Jeremiah 23:6 “In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; Now
this is His name by which He will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.”
(1)
Jeremiah prophesied until the time of the Babylonian exile. He warned Israel that because of her sins (city of Jerusalem and the people), God
was going to allow the Babylonians to invade, destroy Solomon’s temple, and
lead them away into a seventy-year captivity—one from which many would never
return, not even from their children.
(2)
Babylon’s first invasion came in 606 B.C., the second in 597 B.C., and the third
in 586 B.C. Then Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed,
and the people deported (to force a
person to leave a country).
(3)
God blamed the idolatrous (people
who worship the idols) and faithless Kings and the false religious teachers
for leading Israel into sin, causing Him to send the people into
captivity. To them He exclaims (cry out or speak suddenly), “You have
scattered My flock (people)” (Jer.
23:2).
(4)
God then looked far into the future, to the end-times and the millennial
kingdom (one-thousand-year-peace), when Israel shall praise the Lord for
returning them from their captivity among the nations (Jer. 23:8).
(5)
Jeremiah proclaims that the final return of the children of Israel will
coincide (happen at the same time) with
God’s raising up the Messiah—“I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness”
(Jer. 23:5). Next He adds that “Israel
will dwell safely” (v.6).
(6)
It means that in the messianic age (during
the reign of Christ, the Messiah) the existence of Israel in the Middle East is
guaranteed by God; no longer will nations threaten to destroy ‘her’ (His people
and the city of Jerusalem). The Messiah’s name is Jehovah-Tsidkenu, “The Lord
Our Righteousness.”
(7) Paul, writing the letter to the Romans 650
years later, brought the subject about Jeremiah, and declared that unbelieving
Israel is still looking for her righteousness, while Jehovah-Jesus is
“righteousness to everyone who believes” (Rom. 10:1-4).
(8)
It might be good to know about “the parable of the wedding feast” which
is told by Christ, shows that no one is allowed into heaven wearing his own
good deed for righteousness. God (the
King) orders the dismissal of the one who refused the pure garment of
righteousness (Christ), which He had provided for all guests to wear (Matt.
22:11-13).
(9) It is not our good deeds that makes us
righteous. God’s holy standards is provided only by God Himself, through faith
in Christ; for it is He who is Jehovah-Tsidkenu, “The Lord Our Righteousness.”
Key:
“For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that
we could be made right with God through Christ” (2Cor. 5:21 NLT).
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