The Promised Land (Psalm 37; Jeremiah 31-33)

And we turn now to the book of Psalms, to Psalm 37. Psalm 37, and let's begin with a word of prayer before we jump into our text.

Our Father, we come to your word aware that we are dependent always upon your spirit and upon your grace and upon your teaching to understand the depth and the significance of what is revealed in your word.

And we want to read your word and understand your word, not just on a superficial level, but with an understanding that is given by the, and granted by the spirit of God who wrote this book.

Help us to understand what is written here in the way that the spirit would intend and the original audience would have understood it.

We pray that you would encourage our hearts together as we spend this time in your word, sanctify us by your word, and pray that you would conform us to the image of Christ.

Fix through our time here, fix our hope and our affections upon the grace that is to be revealed to us at the coming of the

Lord Jesus Christ and the glory that awaits those who are yours in your son. We ask in his name, amen.

We come now to verses nine through 11 of Psalm 37. We've covered the first eight verses, which described the peace that God gives to the righteous.

We're picking it up now this morning at verse nine. So read with me nine through 11. For evil doers will be cut off, but those who wait for the

Lord, they will inherit the land. Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more.

You will look carefully for his place and he will not be there. But the humble will inherit the land and will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.

These three verses constitute the second section of this Psalm that we are looking at, seeing another thing that God gives to the righteous, namely a promise of a glory and a grace that is to come.

You see it in verse nine, the righteous will inherit the land. Verse 11, the humble will inherit the land.

And this promise of a land that is to come and the inheritance in that land is the central promise of this entire

Psalm. There are a number of promises in the Psalm, but this one is repeated in various ways throughout the

Psalm. You see it mentioned in verse three, the land mentioned in verse three, trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

Just notice there that they were already living in this land and they were to live there and to enjoy the allotment that God had given to them and to cultivate faithfulness, meaning that they were to live faithfully in the land that God had given to them.

That's verse three. There is a command there to dwell in the land, but then the rest of the references to the land in this

Psalm, all are references to inheriting the land. And I'm just gonna let you, I just want your eyes to sort of glance at each of these references as we work our way through them.

Look at verse nine, evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land. Verse 11, the humble will inherit the land and will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.

Look at verse 22, for those who are blessed by him will inherit the land, but those cursed by him will be cut off.

Verse 29, the righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever. Verse 34, wait for the

Lord and keep his way and he will exalt you to inherit the land when the wicked are cut off, you will see it.

So there are six references there to the land. And one way of dividing this Psalm is to break the Psalm up around the references to the land in all of these verses that you have just looked at.

That's one way of dividing the Psalm. In the passage that concerns us for this morning, or at least will briefly is in verses nine and 11, you'll see that it is mentioned twice.

And I want you to notice something about the structure of verses nine through 11. Notice in verse nine, there's a promise regarding the wicked in the first line of that verse.

And then there is a promise regarding the righteous in the second line of the verse, evildoers will be cut off.

And those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land. And then notice that verse 10 elaborates on the promise or the statement regarding the wicked in the first line of verse nine.

Verse 10 says yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more and you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there.

So all of verse 10 is an elaboration on the statement in the first phrase of verse nine.

And then verse 11 elaborates on the second line of verse nine, but the humble will inherit the land and will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.

So now the question is this, what is this that is being promised? What was the land promise?

What is it referring to? What is intended by this promise? Is it symbolic? Is it metaphorical?

Who enjoys this? Has this already happened? Is this going to happen in the future? And if so, what is it going to look like?

Will we share in this or is this something that was just for the Jews, just for Israel? How should we understand this promise?

Now, because or since I should say, this promise of the land is mentioned all the way through this

Psalm, it would behoove us at the beginning of this Psalm to sort of make the case and frame an understanding of what the author has in mind with all of these references throughout the rest of the

Psalm. That way we're just sort of lay the groundwork for this and build the foundation of what is this land promise so that we can understand that.

And then we can just refer back to this sermon over the course of the next couple of weeks, however long it takes us to work through the rest of the

Psalm, as we sort of refer back to what again was the land promise. So that's what we're doing today.

Now, as you might suspect, there are a number of different ways that the promise of the land was interpreted.

I'm gonna give you four possible interpretations, four of what I think are five, and I'm gonna briefly critique each one of these.

First, some people could suggest that this land promise refers to the

Israelites entering the land under Joshua, entering the land under Joshua, that the righteous would inherit the land.

Now, if that is the case, then that means that all of the promises that are mentioned in Psalm 37 have already been fulfilled, even in David's day, but it can't be referring to Joshua coming into the land and conquering the land since this was written 400 years after that, and all of the references to this are yet future events.

They will inherit the land. The wicked will be cut off. So I don't really think it is referring to what happened in Joshua's day.

It can't be something past since it is promising something that is yet future. And you notice from verse three that the people to whom

David was writing in his day are commanded in verse three to dwell in the land, meaning they were already there.

It was already a reality for them. Second, some have suggested that the references to the land here in the

Psalm are merely references or promises of security and provision, security and provision.

In other words, they are symbolic of God's protection of the nation, of the righteous, and sort of metaphors or similes, a symbol of God's provision in the land, his abundant provision in the land, and his protection of the

Jews in the land. In fact, this is John Calvin's interpretation of the verse. He says this, quote, now keep in mind,

Calvin wrote in longer sentences than we are used to thinking today. This would never, you could never get this in one tweet.

So I'm gonna give you this. I'll kind of briefly pause to explain what it is that Calvin is saying. Moreover, Calvin says this, quote, moreover,

I have just now and on several other occasions stated the sense in which this everlasting habitation upon the earth, which is here promised to the righteous, is to be understood, namely, that although they are surrounded by the troubles and changes which occur in this world, yet God preserves them under his wing.

And although there is nothing lasting or stable under heaven yet he keeps them in safety as if they were sheltered in a secure haven.

That was one sentence. Now, what Calvin is saying is that the sense in which we are to understand this everlasting habitation of the earth that is promised is simply to be understood as God preserving the righteous under his wing and keeping them in safety.

Calvin goes on to say this, and finally, they enjoy in addition to this, that inward peace of mind, which is better than a hundred lives and which is therefore justly regarded as a privilege surpassing in value and importance all others, period, close quote.

Now, I don't disagree with Calvin that God protects his people or that God provides for his people or gives peace of mind to his people or graciously blesses his people in that way.

I don't object to that at all. But he's simply saying that the land promise is a promise of God's preservation of God's safety and provision for them in the land and that this is a promise that God would give them peace of mind.

So it's simply a symbol for God's provision, protection, and peace. Now, I would suggest to you that if that is what the psalmist meant, the psalmist could have said that.

In other words, he could have said, "'God is our refuge, he is our protector, he is our shield.'" And in fact, other psalms do say that, don't they?

You can drop your book of Psalms open to almost any psalm and read it and you will see a psalmist referencing those very things.

So if that's what the psalmist intended, if that's what David meant by the promise of the land, he could have been far clearer than he was.

Other passages do say that, but this psalm describes them dwelling in the land and inheriting it forever.

A third possible interpretation is that this promise was that they would live in the land for the duration of their lives and that as long as they were not unfaithful and were not wicked, that they would not be expelled from the land like they were in Babylon.

In other words, the promise is, to the righteous, God will let you live in the land, but if as a nation or as a people, you turn from the

Lord, then he will kick you out of the land just as he did 400 years after the psalm was written when the

Jews disobeyed and they were kicked out of the land and exiled in Babylon. In other words, their obedience would secure their time in the land and they would not be driven out in exile.

Some people say that that's what is being promised here. Except they were in the land and they were commanded to live there and if that's what it is referring to, then the wicked would have enjoyed the exact same blessing since the wicked were prospering at this time and if this is just a reference to them not suffering under exile, then the wicked could live alongside of the righteous and live and dwell in the land and enjoy the same promise.

In other words, that interpretation nullifies the promise because the wicked then get to enjoy the same thing.

That is to stay within the national borders of Israel and live in that land. The wicked in fact prospered in that same land and died and were never driven out until 400 years later when

Babylon came in and drove the entire nation out. And in fact, it would turn the promise on its head since 400 years later when the wicked were rebellious and the nation did rebel, there was a remnant of righteous in the land and they were actually driven out of the land, weren't they?

Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Jeremiah, Daniel, they were all exiled from the land and so what does this promise mean to them if we're just talking about dwelling in the physical land of Israel?

They were righteous men who were in fact, were not allowed to dwell in the land and live in it in peace and safety since they were exiled along with other rebellious

Jews of their day. Fourth, it has been suggested that this is a promise that the righteous will enjoy success in the land.

In other words, the righteous will enjoy the prosperity in the land and delight themselves in the abundant prosperity of the land that is provided.

But in fact, the wicked were having the same success, verse seven says, rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him, do not fret because of him who prospers in his way.

In other words, the wicked were prospering, so if this is just a promise that the righteous will prosper, then what do we do with the fact that the wicked were prospering in the land as well?

This seems to be a suggestion, this seems to be a promise that there is coming something that the wicked do not enjoy.

In other words, whatever is intended in this promise, it cannot be something that the wicked also enjoyed and experienced.

Whatever the land promise is, it cannot be something that the wicked enjoyed or experienced since throughout the

Psalm, the distinction is made between the righteous and the wicked and the promises that the wicked will be cut off and the righteous would inherit this thing.

So the wicked are cut off and they are no more and the righteous inherit the land. In other words, the wicked don't get this thing that is promised, which means that it cannot refer to just living in the land of Israel within the national boundaries since the wicked enjoyed that.

It can't be referring to simply prosperity in the land at that time since the wicked were enjoying that.

Some have suggested that it's possibly speaking of heaven. I don't think it excludes heaven. I think heaven is part of the fulfillment of this promise, not all of the fulfillment of this promise, but it is part of it.

But that interpretation would understand to land simply to be a picture of ultimate heaven. But if that is true, then referring to it as the land seems a bit confusing at best and misleading at worse.

If the author wanted to describe heaven, he could have said heaven, there was language for that, like Asaph uses in Psalm 73, verse 25, when he says, whom am

I in heaven but you? And besides you, I desire nothing on earth. So this is referring to heaven.

If the land promise is referring to heaven, then it seems the author could have just said the righteous are promised heaven and left it at that.

But there's actually no place in the Psalm where the land is equated with heaven. So it can't be that.

The Jews knew what this meant. The Psalmist uses the term land six times in the

Psalm to describe a promise, something that the righteous would receive that the wicked will be cut off from and never received.

The promises are yet to be realized even in David's day regarding the land. So that means that in David's day, when he wrote

Psalm 37, there was something to happen to the land, something about the land promise that was yet to be fulfilled, that the wicked would never enjoy, that can't be physically dwelling inside the national boundaries.

It has to be something beyond that, something greater than that, because the wicked would be cut off. So let's look for a moment at the features of the promises all the way through Psalm 37.

We're just gonna observe and go back to each one of these six references and just observe, look what it is that is promised.

And then we're gonna jump into another Old Testament passage to say, what was the land promise describing?

What did the author have in mind? Let's begin at verse three, Psalm 37, three, trust in the

Lord and do good, dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Now, does this reference to the land refer to heaven?

Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Is the author describing heaven in verse three? Dwell in heaven and cultivate faithfulness.

Do good and trust in the Lord in heaven. Is that what he's describing? Verse three is not describing heaven.

That's obviously they were not in heaven. He's not commanding the saints who were in heaven to dwell in heaven. And so I would suggest to you that it is hermeneutical gymnastics of the worst sort to suggest that the reference to land in verse three has a completely different meaning than the reference to the land in the rest of the psalm.

You can't seriously suggest that the reference to the land in verse three refers to the physical land of Israel, the actual real estate in the

Middle East promised to Abraham and his descendants, but that every subsequent reference to the land in the rest of the psalm refers to a spiritual reality, not a physical one, and to heaven, and not actually the land of Israel.

Psalm 37, verse nine says, evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the

Lord, they will inherit the land. So the wicked don't get this. They're removed, they're cut off. Look at verse 11.

The humble will inherit the land and will delight themselves in abundant prosperity. So whatever the promise is, it involves not the wicked, but the righteous enjoying and delighting themselves.

Same word used as in verse four, where it says, delight yourself in the Lord. It involves the righteous delighting themselves, reposing themselves, lavishing themselves in abundant prosperity.

Look at verse 22. For those blessed by him will inherit the land, but those cursed by him will be cut off.

In other words, the land is for those whom God blesses and those whom God curses have no part or portion in the land.

Verse 29, the righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever. So this possession, whatever it is that is meant here is a possession that is an everlasting and eternal, a forever possession.

Not one that ends when you die, not one that can end if the wicked rebel and you are cast out of the land.

This is an ongoing, eternal, everlasting possession. They will dwell in it forever. So this can't be referred to just this life.

Verse 34, wait for the Lord and keep his way and he will exalt you to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.

So this inheriting of the land involves an exaltation for the righteous. So it can be spiritual.

It can be a metaphor. It's not symbolic of something else. He's describing here actually inheriting the land of Israel in a state or a condition that they did not yet enjoy.

Now, other than the command in verse three, every reference describes something that is future. You'll notice it, it's used nine times.

This will happen, this will happen, this will happen. There's a phrase that describes the future condition of this nine times in the

Psalm and verse three is the only place where it is a command and not promising something future. So while they lived in the land, along with the wicked, there is a future land promise for the righteous that involves an eternal dwelling, abundant prosperity, exaltation, and the complete removal of the wicked from the land.

This land then is not a spiritual reality, but the very land that they lived on and the very land that they called their own given to them by Yahweh, that is what they were to dwell on and cultivate faithfulness while they looked forward to the fulfillment of a promise and a condition of that land that was yet to come.

So, now that we've sort of laid out the parameters of what is promised in Psalm 37, turn now back, turn now forward,

I should say, to another Old Testament book, Jeremiah, the book of Jeremiah chapter 31.

We're gonna spend the rest of our time this morning in Jeremiah 31, because we wanna understand what did the

Jews, what were they promised? What did they understand the blessing of the land to refer to? We're going to actually spend the rest of our time in Jeremiah 31, 32, and 33.

And you're gonna wonder if you can cover that much scripture like on one Sunday, how come you can't do that every Sunday?

It's not because we're not gonna go into detail, but there's just so much there to read and to take in, because there are three chapters there that deal with this reality.

So, today we're gonna look at those three chapters, Jeremiah 31, 32, 33, and then next

Sunday, we're gonna come back to Psalm 37 and work our way through verses nine through 11. Now, Jeremiah wrote this after David in Psalm 37.

One of the reasons that I chose to go to the book of Jeremiah was simply to establish some promises that came, not during the time of David and not before the time of David, but something that actually happened after the time of David toward the close of the

Old Testament era. So, you're talking about Jeremiah writing for 500 years

BC, but 400 years after David. So, you have Joshua conquering the land, several centuries go by,

David writes the Psalm describing the blessing of this land that is to come four more centuries go by, and Jeremiah starts talking about this land and the promise that God has made concerning this land.

So, we're going after David's time, after the time that God gave the covenant to David, which

I'm just gonna read it so you can be reminded of what God promised to David in 2 Samuel 7, verse 11.

"'The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you. When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers,

I will raise up your descendant after you who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom.

He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to me.

When he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, but my loving kindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom

I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall endure before me forever.

Your throne will be established forever.'" Now, that's the promise that God made to David. I'll fast forward 400 years to the time of Jeremiah, and you are approaching the end of the

Davidic kingdom, the Davidic monarchy. The kingdom is in ruins. The house of David and the kingdom of Israel was a hollowed out shell of its former self.

The nation was in ruins. They had committed iniquity, and God was judging them for their sin.

And God had promised to set a descendant on David's throne and that David's house, David's kingdom, and his rule would exist and continue through that son forever.

An everlasting kingdom is promised to the descendant who would take David's throne. And yet in Jeremiah's day, the question was, if the house of David is broken down and Israel is about to be invaded by Babylon, as Jeremiah was prophesying, and they were gonna be destroyed, and that was the end of the

Davidic monarchy, then what do we do with God's promises to David that said he would establish his throne forever?

You see the dilemma? God promised this to David, and yet here's what we see with our eyes. This is coming to an end.

Have the promises of David failed? That, by the way, is the issue that the psalmist wrestles with in Psalm 89, where he asked himself that very question.

What do we do with the promises of God to David? And the psalmist goes back again and again to this foundational truth.

God promised it to David. He swore this to David. He will keep his word. Don't understand how it's gonna happen? Don't understand how this is gonna unfold?

But that's where we stand. We have to stand there because God has promised it. So Jeremiah 31 is the

Lord speaking to Jeremiah, telling him about a new covenant that is to come. Now, there are some who would say that the establishment of the new covenant and the passing away of the old covenant means that the people to whom the promises of David were given, that that has changed, and that now those promises are fulfilled in us, the church, in a different way than what was promised.

What we're gonna see in these next three chapters and most of the passages that are in here is that there is no way that you can interpret those promises to anybody other than national

Israel. It was made to national Israel. And therefore, God is going to keep his word to the

Jews just as he said he would do it because that is what God does. He keeps his word. So Jeremiah 31, let's pick it up at verse 31.

And we're gonna read through this. I'll stop periodically to make some comments. I want you to observe some things that tie in with Psalm 37 as we work our way through it.

Verse 31, behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which

I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant, which they broke, although I was a husband to them, declares the

Lord. I want you to notice there that he contrasts the new covenant with the Mosaic covenant, the one that was made at Sinai when he brought them out of Egypt.

And he says, this new covenant is not like that one. The new covenant is an unconditional covenant. It's not conditioned upon their obedience like the

Mosaic covenant was. And the Mosaic covenant did not have promises of land attached to it.

It had promises attached to the nation that stipulated their dwelling in the land and their worship in the land.

And now in Jeremiah's time, they were being punished as a nation for their disobedience to that former covenant.

And so now on the brink of the destruction of the nation by Babylon coming in and judging them,

God says, I'm gonna make a new covenant with whom? With Gentiles? No. With different peoples?

No, with Israel. This covenant is with the nation of Israel. Verse 33, but this is the covenant which

I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them and on their heart,

I will write it and I will be their God and they shall be my people. They will not teach again each man his neighbor and each man his brother saying, no, the

Lord, for they will all know me. From the least of them to the greatest of them, declares the

Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin, I will remember no more. So this covenant involves redemption, forgiveness, the payment of sin, the forgiving of iniquity.

It also involves everyone with whom this covenant is made at this time that fulfills this, they will all know me.

In other words, all of the participants of the new covenant, they know God. You do not have unbelievers in the new covenant.

You don't have children who are in the new covenant who are unbelievers. You don't have pagans attached to the church who are part of the new covenant.

They're not inside the new covenant. Everybody in the new covenant knows the Lord. This is one of the things that makes it superior to the

Mosaic covenant. In the Mosaic covenant, you had a nation full of people, most of whom could be pagans and not Yahweh worshipers at all whose disobedience would bring judgment and chastisement upon the nation, but in the new covenant, everyone in the new covenant knows the

Lord. It's a superior covenant. This covenant does not involve setting aside national

Israel. It is in fact a covenant with national Israel, the new covenant, a covenant with national

Israel. Jeremiah 31 verse 35, thus says the Lord who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar, the

Lord of hosts is his name, and this is what he says, verse 36, if this fixed order departs from before me, declares the

Lord, then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before me forever. Thus says the

Lord, if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out below, then

I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the

Lord. So how certain is the fulfillment of this promise? It is absolutely certain because Israel's national existence is guaranteed by God until his word to national

Israel is fulfilled. National Israel was promised things that require their existence, and therefore

Israel will never cease to be. They're promised a future

Davidic kingdom, a future king, a place and a future in the land, and even though they were being exiled, right on the edge of being exiled when

Jeremiah writes this, God gives them a promise regarding the land. Look at verse 38, behold, the days are coming, declares the

Lord, when the city will be rebuilt for the Lord from the tower of Hananel to the corner gate, the measuring line will go out farther straight ahead to the hill

Gareb, then it will turn to Goa, and the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes and all the fields as far as the brook

Kidron to the corner of the horse gate toward the east shall be holy to the Lord. It will not be plucked up or overthrown anymore forever.

Now these are the promises that relate to the rebuilding of the nation and the city, and notice that there are specific geographical features that are mentioned in the text.

Specific geographical features of the land are mentioned in the text. Now the covenant is introduced in chapter 31, but its details are repeated and elaborated on over the course of the next two chapters.

Now in chapter 32, we're gonna skip over this, verses one through 15, Jeremiah is imprisoned for prophesying about the

Babylonian captivity. The king and the people didn't like Jeremiah calling out their sin or mentioning the fact that the

Chaldeans were virtually at the gate and ready to conquer their land, and so they threw

Jeremiah in prison, and there the Lord instructed Jeremiah to buy a piece of property in the city and to call the title deed and that piece of property witness for the sake of being a testimony to the nation that God would bring his people back into that land at some point in the future.

And so Jeremiah does that, look at verse 30, chapter 32, verse 25. You have said to me,

O Lord God, buy for yourself the field with money and call it witness, although the city is given into the hand of the

Chaldeans. Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah saying, behold,

I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for me? Now stop for just a moment right there, and I want you to hear that with Jeremiah's ears.

He is in prison, Babylon is at the gate, the Davidic monarchy is virtually at its end, not entirely, but virtually at its end.

The nation has been destroyed, there's no hope, they're being conquered, God has been prophesying through Jeremiah, your destruction is certain, it is here,

I'm giving you to Babylon, it is a done deal. I'm gonna bring you back, but it's a done deal. If you were living in Jeremiah's day, you would have been asking the same question that they were asking in Psalm 89.

What about the promises to David? You promised David something. So now here, verse 27, is anything too difficult for me?

Therefore, thus says the Lord, behold, I am about to give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, and he will take it.

The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will enter and set this city on fire and burn it with the houses where the people have offered incense to Baal on their roofs and poured out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger.

Indeed, the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been doing only evil in my sight from their youth, for the sons of Israel have been only provoking me to anger by the work of their hands, declares the

Lord. Indeed, this city has been to me a provocation of my anger and my wrath from the day that they built it, even to this day, so that it should be removed from before my face because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger.

They, their kings, their leaders, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, they've turned their back on me and not their face.

Though I taught them teaching again and again, they would not listen and receive instruction, but they put their detestable things in the house, which is called by my name to defile it.

They built the high places of Baal that are in the valley of Ben -Hinnon to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which

I had not commanded them, nor had it entered my mind that they should do this abomination to cause Judah to sin. Now that is the sin and iniquity for which the nation was being judged.

And this is a description of the judgment that was going to befall the nation. So now the question is, is Israel's sin a cause of God abandoning his word to David?

The answer to that is no, it's not. Verse 36, now therefore, thus says the

Lord God of Israel concerning this city of which you say, it is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence.

Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands to which I've driven them in my anger and in my wrath and in great indignation, and I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in safety.

They shall be my people and I will be their God. And I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me always for their own good and for the good of their children after them.

I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from me.

I will rejoice over them to do them good and will faithfully plant them in this land with all my heart and with all my soul.

For thus says the Lord, just as I brought all this great disaster on this people, so I am going to bring on them all the good that I am promising them.

Fields will be bought in this land in which you say, it is a desolation without man or beast, it is given into the hands of the

Chaldeans. Men will buy fields for money, sign and seal deeds and call in witnesses in the land of Benjamin, in the environs of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the low land and in the cities of the

Negev for I will restore their fortunes, declares the Lord. He's promising there to restore them to that land, to make with them this everlasting covenant.

You can notice there the same language that we looked at back in Jeremiah chapter 31. I will put the fear of me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from me.

I will make with them an everlasting covenant. I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me. They will dwell in safety, there will be security.

This is what God was promising to Israel and he is reiterating the promises through Jeremiah to a disobedient people who was going into exile.

Is anything too difficult for me? Wondering about what I'm gonna do with the promises of David? Don't worry about it,

I'll bring them back into this land and I'm gonna give them everything I have promised to them. What God ultimately would promise to David, all of it is gonna be given to that nation.

God will keep his word, every last syllable of his word exactly as he has promised to do it.

Jeremiah 33, verse one, then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the second time while he was still confined in the court of the guards saying, thus says the

Lord who made the earth and Lord who formed it to establish it, the Lord is his name. Call to me and I will answer you and I will tell you great and mighty things which you do not know.

For thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning the houses of this city, concerning the houses of the kings of Judah which are broken down to make a defense against the siege ramps and against the sword, while they are coming to fight with the

Chaldeans and to fill them with the corpses of the men whom I have slain in my anger and in my wrath and I have hidden my face from the city because of all their wickedness.

Behold, I will bring to it health and healing and I will heal them and I will reveal to them an abundance of peace and truth.

I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel and will rebuild them as they were at first.

I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against me and I will pardon all their iniquities, notice that this covenant, this promise involves salvation by which they have sinned against me and by which they have transgressed against me.

Verse nine, it will be to me a name, it will be to me a name of joy, praise and glory before all the nations of the earth which hear of all the good that I will do for them and they will fear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace that I make for it.

Thus says the Lord yet again, there will be hurt in this place of which you say it is a waste without man and without beast that is in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate without man and without inhabitant and without beast.

What will they hear? Verse 11, the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, give thanks to the

Lord of hosts for the Lord is good, for his loving kindness is everlasting and of those who bring a thank offering into the house of the

Lord for I will restore the fortunes of this land as they were at first says the Lord. So there is promised destruction and there is promised restoration.

Unless we think that all of this is just to be spiritualized and fulfilled in the church, look at verse 12.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, there will again be in this place, which is waste without man or beast and in all the cities, a habitation of shepherds who rest their flocks in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the low land, in the cities of the

Negev, in the land of Benjamin, in the environs of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hand of the one who numbers them says the

Lord. Notice all the markers of land. These are the promises that related to the land of Israel.

Now, some might object and say, okay, but after the time of Jeremiah, after the

Babylonian captivity, when Ezra came back and Zerubbabel came back and Nehemiah came back and they reformed the people, rebuilt the temple and rebuilt the wall and the people gathered back into the land of Israel and 400 years went by and Israel, the

Jews were back in the land and that's where they were at when Christ came 400 years after they were restored. Doesn't that fulfill all the promises of that return?

Look at verse 14, behold, the days are coming says the Lord, when I will fulfill the good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah in those days and at that time, here's what's going to happen.

So how will you know when ultimately these promises have been fulfilled? Verse 15, in those days and at that time,

I will cause a righteous branch of David to spring forth and he shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth.

In those days, Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell in safety and this is the name by which she will be called, the

Lord is our righteousness. For thus says the Lord, David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel and the

Levitical priests shall never lack a man before me to offer burnt offerings, to burn again grain offerings and to prepare sacrifices continually.

So what is going to happen when that promise is fulfilled? A branch from David's line will rule and reign with justice and execute righteousness on the earth.

Judah will be saved, Jerusalem will dwell in safety and Jerusalem will be called the Lord our righteousness. Why? Because God promised

David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, not on God's throne, on the throne of the house of Israel.

In other words, the promise would be fulfilled exactly as God gave it when this son of David rules and reigns over the house of Israel.

So there is a gathering of Israel and a blessing on the land that came when the

Jews returned from captivity to the physical land of Israel, but there was no national salvation of the

Jews. Jerusalem was not called the city of righteousness. There was no rule and reign of the son of David.

Christ didn't even come for another 400 years. So therefore, in those days, when God fulfills the word of this promise, the new covenant, it is going to involve those things and those things have never happened, which means that the fulfillment of this blessing, ultimately, we are still waiting for.

Look at verse 19, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah saying, thus says the Lord, if you can break my covenant for the day and my covenant for the night so that the day and the night will not be at their appointed time, then my covenant may also be broken with David, my servant, so that he will not have a son to reign on his throne and with Levitical priests, my ministers.

As the hosts of heaven cannot be counted and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David, my servant, and the

Levites who minister to me. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah saying, have you not observed what this people have spoken, saying the two families which the

Lord chose, he has rejected them. Thus they despise my people. No longer are they a nation in their sight.

Notice there that the Lord now is addressing people in Jeremiah's day who were saying, because God has done this to his people,

God has rejected his people and that there are no more fulfillment of these promises. They're not as a nation, verse 24.

He has rejected them. God despises his people. Verse 25, thus says the Lord, if my covenant for day and night stand not in the fixed patterns of heaven and earth

I have not established, then I would reject the descendants of Jacob and David, my servant, not taking from his descendants, rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but I will restore their fortunes and have mercy on them.

There were some in Jeremiah's day who were questioning whether God had rejected his people because of their disobedience. And God's answer and Jeremiah's answer is no.

I made a promise to David and I will fulfill it just as I said I would. If you want to, you can turn back to Jeremiah 23.

I'm gonna read you a passage there from this. Jeremiah 23, then I myself, verse three, will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture and they will be fruitful and multiply.

I will also raise up shepherds over them and they will tend them and they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will anything be missing, declares the

Lord. Behold, the days are coming when I will raise up for David a righteous branch and he will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land.

In his days, Judah will be saved, Israel will dwell securely, and this is the name by which he will be called the

Lord, or Yahweh, our righteousness. Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they will no longer say, as the

Lord lives who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt. But, instead they will say, as the

Lord lives who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the North land and from all the countries where I had driven them, then they will live on their own soil.

That's the promise. Sounds a lot like Psalm 2, 8, and 9. Ask of me and I will surely give you the nations as your inheritance and the very ends of the earth as your possession.

You shall break them with a rod of iron, you shall shatter them like earthenware. That's when it will be fulfilled.

That's when the promises will be fulfilled. So, that first return to the land, did they return from Babylon?

They did. Did God gather them back into the land? He did, 400 years before Christ came. But David's throne was not established, nor his monarchy revived.

There certainly has not been an everlasting kingdom since the day that they were gathered in. There was no national salvation for Israel when they came back from Babylon.

Jerusalem did not enjoy peace, prosperity, and security. And in fact, they were plundered by their neighboring nations for the next 400 years, not knowing anything of the peace that they thought that they should have been enjoying.

Jerusalem was not made righteous. The nation did not turn in obedience, and the Spirit of God did not come to dwell in the hearts of Israelites and make them walk in His way.

What's the proof of that? They crucified their Messiah. That's the proof of that. Therefore, their gathering back into the land in Nehemiah's day was not at all the fulfillment of these promises that Jeremiah mentions.

There is yet a return to the land that will be accompanied by the salvation of Israel, the rule of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem over Judah and Israel.

There will be peace, there will be security, and there will be prosperity in the kingdom of the

Lord Jesus Christ that is to come. Now, I am 2 3rds of the way through what I had, and our time is up.

I'm gonna close with two passages from the book of Ezekiel. You can turn there if you want, and I will edit this sermon on the fly here as we try and land this plane.

Ezekiel 36, verse 22. Therefore, say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, it is not for your sake,

O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst.

Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when I prove myself holy among you in their sight.

For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land.

Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.

Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statues, and you will be careful to observe my ordinances.

You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers, so you will be my people and I will be your

God. Now that is everything that we just went in three chapters in Jeremiah in one little paragraph in Ezekiel.

And in hindsight, we could have just gone to that passage right there, but I wanted you to see how Jeremiah lays all of that out so thoroughly and so repetitively, making the case over and over again.

God will redeem Israel. He will bring them into that land. He will give them that land in a glorified state, and their king will rule in that land.

And this will result in the salvation of national Israel, and the spirit of God will come to live within their hearts and make them to walk in his ways.

Ezekiel 36, verse 29. Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness, and I will call for the grain and multiply it.

I will not bring a famine on you. I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field so that you will not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations.

Then you will remember that your evil ways and your evil deeds that were not good, and then you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your own iniquities and your abominations.

I am not doing this for your sake, declares the Lord God. Let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways,

O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord God, on the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places will be rebuilt.

The desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by.

They will say, this desolate land has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste, desolate, and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.

Then the nations that are left round about you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolate.

I, the Lord, have spoken and will do it. Thus says the Lord God, this also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them.

I will increase their men like a flock, like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during the appointed feast.

So will the waste cities be filled with flocks of men. They will know that I am the Lord. These are the land promises.

Salvation promises, kingdom promises, David's son reigning promises, promises of safety, security, blessing.

And that passage that we just read sounds like a lot of prosperity, doesn't it? The wicked will be cut off, but the righteous will delight themselves in abundant prosperity when they inherit the land.

That is what the land promises about. It's not fulfilled in this age.

It is fulfilled when Christ returns and takes his rightful seat on David's throne in Jerusalem.

And he begins a rule and a reign that will go through that millennial kingdom all the way into the new heavens and the new earth.

And it will go on everlastingly forever and ever. And the righteous will enjoy abundant prosperity, peace, safety, security, and grace in that day.

And the wicked will be cut off. They will not see it because they will be removed from the earth before that reign begins.

That is what we are waiting for. That is the glory that is in store for us. That is what was promised to Israel. That's what the

Jews were expecting. And that is what Psalm 37 is telling us to wait for. Yes, wicked, they flourish now.

Yes, they enjoy prosperity now. Yes, they spread themselves like a luxuriant tree by rivers of water and everything looks great for them now.

But there is a time when they will be cut off and then the righteous will enjoy and delight themselves in abundant prosperity.

When the righteous step into that land and the rest of this, we'll find some way of dealing with that next week.

Let's bow our heads. Father, we thank you for your abundant faithful promises.

We can know that there is abundant prosperity to come for the righteous, safety, security, peace, eternal joy and glory because your word promises these things.

And you must keep your word. You will keep your word. You are a covenant keeping, promise keeping God. And so we thank you that you have brought us who are not

Jews, who do not belong to Israel or that nation. You have brought us into this new covenant so that we may enjoy the salvation blessings that are offered to us in your son who has borne the price for our sin through his death on the cross and been raised again so that we might be justified and declared righteous.

And then not only that, but you have also promised us a share in this kingdom that is to come. For we, your people will be raised in new bodies, eternal bodies, so that we may step into that kingdom and enjoy all of the promises that you have offered, that you have provided in Psalm 37.

So fix our hearts upon that. May it strengthen us and encourage us as we are reminded afresh that you keep your word.

You always keep your word. You can do no other. And that is our hope. That is our consolation. That is our confidence.