Peter Misselbrook's Blog

Aug 24 2019 - Jeremiah 33:2-22 – An unbreakable covenant

Today's reading speaks of God's judgment on Jerusalem; it will become "a desolate waste without people or animals" (v.10). Yet beyond judgment, the Lord will come to rescue his people. If they will only call out to him, he will answer them, "and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know" (v.3). The Lord will forgive their sin and restore them to their land. There will be the sounds of wedding celebrations in the streets, and in the temple God's people will again praise him singing:

Give thanks to the LORD Almighty,
    for the LORD is good;
    his love endures for ever. (v.11)

"The days are coming," when the Lord will fulfil the promises he made to his people:

In those days and at that time
    I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line;
    he will do what is just and right in the land.
In those days Judah will be saved
    and Jerusalem will live in safety.
This is the name by which he will be called:
    The LORD Our Righteous Saviour. (vv.15-16)

The covenant which the Lord made with David can no more be broken than day and night can fail to follow one another; God is in sovereign control of both (vv. 19-22).

The line of the Davidic kings will shortly be cut off as the nation and its kings are taken into exile. But, says the Lord, the day will come when a new king will arise from David's line. He will not be like any of the compromising and fallible kings that Israel and Judah have experienced thus far. He will be entirely faithful to God and will do what is just and right. He will bring safety and security to his people. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom.

The Lord Jesus alone fulfils these ancient promises. He is not only God's anointed king, his Messiah, he is also the one who offered himself as a full and final sacrifice for all our sins. He is now our Great High Priest in the heavens who ever lives to intercede for us and guarantee our salvation and security. He is God's answer to our cry; we have called upon the name of the Lord and he has answered us and told us great and unsearchable things of which we were quite ignorant.

The apostle Paul quotes Isaiah 64 when he says:

it is written:

‘What no eye has seen,
    what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived’ –
    the things God has prepared for those who love him –

these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)

In the Lord Jesus, God has shown us his undeserved mercy; he is our "Righteous Saviour". And in him God has revealed to us the unimaginable greatness of the blessings that are ours, and shall be ours – unsearchable things we did not know. These things he continues to reveal to our hearts by his Spirit at work within us: "We have received … the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us" (1 Cor. 2:12).

Gracious God, we stand in awe at all you have done for the salvation of the world in the Lord Jesus. By your Spirit at work within us, show us more of your amazing grace and surpassing glory. Help us then, by that same Spirit, to declare the glories of your salvation to all who have ears to hear.

Aug 24 2020 - Matthew 4:12-25 – The Good News of the Kingdom

Jesus began his ministry in Galilee, partly to avoid the attention of the Jewish authorities (which had resulted in John’s imprisonment), but also in fulfilment of Isaiah 9:1-2. The area around Galilee had frequently been invaded by foreign powers and had a very mixed population (hence the reference to “Galilee of the Gentiles”). It was an area viewed with suspicion by the authorities in Jerusalem – a place of darkness. It is to such a place that Jesus comes with the light of his good news.

And this “good news” concerns the kingdom. Jesus begins his ministry by proclaiming, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near" (Matthew 4:17). Then, having recruited his first disciples, Matthew records that "Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people" (4:23). These are just the first of dozens of references to the kingdom in Matthew's Gospel.

The kingdom has come near because Jesus has come. He is the Messiah, the King. He is the one who fulfils the prophecy of Isaiah 9:6-7:

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the greatness of his government and peace
    there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
    and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
    with justice and righteousness
    from that time on and for ever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
    will accomplish this.

Jesus’ miracles are signs of the kingdom, a kingdom of justice and righteousness, a government under which the world is put right. They are an assault upon the domain of Satan, sin and the curse. Christ the king will reign over the kingdoms of this world, not by offering worship to the devil (4:9), but by pushing back the boundaries of his domain. The healing of diseases, liberating of people from the power of the devil, feeding the hungry and even raising the dead, these are all anticipations of the day when the kingdom shall come in power, and sickness, pain, crying and death shall be no more. They anticipate a day when God's will shall be done on earth even as it is done in heaven. In Jesus the kingdom of heaven has drawn near.

And the door into the kingdom has now been flung open. This is the good news of the kingdom. It is open to all who will repent and receive the King. Repentance is a change of mind. But it is far more than a reorientation of a few opinions. It involves a radical new understanding of everything: of ourselves in all our brokenness and need; of the world in its brokenness and despair; of Jesus as the one who alone can meet us in our need and mend our brokenness. It involves a radical reorientation of our lives. We are called to follow Jesus and to live the life of the kingdom, a life built upon very different foundations from those of the kingdoms of this world with all their shallow splendour and broken promises. And we are called also to become agents of the kingdom, fishing for people, seeking to draw others to join us in following the King.

Lord Jesus, thank you that you have brought the light of your presence and purpose into the darkness of our world. Help me to follow you in proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, not only in the words I speak but in every aspect of my life. By your grace and power, help me to shine with the glory of your presence and to be good news in a broken world.

Peter Misselbrook