1991 Issue 7 - Sermons on Zechariah: Mourning Before Morning - Counsel of Chalcedon
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Transcript of 1991 Issue 7 - Sermons on Zechariah: Mourning Before Morning - Counsel of Chalcedon
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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
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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
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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