Kenneth L. Gel1tl'.}r. Th.D.

SERMONS
ON ZECHARIAH
"MOURNING BEFORE MORNING"
Zechariah 1:1-6; Heb.10:26-39
This morning we begin actually
entering into the message of
Zechariah. The gist of our first mes-
sage was that our God is aconcemed
God who speaks to real people re-
gardingtheir historical circumstances
and needs. Our faith is not one of
mysticism, but of spiritually based
realism.
Our message today is entided
"Mourning Before Morning." The
idea behind our tide is that God lays
upon us the necessity of mourning
for our sins, before He will grant us a
new, bright morning of glory in His
favor. The necessity of repentance
before blessing is as true on the per-
sona! level, as it is on the cultural
level. And both of these
ideas--personal and cultural
repentance--are prominent in
Zechariah. May the word of God
penetrate our hearts, leading us to
bow before Him in humble sorrow
foroursins, thatwemight bask in the
glory of His favor.
Let us rehearse briefly the histori-
cal context of Zechariah. In the year
536 B.C. Israel had been released
from captivity and enslavement in
Babylon. Thousands ofJews imme-
diately began returning to the Prom-
ised land to live in relative freedom
in their own homes, though still un-
der foreign rule. Upon first entering
the Promised land, theJews quickly
laid the foundation for the rebuilding
of the temple (Ezra 3:8,10). But
shordythereafter, work on the temple
stopped (Ezra 4:24). Now fourteen
years later, Haggai has just begun to
get the people started in the rebuild-
ingeffort. As Zechariahprophesies,it
is past time for the work to be com-
pleted.
Haggai is Zechariah's contempo-
rary. The historical account in Ezra
associates their ministries (Ezra 5 : 1 ,2).
So let us look back a page or two to
Haggai 1. In Haggai 1:2 the lord
discerns the feelings of the people
aboutthenecessityofrebuildingGod's
temple. The initial complications
associatedwithrebuildingprojecthad
become a justification for the Jews to
continually put it off. It became the
acceptedthingtonotfmishthetemple.
But this delay in finishing His
temple is not pleasing to the lord. It
is especially heinous in that the very
reason for Israel's exilewas due to her
corruption of God's worship. And it
was God Who had mercifully re-
leased her from exile for the very
purpose that she might again wor-
ship Him in Jerusalem (2 Chron.
36:22-23).
Theimportanceof the templewas
that it represented the presence of
God among His people. It was called
"God's house" and "the house of the
Lord"inScripture(Zech.1:16). There
in the holy of holies was the presence
of God. There the high priest would
enter into the very presence of God
once a year, tosecure atonement for
Israel's sins.
Why was Israelnotstill anxious to
finish the House of God? Wherewas
her spiritual joy in God's freeing her
from exile? Where was her zealous
obediencetoHimforHisfavor?Worse
still, why did the Jews drag their feet
inrebuildingtheHouseofGod, when
they built nice houses for themselves
(Hag. 1:3-5)7
Despite God's chasteningthemby
sending them into captivity, their
initialzeaJ forthe temple and worship
of God waned quickly. There are
important lessons in these circum-
stances that we may note.
1. The Necessity of Holy Worship
The Hrst lesson I wan t to set before
you is that priorities must begin with
God. Consequendy, His worship is
essential to the lives of His people.
Certainly the Jews were anxious
to rebuild their own homes. This in
itself is not reprehensible. As we
noted last week, God is very much
concerned with our historical pre-
dicament. But God had put up with
their stalling and lack of zeal for
rebuilding His house for fourteen
long years, while they had begun
prospering somewhat. The temple
was the very center of and the funda-
mental means for the worship of
God. It held forth the very hope for
October 1991 mE COUNSEL of Chalcedon 11
forgiveness of sjn through blood rugged,undeveloped,Indianinfested theory,whichseesthephysicalrealm
atonement. America for freedom of worship. as the only'real t of life,
Zechariahdrawsupontheirforefa-
thers' sinful ways to point out the sin
ofTsrael's currentdeJayinandlostzeal
for finishing the temple (Zech, 1:4).
The former sin was corruption of
worship through idolatry--a very hei-
nous rebellion against God, And
though theywere no longer engaged
in idolatry, the present unconcemfor
the temple involves thecorruption of
worship, as well, Now they were
negligent and even apathetic in pur-
suing the completion of the temple
that theynIightworship God accbrd-
ing to His law, Though the sinS are
different in many respects,
theyarefundarnentallyone
in that both involve the
denial of the'priority of the
worship of God.
And this delay in the
building of God's Temple
was no light matter, By
comparing the present
sittiation with the sin of
the fathers, Zechariah
urges them to turn from
their "evil ways" and "evil
doings" (Zech, 1:4), He
calls the neglect of His
wors!:rip "evil," not lazi-
ness, not forgetfulness, not
badhabit,notunderstand-
able delay, Remember the historical
backdrop: The Jews had received
very real resistance from the Samari-
tans, They had genuine difficulties,
But still the neglect of the God or-
dained means of His worship is con-
sidered "evil doing." Both Haggai
and Zechariah,c;lrive this point home,
The early Christians worshiped
God in catacombs among the graves,
while being sought out for horrible
persecution, ' They considered the
worship of God a very , impOrtant
aspect of life, Our Puritan forefathers
left the wealth of England to come to
Such love of the worship of God
reveals proper priorities, Jesus' dis-
ciples were urged to "seek first the
kingdom of God and His righteous-
ness, and all these things [clothing
andhousinglwillbeaddeduntoyou"
(Matt. 6:33). ' They were urged to
keep their priorities straight: There
needed to be the priority of the spiri-
tuaL There must be the desire for
proper worship of God,
Brothers and sisters, if you love
God, you will be diligent in your
worship, This is the lord's day, You
must sanctify it by consistent, heart-
felt worship ofHim. This is the Lord's
house, govemed by His officers, You
should not absent yourselves from
worship of His holy Name. You
should be more diligent before God
in attendance than you are Wore
your bosses in showing up for work!
Ifweneglectworship, how are we
different from the secular humanists
plaguing our land? The humanistic
philosophy of our day is rooted in
materialism, like Karl Marx's com-
munist philosophy ofDialectical Ma.
terialism. ' It grows up out of the soil
of the materialism of evolutionary
12 f TIlE COUNSEL of Chalcedon f October 1991
This is the underlying cause of so
muchadultery,abortion,homosexu-
allty, drug and alcohol abuse, theft,
murder, etc. Men today are living for
the moment, as Isaiah records of
pre-exilic lsrael's philosophy, so it is
today: "let us eat and chink; for to
morrow we shall die" (lsa, 22:13),
Menthinkthat tomorrowtheywilldie
and vanish away. They are horribly
mistaken, '
As Christians we must believe
and live in terms of the spiritual,
while not forgetting or neglecting the
material, There. is a spiritual God
above. There are spiritual
beingsknownasangelsand
demons. There is life after
death for our spirits. And
therearespiritual principles
that must govemour con-
duct. And God ' has ap-
pointed aDay ofJudgment
(2 Cor, 10:5), He has es-
tablished His law as the
terms of our obedience and
the standard of His judg-
ment.His law compels us
to worship Him,
Israel fumbled and
fooled around, Goddid
not consider it inconse-
quentiallazihess. He con-
sidered it evil. Do you? You had
better, because of...,
2. The Reality of Cod's Wrath.
There 'is a vain pseudo-religious'
philosphyinfiltratingChristiancircles
today, Televangelistandauthor Rob-
ertSchullerisoneofthekeyfiguresin
this vanity.
Schuller urges ministers to
"stroke" people, to tell them all is
well. His is philosophy is: "Don't
Worry; Be Happy." He urges such
"stroking" 'and disdains any and all
rebuking for sin. In fact, he teaches
that] ohn Calvin's teaching regarding
indwelling sin is one of the worst
curses to arise in Christian history.
He is not interested in warning about
the consequences of sin. Mindless
love is the name of the game.
But the prophets and apostles of
God were not Schullerites, publish-
ing books like the "Be-happitudes."
They knew the true God. Conse-
quently, they knew the reality of His
wrath. It is true that Zechariah had
come to speak words of cornfon to
Israel and to tell them of afuture glory
(Zech. l :l3-17).Buthedoessowithin
a context of warning about the genu-
ine danger of sin.
Zechariah reminds
Israelofthis(Zech.l:2).
The Hebrew here liter-
ally says the wrd was
"angry with anger." It
doubles the intensity of
the word "anger" He
was greatly angered
with Israel. Now this
does not contradict
Zech.l:15. Themean-
ing there is that God
was displeased only for
a little while, and He
limited the exile to sev-
entyyears. Verse 2 ex-
presses the intensity of
His wrath; verse 15 the
duration of it.
God was very angry with Israel's
fathers, which is why they were car-
ried off into slavery. Notice Zech
1:6a. Thephrase"takehold"ishetter
translated in the NASV as "overtake."
The idea here is that God's prophetic
judgments act as pursuing beasts of
prey: they are faster and stronger than
any attempt to avoid them, when
they are set in motion by God. They
do overtake and they do bringjudg-
ment upon those to whom they are
directed.
Verse 5 is a reminder about the
consequence of the actions of their
fathers: "Whereareyourfathersnow?"
The answer is: They were all either
consumed in theovenhrowofJerusa-
lem or were taken as slaves in the
deportation to Babylon. Where are
the fathers who resisted God's pro-
pheticcallstorepentance? Theywere
either destroyed in war or died in
slavery. God dId not "stroke" them,
He struck them! Jeremiah did not
write "Be-happitudes"; hewrote lam-
entations!
The question in verse 5 about the
prophets has a different connotation.
These prophets are those good and
true former prophets mentioned in
verse4. Theydied,also,itistrue. But
their divinely authorized words of
judgmentcameto passandtheir truth
lives still. The message in this verse is
that we are all mortal flesh, but God's
Word abides forever and must be
obeyed (1 Pet. 1:25).
There may be a delay in God's
judgment: Isaiah prophesied judg-
ment a century before the captivity.
But His Word is, nevenhe1ess, sure.
Hisjudgmentswillcome, even though
the prophets themselves die before
their fulfillment. Sooner or later, we
will with the psalmist recognize that
"mine iniquities have overtaken me"
(psa. 40: 13). Moses warns: "Be sure,
your sin will find you out" (Num.
32:23b).
God's wrath and displeasure are
very real matters requiring our un-
derstandIng of them. The unbelief of
man who believes like Schuller can-
not make the penalties of God of no
effect. I fear for America because of
her declinefromspirituality. Hear for
those who profess Christ, butwhodo
not long for His worship.
We must have a due sense of the
wrath of God, for His will works in
the hurricane and earth-
quake (Nah. 1:3-6). He
threatens deadly disease,
such as AIDS, upon the
rebellious (Deut. 28:27).
GodrernindsusHiseyes
are in every place behold-
ing the good and the evil
(Prov. 15:3). Preachers of
Scripture cannot hide His
words of judgment, for it
becomesaburningfireshut
upinourbonesOer.20:9).
You should let no man de-
ceive you with vain words,
for wrath does come (Eph.
5:6). Goddoeshavewrath;
He is not Santa Claus, but
a thrice holy God. Hedoes
not overlook evil (Hab. 1:l3) like
men do (Psa. 50:21).
3. The Call to True Repentance.
TheneglectofGod'sworship leads
to judgment and chaos. God does
hold forth the threat of chastisement
to His people, if they rebel against
Him. Zech. 1: 1-6 necessarily stands
at the front of a book that holds fonh
a promise of great blessing and a
morning the brighmess of God's fa-
vor. As John the Baptist prepared
Israel for the blessed appearing of the
Messiah, he preached: "Prepare ye
October 1991 * THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon 13
the way of the Lord: so does
Zechariah . . The reminder of wrath
and the call to repentance are the
conditions of the blessings to come
(Zech. 1:3). The way to God's favor is
through repentance.
The hot sun cin wilt and destroy the
nower, butwhenhiddenfrom the sun the
nower will always seek it. So should we
who claim to know God inJesus Christ.
We should fear God and His wilting
wrath by turning in repentance from sin
to Him. "1 we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us oursin" (1
John 1:9). He who does not hear the call
shall feel the curse. God threatens judg-
(lifers mercy. When we turn to
God, He will turn to us.
. 1hough we know the historical
rience of calarnity, we are not fatalists.
Wedonot believeinthecold, impersonal
universe of the evolutionist. We believe
in God; and in God there is hope, even in
, times of wrath. Theexhortationtoreturn
to God is familiar in 5cripture,]er. 3:12;
Eze.18:30; Mic. 7:19; Mal. 3:7;Jrns. 4:8.
. Nate Zechariah's emphasis on the
!.ord of hosts, which is repeated three
times. 1hree times he says it is "the !.ord
of hosts" who callS them to repentance.
1he "hosts" refer either to the incalcu-
Iablenumberofstarsorofangels,orboth.
The' God Who caDs is no wimp; they
should not fear the Samaritan resistance
to rebuilding the temple. God is the God
of boundless resouroes. "That very God
would be with them to bless them, if they
wouldturntoHimandrebuildHishotlse.
. . lsrael had not just abandoned the
building of anY old building. was the
templeofG<Xl 5hehadallowedspiJitual
apathy to creep into her life. It was not
just the rebuilding of the physical build-
ing, but a re-ordering of .the concerns of
life that God sought in Israel.
The Church of Jesus Christ should
always be about its calling to win sinners
to Christ and promote God's holy will
!I1llmlg men. TheJoca1 church is en-
trusted with the task of the local applica-
tionoftheChurch'sworldwideministry.
Such a task will require all ofustoprayto
God fotHis blessing. It will require all of
us to turn to Him for His favor. It will
requireallofus topitchinand helpinany
way that we are gifted and able. It will
requireeachofustokeepworshipfunda-
mental inour lives andourprioritieswith
God at the top.
May it be that all of God's people be
concerned to turn tinto the Lord of hosts,
so that He might bless us with spiritual
strength, numerical growth, andsuccess-
ful outreach and witness.a
Rev. Ken Gentry is Pastor of Reedy River
Presbyterian Church(l>CA) in Greenville, S.C.
He has authored several boobs including the
forthcoming CI1RJST SHAll. HAVE DoMlNION; A
POS1MlILENlAL EsOlATOLOGY (due out in early
1992) he has authored TIlECH.rns-
MATfC GlF[ Of I'RomEcr and TIlE CHRlS1lAN AND
Au:oHO!lC BEVERAGES. The boobs are available
from th. author at 124 Meadowbrook Dr.
Greenville, SC 29662.
14- THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon ;: October 1991
" . .
Qeturn to Me,
that I may
return to you
says the
Looo of hosts."
Zechariah 1:3