The King is Here

“‘The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.’”
Jeremiah 23:5 NIV

Old Testament prophets tended to get in trouble. Not because they were bad people, but because they often spoke uncomfortable truths to people in power. Just look at the verse above. On the surface, it seems like a nice, simple promise—one day a righteous descendant of David will come and rule with wisdom and justice. Great message, right? Well, here’s the problem for Jeremiah:

The current king is a descendant of King David. Jeremiah doesn’t say there’s a righteous king in the present, but one coming in the future. In making this prophecy about the future ruler, he’s also critiquing the current one. 

Jeremiah had a lot to say about the kings of his day. He spoke about their failure to protect the innocent, how they ignored oppression, and how they allowed violence against ...