And as we are looking to this passage, I remind you that as I've talked to the priest about the Advent season, we are considering those titles of the coming king from the book of Isaiah, a wonderful counselor, Mighty God, and a lesson for other Prince of Peace. And so here we have in this passage, we are going to be considering from Zephaniah chapter 3 that Jesus is the Mighty God. However, Zephaniah may not have been the first place you'd have guessed for us to open our Bibles to this evening for a second Advent sermon. And this book may be obscured to you as it is in the Old Testament in a minor prophet.
And if it is obscured to you, I can assure you you are not alone. But I can assure you that it is still a vital part of the biblical narrative, especially in understanding God's purposes and judgment, his power over the nations, his mercy that will extend to the Gentiles and how God can bring good from what seems terribly terribly bad. Now we don't know who Zephaniah was exactly. However, he mentions Hezekiah in his genealogy.
And there's debate ever whether this is a reference to King Hezekiah, which would make Zephaniah a member of High Class Jerusalem. Or perhaps he's mentioning just a normal man named Hezekiah, which would have been common name. But regardless, Zephaniah was a prophet who prophesied towards the end of that first grouping of minor prophets, including with Haddock and Zephaniah. James Montgomery Boyce notes that Zephaniah is something like a summary of all the prophecies that have come before, reiterating and reminding the people of God's holiness and coming judgment against Jerusalem as a means of pouring out his wrath and covenant curse and calling his remnant and preserving his remnant for himself.
He prophesied an anticipation of the Babylonian invasion in Jerusalem's coming destruction in the light of their turning away from Yahweh. And he prophesied the coming exile that Jerusalem will be subject to. And yet we'll see our passage this evening that he is also mighty to redeem them and rescue them and bring them back. His F and I is also known for his use of the phrase the day of the Lord, which for Zephaniah is prophet's speak or shorthand for that day in which God's anger and wrath against sin would be brought against people and wickedness.
In this case, it's the sword of Yahweh, that weapon that God will use to bring judgment against Israel, Babylon. And so the mighty kingdom that would destroy Jerusalem and begin the process of taking folks into exile. Now, again, you hear this background information about Zephaniah and you might wonder what does it have to do with the birth of Jesus? Well, as Isaiah lays out the hope of the coming messianic king, he describes him that he's not only a wonderful counselor or a wonder of a counselor, but he's also mighty God.
And what we often overlook in prophetic books like this, and especially Zephaniah, is that where there is promise and judgment against God's covenant people, there is also a promised deliverance, a sure hope of salvation. In the light of a sure destruction in chapter one of the hands of Babylon, we find in chapter three the assured rescue and salvation of God's people. That through God's saving and redemption, they will be restored. And here's the point that I want you to tuck away from Zephaniah as we're preparing to read on text this evening.
Not even Babylon can thwart God's promises and stand in the way of God achieving his good and sovereign plan. And yet we will see this evening that Jesus Christ is this mighty God of whom Zephaniah ultimately points us to. And so the point of application is clear from his text, I think. Those humbled by God and redeemed by him, beholding his power, we should not fear.
We should not fear. As we prepare to read God's word and ask you to pray with me. Would you pray with me? O God, be pray that you would open our eyes that we may see wondrous things from your word.
In Lord, we pray that you would rest upon us this evening, that you would have us behold you in all of your glory, in all of your power and all of your might to love us, mindily in Christ. So Lord, be pray that you would give us ears to hear, hearts to love, that we might bow ourselves and then need to you, O God. Lord, bless us this evening, grant us your spirit. We ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen. This is Zephaniah, chapter three, beginning in verse 14. This is God's word. Let us give you here.
This is not allowed, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O Israel. Rejoice and exalt with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord has taken away the judgments against you.
He has cleared away your enemies. The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst. You shall never again fear evil. On that day, shall be said to Jerusalem, fear not, O Zion.
Let not your hearts grow weak. The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you by his love.
He will exalt you over you with loud singing. I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival so that you will no longer suffer approach. Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors and I will save the lame and gather the outcast and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time I will bring you in.
At that time when I gather you together, for I will make you renowned and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the Lord. The grass withers and the flower falls, the word of our God stands forever and ever. Thanks be to God. Again, the point I want you to grasp from this passage is we will not fear or we should not fear because Jesus Christ, the king who has come, he is mighty God.
In our first point this evening I want you to consider from this text is we will not fear because our mighty God will save. We will not fear because our mighty God will save. As F&I pictures a day that will come when God's presence among them will mean their deliverance. We will not fear the rescue as a motif of the scriptures that we find most clearly of Israel and Egypt being rescued from the bonds of slavery.
We also see in the Bible that there is an echo at the salvation here later in the Old Testament that Israel will know again salvation and rescue yet not this time from Egypt but from exile as Israel would be humbled under Babylon's conquest of Judah and only later returning to Jerusalem by Persian decree. Being redeemed from exile was not a grand and or dramatic act. There were no plates. There was no death, the firstborn.
There was no dramatic showdown with backs against the banks of the Red Sea. There was no supernatural display of extraordinary power and no wet judgment for God's enemies. But the first day of the Lord in which Zephaniah speaks is no less glorious. One of the mightiest kings of the known world, overseeing one of the mightiest nations of the known world, commanding one of the mightiest armies of the whole world would decree that Israel should return to Jerusalem ending their exile.
We read of this glorious reality even in Psalm 2 in this event. That Yahweh need not to destroy mighty kings to rescue his people, but he merely need to will it to happen. And yet this feels incomplete for us if you would consider the Old Testament narrative. For not only will Israel continue to be passed around like a football after the clocks run out in the coming centuries after the events of the Amaya and Ezra.
We are to read that Arteserxes, that the Persian king is their savior. And yet we find this glorious line in what we might call God's psalm of glory. Many have called this passage God's psalm of glory. Fear not the Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save.
And yet everything about this feels incomplete. The Old Testament ends as Zephaniah is prophesying at least historically with a wet down. It's almost as if the Old Testament fizzles out. And then we come to the New Testament.
We come to the Book of Matthew. We're counting the birth of Jesus in chapter 1. Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way when his mother Mary had ended Trothe Joseph before they came down or came together. She was found to be with child from all these spirit.
And her husband Joseph being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him a dream saying, Joseph son of David, do not fear to take Mary's wife. For that which is conceived in hers from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
And all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the Prophet. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. You see this mighty one who saves, who is present, is Jesus Christ, who is one in our midst. And surely he has gone on to glory and yet we wait for him to come again.
But this points us not to only Jesus as earthly ministry, but also his eternal ministry. Having overcome sin and death, he will come again to make all things new. He will save and he will rescue and he will redeem when he comes again. There will no longer be sorrow nor grief nor pain nor sickness nor sin nor death.
But we will behold our Savior. Indeed, it is Christ who is in our midst by the power of the Spirit, who is present with you now and surely is a mighty one who saves. So beloved do not fear because Jesus is the mighty God who saves. Second, we will not fear because our mighty God will love.
We will not fear because our mighty God will love. And yet in this psalm of glory, it continues on. It does not. In fact, what we find is a continued proclamation of the might of our mighty God.
I wonder if you remember being little. If you recall thinking of your dad as big and strong. My kids aren't here this evening, so I'll be a little more honest with you. One day is coming.
Well, they will know that I'm not as big as and strong as they think I am. I think sooner or later as a roof like to measure her height and when she's going to be as hall as I am. Okay. But do you recall what made you think your dad was big and strong?
Can he open or could he open a jar of pickles? Could he carry all of the groceries from the car in one trip? Could he lift that giant bag of dog food? Could he pick you up and toss you around?
If he gives you a big bear hug, could you ever break free? Can he reach the things at the top of the closet or the top shelf of the store? But do you think that being mighty and strong only means big muscles and being large and stature? Well, Zephaniah the Prophet tells us that God's might is more than his strength.
He says secondly that we should not fear because he will love us and beloved he will love us mildly. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will exalt over you with loud singing. He will quiet you by his love.
Maybe we have pictures of a father or grandfather who are cold and hard-hearted towards us. Maybe your father or grandfather never smiled. Maybe he always saw the problem and never the solution. Perpetually grumpy, always bothered by your presence, quit the discipline and call out and never to extend grace and mercy, never saying I love you and I'm proud of you.
Except maybe that one time it's 6 out. This is not what describes our mighty God. It's not a cold strength that begrudgingly provides of obligation or duty, but our mighty God in Christ will delight in you and the Father will rejoice in you because he rejoices in his Son. I don't want you to miss this Christian because God's might in his strength is not just a power to rescue and overcome your enemies, but it's described as his delight in us through Jesus and his love.
He will not or we will not and should not fear, not only because he delights in us, but because he loves us. He will quiet you by his love, our concern, and worry mounts away. I love the connection here to Jesus. O Palmer Robertson calls this the John 3 16 of the Old Testament.
That giant neon sign which points us to the heart of God in Christ, God who will quiet us by his love, has also so loved the world that he sent his only Son that he never believes in him should not perish but has everlasting life. We see in Jesus the glory and majesty and incomprehensible wonder that he is a mighty God who loves you. I love what John Piper says about this passage. He asks this interesting question.
He says, what would it be like to hear God sing? This love is born out in his exulting, as Zephaniah says, his singing. He delights in his love and he sings over us. And John Piper answers this question when I think of the voice of God singing, I hear the booming of Niagara Falls mingled with the trickle of a monsoon out in the stream.
I hear the blast of Mount St. Helens mingled with a kitten's pearl. I hear the power of an east coast, hurricane, and the barely audible puff of a night snow in the woods. And I hear the unimaginable roar of the sun, 865,000 miles thick, 1,300,000 times bigger than the earth, and nothing but fire, a million degrees centigrade on the cooler surface of the corona.
But I hear this unimaginable roar mingled with a tender, warm crackling of the living room logs on a cozy winter's night. When I hear this singing, I am dumbfounded, staggered, speechless, that he is singing over me. He is rejoicing over my good with all his heart and with all his soul. In all that wonder at the glory of God, we find burning and blazing brightly in Jesus Christ.
This love of God, this song sung that was seen in its fullness in Jesus Christ by way of the cross, bringing victory over sin and death. This mighty God is not merely mighty in strength and power, but he is mighty in love. As the author of Hebrews says, he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. And with all the might and power to speak all things into being, he is the word to which all things were made.
And with all might and power of upholding and maintaining and keeping all things, this is the same might and power with which he loves you. He is the mighty God who loves, therefore beloved, do not fear. Third, I want you to see, we will not fear because our mighty God will provide. Our mighty God will provide.
Now verse 18, verse 18 is relatively difficult to translate and it's really difficult to get to the heart of its meaning. Yet the obscurity of its precise meaning doesn't obscure the general meaning, which I think is simply that God will provide. It's my opinion that we find in verse 18, this longing of God's people for worship, that the desire for spiritual worship that they will have been missing out on being an exile. And the Lord in his might will provide it.
And surely if God can meet our spiritual needs, he can meet our physical needs, our emotional needs, our present needs. He will provide for us. Paul says in Philippians, in my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory and Christ. He is mighty to provide, wealthy, enriched in the glory of Christ.
And he has done so, which is why we can pray, give us this day or daily bread. But notice how he will provide for us. He says this, I will save the lame and gather the outcast. And I will change their shame into praise and renounce in all the earth.
At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together, for I will make you renound and praise among all the peoples of the earth. And then when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, it says the Lord. He gets the sense here that the Lord is reclaiming the power to undo, to reverse, and to restore. It looks like those guys who travel around the United States searching for all things antique, all things vintage.
They find pieces busted and missing components arrested out and not functioning the way they're supposed to. And yet they apply their knowledge to restore these things to their former glory. A classic motorcycle looking like the day it came off a factory line. A child's story looking like it had never been played with.
An old gas station sign looking like it had just been hung. And so we read this in association with something from last time sermon that God's infinite wisdom is applied mightily. He has not only the mind to know but the power to do. And so God provides mightily for you.
It's not that this provision is not merely food, it's not merely shelter, it's not water, but it's a reversal of something more fundamental. We're leaving us from our oppressors whom we can never shake off. Saving the lame who are incapable of saving themselves. Gathering in the outcast who have been driven away and what otherwise never be welcomed in.
All of this shame and to immense praise making them renown and known in all the earth. Bringing fortunes and wealth to those who are once poor and needy. And yet we know that this is mightily done in Jesus who heals the sick, who lifts up the grief and the brokenhearted, who cleanses the lever and who welcomes the sinner. And so we ask with all what then shall we say to these things if God is for us, who can be against us.
He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. How will he also not with him graciously give us all things. So the love and we come and we are reminded that we should not fear because God will provide. Lastly we want you to sit from his passages, we will not fear because our God mightily remembers.
We should not fear because our God mightily remembers. So we give this last point in this evening which in some ways is a synthesis of this whole psalm of glory. But we will not fear because our mighty God will remember. I want you to notice the tense and intent of these words.
Right about this whole text God is the one who will save. He is the one who will rejoice and will quiet you by his love. He will exalt. I will gather so that you will no longer self-approach.
I will save. I will gather. I will change. I will bring and will make you renowned when I restore your fortunes.
So Zephaniah has in mind here what is commonly again called the day of the Lord. This is a thing that runs throughout the scriptures and it's a common thing in the prophets. And generally speaking the day of the Lord is applied and understood to reference a variety of days and a variety of times with different implications. Typically the day of the Lord refers to both days of an isblessing but also days of utter judgment.
And Zephaniah even gets to both aspects of this text prophesying the coming day of the Lord when Judah will fall when the nations will be brought below. But also the day when Gentiles will be brought in and even our texts this evening at that time or on that day these blessings will be known. Judah will be rescued from exile. We've already considered that surely what is described in this text can't merely be only Judah returning from exile alone.
And I think the prophetic and historical accounts of Ezra and Nehemiah and Hagai corroborate this. I think what we should see is Jesus tells us that the prophets spoke of him and that these promises have begun to be fulfilled in the personal work of Jesus. By that day of events judgment when Christ took the sins of the world upon his shoulders is a day of the Lord. That day of events blessing when our sins were put to death forever in Christ when he conquered the grave and granted us his spirit at Pentecost a day of the Lord.
Yet there is an eschatological or an end times meaning to the springs, the day of the Lord. This has to deal with the end as much as it does with the events recorded here in Zephaniah the ones to come and even those recorded in the Gospels. That day is coming when this promised blessing will be brought fully in and through Jesus' grinds at his second at that or his second coming. And here's the point, Christian.
We don't know the time or season when Christ will return. We know we are in the last days because we've been in the last days since Jesus ascended the glory. But when Christ comes as that thief in the night he will bring with him the glories of Zephaniah 3. But what about until that day?
How do you and I wait like Israel in the wilderness as they waited for Canaan? Abraham who waited for Isaac or Judah who waited to be rescued from exile or first centuries Hebrews waiting to be rescued from the oppression of Rome. You may think the pastor's blessings are all well and good but all I hear promises made. I want you to hear that you have so much more than a divine IOU.
We have the reality of these things and Jesus already, assurance of salvation, victory over sin, wealth beyond our wildest dreams, cleansing from our sin, assured victory over death. And sure the God who did not spare his own son will bring to us once and for all the glories of this text. And we are reminded that God will remember. He remembered his people in exile.
He remembered his people in the first century sending his son. He has remembered you as the gospel has gone from Jerusalem to Judea to the ends of the earth. We have a mighty God who remembers his covenant. He remembers his promise.
He is mighty in his remembrance. He will not forget. And we know this because at that point in time God kept every promise in Christ. The dawning of the grace of God came on that glorious morning of the birth of our Savior, our mighty God.
And these blessings secured for us by Christ and applied to us by the Spirit are awaiting that final day of the Lord where the judge would arise will come and his children know the glories of that promise. For instance, if the check is in the mail, we belong to a mighty God who saves, who loves, who provides, and who remembers. And so I bring this text to a close. I want to challenge you to ask this question.
What's your perspective of God's mightiness? Do you think that this is only evident in his strength to overcome and to do your enemy? Surely he exercises this as our Lord and as our King. But would you believe that he mightily loves you?
That he mightily provides for you? That he mightily remembers his covenant promises on your behalf? And so what if he had the season of Advent that we would draw near to the Lord? That we would know him and that we would know that he is indeed mighty to save us?
He is mighty to rescue us, not only to redeem us from the effects of sin and from death itself, but he might deliver you from that which played you. To deliver you from that which ails you. To deliver you from that which haunts you in your past. He has loved you, mightily Christ.
And so might we return praise to him for it. Let's pray. Would you pray with the peace? Father, we thank you for your reminding us even this evening that you are a mighty God who is at work.
And with that Jesus is the fulfillment. He is the one who is mighty. And we thank you in his humility. He was brought low, born of woman born under the law to live a life in this world perfectly.
Lord, that he might be that perfect sacrifice for us, that Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, that spotless Lamb. And so will we pray that even in his weakness, Lord, even in his humility, oh God, that we would see our mighty God who saves even by way of cross, even through the glory of the resurrection. And so will we pray that you would have us trust in him and to love him and to honor him and to know him. And Lord, would you help us to not fear, oh God, that we might know that peace which you can only provide, or that we can know that provision which you can only provide, or that we might know your love which only you can provide.
And so God, we pray that you would have us return praise to you now. We ask these things in Jesus' precious name. And then let's stand together and sing our last hymn.