IT'S GOING TO BE OK
- You will have to suffer in this life
- You will be quieted with Christ's love
Josiah was the last good king of the people of Israel. There were four kings that came after him in the land of Judah, but they were life-time unbelievers and refused to listen to God’s Word, dragging the Israelite people down with them. Josiah was the last God-fearing ruler the nation had. In fact, just five years after Josiah passed away, God send the Babylonian army to take some of the Israelites into exile for the first time. The reign of Josiah was really the final spiritual bright spot before everything went down hill. The book of the Law that had been lost for generations was discovered in the temple during the reign of Josiah. The Israelites repented of their sins and trusted in God’s promises once again during the reign of Josiah. And during this time of spiritual renewal is when the prophet Zephaniah served the people as well.
You may not know a whole lot about Zephaniah other than there’s a short book of the Bible with that name, but it’s no matter. The important thing to remember about Zephaniah is this: he was God’s prophet during the time of King Josiah, and during those days Zephaniah spoke to the people about two things that they could expect in the future: their punishment of exile as well as their salvation in the Lord. We have in front of us today a section near the end of his book. And here, after he speaks to them about the punishment they would receive, he concludes God’s word to the people like this: “16 On that day they will say to Jerusalem, ‘Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. 17 The LORD your God is with you, he is a mighty warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.’" “It’s going to be OK,” is really what Zephaniah is saying here. Yes, they would face some terrible things in the near future: pain and death and exile - and they were going to deserve it! But the Lord is a mighty warrior who saves and he would quiet them with his love. It was going to be OK. These were words that the prophet Zephaniah wanted the people to take with them in the days ahead. And these are words that he wants us to remember in the days that are to come in our lives. Because just like the Israelites were about to face some difficulties in the coming years: there will be some tough times for us in the near future too.
Because if there’s anything you can be sure of in this life, it’s that you will suffer pain and you will have to deal with some difficult problems and you will have to stare death in the face: your own death and the death of others around you. You know from experience that this life is not always all that fun. This life is not especially pleasant at times. This life is not smooth sailing on a calm lake; it’s a rough and tumultuous fight for survival in a deep and stormy sea. You will be confronted with tragedies and atrocities in this life. And you know what? You’ll deserve every bit of it! Any misfortune that you have to suffer in this world will be well-deserved! You will have no right to complain about it or to cry out, “Why me?” You won’t be allowed to say, “It’s not fair!” Because you will be far more guilty than anything you will ever have to suffer. The unpleasantries that you will suffer in the years ahead will not even come close to what your sins deserve.
Now let me be clear: I am not saying that every bad thing you have to go through in this life is a direct result of a specific sin you have committed. That is not the case at all. Sometimes bad things happen to Christians simply because we live in a sinful world. But this is also true: We have broken every one of God’s commandments a thousand times over. We have ignored his words, we have doubted his promises, we have loved ourselves more than we have loved God on far too many occasions. We don’t deserve a breath of fresh air. We don’t deserve to have the sun to shine on our faces. We don’t deserve to have the Lord waste a thought on us, let alone guide us and guard us and protect us and lead us every day of our entire lives. And so when we actually do undergo serious pain or unbearable calamities in this life that bring us to our knees, know that these things are nothing compared to what we have earned for ourselves. We deserve those every one of those terrible things and much more - whether they are a direct result of our own personal sins or not!
Zephaniah told the Israelites that they were going to deserve future punishment as well. In fact, Zephaniah spends the entire first chapter of his book explaining this judgment on the people of Judah. He then uses the entire second chapter describing the punishment that the Lord would bring on every other nation when he comes in all his glory. But the third chapter is different. In the third chapter, in the final chapter of his book, Zephaniah’s words are full of hope and joy and salvation. He tells his hearers that although they were going to experience some difficult times in the years ahead, everything was going to be OK. The Lord as their Mighty Warrior would deliver them, and he would quiet them with his love.
It would take 70 years for that to happen, however. These Israelites were in Babylon, the land of their exile, for 70 years. And during that time I’m sure there was a lot of complaining and a lot of groaning and a lot of grumbling and a lot of questioning and a lot of frustration. But the Lord finally did quiet them with his love. As their Mighty Warrior he brought them back to the Promised Land, he moved the heart of the king of Persia to supply them with money from the royal treasury, and he allowed his people to rebuild and restore the city of Jerusalem and the temple of the Lord. Their worries and complaining and grumbling and fears were quieted with his love.
Of course, that was not the end of their troubles. Many things happened to the Jewish nation over the following centuries that caused them to question the Lord’s power and to cry out in despair again. And so the Lord quieted them with his love again. Not by bringing them back to the land of Israel this time, but by personally coming to the land of Israel himself. He quieted them with his love not by allowing them to again rebuild the temple of God, but by allowing them to actually see God in human flesh with their own eyes. The worries of all Old Testament believers were quieted in one night by the labor screams of Mary in a Bethlehem barn. The doubts of all Old Testament believers were quieted in one night by the heaven-shaking angelic songs of praise to the shepherds in those fields nearby that little town. The fears of all Old Testament believers were quieted in one night by the shouts of joy from those same shepherds as they told everyone they saw about that incredible miracle of salvation. The pain of God’s people was over that night. The punishment that was set for sinners was canceled. And every contradictory word that had ever been spoken about Christ’s power and his promises was quieted that evening because the Mighty Warrior had come, he had came as a baby, and he had come with the full extent of his love.
We will celebrate the coming of that Mighty Warrior in just a week and a half. We will sing those familiar Christmas songs. We will hear those familiar Christmas stories. And we will be reminded once again just as those believers were back then, that everything is going to be OK. Christ has come for us in love; and in love he will come again. And so in the coming days and weeks if you ever find yourself complaining about anything, just be quiet for a second and take a look at the Lord’s love for you that he demonstrated in the manger of Bethlehem. Is there really anything to complain about? In the coming months if you ever find yourself worrying about something, just be quiet for a second and take a look at the Lord’s love for you while he lived on this earth: suffering every temptation and pain imaginable on your behalf. Is there really anything to worry about? In the coming years if you ever find yourself afraid of what the future will bring for you and your family, just be quiet for a second, settle down, and take a good long hard look at the Lord’s love for you on the cross and out of the tomb and into heaven and on his throne. Is there really anything to be afraid of? The Lord will quiet your complaining and worries and fears, and he will quiet them with his love. He will calm you. He will comfort you. And he will remind you in his Word that anything you have to go through in this life he has already gone through for you himself - and so it’s is going to be OK.
In the coming days and months and years you will have to struggle with many things. And when you find yourself struggling with a severe pain, remember: so has Christ. He struggled with pain far beyond anything we could imagine. And in his love he promises that your pain will soon be over when you reach your home in heaven. When you find yourself struggling with a specific sin, remember: so has Christ. He has been tempted with that same sin too. He has even suffered the punishment for that sin. And in his love he promises that all of your sins are forgiven long before you ever commit them. When you find yourself struggling with a death of someone close to your heart, remember: so has Christ. He lost those he cared for and, in fact, he has suffered death himself. He knows what it’s like. He knows how awful death is. But in his love he also rose from the dead and he promises that everyone who believes in him will rise from the dead as well. When those times come in your life in which you find yourself struggling with your health or with your mind or with your job or with your family or with your faith, know this: it’s going to be OK. In fact, it’s going to be great! The Lord will use whatever unpleasant thing that is happening to you at the moment to strengthen your faith and secure your salvation. He will come through for you when you need him the most. “He will take great delight in you,” Zephaniah says. “He will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” He is your Father after all and you are his children. He will never let anything happen to you that isn’t for your good.
And so it’s going to be OK. I don’t know how. I don’t know when. I don’t know where. But I do know why. It’s going to be OK because the Lord will quiet you with his love. He will rescue you with hands that once had nails driven through them. He will hold you by his side that was once pierced with a spear. He will let you rest your head on his shoulders that had at one time carried your sins to the cross. The Lord will make sure that you are taken care of. He will soothe your worries with his Word. He will give you peace through his promises. He will quiet you with his love. It’s going to be OK. It’s going to be OK.
Amen.
“The peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” - Philippians 4:7
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment