"Covenantal Justice: Guarding the Gates " Part 2 September 2, 2018 AM

Covenant Justice and the Word to Judah

And let us give reverence to Christ who is revealed here. Thus says the Lord, go down to the house of the King of Judah and there speak this word and say, hear the word of the Lord, O King of Judah, who sits on David's throne, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates thus says the Lord, do justice and righteousness and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor and also do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

For if you men will indeed perform this thing, then Kings will enter the gates of this house, sitting in David's place on his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, even the King himself and his servants and his people.

But if you will not obey these words, I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that this house will become a desolation. For thus says the Lord, concerning the house of the King of Judah, you are like Gilead to me, like the summit of Lebanon, yet most assuredly I will make you like a wilderness, like cities, which are not inhabited.

For I will set apart destroyers against you, each with his weapons and they will cut down your choicest cedars and throw them on the fire. Many nations will pass by this city and they will say to one another, why has the Lord done thus to this great city?

Then they will answer, because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, their God and bowed down to other gods and serve them. This is the reading of the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Let me pray for us this morning.

Father, I ask that you would do the work that only you can do in clarifying the scriptures to us, to our hearts, imprinting them upon our lives so that we will be conformed to the image of your son. Help us to think your thoughts.

Help us to believe your words. Help us to value your priorities. Help us to walk in your ways. I pray this morning that you would give us great help, that we would commune with you, that we would truly know a fellowship and a communion with Christ at his table today and that you would not let us leave unchanged.

And we ask for all of these graces, looking only to Christ, the one with whom you are well pleased.

Amen. A couple of weeks ago,.

The Sufficiency of God's Word and the Meaning of Covenant Justice

We began looking at this passage and talked about the strobing lights and flashing badges of social justice that demand our attention and call us to action, a sense of urgency, and those who are not urgent are suspect.

And yet what we ought to see and what we ought to do, I think should be determined by Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ is our great shepherd and his aim is not to politicize us, but to pastor us. And we talked about the sufficiency of God's word last time, how Christ will unfailingly renew us into God's image through the scriptures that we will be taught by the Holy Spirit to care for those for whom God cares and to concern ourselves with matters about which God is concerned.

And the theme of this section in Jeremiah, all of chapter 22 and the beginning of chapter 23, falls under the heading of what I think should be called covenantal justice, that when God looks upon the unjust society of Judah, he doesn't call it a societal problem, he calls it a covenantal problem, they're breaking the covenant.

And the priority that God has is this, that justice and righteousness would be done and pursued by the people. And I think it's clear from our passage that this priority begins with the king and it is achieved in the gates.

And that the king is to reign in such a way that he recognizes his authority is not from himself, but from God. And so he is to reign according to the covenant. Just a reminder, verses one through nine can be summed up this way, as far as God's message to the royal house of Judah and thus by extension, the whole nation.

His message can be summed up this way, there will either be justice in your gates or judgment on this house. The throne is at risk when there is the perpetuation and the allowance of injustice in the land and thus the whole nation is at risk.

There will either be justice in your gates or judgment on this house. So I am eager, if not zealous, to make sure that when we read passages like this in the Bible, that we do not in a rather instinctive and let's be honest, lazy way, just superimpose how things are right now in our culture and just slap it right on top of the Bible.

And say, oh, look, there's a passage for today. It is a passage for today. But we need to rightly divide the scriptures, we need to pay attention to what the word was in that day and how that word points to Christ.

Otherwise, we have no validity for today. Christ is our king, Christ is our shepherd, what would he have us to do? And we must pay attention to how he is revealed in our passage. I'm just very eager that we not take up the word of God in a cut and paste kind of way, use it according to what we think, how it applies in the fervency of today's debate about social justice.

This is a passage that would definitely get quoted and used and bandied about, but I wanna, I'm going slow and you'll notice how slow we're going today partly because I really personally want to hear what God has to say about justice in a society.

I really, really want to hear what he has to say about it and his point of view, the perspective of our shepherd Christ. And that's why last time we talked about the necessity of the word of God, that it's God's word that comes to the king of Judah and it comes down from the temple.

It comes down from God's throne to David's throne. And that the scriptures are authoritative here, that what God has to say is what matters. That he tells us how to look at the world around us and then he tells us how we're supposed to live in it.

And furthermore, this morning, we're going to take a look at not just the word to the king, but the task of kings. What is the task of the kings of Judah? What is the task of the king to whom God speaks?

What are they supposed to be doing? The providence of God, we have before us a table and this table reminds us that Christ calls us to a meal with him, to eat the bread and drink the cup and to remember our sovereign's words that he spoke over this meal, words about a covenant and words about his kingdom.

And though we often think about Christ as our high priest, when we gather around the communion table, we need also remember him as our righteous king, our righteous king who reigns by the covenant. So let's consider the task of kings.

What is the task of kings? We are in a passage that is right in between this protest sermon is right between God's word to Zedekiah and then which is the last king of Judah and the previous three kings of Judah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim and Jehoiakin.

And you'll notice in your translations that Jehoahaz is called Shalom, is another name of his and that Jehoiakin is called Keniah. But these are the last four kings of Judah and God has something to say in particular to each one of them and altogether as the king of Judah, the royal household of David, he is very concerned about the way in which they are living.

They are committing injustice and they are not repenting because they are full of idolatry. But what is the task of kings? The task of these last four kings of Judah is the same to the first two kings, Solomon and David.

They were to mediate the authority of God. They were to mediate the authority of God. The role of the king, which is highlighted in the life of Israel, both particularly and prophetically is actually always been a part of the image of God.

The role of the king has always been a part of the image of God from the days of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve were called to rule, to exercise dominion, but not by their own authority, not in their own ways.

They were to be in submission to God who gave them, these are the things you are to do and then gave them a prohibition, do not eat of this tree. But they were to reign on earth mediating his authority.

I'm saying this because we need to recognize that to whatever extent you and I have been entrusted with a role of authority, we need to remember whose authority we are to be mediating. Do you have authority in your home?

Do you have authority at a workplace? Do you have authority in your community? Do you have authority as a citizen? Yes, you do. Do you have authority in some sense as being a member of a local church?

Yes, you do. There are many ways in which we are entrusted with authority and we need to remember whose authority we're mediating. We don't rule by our own power, by our own might and many, many powerful men and women have forgotten this, not least of which the folly of Nebuchadnezzar.

Daniel chapter four, the king reflected and said, is this not Babylon the great which I myself have built? I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty.

Do you remember what happened to Nebuchadnezzar when he said that? While the word was in the king's mouth, a voice came from heaven saying, King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared, sovereignty has been removed from you and you will be driven away from mankind and your dwelling place will be with the beasts of the field.

You will be given grass to eat like cattle and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the most high is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever he wishes. Nebuchadnezzar needed to be reminded that he only ruled by the pleasure of the most high and at the end of those seven years, the king humbly praised the Lord.

He said, verse 37 of Daniel four, now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the king of heaven for all his works are true and his ways are just and he is able to humble those who walk in prime. I think it's important for us to remember that when it comes to kings, it is their task to mediate the authority of God and when it comes to us being made in the image of God, whatever authority we've been given, whether in society, the workplace, the family or the church, we are to be mediating the authority of God in rightly loving others.

Whenever we use our authority for ourselves because of our own lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, whenever we use authority for ourselves, we are embezzling glory from God and filling our accounts with injustice.

Reigning by the Covenant

Now, if kings are to mediate the authority of God, there are four ways in our text that this is highlighted and we're gonna look at the first this morning. It is to reign by the covenant. Look at verse two.

Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on David's throne, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates. That seems rather specific, don't you think? It is a word from heaven, is a word from the king of kings to the king who sits on the throne of David, the king of Judah.

What's with this throne? What's significant about this throne? Well, this throne, 2 ,400 years before this message, a king of righteousness, priest of God most high sat upon this throne. His name was Melchizedek.

And 2 ,000 years after him, David, a man after God's own heart, prophet and king, shepherd and psalmist reigned on that same throne. To both, God specially revealed himself and specifically to David, God made a promise a very special promise that is to be thought about when we read this passage in Jeremiah.

The promise is in 2 Samuel 7, verses 12 to 16. And this is what God, through the prophet Nathan, says to King David. This is a very important promise. He says, 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 son 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 and your throne shall be established forever.

And what we should notice in that promise is the conditionality and the unconditionality. The condition is, if the descendants of David commit iniquity, if they are unjust, if they are idolatrous, then they will be punished and God will use the rod of men and the rod of the sons of men.

But there's also an unconditionality to that promise because God says that his loving kindness will not depart from David's house and that this throne will be established forever. So it's very clear that those who would rule successfully reign over God's people in God's place, that that king must ensure that he and the people will submit to God's rule by following God's covenant, by not committing iniquity.

But if he did, he would lead his own people to do the same thing. As we saw last time we were together in Deuteronomy 17 verse 18, the king in the presence of the scribes, the Levitical scribes, the king was to write for himself a copy of the first five books of the Old Testament, the law, the Torah, a personal copy.

That king was to take up a scroll and begin to write and he was to write everything that God spoke through Moses in the first five books of the Old Testament. What would that king know by the time he was done?

That king would know that he did not reign by his own authority, but he was only in power by the pleasure of an almighty God and that he must adhere to the commandments of God and lead his people to do the same thing.

And so when Jeremiah addresses the throne of David, the kings of Judah, he's talking to those who should have known that they can only reign by the authority of God, reigning by the covenant. As long as a son of David reigned by the covenant in Jerusalem, God's righteousness would be manifested in the nation and covenantal justice would be exercised in the gates.

No wiser word was ever spoken by Solomon than the word spoken to Solomon by his father David on his deathbed. Listen to what David told Solomon. I am going all the way of the earth. Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man.

Keep the charge of the Lord your God to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances and his testimonies according to what is written in the law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn so that the Lord may carry out his promise, which he spoke concerning me saying, if your sons are careful of their way to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.

If, do you hear the condition? If you walk, if you reign, oh, descendants of David, if you reign according to the covenant that God established with Israel in the wilderness, if you follow the law, then you will have success.

And so when Jeremiah is preaching this protest sermon, as God is getting the attention of the kings of Judah who sit on the throne of David, don't they understand what that means? Don't they remember how it is that they can remain on the throne?

They can only remain on the throne and have success if they reign by the covenant. If they adhere to God's arrangement for them. But they forsook the covenant and the sons of David met with a rod of men and their father's throne was smashed under the strokes of the sons of men.

And God's promise to King David of his son reigning on an everlasting throne would have to wait for 600 years because it was not until the incarnation of Christ to his birth and his ministry, his death, his resurrection and the ascension of Jesus.

It was not until this enthronement of Jesus Christ that a son of David would again reign over God's people in God's place under God's rule. The point of all this is to say that Jesus Christ reigns over us right now.

And he is the son of David and he is on the throne and he is a just King and the one who was so concerned to fulfill all righteousness will indeed lead us into all righteousness. And everything about living in justice therefore depends on the particular person and work of Jesus Christ.

He reigns by the covenant and he will never forsake the covenant. By the price of his own blood, he carries the covenant in his own flesh. To look at the ark of the covenant is to look at the gospel of Jesus Christ.

What was in the ark of the covenant? There were the tablets of the law, 10 commandments, the bowl of manna bred from heaven, Aaron's rod that bloomed. What do you see there? All the components of God's promise, all that matters in the covenant.

The ark carries the covenants, the carrier, the bearer of the covenant. What do you see there? What's on top of the covenant? What else is carried by the covenant? The throne of God on earth, the mercy seat.

To look at the ark of the covenant is to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is the rod, the stick of wood that was cut off from the tree and it died but then it bloomed again and it lived again and Christ died and rose again to new life.

And there's the bowl of manna bred from heaven and what did Jesus say about himself? I am the bread of life come down from heaven. He is the true manna and there's the 10 commandments and Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness for all who believe for he kept it all in our place and for our sake.

And there's the throne where Christ reigns. Reigns upon the merits of his own blood cast upon the mercy seat. When Jesus at the last supper says this is my blood of the covenant which is shed for many.

We should remember that he is the king of kings and the task of kings to mediate the authority of God and righteousness is fulfilled by Christ. We're not making it very far in the passage in Jeremiah but I want us to pay attention that when God wants justice to be done among his people he points at the king and says, you must reign, you must exercise authority in accordance with the covenant.

You're on the throne of David, you're a king of Judah and therefore act in this way. When we gather around Christ's table, we eat the bread and we drink the cup. This is not mere historical reenactment.

We are gathering in submission to our righteous and just king who shed his blood to justify us to make us righteous. We gather in homage to the king of kings who reigns by the covenant. So I have three questions.

First of all, will there, will there be justice in our churches, justice in our homes, justice in our schools, justice in our communities, justice in our nation if we do not eat at this table? Is that possible?

Put it simpler, can we love others rightly and not eat at this table? And while we're thinking about it, how is it possible that a table of grace, a table of grace, how is it that a table of grace nourishes a life of justice?

Third question is this, can we eat together at the table of this reigning king and care nothing about righteousness and justice? I want us to think about the necessity of Christ's table and I think what is almost always obscured, what is almost always obscured from view by all the fervent activity and heated debate about social justice is that there will be no righteous community unless Christ reigns there.

There will be no righteous community, there will be no group of people loving each other rightly unless Christ reigns there. Why is there injustice in the world? Because people don't follow Jesus. They don't submit to Jesus Christ.

That's why there's injustice and sin in this world. And we're talking about the Jesus Christ of the scriptures revealed here, not the antichrist of liberation theology or the antichrist of Protestant liberalism or the antichrist of Roman Catholic mysticism.

We're talking about the Christ of the scriptures revealed plainly and clearly. Why will there be no righteous community unless Christ reigns there? Because he's the one who reigns by God's righteous covenant.

It is only, it is only at Christ's table eating the bread and drinking the cup. It's only there that Jew and Gentile, black and white, rich and poor, male and female, slave and free man, native and immigrant sit down together in unity and love and injustice.

Christ's table alone holds forth the gospel to us, the only hope of reconciling us to God and us to one another in a fallen world. And no other table can afford, no other table can accommodate the vast and varied sea of men, women and children broken and battered and bruised by wave after wave of sin.

How can matters ever, ever be made right? Forgiveness with God and forgiveness with each other only happens at Christ's table. No other table will do. The table of political power, the table of wealth redistribution, the table of land reparation, the table of historical revision, the table of philosophy and ethics, the table of personal liberty, the table of pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, the table of ecumenical religion, the table of intercultural dialogue.

Every other table is a sad shamble of sticks thrown together by fifth rate carpenters unlevel, unbalanced, skewed by selfishness, lust and pride. Only one carpenter has built a table for all to come without distinction and he built it with three nails, two wooden beams and his own blood.

That's the only way that we forsake bitterness for forgiveness and we forsake injustice for treating each other and loving one another rightly. Christ is the only King whose righteous reign in our lives through his word will lead us to love each other rightly and that's what justice means, to love each other rightly.

There will be no justice in our community that does not fall from the table of Christ's communion. And let's consider the nourishment of Christ's table as well. The hunger for justice is ravenous. People cry out for justice with an intensity.

It cannot be denied, the intensity cannot be denied. Whether or not the intensity of the wrong could be questioned, but the intensity of their hunger cannot be denied. The hunger for justice is ravenous and that hunger churning in sin, and this is true for all of us, that hunger for justice churning in sin rarely fails to morph into thirst for revenge.

The leeches' two daughters are named Give and Give, but their appetite fails in comparison with those who are made in the image of God. You and I must come to Christ's table to feast on his flesh and blood by faith, holding to his justice-satisfying sacrifice on the cross.

Justice is never achieved except by the justified. And we are nourished by the gospel of Christ when we come to this table because here we recognize our sovereign risen reigning king who suffered more abuse and more injustice than all of us.

And on the cross, he pleaded with the father for his oppressors for God to forgive them seeking their salvation. And we also find in his broken body and his shed blood a satisfying sacrifice to God for men, women, and children of every tribe, tongue, and nation.

So every person I meet, no matter their race, ethnicity, class, appearance, should remind me precisely of the kinds of people for whom Christ died on the cross. And let's just make it real personal. Christ died for me.

That's what this table reminds me of. Christ died for me, even though I have no value to add to his kingdom. I am no prize. I am no good man worth saving. And my king shows me that righteousness and justice are qualities not bound up with man, but with the character of God.

Justice is not about the intrinsic value of human beings. It is about God, our creator, who made us in his image. And because we are made in the image of God, we crave justice and righteousness. Because we are made in the image of God, these cravings, therefore, can only be satisfied at Christ's table.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. And finally, consider the new man at Christ's table. If we come to Christ's table, we're saying, I'm a new person.

I've been born again. By the power of Christ's death and resurrection, I'm a new person. I'm sure there's a Christian t-shirt out there somewhere that shows a sign hung around the neck saying, under new management.

But that's the idea. Under new management. When we come to Christ's table, we're saying, Christ is king, he reigns over me. He reigns over me. And he calls me to do justice in the gates of all his house.

And what that looks like is up to him, not us. And we're to lay aside the old and put on the new. And to paraphrase Galatians 2 .20, it is no longer I who chooses what to care about, but Christ who reigns within me.

And what I pursue in this life, I do by faith in the son of God, who loved as good for nothing, drained on creation, and sacrificed himself for me. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for this opportunity now to worship you and to bless your name and to participate in this meal.

Father, remind us. Remind us through the broken body and shed blood of Christ, through eating this bread and drinking this cup, how it is you call us to love each other rightly, holding fast to Christ.

And I pray these things in Jesus' name.