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And please have your Bibles open
to the Old Testament book of Tzpanya chapter 3 and stand with
me for the reading of God's Word. Our text for tonight is verses
8 to 10. 8 to 10 of Tzpanya chapter 3. We see that this final chapter,
chapter 3, is filled with great hope, great and amazing positive
things that God will do in the future. Ironically, it's connected
to the greatest tribulation that Israel and the world will experience.
So it is based on the amazing things that God will do in the
end times. So this is the reading of God's word, Spaniel 3, verse
8. Therefore, wait for me, declares
Yahweh, for the day when I rise up as a witness. Indeed, my judgment
is to assemble nations, to gather kingdoms, to pour out on them
my indignation. All my burning anger, for all
the earth will be devoured by the fire of my zeal. For then
I will change them to peoples with purified lips, that all
of them may call on the name of Yahweh to serve Him shoulder
to shoulder. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,
my worshipers, my scattered ones, will bring my offerings. Amen. Please be seated. Now in the previous passage we
saw God's justice and the lessons that God wanted Israel to learn
through his righteous judgments and we've asked a couple of thought-provoking
questions of application for ourselves. Are we committed to
the righteousness of God? And we have found that it's difficult
to commit to God's righteousness when our own personal desires
is to see things happen and occur the way we want, the way we would
like it. Sometimes God's standard of righteousness
may mean that we need to suffer. It means that we need to wait
patiently, that the gratification that we seek will be much delayed. We need to have the faith of
Abraham and that God made awesome promises to Abraham. He said,
it is through you, it is through you, but it will be through his
descendants. And so Abraham saw none of those
things actualized in his own personal lifetime, but he knew
that through the seed of the promise of his son in his old
age through Isaac, that God would work out all of these promises,
the awesome promises God made to Abraham. And so in the same
way, the Lord Jesus says, you are my people here on earth.
I have these glorious plan and purposes for you and through
you. This is what I'm going to do
to the very end of the ages. You occupy you be watchful, you
be faithful until I come. And so as stewards and servants,
we're also called to submit to God's purposes of his righteousness,
to his timetable, yes, to his perseverance. So our life is
not our own, it belongs to the Lord. Israel forgot who she was
in her relationship with Yahweh. And what happened when Israel
forgot? She thought and lived and look just like the pagan
nations. And this was the tragedy of so much of Israel's history.
But that wasn't all of Israel. God has always preserved a remnant
who would be faithful, even during those tumultuous, even idolatrous
times. We asked a second thought-provoking
question. We asked the question, are we
committed to God's justice? We also asked, are we willing
to learn the lessons from the examples God provided? God provided
so many lessons for Israel. And the key lesson was by the
destruction of the powerful empires. At the same time, God preserved
this little nation. So imagine the faithless people
of Israel saying, we're just so puny and tiny. How can we
stand against these powerful military might of Assyria? Later
on, they would say the same thing regarding Babylonia. We don't
even live in our own land. We don't even belong in Israel. We have lost our home. What hope
do we have? This is a kind of hopelessness
that Israel fell into because they couldn't learn from
all the wonderful examples that God has set before them. So this
was the lesson that God gave through Spaniel. Even while God
was destroying these superpowers, they didn't learn their lesson.
Even when God was sending them faithful men and faithful prophets,
they didn't learn their lesson. And so we ask those two questions
as a matter of application for us. In many ways, I think we
share similar life patterns with those of the faithful and the
faithless in Israel. It's still like that today. Here
in this passage, We're going to ask a couple more questions.
But the questions are based on hope now. Hope is always about
the future because nobody hopes for something he already has
or something that is in the past. Hope is always future oriented.
So how can the hopeless Israelites find hope in what Yahweh says? Well, this passage answers some
of those questions. So we're gonna ask them and we're
gonna find the answers in the scriptures. But before we go
there, I want us to read a couple of passages in the prophet Yirmiyahu
Jeremiah. Let's first go to chapter 27
and then we'll skip over to chapter 29. So go to chapter 27 first
of Yirmiyahu Jeremiah chapter 27. And I want us to see clearly
God's prophetic word to Israel as they were sacked by Babylon. Alright? This is what God said. I want to read for you beginning
with verse 1, so follow along. We're going to read some significant
passages so you'll get a really good idea of what's going on
at this time. This is shortly before it's Fania prophesied.
Sorry, shortly after Tzvanya prophesied. So Tzvanya prophesied
first and then Yirmiyahu prophesied a little later. In the beginning
of the reign of Tzidkiyahu ben Yoshiyahu melech Yehudah This
word came to Yirmiyahu from Yahweh saying... to Melech Ben Amon, to Melech
Tzur, and to Melech Tzidon by the hand of the messengers who
come to Yerushalayim to Tzidkiyahu Melech Yehudah. And you shall
command them to go to their master, saying, Ko Amar Yavitz V'ot,
Elohei Yisrael. Thus you shall say to your masters,
I have made the earth, the men and animals which are on the
face of the earth by my great power and by my outstretched
arm and I will give it to the one who is right in my eyes. So now I have given all these
lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, Melek Babel, my servant. Did you hear that? Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar,
Melek, Babel, My servant and I have given him even the wild
beasts of the field to serve him all the nations shall serve
him and his son and his grandson until the time of his own land
comes then many nations and great kings will make him their servant
and it will be that the nation or the kingdom which will not
serve him Nebuchadnezzar, Melek Babel, and will not put his neck
under the yoke of Melek Babel, I will punish that nation with
the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, declares Yahweh,
until I have brought it to an end by my hand. Now listen very carefully to
verse 9, what God says. He warns Israel. But as for you,
do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers,
your soothsayers, or your sorcerers who speak to you saying, you
will not serve Melek Bavel. For they prophesy a lie to you
in order to remove you far from your land and I will banish you
and you will perish. Okay, now let's pause here and
go to chapter 29. Chapter 29. Let's pick up from
verse 4. To all the exiles whom I have
sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babel. Now what's going on
here? Chapter 27, warning, instruction,
command. Chapter 29, verse 4. Those who
listen to Yahweh, those who are sent
now to exile. Now listen to what God says He
will do. Verse 5, build houses and live in them, and plant gardens
and eat their fruit. Take wives and become the fathers
of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give
your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters,
and multiply there, do not decrease. Seek the peace, look at verse
7, of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to Yahweh
on its behalf for in its peace you will have peace. All right, that's enough I think.
You see, why do you think people listen to false prophets? because they wanted to hear what
they wanted to hear. They didn't want to hear, we'll
go submit to this powerful evil dictator king, follow him into
his land, into exile. They didn't want that. They would
rather hear the false prophets who say, God will deliver you.
As we make an alliance with Egypt, the Egypt's Pharaoh, Pharaoh
will come to your rescue. Nebuchadnezzar will not be successful.
So here is Yirmiyahu with the message from Yahweh saying he
will be successful and everybody who opposes Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar
would be put to death. You will not survive. So submit
because I have raised him up as my servant to do my will to
punish all these nations. That's what the word of God said
to God's people through his prophet Yirmiyahu. Did Israel listen? Not all of them. But the people
who did and who went into exile, they were comforted saying, okay,
you're gonna be there for a while, 70 years to be exact. That's two whole generations,
three if you count the way people married early in those days.
So we're talking about three generations from children to
grandchildren. Settle down, build houses, Get
married, have children, continue to live your lives, I will protect
you. Since I've put you in cities, in this vast empire, pray for
the city, be a good citizen there. And live in peace because Yahweh
will protect you there. Only the faithful Israelite who
understood that this was part of God's judgment, part of God's
chastising discipline, this is part of God's sovereign plan,
they submitted to the Lord and His word, even though they did
not like it. That's what they did. And they
were preserved. They were blessed. They multiplied.
And the righteous remnant, the Lord preserved the remnant and
brought them back. And that's the story of Ezra
and Nehemiah. So they did come back, the faithful
remnant. See, God is faithful to his word. What about those
who rejected Yirmiyahu? They sided with the evil king
Tzitzkiyahu. What about those who murdered
the messengers of Nebuchadnezzar and they took the people forcefully
into Egypt? Yirmiyahu also. Well, they died. They didn't have a remnant. a
righteous remnant. But God was so faithful even
there. God is so faithful. So one group had hope because
they had hope in Yahweh and his word. The other group, they were
hopeless. They said, ah, Yahweh has given
up on us. Our nation is gone. Our temple
is destroyed. It's just every Israelite for himself. And this is very typical of the
mindset of most Jews who have taken their mind off the Lord
and they have entrenched into the secular life. Now that sets
the background of what we're going to be studying here today.
Because God's scathing indictment of Israel's unfaithfulness and
sinfulness, that was the previous passage up to verse 7. The good news of hope for Israel
is now the topic of God's revelation through Tzvanya from this point
on. Verse 8 and on. The glorious future for Israel
will only come after God finishes His righteous retribution of
His wrathful judgments against the wicked Gentile nations. But
Israel still has hope for her future because God says He will
do something amazing through these judgments in them. And
so their hope is our hope. What is that? That is the future
purposes of our good and glorious God. So you and I have the obligation
as well as the privilege of reminding our children and young believers
of this very fact that we belong to the Lord and God has a glorious
purposes for our future. That's our hope. not on what
you want to do, not what you would like, not what feels right
and comfortable for you, but what God has in store for us.
So that's a constant reminder. Israel's hope for their future
would sustain them because it would carry them, it would strengthen
their faith. Israel's hope for their future
is our hope for the future because God will be glorified through
his redemptive renewal of a restored nation. as he also saves the
Gentiles. When God judges the nation and
when God renews his people, a glorious day will arise for all of his
righteous ones. This is what Apostle Paul wrote
regarding the glorious future hope that we all have. Romans
8 verse 24, this is what Paul said, for in hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is not
hope, for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope
for what we do not see, with perseverance we eagerly wait
for it." Something about faith and hope that gives us a sense
of eagerness in waiting for it, gives us patience and enduring
perseverance. People who don't have hope for
their future, they live for the moment and they lose sight of
who God is. they easily become lost, they
quickly forget, but not the one who hopes for what they know
to be true by faith and they persevere and they eagerly await
for what is to come. So let's ask our first question
as we approach this passage. So in reverse engineering, this
is the answer. So what's the question? Here's
the question. Do you have hope in God's purposes for a righteous
retribution as the just God? We've been learning about God's
justice and his judgments. Do you believe in what God has
planned in the righteous retribution? We're studying the four trumpet
judgments in Revelation 8. Here, we see the judgments of
God and this points to the end times, the tribulation period.
So do we have hope in the purposes of God's retribution? In other
words, the future, the glorious future will not come until God
finishes His righteous retribution. That's exactly what God said.
He said it through the prophets. He reminded Israel. He told through
the Lord Jesus Christ, Lord Jesus reminded the disciples and Lord
Jesus reminded John, Apostle John on Island of Pappas in the
book of Revelation again and again and again. We're given
greater and greater details of what God has for the future.
So the glorious hope that we have for the glorious future
that is to come will only come after God's righteous retribution. Let's take a look at verse 8.
Therefore, wait for me. What an amazing, amazing command,
isn't it? the righteous remnant of Israel
must wait for God's purposes for his righteous retributive
justice upon the nation before he renews and restores Israel
to a glorious age. This is basically what God was
saying through Yirmiyahu. Therefore, you wait. You settle
down, you build houses, you get married, you live there, because
you're going to be there for a while. But you wait for me,
wait for my timing, and I will raise up a remnant. I will raise
up Cyrus. He will be my servant. He'll
let you go back. I will preserve for me a remnant.
They will come back and they will fulfill my purposes. God
has already declared it. So what do you know about God?
The one who knows what's going to happen in the future is because
he declared it. He declared it because he is
all powerful to cause it to be exactly the way he declared it.
He is in control. He's sovereign. So you and I
can have hope in the certainty of the future. And what does
God say? It's gonna happen. So you patiently
wait. The introductory particle here,
therefore, in prophetic judgment oracles, introduces formal announcement
of punishment. Formal announcement of punishment.
The imperative, wait for me, has the masculine plural ending,
meaning you all wait for me. And the verb is often used in
the Old Testament of many positive events for which God's people
are commanded to wait in anticipation. But here God promises his righteous
retributive punishment against the Gentile nations. So how is
that going to be positive? Once God's wrath is fully poured
out against the evil nations, mercy will be available not only
to Israel, but to the Gentiles who are converted. So God's going
to convert some of the Gentiles through the tribulation period
as well. Only a faithful remnant was serving
Yahweh. while the majority of the nation
were defiled in sin, just like the nations. So the Lord is comforting
the faithful remnant to patiently wait for the Lord to execute
his purposes. Let me share with you some passages
of the four psalm passages. Let me share with you. Psalm
27 verse 14, Hope in Yahweh, be strong and let your heart
take courage. Hope in Yahweh. This is what
we can say to people who have lost their hope, who's weary,
who's constantly pessimistic, negative, because they're not
getting what they want. Or they're constantly getting
what they don't want. Pain, difficulty, suffering. So we need to remind
them, hope in Yahweh. Be strong and let your heart
take courage. Hope in Yahweh. Psalm 377, be
still in Yahweh and wait patiently for Him. Do not fret because
of Him who prospers in His way, because of the man who carries
out schemes of wickedness. Don't look to wicked, evil people
and their success and say, why is that guy being successful?
And I'm like this. Don't go there. That's what the
Word of God is saying. But be still and wait patiently
for Him. Remember, our reward is in the
future. Please do not become bitter or
pessimistic because you're not getting what you want here and
now. Or you're getting too much of what you don't want here and
now. Psalm 123 verse 2, We need to have a yearning, a
great desire to fix our eyes, our thoughts on what is to come
from the hand of the Lord in the future. Psalm 130 verse 6,
Wow, twice it says watchman for the morning. He's been staying
awake all night. He wants to go home and get some
rest. He's waiting for time to pass by. That's the eagerness,
yearning. Isaiah 30 verse 18, Is waiting
easy? Is patience automatic? Is delayed vindication pleasant? The answer is a no to all these
questions. No, it's not easy. It's not automatic. It's not pleasant. But the righteous
knows that he has no other option than to simply wait upon the
Lord and his timing and his ways. Because the righteous loves the
Lord and knows God's ways are perfect. His timing is perfect.
Many times we get impatient and say, well, I don't agree with
that. It's too late. This is too much. This is too little. Oftentimes
we lose the sight and we begin to judge things and interpret
things wrongly by our own standards instead of waiting upon the Lord,
instead of trusting in the Lord. And as we grow in patient waiting,
we're actually gonna grow in faith and hope. We really will
be. So while the righteous man and
righteous woman hopes for a better future, he or she grows in patient
trust and continues to experience God's faithfulness. God's not
gonna leave you alone, defend for yourself, leave you alone
to suffer by yourself. No, no, no. God's going to be
good to you, gracious to you, but you must not miss it. And so the righteous will always
find his hope and the joy in the one who cares for him. And
this was the perspective that the righteous remnant, even living
in exile, had. This is what Daniel had. He was a young lad when he was
taken into Babylon to serve Nebuchadnezzar. But Daniel was a student of the
Word of God. Even as a young lad, he probably,
because he lived in Jerusalem, he heard the preaching of Yirmiyahu. He knew. That's why his faith
and his friend's faith were solidified early on. And his entire life
is a testament that he waited upon the Lord. Even while he
saw people going back to Israel, he knew that his purposes was
to serve his people in a secular land. That was Daniel's mission. It was always serving God by
serving others. With the return to repeat the
general summary of God's judgment in Spanish chapter 1 verse 2,
it says, I will completely end all things from the face of the
ground declares Yahweh. I will end man and beast. I will
end the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea and the ruins
along with the wicked and I will cut off man from the face of
the ground declares Yahweh. That's the general summary of
the judgment of the nations. That is the beginning of Spaniel. Now that theme has returned again. Those who have been persecuted
by the wicked, only God's righteous retribution will suffice. There
is no other option because God said, I will bring about judgment
upon the nations. And God will do it while Israel
is watching. Israel will go through the times
of the tribulation, just as Israel watched and went through and
experienced God's judgment upon the Egyptians. They watched,
oftentimes in horror, oftentimes in doubt. Are we going to be
swept away too? Are we going to suffer too? When
God turned Nile River into blood, we didn't have water to drink.
We had to really suffer. When the flies came, the frogs
came, we had to suffer, sorry, with the frogs. But starting
with the flies and gnats, hey, they found relief. But they still
got to watch their Egyptian taskmasters and the Egyptian landlords get
punished by God. Well, they went through it, and
same experience is preserved for the future for them. Remember
the tribulational saints who are martyred, who cry out to
the Lord. Revelation 6 verse 10, There's only one remedy for
such outcry of God's elect, and that is God's righteous retribution
upon the wicked. So this is what God has in store.
Now the Hebrew here, the Hebrew term here in Hebrew without the vowel
points, if you just take all the vowel points out, as was
in the original Hebrew, can be read for a witness or for prey,
which is more difficult reading for prey, since this would be
a unique case. So in Genesis chapter 49 verse
27 says, Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning he devours
the prey. There is it, ad, eating the prey,
right? So using this clarifying meaning,
we have a vivid imagery of a ferocious predator that arises from its
hiding to pounce on the prey, for the prey. Either reading,
whether as a ferocious predator to end the life of the creature,
the prey, or an angry judge who stands up from his seat to render
severe judgment, because both readings can be possible, the
life of the creature or the defendant is over. Now the reason why I
tend to lean more toward the vivid imagery of a predatory
animal who's rising and pouncing on the prey is because of what
comes next. The phrases that describes the
vicious judgment. Now take a look at what the scripture
says. Indeed, my judgment is to assemble
the nation. So he rises up to judge, but
first he assembles. See this word assemble? That's
a generic word that is often used in harvest. So it's the
gathering of the crops, the gathering of the grain, the gathering of
the chaff. That's the generic word for gathering. But here
it says, the gathering of the nations. So it says, indeed my
judgment is to gather the nations together, or assemble the nations,
for what? When you assemble, gather the
nations, it's for battle. That's when the nations gather
together, to go against each other. That's the imagery here.
He will gather the Gentile nations. How do we know it's Gentile nations?
Because it's goyim. Goyim here, the Gentile nations. This is
an international conflict of warfare. That's what's being
described here. God's judgment is to assemble the nations in
a military array to do something to them. But before we get there,
there's these synonyms, synonymous parallelism, to gather kingdoms. You see, to assemble nations
and to gather kingdoms. These are two synonyms. The verbs
are synonymous and the nouns are synonymous. Nations, usually
goyim, pointing to peoples, but they're usually head by a king
and his domain, so it's kingdoms. The synonymous parallelism reinforces
the idea of gathering of governments and peoples who will come against
Israel in the last days. We've been learning about this
climactic World War III called Armageddon, which will be the
final global warfare centering around Israel. Political alliances
and stockpiling of weaponry by the nation's military industrial
complex will all be for the purpose of the final judgment of God.
Sure, there will be wars and rumors of wars, But God is preparing
the nations for this final judgment of a climactic World War III. And this is the language, to
pour out on them my indignation. The wrath of God will be poured
out against the nations as we've been studying in Revelation 8.
God will expend not some of his wrath, but all of his wrath. All my burning anger, he said.
Look at the imagery. His anger is burning. The motivating
factor is his holy jealousy to protect and preserve his own
people. That's why it says, for all the earth will be devoured
by the fire of my zeal. Notice the burning anger and
notice the imagery of the fire of my zeal. That word kinah points
to jealousy or zeal. In both cases, it's emotional
energy, emotional energy. And kinah oftentimes is portrayed
as jealous anger of God or jealousness of God. God has a holy jealousy,
which means that he has tremendous emotional energy to protect and
preserve what is rightfully his own, especially his relationship
with Israel. That's the imagery of a jealous
husband trying to guard his wife against temptation. So the saints
throughout the ages all knew that God will one day judge the
nations. And what is his emotional motivating energy? That is his
zeal for his people, Israel. His zeal. They didn't quite understand
how these judgments would both punish and purify not only Israel,
but also the Gentile nations. How can God do both? And yet
the scriptures clearly, clearly depict God doing both at the
same time. They have to simply trust the
Lord and his unfailing word that God will somehow bring them to
pass. God says he will pour out his fiery anger and that he will
devour the earth and the nations by the fire of his zeal. At the
same time, he will be protecting. So they didn't know how this
was all going to happen, but they believed. Tzvanya was faithful
to proclaim the word of God, although the details were not
given to him. Only some of the details were given to him, but
big general pictures were given to Tzvanya. We know that it was
through the Lord Jesus Christ and the details of the final
judgments of the purification in both the Olivet Discourses
of Matthew 24-25 and the book of Revelation, the revelation
of Jesus Christ. Remember our Lord Jesus gave
two specific Revelation, one to his disciples, to the Jewish
nation, and one that would affect the Gentile world and the tribulational
saints of Israel in the latter days, in the great tribulation
period of Revelation. And so when we look, man, this
is pretty bleak. If this is true, then things
are going to get worse and worse and worse, not better and better
and better. Do we have a bright future, bright future for the
hope of our children and our grandchildren? The scripture
continually tells us that the whole world is being prepped
and prepared for the outpouring of the wrath of God. There's
only one climactic event that the church is waiting for and
that's the rapture. And that triggers seven years of tribulation
period. And so what kind of hope do you
have? Do you want God's righteous retribution
to come? Because he says it's coming.
Do you know what's going to happen after that, right? Amen. We do. But what would it mean? I know
this will bring tremendous anxiety for you who have loving family
members who are unsaved. You might have children who do
not receive the Lord. You may even have grandchildren
that you're deeply concerned for. And yet the Word of God
is absolutely clear. In God's way, in God's timing,
He will do exactly what He says He will do. and he will bring
retribution upon the wicked inhabitants of this world who hate God and
who will turn against his people Israel in the end times. The
stage is already being set. Do we have hope for a brighter
future in Christ? Now praise God if you're a Christian,
if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, that's your hope. That's my hope. But we're still
very much concerned, right? For people, our neighbors, our
friends, family members, who still do not know Christ, who
reject the Lord, who reject the gospel. Well, we still have hope
in God's righteous retribution upon the wicked inhabitants.
And even through those difficult times, God's going to do something
amazing and wonderful. This is our hope. This is what
verse 9 and 10 talk about. So let's ask the right question.
Do we have hope in God's redemptive renewal? Not only his righteous
retribution, but his plan of redemption and renewal. You see, there is a significant
percentage of Israelites who fear the Lord. They believe in
the one true God of Israel, but they don't have faith through
Jesus Christ. Therefore, they don't have a
saving relationship. They have a covenant relationship
of sorts, but they're unregenerate. Their only hope is in the Messiah. So the only question is, will
they trust in Jesus Christ whom they reject? Today they reject,
but tomorrow when that time comes, will they receive? And this is
the great hope for Israel, isn't it? God's plan of redemption.
And through that redemption, God has a plan to not only renew
the nation, but also he's going to save the Gentiles. They're
going to believe. So this is the great hope for
the world. Verse 9, For then I will change them to peoples
with purified lips. For then, points back to the
command, wait for me. How long? until God changes them
to peoples with purified lips. By using the imagery of lips,
of course the Bible is talking about language, its primary function
of lips. That's what it's talking about.
So the purification of language points to the fact that the idolatrous
people who would confess and swear by false gods have unclean
lips their entire life is filled with unclean lips because the
nations are full of idolatry but when an Israelite believes
and talks and lives just like the gentile nations they have
unclean lips Those who would render unclean speech by using
the language not to glorify God or make statements of faith and
trust in God, but of distrust, of blaming God, of saying that
he's unrighteous or complaining to God. They have defiled the
words and godless speech. They're called people of unclean
lips. which Isaiah had to confess in Isaiah 6, 5. He said, Yeah, I mean, he was indicted. I'm sure he
had questions about God's goodness. Maybe he wasn't always thankful
and grateful. He didn't use his lips to profess
faith in the Lord, to give thanks to the Lord. And he saw others
doing it too. But God cleansed his lips, his
speech. And God says to the prophet Spaniel,
I will change them to peoples with purified lips. So how's
that going to happen? Well, it's going to happen supernaturally
because God says he will do it. Well, that can only happen if
their heart changes. How can they speak words that
are glorifying unto the Lord of purified lips when their heart
is defiled and full of unbelief and self-righteousness and self-focus?
How is that ever gonna happen? Well, this is the great hope
for Israel and for the nations that all of them may call on
the name of Yahweh. The name there points to his
character. They're gonna know God's character. And they're going to call upon
the Lord, understanding His character, His holiness, His righteousness,
His goodness, His mercies, His divine grace. That's why they're
going to say, Yahweh is God. He is good. He has preserved
us. We deserved His wrath, but He
saved us. This is what they're going to
say. He is good. How are they going to say that?
It says, all of them may call on the name of Yahweh to serve
him shoulder to shoulder. Now the Hebrew is literally one
shoulder pointing to unity. Unity. So all the nations, the
goyim, are going to be transformed somehow and they're going to,
in a united way, along with the redeemed of Israel, serve Yahweh. This is what the Bible is saying.
The Gentile nations, represented by kush, Now, during this time,
Kush was a region in northern Africa, so it's basically South
Egypt, Southern Egypt, right? Because the northern part is
always called Mitzrayim. The Kushites, the southern part
of Egypt, as well as northern Ethiopia and Sudan, that entire
region, produced some of the tallest and the fiercest African
warriors. So these men were often trained
and hired as bodyguards, as mercenaries, and they were paid soldiers,
soldiers of fortune, and they fought many wars all over the
Middle East. They were feared because they were tall. And so
all of the historical account says that these were the tallest
people that people have seen. Their average height was at least
six feet tall. Right now I think currently the
Scandinavian people over there, Denmark probably has, Sweden,
Denmark, that area has probably some of the tallest people. But
at this time in history, in Israel's knowledge, these were some of
the fiercest, tallest, biggest, baddest warriors they have ever
seen. That's Cush. That's why we have
this phrase in verse 10, from beyond the rivers of, it says
Ethiopia, but the Hebrew is Kush. So it covers that entire region.
So don't think modern political boundaries, think biblical region. So this is what the Bible says.
Psalm 68 verse 31, Envoys will come out of Mitzrayim, Egypt,
Ethiopia. Kush will quickly stretch out
her hands to God. Wait, Egypt's going to send envoys
to Jerusalem and Ethiopia Kush will stretch out our hands to
God in worship, in humility? Isaiah 18.7, at that time a gift
of homage will be brought to Yahweh Tzva'ot from a people
tall and smooth, even from a people feared far and wide, a powerful
and oppressive nation whose land the rivers divide. That's the
Nile River, right? To the place, the name Yahweh
Tzva'ot, even Har Tzion, Mount Zion. It's amazing prophecy. the most
fearful warlike people will come and worship Yahweh? Powerful
oppressive people will humble themselves before the Jews? Not only that, the converted
Gentiles will bring the Jews scattered and living among them
to come with them to worship Yahweh in Yerushalayim. And Prophet Yeshayahu Isaiah
portrays this as like a Thanksgiving offering to Yahweh. The Gentile
nations will bring the Jews as a Thanksgiving offering and offer
them to Yahweh? Let's take a look at Isaiah 66.
Verse 20, there's a key phrase here and vocabulary that I want
you to pay attention to because we're gonna go to the New Testament
and see how does this all relate to what the New Testament says
about what will happen. Isaiah 66, that's the last chapter
of the book of Isaiah. Verse 20, let's read that. Then
they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations. Now who
is All the brothers, of course, that's Jews from all the nations.
Why? Because they're scattered, right? As a grain offering to Yahweh.
Notice, they will bring. They shall bring. Who are the
they? They're the Gentiles. They're gonna bring whom? All
your brothers, your fellow Jews. From where? From all the nations. Remember these words, this vocabulary. Keep it in your mind. As a grain
offering to Yahweh on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules,
and on camels. These are different modes of
transportation known to people back in the biblical times. So
we have to use our imagination for the future. Land, water,
sea, whatever. They're all going to come. To
my holy mountain, Yerushalayim. Where? Yerushalayim always means
Yerushalayim. Holy mountain means there's a
piece of real estate in Israel, the capital city, there. Why
are they gonna come there? Says Yahweh, just as the sons
of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house
of Yahweh. Oh. So the Gentile nations will
carefully preciously preserve and protect the Jews and they
will bring them as gifts and presents to the Lord in worship
as they come to worship. With this understanding in mind
let's go to Matthew 25 now. Matthew 25 beginning with verse 31 I want you to follow along. This
passage has been misunderstood by so many Christians throughout
the ages. It's because they could not connect the two together
of the Old Testament prophecy regarding Israel and the Gentiles
and their relationship when the Millennial Kingdom is inaugurated.
Look at Matthew 25 verse 31. But when the Son of Man comes
in His glory, look at Jesus' reference to Himself, and all
the angels with Him, that's the supernatural entourage, then
He will sit on His glorious throne. Look at what verse 31 says. Then
He will sit on His glorious throne. Now what is He? He's been coronated. He's been installed. He is already
King. He's now reigning. And now look at verse 32, and
all the nations, you see that all the nations there? We're
just studying about all the nations, what God says about all the nations.
It says all the nations will be gathered before him. And he
will separate them from one another as a shepherd separates sheep
from the goats. And he will put the sheep on
his right and the goats on his left." And notice what Jesus
refers to himself now because the Son of Man is sitting on
the glorious throne therefore he's what? Verse 34, then the
King will say, it's the same person, the King will say to
those on the right, "'Come, you who are blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom which has been prepared for you.'" Who
is he saying this to? among all the nations, those
whom he had separated, those who are gathered to his right.
Right? The biblical symbol of the favored
side, the favored group. Okay. Come, you are blessed of
my Father. Inherit the kingdom which has
been prepared for you. Prepared for whom? For you. Who
is he talking to? All the nations. Who are they?
Gentiles. which has been prepared for you
from the foundation of the world. Since when? From the foundation
of the world. This is God's sovereign, eternal
decree and plan. This is according to His purposes
and His will that He is working out. This will happen exactly
like this in the future. Jesus is just even telling them
what He's going to say to them when He sits on His glorious
Davidic throne in the Millennial Kingdom. Now let's take a look
at verse 35. For I was hungry, and you gave me something to
eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was
a stranger, and you invited me in. Naked, and you clothed me.
I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came
to me. Then the righteous, notice those who are on the right as
a shepherd separates sheep and the goats. That's why this is
this parable is often called the parable of the sheep and
the goats. But these are the righteous people. It says, as
a shepherd separates the sheep. And these are not just sheep.
These are the righteous among the Gentile nations. Who are
called righteous? Only believers are called righteous.
So take a look at what Jesus says. Then the righteous will
answer him saying, Lord, when do we see you hungry and feed
you or thirsty and give you something to drink? And when did we see
you a stranger and invited you in or naked or clothed you? And
when do we see you sick in prison or come to you? Remember how
many preachers, how many teachers, how many times we heard this
applying to us in the church? This is why we have to do good
works, we have to be kind to strangers. Now those are all
true, we should be doing that, but that's not what this passage
means as we clearly saw. It's an in time scenario. Look
at verse 40. Then the king will answer and say to them, truly
I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers
of mine, by the way, Jesus never calls unbelievers brothers. He calls them, these brothers
of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me. Who is he speaking
to? He's speaking to believing Gentiles
whom he has separated and saying, the way you treated my brothers,
my believing Jewish remnant. When? During the tribulation. During the tribulation. This
is how the Gentiles come to faith in Christ during their tribulation.
That's why they know who the Jewish believers are. That's
why they stick their neck out for the Jewish believers. That's
whom the king in the Millennial Kingdom as he sits on his Davidic
throne, that's why I say to the extent you did it to the least
of these brothers of mine, even to the least of them, you did
it to me. Or you can read what the rest of the passage, what
Jesus says to those on the left, the wicked. Of course he judges
them, he separates them. So who goes into the Millennial
Kingdom? These nations, these believing Gentiles who prove
themselves to be true believers. And Jesus says, the kingdom has
been prepared for you. You are the subjects of the kingdom.
You are the inheritors of the millennial kingdom. This is for
you. Of course, Israel will have a
mediatory role in that kingdom, but he's not referring to the
mediatory role of Israel. He's talking about the saved
remnant out of the Gentile nations through the tribulation. Now
look at the language of Tzvanya. My worshippers, my scattered
ones. The Hebrew is literally the daughter
of my scattered ones. As we see the judgment of God
in Deuteronomy 4.27. Why were they scattered? God
said it as early as the Torah. in a future prophetic way. It
says, Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, that's the
goyim, and you will remain few in number among the nations where
Yahweh drives you. That's part of the punishment
of the unbelieving Jews. And in Deuteronomy 28, verse
64, Yahweh says, moreover, Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples
from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, and
there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, which you or
your fathers have not known. During World War II, the Japanese
harbored a whole bunch of Jews. And we know that a whole bunch
of Jews ended up in Russia and had to flee. There are a whole
bunch of Jews in South America. Never mind Australia, New Zealand,
and even as far as the islands. I met Jews in Cambodia. saw them in Taiwan. I haven't
seen a Jew yet in the Philippines, but I'm sure if the Lord tarries
and I live long, I probably would bump into one of them. They just
seem to be everywhere. They're few in number, but they're
scattered. But after God's judgments, the
Gentiles will be converted along with Israel. This is what we
saw in Yirmiyahu chapter 31 verse 34. How is that going to happen?
It's going to happen through the tribulation. As God judges the nations, he's
going to purge Israel through the same event. And this is what God did. As
God judged the Egyptians, God brought faith and fear of Yahweh
and brought them out. And notice the final phrase here.
These scattered ones, my worshipers, my scattered ones will bring
my offerings. That's exactly what the Old Testament
teaches and the New Testament specifies. The Gentiles will
be intimately involved in the salvific plan of God that he's
going to work out which he purposed from the foundation of the world
before he sprung the whole thing into existence. And we need to
dwell and meditate on that. That we find our being and our
relationship with God, and our own salvation, our unity, and
our membership in the body of Christ, all in the sovereign,
eternal purposes of God, which He flung into action, where He
intimately has become involved in creation, even as He is completely
separate from creation. He is transcendent, but is also
imminent. He is judging the nations, but
He's also saving some of them. He is purging Israel, He's preserving
them. All for His glorious purposes.
And in the end, they will all come and know Yahweh. They will
call upon His name, they will know who He is, they will know
His character, they will believe in Him. And they will worship
Him. along with the Gentiles, shoulder
to shoulder, in one unison, in unity of faith. How is God going to do it? He's
going to do it through the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, where
He brought them all together in Him, brought peace, brought
a right relationship, and brought salvation to both Jews and Gentiles. Right now the nation of Israel
is secular. They're mostly unbelieving. The
people who worship the God of the Old Testament are steeped
in legalistic works righteousness. That's the way they are now,
most of them. But God is preserving and saving
a small remnant who call upon Yeshua, the Lord Jesus, as their
Messiah. They have a very bold testimony
among the people. The Israelites mostly reject
them, but one by one, family by family, individual by individual,
they're coming to faith in Jesus Christ as he's pouring out his
spirit and saving them. As we look at the world, God
is opening up more and more countries. and people are coming to know
the Lord. Countries that used to be very
hard, like the Muslim countries, like Japan, like Buddhist nations,
Hindu nations, young people are hungry. They're asking the right
questions. They're coming to know the Lord. Exciting things
are happening. Now, in grand scheme of things,
there are very few in number. But the Lord says that He's going
to bring them into His fold, His flock that He's preserving.
And yet, through the tribulation period, He's going to purge the
entire world. And He's going to bring salvation.
And they will worship God in Jerusalem. It will bring all
the remnant of the Jewish people whom they protected and preserved. They will all come, they will
all show up, and the Lord will judge them, and He will bless
them, reward them. This is the message of the prophets. Malachi 1, verse 11, For from
the rising of the sun, even to its setting, My name will be
great among the nations, And in every place incense is going
to be presented to my name, as well as grain offering that is
clean. For my name will be great among the nations, says Yahweh
Tzva'ot. And Amen and Amen. It is so. Let's pray. Father, thank you
for allowing your great name to be known among the remnant.
We who are nobodies and nothings in this world have been so privileged
to come to know you through Jesus Christ our Lord whom you gave
out of your abundant love towards sinners like us. Father we are
so grateful and thankful for our belongingness to you and
we also sense a great responsibility to tell others about your awesome
name, your character. For you will be great among the
nations. But right now, so many people
in the nations, they reject you, they disregard you. Their lips
are unclean as they worship idols. And so Lord, give us a holy passion
to proclaim Christ Help us to live in a way that is pure, that
exemplifies Christ's likeness, and so that we will proclaim
you among the nations. Thank you for making us a privileged
people. Teach us to walk humbly and circumspectively. Help us to continue to trust
in your timing and your faithfulness as we grow in patience and endurance
in hope And we know that Israel's hope is our hope. It's only in
the Lord Jesus Christ and His kingdom come. So Lord, we pray
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Your kingdom
come. In His precious name, Amen.
Zephaniah 3:8–10
Series Zephaniah
| Sermon ID | 2625436585807 |
| Duration | 1:00:51 |
| Date | |
| Category | Midweek Service |
| Bible Text | Zephaniah 3:8-10 |
| Language | English |
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