Welcome GOD TV viewers. My name is Harvey Katz. It’s a privilege to be with you here today and I’ve got a little devotion for you from the book of Jeremiah and Jeremiah 1 says this, “Then the LORD put forth His hand and He touched my mouth and the LORD said to me, ‘Behold I put my words in your mouth. See I have set this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.’ Moreover, the word of the LORD came to me saying, ‘Jeremiah, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘I see an almond branch.’ Then the LORD said to me, ‘You have seen well for I’m ready to perform my word.’”
In this little devotion here, we see God bringing very heavy judgments against the children of Israel for their sins. We see such strong language such as “He’s going to root out, pull down, destroy and throw down.” But He finishes with saying, “to build” and “to plant.” Following this strong sense of judgment and redemption, we see Jeremiah receives a vision, and what he sees is an almond tree and the LORD says to him, “Just as surely as you’ve seen the almond tree, I’m going to watch over my word to perform it.”
What’s the significance of the almond tree? The almond tree was the first tree in winter — well, still winter in February — which started to bloom. It represented God’s faithfulness out of a season of winter, out of a season of death that life is going to spring forth. It’s a picture of resurrection. It’s a picture of hope and God said to Jeremiah, “As surely as I’m bringing this land into judgment, I’m going to surely bring them forth and resurrect them again.”