Day 245 · Wednesday, September 2
"“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 he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’"JEREMIAH 23:5-6
Hello, my friend… so glad you're with me today. This is By God's Call — day 245, The Righteous Branch.
"'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 he will be called: The LORD is our righteousness.'" Jeremiah 23:5-6.
This announcement doesn't come in a calm moment. It comes right after Jeremiah has called out, one by one, the kings who led Judah into ruin. Selfish, unjust leaders who used power to serve themselves instead of serving the people. And it is right there, in the rubble of human leadership, that God stands up and says: the days are coming.
Notice the image He chooses: a Branch. The tree of David's dynasty looked cut down. No hope of blooming again. But God promises a new shoot, a life springing up exactly where everything looked dead. That is God's pattern — He doesn't rebuild from scratch when it looks like there's nothing left. He makes life spring up where there was only ruin.
And what kind of King is this Branch? "He shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land." Unlike everything Judah had experienced up to that point — corrupt kings, unjust rulings, power wielded as a weapon — this King governs in a way that finally reflects God's own character. Real justice. Real wisdom.
And the result of that reign? "Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely." This is not short-term political safety, the kind that lasts only until the next enemy shows up. It is a security that only exists when the right ruler is finally seated on the right throne.
But the part of this text that strikes me most is the name. "The LORD is our righteousness." Not just a righteous King. He is our righteousness. Think carefully about that: Israel had no righteousness of their own left to offer after so many years of failure and idolatry. And what God promises is not that they will finally manage to become righteous on their own. It's that righteousness will come from outside — it will come from Him, and it will be given to them as a gift.
This points straight to Christ. He is the Branch that sprang from David's line, the King who reigns with perfect wisdom, the one whose very name means that the righteousness we need is not produced by us — it is received from Him.
So today, I want to ask you gently: is there an area of your life where you've been straining to produce your own righteousness, your own security, trying to prove to yourself and to others that you are enough? Today is a day to stop trying to generate that on your own. It's a day to hand that area over to the righteous Branch, who already reigns, and who already is, for you, your righteousness.
Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.