It was the best of times: Two towns (Zechariah chapter 2)

 OUT OF THE CHAOS: A study in the book of Zechariah 

Chapter 2: It was the best of times: Two towns 

 

Given 28 April 2023

By Bob Mendelsohn

Sydney, Australia

This talk is on YouTube on:

https://youtu.be/DaDqaXKIjhs

 

We are continuing in this prophetic book written by a young Jewish man living in Jerusalem about 500 BCE as he writes to his people, those living there in Judah and also to those living in Babylon. To each of those groups, he has some clear words and I trust that those words he spoke 2500 years ago will speak to you and to me as we will consider what God meant as he used that young man. And we will try to learn what God has to say to us as 21^st Century people. 

As per usual, my usual method will take us through a chapter each Friday morning, and then we will have plenty of time for discussion and questions in the final half-hour. If you are watching this teaching on YouTube after our class, please feel free to write me (bob@jewsforjesus.org.au) and I will try to answer queries if I’m able. 

If you don’t already receive the email invitations to join this class live, please enter your email address just now, type it into the chat box or write our office (admin@jewsforjesus.org.au) and ask to be invited. Thanks. 

Also if you don’t mind, please read the chapter before you come to the class live, and if you are watching YouTube, pause your playback, read chapter 2 and then rejoin us. Thanks.

Let’s jump in. Today’s lesson begins with a young man and a measuring line. He’s a surveyor. And this is Vision #3 in this quick listing of night visions that Zechariah sees. Oh, by the way, for those using a Masoretic text or any number of Hebrew versions of the Bible, the 2^nd chapter actually begins with the first two visions from last week, the horns and the tradies. But as of today, we are all reading from the same text. 

Vision 3 is about a surveyor who is to measure the length and width of Jerusalem. And you have to ask yourself, why is that included here? Chapter 1.16 indicated that the point of Zechariah’s talks, his clear message was to get the Jewish people focused on the rebuilding of the Temple. And as a spoiler alert, you should know that the Temple was rebuilt, even in his day, and that it saw a significant increase in the times of the Romans. That Temple is the one where Yeshua visited and from which he spoke many times. That Temple took 46 years to build, and Yeshua prophesied that if people destroyed “The Temple”, he would rebuild it in three days. (John 2.19) The people mocked him at that, but he was insistent and of course, he was speaking about his own body. 

Back to Zechariah. The man in the vision says he is off to measure Jerusalem. That’s it. That’s the end of the encounter. 

Verse 3. One angel exits and another one enters. Nothing of these visions seems elaborate to me. In fact, they are highlighting one thing, over and over. That is, that the Jewish people have hope, and it’s wrapped up in being in Jerusalem at that time, and getting down to work on the building project at hand. 

You have to remember that 70 years before, or so, under the guidance of the then prophet Jeremiah, God had instructed the Jewish people something very different. Chpater 29 read as follows:

“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon,  ‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their ¹produce. 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 and do not decrease. Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.’ For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,’ declares the LORD.” (29.4-9)

Back in Jeremiah’s day, the way to ‘salvation’ was clear and very different to the words in Zechariah’s day. For the Jewish people to survive and to succeed in 587 BCE we had to move to Babylon, to build cities and seek the welfare of that city. We had to settle down and get married. We had to build gardens and cities and listen to few prophets. We had to pray for the welfare of Babylon!

But the vision and the accompanying oracles are now telling Zechariah and thus the people of God that our hope is now moving back to Jerusalem. Get out of Dodge; get out of Babylon. Stop seeking the welfare of that city. Move, in fact, the angel says, “Run!” in verse 4 and in verse 6, “Flee” from the land of the North (Now that used to be a reference to Assyrian, but since Babylon captured it, Northland implies Babylon. Again in verse 6, the ‘four winds’ speak of whirlwind and thus quick motion. And in verse 7, ‘escape’ says the same to me. It’s about getting out of town quickly. 

Does that remind you of the Exodus? We’d been there 400 years and in a few days we are told to spoil the Egyptians and get out of Goshen and out of Egypt. 

So back to the vision. Angel #2 comes out and tells retiring angel #1 to go back to the “young man.” That’s a reference to Zechariah. 

The message? Go and tell him that Jerusalem will be inhabited. Significantly. Massive numbers of animals and people will be in town. Not only for a festival or a pilgrimage. They will move in. Don’t delay. Don’t require the fences to be established first. Get with the housing industry, let ‘er rip!

You know when a construction site is established here in Australia, around a new metro station or when a bit of demolishing is going to take place, someone sets up a perimeter. They establish the limitations as a wall. Then the signage goes on indicating ‘no handbills or else there will be consequences.’ We really don’t know what is being built or demolished, but we know there will be action. 

Zechariah is being told to get on with the work, without the required fencing. Don’t build a wall. You don’t need to spend energy protecting what is not yours. You need to get the housing contracts and the main site to be the Temple. Walls will be rebuilt by Nehemiah some 75 to 80 years later. Your job? Get that Temple built again!

God will take care of protection. He will be a ‘wall of fire’. 

ח֥וֹמַת אֵ֖שׁ

Personally, he will see to us. Our role: build that Temple. That will lodge him as significant inside the walls. It will be a daily reminder of God’s grandeur and significance. He is not yet so to the people of God. He wants to be to you and to me.

More in verse 5. I will be the glory in her midst. This promise of God’s majesty is the centrepoint of this message to me. All the stuff, the walls, the fire, the angels …they all help me see that God wants to be all in all. He is NOT YET all in all. He wants the relationship with Israel and Judah to be complete. Yes, get the Temple built, but it’s not about the Temple. Yes, get back to the Land, but it’s not about the land. It’s about God himself!

Now in verses 6 and following, God speaks to those exiles still living in Babylon. Get out. Yes, in verse 6, I dispersed you. Some will argue, the Babylonians did it. Some will say the Assyrians before them caused the removal of the Jewish people. God says, “I did it.” Judgment begins with the house of God. We had sinned and the warnings were clear. Stop and if you don’t stop, I will judge you. And so we as Jewish people were judged significantly. 

But now the 70 years are up, like the 400 years were up in Egypt, and God says ‘get out.’ 

Think about it, though. Jerusalem was not in repair. It was not flourishing. There were no gardens. It did not look the land of milk and honey. It was destitute. No Temple. No gardens. Where were the gardens? Babylon. Where was there money and comfort? Babylon. Where were most of the Jewish people living? Babylon. God is calling his people to exit comfort and walk with him in discomfort. That’s a stretch. That’s a tough call. God is calling us out of comfort to chaos, but it’s ordered chaos, under his lordship!

Verse 8 has a tough phrase to translate. Very few agree on this one. It’s three words

אַחַ֣ר כָּב֔וֹד שְׁלָחַ֕נִי

Smith in his commentary says, “is the most puzzling clause in the book. Is it to be taken as a purpose clause to mean that Yahweh sent Zechariah to get glory; or as a temporal clause “after the glory i.e. the vision, Yahweh sent me. . .”? Does “glory” refer to Yahweh as the RSV indicates; or to the vision (KJV); or to heaviness or insistence, as Chary and Baldwin believe? כּבוֹד basically means “to be heavy.” Baldwin suggests “with insistence he sent me” (p. 109). Others emend or transpose the text in order to get a clear reading.”

I agree with Michael Stead, bishop of South Sydney, who translated it as, “For this is what the Lord Almighty says, who for the sake of his honour sent me against the nations that have plundered you,”

That makes sense. It’s the purpose. God is sending Zechariah for his own sake. But the Hebrew is a bit tough; I’ll give everyone that. 

Listen to the rest of verse 8. “Touches the apple of God’s eye.” This is the soft spot in God’s vision. It’s the Jewish people. Don’t mess. Like Genesis 12 taught from the beginning. Bless Israel, you will get a blessing. Curse them, you will be cursed. Babylon? You are going down for what you did to Judah 100 years ago. 

Verse 9. God is about to act for his name’s sake. I almost see a magician waving his hand over a scene. Or maybe I should stay with the Egypt motif and see the hand of God’s judgment falling on the Egyptians. 

Verse 10. Sing and rejoice. Hey, Jewish people, it’s not yet done, but it will be. It’s as good as done. Yes, you are right, it’s incomplete, but the eyes of faith see the end from the beginning. God is about to act on your behalf and for his name’s sake. Now it will happen, then it will be done. Now and not yet. What is our job today? Sing and rejoice. Why? God is coming and will dwell with us. 

Where will that take place? Jerusalem. Where? In the Temple.

Verse 11 is shocking. Who will be there in the Temple? Who will be there with God? Many nations!

גוֹיִ֨ם רַבִּ֤ים

It won’t only be the Jewish nation. This is shocking. In verse 8, God’s judgement is coming against ‘the nations’ (el hagoyim), but now only moments later, the word of the Lord will make clear that Gentiles will be welcomed in God’s Big Tent. There is room for all peoples. The measuring rod and line at the beginning hearkens to Ezekiel chapter 40 and the immense measurement of the City and the Temple. It’s not only for Jews; it’s for all nations. Whoever will! And we will see that in Zechariah 14 at the end of this prophecy as well. 

Who is included in that? There might be Babylonians. There might be Assyrians. It’s not the entire populace of Mesopotamia or Shinar. But there will be people from every kindred, tribe and tongue in the Family of God in the largesse of God, in God’s glory. Wow, what a vision!

Verse 11 says when those nations join, you will know that God is who he claimed to be. And those nations will be joined to us in such a way that together we are ‘My people.’ Wow, if only Peter had known that verse when the vision of the heavenly sheet dropped in Joppa. If only the disciples had understood that when Yeshua spoke to a Canaanite woman and healed her or others who were not properly Jewish. God’s people includes all who name the name of the Lord. Jews and non-Jews. Men, women, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free. Whoever names Yeshua as Lord… they are God’s people.

Verse 12. God again highlights the geography about which he’s speaking. The English phrase ‘holy land’ is only used here, but it’s not ‘eretz’, but rather ‘adamah.’ Holy ground. Holy dirt. Same phrase as when Moses met God at the burning bush. Take off your shoes. Holy ground. 

No wonder the chapter ends with the silence required in verse 13. Habakkuk ends chapter 2 of his prophecy with that same thought.  “But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.” (2.20)

We who encounter the Lord, in Sydney, on Zoom, in our local church, in our neighbourhood, in a paddock, or wherever, when we do, let all the earth be silent before him. 

Before you rush into a prayer meeting. Before you share your prayer list with the Almighty, be silent. Consider his purposes. Consider his love. His mercy. His intention to all people, even to you… consider and be grateful. Be and then speak. 

God’s plans will be accomplished. Listen and learn. And then sing and rejoice. And welcome others. So be it. Amen.

Remember, you who are watching today, if you are not yet a follower of Yeshua, and see his love for you, his kindness extended, his offer of forgiveness available, right where you are, submit to him, to his lordship, to his care, and your life will take on new meaning, new substance, and you will have mates on this call, and in your neighbourhood and wherever you travel… the Kingdom is advancing under the King. Chaos is subjugated, life is available.

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Resource on video

To see a fun video overview of the book of Zechariah see this from Bible Project:

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/zechariah/

 

Bibliography:

Smith, Ralph, Micah to Malachi: Word Biblical Commentary (Volume 32), Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 1984.

Stead, Michael, Zechariah: The Lord Returns, Aquila Press, Sydney, 2015.

Webb, Barry, The Message of Zechariah: Your Kingdom Come, Intervarsity Press, Nottingham, 2003.

Wiersbe, Warren, Be Heroic: Demonstrating Bravery by your Walk, David C. Cook Press, Colorado Springs, 1997.

 

Father's Day Talk: 2020

The Father’s Love

A sermon given at Sydney Young Nak Church 
Telopea, NSW
Sunday 7 September (Father’s Day) 2020

          Shalom, to the members of SYNC, to the pastoral staff and volunteers, and those who are investigating the claims of Messiah among us. What a pleasure to return to SYNC as you have kindly welcomed members of our organization over the years.

If you didn’t receive a white card from Jews for Jesus, please receive them just now as the ushers come through the aisle and pass them down each row. Thanks. You can fill that card out anytime during my talk. And if you do, please drop it off to me at the end of the service or mail it in, if you prefer. For those watching online, just google Jews, Jesus, and Australia for our contact form and sign up there. (For those reading this online, just write me (bob@jewsforjesus.org.au) and I will see to our regular information being sent you.)

I appreciate that you have been studying the book of Genesis in your church services lately, and last week you studied Genesis 21, so naturally today you should be studying chapter 22. In that chapter you see Abraham taking Isaac up Mount Moriah. If I were preaching on that passage today, I would mention a father walking his son up to the top of a mountain and offering him to the Lord. But I have another sermon to give on this Father’s Day. I hope it is welcomed deep in your soul.

In less than two weeks, Jewish people all around the globe will be celebrating Rosh Hashanah, that is the Jewish New Year. Unlike other celebrations like we have here in Sydney with fireworks and drunkenness, Jewish New Year begins with serious concerns about sin and repentance, and long sessions of prayer.

Concerning sin, the teachings of the Bible are clear. The 10 Commandments and seemingly every prophet arranges lists of Jewish mistakes so that we have plenty for which to repent every New Year.

Take Jeremiah, for example. He chides Judah for all their boasting, their confidence in their building by which they are safeguarded and warns them to amend their ways. He lists our sins, one by one, and sometimes repeats them, until we finally might actually acknowledge our sinfulness and repent. 

Jeremiah says, “if you truly practice justice (meaning we were practicing injustice) between a man and his neighbour,  if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin” (7.5-6)
And again
“Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known?  Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares the Lord. “And now, because you have done all these things,” declares the Lord, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you but you did not answer” (9-13)

Jeremiah is not only chiding; he's derailing us from our thinking we are a-ok. What will be the result? Dispersion and the ruin of the Temple, “as he did at Shiloh.” (verse 14) From where does this sinful activity come? It boils down to a misunderstanding and disobedience to the First commandment. What is that First commandment? Love God, and Him only. “I am the Lord thy God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” It’s barely a commandment at all; just an appeal to know Him. 

Often our response to God’s conviction of our sins is something we could call Reformation or Rehabilitation. We will make it right with God. We will fix our own lives. We will pray more. We will fast twice a week. We will rise early and make food for our neighbours. We will donate to charity. Honest, Lord, we’ll do better next week. 

Now, don’t get me wrong. I think repair is great. I think restitution is often right with people. But rehab and doubling down on our efforts of religion is never going to impress the Almighty. Our righteous deeds are like filthy menstrual rags in his sight. We can never out-maneuver and out-religion God. He knows our hearts. He sees our insides. He understands our motives, way better than we do, and certainly more than our closest friends.

Listen to Jeremiah’s next lines: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat flesh. For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people.” (21-23)

The point is this: be personal with the Living God. Listen to Him. Love Him. Hear Him. Be real. Be His person. Your religious chatter and your pretend devotion stink in His nostrils. Idolatry, the replacing of the Lord with anything less than Him, whether the Queen of Heaven, and getting dysphoric about God, or championing the rights of those who oppose Him, is entirely worthy of judgments.

Neither the false ideas and proclamations in the ‘safe haven’ of the Temple, nor the afternoon picnic to the Queen of heaven can safeguard the Jewish people. Just two decades later, we were taken captive by the Babylonians and God’s judgment fell on us severely. We had leaders who calmed us with words that predate, but channel Neville Chamberlain, but are nothing of real healing. We had teachers who taught of their own initiative but didn’t really bring us the powerful words of the Almighty. And we did nothing. We spread out bones and saw death all around us but didn’t turn to Him.

Dear friends, this is what the Lord wants us to understand today. A relationship with Him, in the Messiah Yeshua. That began for me about 49 years ago and I remember it like yesterday. All my good deeds, my mitzvahs were fine, but in terms of gaining God’s approval, as if those were enough to bring in God’s amazement and satisfaction, is laughable. What had to happen? I had to acknowledge my own sin, not only my sins. Let me explain. Sins are the deeds I commit against God or people. Lying, cheating, hating, etc. Sin is the inner fault in my heart that actually makes me do those misdeeds. In other words, I commit sins because I have sin. Sin is the attitude; sins are the actions. I am not a sinner because I sin. I sin because I am a sinner.

What does the Newer Testament say about this subject? I want to read two portions and show you a famous painting from Rembrandt. The two portions are taken from the Gospels, one in Matthew and one in Luke. Both equally famous. And significant for Torah-considering people. In Matthew, Yeshua is teaching His disciples and the crowds about the Kingdom in what later will be titled the “Sermon on the Mount.” 

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, You who practice lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7.21-23)

Who casts out demons in the name of Yeshua? Believers in the New Covenant. Who prophesy in the name of Yeshua? Teachers of the Bible. Who perform miracles in the name of our master? Great preachers and TV Bible thumpers. And to them he says, “Depart!” What? This is horrible. If they don’t get into heaven, how can I get in? It’s as if there is no guarantee. 

The Judeans in Jeremiah’s day counted on the presence of the Temple as their safe haven; some people in modern days are counting on their religion of Jesus-proclamation to save them. By that I mean, their quiet times and their fasting and their other religious activities are something they would highlight if questioned about their faith.

But 600 BCE and today God’s answer is still the same, “I never knew you…. Because you do not know Me!” Obedience is fine, as long as it’s honest and personal and real. And one more thing. As long as you are not counting your mitzvahs as ENOUGH to get you God’s approval. That’s the rub. 

Listen to what the disapproved people said, “Did we not prophesy? Did we not cast out? Did we not do miracles?” Every one of their punch list of approval considerations were things they did. All good to be sure. BUT if you are seeking to be in God’s pleasure, then you have to RECEIVE what God has done, God’s kindness and stop trying to earn it. It’s a gift. No wonder He said, “I never knew you, (and I add) because you do not know Me.” Maybe we should go back to the most basic of beginnings in the story of the Prodigal Father and see what this really means.

Luke 15 features three short stories of lost things, and the joy in finding them. First is a sheep that is lost and the owner searches diligently, leaving the 99 others in the flock, and finally finds the missing one, and there is rejoicing. I get that. Like searching for my keys just yesterday.

The chapter continues with the story of the lost coin, and again the long search and finally the finding. And again rejoicing. Each story ends with this tag line: Luke 15.10 “In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Then comes the story I want to focus on today. And the painting by Rembrandt. The story is the Prodigal Son or lost son who leaves his father and family and lives riotously, squandering his entire inheritance, and wakes up in a pig pen. He realizes his life is in ruin, and he decides to change, to amend his ways, and to go back to his father. You have heard this titled the Prodigal Son. But friends, prodigal means lavish, not wayward. And the son and the father were both prodigal in my understanding.

This image by the famed artist Rembrandt is worthy of deep appreciation. 

It’s a simple and rather basic painting, with five men and dark shadows. That’s it, really. So it’s an artistic study of the people. There is barely any other reference point. No scenery… no landscape… no fruit bowls… no animals. Just five men, like a basketball team. 

Look closely at the image, though and the light shines brightest on the two on the left and the furthest to the right. 

My friend Amer Olsen works in New York City and is an artist by training. I asked him to tell me what he saw in the painting here of the Return of the Prodigal and he wrote me a long description, parts of which I relate to you here. 

“Visually, the strongest light in the picture falls directly on the location of the returned, received son - his back, the father’s face and hands - falling onto the ground around them, though the son’s face is turned toward the shadow. But the son’s face isn’t so much turning from the light, as it is being enveloped by the father’s figure, resting in his bosom. In fact, when you look closely at the son’s face it looks surpassingly serene and beatific. This is in great contrast to his tattered rags, worn sandals and calloused feet - even his shorn head reminds me of a slave or forced-labour victim. Also, the son’s face is the centre point, not of the dimensions of the canvas, but of the vanishing lines of perspective (only hinted at by the two steps to the bottom right), which is the artist’s way of saying: “This is where I want your eyes to be drawn. This is where the heart of the message is.”

Do you know the whole story? It’s complete at the end of the sermon here in the notes. Please read the whole thing. Back in those days, fathers didn’t run to meet their sons. They didn’t run at all! Running was undignified. But in this story the father runs. Nothing else mattered to the father. 

The father seemed to take everything in stride, even the negative attitude of the older brother. So many stories we could discuss; so many trails to follow.

The emphasis is clear. The father has run back to welcome his returning son. The son has no pretense of good works. He falls on the mercy of his father. The father has no consideration of the son’s waywardness; he only is seeking reconciliation and restoration of the relationship. The son doesn’t say, “I have done great things in your name.” The son doesn’t even say a word of self-honor. He actually says, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

The father only welcomes the son. At the beginning of the story, the son says, “Father, give me my inheritance.” That phrase is shocking. He is saying, “Dad, I wish you were dead.” Remember, a person only receives an inheritance when someone dies. And the father gives him the 1/3 of the estate. (The older brother would receive double for caretaking purposes.) The father prodigally extends a third of the estate to his younger son, whom he knows will live wrongly. At the end, the son practices his lines in the pig pen by saying, “Dad, make me as one of your servants.” In the beginning the son said, “Dad, give me.” In the end, he said, “Dad, make me.” That’s the essence of the son’s change. It’s not about himself; it’s about the father. 

I grew up an Orthodox Jew, practicing my religion with great dignity, and shame in my failures. I went beyond my family’s commitment to their practices and when I was 16 years old, I began to seek God through that effort, but to no avail. Only when I threw myself on the mercy of the Almighty, found in Yeshua, the Messiah, my salvation, did I ever come to know Him. I am the lost son, the kneeling one, tattered shoes and cropped hair, the loser, the failed, the needy—that’s how I come to God. And that’s how God wants us all to come to Him. 

Not on the basis of all the good things we do and should continue to do for others. But on the basis of God's awesome love. The Father’s awesome love. We are the lost ones. Fall on His mercy and ask, in fact, beg, to be forgiven and brought into His family. Let His arms wrap around you.

Jeremiah says, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord. (9.23-24)

So will you do this just now? Will you confess Yeshua as your messiah and Lord? Will you turn to Him in faith and ask God to make you into the man or woman you should be? Will you acknowledge that without Him, you have no hope for eternal life? Yeshua died for you. He died to restore you to the Father. Hopeless mankind, in a pig pen, separated from the Almighty, now has a single method of real restoration—the death of Messiah, to bring us back into relationship with Daddy, with our Father in heaven. 

Then we will hear Him say, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.” In other words, he one who knows me will enter. And again, “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ Matt. 25.23

The ministry of Jews for Jesus is about getting people to hear and understand the good news of eternal life in Jesus. We have a book shop in Bondi; we meet with Jewish people online and in their homes, in their offices and in coffee shops throughout the country, in fact, throughout the world, to teach them about Jesus, and God’s good love. Your prayers matter a lot to us. Your financial support, like you give to the missionaries in Cambodia and even here in Sydney, will help us reach Jewish people. 

If you’d like to donate, use this Square up the back (online use this link:  www.jewsforjesus.org.au/giving), as a tap-and-go device. We also have products you might want to purchase like books and other items. Stop at the back table after the service, if you’d like to donate or buy anything. Please fill out that white card and turn that in also, so that you will continue to hear more about our mission among the Jewish people. Many of them are listening; pray that they keep opening to the Gospel. Thanks.

In our sermon today we learned that the joy of your master is eternal life. Let’s go there!

Have a great September and stay Covid-safe in the Lord. Shalom.

 

Bible Verses:

Exodus 20.2 “I am the Lord thy God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”

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Jer. 7:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, ² “Stand in the gate of the LORD’S house and proclaim there this word and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship the LORD!’” ³ Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. ⁴ “Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘¹This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’ ⁵ “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, ⁶ if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, ⁷ then I will let you dwell in this place, in the ^band that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

 

Jer. 7:8 “Behold, you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail. ⁹ Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known, ¹⁰ then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’ — that you may do all these abominations? ¹¹ “Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares the LORD.

Jer. 7:12 But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I made My name dwell at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. ¹³ And now, because you have done all these things,” declares the LORD, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you but you did not answer, ¹⁴ therefore, I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave you and your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. ¹⁵ I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, all the offspring of Ephraim.

Jer. 7:21   Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat flesh. ²² For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. ²³ But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.’”

 

Matthew 7.21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, You who practice lawlessness.’ 

 

Jeremiah 9.23-24 “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord.

 

Luke 15:11   And He said, “A man had two sons. ¹² “The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ So he divided his wealth between them. ¹³ “And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. ¹⁴ “Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. ¹⁵ “So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. ¹⁶ “And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. ¹⁷ “But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! ¹⁸ ‘I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and ¹in your sight; ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”’ ²⁰ “So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him,and ran and ^2aembraced him and kissed him. ²¹ “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ²² “But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; ²³ and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; ²⁴ for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.

 

Luke 15:25 “Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ “And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be. ²⁷ “And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸ “But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him. ²⁹ “But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never ¹neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; ³⁰ but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’ ³¹ “And he said to him, ‘Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. ³² ‘But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live and was lost and has been found.’”

Matthew 25.23 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful. You were faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’”