to all its holy requirements. Gal. Ill; 10-

"Cursed is every one that continueth

not in all things which are written in

the book of the law to do them. ' It is a

plain dictate

of

common sense,

as

well

(Continuedon page 23)

My guilty fears banished,

with boldness I came

To drink at the foontaiil,

life-giving and

f r e e ~ -

Jehovah Tsidkenu

is all things to me.

Jehovah Tsidkenu

my

treasureand boast,

Jehov3h

Tsidkenu

I ne'er can be lost;

In thee I shall conquer

by flood and by field-

My cable, my anchor,

I

my breastplate and

s h i ~ l d

, .

Even treading the valley,

t,he shadow of death,

This 'watchword' shall rally

my faltering breath;

For while from life's fever

my

God sets

me free

Jehovah Tsidkenu

my

death-song shall be.

written

November 18, 1834

0

Counsel of Chalcedou, Februar,I, 1988 ...;._..;.......:.... .:.. Page 19

1988 issue 2 - jeremiah: judgment and restoration, part iii - counsel of chalcedon

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