Sermon
for Trinity 7, July 26, 2020
Grace to you, and peace, from God the Father and our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. Amen.
Jeremiah 31:23-25 23This is what the Lord of Armies, the God
of Israel, says. When I bring them back
from captivity, they will once again say in the land of Judah and in its
cities: “The Lord bless you, you righteous dwelling place, you holy
mountain.” 24Judah and all
its cities will live there together, the farmers and those who follow their
flocks. 25I will satisfy the thirsty, and I will give rest to
everyone who is weary. (EHV)
Dear Christian friends,
Life looked pretty bleak in Judah during Jeremiah’s
time. Yet, in some ways it was much like
today, where almost everything making news is bad news. Whether it be threatening neighbors, or a
virus sweeping the globe, forced unemployment, increasing prices for basic
items, civil unrest, or powerful storms and natural disasters, the news that
makes the news is almost always bad.
There is
one major difference, however, between Jeremiah and our own time. Jeremiah wasn’t a reporter, newscaster, or
gossip. Rather, he was God’s messenger warning
the people of Judah about the disasters that were coming because of their
refusal to turn away from sin and unbelief.
Day after day for decades, Jeremiah went out to unfaithful people calling
them to repent of their refusal to trust in God alone. Like many today, though, Jeremiah didn’t gain
in popularity for proclaiming God’s word.
Instead, he was hated, slandered, and abused by those who rejected God’s
discipline.
Jeremiah
was saddened by the fact that his own people refused to hear God’s
warnings. When God had first called Jeremiah
to prophesy His warnings, good King Josiah had been on the throne, and Josiah
tried to restore worship of the true God, but he got himself killed in a battle
against Egypt when he too tried to take political matters into his own hands, instead
of trusting God’s care.
The kings
that followed Josiah wanted nothing to do with God, or Jeremiah’s
preaching. He was just a thorn in the
flesh to them. The end result was that
this chosen nation was conquered, ransacked, and the brightest and best of the
people were hauled off into captivity.
No longer a nation, the land of Judah had become a place for Egypt and
Babylon to fight over, and to fight on.
We might
expect that Jeremiah had despaired of his grim task, yet he never strayed from
the work God gave him. Perhaps it was
because along with all the bad news that he had to proclaim, Jeremiah was also
given good news to announce to those who trusted the Lord. Our sermon text comes from the middle of some
of that Good News. Thus, with these
promises, Jeremiah urges us to Bless the Lord, He
restores the weary soul.
In his
vision, Jeremiah received comfort from the good news that the people of Judah
would be brought back from their captivity.
God was promising that at some point He would free them from their
captors and restore His people to their homeland. Jerusalem would again be inhabited by God’s
chosen people. Once again the cities and
hills of Judah
Still, in
our skeptical age, some might scoff, complaining, “This is all well and good,
but what does it mean to me if Judah was restored to its homeland? Why should I care if the Judeans say, ‘Bless
the Lord, He restores the weary soul?’”
The
reason we should care is that God’s promise is for us, as well. I want to read for you the sentence that
follows our sermon text. Jeremiah
reported, “Just after this I woke up and
looked around. My sleep had been
pleasant for me.” The promise in
Jeremiah’s dream made his entire sleep unusually sweet. Do you think just the fact that someday a few
of his fellow Israelites would be set free to return to Judah would give
Jeremiah so much comfort? I doubt that. Instead, Jeremiah realized that the Lord’s
promise has another, greater fulfillment.
It is
true that the promises were initially fulfilled as a remnant of Judeans returned
from Babylon to resettle their homeland, but that merely foreshadows the
fulfillment found in Christ Jesus. Here,
as in so many ways, our Lord was using Israel as a picture of the fate of all
mankind. Because of sin and unbelief,
the entire human race was in bondage and condemnation. The entire world needed rescue. The wicked suffer condemnation, but faithful
generations will be restored to the Promised Land. Thus, as long as we sojourn through this
troubled world, God’s people long to return to the Promised Land that is God’s
Kingdom, and it really isn’t that narrow strip of land between the
Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. But
first, let’s see how God restores our
weary souls.
My
friends, the sad fact of our world is that we all were sinners, and we all were
under banishment from God’s Kingdom.
That banishment was for eternity.
It is the sentence of eternal death in hell that hung over all our heads
since Adam sinned. We had no power or
ability to reverse that and no power or ability to return to the enjoyment of
the home God had promised to all. Yet, Bless
the Lord, He restores the weary soul.
As
Jeremiah slept, God promised, “I will satisfy the thirsty, and I will give
rest to everyone who is weary.”
When God makes a promise, it is as good as done, because nothing and no
one can stop God from carrying out His plan in the proper time. Thus, we read in the letter to the Galatians,
“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son to be born of a
woman, so that he would be born under the law, in order to redeem those under
the law, so that we would be adopted as sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5) Then, because of God’s plan, the sorrowful
soul, agonizing over the burden and condemnation of sin, listens as our Lord
Jesus invites, "Come to me, all you
who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
God “will
give rest to everyone who is weary.”
Jesus gave His life to restore us to life. We all had the need, and Jesus died for us
all, even for those who reject Him.
Isaiah declared, “We all have gone
astray like sheep. Each of us has turned
to his own way, but the Lord has charged all our guilt to him.” (53:6) The Apostle Paul explained this by
saying, “God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we
might become the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Christ
restored our weary souls to the Father with His perfect life and innocent
death. Those who believe in Jesus no
longer face the captivity of hell. No
longer are we bound in the clutches of that cruel slave-master known as Satan. God has set us free through His Son,
Jesus.
I’m sure
that sometimes all the bad news in our world makes you wonder when God will
fully carry out this promise, but I promise you, the promise has already been
completed. We already have been restored
to God’s Kingdom. No, we don’t yet enjoy
heaven for it is God’s plan that we sojourn here until the Lord calls us to
glory. But understand this, we already
have eternal life. When we were brought
to faith in Jesus, our old sinful nature was put to death, “Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death? We were
therefore buried with him by this baptism into his death, so that just as he
was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too would also
walk in a new life.” (Romans 6:3-4)
If you
want to see the promise of restoration, look to the name that was given to the
land of promise: “you righteous dwelling place, you holy mountain.” Literally, Jeremiah heard, “dwelling
place of righteousness.” God is speaking
of our eternal home, His new heaven and new earth—the place where God Himself
dwells with His people—the place God will make our eternal dwelling place.
God’s
Kingdom isn’t some dusty corner of this present world, but rather, a new home
where justice is complete and holiness the only way of life. Not only does God promise to restore us, but
He promises that we will be satisfied to overflowing. In His promise we are reminded of the words
of King David, “You set a table for me in
the presence of my foes. You drench my
head with oil. My cup is overflowing.” (Psalm 23:5) In His mercy, God
promises to satisfy us above and beyond whatever we might desire. Sometimes, in our world of unending covetousness,
hatred, sorrow, and pain, we may struggle to believe this, but in Christ, God
gives the true satisfaction that is never ending.
My
friends, no matter what trials and pains the world might throw against us, our
sleep, like Jeremiah’s, can be sweet. Even
the sleep of death is but a quiet rest until we arise in glory. Like Jeremiah we have God’s promise that He
has taken care of everything we need to enter His heaven in peace, and He will
continue to take care of everything on earth for the benefit of our eternal
life.
The world
wants us to fret and worry about politics, Covid-19, violent mobs, global
warming, and this problem, and that trouble—most of which are caused by sinful people. Yet, as Christians, we don’t have to let the
troubles of this world take away our joy or our hope, for God has already restored
our souls, forgiving our sins and making us holy through faith in Christ Jesus,
and He is ready to take us home to a place far more glorious and perfect than could
ever be accomplished, or comprehended, in the present earth. So, be assured of all that God has done for
you in Jesus, then Bless the Lord, for through Word and Sacrament, He
restores your weary soul. Amen.
The peace
of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus unto everlasting life. Amen.
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