A Word about the Son of Salvation

Today I want to share a word Jesus as the Son of Salvation as we consider Jeremiah 33.  Let’s begin with verses 1-7:

While he was still confined in the guard’s courtyard, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time: “The Lord who made the earth, the Lord who forms it to establish it, Yahweh is His name, says this: Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things you do not know. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says concerning the houses of this city and the palaces of Judah’s kings, the ones torn down for defense against the siege ramps and the sword: The people coming to fight the Chaldeans will fill the houses with the corpses of their own men that I strike down in My wrath and rage. I have hidden My face from this city because of all their evil. Yet I will certainly bring health and healing to it and will indeed heal them. I will let them experience the abundance of peace and truth. I will restore the fortunes of Judah and of Israel and will rebuild them as in former times.

Christmas is a time when we give gifts, following the model of the gifts that the Magi gave to the Baby Jesus. Sometimes people receive gifts that they may need, but don’t really want. For example, this story: “I gave my friend a book on how to accept gifts gracefully… He handed it back and said he didn’t need it.” Or this one: “I bought my roommate a laundry basket. He said, ‘I don’t need that.’ His floor said otherwise.” Another one goes: “I bought my friend a portable phone battery. He said, ‘Thanks, but mine is always charged.’ His phone died halfway through that sentence.”

On a more serious note, author Phillip Yancey discovered how much we can grow in our faith through the trials of life. He wrote an article in Christianity Today about that fact called, “Suffering: The Unwanted Gift.” Jeremiah, the prophet, was a man God sent to Israel to give them His Word. The problem that Jeremiah had was that no one really wanted to hear it, even when it was welcome news.

The Promise of Salvation:

When you have dug yourself a hole, the first step towards getting out is to stop digging! Then you need to find someone to help you out of that hole. This is exactly the situation that Israel was in when God sent Jeremiah to them with some good news.

The problem that Israel had was the problem that we all have.  The first part of Isaiah 53:6 tells us that,

We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way . . .

Israel was in rebellion. They had dug themselves a hole, but they were not wise enough to stop digging!

God sent Jeremiah to them with a message of hope. God promised to bring salvation to His people, but His people rejected His messenger, and they rejected Him. In fact, they threw Jeremiah into prison, as if to say, “Out of sight, out of mind.” They may have silenced His messenger, but God’s message was not silenced.

We must avoid the mistakes of Israel. God’s judgment is real, but His salvation is promised to those who turn to Him!

Next, let’s consider verse 8,

I will purify them from all the wrongs they have committed against Me, and I will forgive all the wrongs they have committed against Me, rebelling against Me.

The Purification of Salvation:

When Jeremiah told Israel how God would help them out of the hole that they had dug for themselves, he explained that God would do that through purifying them. The importance of purity is something that cannot be understated. Even in a mundane thing like car tires, impurities can cause great difficulty. 

I remember as a child when my father took me with him to get some new tires put on our car. This was an older car that had tires with tubes in them. My dad took great pains to tell the workers who were installing the tires to clean out the inside of the tire before they put the tube inside it. He specifically asked them to use compressed air to purge the inside of the tire before installing the inner tube. I remember him saying that even something as small as a cigarette leaf could puncture that inner tube when it was under pressure. A cigarette leaf may not be as small as a mustard seed, but it is an exceedingly small object. Still, something that small could ruin an expensive tire.

The same is true, but even more so, for our spiritual lives. Even the smallest of impurities will spoil our relationship with God. Remember, God‘s perspective on holiness is very digital: either you are holy or you are not. 

Isaiah 53, as well as many other passages of scripture, told us plainly that we are not holy and that we are not righteous. We are far from perfect. In fact, Isaiah goes on to say that all our righteousness is as filthy rags before God. In Isaiah 64:6-7 we read,

You welcome the one who joyfully does what is right; they remember You in Your ways. But we have sinned, and You were angry. How can we be saved if we remain in our sins?  All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment; all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind. No one calls on Your name, striving to take hold of You. For You have hidden Your face from us and made us melt because of our iniquity.

Therefore, we need to be purified, but who can do that? The other half of Isaiah 53:6 tells us who that person is. Let’s begin reading at Isaiah 53:1.

Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?  He grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He didn’t have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at him, no appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn’t value him. Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced because of our rebellion,  crushed because of our iniquities;  punishment or our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds. We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all.

We must avoid the mistakes of Israel. God’s standard is perfection, but He has promised to purify those who turn to Him!

Next, let’s see what God’s purification through the Son of Salvation produces in our lives. We can see that in verses 9-12.

This city will bear on My behalf a name of joy, praise, and glory before all the nations of the earth, who will hear of all the good I will do for them. They will tremble with awe because of all the good and all the peace I will bring about for them. “This is what the Lord says: In this place, which you say is a ruin, without man or beast—that is, in Judah’s cities and Jerusalem’s streets that are a desolation without man, without inhabitant, and without beast—there will be heard again a sound of joy and gladness, the voice of the groom and the bride, and the voice of those saying, Praise the Lord of Hosts, for the Lord is good; His faithful love endures forever as they bring thank offerings to the temple of the Lord. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as in former times, says the Lord. This is what the Lord of Hosts says: In this desolate place—without man or beast—and in all its cities there will once more be a grazing land where shepherds may rest flocks.

The Praise for Salvation:

Whenever someone achieves a goal, a natural response is to celebrate. The ones who celebrate the most, however, are the ones who just managed to make the grade.

During university commencements, some students graduate with honors, such as cum laude, magna cum laude, or summa cum laude. The ones who celebrate the most however, are the ones who graduated “Thank the Lordy!” 

Do you know what they call those folks who just made the grade to receive their diplomas? Graduates!

When we are unexpectedly blessed, our response is to celebrate. When someone unexpectedly blesses us, our response is to thank them and praise them. I recently experienced that desire to praise and give thanks for a very mundane, but very welcome, blessing.  I was excited to discover that the parking lot at a local hospital had been restriped to allow easier access to the parking places. That seems like a small thing, but for a pastor, or a patient, or a patient’s family, that was a real blessing!

Only God could purify us and only God could restore our wrecked lives. When that happens to us, our natural response should be to praise Him. For God deserves all the praise for every good thing in our lives!

We must avoid the mistakes of Israel. We are only saved by God’s benevolence, so those who turn to Him should celebrate their rescue!

Next, let’s look at verses 14-17.

“Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—when I will fulfill the good promises that I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a Righteous Branch to sprout up for David, and He will administer justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely, and this is what she will be named: Yahweh Our Righteousness. For this is what the Lord says: David will never fail to have a man sitting on the throne of the house of Israel. The Levitical priests will never fail to have a man always before Me to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices.”

The Person of Salvation:

Our God is a personal God. Too often, our society today embraces the concept of spirituality instead of faith. Like The Force in Star Wars, spirituality is amorphous, and like Jello, it is hard to nail down. Often, spirituality descends into vague concepts or feelings, which differ depending on the person or even the time of day. That is not what we find in the Person of Salvation. 

Jesus was a real person, who came as a real baby, to a real mother, and who lived a real life among us. 

Jesus fed real people and He healed real people, and in the Garden, He shed real drops of blood. 

Jesus, for us, underwent a real and brutal Roman execution. 

Jesus showed Thomas the real wounds in His hands and feet, and His side. 

Jesus also has definite qualities which we have seen throughout this entire series, but which are reinforced for us here:

• He is good
• He is faithful
• He is righteous,
• He is just
• He is powerful to save and to sustain His people
• He is the perfect sacrifice for our sins.

We must avoid the mistakes of Israel. God sent His Uniquely Begotten and very real Son to give His salvation to those who turn to Him! 

Finally, let’s read verses 19-22.

The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “This is what the Lord says: If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night so that day and night cease to come at their regular time, then also My covenant with My servant David may be broken so that he will not have a son reigning on his throne, and the Levitical priests will not be My ministers. The hosts of heaven cannot be counted; the sand of the sea cannot be measured. So, too, I will make the descendants of My servant David and the Levites who minister to Me innumerable.”

The Permanence of Salvation:

Stubbornness is not usually considered to be a positive trait. In fact, we often say that intransigent people are “stubborn as a mule.” We certainly would never want to offend God by comparing Him to an animal that He never created! And yet, we do know that God is stubborn, though it might be better to use the term, determined, instead.

God loves His creation, and until the Last Days, He will not give up on us. Psalm 136:1 tells us,

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His loving kindness endures forever.

Isaiah 54:10 also says,

Though the mountains move and the hills shake, My love will not be removed from you and My covenant of peace will not be shaken,” says your compassionate Lord.

The Hebrew word often used for God’s enduring love in the Old Testament is chesed, and some have translated that term as God’s stubborn love. When all else fails, when all plans are defeated, when all friends abandon you, when there is no hope, when you have come to the end of the line, one thing always will remain solid: God’s love.

We must avoid the mistakes of Israel. Instead of looking for help elsewhere, or instead of giving up, we must look to our faithful God who loves us with an everlasting love.

Conclusion:

When Jeremiah was sharing God’s message of salvation, Israel’s back was to the wall, and they had no way out. Despite this, they ignored God’s way and they chose their own way. This, sadly, led to their destruction.

What we may not realize is that, spiritually, because of our sin, our backs are to the wall also, and we, too, have no way out. We must avoid the mistakes of Israel, and we must choose to embrace the message and the work of the Son of Salvation for our lives.

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt