Out of Zion

Dr. Susan Michael: I have a name of God to share with you today that is very exciting because it's prophetic and it bridges our Old Testament names of God with the New Testament. Welcome to this week's Shabbat Shalom devotional where I seek to share just a little inspiration and bring a little peace to the close of your very busy week.

The name is Jehovah Tsidkenu, "the Lord our righteousness." It's only used twice, and both times are by the prophet Jeremiah. Both sections of Scripture are very similar, almost word for word. I'm going to read to you the first one, Jeremiah 23:5-6.

"Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord, "that I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Jehovah Tsidkenu."

The Branch of David would be called the Lord our righteousness. What does that mean? When Jeremiah wrote his book, God's people were in exile in Babylon. Jerusalem and the temple had been destroyed. Jeremiah was giving the exiles hope that one day God would raise up a king from the lineage of David and reestablish Israel.

Why do they use the term "Branch of David"? The House of David, meaning the royal family, the royal lineage of David, was likened to an olive tree that had been cut down to the ground. It looked like it was all over. God's people were in exile, Jerusalem was destroyed, the lineage was over, the House of David was over, and God's promises to His people were over.

Yet this is saying that a future branch will shoot forth at just the right time. He will be king, and he's going to execute judgment and righteousness, and he's going to be called the Lord our righteousness. Isaiah also uses the term "branch" in describing this coming King. I want to read to you from Isaiah 11.

"There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots." Jesse was David's father, so it's the same thing as saying a rod or a branch from the stem of David, and a branch will grow out of his roots. "The spirit of the Lord will rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord."

It goes on and on, and then I want to jump down to verse ten. It says, "And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people; for the Gentiles shall seek Him, and His resting place will be glorious." When you go with me to Israel, you're going to see an olive tree, and you're going to see how it grows through shoots that come up from the root of the tree.

In an olive tree, the root system is actually larger than the branches that you see above ground. Therefore, an olive tree can be cut all the way down to the ground, but the root can still be living and alive. A whole new branch can shoot up from that root. This is what the prophets are describing: that even though the reign of the House of David looked like it had been cut down to the ground, was dead, and was over, God is saying no.

A branch will shoot forth from the root at just the right time, and he's going to be a king who will execute judgment and establish the kingdom of God on earth. Jesus' final words in Revelation are these: "I am the Offspring of David." Jesus was born into the lineage of David. He came and he executed righteousness by dying for us on the cross and paying the price for sin.

There is a day when he is coming to execute judgment and to bring forth the kingdom of God, just as we pray in the Lord's Prayer all the time: "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." That is when the Lord our righteousness comes again. And with that, I wish you a Shabbat Shalom.