Our Father in heaven, as we continue to meditate upon these Old Testament prophecies of Jesus Christ, we ask that you would fill us with a greater sense of Christ's love for us. And may we respond with greater love for and trust in him. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, last week we began this short Christmas series on the Old Testament imagery. of the coming Messiah as a branch. You've probably heard this imagery before, but you might not have realized just how often it appears in the Old Testament. Last time we focused on the book of Isaiah, we saw how it's featured in chapters 4 and 11. We saw it in chapter 43. Along the way, we saw some similar themes and imagery imagery in chapters 44, 60, and even the great chapter 53, which tells us about the suffering servant. And I just list that just to remind you that it's not a one-time instance in Isaiah. It's actually something that pops up over and over again throughout the book. And what we tried to do last Lord's Day was to sort of trace the story that Israel tells us. There's a great deal of theology and doctrine that we passed over and instead focused on the story. The story is that there's a branch, there's a family tree. It's the royal family tree of Jesse and his son David and of the kings of Israel, of Judah. But we find that the family tree is falling to pieces. It's rotting. And God's judgment was to bring it to the point, Isaiah actually calls it a stump, as though God has cut it down. That's all that's left of the great Davidic line is just a stump. But the promise of the branch is that from the stump will come a new shoot. There will be growth and there will be life that will come out of it. And we see how Isaiah goes on to teach that this shoot, this plant that grows out of the stump is himself the God-man. He is the Anointed One, the Messiah, who will have the Spirit of the Lord upon Him, and who will establish a kingdom of righteousness. But as the story goes on, we have the stump, we have the shoot that comes out of it, we also saw that this new branch, is itself cut down. So that in Isaiah 53, but as he is cut down, he himself bears much fruit so that there are many new branches that come from him. We learn his death is the satisfaction of God's justice so that we might live. And so what I tried to do is to sort of tell the gospel story through this wonderful picture of the branch. Today we look at the prophet Jeremiah and see how he takes this imagery, this language from Isaiah, and he develops it as well. And many of the themes are very similar, but I'll try to focus on some of the parts that we didn't see as much, that we didn't spend as much time on last week in Isaiah. First we'll be looking at Jeremiah 23 verses 1 through 8 and then chapter 33 verses 14 to 18. I'll let you know when to turn there. Along the way we'll try to make some applications, some connections to the New Testament. Now Jeremiah writes At the end of the Southern Kingdom, I talked last week about how the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom split. The Northern Kingdom was taken into captivity during Isaiah's time as a prophet. The Southern Kingdom is taken into captivity while Jeremiah is prophesying. The prophecies we'll see take place shortly before Jerusalem was captured and destroyed and the people were led into captivity. So this, again, a difficult and dark time in the life of the people of Israel. All right, so Jeremiah, chapter 23, verses 1 through 8, let me read this to you. It says, Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, declares the Lord. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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, 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 had driven them, then they shall dwell in their own land. Well, just like we saw in Isaiah, the prophecy of the branch comes right in the middle of words of judgment, doesn't it? Verse 1 starts with a word of woe. It is a curse upon somebody who is being cursed. Well, it's the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep. Shepherds. Let's talk about this idea of the shepherds here. Shepherds, of course, is not speaking of actual shepherds. The word is being used figuratively of the kings of Judah. At that time in the ancient Near East, it was not uncommon to talk about kings as shepherds of the people. Kings were understood as having a very similar role toward the people as a shepherd has towards the sheep. Just like a shepherd, the king was supposed to protect the people, provide for the people, and lead the people. And that's what a king is supposed to do, just like the shepherd. But as we find out in the text, the problem is the kings are not doing what is good for the sheep. Instead, they are severely harming the sheep. That's what chapter 22 is about, the previous chapter. Now, the final kings of Judah, the southern kingdom, were all wicked kings, the last four kings. The last good king in Judah was a man named Josiah, and he brought great reforms to the kingdom But sadly they did not last at all beyond his reign. And so the final four kings all did evil in the sight of the Lord and they led the people into wickedness and they are all addressed by Jeremiah here. I want you to turn back to chapter 22 for just a moment. We're going to skim through and see how chapter 22 is systematically going through the different kings and condemning them. Chapter 22, verses 11 through 13. For thus says the Lord concerning Shalom, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went away from this place. He shall return here no more, but in the place where they have carried him captive, there shall he die. And he shall never see this land again. Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness and his upper rooms by injustice, who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing and does not give him wages. And he goes on to count many of the wicked things that this man Shalom did. Now, Shalom is also known in the books of Second Kings and Second Chronicles as Jehoahaz. That name might be a little bit more familiar to you, Jehoahaz, but he is the king after Josiah. The point is, Jeremiah is lambasting Jehoahaz for his wickedness, for leading the people in unrighteousness. And then, verses 18 and 19. Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah. They shall not lament for him saying, ah, my brother, or ah, sister. They shall not lament for him saying, ah, Lord, or ah, his majesty. With the burial of a donkey he shall be buried, dragged and dumped beyond the gates of Jerusalem. And it goes on again with him. The same sorts of rebukes that are uttered against Jehoahazar are now uttered against Jehoiakim, who is the next king. Verses 24 to 26, we get the next one. As I live, declares the Lord through Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. Where the signet rang on my right hand, yet I would tear you off and give you into the hand of those who seek your life, into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. I will hurl you and the mother who bore you into another country where you were not born, and there you shall die. Now, Kaniah is also called Jehoiakim. It's hard to hear anyways. It might be even harder to hear while I'm wearing a mask. Jehoiakim ends with an M at the end of the name. And Jehoiakim, his son, ends with the letter N at the end of his name. So they're two different kings. So the succession of kings after Josiah is Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim with the letter M, and Jehoiakim with the letter N. And they're all being rebuked here. They're all wicked kings. And we find the pronouncement against this Jehoiakim reaches its conclusion in verse 30. It drives home the severity of the rebuke. He says, Thus says the Lord, write this man down as childless, a man who shall not succeed in his days, for none of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah. This part of that Davidic line is just going to be completely gone. No, none of his sons will succeed him. He will himself be childless. None of them will ever sit on David's throne. And these are the kinds of people that are being thought of when we get to chapter 23. It says, woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter my sheep. These are the very people he's talking about, the wicked kings of Israel. Now, the final one, King Zedekiah, we'll come to in a moment. But these last four kings, that's exactly who Jeremiah has in mind. It's as though these are wolves in sheep's clothing. Rather than being good shepherds, they are destroying the sheep. They're devouring them rather than protecting them, providing for them, and leading them in righteousness. The final word against them is at the end of verse 2. It says, Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. There's that warning, right? You're going to get your comeuppance for this. Don't think I've missed it. But this is the word of woe. This is the curse that begins with it. And then, then comes the word of hope. Because in verse three, we learn that there will be sheep that remain and they will be gathered together and they will be prosperous once more. They will even be fruitful and multiply. Although the shepherd has destroyed and scattered the flock, it is not entirely destroyed. And then in verse four comes a promise for good shepherds, shepherds who will actually take care for the sheep so that they do not need to be afraid or to be dismayed and so that none of them will be lost. Here is a promise of righteous kings. And the next few verses, now the next few verses change the metaphor. Up to this point we're talking about sheep and the shepherds are the kings and the sheep are their people. But now the metaphor is going to switch and it's to explain more about these kings that will rule and this is where we get the branch. Verse 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. Just like in Isaiah, we have this prophecy of the branch and it's coming as being directly connected to David and his line. I will raise up for David a righteous branch, affirming this is a kingly prophecy. The one who is coming, he will be a king. And then we're told something about the character and the rule of this king. We're told he will be wise. He will execute justice and righteousness. In verse 6, we learn that He brings salvation. In verses 7 and 8, we learn this salvation is so great that it will overshadow the salvation that Israel experienced when they were brought out of Egypt. Up to this point, the great salvation event in the life of Israel was always to say, Well, let's look back and think about how the Lord brought us out of Egypt. This is going to be so much greater. No longer will people say, remember Egypt. Now they're going to say, remember when the Lord returned us from our captivity. This is the great deliverance now. Now, in the midst of this description of the branch, we're told that he has a name. This is at the very end of verse 6. It says, and this is the name by which he will be called. The Lord is our righteousness. The Lord is our righteousness. Remember, we're being contrasted here with the wicked kings, the ones who had been told, we read it in verse 22, as he said about Shalom or Jehovah has, it's woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness. Those were unrighteous and wicked kings. And now here, here, there will be a righteous king. As the people look for a righteous ruler, longing for a king who will treat them in justice, they're told, you will be able to look at this one, and you can even say of him, the Lord is our righteousness. Now this is where King Zedekiah, the final of those four wicked kings over Judah, this is where he gets brought into this. Because the name Zedekiah means, my righteousness is the Lord. Zedekiah, that name, means my righteousness is the Lord. So you would see this much more clearly in the Hebrew than you do in the English, but when this promised king is being named, the Lord is our righteousness, it's very similar to the name Zedekiah. And we're meant to understand that there is an indictment of Zedekiah, but a promise that one much greater than Zedekiah is coming. Now Zedekiah's name, My Righteousness is the Lord, it was a good name, but unfortunately it just doesn't fit him. You know, once in a while you run into somebody who thinks that there's something magical in names, as though if you give a child a certain name that they will certainly be like that name. There are many examples in the Bible and this is just not true and this is clearly one of them. Zedekiah did not look to the Lord for righteousness. His righteousness was not found in the Lord. If anything, it was either in himself or he actually was under the thumb of Nebuchadnezzar. He didn't serve the Lord. He served himself. He served Nebuchadnezzar. But the branch, the branch will be different. It won't be the same. You won't have a self-serving king. You won't have a king who is indebted, who is under the thumb of a wicked king from another nation. His name will fit him. He will be a righteous one who does rule with perfect equity and wisdom and justness. Our Lord will be a righteous one. That kingdom, that king will be righteous. This is the prophecy that Jeremiah is making here, a prophecy of a good king who will come, a king who is known for his own righteousness. Now many of the people in Judah at this time, they were following the kings into wickedness. It wasn't just that the kings were bad, many of the people were wicked too. But not all of the people were. There were some who remained faithful to the Lord, there was a remnant. And this prophecy would have been a great encouragement to them. to be told of a good shepherd, a good king, this branch from David who will one day rule after he himself had accomplished a greater redemption than any they had ever seen or heard of before. What a comfort this must have been to them. But I think it's not just written for them, it's written for us as well. There is comfort and there is help for us in this prophecy. Because we still live in a world where there are, at times, wicked shepherds. And I think there are at least two spheres that this has some application to us. One is in the sphere of civil government. Now, as Christians, our starting point ought to be the Bible teaches us to honor and to think well of our governing authorities. So that if we do not have clear knowledge, notice I said knowledge, not suspicion. If we do not have clear knowledge of wrongdoing, then we ought to continue to honor them and assume the best of them. But we all know that there are many wicked kings, presidents, governors, mayors. You name a political position or authority, and there are wicked people who take those roles. And so there is a word of instruction to us when we find ourselves in this kind of situation. When we find ourselves under the authority of a wicked ruler, These words speak to us. We are to know that the Messiah, the branch of David, will one day rule over all things in perfect righteousness. There will never be a wrong that is not punished. There will never be a false accusation. There will never be an unfair law. There will never be an oppressive mandate, but righteousness will exist throughout all of his kingdom. And it's a kingdom that shall cover the whole world. Friends, if you feel discouraged by the wickedness of the rulers in this world, know that one day King Jesus will deliver all who suffer from wicked rulers and wicked governments. So this is a promise for us as well. There will one day be a Messiah who shall reign forever. And we can look forward to that rule when all things are set right. The other sphere in which this has application, though, is the church. Remember, Israel was this combination. It was both a civil government, but it was also a religious group. It was a holy nation in a way that nothing else ever has been and ever will be, at least on this side of the consummation. And in Israel, we see connections to the church. And perhaps this rings true here as well. for you, because sadly we know there are far too many wicked pastors in the church, aren't there? You might know that the word pastor actually means shepherd. That's what the word pastor means. It comes from the Latin. Pastors are called to be under shepherds of the good shepherd. And yet some pastors turn out to be wolves in sheep's clothing. But Jesus will judge all those who lead his people astray. All those who preach a prosperity gospel, those who are trying to get rich off of people by manipulating them, those who are just in it for the reputation or the power or whatever else they think they might get out of it, they will all be judged. And those who are hypocritical and full of sin, they will be revealed and condemned. Perhaps we can even apply it in this way. No pastor is perfect. I wish we were. Which means your own pastor, your own pastor makes errors in judgment. Your own pastor does not always lead in the right way. Your pastor is guilty of many sins. Your pastor has many shortcomings and weaknesses. But Jeremiah's prophecy tells us there is a shepherd who has no failings, who has no weaknesses. And he is even now and will continue to lead his people, his sheep, until one day we enter fully into his glorious kingdom. There is a good shepherd. a good shepherd who is better than all the other shepherds and who will guide his people home safely at last. These are some of the things that Jeremiah's prophecy in chapter 23 teach to us. I want you to flip over now to chapter 33. Here we're jumping into the middle of a chapter. We're going to look at verses 14 through 18. Jeremiah chapter 33, let's read verses 14 through 18. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called. The Lord is our righteousness. For thus says the Lord, David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel. And the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to make sacrifices forever. But here is the second time that Jeremiah makes use of this imagery, this language of a branch in the coming Messiah. And the language here is very similar. In some places, it's even identical to chapter 23. At places, it almost feels like there was a copy and paste. He pulls up the Word document. I said something like this before, copy and paste. But I think that what that helps us to do is to focus in then on what's different. What is different about these verses from chapter 23? And there's one feature especially that I want to start by pointing out to you. It may seem like a small thing at first, but I think it provides a great deal of instruction. You remember in chapter 23, we were told that the branch had a name. Right? Back in chapter 23, verse 6, it said, 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. Now we have chapter 33, verse 16. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called. it will be called. The Lord is our righteousness. Now the word it in the Hebrew as I recall is actually a feminine word so that it says the name by which she will be called. It's not speaking about the branch. It's speaking about the city of Jerusalem. Now there's a subtle difference there but do you catch the difference? In chapter 3 It is the Messiah, it is the branch who is given the name, the Lord is our righteousness. But in chapter three, it's the city of Jerusalem that's given the name, the Lord is our righteousness. What's the significance of that change? Well, back in chapter 23, that name said something about the character of the Messiah, that the branch was the righteous one. But in chapter 33, it says something about the character of the people of God. It's not just that they have a king who is righteous, but they themselves are righteous. And here, I believe we have the great New Testament doctrine of justification by faith in Jesus Christ. God's people are accounted as righteousness because of the Lord. The people of God can say, the Lord is our righteousness. Not because they have a righteousness of their own, but because the righteousness of the King, the Messiah, is given to them as well. they share in his righteousness. There are many places we could go in the New Testament to see this teaching. If you've been with us in our study in Romans, we've seen it many, many times there. Let me just read two clear passages that have very similar language to Jeremiah and may even have Jeremiah in mind as they say it. First is in First Corinthians chapter one, verse 28 through 30. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. There's nothing that we can boast in. We have nothing in which we might take any pride or hold before God and say, look what I have done. But God has made him to be our righteousness. The Lord is our righteousness. And then 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, For our sake God made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. In him, that is in Jesus, we become the righteousness of God. You see, the Gospel is present right here in the Old Testament, here in Jeremiah 23 and 33. Perhaps you have to look closely. Perhaps it's not quite as obvious as Romans chapter 3 or chapter 4 or chapter 5. We could go on here. But it's there. Jeremiah teaches us that we will be right with God not because of what we do, but because of what God has done for us in the Messiah, Jesus Christ. So there's a difference between the two prophecies. Let's talk a little bit more about some of the other things here in chapter 33. There's another part of this prophecy we haven't actually seen before. It's in verses 17 and 18. Let me read those again. For thus says the Lord, David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, and the Levitical priest shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever. Now, verse 17 is not all that surprising, considering what we've seen before. There will be a man on David's throne forever, which, by the way, this also tells us, surely we are not speaking here about national Israel, but about the eternal kingdom of God. Because it has not been the case that there is always a king reigning in physical, political Israel. It just has not happened. If that's what the promise was, then the promise has failed. But we know the promise is different. It's speaking about the spiritual kingdom of the Messiah. So verse 17 is not all that surprising, but then verse 18 is different. Here we learn that the branch, the Messiah, is not just a king, but also a priest. And this again, this helps us to see the uniqueness of this person. The kings of Israel were not typically thought of as priests. But this one will be. And again, we learn it's an eternal priesthood. And one more time, we can say the priesthood in Israel has not continued. There have not been sacrifices continually offered. The temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. and the Levitical sacrifices ended. So I cannot be speaking about that. So what is it speaking of? Of course we know. This is Jesus Christ, our great high priest, who offered himself once for all and now ever lives to make intercession for us. He is the one who is both king and priest. This is one of the big themes of the book of Hebrews. Hebrews, it takes quite a bit of time explaining he is both of these things. And actually, you could say it explains he's prophet, priest, and king. But for our purposes right now, we're talking about priest and king. In Hebrews chapter 5 verses 5 and 6 we read, So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, you are my son, today I have begotten you. And he says also in another place, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The writer of the Hebrews here picks up on a couple of Old Testament passages to show who Jesus is. And he says very clearly he's being made as a high priest. But as he quotes this, he quotes from Psalm 2. He says, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. We don't have the time to do this. You could do it later if you'd like. But if you open to Psalm 2, you'll find it never mentions the priesthood, but it does speak about the kingship of God. You are my son, today I have begotten you as a royal enthronement statement. So both are included here. He is the priest and he is the king. I wish I had time to go through more of Hebrews to talk about this, but I'm already behind on my time, so we must press ahead. But the Messiah is a priest. He offers that one great sacrifice by which our sins are atoned for and God's wrath is appeased. Now, there's one more thing I want to point out to you from Jeremiah 33. One of the things that we keep finding is that in order to understand these prophecies, we often have to back up a few verses to see what came before them. We need to do that again here in Jeremiah 33. Back up and read with me verses 12 and 13. So these are the two verses that immediately precede the prophecy about the coming branch. It says, Thus says the Lord of hosts, In this place that is waste, without man or beast, and in all of its cities, there shall again be habitations of shepherds resting their flocks. In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negev, in the land of Benjamin, the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, flocks shall again pass under the hands of the one who counts them, says the Lord. What we're finding here is that this promise of the branch, and even at the end of verses 12 and 13, it's part of that promise that life will once again come to the people of God and to the land of Israel. It's currently, because of the judgment of God, the place is like a wasteland. Or actually, I suppose the way it's saying is that the judgment that is coming is going to make the place like a wasteland. But then after that, it shall become inhabited again. And how will we know that life has returned to the land? Because there will be habitations of shepherds resting their flocks. The presence of shepherds and their flocks points to civilization and the resumption of life. There is some safety from enemies. There is commerce and economy that's going on. There is life. But perhaps you're already sensing where I'm going with this. Because don't we know something about shepherds resting with their flocks in the coming of the Messiah? Luke chapter 2, verses 8 through 14. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For unto you was born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. Phil Reichen pointed this out in his commentary. He writes, the announcement of the birth of Jesus Christ to the shepherds was as necessary as his birth in the town of Bethlehem, or his belonging to the house and line of David, or his being of a virgin. It was necessary because the Holy Spirit promised that the Messiah would come when shepherds had peace enough to count the noses of their sheep. What better proof that Jesus is the Christ than a chorus of angels appearing at night to shepherds in the hill country of Judea. Those were the days. That was the time for the King to come. You see, the angels appearing to the shepherds at night is a fulfillment of Jeremiah 33, verse 12. That once again, when shepherds are in the land and their flocks are resting, then the branch will come. You ever wondered why were the shepherds told? Here's your answer. Jeremiah prophesied that this is the situation in which the branch would come. And so in a field outside of Bethlehem, which is not all that far from Jerusalem, As shepherds watched their flock by night, a heavenly host came to demonstrate that Jeremiah 23 and Jeremiah 33 had been fulfilled, that the branch had been born. And as the angels say, it is Christ the Lord, that word Christ means Messiah. The shepherds would not have missed that. The branch had been born, the Messiah had come, that the priest-king was here, and that peace was coming on earth to those with whom God is pleased. And ever since that day, God's people have not stopped declaring this message. The branch has come. The Messiah has come. Acts chapter 13, verses 22 and 23, the Apostle Paul is preaching in Antioch. He's recounting some of the history of Israel, and he says, And when God had removed King Saul, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, I have found in David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart who will do my will. Of this man's offspring, God has brought to Israel a Savior. Jesus as he promised. Jeremiah 22, excuse me, 23. Jeremiah 33 promised this coming Messiah, the son of David, a king and a priest who will rule in righteousness and who will give righteousness to his people. It has happened. It has been and is being fulfilled. As we close this study today, I want to ask the same question that we closed with last time and I expect to ask it again at the end of the sermon next week. Why did the Old Testament authors choose the imagery of a branch? Why is this their chosen imagery? We saw last time we talked about this idea of a family tree and this kind of back and forth between the stumps getting cut off and shoots growing. But why does Jeremiah choose this language? What is the purpose of this imagery? It seems to me that as we study Jeremiah, we understand the branch is used because of the way that it points to life. And particularly, the life that comes from the branch, which then flowers and sprouts into other branches. It pictures the life and the growth that starts with Jesus and then comes to his people as well. Remember that difference we saw between the Messiah as the righteous one and his people then who are made to be his righteous one as well. As I thought about these things, Being reminded of where our life comes from, I couldn't help but think of the Gospel of John, chapter 15, verse 5, where Jesus says, I am the vine, and you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. Now I understand the metaphor there shifts just a little bit, but I think it's quite close. I searched the commentaries for some. authors who would make strong connections between these passages and I didn't really find them so it always makes me a little hesitant to say too much but I can't help but think that there's a connection here. There's certainly a thematic connection even if there isn't a direct quotation or reference to it. Jesus is the branch and from him he gives life to the other branches just as he is the vine and he gives life to the branches. We are to abide in him and find our life in him. The heavenly Jerusalem, the people of God can only be considered righteous when the righteousness of God comes to them in Jesus Christ. That's how it works. That's how it has to work. Just as new fruit, just as a flower cannot grow apart from the branch, so also we cannot expect to grow. We cannot grow except we abide in him. the true branch, the true vine. You see, the very simple point of all of this, Jesus is our life. He is the only life. He is the way, the truth and the life. And no one comes to the Father except by him. Apart from him, there is only death. But from him comes life, life through righteousness. And so Jesus says to his disciples in John 15 verse 9, he says, as the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide, therefore, in my love. Just as the Father has loved me, so I love you. Therefore, abide in my love. This is what we are called to do today, to abide in the love of Christ as we receive his righteousness, as we receive the forgiveness of sins from him. How do we abide in him? We do it by trusting in Jesus and by keeping his commands. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we need these reminders of your grace again and again and again. Oh, may we never grow tired of them. May we never leave them behind thinking we have found something better. But may Jesus Christ, the God-man who accomplished our salvation, may he always be our great love and the place for all of our trust. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.