Jeremiah 23:1–8 | Longing for Justice

Preacher: Joel Fair
Scripture: Jeremiah 23:1–8

N. T. Wright Simply Christian
Our passion for justice often seems like that. We dream the dream of justice. We glimpse, for a moment, a world at one, a world put to rights, a world where things work out, where societies function healthily, where I not only know what I ought to do but actually do it. And then we wake up and come back to reality. But what are we hearing when we are dreaming that dream?

Psalm 100:3
Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

echariah 7:8–11
And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.” But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.

N. T. Wright Simply Christian
You don’t have to teach children about fairness and unfairness. A sense of justice comes with the kit of being human. We know about it, as we say, in our bones.

Zechariah 6:12–13
And say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD. It is he who shall build the temple of the LORD and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”'

Isaiah 9:6–7
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

Philip Ryken
Back in chapter 5, God promised that he would forgive his people if Jeremiah could find just one good man. The prophet searched high and low. He walked up the streets and down the alleys, but he could not find even one man to be righteous for the people.
In chapter 23, Jeremiah finally finds his man. This Good Shepherd, this Son of David, this Wise King will be righteous for his people. In some way—perhaps even beyond Jeremiah’s comprehension—the goodness, integrity, and moral perfection of the Righteous Branch would belong to God’s people. His righteousness would be credited to their account.

Luke 1:32–33
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.

1 Peter 2:10
Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

N. T. Wright
“The prophet Isaiah, in line with several Psalms and other biblical passages, had spoken of God’s coming kingdom as the time when (a) God’s promises and purposes would be fulfilled; (b) Israel would be rescued from pagan oppression; (c) evil (particularly the evil of oppressive empires) would be judged; and (d) God would usher in a new reign of justice and peace. Daniel had envisaged a coming time when the monsters (i.e. the pagan empires) would do their worst, and God would vindicate his people to set everything straight. The world was to be turned the right way up at last. To speak of God’s kingdom arriving in the present was to summon up that entire narrative, and to declare that it was reaching its climax. God’s future was breaking in to the present. Heaven was arriving on earth.”