“Behold the days are coming declares the Lord when I will raise up for David a righteous branch and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely and this is the name by which you will be called, the Lord is our righteousness.”
– Jeremiah 23:5–6
This promise in Jeremiah 23:5–6 is one of those places in the Old Testament that explicitly points forward to the coming of Jesus. A righteous branch from the line of David will come. This is a picture of Jesus who would come from the line of David and would reign as king. When you think about the Old Testament all these kings didn’t rule wisely nor do they rule with justice in the land.
Jeremiah 23:5–6 Says God Promises A Righteous King Will Come
God promised an unrighteous people that He would send a King to be their righteousness. By God’s grace, in Christ, we find rest for our souls.
And God says there’s coming a day when there will be a perfect king who will deal wisely and he will execute justice and he will execute righteousness in the land and he will bring salvation. In his days Judah will be saved. Israel will dwell securely. Salvation, security and his name will be the Lord is our righteousness.
What a picture. God says to an unrighteous people, I will be your righteousness. I’m going to send a king who will be righteous for you, who will be your righteousness. This passage just points us powerfully to Jesus in a way that causes us to rest securely in his salvation today and his righteousness today. I just want to encourage you, look around the world, where is there a leader, a king who deals wisely in every way? Who executes justice and righteousness in the land in every way.
There is no king like Jesus who brings salvation, who brings security, who is righteousness for us.
Jeremiah 23:5–6 Leads Us to Thank God for Jesus
Oh God, we praise you for sending Jesus. Jesus we exalt you right now, whether we are driving in a car or sitting around in a room in our homes or somewhere else, in an office, God we look to you and we praise you for coming to us. We praise you for not leaving us alone in our unrighteousness and our evil and our lack of wisdom. Jesus we praise you.
This Verse Reminds Us God Is a Just Ruler
You are perfect wisdom. You are perfect righteousness. God, you are perfect justice and you are our hope. All of our hope is in you. We don’t hope in any leader in this world but you. You alone are the righteous branch. You alone are the just ruler and we exalt you and we rest in you. In you lead dwell securely. Us as sinners before a holy God, yet you are our righteousness. Jesus we praise you for paying the price for our sins. We praise you for taking the payment we were due upon yourself so that we might become the righteousness of God.
The Lord is our righteousness, that is your name. Oh Jesus, we praise you God, we praise you for sending your son and we pray that you would help us to follow him today. Help us to honor you Jesus in everything we say and everything we do. Make us more and more righteous. Make us wiser and make us more and more just. Help us to live for justice and righteousness with your wisdom based on the salvation you’ve given us.
God we pray that that would be a reality in our lives today because the Lord Jesus is our righteousness. In his name we pray, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
