1989 Issue 9 - Jeremiah: Judgment and Restoration, Part XVI - Counsel of Chalcedon

8/12/2019 1989 Issue 9 - Jeremiah: Judgment and Restoration, Part XVI - Counsel of Chalcedon

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I.

(21:1-10) The Judgment .

or

King Zedekiah

A.

King Zedekiah was the

last

king

of

Judah,

597-586,

B.C. His adminis

tration was evil, for he continued the

traditions of the wicked kings,

II

Kings

24:17-25:7. He

was ambivalent toward

Jeremiah's preaching. Frequently

he

would

go

to Jeremiah for counsel,

but

when

it

was received,

he

would reject it,

i f he did

not

like it.

B. This time

he

asks Jeremiah

if

God

will intervene and rescue Judah

from

the

imminent invasion of Baby

lon.

C. God's answer through his pro

phet destroyed all hope.

GOd

himself

will destroy Judah by means of Baby

lon, with irresistible force.

0. 'Yahweh had abandoned his peo

ple because of their infidelity and dis

loyalty and therefore Jerusalem's

down-

fall was inevitable. When Jeremiah

counseled surrender he called for the na

tion

to

accept God's judgment, which

was the first step toward future re

newal. -

Thompson

IT.

(21:11-22:9) The Judgment

of

the Political Establishment

. '

A. The Cause of Judgment: The

Failure of Judah's Political Lea9-ership.

1. Thefundamentalresponsiblili

ty

of

the civil magistrate is to

admin

ister

justice, 21: 12; 22:3.

The head

of state is

to be the guardian of

justice

as dermed

by Jehovah.

The essence of his authority and func-

tion is faithfulness to

God's

covenant,

Dent. 17:14-20.

Failure to

that

covenant results in divine judg

ment,

21:14;

Psa.

132:12.

The head

of

state is

as

obligated to fulfill the de

mands

of

the Mosaic covenant

as are

the people, (Compare

22:3

and Exod.

22:21-26; 23:9;

Lev.

19:33-34;

Deut.

10:18-19; 24:17.)

2. (22:3)

The civil government

is to administer (mispat) judgment and

sedek) justice or righteousness. The

O.T. constantly

links

these two words.

Sedek has reference to conformity

to

God's revealed standards of right and

wrong, which reflect his holy character.

Mispat has reference to

the application

and vindication of these biblical stand

ards leading to .the

actual

discrimination

against and punishment

of

evil and the

deliverance and protection

of

good

people.

3. (22:3) It

is only as God's

revealed justice and biblical law are

~ n i s t e r e d

by

the civil government

that social justice and the general wel

fare of all the citizens, both weak artd

strong, are promoted,

E ~ o d 22i21.:.26;

23:9;

Lev.

19:33-34;

Deul

10:18-19;

24:17.

For

documentation

on

a modern

example of the dismal failure.

of

the

American political establishment to pro

mote the general welfare of its citizens,

b ~ c u s e

it has abandoned biblical jus

tice; see Walter Williams' The State

Against Blacks,'

1

and Charles Murray's

Losing Ground.

B. The ResultS of Political Aposta

sy: Severe Judgment

The Counsel of Chalcedon

November

1989

page 14

l God deals with apostate lead

ers with true and inflexible justice;

21:14.

He will

~ s t r a y

them and theii

soc1ettes with unquenchable fue,

21:12,14; 22:5,6,7.

2, Because leaders and people

transgressed God's covenant and

p r ~

strated themselves before other gods,

22:8-9,

God

himself will abandon

anci

destroy them. All their military (and

otherwise) attempts to defend

n d p r o ~

teet themSelves will be to no avail. Be

cause. they pay homage to and serve

another lawgiver and king than

Jehovah, they must suffer the conse

quences and

be

severely and sternly

judged.

i l l

(22:10-12) The Judgment of

King Jehoahaz (Shallum)

A.

King Jehoahaz reigned for

three

months

in 607,

B.C., succeeding his

father, Josiah. His administration

waS

an evil one,

II

Kings

23:32.

He was

dominated by Egypt, II Kings

23:33.

B. Jehoahaz was dragged away to

Egypt in

chains. Tears of p ty should

be shed for

him,

whom God judged

with slavery, instead

of

the dead

King

Josiah, . who was a courageous and

honorable hero

of

Judah.

IV. (22:13-19) The Judgment of

King Jehoiakim

A. King Jehoialdm's administration

was also

n

evil one,

n

Kings

23:34

24:7.

He succeeded Jehoahaz and

reigned from

607

to

597,

B.C. He

harassed Jeremiah, killed .Uriah and

shredded the scroll

of

God.

He

was

dominated by Egypt and by Babylon,

B.

(22:13-17) God

condemns him

here for his injustice, avarice, and

tyran{ly. He WaS without rnispat

or

sedek, vs.

13.

He built luxurious

.buildings for himself by requiring his

fellows to labor without pay. Note

that the king and citizens are fellows,

emphasizing a democratic relationship

b ~ t W e e n leaders and people. The free-

dom and rights

of

the individual

Israelite were supposed to be guarded by

the king as well s by

his

subjects. -

Thompson

C.

(22:16-17)

Jeremiah calls

uPn

Jehoiakim to follow Josiah's example.

He

took

his God-given obligations ati a

political leader seriously. He

dispensed


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justice for

the

poor and the needy. his

makes it obvious that Josiah "knew"

Jehovah in the fullest sense--he had en

tered into "a deep relationship ofperson

al commitment, which involved a con

cern to obey the stipulations of the

covenant" -- Thompson

D. (22:18-19) Jeremiah announces a

terrible judgment on

Jehoiakim because

of

his failure

as

a leader to represent the

will and covenant of

Jehovah. In fact,

Jeremiah condemned Jehoiakim more

severely than any other king

It

should

also be noted that J ehoiakim's life was

marked by a great hostility toward

anci

resistance to prophetic preaching

V.

22:20-23)

The Judgment

of

Jerusalem

A.

Jerusalem is ordered to bewail

her

doom far and wide.

Her

"lovers,"

i.e.,

her

political allies

in

which she

trusted, rather than trusting in God, are

broken. Because she has throughout

her history refused to listen to the

preaching

of

God's prophets, she was

deserted, isolated and alone.

B. Because leaders and people re

fused to obey the Lord, it was only a

mattter

of

time before judgment would

come.

C. "Lebanon" is used for Jerusalem

because there were large amounts

of

cedars from Lebanon used

in

building

the massive palaces and governmental

buildings. Jerusalem could be

called

a

little Lebanon.

VI. (22:24-30) The Judgment

of

King Jehoiakin (Coniah)

A. King Jehoiakin followed

Jehoiakim and reigned for three months

and ten days in 597, B.C., II Kings

24:6-16. His administration was also

an evil one, II Kings 24:9. During his

reign Jerusalem was besieged and the

frrst deportation to Babylon took place.

B

Because he too failed to do the

will of God, God removed him from

office, sent h im into slavery and exile,

rendered

him

a useless, broken clay

pot,

and ruined his future by not allowing

him to have an heir to sit on David's

throne.

C (22:24) Political leaders are

to

be

"signet rings on God's right hand." A

signet ring was used to impress the

owner's signature on a

document

Civil

officials are to regard themselves as

Jehovah's official representatives.

If

they reject that function,

God

will break

them and those who follow them.

D. (22:29) "An important part

of

any man's basic security was to live in

his own land. A land and a people be

longed together. Any separation of the

two was a disaster. A land needs a

people and a people needs a land." -

-Thompson

VII. (23:18) The Promise of

a True Messianic King

A. (23:1-2) The Failure

of

Judah's

Leadership

In 23:1-2, God denounces the

leadership

of

Judah for neglecting their

duties, and by their rebellion against

Jehovah, for scattering the flock

of

Israel, which belonged to Jehovah, and

which had been committed to their

charge. God declares his intent to judge

them severely for their failure to lead

properly. At the same time,

God

re

veals his love for his misguided people

by referring to them as "the sheep

of

my pasture," and "my people," and "my

flock." Yet, God clearly says that this

scattering

of

the flock of which the

ungodly leaders were guilty was also

the disciplinary action of

God

on his

people for their apostasy--"

myself

shall gather the remnant of my

flock...whither I have scattered

them ..."

(23:3).

In these verses God's

sovereignty and human responsibility

are brought together; and his justice and

his love also.

Against this backdrop

of

the abuse

of

God's people by their leaders, God

reveals his mercy for them by pro

mising his faithful people a blessed

future under a kingly Messiah. He pro

mises 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 restoration 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

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.

B. (23:3-4,7-8) The Promise

of

Regathering

God

promises that he personally

will regather "the remnant"

of

his

people back to

himself and

to

covenant

life. He shall regather

them

from all

over the world. And when they are

back

in God's pasture:

(1)

they will be

fruitful and increase, in fulfillment of

the Abrahamic Covenant;

2)

they will

be governed and provided for by the

Good Shepherd himself, the Messiah,

instead of by the ungodly leadership of

the day.

This is

the True Shepherd

promised in Jeremiah 3:4-8. (3) they

will be safe and secure under the

Messiah's care.

And

4)

the promised

land will be theirs to enjoy, on which

they could build a God-honoring

civilization.

The N.T. extends this land

promise to embrace the whole earth,

Mat.

: ;

Rom. 4:13;

I

Cor. 3:21-23.

This regathering, this second

Exodus, will be so remarkable that

it

will make the first Exodus

of

Moses'

day pale into insignificance

in

compari

son, 23

:7

.

The

ultimate restoration and

regathering of God's people

in

Christ

was promised by Moses in Deuterono

my 30:1-10. Moses promised that

beyond the

Exile

lay the promise

of

restoration.

In

Deuteronomy 28:64ff,

he described the hopelessness of un

blieving Israelites in their dispersion

throughout the earth. In Deuteronomy

30

he 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 un

der the New Covenant

Meredith Kline has written: "As

the development of this theme in the

prophets shows, the renewal and

re

stora

tion which Moses foretells is that

accomplished

by

Christ in the New

Covenant. The prophecy is

not

narrow

ly concerned with ethinic Jews

but

with

the covenant community, here concrete

ly denoted in

its Old Testament identity

as Israel. Within the sphere

of

the New

Covenant, however, the wall of ethnic

The Counsel of Chalcedon

November 1989.

page 15


3/4

distinctions disappears. Accordingly,

the Old Testament

figure

used here of

exiled Israelites

beirtg

regathered to

Yahweh in Jerusalem,

vv..

3,4: 28:

64

,'

f'mds its chief fulfillment . in . the

universal New Testament gathering of

sinners out

of

the human race, exiled

from Paradise, back to the Lord Christ

enthroned

in

the heavenly Jerusalem.

E.W. Hengstenberg inakes .

this.

helpful comment: How indeed could it

be said of the . bodily bringing .back

from the captivity, that it would far

outshine the fanner deliverance from

Egypt. and -would cause - it -to be

altogether forgotten? The correet view

was stated as early

as

by Calvin, who

says: 'There is no doubt that the pro

phet has in view, in the first instance,

the free return of

the

people; but

Christ

must riot be separated from this b l e s s ~

ing

of

the deliverance, for, otherwise, It

would be difficult to show the ful

fillment of this prophecy.' The right of

thus assuming a concurrent reference to

Christ is afforded

to

us by the circum

stance, that caiiaan had such a high

value fat 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. Aild 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

l; :ringing

back by Christ.is .'included in

the promise.

For

wher.eevei"-GOd

is, there is canaan.

. The fact that u passage

lh

1e.remiah mentions a uremnarit" -to be

regathered, is to teach

us

that divine

mercy will be accompanied with jus

tice. As John Calvin

wrote:

Mercy

shall not .be exercised until he hilS

cleansed his church of fdthiness, so

great and so horrid, in which she that

time abounded.

C. ( 2 3 : 5 ~ 6 ) The Promise of the

Righteous Sprout ofDavid

All of these great promises center

around the greater promise

of

the

coming of a Messiah, in . ulflllment of

the Davidic Covenant, who would bring

all

ofthem

to

certain realization. 23:5-

6 tells

us

of

this

Messiah's person,

reign and accomplishments.

1 Concerning The Messiah's

Person. He would be raised up by

God from the descendants of King

David. He; who would be a kingly

M e s s ~ a h

was

a full human

being.

He

was a sprout growing out of the

stump of the fallen dynasty of David

.

He

was

a fresh growth from the

seemingly dead . oot of the house of

David; growing by the omnipotence of

the covenant Lord into a new tree,

"a

farnity tree. with innumerable branches

and leaves. Furthermore, this

human

essiah Yill be a . thoroughly righ

teous person. His character will be in

j:lerfect-C::onforrillt.y to the hoiy character

of Gad. Righteousness is the very es

sence of his nature and being.

The Messiah wUJ.' not' only be

fully human, according

to

Jeremiah, he

Will be truly GOd. In

verSe 6

he is

called Jehovah, meaning that

he

Will

be fully and truly Almighty God, the

Covenant Lord, the God of Abraham,

Moses and Jeremiah human flesh.

This divine-human Messiah will be the

direct fulfillnient of e Davidic Cove-

itant.

:

Concerning The Messiah's

Reign. .

This

Messiah

\Vill

be

a

riUghty

King,

whose reign .

would be

Ch31'acterized

by wisdom. justice and

righteousness; 23:5: .His kingdom will

reflect

bis

character-:.it:will.

be

a living,

l i f e - p r o d u c ~ g kingdom h ~ t

will

never .

perish. Because the Idng is

God, he

knows fully the will.

of GOd;

so he

is

able to carty. out phin of salvation

to successful completion . .: :Hcf also

kitows

the :schemes of

his

enemies, so

he _knows how

to

'

utteriy

defeat

them.

fie: not

o:nly

s righteous himSelf'; but

king he will execute and establish a

new 'norm of righteousness, by .which

his

people will be governed. It

is

a

norm

that is established by

the

. righ

teouS

kirtg,

and a

rigbteousne8s

that

thiS 'righteous king, whose righteous

ness is that

Qf

Jehovah, acknowledges

as .

all

a u ~ s u f f i . C i e r i t

.righteousness,''

wrote Laetsch.

The:

present state of

disorder ahd injustice in Jeremiah's day,

will be

replaced under the

kirigly

Mes

siah with

a

new

order or

righteoUsness

.

This reign

of

righteousness will

secure the eternat salvation of all o'f

the

counsel of

h c i ~ o n

November,

1989

page 6

God's people, 23:6. And this salvation

will

be

accomplished by

him who will

be

.

called, The Lord our R i g h ~

teousness, 23:6. careful note should

be

.

made of the manner in which

this

name is introduced: And

this

is

his

name

by which

he will be

called,

'The

Lord our Righteousness. '

"Name"

is

not a mere label or tag. Ratherit'

notes the very nai'uie,essence and being

of

him

who

is the Sprout

of

David."

~ God

e x p r ~ s e s

his sovereign will

that all humanity should

kriow

this

messianic Sprout by that

God-given

name which describes .to

us

his inner-

most

esSence,

as

God

himself urider"'

stands it-- Jehovah olir

i g h t e o u s n e s s , ~

(Jehovah-tSidkenu in Hebrew). l:lis

name

means

' Jehovah is the vindication

of

bur

right, or Jehovah

is oilr

Jus-:

tice,; referring

to ~ i s

saving presence

arid saving activity. The Messiah iS tlie

One

by

whom and under

whom

Jehovim

will be oilr Righteousness;

and

that

divine

righteOusness

is

our salvation.

In

tbis name,

the

true

character

of Christ is revealed, not just in order

to

manifest the divine

character,

but

to

bring

that righteousness to

us which

is

able to secure our salvation,

Rom. 1:16

17.

GOd

in Christ

is

righteouS,: bu,

if

we

are to be saved from his judgment,

his

righteousness 'must

become

' our

righteousness, in some way, imputed'to

us-, i we are to be accepted

by hiiri.

If;

then,

we

desire

to

have

God

a8

our

righteousneSs

we

must seek

Christi

.for

ihls

cannot. be found except

in

him.

The righteousness

of

God has _been set

forth fat us

irt

Christ; .and

all Who

tum

away from

him,

though '

iliey

may take

many

c ~ r u i t o u s COUrSeS',

can yet never

rmd the righteousness:of God;" wrote

0 J t n

a t v i n ~ ... ;

Jereniiah - anticipated . .

Pau.i's

gospel of justification by ' faitti,

that

. sii)rieis re received by

GOd

as rightedus

through faith in the Messiah, iestis-,

because

to

believers in Jesus,

Jehovah

iniputes

his

righteousness,

chatging his

righteousness '

to

thier

empty accounts,

exchanging our


4/4

has promised his church a glorious fu

ture in Jesus Christ, Isaiah 2. We look

forward to

the future, knowing that it,

with all its struggles, afflictions, and

progressive victories, belongs, not to

the humanists, but to the faithful peo

ple of God, I Cor. 3:21-22. We are fu

ture-oriented

in

our present responsibili

ties. Our vision for life and the future

s

determined by the promises

of

God's

covenant and

of

Christ's kingdom. We

pray that God would use us to bring the

covenantal blessings of salvation to all

the families of all the nations

of

the

world, Psalm 22:27f; Galatians 3:7-29.

We believe that the kingdom of

Christ

and the preaching

of

that kingdom will

leaven the whole loaf

of

human life and

society,

as

it advances toward total vic

tory, Mark 4:21-32. We work, pray and

hope for the day when the earth will be

full

of

the knowledge

of

the Lord as the

waters cover the sea, Isaiah

11:9

Your Invitation

f you would like

to

talk to us about

joining with us, or if you have any fur

ther questions about who we are and

what we stand for, we would be more

than glad for you

to

call us at (404) 339-

1162 or (404) 396-0965.

.Q

Jeremiah

Continued from page 16

ashamed

of

the gospel, for

it

is the

power of

God

for salvation

to

everyone

who believes.... or in it the

righteousness of God is revealed from

faith to faith;

as it is

written: 'But the

righteous man shall live by faith. '

(Rom. 1:16-17). But now apart from

the Law the righteousness

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 be

lieve ... (Rom. 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.

(II Cor. 5:21)

.Q

The Counsel

o

Chalcedon November, 1989 page 13

Documents

1989 Issue 9 - Jeremiah: Judgment and Restoration, Part XVI - Counsel of Chalcedon