#DailyDevotion Jesus Is David’s Righteous Branch
Jeremiah 23:5–6
5“The days will come,” says the LORD, when I will raise for David a righteous Branch Who will rule as King and act wisely. He will create fairness and righteousness in the land. 6When He comes, Judah will be saved, and Israel will live safely. This is the name that He will be called: The-LORD-Our-Righteousness.
The LORD had promised David he would have a son who would sit on his throne for all eternity. In 2 Samuel 7 He says, “12When your time is up, and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your Descendant Who will come from you, and I will establish His kingdom. 13He will build a temple for My name, and I will make the throne of His kingdom stand forever. 14I will be His Father; and He will be My Son. If He becomes guilty, I will punish Him with the rod of men and with blows inflicted by men. 15But I will not stop being kind to Him as I did to Saul whom I put out of your way. 16Your royal house will stand firm before Me forever, and your throne will stand firm forever.” Now while Solomon certainly built a Temple for the LORD, that is not the house the LORD meant. Solomon also did not stand firm before the LORD forever. In fact he fell into apostasy.
So here in Jeremiah, as we see the Davidic dynasty coming to an end, the LORD assures us that He will keep his promise to David. While the Babylonians remove the house of David from ruling over Jerusalem, they do not have the last word. God keeps his promises. So He is going to raise up for David a righteous Branch. He will not be like his ancestors who did evil in the sight of the LORD. He “will rule as king and act wisely. He will create fairness and righteousness in the land.” The LORD had spoken earlier of this Branch in Isaiah 11:1, “A Shoot will come out of the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a Branch will produce fruit.” Jesse was the father of David. This tells us the Davidic house would have to start over. He would be a new David.
Now Jesus is this son of David. He is the righteous Branch. Jesus is the one who acted wisely by sacrificing himself for all the people. By the shedding of his blood, by his suffering, by his death he created fairness and righteousness in the land. By these things Judah is saved and Israel lives in safety, the spiritual Judah and Israel that is. That Judah and Israel is all people everywhere who put their hope in Jesus and his work upon the cross. We live safely in the arms our our Savior Jesus Christ. While the world, the devil and even our own flesh make work its worst against us, they cannot remove us from our LORD in whom we trust. Whatever they inflict upon us, it is only temporary. We have his kingdom which has no end. Whatever they attack us with it is for our benefit and the purification of our faith.
Jesus is the LORD our righteousness. As Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 1, 30 “He gave you your life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and ransom from sin,…” In Phil. 3:19 he says, “having the righteousness which is through faith in Christ and which comes from God on the basis of faith.” Jesus is our righteous and his righteousness is made our own through faith in him, his name and his work. With his righteousness we can stand firm in his salvation and live safely in his promised kingdom which has no end.
Almighty God and Father, grant us faith in your son Jesus Christ, that we may know him as the LORD our righteousness and through that faith be ushered into his eternal kingdom to live forever under him. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.