Jeremiah 33

The Explanation

Jeremiah sat in a courtyard he could not leave. Guards stood at the gate. He was a prisoner.

Outside the city walls, the army of Babylon was camped. They were piling up dirt hills against Jerusalem's walls so they could climb over. Inside the city, people had torn down their own houses to make the walls thicker. Imagine that. Your own roof, your own door, broken up into a pile of stones. And still the soldiers came.

Everything smelled of smoke and fear. Nobody was singing. No sheep in the fields. No children playing in the streets.

And right there, in that locked courtyard, God spoke to Jeremiah. Not with bad news this time.

"Call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great and difficult things, which you don't know."

Call to me. As if God were saying: go on, ask. I have something to tell you that you would never guess on your own.

Then God told him. This broken city would get better, like a wound that heals. The people who were dragged far away would come home. God would wash their sins away, all of them, and never bring them up again.

And listen, Jeremiah, listen to what you will hear in these empty streets one day. Laughing. A bride and a groom on their wedding day. People carrying gifts to God's house and singing, "Give thanks to Yahweh of Armies, for Yahweh is good, for his loving kindness endures forever."

Out in the fields, shepherds would come back. Sheep lying down in the grass, safe. A shepherd counting them one by one as they walk past his hand. Nineteen. Twenty. Twenty-one. All there.

Would you have believed it, sitting in that courtyard with the enemy outside?

Then God said something even bigger. From the family of King David, a Branch would grow. A green shoot out of a stump that looked dead. This King would do what is right, always. And people would call him by an amazing name: "Yahweh our righteousness." That means: God makes us good again.

And how sure was this promise? God said: can you stop the sun from coming up tomorrow? Can you break the night so it never gets dark? Can you count every star, or every grain of sand on the beach?

No. Nobody can.

That is how sure God's promise is.

What Does This Mean?

Some people were whispering, "God has thrown his people away. He's finished with them." God heard that whispering. And he said, no. I have not.

God is honest in this chapter. He does not pretend the city is fine. He says himself that he was angry about the wrong things his people did. The houses really were broken. The danger really was outside the gate.

But God does not stop at the broken part. He is the God who heals what is smashed and brings home what is lost. He does not throw people away.

The Common Thread

That Branch growing from David's family tree? Hundreds of years later, a baby was born in Bethlehem, in David's family. Jesus.

Jesus is the King who always does what is right. He is the Good Shepherd who counts his sheep and does not lose one. And he is the one who takes our wrong things away, so that God can say what he said to Jeremiah: I will pardon them.

God kept his promise. He always does.

For You

Look at the sky tonight. The sun went down, and tomorrow morning it will come up again. God said his promises are that sure.

So do the thing God told Jeremiah: call to him. Not with fancy words. Just tell him one real thing today, something you are scared about, or something you broke and wish you hadn't. He listens. He answers.

And if you know somebody who is sad, tell them about the shepherd who counts every sheep.

Talk About It

What is the hardest thing to believe in this chapter, and why?

Is there something you want to call to God about today?

Praying Together

Lord God, you spoke good news to a man locked in a courtyard. You are the God who heals broken things. Thank you for Jesus, the King from David's family. I call to you now, and I know you hear me. Amen.