Through Wrath to Joy

Zephaniah 3:14-20

December 14, 2003 (Year C, Advent 3)

Advent is a time of anticipation and hope for the coming of Jesus Christ in glory at the end of the age.  During this season we look back in time to the prophetic word which promised his first advent.  We see that God fulfilled the longing of his people, that he was faithful to the word spoken through the prophets, and that the long-sought Savior was given.  And because God was faithful then we can be sure that he will be faithful to fulfill the promise spoken through his Son, “I will come again!”

Maybe you noticed and were a little surprised that a lot of the readings and preaching during Advent focused on things like GOD’S JUDGMENT, and the CALL TO REPENTANCE.  These words clash with the cheap, sappy sentimentalism of the secular “HOLIDAY” season.  The world wraps itself in a wreath of consumerism and nostalgia and vaguely spiritual slogans like “Peace” and “Good Will.”  But just try driving anywhere in the vicinity of the major shopping districts – or drop into the homes of stressed and harried families – and you will see that what is happening has almost nothing to do with peace or good will.

I.  Last week we heard words of WRATH and JUDGMENT from John the Baptist and the stern injunction to REPENT.  Those words are scandalous to the phony cheerfulness that secular people (and many of us in the Church are indeed secular people!) struggle to generate in their lives this time of year.  Consequently, perhaps more than any other time of the year, we are OFFENDED by THE BIBLICAL PORTRAYAL OF GOD AS ONE WHO POURS OUT WRATH AND VENGANCE. 

A.    We want the GRACE of God, but we do not want the JUDGMENT of God.  We demand FORGIVENESS, but we don’t see the necessity for REPENANCE.  We are bemused and perplexed with the idea that God gets so upset with our sin. 

·        But GRACE only has meaning if there is the DIVINE DECREE that the offender be subjected to God’s punishment.  Without the REALITY OF GOD’S WRATH, THERE IS NO NEED FOR GOD’S GRACE.

·        In his grace God says: “Yes, you acted wickedly, but I will not give you what you deserve.  You deserve my wrath, but I grant you forgiveness and a new start instead.”

B.    The problem is that most of us living in the Western world at the start of the 21^st Century do not believe we deserve wrath.  God’s wrath is politically incorrect.  Consequences are politically incorrect.  The prayer of confession that John Wesley taught the Methodists to pray prior to receiving Holy Communion came directly from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.  Listen to the words at the beginning of this prayer: 

ALMIGHTY God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Maker of all things, judge of all men; We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, Which we, from time to time, most grievously have committed, By thought, word, and deed, Against thy Divine Majesty, Provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us…

This past week I have scoured the Book of Hymns and the Book of Worship and the 1979 BCP and nowhere do these words appear.  They have been expunged.  Evidently we no longer justly provoke God’s wrath and indignation against us!

C.    Beloved, we have abandoned the biblical belief that God’s love for his creation is so ferocious that he is provoked to anger when it is corrupted and destroyed by sin.  A. W. Tozer wrote on this theme:

God is holy and holiness (is) the moral condition necessary to the health of his universe. ...Whatever is holy is healthy, ...the holiness of God, the wrath of God, and the health of creation are inseparably united. God's wrath is his utter intolerance of whatever degrades and destroys. He hates iniquity as a mother hated the polio that would take the life of the child.

II.  Here’s the point: We cannot experience the AUTHENTIC JOY OF CHRISTMAS without going through the JUDGMENT AND REPENTANCE OF ADVENT!  When we realize this gravity of sin, the intensity of God’s wrath, the certainty of God’s judgment, it is ONLY THEN that we can experience the FULLNESS OF JOY that we hear from the Prophet Zephaniah! 

A.    Zephaniah’s prophecy doesn’t begin with the joyful words we just read.  Rather, it begins with words of terror!  In Chapter 1 God speaks through the prophet:

"I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth," declares the Lord. "I will sweep away man and beast; I will sweep away the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, and the rubble with the wicked. I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth," declares the Lord. 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. I will bring distress on mankind, so that they shall walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the Lord; their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the Lord. In the fire of his jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full and sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.   Zeph. 1:2-3,14-18 (ESV) 

B.    But God’s WORD OF JUDGMENT IS NOT GOD’S FINAL WORD TO HUMANITY!  God’s final word to us is JESUS!

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,  but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.  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. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,  Hebrews 1:1-3 (ESV)   

C.    You see, the day of the Lord, the day of judgment foretold in Zephaniah 1 has already come!  Yes, there will be a final fulfillment at the end of the age, but the Day God poured out wrath and judgment came at Calvary 2000 years ago! 

On that day the wrath of God against our sin exploded on his only begotten Son.  His own Father forsook him, and as Paul says, “God made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21)  [Timothy E. Saleska, The Lectionary Commentary: The First Readings, p. 504]

III.  That’s why the Good News is so good!  That’s why the joy prophesied in Zephaniah 3 is so joyous!  Just at the prophet foretold the coming of judgment he has foretold the coming of GRACE and FORGIVENESS. 

Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult 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 it shall be said to Jerusalem: "Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands 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 exult over you with loud singing.  Zeph. 3:14-17 (ESV) 

A.    That’s why the angel declares at Christ’s birth: "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  Luke 2:10-11 (ESV)  The Good News is so good and the joy is so great, because the bad news of sin and judgment were so bad. 

B.    Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ God has taken away our punishments, he has defeated our enemies and he is in our midst forevermore.  Now that he has saved us we are not the recipients of his wrath and judgment! NO!  Instead he rejoices over us with GLADNESS.  He quiets our troubled hearts with his LOVE.  God himself exults over us with LOUD SINGING!

C.    We can know this kind of joy because we have been through an Advent in which we were brought face to face with just how dire our situation was!

 CONCLUSION: 

     There was a Dutch pastor, Hans Hoekendijk, during WWII who hid Jews from the Nazis.  Late one night the Gestapo came and rounded him and his family up and put them on a train for one of the death camps.  All night long they rode in a cattle car knowing that they were heading for Dachau or Auschwitz or Buchenwald. 

     Finally the train stopped and the doors opened.  They were marched out and lined up along the tracks, sure now that their family was going to be separated.

     But then someone told them the good news: They were not in Germany but in Switzerland!  In the night someone had thrown the switch on the tracks and sent them into the arms of friends instead of the clutches of the enemy.  These were not their captors, but their liberators!  Instead of being marched to their death they were led into life!  From then on, for the rest of his life, Hans has kept asking the question, “What do you do with such a gift?” (Adapted from Frank J. Richardson, Jr., Lectionary Homiletics, January 2003, p. 40)

We were bound for death and hell, but in the dark night long ago in Bethlehem a teen-aged mother gave birth to a little boy in the stable AND GOD THREW THE SWITCH ON THE TRACKS!

And when we stretch out our hands to receive the broken body and shed blood that took away our judgment and turned away God’s wrath all we can do is say “What do you do with such a gift!”

Back to Sermons

Zephaniah 3:14-20

14 Sing, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem! 15 The LORD has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy. The LORD, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm. 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 mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."
18 "The sorrows for the appointed feasts I will remove from you; they are a burden and a reproach to you. 19 At that time I will deal with all who oppressed you; I will rescue the lame and gather those who have been scattered. I will give them praise and honor in every land where they were put to shame. 20 At that time I will gather you; at that time I will bring you home. I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your very eyes," says the LORD.
NIV

Back To Top

   Print This Page  | Bookmark This Site!  | Email a Friend!  |  E-Cards

Questions, suggestions and problems concerning the Cornerstone United Methodist Church Website should be directed toward the Cornerstone Webmaster at: webmaster@cornerstoneumconline.com

This Website Has Been Visited

Since Beginning Operation.
Thanks for Stopping By!