Grace, Mercy, and Peace be unto you from God our
Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
Amen
Amen
The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast
near and hastening fast
In the Name of Jesus
Our sermon text today
comes from a book of the Old Testament seldom heard from, the book of the
prophet Zephaniah. Not well known, but
he does give us a great family background so that we can trace him. We find on his opening verses that he comes
from a distinguished family line, tracing himself back to King Hezekiah who
brought about religious reform in his time, some four generations before his
time.
When placing him within
the timeline of other Old Testament prophets he falls at the same time as
Jeremiah, both mentioning the same reigning king in their opening verses, King
Josiah, some 600 years before the birth of Christ.
Perhaps the reason for the
lack of readings from the book of Zephaniah is that his book, his prophecy,
isn’t the most upbeat. Spanning all of 3
chapters, a total of just 53 verses, it is filled with eternal warnings, just
as with most of Jeremiah’s prophecy.
Skim through it when you
have the chance and you will read more of what we heard this morning. Three chapters full of fear, destruction,
judgment, with a little comfort added for kicks.
I always thought that
judgment day was supposed to be a joyous time!
We even hear from John at the end of Revelation to pray for the coming
of the Lord when he writes He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
But when we hear from
Zephaniah the warning The great day of the Lord is
near, near and
hastening fast; the
sound of the day of the Lord is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there. A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick
darkness, a day
of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements. It strikes fear into our
souls.
It strikes even more fear when we
recall the words we heard last week from the other seldom hear from prophet
Amos. Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day
of the Lord? It
is darkness, and not light, as if a man fled from a
lion, and a bear met him, or
went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him.
Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not
light, and gloom with no brightness in it? “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn
assemblies. Even though you offer me
your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not
accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened
animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise
of your songs; to the melody of your
harps I will not listen.
The judgment handed down in Zephaniah and Amos is
judgment for sinners. It is for those
who have turned against the Lord. It is
for those who praise God with their lips but whose hearts are far from him.
And it is going to be downright ugly. The great day of the Lord is near, near
and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there. A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick
darkness, a day
of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements.
The references made to fish gate, the west wall, the
hills, the inhabitants of the Mortar, all a signal to a complete, total, epic
destruction. The searching which the
Lord would do, would be thorough as He seeks out those who have sinned against
him, who are indifferent to him who say The Lord will not do good, nor
will he do ill, and
enact punishment on them all.
This fearful punishment, which will be executed at the
second coming of the Son of God, is clearly meant for you, for me, for all who
sin, not just in the days of Zephaniah and the prophets. We are all justly deserving of complete
destruction and a one way ticket to the place our Lord speaks of in our Gospel
where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Be
silent before the Lord God! For the day of the Lord is near. In a
portion of text that is very condemning, we find Gospel. Be silent before the Lord. It doesn’t seem right. In a world that has developed a very public
view towards its legal proceedings, this is exactly the opposite of what we
could expect. The biggest day of our
lives is coming. The day in which our
judgment is handed down and that is the time, of all places, where we feel we
must make a case for ourselves. If you
are called to a job interview and sit silent what will happen?
But at the day of the Lord, we CAN
stand silent. We CAN do NOTHING! For the Lord has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests. You
dear friends in Christ as the ones for whom the sacrifice was made. You are the ones for whom our Lord has
already endured destruction. The war
against sin, death, and the evil has been won for you. The eternal judgment was placed upon the Son
so you would have life. And that
gnashing of teeth? Our Lord endured that
in your place so that you would be eternal spared.
The most beautiful truth is that the
horridness of the cross, the horridness of the death which our Lord endured
upon the tree, has wiped away, for believers, the horridness which the last day
would bring. Our Lord created and made
the sacrifice for us so that through his death and resurrection, and through
our baptism which ties us intimately to those events, we have been consecrated
his holy guests at the marriage feast.
The case for our salvation is
complete. We must say nothing that last
day for our crucified, risen, and ascended Lord will stand in our place, show
his wounds on our behalf, and we will be ushered into eternal life for His
sake.
Paul’s words this morning from his
first letter to the church in Thessalonica, are such a comfort for us in the
last days. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a
thief in the night.
While
people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon
them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not
escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for
that day to surprise you like a thief.
For you are all children of light, children
of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but
let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night,
and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let
us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the
hope of salvation. For God has not
destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord
Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we
are awake or asleep we might live with him.
Because we
have been consecrated as guests, our story has been rewritten. No longer destined for destruction, but life. Not the servants who are thrown out, but now
sons who abide forever.
The final
day when our Lord comes again will be a fear-filled, awe-filled, day. A day of reckoning for all living and
departed. What a sight it will be to see
the Son of Man descending in the same way he ascended. What glorious sounds we will hear as the
trumpet of God sounds and the call of the coming bridegroom rings forth.
Yes there will be complete
destruction that day. The earth will be
destroyed. Yes there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth as the Son of Man shuts the door on those who have not
confessed him. But that destruction MUST
happen. On order for creation to be
restored, the former MUST pass away.
Praise God that by his
divine guiding, all those who have confessed him as Savior, who have been
brought into his precious fold, will pass through that destruction to eternal
life which knows no end.
God grant us the aid and
support of his Holy Spirit to keep us steadfast until the coming of the Savior
of the World.
Amen
+SGD+
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