The Narrow Path Ministries

For this is what the LORD says: 'David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, nor will the priests, who are Levites, ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices.' "

I came across this passage today and it raises a question-- is this referring to the new covenant? If it is, in what manner are there still Levites offering burnt offerings and sacrifices? Is the Church (a kingdom of priests) what is being referenced here? If so, then the language regarding offering burnt offerings and sacrifices must obviously be non-literal. Right?

TK

I don't know how I would relate the passage within operation of the new covenant promised to them. The words of the passage do appear strongly, though, to describe the work through the Messiah. This work then would be that of completing the promises to Israel under the old covenant.

We first can note that the Jer 33 passage spoke in terms of a future time frame. So we can reasonably say that David didn't have to have his children on a throne in all the years preceding Christ. (and a similar statement can be said of the priests.)

The role of Christ Jesus is obviously an enthronement following David's reign -- that Jesus was the branch that would reign forever. The NASB translation provides a margin note for the more direct (but cryptic) translation: "there shall not be cut off for David..." In this case the interpretation is that Jesus would take the throne and never lose it.

In the situation of the priests, the prophecy could be speaking essentially of the idea that levitical priests would be saved in Christ and would always exist in service to God. This service could be apart from the 'duties' listed in Jer 33:18. In this discussion on the priests, the alternate translation shown in the NASB is useful: "there shall not be cut off for the Levitical priests." The main point then is that the benefit of having an active priest before God would not be removed from the hands of the Levites. The rest of the verse would be a poetic description of their duties even though, through Christ, there would no longer be continuation of such duties or need to sacrifice.

I am basically saying that, in Christ, there would be no more threats of external enemies to interrupt the relationship of levital priests with God. Such threat was probably the main topic of Jeremiah at this part of his message.

This threat of enemies was addressed in Luke
Luk 1:73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,
Luk 1:74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,
Luk 1:75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.

In the style of a prophet, Jeremiah addressed only David and the Levites in his prophecy. Yet the broader implication was that the benefit would be to the whole of Israel.

So I tend to interpret the passage a bit with a legalistic mindset, namely that certain details must be fulfilled, yet at the same time realizing that there is are poetic details that are not (nor could be) fulfilled. (So we would not 'reasonably' expect animal sacrifices to be done by Christ-following levital priests.)

What follows is the first paragraph of John Gill's Expositor concerning verse 18:

Ver. 18. Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me, &c.] The Levitical priesthood has been abolished long ago; that was typical of Christ’s priesthood, and is succeeded by it; who is a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek; and who, having offered up himself a sacrifice here on earth for his people, ever appears in heaven, in the presence of God, on their behalf, making intercession for them; and as long as he continues to do so, which will be always, a man shall not be wanting before the Lord...

thanks for the input gentlemen!

TK