Spring Services/Sermon in Minneapolis 27.04.2014

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we have enjoyed now a weekend of services which are now coming to an end. We'll now pause to listen to a few words for our closing devotion.

For a text, I'll take from an Old Testament text, for today, the first Sunday after Easter, from the prophet Zechariah, chapter 8, verses 6 through 8. The words are as follows: In Jesus' name. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, If it be marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvelous in mine eyes, saith the Lord of hosts. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country, and I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God in truth and in righteousness. Amen.

The prophet Zechariah was a prophet after the exile. The people of Israel had been in Babylonian captivity for 70 years, and were now allowed to return back to their promised land. And it was after this return, and as the time of rebuilding was about to begin, to rebuild the city and rebuild the temple there in Jerusalem, that the prophet begins to speak and to prophesy.

Here in this book of Zechariah, he tells of eight visions, which are prior to our red chapter. The most familiar vision is in chapter 4, where the prophet Zechariah is as if woken out of a sleep or a slumber. It says by an angel, but apparently by the fellow prophet, the prophet Haggai. And when he opens his eyes, he sees seven golden candlesticks, and on the top of each candlestick is a cup. And also there's almond in each one of these cups. A beautiful picture of God's kingdom made of gold without spot and without blemish.

In the previous chapter, in chapter 7, it is looking backward in time, and in ways is kind of a rebuke. And they're also speaking about the matter of fast. Since the day when their city and the temple was destroyed 70 years earlier, annually, they would fast on the day when it occurred, in memory of that sad event. So now they begin to ask, is it proper or is it necessary to continue this day of fast that we have been annually commemorating? So that was a question that they had that came to the forefront.

But now in chapter 8, the prophet begins to look not backward like in chapter 7, but now looks forward in time and tells of many things that were to come. So the prophet Zechariah is, and with the people, at a point in time where the city of Jerusalem is in a pile of rubble. And they had this feeling that no one lived there. Not even God was dwelling in that city. It was so desolate. It wasn't unlike that promise that was given to them earlier by Moses in the book of Leviticus. And the promise of God was, "I will walk among you. I will be your God. And you shall be my people."

I'm sure thinking and reflecting on this promise of Moses, they were wondering, what happened? Did this promise of God fail us? It seems that it is untrue. And so, however, they began this long, laborious task of rebuilding the city and rebuilding the temple. With doubts, I'm sure, in their mind, will it ever be the same? Will it ever have that same glory and splendor as it had before we were attacked, conquered, and everything destroyed, being left in a pile of rubble?

This chapter 8 is interesting. It has several phrases which are repeated again and again and yet again. For example, here in chapter 8, the prophet uses the phrase, "the Lord of hosts." Eighteen times this title is repeated. We remember when David went out to battle against that giant Goliath. And Goliath was taunting him that, "I'm dressed in armor and you have no armor. All you have is a sling." And Goliath said, "I will tear you to pieces like a dog." And David said, "I am coming, being led and guided by the power and the might of the Lord of hosts," using this exact same title.

And another phrase that the prophet repeats many times here in this eighth chapter is, "thus saith the Lord." Even though the prophet Zechariah was saying these words, they were coming from God. "Thus saith the Lord," which he repeats in this chapter eight alone, ten times.

So thinking of this chapter in its entirety or the verses leading up to the verses that we have in question, again the word of the Lord of hosts came to me saying, so the prophet is basically a scribe or a secretary, a mediator, writing down and repeating what God gave him to say. So again, the word of the Lord of hosts, God Almighty, came to me and said, "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I was jealous for Zion."

When we think of this word jealous, we think of someone who is angered, has envy, and has negative feelings toward another person. And sometimes a person can get so filled with jealousy and anger that their countenance changes, their face becomes contorted, and their color even turns beet red. But this isn't the connotation.

Sometimes it has been said that a husband is sick in jealousy over his wife or his spouse or vice versa. They love their spouse so much it's just like they are extremely jealous over that spouse, the husband or the wife. And we know that when, say, a young lad meets a charming girl for the first time and is trying to find the courage to go say hello to her and approach her, the boy, the guy, the lad may be so shy that his face turns beet red when he says his first words to her.

So that deep feeling of compassion or love and emotion is so great that it changes the color of that person's face. So this is what is in question here. That God is so jealous for us. He loves us so much it's similar to the word zeal or zealous. Jealous or zealous. That God loves us out of jealousy and is filled with zeal toward Zion, toward you and toward I.

So God so loved the world and he made the ultimate sacrifice of love when he sent his Son into the world. No greater love can any man show toward another person than to give his life on behalf of another. So this is what the prophet here means by "I was jealous for Zion. I was jealous with great jealousy. And I was jealous for her with great fury." The love was so deep, so profound and so great for Zion, His chosen people, you and I.

God, and then he goes on to say that thus saith the Lord, "I am returned unto Zion." When the prophet Ezekiel sees visions as well, he saw when the glory of God, Shekinah is the Hebrew word for glory, he saw the glory disappear from Jerusalem. God as if vacated that city, he left it behind and it became totally desolate, void and empty of everything, including God. That's what the prophet Ezekiel saw in one of his visions.

But then the prophet Ezekiel goes on and says that I saw the glory of God return unto Jerusalem. And this is what prophet Zechariah is now saying. And let say at the Lord, "I have returned unto Zion, and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, a holy mountain."

Zion was a mountain right within the confines of the city of Jerusalem. And we remember when Moses came to another mountain, Mount Sinai, it said it was surrounded by a boundary which separated that mountain. And whoever touched that boundary and crossed over that boundary, it was so holy that boundary that the person who touched it and stepped over that boundary was smitten dead.

So that was around Mount Sinai, and that boundary of separation was put there. And we know that the law of Moses is holy and just and it is in the spirit of wrath and anger and condemnation that that's his office. But now also Mount Zion has a boundary. It is a holy mountain. God is holy. Jesus Christ, God's Son is holy. The Holy Spirit, of course, is holy and that is a characteristic of the triune God. Holy without blemish, pure and perfect and innocent.

But holy also means to be separated, to be sanctified, to be called and separated from some other group into another group. And we have been called from the world and we have been sanctified. We have been placed as members in this kingdom of God on Mount Zion, which is a holy mountain. It is a mountain of truth.

And so God said that he will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem and Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth and the mountain of the Lord of hosts a holy mountain.

Now when they return back to this desolate city, a pile of rubble, and now begin the rebuilding process, the long laborious task of building the temple again and rebuilding the city, the prophet says what will it eventually be like again in this city after being rebuilt.

And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof and every man, elderly person with a staff in his hand of every age.

Now when we think of this temporal city of Jerusalem, it had been destroyed, but even the temporal city of Jerusalem today, even though here the prophet says it's a city of truth, there are so many different religions and sects in the physical city of Jerusalem today that no man can hardly number them. And is there hardly found any truth, true truth, according to God's word, there in that city, physical city at all.

Jerusalem, but we're not talking about the physical city, we are talking about the spiritual city of Jerusalem, as we heard in the previous sermon, which is a picture of God's kingdom here upon this earth.

And so this leads us up to our text that we now have at hand. And thus says the Lord of hosts, again, that same phrase, the Lord, thus saith the Lord of hosts. It would be marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of his people in these days. He's talking about a remnant.

It's been calculated that perhaps 60,000 Jews return from Babylon again to the city of Jerusalem. Babylon, which was only one fifth of the total number of Jews that were in captivity. So only a small group, one fifth of the total number, a small remnant return from Babylon back to the promised land.

But thinking about this word remnant, this remnant is used elsewhere in the Old Testament, the Bible, and it's also used in connection with a picture or a prophecy of Christ. And Jeremiah and Isaiah said that he will be like the stump of Jesse. He will be like a branch of Jesse. It will be like a remnant.

Even though in the Babylonian captivity, basically Israel was destroyed and the city of Jerusalem and the temple was leveled. And the people were brought into exile. And only one fifth of the population eventually returned, a small group, a small remnant. Yet they were not totally destroyed. And they couldn't be destroyed because the lineage of Jesus coming from David had to be preserved because Christ would be born eventually of the lineage of David, of this small remnant which was preserved.

But thinking about this word remnant, we don't want to get too much into explanation of words and so on and so forth, but it has very deep connotations.

We remember when God had given Abraham the promise that he would be the father of a great nation. And of his seed would be so great in number that it would be more than the number of stars in the sky and the number of grains of sand on the seaside.

But yet Abraham was a hundred years old. His wife was ninety years old. One year prior, three angels approached and said, a year from now when we return, you will have a child. Sarah was past her years of menopause. Physically, it was impossible for her to have a child and she actually began to laugh.

And we know that it was said in this way, that is there anything too hard or too difficult for the Lord? Humanly speaking, it was impossible. But for God, it was not impossible. It was as if from this remnant, from this little tiny remnant, was the spark of new hope and new life.

And so this is what is being said here as well. Thus says the Lord of hosts, if it be marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it be marvelous in my eyes as well, says the Lord of hosts.

And thus said the Lord of hosts, behold, I will save my people from the east country, in other translations, it says from the rising of the sun. The sun rises in the east. So all the way to the east. And from the west country, all the way in other translations, it says to the setting of the sun.

The people of Israel were returning from captivity of Babylon from the east, from the direction of the rising of the sun. And it will yet happen in the future that it will extend as far west as to the setting of the sun. God's plan of salvation will touch all mankind.

And therefore, Christ, when he sent out his disciples, he said, go into all the world and preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins.

And so this is what the prophet is here looking forward to in this prophecy.

And lastly, it says, and I will bring them and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem and they shall be my people and I shall be their God in truth and in righteousness.

So, how does this text fit in with today's topic, today's theme? For me, it's difficult to find that connection. But as we know that on the first Sunday after Easter, the theme is witnesses of the resurrection.

And we heard this morning from that epistle text from the Acts of the Apostle where Peter delivered that sermon after, through the power of God, they were able to hear that crippled man who was lame, couldn't walk since childbirth, and said, in the name of God, stand up and walk.

We don't have money, gold or silver, to give you, which he was begging for, begging for alms. But he said, what we have, this we will give you. Therefore, in the name of the Lord, stand and walk.

And then we heard in the text for this morning that he was a witness. Peter delivered a testimony of the events of Good Friday and also Easter.

Today's gospel text tells of another moment when the disciples were able to witness Christ who was the resurrected one.

All night long they had been fishing. They were professional fishermen, and yet they cast their nets and they received no fish.

But in the morning they saw someone standing on shore by the coals of a fire. And Jesus, the resurrected one, began to converse with them who were there in the boat a ways off.

And Peter recognized Christ, that it was Christ. Peter had denied his Lord and in the meantime before this event had received the grace of repentance. We don't know when, we don't know where, we don't know who proclaimed it, but he was now again a child of God.

Because the Bible said that Christ did not appear to anyone but his own disciples after his crucifixion between Easter and Ascension Thursday.

And so then Peter was able to converse with Jesus and again to be reinstalled into the ministry and go and become a fisher of human beings. Not of fish, but of human beings.

And the other examples of witnesses of the resurrection was Mary, the two Marys actually came Easter morning and witnessed the open sepulchre, the empty grave, and Jesus was then able to speak to them.

And he appeared unto Peter and John and all of the other disciples, and 500 at one time, apparently, on Mount Olives, before he ascended into the glory of heaven.

So, these were the many witnesses. They were physically able to see him. Some were able to physically touch him. They were able to see him eat bread and fish and honey and, I'm sure, drink water. He was not a ghost or a spirit, but the real, resurrected, living, Christ Jesus.

But, today, we cannot see him. We cannot touch him. We cannot feel him. But, he is here. He's in our midst. As he has promised, where two or three are gathered, in my name, I am there with you. I'm with you always, even unto the end of the world.

So, as we are concluding these spring services, as we heard in this morning's text, the last verse is, Peter said, we have experienced these refreshing times. I'm sure we have experienced that this weekend, that we have been refreshed by being in the hearing of God's word, giving us strength and endurance to now return back to our earthly callings, back to our homes, to endure the everyday life which is before us.

But, God will be with us. Through his power he will lift us, carry us, and bring us forward footstep by footstep, day by day.

So, even now we can be encouraged to believe. Sin is forgiven in Jesus' name and blood. Jesus is in our midst, showing in his spirit the wounds in his hands, in his feet, and the wound in his side, wanting to embrace us, take us up into his bosom, and carry us toward our heavenly home.

So, we wish to thank God for these moments we have been able to enjoy together and thank those who have in many ways helped make it possible that these services were able to be held, and many different jobs that needed to be done.

Above all, we thank God that he has blessed us and will continue to bless us and keep us in his care. In Jesus' name, amen.

The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make his face to shine upon us and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up his countenance upon us and give us your peace. In the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.