Well, we are truly blessed every
time that we are given an opportunity to study the Word of God together
and to hear it preached or taught. You know, some people say, well,
you preach it or you teach it. I never have really understood
the difference between that, preaching and teaching. I felt
like they kind of interact. But the thing about it is, anytime
we have an opportunity to come together and read and study and
hear the Word of God taught, it's a privilege. It's an honor.
And it's not because of me or whoever's up here. It's the Word
of God. That's the key, isn't it? To
preach Christ in this lost world is an amazing thing. A man down in Albany, I baptized
him, and he's just been overwhelmed and amazed in the past couple
of years of how much that in growing up in religion he didn't
understand and know the truth, but now he says, I read the Bible
and I see it everywhere now. That's the way it is, isn't it?
That's an amazing thing. That's amazing grace. And you
think about this, you know, the word of God is used to soften
our old hard hearts, isn't it? If it weren't, we'd just be hard
people, wouldn't we, in every way? Resentful. But that's not
so when we look at these men like Jeremiah preaching to a
lost nation, standing firm by the grace of God, for the grace
of God, and preaching Christ. And I say all that to show you
that we're coming upon what is one of my favorite Old Testament
passages of Scripture, especially verses 5 through 6 here. So I'm
going to take some time with these. I might preach a couple
of messages from this, because as I told you, I believe in those
two verses, Jeremiah 23, 5, and 6, we have the key to understanding
The whole prophecy of Jeremiah, but it's also the key to understanding
the whole Bible. This is the reason that that
this book is written right here and It's to set forth the glory
of the king of kings Now here in verse 5. He's known as the
righteous branch And so I've entitled tonight's message Christ
the righteous branch And these first eight verses really, they're
just a continuation of what Jeremiah had been prophesying of and preaching
to the last four kings of Judah right up until the time of their
destruction and the conquering and the destruction of Jerusalem
by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. And he's been showing,
first of all here, the failure of human kings. the failure of
human kings and the failure of these kings is just a commentary
and you might say even a picture of the failure of all sinful
men and women collectively, individually to reach the goal of salvation. Man cannot save himself. Man
cannot make himself righteous. Man cannot cure the disease,
the problem of sin. If we could, this would be a
perfect world. And it is certainly not a perfect
world. But man cannot do it. And that is why salvation cannot
come from men. It has to come from God. Look
back up at verse 29 of chapter 22. Begin it here and listen
to what he says. He says, O earth, earth, earth,
hear the word of the Lord. This is a word that the whole
earth needs to hear. The fallen earth. And he says,
Thus saith the Lord, write ye this man childless. Now that's
a man named Coniah or Jeconiah. He was one of the last four kings. Judah and It says a man that
shall not prosper in his days. He will not prosper none of them
and I'll tell you what He says he mentions David here for no
man of his seed shall prosper sitting upon the throne of David
and ruling anymore in Judah So God reveals here that the earthly
line of David's throne was now over The earthly line of David's
throne is now over. None of them will prosper. Now
think back on David himself. Now David, individually, was
a prosperous man. And mostly because he was a sinner
saved by the grace of God. His hope was in Christ. And is
in Christ. And he expresses that so beautifully
in so many of the Psalms, doesn't he? trusting in the Lord of Glory. But David as the king was not
prosperous as far as the nation and the king. There was some
successful things in Israel during the time of David, but even David
on his deathbed, remember what he said, although my house be
not so with God. That's the state of his kingdom,
the state of his family. Most people say, well, he's talking
about his family because of of like Absalom and things, and
that's true, that's part of it. He's talking about the whole
kingdom. Man, not even David, the king of Israel, can save
himself. So that earthly line is over. How then would God fulfill his
promise to David? How was that going to be? Well,
we'll see. But why is that earthly line
over? Well, this is what he says here.
Look at the first two verses of chapter 23. Woe be unto the
pastors. Now, those pastors are the reference
to the kings of Judah. They were the bishops, you might
say. They were the ones who were to
lead the people in the ways of the Lord. On the whole, they
failed. They didn't. Most of them, all
four of these last kings were ungodly kings, unbelieving kings,
idolatrous, selfish, self-enhancing and self-fulfilling. And he says,
woe be unto them. That's an expression of God's
displeasure and God's disfavor. He said, they destroy and scatter
the sheep of my pastor. Instead of bringing the people
together, under the truth, under Christ, under God in worship
and service, they scattered the sheep of his pasture. Now the
sheep here he is talking about is Judah. And he says, this is
the word of the Lord. This is what God says, saith
the Lord. Therefore, verse 2, thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
against the pastors that feed my people. They fed them, but
they fed them with wormwood. We will learn later on. Gaw and
bitterness. It says, you've scattered my
flock and you've driven them away and you've not visited them.
Now that doesn't mean they didn't go to the hospital when they
were sick. It means they didn't attend to the sheep. That's what
that means. They didn't take care of them.
So you've not taken care of them. Behold, I will visit you. I'll
take care of you, God said. You didn't take care of my sheep.
Now I'll take care of you. How? Because of the evil of your
doings, saith the Lord. So there it is. It was because
of sin. But now again, now the earthly
line of David is over. There will not be another king
sitting upon the earthly throne of David. Later on, when they
returned from the Babylonian captivity, after being there
70 years, there was a man named Zerubbabel. We read about him
in the Minor Prophets. He was in the line of David right
through this man Jeconiah, but he didn't sit upon the throne
of David. He was the governor, but he didn't
have the throne. He didn't sit upon the throne.
No man did. When that throne was reinstituted, it came under
the Edomians, which were a mixture and they weren't even Jewish,
let alone the line of David. That's what Herod was. Some say,
well, there'll be an earthly king sit on that throne later
on. Some say Christ himself will sit on that earthly throne. I
don't believe the scriptures teach that, but if Christ comes
and sits on an earthly throne, that's up to him. I'll be fine
with that. How about you? If that's what
he chooses to do. But right here he says it's over.
Now Christ, he came through the line of David but not through
Jeconiah. We saw that last time. Remember
Matthew, compare the genealogy of Matthew 1 and Luke chapter
2. Matthew 1 traces the human genealogy of Christ through Joseph. And then Luke chapter 2 traces
his human genealogy through Mary. Well, we know he didn't come
through Joseph physically because he's the seed of woman. And so
he came through Mary through another line, through another
of Solomon's sons named Nathan, who's mentioned there in Luke
chapter two. So he didn't come through this line, but he was
made of the seed of David according to the flesh. What? The king
Whatever throne he sat upon to rule Judah and Jerusalem had
to come from the tribe of Judah. The scepter will not depart from
Judah till Shiloh come. And Christ fits that bill. Jesus
of Nazareth. But since that earthly line is
over, how will God then fulfill his promise to David? Look back
at 2 Samuel chapter 7. Remember the God made with David. The royal
covenant it's called. 2 Samuel chapter 7. It's a short
rendition of this covenant beginning at verse 12. And some of this
is repeated in Psalm 89. We read that last time. He says
in verse 12 of 2 Samuel, When thy days be fulfilled, that's
David, when your days are over, and thou shalt sleep with thy
fathers, I will set up thy seat after thee. which shall proceed
out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall
build a house for my name. Now, obviously, people will say,
well, now that's talking about Solomon. He built the temple.
David couldn't build it, but Solomon did, and that's true.
Any of these prophecies and pictures and types, there is an earthly
application. But the earthly, here's what
we need to understand if we're going to understand the Bible.
If we're going to understand what this thing is really all
about. any earthly application does not fulfill completely the
whole issue and the whole glory of it. In other words, whatever
fulfills the whole issue, the whole truth and the glory of
it must go beyond the material, the physical, the temporal, you
see. Because even in these earthly
fulfillments, one thing you'll always see, they're always imperfect,
Am I right? Solomon? Was Solomon an imperfect
man? An imperfect? He was a good king.
He was a godly king, but he was not a perfect man. And he messed
up and he failed in so many ways. And they're always temporary.
Where's the temple of Solomon today? It's gone. It's about to be destroyed. That's
the time of Jeremiah. Nebuchadnezzar, he invaded Jerusalem
three times. On the third time, the temple
was destroyed. The historians say that it was
laid to dust. That temple was laid to dust. And so when they come back after
the captivity, they rebuilt the temple, but it wasn't anything
like Solomon's temple. And that's why some of the elderly
were disappointed and wanted to give up and quit. Yes, there is a temporal fulfillment
of these things, but that's not the main fulfillment. Listen, that's not what will
do you or me any good. There's got to be something better
than Solomon, one greater than Solomon. Didn't He say that?
Didn't the Lord say that? And even that temple that existed,
In the Lord's day, he told his disciples, he said, well, you're
impressed with this, and it is impressive in its own way, but
it's going to be lowered down. It's going to be toppled down,
be no more, but there's something better coming. So look at this
now, 2 Samuel 12, verse 13, he shall build a house for my name,
and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Now,
how is that throne going to be established forever? What kind
of throne is he talking about there? He said in verse 14, I'll
be his father, he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I'll
chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children
of men. Now that as that applies to Solomon and the other kings
of Judah, that means temporal punishment in the way of chastisement. We're getting ready to see Jerusalem
go through that, Judah go through that in the destruction. As it
would apply to Christ, what's it talking about? It's talking
about our sins imputed to Him. Charged to him accounted to him. He was made a curse. He was made
sin He's the substance by his stripes. We're healed it was
for he bore our iniquities So he says in verse 15, but by mercy
shall not depart away from him my mercy as I took it from Saul
whom I put away before thee and thine house and thy kingdom shall
be established forever before thee thy throne shall be established
forever and Now, if the earthly line of David is gone now, if
it is over, then how is that going to be fulfilled? Well,
this was fulfilled in the succession of earthly kings of David's throne
temporarily and temporally, but not eternally. Not forever and
ever, because they failed. Turn to Acts chapter 2. Let me
show you this. Acts chapter 2. Here's Peter
preaching at Pentecost now, the New Testament, Acts chapter two. Let's look at it through New
Testament eyes, Brother Mahan would say. And that's really,
I mean, that gives us so much to go on here. But here's the
point. The ultimate spiritual and eternal
fulfillment of the promise is only and can only be realized
in the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings. And here's Peter,
he's preaching here and he talks about David and he brings up
David because he knew the Jews respected David. They applauded
David. He knew many of them were looking
for the glory of the kingdom of David. The return of that. It wasn't to be. Because there
was a greater glory that had already come. And here's what
he's saying. He talks about David. Look at
verse 29 of Acts chapter 2. He says, Men and brethren, let
me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David. That he's both
dead and buried. And his sepulcher is with us
unto this day, his grave. Therefore, being a prophet, now
when David spoke, and he's talking about one of the Psalms, but
this would apply to all of the Psalms, all of the Messianic
Psalms, which most, well, they're really all Messianic, He says,
David, he was a prophet. He was foretelling the word of
God. And knowing that God had sworn
with an oath to him, now this is referring back to 2 Samuel
chapter 7, the covenant with David. Knowing that God had sworn
with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according
to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on the throne. His throne. He's seen this before,
spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not
left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. You see that? What he's saying, you know the
psalms where David said, he shall not suffer thy soul to seek her.
Peter says, now let me tell you who David was talking about.
He's not talking about him, he's talking about Christ. And it's
the same thing according to the terms of that covenant. So the
failure of human kings, back here in Jeremiah 23 now, is a
great testimony to the need of a godly king, a king who is God
in human flesh. Well, look at verse 3 and 4.
Now here's the gathering of the remnant. He says in verse 3,
He says, now, he told the kings, he says, now, you didn't visit
the people, you didn't tend to them, so I'm gonna tend to you
with evil. He says in verse three, and I will gather the remnant
of my flock out of all countries, whether I have driven them, and
will bring them again to their folds, and they shall be fruitful
and increase, and I'll set up shepherds over them which shall
feed them. And they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither
shall they be lacking, saith the Lord. Now again, here's another
promise from God that you do find a temporal, temporary fulfillment
on earth in the people of Judah upon their return from Babylon
70 years, having been 70 years in captivity. And that's when
the Lord brought Cyrus, you remember Cyrus the Persian, Isaiah mentioned
him. He brought Cyrus the Persian
to defeat Babylon. in a miraculous way, really,
and allow the Jews to return to their home. And he said, I'm
going to gather them, the remnant of my flock, out of all countries
whether I've driven them, mainly Babylon, but there were other
countries, too. And he said, I'm going to set up shepherds
over them. Now, when you think of these shepherds as fulfilled
in Judah, temporarily, think about a man like Zerubbabel.
He was the governor. Think about Ezra. He was one
of the leaders. Remember the book of Ezra? He
was one of the leaders of the people during that return. Nehemiah,
the prophet and the governor, he was one of them. And Joshua,
the high priest. Remember Joshua, the high priest?
And Zechariah chapter 3 had that dream. Zechariah had the dream of Joshua,
the high priest. He had filthy garments on and
he was standing there accused. He said, take off those garments
and put a new garment on him. We'll look at that in just a
moment. And then think about Haggai. He was one of the prophets.
Zechariah. But even that time was short-lived. Even that little brief time of
prosperity after they come back from the Babylonian captivity
was short-lived. Judah failed again. Think about
the state of Jerusalem and Judah when the Lord himself arrived
upon the scene. What a state it was. And so eventually
it was destroyed in AD 70. But here, in these verses here,
the ultimate spiritual and eternal fulfillment of the promise again
is realized in Christ and the gathering of God's elect, Jew
and Gentile, from the four corners of the earth, the remnant of
grace. Anytime that remnant is mentioned,
that's what it is. It's a remnant according to the
election of grace. Paul spoke of it in Romans 11. Both Jew and Gentile. In Romans
11, he's speaking specifically of the remnant of the Jews that
would come to faith in Christ. But he also makes sure that they
understand that Gentile believers are included. Every sinner who's
brought to believe in and submit to Christ and his righteousness
as the only ground upon which God will save sinners. That's
the remnant of his flock and he'll gather them out of all
countries, all nations, not just Judah, not just Babylon, but
even America. Gathering them out. And it says,
and the way they're gathered, the Bible teaches us, is by the
preaching of the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit, whereupon
the Spirit grants and gives and imparts new life, spiritual life,
new heart. Gives them ears to hear and eyes
to see and hearts and minds to know and understand. And he said
he's gonna do it out of all countries whether I have driven them. Did
you notice that there? I love that. Verse 3, he said,
I'm going to gather my flock out of all countries whether
I have driven them. God's going to put you where
He wants you to gather you where He's going to bring you by the
power of God under the preaching of the gospel. He's going to
deliver you to the gospel. That's what He's saying. That's
what He did to me. That's what He did to you. I
didn't even want to be there. But that's where He delivered
me. I tell you, after I heard about two messages, it was the
last place on earth I wanted to be. It was right here. But that's where He delivered
me, and that's where He drove me, and that's where He drove
you. Somewhere where there was a preacher
of the gospel to tell you the good news of how God saves sinners
by His mercy and grace in Christ. How in the world can we ever
take that for granted? I'll never know. But we do, don't
we? Oh, pitiful human beings. Oh,
earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord, Jeremiah said. I think about that Ethiopian
that Philip preached to. God drove him to Jerusalem to
show him where salvation was not. I want you to think about
that. Think about the state of Judah
and Jerusalem when the Lord came. And then right up on that time
afterward, after he ascended, and Peter preached the gospel,
there were 3,000 saved, there were 5,000 after that saved,
and then they began to be scattered. And here he drove that Ethiopian,
one of his children, one whom he loved, to Jerusalem. And from all indications, that's
where he showed the Ethiopian what salvation was not. Then
took him on his way back home in the desert, drove him out
there and sent Philip the evangelist to preach the substitutionary
work of the God-man from Isaiah 53. Now what an amazing story
that is. I'm telling you. And then he
says here in verse 3 and 4, Verse 3, he says, they shall
be fruitful and increase. Now that tells you something
now. Don't let that just pass by you. This remnant that God
gathers of His flock, they're going to be fruitful and they're
going to increase. Alright? In other words, there's
no failure here. Now Israel failed, Judah failed,
the kings failed, the priests failed. We're going to learn
about them later on in Jeremiah 23 when he talks about the prophets
and the priests, how they failed. But there's no failure here.
Now why is that? Because this is all by the grace
of God and not by the works of men. The works of men will fail.
The righteousness of men will fail. Has failed and will fail.
But the works of God, the righteousness of God will never fail. I have
failed. You have failed. But Christ never
fails. And this is the fruit and increase
of God's power and grace, bringing forth fruit unto God. Christ
is the vine, we're the branches. And whatever fruit and increase
and prosperity we have, it's not of our own, it's Him. Christ
in us. And then He says, I'll set up
shepherds over them which shall feed them. These are the under
shepherds, faithful pastors who point centers to Christ. That's
who He's talking about. This is all the work of God.
Do you notice how many times he says, I will, I will here. And they shall fear no more,
nor be dismayed. What is he talking about? That's
true peace and confidence in Christ. Now you're not going
to find that in the temple in Jerusalem. I don't care how beautiful
it is. You're not going to find it in
the blood of bulls and goats. But you'll find it in the blood
of Christ. Isaiah said, I believe it's Isaiah 13, I'm not sure,
I'd have to go back and check, but he said the fruit of righteousness,
the work of righteousness is peace and assurance forevermore. And it says, neither shall they
be lacking, saith the Lord. What does that mean? There's
going to be completeness here. There's going to be perfection
here. You see, in Israel, under the old covenant, Judah under
the old, there was always something lacking. There was always an
incompleteness because the law could not save anyone. The law
could not make any sinner righteous. But whatever God's talking about
here, there's going to be completeness. They won't be lacking here. Well,
what is He talking about? Where do you find completeness
in the Bible? From Genesis to Revelation? Only
in Christ. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him. In Him there's
complete forgiveness by His blood. In Him there's complete justification
by His righteousness imputed. In Him there's complete life
by the Spirit of God. In Him there's complete salvation. And there's no completeness in
any of those areas but in Him. He of God has made unto us wisdom,
complete wisdom. Righteousness, complete righteousness. Sanctification, complete. And
redemption, complete. Now what's the foundation of
it all? Well here it is. Verses 5 and 6. Here's the foundation
of it all. Here's how all this is going
to come to play. The foundation of it all is Christ,
the righteous branch. Behold the days come. Now what's
he talking about? Future. Something is going to
happen in the future. Saith the Lord. How do we know
it is going to happen? We have the authority of God's
word. Thus saith the Lord. God is faithful to all his promises.
His prophecies always come true. Never fail. And here is what
is going to happen. I will raise unto David a righteous
branch. Now that branch there is an identification
of the Messiah. The anointed one. The Savior.
Salvation the hope of Israel the consolation. That's what
that branch is He is the righteous branch Jews five times in the
Bible and This branch alludes to his appearance in the world
He's coming. That's what he's saying here
by Jeremiah. That's what he's saying to the
people of Judah There's a better hope coming All the kings have failed. And
there's no use going back to David or Solomon or Hezekiah
or Josiah. They're dead. That throne is
over. That earthly throne is over.
But there's a better hope, a better throne, a better way coming.
And that's the hope of Israel. And that hope is not in some
future generation of people who are going to be more obedient
and less rebellious and stubborn than you are. That hope is wrapped up in one
person. The righteous branch. And he's going to spring forth
just like a branch. And he's going to grow like a
branch. He's going to come into view. He's going to be manifested. Great is the mystery of godliness. God manifest in the flesh. That's who he is. Now he'll have a very humble
birth, like a root out of a dry ground,
a tender plant, despised and rejected, but he's of the line
of David, he's the righteous branch, and he says, look at
it, a king shall reign and prosper. That's success. This king is
going to be successful. This righteous branch will be
successful. Not conditioned on sinners, you
see, but on Him. Every other king has failed,
not this one. And it says, what is He going to do? Here is how
He will prosper. He is going to execute, He is
going to work out, bring forth judgment and justice, and He
is going to do it in the earth. You see that? Now why does He have to do it
in the earth? Do you want to know why? Because
that's where His people are. And He has to come to where they
are. He's not standing up there in heaven saying, oh please come
to where I am. Because that would be failure.
He has to come to where we are. And I'll tell you another thing,
this means He had to execute judgment and justice and do it
in the earth. This tells you that God could not have saved
His people by just snapping His finger. No sir. Don't let anybody
teach you that. God's a powerful, sovereign God. And somebody said, well, He can
do anything He wants to do. That's exactly right. But God
must be true to His nature. And whatever He does, He must
be honored and glorified. Every attribute of His nature,
including His holiness, No, God couldn't have just snapped His
finger and saved you. No, He had to execute judgment
and justice in the earth. And how did He do that? By His
cross. This is Jesus Christ and Him
crucified just as plainly as saying it that way with those
words in the New Testament. He had to execute it. Somebody
said he had to execute it by being executed by his death. He's the substitute. He's the
surety. And he executed judgment upon
the prince of this world, Satan, the accuser of the brethren,
when he died on that cross and took our sins unto himself and
satisfied justice and cast that old accuser out. Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? You want to turn back
Satan? Don't go get you a Catholic priest
to perform an exorcism. That's just another form of Satan.
Let me tell you something. You want to cast out Satan? Just
plead the blood of the Lamb. The righteous branch. And he satisfied the justice
of God for his people. He was made sin. Daniel said
it. He'll finish the transgression,
make an end of sin, make reconciliation for iniquity, bring in everlasting
righteousness, and seal up the vision and prophecy and anoint
the most holy. Isaiah 11. You don't have to
turn there. Read that sometime. That speaks
of Christ the branch. He's the anointed one who's fully
equipped to do it. To prosper. He's God in human
flesh without sin. The Spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon Him. In Zechariah chapter 3, that clothing
that Joshua... Remember Joshua the high priest
standing in Zechariah's dream. And he's got filthy rags on signifying
the works of men. They will not do you any good,
their filthy rags. They're rags of shame. We think
so highly of them in our darkness and ignorance. That's spiritual
death. But they will not help us. And he says, take that garment,
that old filthy garment of his works off of him. Take off those
fig leaves and put on him a new garment. What is that new garment?
That's the imputed righteousness of Christ. And what do we learn
in Zechariah chapter 3? He says that, in verse 8 I believe
it is, that's the work of the branch. That righteousness with
which we're clothed, and that doesn't mean it's just an outer
thing. It means that it's something that does away with the shame
and the guilt of sin because we cannot be charged. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputed not iniquity. Well, that's the
work of the branch. In Zechariah chapter 6, he mentions
Zerubbabel who built the second temple. But if failed, Christ
is the ultimate fulfillment of the eternal spiritual temple
of God, the church. That's the work of the branch.
The church is the work of the righteous branch. He says here
in verse 6, in his days Judas shall be saved, Israel shall
dwell safely. That's the united kingdom under
the headship of Christ. In the next message, I'm going
to show you some scripture on that. You see, and look, he says they'll
dwell safely. That's not talking about their
return from Babylon. But when they return from Babylon,
the northern kingdom, Israel, is still gone. And the southern
kingdom, Judah, wasn't to last very long either. They came under
different conquerors. He's speaking of the days of
the Messiah here. The United Kingdom, spiritual
Israel under the headship of Christ. The New Testament makes
a distinction between national Israel and spiritual Israel.
Also that believing Gentiles are included in spiritual Israel. One new man, Paul called it in
Ephesians 2.15. That's the church. Under one
head, the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's the key to it all.
This is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Now you know That's one of the
compound names of Jehovah. Jehovah Sid Canoe. That's the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ. United to Him so closely, so
really and factually in such a great and glorious blessed
way that we can call Him the Lord our righteousness. He is our righteousness. We read last time over in Jeremiah
33 where the church is called by His name. Why? She's married
to Him. We'll look at that and more later
on. But He's the Lord, our righteousness. And then He says in verse 7 and
8, Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they
shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children
of Israel out of the land of Egypt. That was an impressive
time. They make movies about it. When the Lord brought Israel
out of Egypt. Brought the Hebrew children out
of Egypt. Moses. What a glorious time it was.
And I love to read about it. You do too. You can preach the
Gospel from there in so many ways, can't you? The same Gospel
in so many ways. Moses is a type of Christ. Talk
about the plagues of Egypt. That's the plague, the sin of
man. Oh, and the Passover. Crossing
of the Red Sea, that's the picture of the blood of Christ. All of
that. What a beautiful time it was. But here's what he's saying.
Look at verse 8. But the Lord liveth which brought
up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the
north country. Now that's Babylon. But it's a picture of an alienation
from God. That's what the north is sort
of picturing here. When they were taken to Babylon,
that's alienation from God. And so it says, which led the
house of Israel out of the north country and from all countries
whether I driven them and they shall dwell in their own land.
That's a picture of being blessed and in communion with God. And
what he's saying is as impressive as that time when Israel was
delivered out of Egypt, as impressive as that was, it won't even begin
to compare. with our spiritual, eternal deliverance
in Christ, the glory of it. You won't be talking about that
anymore. I mean, you know what I'm saying. As if it was the
greatest time, or as if you'd love to return, no, no, you'll
be talking about Christ and what he accomplished, the Lord, our
righteousness, all right.