“The day will come, says the LORD, when I will do for Israel and Judah all the good things I have promised them.
“In those days and at that time
I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line.
He will do what is just and right throughout the land.
In that day Judah will be saved,
and Jerusalem will live in safety.
And this will be its name:
‘The LORD Is Our Righteousness.’” (Jeremiah 33:14–16 NLT)
Hope. Trust. Assurance.
These three words are woven all through this Old Testament scripture. Hope oozes out of phrases like “the day will come,” “I will do,” and “I have promised them.” Trust is expressed in statements like “in those days and at that time.” Assurance is found in the declaration that “Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety and this will be its name.”
These three words keep us moving forward. Hope gives us a feeling of expectation, a desire for something beyond what we can see. Trust is a response to what we hope for. It is a belief in something or someone. Assurance is a promise that gives us confidence to trust in what we hope for.
Living in our time and place in history affords us the luxury of knowing how most of this passage of scripture turned out. We live in the aftermath of Jeremiah’s prophecy. We live on the other side of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We have the evidence and confirmation that what Jeremiah spoke actually happened!
One would think, given our position, there would be no problem trusting in God’s sovereignty. We know Jesus ushered in God’s Kingdom, bringing fulfilment to Jeremiah’s prophetic words. Mostly.
Why, then, do we struggle so much with the sovereignty of God? Perhaps it’s because we look around us at all the chaos in the world. We see war, poverty, violence, addiction, broken relationships, to name a few things. My picture of God’s sovereignty looks a little different than this. I wonder if people in Jeremiah’s time felt the same way.
When Jeremiah was speaking these words of hope, trust, and assurance, it was 600 years before Jesus arrived. For six centuries, God’s people waited, hoped, gave up, trusted, disobeyed, and cried out to God to come save them. It was humanity on the repeat cycle.
Then, finally, God arrived. Prophecy fulfilled. Mostly. And rather than revealing his sovereignty through a spectacular display of power and authority, God’s entrance was severely downplayed. He chose vulnerability instead by entering our world as a baby.
From his birth to death, everything about Jesus was understated. With his miracles, Jesus often told people not to say anything. Jesus chose vulnerability by being ridiculed and tortured, ending in a humiliating death! Even more frustrating, his resurrection occurred when no one was looking! How is this helpful?
Yet, it seems like the most significant and life-changing things happen quietly, gradually unfolding. This appears to be God’s way. It seems to be more effective. Slow and deep. Far more long-lasting than the spectacular.
I say this because over 2,000 years later the world is still talking about Jesus, debating him, arguing about him, even killing in his name. Something has stuck. God’s sovereignty is most powerful in his vulnerability.
This sets the tone for our own lives now. It seems the best way to bear witness to King Jesus is in the ordinary – in being vulnerable, humble, and faithful. Perhaps it’s not so glamorous, but it is more authentic. It is hope-filled, trustworthy, and assurance-driven, and definitely more redemptive and restorative.
Jeremiah’s prophecy is mostly complete. It is still unfolding, and we continue to look forward to the completion of God’s covenant. This in-between time invites us into hope for a fully healed and redeemed world, trusting in his perfect timing. In the meantime, we wait with the assurance that God’s justice will prevail.
The Lord IS our righteousness. Come, let us adore him.
Deb Judas is part of the NAB Missional Initiatives Team, director of Formation with Forge Canada, and a member of the pastoral team at The Neighbourhood Church in Surrey, British Columbia.