Adjusting the Solar System

OK, here’s a “Sunday School question”: Who do you think that the following passage is talking about?

“ ‘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.’

Jeremiah 33:15‭-‬16 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/jer.33.15-16.NIV

Conventional wisdom says that, whenever a question is asked in Sunday School, so the answer is usually “Jesus”, and that does seems to be the case here.  If you got that right, congratulations!  If not, the test wasn’t actually for a grade, so it’s OK.  (I appreciated the Lookout’s suggestion of 2 Corinthians 1:20 as a passage related to this chapter: Jesus was the answer to many of God’s promises, and we say “Amen” to give Him the glory.  There’s a reason why Jesus is the answer.)

Even though God may have fulfilled this promise from Jeremiah 33 in additional ways, depending on how you interpret this prophecy, Jesus was clearly a branch from David’s descendants, and He – Jesus – did what was “just and right in the land” (NIV, above), and executed “justice and righteousness on the earth” (NASB).

In fact, skipping down to verses 20-21 (see also verses 17-19 for continuity), God makes it even more clear that His promises aren’t going anywhere:

“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.
Jeremiah 33:20‭-‬21 NIV

https://bible.com/bible/111/jer.33.20-21.NIV

Do you remember the various questions that God asked Job (see Job 38-41)?  Remember how God asked Abraham to count the stars (see Genesis 15:5)?  Whether the residents of Jerusalem, a larger group of Israelite people, or the nations around them are doubting God’s promises, they have about as much chance of God failing to keep His word as they have of changing God’s established pattern of day and night.

Remember that these words were given to a people that was in danger of being wiped out.  This existential danger wasn’t just a hypothetical situation: we can find lists online of civilizations or ethnic groups that no longer exist: Top 10 Civilizations That Mysteriously Disappeared – Toptenz.net; Category:Extinct ethnic groups – Wikipedia.

However, no matter how bad things seemed, God had promised Abraham to multiply his descendants (see Genesis 22:15-18), and had planned to save humanity from our sins through one of Abraham’s descendants.  So, for the people of Jeremiah’s day,

• It didn’t matter what people’s eyes and ears suggested to them…
• It didn’t matter what human thinking expected the outcome to be…
• It didn’t matter what so-called “conventional wisdom”, “popular opinion”, or false prophets said would happen…
• God’s promises would be fulfilled.

So, we can hide under a blanket during the day and pretend that it’s night, or we can turn on a light in the night and pretend that it’s day, but we have about as much chance of stopping the earth’s rotation or moving the sun and stars, as we have of seeing God’s promises broken.

Yes, while we enjoy God’s blessings here on earth, things can get worse.  This is a fallen, sinful world, and it’s not going to look like Eden much of the time.  Things will get better, though.  For the Christian, we look forward to eternity with Jesus Christ, but God still keeps His promises to us here on this earth, and there are things to look forward to even in this corrupted world.  Regardless of the timeline for individual promises of God, though, we have nothing less than His word that they will be fulfilled.  If you don’t believe that, maybe you could try moving the sun and stars around and then get back to me?

From Sunday School lesson prepared for July 30, 2023

References:

• The Lookout, July 30, 2023, © 2023 Christian Standard Media.
• Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
• Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation.
• The College Press NIV Commentary – Jeremiah-Lamentations, by Timothy M. Willis.  © 2002 College Press Publishing Co.