"The Day of the Lord Is Near!'"
Sermon on Zephaniah 1:14-2:3
Weekend of December 6, 1998
Saint Mark's, Watertown
Pastor Karl Walther
Introduction: Advent Has Us Contemplating
Christ's Coming-- the First and Second Times
John wrote of him in Revelation: Look! He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.
God's Word for our special consideration this Sunday is the Prophet Zephaniah's description of Christ's second coming-- Zephaniah chapter one, verse fourteen, through chapter two, verse three:
The great day of the LORD is near -- near and coming quickly. Listen! The cry on the day of the LORD will be bitter, the shouting of the warrior there. That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, a day of trumpet and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the corner towers. I will bring distress on the people and they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD. Their blood will be poured out like dust and their entrails like filth. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the LORD's wrath. In the fire of his jealousy the whole world will be consumed, for he will make a sudden end of all who live in the earth.
Gather together, gather together, O shameful nation, before the appointed time arrives and that day sweeps on like chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD comes upon you, before the day of the LORD's wrath comes upon you. Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD's anger.
This is the Word of the Lord.
Dear fellow Christians-- for whom the Day of the Lord is near:
This morning is the Second Sunday morning of the Advent Season. The Advent Season, of course, is very useful for us modern-day Christians-- in the midst of an increasingly contrary-to-Christian culture. That's because the Advent Season urges us properly to prepare for Christ's coming-- both our commemoration of his first coming at Christmas time, and our expectation of his second coming on the last great Day of the Lord.
Now, the Prophet Zephaniah lived in an increasingly contrary-to-Christian culture, as well. To his people he described the final great Day of the Lord, and he urged them properly to prepare for it. By inspiration of God the Holy Spirit, Zephaniah's words continue to speak to us today.
Theme: The Day of the Lord Is Near!
In God's Word to us today, the Lord proclaims to us through Zephaniah: • THE DAY OF THE LORD IS NEAR! Furthermore, Zephaniah gives us the (1) DESCRIPTION of the Day of the Lord. And Zephaniah describes for us (2) PREPARATION for the Day of the Lord.
Part One: Description of the Day of the Lord
The Prophet Zephaniah lived and prophesied in the six hundred and twenties before Christ. By his time only one tribe of God's Old Testament people was left. The ten northern tribes of Israel had already gone into exile, never to be heard from again. Only the southern tribe of Judah remained. And even its days were numbered. Judah had reached its eighth and final good king out of twenty. From here it was all downhill. Some forty years later, the nation of Judah would be exiled to Babylon.
Judah's downhill slide to exile gave Zephaniah a good opportunity to describe the world's downhill slide to Judgment Day. And so, in God's Word to us today, Zephaniah describes that final great Day of the Lord.
• First of all, Zephaniah answers the question, "When will the Day of the Lord take place?" He writes: The great day of the LORD is near -- near and coming quickly.
Now at first, we might want to argue: Zephaniah was writing two thousand six hundred years ago-- and the day of the Lord hasn't come yet! How could Zephaniah have said: The great day of the LORD is near-- near and coming quickly?
Well, didn't we read in today's first reading: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day? So as far as God is concerned, Zephaniah was still talking only two and a half days ago! Not only that, but all the signs in this morning's second reading -- the wars and rumors of wars, the famines and earthquakes, the false Christs and false prophets, the lack of faith and lack of love -- don't all of these prove that the day of the Lord really is near?
• Secondly, having established the proximity of the Day of the Lord, Zephaniah answers the question, "What will the Day of the Lord be like?" He says: Listen! The cry on the day of the LORD will be bitter, the shouting of the warrior there. That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, a day of trumpet and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the corner towers.
The Lord is painting a picture here. He's saying, "If you want to picture Judgment Day, here's what it'll be like. It will be war-- war with all its spattering of blood, and all its anguished shrieks, and all its torturous pain, and all its stench, and all its taste of death. That's because I, the all-holy and almighty God, am furious. I will leave behind only ruin. In my wake will be only gloom."
• Thirdly, having established the proximity and pain of the Day of the Lord, Zephaniah answers the question, "Why will the Day of the Lord take place?" He says: I will bring distress on the people and they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD. Their blood will be poured out like dust and their entrails like filth. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the LORD's wrath.
You see, no matter how many people deny their sins, no matter how many people deny the offense their sins cause to God, it's still true: God sees sin, God hates sin, God punishes sin, and God will put an end to sin. Sin is the reason the Day of the Lord will happen.
• Finally, Zephaniah answers the question, "Who will witness the Day of the Lord (this near, painful, and sin-caused day)?" He says: In the fire of his jealousy the whole world will be consumed, for he will make a sudden end of all who live in the earth.
In other words, there's not a single soul which will not witness Judgment Day. Everyone will experience it.
Application One: Description of the Day of the Lord
Reminds Us of Our Sins
So, the Day of the Lord is near-- near and coming quickly. Isn't that even more true for you and me than it was for Zephaniah and the people of his day?
War and fury, ruin and gloom-- will mark the Day of the Lord! Isn't that all the more true for modern-day Americans: who wouldn't know the truth if it slapped them upside the head? whose perverted sexuality is evident from the morning news through the afternoon sex shows through the evening sexcoms through the late night R-rated movies that the cable beams into so many homes?
War and fury, ruin and gloom-- will mark the Day of the Lord! Isn't that all the more true for modern-day Americans: the majority of whom support baby murder upon demand? the likes of which made televised murder one of the highest rated t.v. programs in recent weeks?
War and fury, ruin and gloom-- will mark the Day of the Lord! Isn't that all the more true for modern-day Americans: a minority of whom even bother to worship the Lord for one-one hundred and sixty-eighth of a week? and most of them, finally, worship a God of their own imaginations?
This world's sin will cause the Day of the Lord. Isn't that just as true for the sin with which you and I were born?
And the Day of the Lord will completely consume the cosmos. Can we hope to escape?
Part Two: Preparation for the Day of the Lord
Well friends, the Prophet Zephaniah has the answer for us. He urges us: Gather together, gather together, O shameful nation, before the appointed time arrives and that day sweeps on like chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD comes upon you, before the day of the LORD's wrath comes upon you.
And for what purpose shall we come together? Zephaniah answers: Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD's anger.
Application Two: Preparation for the Day of the Lord
Leads Us to Our Savior
Friends, you hear Zephaniah urge us three times to do some seeking. Seek the Lord, he says. And when you seek the Lord, he says: Seek righteousness. Finally, when you seek righteousness, he says, it means: Seek humility. And you could say that these three instances of seeking provide us a step-by-step path towards shelter on the final great Day of the Lord.
° Friends, first of all: Seek the Lord. Don't be denying that he could come back this very afternoon. Don't be saying, "Surely it will be after sunset. Surely it will be after tomorrow night's game. Surely it will be after I get out of school, or I get married, or my kids are out of the home, or surely it will be after my death." No, seek the Lord-- here: not elsewhere, now: not later!
° And when you seek the Lord, God says: Seek righteousness. Don't be thinking that the Lord is going to settle for anything less than sinless perfection from you. Don't be saying, "Surely most everyone will make it to heaven. Surely I am working hard enough to make it there. Surely the Lord will remember the times I managed to make it to church and those times I managed to serve him." No, seek righteousness-- the sinless perfection the Lord demands from you.
° And how is it that you are going to get that righteousness? The Lord says: Seek humility. And that means two things....
Humbly confess your sins! Confess your lies; confess your greed; confess your lust; confess your anger; confess your rebellion; confess that you are infected with sin from conception through death, from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet. Don't hide your sins or your sinfulness!
And then, humbly confess your Savior from sins: Jesus Christ! Confess to Jesus, "Lord, I need you. I needed you choosing me from eternity to be one of your own. I needed you to be conceived by a holy Father in the womb of an unholy mother-- to make up for my unholiness from the very beginning. I needed you to be born holy-- so that you could give me a holy birth through holy baptism. I needed you growing up holy-- to make up for my childish sinfulness. I needed you to live holy-- to make up for my life's sins. I needed your suffering in place of mine, your body and blood (given in death) in place of mine, your resurrection-- guaranteeing mine. Jesus, humbly, I need you-- and I need you eternally."
Conclusion: Christ's First Coming Has Us
Ready for His Second Coming
Then and only then, relying on Christ's first coming, will you be prepared for Christ's second coming. Then and only then, with the warfare of the Lord's fury passing overhead, and ruin and gloom left in its wake-- then and only then will you be sheltered: sheltered by your Savior Jesus Christ, sheltered by him forever. Amen.
Jesus said of himself in Revelation: Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed are you who keep the words of the prophecy in this book. Amen.