1991 issue 7 - sermons on zechariah: mourning before morning - counsel of chalcedon

8/12/2019 1991 Issue 7 - Sermons on Zechariah: Mourning Before Morning - Counsel of Chalcedon

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Kenneth

L

Gel1tl .}r. Th.D.

S RMONS

ON ZECH RI H

MOURNING BEFORE MORNING

Zechariah

1:1-6; Heb.10:26-39

This

morning

we begin actually

entering into the message

of

Zechariah.

The gist of our first mes

sage was

that our

God is

aconcemed

God

who

speaks to real people

re

gardingtheirhistorical circumstances

and needs. Our faith is not

one

of

mysticism, but of

spiritually

based

realism.

Our message

today

is entided

"Mourning Before Morning." The

idea

behind our

tide is

that

God lays

upon

us

the

necessity

of mourning

for

our

sins,

before

He will grant us

a

new,

bright morning of glory in is

favor

. The

necessity of

repentance

before

blessing

is as true

on the per

sona level, as it

is

on

the

cultural

level. And both of these

ideas--personal and cultural

repentance--are prominent in

Zechariah. May

the

word of God

penetrate our hearts,

leading us to

bow before Him in humble sorrow

foroursins, thatwemight bask in the

glory

of is favor.

Let

us

rehearse

briefly

the histori

cal

context of Zechariah. In

the

year

536

B.C. Israel

had been

released

from

captivity and

enslavement

in

Babylon. Thousands ofJews imme

diately began returning to the Prom-

ised

land

to live in relative freedom

in

their

own homes, though

still

un

der

foreign

rule.

Upon

first

entering

the

Promised land,

theJews

quickly

laid the

foundation

for

the rebuilding

of the

temple

(Ezra

3:8,10).

But

shordythereafter, work on

the temple

stopped

(Ezra

4:24).

Now

fourteen

years

later, Haggai has just begun to

get

the people started in the rebuild

ingeffort

.

As

Zechariahprophesies,it

is past

time

for the work to be com

pleted.

Haggai

is

Zechariah's

contempo

rary .

The

historical

account in

Ezra

associates their

ministries

Ezra5 1

2).

So

let us

look back a page or

two

to

Haggai

1. In

Haggai

1:2

the

lord

discerns the feelings of

the

people

aboutthenecessityofrebuildingGod's

temple.

The

initial

complications

associatedwithrebuildingprojecthad

become a ustification for

the

Jews

to

continually put it off. It became the

accep

tedthingtonotfmishthetemple.

But this

delay in finishing

is

temple

is

not pleasing

to the

lord. It

is especially

heinous in that the

very

reason

for Israel's exilewas

due

to

her

corruption of

God's

worship. And

it

was

God Who had mercifully re

leased her from exile for the very

purpose that she might again wor

ship Him in Jerusalem (2 Chron.

36:22-23).

Theimportanceof the templewas

that it represented the presence of

God among ispeople.

It was

called

"God's

house and the house of the

Lord inScripture(Zech.1:16). There

in

the

holy of holieswas the presence

of God.

There the high priest would

enter into the very presence of God

once a

year,

tosecure atonement

for

Israel's sins.

Whywas Israelnotstill anxious to

finish the House ofGod? Wherewas

her spiritual joy in God's freeing her

from exile?

Where

was

her zealous

obediencetoHimforHisfavor?Worse

still,

why

did the Jews drag their feet

inrebuildingtheHouseofGod, when

they built

nice

houses

for

themselves

(Hag.

1:3-5)7

Despite

God's chasteningthemby

sending them into captivity, their

initialzeaJ

forthe temple and worship

of God waned quickly. There are

important lessons in these circum

stances

that we

may

note.

1.

he

Necessity of

Holy Worship

TheHrst lesson I

wan

t

to

set before

you is

that

priorities must begin

with

God.

Consequendy, His worship is

essential to the lives of

His

people.

Certainly the Jews were anxious

to rebuild their own homes. This in

itself

is not reprehensible. As we

noted

last week,

God

is very

much

concerned with our historical pre

dicament.

But God had put up with

their stalling and

lack

of zeal

for

rebuilding

His

house

for

fourteen

long

years,

while they had begun

prospering somewhat. The temple

was

the

very

center of and the funda

mental means for the worship of

God.

It held forth the very hope for

October 1991 m COUNSEL of Chalcedon 11


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forgiveness of sjn through blood rugged,undeveloped,Indianinfested theory,whichseesthephysicalrealm

atonement. America

for

freedom of worship.

as

the only'real t of life,

Zechariahdrawsupontheirforefa

thers' sinful ways

to

point out the sin

ofTsrael's

currentdeJayinandlostzeal

for finishing the temple (Zech, 1:4).

The former sin was corruption of

worship through idolatry--a

very

hei-

nous rebellion against

God,

And

though theywere no longerengaged

in idolatry, the present unconcemfor

the temple involves thecorruption of

worship, as well, Now they were

negligent and even apathetic in pur

suing the completion of the temple

that theynIightworship God accbrd-

ing to

His law

Though the

sinS

are

different

in

many respects,

theyarefundarnentallyone

in that both involve the

denial of the'priority of the

worship of God.

And this delay in the

building of God's Temple

was

no light matter, By

comparing the present

sittiation with the sin of

the fathers, Zechariah

urges them

to

turn from

their "evil ways" and

"evil

doings

(Zech,

1:4 ,

He

calls the neglect of His

wors :rip evil, not

lazi-

ness, not forgetfulness, not

badhabit,notunderstand

able delay, Remember the historical

backdrop: The

Jews

had received

very real resistance from the

Samari-

tans, They had genuine difficulties,

But still the neglect of the

God

or

dained means ofHisworship is con

sidered

"evil

doing.

Both Haggai

and

Zechariah,c;lrive

this point home,

The early Christians worshiped

God in catacombs among the graves,

while being sought out

for

horrible

persecution, ' They considered the

worship of God a

very

, mpOrtant

aspect of ife, Our Puritanforefathers

left thewealth of England

to

come to

Such love of the worship of God

reveals proper priorities, Jesus'

dis-

ciples were urged to

"seek

first the

kingdom of God and His righteous

ness, and all these

things [clothing

andhousinglwillbeaddeduntoyou

(Matt.

6:33). ' They were urged

to

keep their priorities straight: There

needed to be the priority of the spiri

tuaL There must be the desire

for

proper worship of God,

Brothers and sisters, i you

love

God, you will be diligent in

your

worship, This

is

the lord's

day, You

must sanctify it by consistent, heart-

feltworshipofHim. This

is

the

Lord's

house, govemed byHis officers, You

should not absent yourselves from

worship of

His

holy

Name.

You

shouldbemore diligent before God

in attendance

than

you are Wore

your

osses

in showing up

for work

Ifweneglectworship, how

are

we

different from the secular humanists

plaguing our

land?

The humanistic

philosophy of our day

is

rooted in

materialism, like Karl

Marx's

com

munist philosophyofDialectical

Ma.

terialism. ' It grows up out of

the

soil

of the materialism of evolutionary

12 f

TIlE COUNSEL

of

Chalcedon

f

October 1991

This

is the underlying cause of

so

muchadultery,abortion,homosexu

allty, drug and

alcohol abuse,

theft,

murder,

etc.

Men today are

living for

the moment,

as Isaiah

records of

pre-exilic

lsrael's

philosophy,

so it

is

today:

"let us eat and

chink; for to

morrow we shall die"

(lsa,

22:13),

Menthinkthat tomorrowtheywilldie

and

vanish away. They are horribly

mistaken, '

As Christians

we

must believe

and live in terms of the spiritual,

while

not forgetting or

neglecting

the

material,

There. is

a spiritual God

above.

There are spiritual

beingsknownasangelsand

demons. There is

life

after

death

for

our spirits. And

therearespiritual

principles

that

must govemour con

duct. And

God

'has ap

pointed aDay ofJudgment

(2 Cor, 10:5), He

has es-

tablished His law as the

terms ofour obedience and

the standard of His judg

ment.His law compels us

to

worship

Him,

Israel fumbled and

fooled around, Goddid

not consider it inconse

quentiallazihess. He con

sidered it evil.

Do

you?

You

had

better,

because

of...,

2. The

Reality of

Cod's Wrath.

There

'is a vain pseudo-religious'

philosphyinfiltratingChristiancircles

today,

Televangelistandauthor

Rob-

ertSchullerisoneofthekeyfiguresin

this

vanity.

Schuller urges ministers

to

"stroke"

people,

to tell

them all is

well.

His

is

philosophy is: Don't

Worry; Be

Happy."

He

urges such

"stroking" 'and disdains

any

and all

rebuking

for sin.

In

fact, he teaches


3/4

that] ohn Calvin's teaching regarding

indwelling sin

is one

of

the

worst

curses to arise in Christian history.

He is

not interested in

warning

about

the consequences of

sin. Mindless

love is

the

name of the

game.

But the prophets and

apostles

of

God

were

no

t

Schullerites,

publish

ing books

like the Be-happitudes."

They

knew the true

God. Conse

quently, they knew the reality of His

wrath. It

is

true

that

Zechariah had

come to spe k

words of

cornfon to

Israel

and to tell

them

ofafutureglory

(Zech

.l :l3-17).Buthedoessowithin

a context of

warning

about

the genu

ine danger of

sin.

Zechariah

reminds

Israelofthis(Zech.l:2).

The Hebrew here

liter

ally says the

wrd

w s

angry with

anger

. It

doubles

the intensity

of

the word

"anger" He

was greatly angered

with Israel.

Now

this

does not contradict

Zech.l:15. Themean

ing there is that

God

was displeased

only

for

a little

while,

and

He

limited

the

exile to sev

entyyears. Verse 2 ex

presses the intensity of

His

wrath;

verse 15 the

duration of

it.

God

was very angry

with

Israel's

fathers,

which

is why they were car

ried

off

into

slavery.

No

tice Zech

1:6a. Thephrase takehold ishetter

translated in the

NASV

as

"overtake."

The idea here

is

that

God's

prophetic

judgments act as pursuing beasts of

prey:

they

are faster and stronger than

any

attempt to

avoid

them, when

they are set in motion by

God.

They

do overtake

and

they do

bringjudg

ment upon those

to

whom

they are

directed.

Verse

5 is a reminder about the

consequence of the

actions

of their

fathers:

"Whereareyourfathersnow?"

The answer is:

They

were ll either

consumed in theovenhrowofJerusa

lem or were

taken as

slav

es

in

the

deportation

to

Babylon. Where are

the fathers who resisted God's

pro

pheticcallstorepentance? Theywere

either destroyed in

war

or died in

slavery.

God dId

not

"stroke"

them,

He

struck

them Jeremiah

did not

write"Be-happitudes";

hewrote m-

entations

The question in

verse

5 about

the

prophets has a

different

connotation.

These

prophets

are

those good and

true former prophets mentioned in

verse4. Theydied,also,itistrue.

But

their divinely

authorized words

of

judgmentcameto passandtheir truth

lives

still. The

message

in this verse

is

t

hat

we areallmortal flesh, but God's

Word

abides

forever

and must be

obeyed (1 Pet. 1:25).

There may

be a

delay

in

God's

judgment:

Isaiah

prophesied judg

ment a century before

the

captivity.

But His

Word

is, nevenhe1ess,

sure.

Hisjudgmentswillcome,even

though

the

prophets

themselves

die

before

their

fulfillment.

Sooner or

later, we

will with the psalmist recognize that

"mine

iniquities have overtaken

me"

(psa.

40: 13). Moses warns: "Be sure,

your sin will find you out (Num.

32 :23b).

God's

wrath and displeasure are

very

real

ma

tters requiring our un

derstandIng of them. The unbelief of

man who

believes like Schuller can

not make the penalties of God of no

effect. I fear

for

America because of

her declinefromspirituality. Hear for

those

who profess Christ,butwhodo

not long

for His

worship.

We must have a due sense of the

wrath of God,

for His will

works in

the hurricane and earth

quake

(Nah.

1:3-6).

He

threatens deadly

disease,

such

as AIDS,

upon the

rebellious (Deut. 28:27).

GodrernindsusHiseyes

are in

every

place behold

ing the good and the evil

(Prov.

15:3). Preachers of

Scripture cannot hide

His

words of judgment, for it

becomesaburningfireshut

upinourbonesOer.20:9).

You should let no man de

ceive

you with vain words,

for wrath does come (Eph.

5:6).

Goddoeshavewrath;

He is

not

Santa Claus, but

a thrice holy

God

. Hedoes

not overlook

evil (Hab

. 1:l3) like

men do (Psa. 50:21).

3.

The Call to True Repentance.

TheneglectofGod'sworship

leads

to judgment and chaos. God does

hold

forth the

threat of chastisement

to His

people, if they rebel against

Him. Zech. 1:1-6 necessarily stands

at the front of a book that holds fonh

a promise of great blessing and a

morning the brighmess of

God's fa

vor. As

John the Baptist prepared

Israel

for the blessed appearing of the

Messiah,

he preached: Prepare

ye

October

99

THE COUNSEL of

Chalcedon

3


4/4

the

way of

the Lord

so does

Zechariah . The reminder

of

wrath

and the call to repentance are the

conditions of the

blessings

to

come

(Zech.

1:3). The way to God's

favor

is

through repentance.

The hot

suncin

wilt and

destroy

the

nower,

butwhenhiddenfrom

the

sun

the

nower

will

always

seek it.

So

should

we

who claim

to

know God inJesus

Christ.

We should fear God and

His

wilting

wrath

by turning

in

repentance from

sin

to Him.

1

we

confess

our sins,

He

is

faithful and just to

forgive us oursin" (1

John

1:

9).

He who does

not

hear the

call

shall feel the

curse. God

threatens judg

~ l l t n d

(lifers mercy. When we turn to

God,

He

will turn to

us.

.1houghwe know

the

historical x p ~

rience

of calarnity,

we are not fatalists.

Wedonotbelieveinthecold, impersonal

universe

of the evolutionist. We believe

in

God;

and in

God there

is hope,

even

in

, times ofwrath. Theexhortationtoreturn

to

God

is

familiar

in 5cripture,]er. 3:12;

Eze.18:30;

Mic

.7:19 ;Mal. 3:7;Jrns. 4:8.

. Nate

Zechariah

's

emphasis

on

the

.ord

of

hosts, which is

repeated three

times.

1hree

times

he says it s "the .ord

of hosts" who

callS them to repentance.

1he

"hosts" refer

either

to the

incalcu

Iablenumberofstarsorofangels,orboth.

The '

God Who caDs is no

wimp;

they

should not fear the Samaritan resistance

to rebuilding the temple.

God

is the God

ofboundless

resouroes.

That

very God

wouldbewith them to bless them, if they

wouldturntoHimandrebuildHishotlse.

. .

srael

had not just abandoned

the

building ofanY old building. was

the

templeofG

1991 issue 7 - sermons on zechariah: mourning before morning - counsel of chalcedon

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