Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ
Sing aloud, O daughter of
Zion; shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all
your heart, O daughter of
Jerusalem!
[15] 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.
Thus far our text.
[15] The Lord has taken
away the judgments against you;
There is the essence of the Gospel. This is exactly what
Jesus has done. He has forgiven you your
sins. They are removed as far as the east is from the west. He has thrown them into
the depths of the sea and they are drowned. You have been absolved, purified, made
righteous and guiltless. Because of that you are on good terms with God
almighty and you have eternal life.
The Savior Jesus came into this world, to be born in human
flesh. He took on our flesh and our weakness and took from us our sins. The
Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. Because of Jesus [15] The Lord has taken away the judgments against you;
Let that Gospel be cause for joy and singing. Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!
The Epistle of the day has this holy command of God to each
of you: Philip. 4:4
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will
say, Rejoice.
Notice that this is not an optional sort of thing. There’s
no “ifs”, “ands” or “buts”, like “If you feel like it, Rejoice.” “On good days
rejoice.” “When you are winning, rejoice.” No. It simply says, Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will
say, Rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord,
and in His Gospel of the forgiveness of your sins. This is not based on other
conditions like how you feel or how your day is going. The cause for joy is
from the Lord Jesus and His favor to you.
Now this is it not meant to sound forced. It can be really annoying
when you are in a grumpy mood and somebody tells you, “oh, lighten up;” “Have a
good day;” “Turn that frown upside down”.
No when God tells you to rejoice, it is an invitation to
hear again and remember the many things He has given you to rejoice about.
Zephaniah 3:15 is chuck full of those reasons.
Listen to the cause for singing and joy here, phrase by
phrase.
[15] 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.
In the Gospel reading for today John was preaching and
baptizing to prepare the way of the Lord. This is the way to prepare for the
Lord, in sorrow for sins, prayerfully look to the Lord above and say, take away
the judgments against me, clear away my enemies of sin, death and the devil.
Help me in my fear of evil.
Next Sunday as part of the regular Sunday service we will
have the Children’s Christmas program. They are organizing their parts around a
hymn that Luther wrote, “From heaven above to earth I come.” And one of the
verses especially is a beautiful Advent and Christmas prayer, asking the Lord
the to forgive us, make our hearts right, so that He can be with us.
Ah, dearest Jesus, holy Child,
Prepare a bed, soft, undefiled,
A quiet chamber set apart
For You to dwell within my heart.
Zephaniah 3:15 preaches a great Advent gospel message for
us: The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
The consequence of sin has been felt by human kind from the
beginning. Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden of Eden, out of the
presence of God. Every sin you commit
puts you farther and farther out of God=s presence.
The beauty and glory of forgiveness of sins is that now you
are brought back into God=s presence. That=s heaven. The worst
thing about hell is the Absence of God, the separation from God.. How sad that some go there for eternity,
eternally separated from God. How sad also that some live their lives now in
hell on earth, without God in their lives.
The Lord is with you. That’s our Advent theme and hope.
The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
The King of Israel is Jesus. Pontius Pilate labeled as
such, when he had a sign placed above Him on the cross. Pilate meant it as
mockery, but it was the truth.
There on the cross was King of Israel. There He was in our
midst, right in the midst of our broken, sin-filled lives, that our tumbling
out of control toward death. In life, in death, He is in our midst. He is with
you always, even to the end of time.
We have to listen to that. Hear and believe that. Because we
get so many signals, daily that would lead us to think that He is now around. Not
here. Not anywhere.
The world wants to remove Him. The world wants to celebrate
His birthday without Him. Can you imagine anything so rude as to have a
birthday party and not invite the man of honor? Keep that in mind as you
celebrate Christmas. It’s Christ’s birthday. Don’t leave him out.
What is more our sinful nature would rather the Lord not be
around. So we are constantly tempted to think and to live as if Christ isn’t
around and as if He doesn’t matter anyway.
He who has forgiven you your sins, who has taken away the
judgement you deserve is now with you. The
best way to hear this good news is in Holy Commmunion. At His table, He serves
you heavenly food and He is Himself the food, given for you, the forgiveness of
your sins.
He is with you. Rejoice.
Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;
shout, O Israel!
Be happy about all this. Rejoice and sing. Because, by the
way, the Lord is happy to. He is rejoicing to. Listen to Zeph. 3:17 and try to
picture it.
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.
In the gospel reading we heard Luke 7:21
In that hour he healed many people of
diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed
sight.
There must have been a line of people waiting to have Jesus
help them out. They were coming out of the woodworks. Wouldn’t it seem like the
Lord must get tired of saving so many people.
No. He doesn’t save us reluctantly. It is His pleasure. He’s
happy to. He even likes to sing about it.
Every once in a while I notice that someone is hesitant to
sing. Maybe because they are very self-aware, or maybe they feel like it’s not
very dignified. As if you had to sing when you were a kid, now it’s just not
for you. But if God does it, He sings
loudly. So should we. He sings out of the joy of salvation. So should we. Now
and forever. Amen.
