Preparing for Christmas Advent Devotional 10
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Jeremiah 23

The Righteous Branch

23 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. 3 Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.

5 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

7 “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 8 but ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he[a] had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.”

Lying Prophets

9 Concerning the prophets:

My heart is broken within me;
all my bones shake;
I am like a drunken man,
like a man overcome by wine,
because of the Lord
and because of his holy words.
10 For the land is full of adulterers;
because of the curse the land mourns,
and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up.
Their course is evil,
and their might is not right.
11 “Both prophet and priest are ungodly;
even in my house I have found their evil,
declares the Lord.
12 Therefore their way shall be to them
like slippery paths in the darkness,
into which they shall be driven and fall,
for I will bring disaster upon them
in the year of their punishment,
declares the Lord.
13 In the prophets of Samaria
I saw an unsavory thing:
they prophesied by Baal
and led my people Israel astray.
14 But in the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen a horrible thing:
they commit adultery and walk in lies;
they strengthen the hands of evildoers,
so that no one turns from his evil;
all of them have become like Sodom to me,
and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
15 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets:
“Behold, I will feed them with bitter food
and give them poisoned water to drink,
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”

16 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. 17 They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”

18 For who among them has stood in the council of the Lord
to see and to hear his word,
or who has paid attention to his word and listened?
19 Behold, the storm of the Lord!
Wrath has gone forth,
a whirling tempest;
it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
20 The anger of the Lord will not turn back
until he has executed and accomplished
the intents of his heart.
In the latter days you will understand it clearly.

21 “I did not send the prophets,
yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in my council,
then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
and they would have turned them from their evil way,
and from the evil of their deeds.

23 “Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? 24 Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. 25 I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ 26 How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, 27 who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal? 28 Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. 29 Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? 30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steal my words from one another. 31 Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues and declare, ‘declares the Lord.’ 32 Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the Lord, and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the Lord.

33 “When one of this people, or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the Lord?’ you shall say to them, ‘You are the burden,[b] and I will cast you off, declares the Lord.’ 34 And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ I will punish that man and his household. 35 Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ 36 But ‘the burden of the Lord’ you shall mention no more, for the burden is every man's own word, and you pervert the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. 37 Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ 38 But if you say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have said these words, “The burden of the Lord,” when I sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’” 39 therefore, behold, I will surely lift you up[c] and cast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers. 40 And I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’”

 

Advent Day #10
Becky Steinlage

After reading God’s book of Jeremiah, it’s not difficult to understand why the priest and prophet, Jeremiah, has been referred to as “the weeping prophet.” The book of Jeremiah reads much like an account of the accused, tried and convicted, the judgment then being carried out. Jeremiah, as God’s chosen prophet to Judah, weeps over the realization of the Israelites’ rejection of God. Jeremiah weeps through the years of mistreatment he himself receives as he prophesies God’s judgment to the stiff-necked Israelites. And Jeremiah weeps as he watches Israel’s destruction come to fruition, as Jerusalem is destroyed and the Israelites are carried off into captivity in Babylon.

The land that God promised to His people is left desolate and lifeless, but that didn’t happen when Jerusalem fell. The land and the people’s desolation and lifelessness began when they rejected God. “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns— broken cisterns that can hold no water,” says chapter 2:13.

Perhaps you are familiar with the Atacama Desert, reported to be the driest place on earth, averaging less than .05 inches of rain per year (some of its weather stations have never even reported a drop of rain). This northern part of Chile has been considered the most desolate, lifeless place on earth. This desert, photographed by David Maisel in his famous art exhibit called “Desolation Desert,” is truly so desolate that this lifeless terrain is an ideal location used as a testing spot for NASA’s Mars Rover.

But every so often, the desert blooms. As recently as 2022, the Atacama Desert displayed an unexpected array of purple and white blooms across the dry land. Out of a dry, desolate, lifeless place sprang forth a sign of life, growth, and beauty.

Just as the masses were there to capture the magnificence of that surprising development in the Atacama Desert, we are invited to view God’s magnificent, miraculous life-giving promise blooming out of the desolation described through Jeremiah, God’s prophet to the land of Judah.

The book of Jeremiah reminds us of the covenant that God made with His people: “But this command I gave them: ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’” (7:23). It shows us the ways in which His people break the covenant and reject God again and again. It reminds us that God is patient, waiting for repentance, but the book of Jeremiah makes clear to us that God must and will judge the sinfulness of His people: “Thus they have loved to wander; They have not restrained their feet. Therefore the Lord does not accept them; He will remember their iniquity now, and punish their sins” (14:10).

But, among this scene of desolation and the appearance of lifelessness left in Judah, life springs forth. Jeremiah prophesies of a branch. The Branch of Righteousness.

Likewise, Isaiah 11 tells us “there shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.” Zechariah 6 says “Behold, the Man whose name is the Branch! From His place He shall branch out, and He shall build the temple of the Lord... He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule on His throne; so He shall be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.” (Zech 6:12- 13) This Branch is indeed a life-giving bloom, as this Branch which brings righteousness and peace will save Israel, and opens the Kingdom to the Gentiles. Paul reminds us of this fact in Romans 15:12, when he quotes the book of Isaiah: “There shall be a root of Jesse; and he who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in Him the Gentiles shall hope.”

It is easy to envision the dry, desolate desert over which the prophet Jeremiah weeps. But can you see the beautiful RIGHTEOUS Branch? It is this gift of life, blooming from a desert desolation, that we celebrate at Christmas. In the dry, desolate heart, where no good can possibly grow, God causes life to spring forth. This is the Good News. He will restore. He will make the desolate heart which gasps for a drink of water to sprout with new life.

“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people!” (Romans 15:10)

 

  1. Have you taken the time to quench your thirst in the well of God’s life-giving word? Or have you become parched, wandering after the busyness of this season, forgetting to stop for a drink? What steps can you take right now to be sure that you are sipping from the Giver of living water?
  2. In a season of joy, we can easily forget those who are weeping. The book of Jeremiah is a book of hard truths, sadness, and grief, and sandwiched in the middle is this amazing light of hope. Don’t forget about those who grieve. How can you walk with them so that they can continue to see the light of hope in this season?
  3. As you hang ornaments on your Christmas tree, think of the Branch that springs forth, bringing life and peace from God. He reaches out with a promised gift that is like no other. How can you praise Him today for His great mercy and love?

 

Dear Heavenly Father, I confess that I do not have the thirst for you that I want. You are truly the fountain of living water. Please help me not to forsake you and to turn to broken cisterns that will never fill me. Please fill those who are weeping and grieving with your grace and hope. Thank you for the Branch who made my salvation possible. In your name I pray, Amen.

 

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