I hope you enjoyed the study Chris!
Jeremiah 33:17 seems to indicate that right, but what about the next verse?
Jer 33:18 Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.
If we take Jeremiah 33:17 to mean a king would always sit on the thrown, period, end of story. Then who and where are the Levites that are to offer burnt offerings and sacrifices to this very day?
There are none, right? There’s no official position or title for priests, but Scripture said there would be, just like there was to be for the king. We don’t have a contradiction here, we just have to remember Jeremiah 33:17 is a conditional statement as outlined in this study.
This is what God said to king Solomon.
…I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever;…
…if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments.
…Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever…
…But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments…
… Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them ; and this house… - 1 Kings 9:3-7
The problem is, Solomon nor any other king walked before God as David, right? They all sinned great sins and led Israel astray. So much so, that God divided the nation, and later scattered the Israelites. Man’s failure to follow the promise absolved God’s conditional promise.
Interestingly enough, if we go way back to Genesis 49:10, we find,
…The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come
Shiloh is Messiah, the seed of David.
It’s all in the study, but if Jeremiah 33:17 meant what it said unconditionally, well then, where are the Levites, and why would they still perform blood sacrifices? Jesus fulfilled that.
That’s how we can be sure, by looking at all of Scripture, that Jeremiah 33:17 was a part of the conditional promise God outlined from long ago.