Messianic Prophecy

Jeremiah chapter 33 contains a beautiful reference to the Messiah that has enjoyed partial fulfillment. The "righteous descendant from King David's line" is Jesus, though His first coming did not achieve the complete fulfillment of this prophecy. Verse 16 says "In that day Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety". Verse 17 adds that "there will always be Levitical priests to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings and sacrifices to me". At present, we know neither of these conditions to be true. Jerusalem does not live in safety and priests are not offering sacrifices because they have no Temple. This is a description of life in the New Millenium, after Christ's second coming. I thought it was odd that there would be priests offering sacrifices at this time, since Christ's death atoned for sin once and for all, thereby eliminating the need for them. Soniclight.com (written by one of my pastor's seminary professors) offered some additional information...

Likewise the Levitical priests would resume functioning and would
continue to do so forever.433 They would offer sacrifices of worship
continually (in the millennial kingdom). The burnt and grain (or meal)
offerings were primarily for worship rather than to remove the defilement
of sin (cf. Lev. 1—2). In Jeremiah's day, the priesthood was corrupt, and it
may even have included non-Levitical priests (cf. 6:13; 19:1; 26:10-11).
The lack of legitimate priests was a problem in the early years of the
restoration community (cf. Ezra 8:15).

In the Millennium there will be a restoration of Levitical priests, though
instead of looking forward to the coming of the ultimate Sacrifice the
worship will look back to it. The Levitical priests will worship God under
the New Covenant. The Old (Mosaic) Covenant came to an end at the
Cross. A Davidic king, Jesus Christ, will also provide leadership under the
New Covenant. So both the royal and priestly leadership of Israel in the
future will resume what Israel formerly experienced under the Mosaic
Covenant.

Tomorrow's reading:Ez. 26:15-28:26; 2 Kings 25:3-7; Jer. 52:6-11, 39:2-10