8/12/2019 1992 Issue 9 - Sermons on Zechariah: Let Your Hands Be Strong - Counsel of Chalcedon

1/4

8/12/2019 1992 Issue 9 - Sermons on Zechariah: Let Your Hands Be Strong - Counsel of Chalcedon

2/4

75% of hose

claiming

independence in

1776 were ofrerormed persuasion (and

hence were largely postmillennial).

All of

this

hope-filled activity and

more, ultimately is traceable back

to

a

God-centered,

Bible-based optimism.

It

doesnotdrawfromsomeethereal,

poetic

longing of fallen man or

some mindless,

smiley-face optimism. But that

God-centered hope, though largely lost

today among evangelicals, was

charactedstic of the prophets and the

aposdes, thus of biblical

faith. And itis the evident

backdrop for ourpassage.

We must remember

that in the preceding

chapter, God rebuked

Judah rorhersinful,empty

formalism

in

worship.

There she was chastised

with words for

her

ritualistic response to

God's freeing her from the

Babylonian

Captivity.

But

in

this

portion of

God's

responsetoJudah,wefind:

hope(Zech.8:4-5,12,l3).

And this hope is based on

nothing less

than

the presence of God

with

His

people.

Theheartthrobofthiswholecheertng

passage

is

contained in the few words of

Zechariah8:3.TheLordofhostsdec1ares:

'' am

returnedunto

Zion.

Despite

Israel's

tribulation at thehandsofBabylon,when

she was

forsaken

of

God, despite

her

current

frailty

and poverty,

these

words

resound with hope: "I am returned unto

Zion.

The truth of the

presence

ofGodis

so

important thatitintroduces the cheerful

prospect n the following verses. like

Jolm's visionin Revelation, which opens

withChdstwalkingamongthechurches,

here Zechariah and

the

people learn that

the Lord

is

''returned unto Zion.

The evidence of His return is so

necessary that over and

over again

we

have undergirding the

reality of

the

message of hope: Thus saith the Lord.

This

authoritative statement occurs ten

rimes, or in almost every other

verse

(Zech. 8:2,3,4,7,9,14, 19,20,23).

Though the prophetic voice of God w s

silent inJemsalem for the

whole

seventy

years

ofcaptivity,

now

it

has

returned in

force.

Does not God

inform

us who

are His

people

throughHisWordthatweare

the

temple of he Lord (2 Cor. 6: 16), because

we have the

Spirit

of Christ in us (Rom.

8:9)?

Are

we

not encouraged

by the

prospect

'La,

I

am

with you until

the

endoJ

the age

(Matt. 28:20)? Do

we

not hear

the apostle inform us

of Christ

in

us,

the

hopeojglory

(Col. 1:27). DidChdstnot

promise, "I will never

leave

nor

Jorsake

you'

(Beb. l3:5)?

Can

we not, then, cry

with Paul, "I can do all things through

Christ

who

strengthens

me

(Phil. 4:l3)?

This is the heart of the

biblical hope:

We

have

Godwithus. ThatiswhyJesus

iscalledinprophecy, Immanuel, wbich

means Godwithus (Isa.7:14;Matt.l:2l).

Themostimportant elementfor blessing

and prosperity

is

the presence of God.

Hence, the cheering prospect: I am

returned unto Zion.

Wecanworkoutourproblems. We

can have success in our

lives.

We can

have a confidenceinthe

future

prospects

THE COUNSEL o

Chalcedon October, 992

ofChristianity. Forwithin us

dwells

the

Holy One

of God.

How can tbe that the people ofGod

coUld have no

hope?

How could it be

that

there

would be

any

problem too big

for

His

Church

to overcome? Earlier

in

Zechariah 4:10 we heard the command

do not despise

the

d Y oj small

things.

Herewe hearitscounterpart,

given

pardy

as a rebuke to Judah, but intended

ultimately

as

an

encouragement: If t be

marvellous

in

the

eyes oj

the

remnantoj this

people in these d Ys, should

italso be

marvellous in

mine

eyes?

Notice that this

statement is introduced

andclosedwith thus saith

the Lord.

The word

marvellous heremightbe

translated today by

incredible or too

difficUlt. Consider what

God

is

saying.

The small number of

Jewswhocame back

from

the

Babylonian

Captivity

are

buta remnant.' What

is

worse, they

are

a fearful

remnant, for

they

focus on their

own

smallness

rather

than

the

largeness

of

God. Just becauseitistoomarvellousfor

them, why should that mean it is too

difficult forthe Lord of hosts? theLord

of

thousands upon thousands ofangelic

hosts?

WhydidJudahhaveno hope? Why

do modern Chdsrians have no

hope?

Because

they lookat the

largeness

of

the

opposition. Theylookin thenewspapers

regarding current trends. But they

looking from theirfinite perspective, not

God's

infinite perspective. They

are

looking at what currendy is, not what

God

has ordained shall ultimately be.

ThisisquitereminiscentofthetenJewish

spiesinNumbers l3:31-33, who shrank

from the God-given

task.

Do

you think God is

troubled by

communism or Islam or secular

8/12/2019 1992 Issue 9 - Sermons on Zechariah: Let Your Hands Be Strong - Counsel of Chalcedon

3/4

humanism?

These

are

but dust

to be

sweptawayinHis own good time,justas

God

swept

away

the sons of

Anak

in

th

Promised

Land.

These are giants

requiringbutonegoodstone.JesusChrist

(Dan. 2).

They

are

nothing

before

the

grace of

God,

which

is

the very power of

God,

which

as

we

noted

earlier

will make

a

plain of

all

the mountainous

opposition

(Zech.4:7).

Why

should

Christians be

embarrassedattheprospectofpromoting

a

Christian worldview,

or of

urging

th

implementation of Christian prindples,

because of the flash

and

glitz of the

secularists? With God all things are

possible (Matt.

19:26).

Doesnot God

promise

ofus: theyshall

bemypeople, andlwillbe

their

God (Zech.

8:8b)?

2. The Necessity of Truth

But

it is incumbent upon us to know

that

we

cannot just

formalistically

claim

th

name

of God.

We cannot merely

show up

at

church and

expect all to fall

into place.

That

was

Israel's

problem; it

must not

be ours.

We must build a Christian

culture

basedon truth

and

righteousness. Having

a naked hope

is

not enough in

itself.

Let

us notice how truth and

righteousness

are

urged in the context of he hope

of the

presence

of God. Our hope

is based

on

truth; hope is confirmed by the

application

of truth in righteous

living.

Zechariah 8:3

speaks wondrously

of

the

prospects for Zion. But because of

the presence of God

their

dty

must

be

known

as

a dty of truth; their mountain

must

be characterized byholiness. This

draws

afundamental distinctionbetween

the reformed, postmillennial hope for

history and that secularistic

optimism

promoted by liberal Social Gospel

advocates.

The

secularist

view is based

on the myth of

evolution.

Our

hope is

based on beliefinandlife livedaccording

to

the truth in

God's

Word, and nothing

less.

Zechariah 8:8

harkens back

to

that

same concept.

The

importance of truth

for

the hope

of the progress ofthe human race lies in

the nature of

reality. This

world

is

the

world

that

God created. Consequently,

it operates

according

to His

divine plan

and functions in terms of

His

divine

principles.

Adam

was given

thernandate

by

God

to develop

the

world's resources

(Gen.

1:26-28).

As

an

unfallencreature

created in the

image of God,

He

would

have done so according to divine

principles - not in opposition

to them.

He

would

have

done

so according

to the

truth.

It

should not

pass

our

notice

that a

decline in

faith

in God and commitment

to His Law

as our standard

today has

givenrisetoanincreaseindrugaddiction.

God created man

with

an inner

longing

for

Him;

we

need

to have

a meaning

outside ourselves. It is

no acddent

that

sexual

promiscuity

generates ll sorts of

dreaded

diseases.

Godintended

faithful,

monogamous

marriages.

Itisnowonder

that atheistic communism

is

bankrupt.

God

intended human

freedom

and the

right of private property and

free

exchange.

It should not surprise us

that

Islam

is noted for its

terrorism. False

gods

always

generate evil actions.

God's

truth,

God's

Law, God'sWord,

God'swisdomisnecessaryforthesmooth

functioning of society

and the proper

development

of human culture.

Those

that hate the wisdom of

God,

love death

(Prov. 8:36). God

created an

orderly

universeoperatedbyorderly, predictable

law. This

allows for scientific inquiry.

But

modem sdentists

believe

in the

ultimate irrationality of the universe and

the randomness of

reality -- despite

the

necessity of

order

to explain such

And God's

truth

is

to sanctify

us

Oohn 17: 17).

Which

leads

us

to note:

3. The Necessity of Labor

Because

ofthe setting fotth

of divine

hope,

because of

the

call to

establish

righteousness on the

foundation

of truth,

there

is

a consequent

obligation to

labor

toward these ends.

In the Jewish situation in Zechariah's

day,

there was the matter of building the

dty

of

God, buildingtheirculture, around

the worship ofGod. This required the

temple,

which had been

so

long

delayed

in

rebUilding.

The remnant

felt

their

own

weakness against the opposition.

But

God's hope, God's truth, urges

otherwise,

Zechariah 8:9,

13.

Despite

the

opposition

before

them,

the Jews

were to "let

their hands

be

strong.

The

task

of rebuilding the temple and the

godly

culture that would

flow from

it

was

to be undertaken in strength. They were

to

love

the

Lord

their God with all their

heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Faithis ofteneasieronthehypothetical

level. But

on the practical

level

it

becomes

a different thing:

"I have

hope in my

mind, but

my

life

is

another story."

We

can offer

words of comfort

to

others

who

may be suffering around us. But

sometimes

we

do not so

easily

live by the

words of hope when

we ourselves suffer.

Though

we

are the children -of

Abraham

by

faith, we too

often

do

not

imitate his mith.

According

to Paul,

Abraham had a sure hope:

against hope

he

hoped

(Rom 4: 18.)

And because of

this Abraham was

fully

persuaded God

was able to

perform

(Rom

4:21).

To 0

manyChristiansaredoubtingThomases.

We do not bother laboring for the

promotion of Christianity, because the

opposition

is so

strong against

us. But

hope,

like faith,

reqUires diligent

labor.

The Lord

commands us

to

pray in

faith

andhope:

Giveus

this

day aurdaily

bread

But

then rnaywe sit back and expect it

o

come miraculously?

Or

do we

not rather

hear:

He that

does not work, neither

shall

he eat

(2

Thess. 3: 1O)?

We

must be diligently involved

as

Christians. We

must seek

ways

to

letthe

voice

of Christ speaking in the Word of

God be

heard in our culture.

We

must,

as

Christ said in another context,

endure

t

the

end (Matt. 24:

13). God's Word

still

speaks hope and truth

today.

It

still

commands faithful obedience and

labor.

October, 1992 THE COUNSEL of ChaIcedon

3

8/12/2019 1992 Issue 9 - Sermons on Zechariah: Let Your Hands Be Strong - Counsel of Chalcedon

4/4

As n worship, ChIistianity is not a

"spectator sport" for "armchair

Chrtstians. Ourfaithca1Isus to stand up

.

for

Jesus. There

is

a

false theology

that

urges us to let

go

and let

God.

Maywe

not fa]]

for

it. Rather, may we occupy

until He comes (Luke 19:13).0

Arise

Shine

New Qecorcllfl

by

Judy

ROBers

(9

Becky

Morecraft

Name

Address

Oty State Zip

Non-Profit Org.

U.s. Postage

PAID

BULK RATE

Permit No. 1553

Greenville, SC

29602

Songs

Candle

of

Faith

Jesus Saves

Psalm One

Clap Your Hands (Ps. +7)

Arise Shine (Isa. 60

How Firm a Foundation

He is TheOne

Come

Ye

Sinners

When

I

Survey

Praise Him Praise Him

For direct purchase at $9.95 Mail to: Judy Rogers P.O. Box 888442, Atlanta

GA

30356

2+ THE COUNSEL

ofChalcedon

October, 1992