2021 was a challenging year for many of us. While hundreds of thousands of Americans died from COVIV-19, we argued about masks, vaccines, and the economy. While we worried about our rights, some of our friends got sick, and our concern for our health grew. At the same time, election fraud theories ran rampant and threatened to undermine trust in democracy. I could go on, but it’s enough to say 2021 gave us a lot to worry and complain about.
Hopefully, 2022 will be calmer, but maybe not. Regardless, people will find plenty to complain and worry about—we always do.
In the past, one of the things that made the future uncertain and worrisome was when a leader died in office. When one of Israel’s kings died, it was potentially a time of turmoil or uncertainty. Will the next leader be better or worse? Will he lead us closer to God or farther away?
The situation the Israelites found themselves in was not unlike our own. They were suffering, and the previous year had been awful. Hundreds of thousands had died, and those left were unsure of the future. They wondered if they would even have a nation anymore or if the nation of Babylon would just assimilate them.
Well, God had a response to that kind of uncertainty. He promised a King and a kingdom that would never fail the Israelites.
Jeremiah 33:17–18 CSB
“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.”
But, in Jeremiah 34:2-3, we’re told that Jerusalem was burned, and King Zedekiah was blinded, put in chains, and taken to Babylon. So had God failed to keep his promises? That’s what the word around town was.
Jeremiah 33:23–24 CSB
The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “Have you not noticed what these people have said? They say, ‘The Lord has rejected the two families he had chosen.’ My people are treated with contempt and no longer regarded as a nation among them.
The people were complaining because it seemed like God had failed them. Have you ever felt like God has forgotten you? Have you ever felt like God doesn’t keep his promises? From the Israelite’s point of view, it seemed like God had rejected them. What good was it to be one of God’s “chosen people” if this was the way he treated them?
Nevertheless, the point of this section in Jeremiah 33, and the whole book of Jeremiah for that matter, is that God never fails. God will never fail to do what is right and just and ultimately good. Everyone else fails, but God never does.
King David was one of the best kings Israel ever had, but he was far from perfect. He committed 1st-degree murder and was a failure as a father. Even his son Solomon, who was very wise, used much of his wisdom for personal gain and not God’s glory.
With each generation, their leaders seemed to get worse. Most of Solomon’s sons led the county into idolatry and further ruin, and now the country was in captivity without much hope for the future—but God keeps his promises, so hope remains— that’s the central theme of the book of Jeremiah.
To reinforce the truth of this theme, all we have to do is turn to the very end of Jeremiah. Jeremiah leaves his readers with this parting thought.
Jeremiah 52:31–33 (CSB)
On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Judah’s King Jehoiachin, King Evil-merodach of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, pardoned King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison. He spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes, and he dined regularly in the presence of the king of Babylon for the rest of his life.
So, at the very end, Jeremiah leaves us with hope. He’s telling us that the harsh treatment of Zedekiah and his sons isn’t the end. Hope remains because of the kind treatment of Jehoiachin, who was Zedekiah’s nephew.
This story of hope resumes in Matthew 1:11-12 with the genealogy of Jesus Christ.
Matthew 1:11–12 (CSB)
And Josiah fathered Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. After the exile to Babylon Jeconiah fathered Shealtiel, Shealtiel fathered Zerubbabel…and Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Mary, who gave birth to Jesus who is called the Messiah.
Jeconiah is also called Jehoiachin in scripture and is the same person Jeremiah spoke of in chapter 52. Jehoiachin was an evil king whose descendants also did evil, yet Jehoiachin’s sinfulness was no obstacle for God.
A King Forever
Jesus was born to be King and is King Jehoiachin’s heir to the throne and the fulfillment of God’s promises. The wise men declared him to be king in Matthew 2:2, “saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.’”
Jesus was also declared to be a king by the mocking soldiers. John 19:2-3 says, “The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and clothed him in a purple robe. And they kept coming up to him and saying, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’”
And Revelation 15:3 says Jesus will be worshiped as the King of all nations forever. Looking far into the future, John saw God’s people singing, “the song of God’s servant Moses and the song of the Lamb: Great and awe-inspiring are your works, Lord God, the Almighty; just and true are your ways, King of the nations.”
So, the promise of Jeremiah 33:17 is fulfilled in Jesus, and it’s why we should have hope as we start 2022. Have hope because Jesus’ kingdom has already begun and will go on forever. God’s word will never fail.
A Priest Forever
Notice that the promise in Jeremiah 33 wasn’t just for a permanent king but for a permanent priest.
Jeremiah 33:18 CSB
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.”
This is so important to notice because without a permanent priest, who will atone for sin? When a priest died, there was just as much uncertainty about the future for the Israelites as when a king died. Would the new priest be faithful or corrupt? Would he perform the sacrifices correctly so that our sins would continue to be forgiven? When a priest died, there was a lot of uncertainty.
The lack of priests is a big problem for the Jews today because the temple was destroyed in 70 AD and has not been rebuilt. There has not been a Levitical system to make atonement for sins for the last two thousand years. They’ve shifted to a personal system that doesn’t involve sacrifices, but what about God’s promise that there would always be a man to offer and make sacrifices for sin?
Has God Failed Us?
No, the promise of an eternal King and an eternal Priest has been kept through Jesus. Jesus is the Messiah even if we don’t accept him. Jeremiah plainly says in verse 18 that the promises are fulfilled in “a man” — a fully flesh and blood human being. Jesus, the Son of God, is the man Jeremiah spoke of.
But the priesthood of Jesus is better than any other man’s because it lasts forever. Hebrews 5:6 says of Jesus, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” There is quite a bit of mystery around the person of Melchizedek because we don’t know his background, and we don’t know when his priesthood ended. But that’s the point. Melchizedek was a “type” of Christ because his priesthood went on “forever.” Hebrews 7:23 explains,
Hebrews 7:23–25 CSB
Now many have become Levitical priests, since they are prevented by death from remaining in office. But because he remains forever, he holds his priesthood permanently. Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them.
So, unlike priests who die and need to be replaced, Jesus can be relied upon to intercede for us forever. And because Jesus will never fail, our salvation will never fail.
Innumerable Descendants
There’s one more point before we conclude. Jeremiah 33 gives us hope that 2022 will be a year when even more people come to Christ.
Jeremiah 33:22 CSB
Even as the stars of heaven cannot be counted, and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so too I will make innumerable the descendants of my servant David and the Levites who minister to me.”
This prophecy is being fulfilled in the church right now. Every day new people are coming to Christ, and like the universe, God’s kingdom is continually expanding.
As adopted descendants of royalty, all of us are going to reign eternally with Jesus.
According to 2 Timothy 2:12, we won’t just be worshiping; we’re also going to be ruling over God’s creation. But that’s not all. We’re also going to minister and share God’s grace with others as priests (Col 3:16).
This has already begun, but it’s also what we look forward to. It’s what we long for. It’s being fulfilled even now, but the ultimate fulfillment is still in the future.
So, no matter what 2022 brings, God’s promises will not fail because they are more sure than the laws of physics.
Jeremiah 33:19–21 (CSB)
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. If that could happen, then he would not have a son reigning on his throne and the Levitical priests would not be my ministers.
God’s word is sure because he can’t break his covenant with David. It would be easier for us to make time stand still than for God to fail to keep his promises. So God’s never going to fail. The sun and the moon are more likely to stop appearing in the sky than for Jesus to stop ruling as King and Priest.
So if we ever doubt that God will keep his promises, just look up at the sun (not literally) or the moon and remember that they are two kinds of irrefutable proof that God always keeps his promises.