The days are coming,’ declares the Lord , ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.   “ ‘In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land.   In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior.’   For this is what the Lord says: ‘David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of Israel, nor will the Levitical priests ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices.’ ”   The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “This is what the Lord says: ‘If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, then my covenant with David my servant—and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me—can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne. I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars in the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore.’  – Jeremiah 33:14-22

Well this Superbowl Sunday once again and the cultural carnival will begin at 6:30 p.m ET, Superbowl 50 (I guess the roman numeral “L” was just too confusing).  Last year at this time I was floating through the book of Nehemiah and Ezra was giving a Superbowl of sermons (Nehemiah 8:1-6).

Here in the book of Jeremiah a year later we find a prophetic description of an earth changing event to come — the arrival of the righteous one, Jesus.  Superbowl hype not withstanding, an event far bigger than any Superbowl.  This is the most clear reference to a coming Messiah that I have come to in the book of Jeremiah so far.

Jeremiah is sharing this hopeful message to a largely unruly and hopeless people.  They need a righteous savior to heal their wounded souls.  The coming Jesus is the “good promise” that God is making amidst the wasteland of despair that the people find themselves living within, both in Jerusalem and soon in exile in Babylon.

God makes it clear that the coming Messiah will come from “a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land.”  The coming Messiah will be the fulfillment of a promise made to David and through David to all those who will choose to follow God through His son.

God speaking through Jeremiah does not leave any room for doubt about whether this much anticipated Messiah will come.  God engages in somewhat playful hyperbole when He says “If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, then my covenant with David my servant—and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me—can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne.”

God is saying we can no more prevent the sun from rising and falling (i.e stop the planets from moving around the sun as we now understand it) than prevent Him from sending a savior from the line of David to free us from our bondage to sin and disobedience.  His going to settle the matter once and for all.  God will “make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars in the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore.”

All God-followers, both Jew and gentile, that God could foresee joining His family are part of this “sand on the seashore” He is describing.  Modern-day followers of Jesus are all sand grains on this vast beach that lies between the secular and the spiritual.  My pursuit of God through His Son links back to this very prophecy given by Jeremiah to a frustrated and angry people.  It is up to us to act on it and make our sure our hearts are channeled by God and our daily actions glorify God.

Prayer: God thank You for sending Your son to show us what it is like to live a life devoted to You.  Help us to emulate Him by making devoting each act to You and Your glory.