Light of the world... does it work in the Southern Hemisphere? Punching holes in the darkness

A sermon given in Sydney

Earlwood Indonesian Presbyterian Church

Introduction

Shalom Pastor Gunung and all here at Earlwood church. Salamat Pagi! I’m pleased to be joining you this morning as we fast approach the holiday of Christmas. There is so much festivity in the air, so many visits to the shops, to see Santa and listen to him lie to our children repeatedly. The shops are playing some of our favourite carols if you happen to like sleigh bells ringing, snowballs, Jack Frost nipping at your nose, and other winter wonderland music. Of course, this is Australia, and we don’t have winter here at this time of year. So, the bundle of information and songs to process are all related to something strange.

Now add to that strangeness the stories about a jolly man-in-a-red-suit who gives gifts to children he doesn’t know and travels the world in a supercharged sleigh to supply those in one night. Oh, don’t forget the rushing to the shops by parents and people attending the annual Christmas parties with crackers and fruitcakes and lying about enjoying being with them repeatedly.

Then move the tale to a Bible story that someone feels obliged to share with us, or the Channel 9 Carols in the Domain or Carols in the Carpark or wherever it is from which they broadcast. They tell of something about shepherds in Israel and a star that leads some foreign dignitaries to travel from Mesopotamia through Iran and Iraq and find themselves in ancient Judea, now Israel, looking for a baby. In a farm stall. Amidst farm animals. 

Could anything be more remote? Could anything be stranger?

Today we read the Gospel assigned to me by your pastor from the song of Miriam, the prayer nicknamed “The Magnificat” from Luke chapter 1, verses 46-55. Miriam is the Hebrew name of Mary, the mother of our Saviour Yeshua. She is singing a prayer to God and if you know much about prayers in the Bible, you would say that this prayer/song sounds familiar. A couple of those lines are direct quotes from the Older Testament, and the rest sounds consistent with so many prayers by others.

But maybe this idea sounds strange to you. Christmas is about Jesus and some say that’s a New Testament idea, and now I’m mentioning Old Testament Bible quotations, and you might be thinking—wait a minute, what does Jesus have to do with the Old Testament? That’s about Jewish people, right?

For many people in Sydney, and probably in Indonesia, the ideas of Jesus and being Jewish are far apart. But for Miriam and her betrothed fiancé, Joseph, Bethlehem and Judea, and the anticipation of awaiting the Messiah of Israel—all that is very Jewish and very consistent with who they were as Jews. 

Back in Bible days with the centre of the action in Israel, with the central players in the Bible being Jewish, whether Abraham or King David, Moses or Isaiah, and the millions of Jewish people who left Egypt or who were exiled to Babylon or Assyria… the Bible is a very Jewish book. 

The Magnificat

Back to the song of Miriam. I really like this prayer. It sounds similar to the one Hannah sang when she praised and exalted the Lord (1 Samuel 2.1-10) after the birth of her special son, Samuel. She had been unable to have children and God heard her prayer for a son. He answered her and she followed with her own song of praise. A Magnificat. That is, a proclamation of the Magnificence of God. That word may seem strange to you, not only because it’s not a usual Indonesian word, but it’s also not an ordinary English word. 

The word comes from the Greek word ‘maga’ meaning ‘great.’ To magnify the Lord means to make him great. Like using a magnifying glass to read small print in a book or newspaper. Wait a minute, you might think. How can I make God great, or even greater? Isn’t he already the Great One? Yes, I say, but often in our lives, we sin, and the #1 sin in our lives is taking the place of God, becoming #1 in a situation, imagining ourselves to be primary, the #1, the most important. 

So when Mary magnifies the Lord, like Hannah before her, or the Psalmist King David (Psalm 34.4), we proclaim him as king and sovereign, as #1 again. That helps me see what Christmas is all about.

Summer vs Winter Season

We live here in Australia, and many of you are from Indonesia. Both countries are South of the Equator. So when we have this time of the year, it’s always summer. Up north, however, in England or the US, it’s winter, and at the end of this week, we will observe the winter solstice. It’s very cold and dark, and you will have seen those movies and read those books about Christmas in winter, and that may help you make sense of this. In this season up north, the sun sets about 4:30 pm, so after work and after school, much family time is at home and in the dark. 

The Jewish people have a festival that will begin next week, the Feast of Dedication (John 10.22) which translates to Hanukkah. It’s also nicknamed the Festival of Lights. There will be a large menorah (candelabrum) in Martin Place and in Bondi which is lit nightly for many days. And most Jewish people like those menorahs in our homes surrounded by family and lots of great food. 

You will know that Christmas also features food, and especially lots of lights. In some Christian churches, the leadup to the holiday is called Advent, and there are candles and calendars to assist in the celebrations. They put up a Christmas tree that has its light, and many folks in town decorate their houses or units with strings of ornaments and electric lights. Listen, lights make sense in the darkness of the wintry north, but they seem strange to us here in the warm, summery South.

Think with me about darkness. And we often use the expression, “doom and gloom.” Darkness is used in the Bible as a symbol of many things and into each of those darknesses, I believe God wants to shine his light. Light and dark do not co-exist. Light dominates dark and chases it away. (John 1.5)

In Miriam’s Magnificat, she describes the power of God to chase away the proud, the arrogant, the foreign rulers, and the rich and powerful. Light will always triumph over darkness, and let me give you three more darknesses about which I’m thinking today.

The Darkness of Ignorance

The first problem of darkness I want to address is ignorance. I shake my head at people who refuse to learn. It’s not that someone doesn’t know information. It’s that they don’t want to learn another way of thinking. Sometimes, we watch the news or our social media feed and stand amazed at the level of wilful ignorance. You see it in political contests and you see it in sports and sadly, also in religion. The answer to this is not only education. It’s not only information. It’s the willingness to learn. 

Yeshua, some call him Jesus, said, “You search the Scriptures, thinking that in them you find eternal life, but they speak of me.” (John 5.39) We Jewish people are especially academic and prefer scholarship to physical activity. Generally speaking, we win scientific awards at a higher rate than our limited population should. We are only 15 million people worldwide, which is not even one-tenth of one per cent of the world’s population. Even so, we have garnered 22% of the Nobel Prizes across all scientific categories. 

But can we get along with each other? Can we use our smarts to assist others? We know so much and know so little.  Proverbs chapter one says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (1.7)

Even Yeshua taught “Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.” (Luke 11.52)

Into the darkness of ignorance comes the Light of the Knowledge of the Lord. When? When we give our lives over to the Lord of life.  Paul wrote saying, “God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” (2 Cor. 4.6)

The Darkness of Sin

I’m a preacher and you probably have expected me to link darkness with sin. I will not disappoint you! Sin is so abundant today, so much the norm, that we have likely grown accustomed to it. To label sin as ‘darkness’ is harsh, according to some. However, the human desire to hide from view is a response to sin and shame and is not a natural state. In the Bible, the first indication to God that something had gone wrong was the human desire to hide in Genesis 3. Adam and Eve broke with God, listened to the serpent in the Garden of Eden, and ended up being removed and living outside the Garden. Their activity is labelled as ‘sin’ and may be defined as rationalised self-will. All the while, God is rich in mercy and longs to be in a good relationship with his people, but refusing him and living in opposition to his plan is what we are calling ‘sin.’

We read in 2 Peter, “God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment.” (2 Peter 2.4) Angels were placed in darkness not only as a result of their sin but also as a symbol of it. 

The darkness of sin shuts us off from the righteousness and holiness of God. You notice that most people want to isolate in sin; you don’t ring your Christian brother and invite them to go get drunk with you. We choose to sin alone. We like John declared of my people, “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.” (John 3.19)

But here’s the good news. The darkness of sin can be overcome. Paul wanted the believers to learn that God wanted to ^“open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’” (Acts 26.18)

Yeshua is that Light that erases our sins and gives us THE answer which is Forgiveness. Hallelujah!

The Darkness of Despair

Literal darkness can be bad for us. If we spend too much time out of daylight, we lose track of time, we are more likely to feel depressed and we are more prone to lose touch with reality. Scientific research shows that prolonged exposure to darkness can quickly disrupt our internal rhythms, our sense of self and our relationship with the world around us. We are creatures of the day, and though we need darkness to sleep, we need light to live. Not all darkness is physical. Most of us can access as much daylight as we need – but what if we are stuck in emotional, psychological or spiritual darkness? The effects are much the same – we lose track, we lose heart, and we lose hope.

We often use the phrase, “He’s in a dark place.” Often December is filled with its own sadnesses.  Here’s a photo by Kat Love on Unsplash. 

 

But many will say, “It’s holiday time. Let’s celebrate the end of year with parties and be ready to welcome a new year.” I get that. But as I said, up north, sunset is at 4:30 pm. And most of the evening is dark. All the bright lights of glitter and Santa and icicles, Advent wreathes, and Christmas displays cannot make up for the loss so many feel in this season. For many this is not the “most wonderful time of the year” and highlights their loneliness. For others, the end comes with a less-than-golden handshake from a boss who tells you that you are no longer needed at your job. Emptiness and darkness; they ride together. No wonder the suicide rate in Australia, and certainly here in NSW climbs most years in the month of December. We should be filled with Christmas hope, but it’s not so. We are in the darkness of despair. (https://www.aihw.gov.au/suicide-self-harm-monitoring/data/suspected-deaths-by-suicide/data-from-suicide-registers)

Look, when I was a kid, we did plenty of wrong things. I was a hippie in the US in the late 1960s, and we did wrong so that we could make the world a better place. At least, our own world could be better. In contrast, kids today often do the same wrong things, but not with the hope of bettering the world; it is often because there is no hope of improvement. 

Into that darkness of despair comes hope. Honest hope. In Luke chapter 2, we meet an old Jewish man named Simeon. He was at the Temple when Miriam and Joseph brought Yeshua in for dedication. Simeon took the baby in his arms and said his famous Nunc Dimitis, “Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, according to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation, Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel. (Luke 2.29-32)

Hope is light. The word used to describe Simeon by Luke is here in verse 25. “this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him.” The word ‘consolation’ is the word in Greek “paraklesis” which can mean comforter and carries the meaning of a person who brings hope, like a defense attorney, that is, one called to help in a law court. In the Jewish tradition the word was transcribed with Hebrew letters and used for angels, prophets, and the just as advocates before God's court. 

Simeon had hope, and though he was old, God promised him that he would be alive when the Hope of Israel was to show up in the Temple there in Jerusalem. 

Conclusion

I guess if we had to choose, most of us would side with the Hope Team. We want to enjoy these summer days and the part of our life that is meaningful and relevant. We want to live in hope of the Glory of God. If you have time, perform a word study on those two topics in the Bible, and you will be amazed at what God is trying to tell us. (1 Peter 1.21, Titus 2.13, Col. 1.27, Eph. 1.12, .18, Rom. 5.2) 

Friends, in this season of light triumphing over darkness, we have a job to do. You might know the author Robert Louis Stevenson.  Stevenson, author of Treasure Island and other classics, grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland in the 19th century. At the end of each day, as darkness spread over the city, Robert would watch with fascination as the lamplighters came down the street, lighting the gas street lamps. 

One evening, seeing their son with his face pressed against the window, Robert’s parents asked him what he was looking at. Robert replied excitedly, “Look at that man! He’s punching holes in the darkness!”

That is our job together as disciples of Jesus. In the darkness of despair, sin, or ignorance, we are charged to punch holes and bring light to those people. One person at a time. One lamp on one street at a time. You will be thinking of Indonesians to whom you want to bring the Light of the Glory of Jesus. Also be thinking today of some Jewish people whom you know from television or from the news, or maybe whom you know personally. I have given my life the last 45 years in working with Jews for Jesus to bring the Gospel to Jewish people, first in the US, and the last 26 years here in Australia and Asia. Thanks be to God who gives us all opportunities to punch holes in the darkness of those near us, at this season of Light, and throughout our days. 

I invite you to join us as we Jews for Jesus carry the message of the Saviour to Israelis, to Russian Jews, and everywhere from Sydney to Subiaco, from Melbourne to Manly, in 2024 and beyond. The more you give, the more we are able to send Bibles, to travel to meet with individual Jewish people in their homes and offices, to make Jesus known. I have this electronic Square so you can tap a donation to the organization or to buy resources off my table up the back, including my own testimony, how God opened my Orthodox Jewish eyes to my Messiah Jesus back in 1971. 

You can use this QR code on the screen just now to sign onto our website and hear more from us, or use the white card/slip we handed you on arrival to church this morning. 

Amazingly, this QR code will sign you up and automatically code you as being here at the Earlwood Church on this date. Thanks for doing that and agreeing to learn what God is doing among the Jewish people in New York, in Sydney, in Israel and around the globe. Thanks for that. 

Pastor Gunung, thanks so much for this invitation to join you today and for your care for our Jewish people today and down the road. Shalom and Merry Christmas.

Tragic Days and Glorious Days and today

 Some tragic human days include:

11th of September 2001 (Nicknamed 9/11) when four airplanes were hijacked and over 2,700 people were killed in the USA

7th of October 2023 when over 1,200 Israelis were killed at a music festival in southern Israel by Hamas terrorists, and raped, and another several thousand were injured or kidnapped

15th of April 1865 when the 16th president of the USA, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theater in Washington, DC

20th of April 1999 at Columbine High School in Colorado when two teens killed another 15 students on the birthday of Adolf Hitler.

7th of December 1941, Pearl Harbor Hawaii, Japan attacked the USA to spread the Second Wold War into that region. 2,300 Americans were killed and another 1,100 were wounded.

22nd of November, 1963. Three famous people died: Aldous Huxley, CS Lewis, and John Kennedy. The last was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Another fatal tragedy in US history.

24th of August, 1814. Washington, DC was burned!

And the list could continue in country after country, decade after decade, and you might wonder why I'm writing about all these.

July 1931, China Floods. 4 million died.

1900, Galveston, Texas. Another hurricane. 

September 1887, Yellow River Flood, 2 million died.

After writing about all these and so many other tragic days, I began a list of glorious days, good days, and winning days, when people shouted, 'Hurray!' and pleasure finally trumped tragedy.  But some were only personal when I graduated from university or received my Master's degree. Some were related to my family like when my kids stepped into adulthood, one by one, and stepped out of the shadows. My wife's graduation with her Master's degree; my son's first television appearance, my daughter's dancing in the Nutcracker, and the list continues but to be fair, they are all personal.

OK, so what about 'corporate' glorious days? Would that be the back-to-back Super Bowl victories of the Kansas City Chiefs? Or beyond sports, my political favourite won that mayoral or presidential race.  Why is it so much easier to remember trauma than personal triumph?

Andrea Bonior wrote in Psychology Today last year (https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/friendship-20/202312/traumatic-memories-really-do-feel-different) "People who have experienced trauma have a different relationship to those memories than they would to memories of typical, everyday events. Even memories with negative emotional connotations, like sadness, still seem to be in a different category than memories of trauma—where shock and helplessness force the body into an extreme threat response. The intrusion that comes with re-experiencing traumatic memories often involves the entire body and can send people into devastating cycles of flashbacks, nightmares, and even dissociative states."

Bonior cites recent studies and concludes: "These memories are perhaps less akin to how we think typically of recalling an experience and instead are more like reliving that experience. Trauma therapists and trauma survivors have long conceptualized trauma this way, as the body truly revisiting the experience, but to have actual scans of brain activity conveying the difference in these concrete ways is an important step forward."

Last night was 7 October here in Australia and I attended a commemorative service and vigil on the Gold Coast. The mayor spoke; the rabbi spoke; a Christian pastor spoke; and we sang some songs of peace. "Never again is now" was cited by at least two of the speakers and the spirit of the gathering was peaceful and supportive of the Jewish people. 

Of course, one year ago in Israel, over 1,200 people were taken, slaughtered, raped, killed, and hundreds more were injured. Actually, all the people were injured as were most of the world's Jewish population. Tragedy launches the 'shock and helplessness' I felt again last night, which for many here in Australia is continuing.

We desperately long for peace. Or do we? As I sat in the crowd last night, listening to the powerful remarks by the mayor of the Gold Coast, I wondered if those who straddle the middle road are intent on real peace. The rabbi declared that the Greens are not interested in the environment, but are filled with hate. Many in the crowd agreed with those who oppose Penny Wong, our Foreign Minister, as she double talks about Israel and peace. 

How can we proclaim peace at this time?  

How will you proclaim peace?

Yes, tragedies are powerful, and PTSD is well documented. Can we find hope on 8 October? Can we find hope on 5 November? Can we find hope any day?

What will you do to make your world a better place?

Schmutz, Satan and a Saviour? (Zechariah chapter 3)

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

Chapter 3: Problems solved (Schmutz, Satan and a Saviour)

Given 5 May 2023

By Bob Mendelsohn

Sydney, Australia

Shalom and welcome to our class today. 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 21st Century people. 

As per usual, my 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 3 and then rejoin us. Thanks. Welcome back.

Let’s jump in. Today’s lesson is titled, “Problems solved (Schmutz, Satan and a Saviour)” This is vision #4 of the night visions of Zechariah, bunched here at the beginning of his prophecy. And it features, unlike the previous three which left us with a desire to go rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, a person. The man Joshua, not the military conqueror and apprentice of Moses of the Torah, but rather a man who lived in those days and was the High Priest. 

It makes sense to me that when we consider the rebuild of the Temple that we next have to move to the next major resource and that is, who will serve there? The personnel that will make the Temple a safe and sacred space. So, we zoom in on Joshua, the main man. 

The rabbis teach that Joshua had sons who married Gentile women and thus brought shame and this filth (the Hebrew is pointed; it’s excrement) onto their father’s priestly garments. Most Christian interpreters see the filth as the result of the sins of the entire populace of the Jewish people. But the angel seems to be showing a more localized problem. Joshua has schmutzik clothing, filthy, dirty, and only can be cleaned by the removal of sin. See verse 4. Sin removed; garments cleansed. Simple. Only there is a problem. 

The Satan, yes, there is a definite article in every use of Satan in the OT (except in 1 Chronicles 21.1). It’s his calling card, what’s on his CV, his main duty—to accuse. Oppose. Resist. Be the enemy. In this case, the court has a prosecuting attorney and that’s the role he takes here. Accuse. 

I don’t usually use Wikipedia for a reference guide, but this one is worth reading and noting. It’s from an article written at the end of the 19th century in France. The setting is the miscarriage of justice about Alfred Dreyfuss.

I quote it in almost its entirety.  

"J'Accuse...!" ( "I Accuse...!") is an open letter that was published on 13 January 1898 in the newspaper L'Aurore by Émile Zola in response to the Dreyfus affair. Zola addressed the President of France Félix Faure and accused his government of antisemitism and the unlawful jailing of Alfred Dreyfus, a French Army General Staff officer who was sentenced to lifelong penal servitude for espionage. Zola pointed out judicial errors and lack of serious evidence. The letter was printed on the front page of the newspaper and caused a stir in France and abroad. Zola was prosecuted for libel and found guilty a month later (on 23 February 1898.) To avoid imprisonment, he fled to England, returning home in June 1899.

Other pamphlets proclaiming Dreyfus's innocence include Bernard Lazare's A Miscarriage of Justice: The Truth about the Dreyfus Affair (November 1896). As a result of the popularity of the letter, even in the English-speaking world, J'accuse! has become a common expression of outrage and accusation against someone powerful, whatever the merits of the accusation.”

 

The reason I flashed back on that scene from 130 years ago is that I hear the word ‘accuse’ and most of us would see it as a legal term, as it is, and often in connection with Satan, we think it’s about wrong accusations. We remember Revelation chapter 12, and that Satan is introduced there again as “the accuser of the brethren.” (.10). And that we are able to ‘overcome’ the ministry of Satan by three things, “the blood of the Lamb, the word of our testimony, and not loving our life even when faced with death.”  But in both the injustice in the Dreyfuss affair and in the case of Joshua, the High Priest here, the accusations are accurate. So, we need to think rightly. The accusations are not misplaced, but well-placed. Even so, we need a fix, and thus we need a fixer. Schmutz can be overcome. Satan can be set down. How will that happen? We’ll get back to that.

Let’s talk a bit more about the Satan. He is a main player in the drama of the book of Job. There in chapters 1 and 2 he is introduced as able to stand in God’s presence and even carry on a conversation with the Almighty. He challenges the Lord and intimates that God is not playing fair. You might remember that story and that God takes Satan’s challenge and in the end, apparently Job and God win in the battle. 

Warren Wiersbe says this. “When Satan talks to us about God, he lies, but when he talks to God about us, he tells the truth.” (page 115) I like that. Satan is not a font of truth-telling. He seriously wants us to walk away from the Lord, AND he wants us to dismiss his own reality and his own personhood. 

Remember the book by CS Lewis called, “The Screwtape Letters?” There Lewis helps us see the inner workings of the Kingdom of Darkness and he highlights this in the preface where we read, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves (the devils) are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”

I love this quote also in Screwtape’s 7th letter to Wormwood, “I wonder you should ask me whether it is essential to keep the patient in ignorance about your own existence. …Our policy, for the moment, is to conceal ourselves. Of course, this has not always been so. We are really faced with a cruel dilemma. When human beings disbelieve in our existence, we lose all the pleasing results of direct terrorism, and we make no magicians. On the other hand, when they believe in us, we cannot make them materialists and sceptics - at least not yet.    I have great hopes that we shall learn in due course how to emotionalise and mythologise their science to such an extent that what is, in effect, a belief in us, (though not under that name), will creep in while the human mind remains closed to belief in the Enemy. The ‘Life Force’, the worship of sex, and some aspects of Psychoanalysis may here prove useful. If once we can produce our perfect work – the Materialist Magician, the man, not using, but veritably worshipping what he vaguely calls ‘Forces’ while denying the existence of ‘spirits’ – then the end of the war will be in sight. In the meantime we must obey our orders.    I do not think you will have much difficulty in keeping your patient in the dark. The fact that ‘devils’ are predominantly comic figures in the modern imagination will help you. If any faint suspicion of your existence begins to arise in his mind, suggest to him a picture of something in red tights, and persuade him that since he cannot believe in that (it is an old textbook method of confusing them) he therefore cannot believe in you.” (Screwtape Letters)

When I speak today about Satan, I don’t want you to miss the overreach of the two prongs that Lewis highlights. Either a complete dismissal of the spirit world and the Devil’s capacities or a complete overindulgence and obsession with its realities. Keep your mind of Yeshua, and don’t be unaware of Satan’s (that’s the Hebrew word; the Greek is diabolos (or Devil))devices. (For those watching this on YouTube, please check the manuscript (link in the notes of the show) and you will find a long list of Bible verses related to the Satan and what we are to know about him and the kingdom of darkness. Now, back to Joshua.

Joshua is schmutz-covered. He is guilty. The Jewish people are in Babylon as a true carriage of justice. We are wrong. The scene is not necessarily on Yom Kippur, but it reflects it, to be sure. The accusation is accurate. What are we to do? This vision doesn’t look good.

Verse 2: God Himself enters the courtroom. He doesn’t rid the court of Satan because he likes the Jewish people, but because He has chosen the Jewish people. He calls his own election to the witness stand as the defense attorney would do, and he rebukes the Satan. Begone, as Yeshua would later say, time and again. God’s choice of the Jewish people (Deut. 7.7, Psalm 33.12, 132.13, etc) is fixed. He cannot deny himself so he has to act on our behalf for his own name’s sake. And with whom are we left?

Joshua, Zechariah, the Lord, and some angels. But Joshua still has filthy garments. The angel of the Lord speaks in verse 4, “Remove” The action required both a removal of the problem and a fixing again of the place of Joshua in the camp of Israel. Removal and replacement. But verse 4 makes clear that removal of the clothing and the accompanying smell was only part of the problem. The rest is titled ‘sin’ (note: not sins). Removing clothing without taking away the iniquity is a half-done job. It’s the same issue a rabbi asked me to explain last week. I’ll get to that soon.

I wonder if you have walked past homeless people and noted an odor on some of them. Even if they have new garments given them from the Vinnies or the Talbot? That’s because they need a scrub themselves. New garments without a bath are almost a waste, almost. 

The angel of the Lord wants Joshua to get a good scrub. Inside. Then when iniquity is removed, then the new garments (even the new turban as Zechariah reminds them in the scene) make sense. The turban is part of the high priest’s garb (Exodus 28.36-38, 39.30-31) and cried “Holiness to the Lord.” In other words, the completion of the task brought glory again to the Lord, the Lord of mercy and election, the Lord of love and the Lord of hosts. 

Not only did he suffer accusation, and find the answer in the forgiveness and reclothing of the angel, but Zechariah’s vision gave assurance to him, to Joshua, and dare I say, to us as well. Remember our title today included schmutz, Satan and a saviour. 

Verse 5 includes the verb “admonish” and thus Joshua is charged to represent well the Lord who cleansed and appointed him. Verse 6, two ifs (protasis) and three thens (apodosis). If you walk and perform, then you will govern, have charge, and have good access (goings) among those standing here. By the way, note how many folks are standing and to whom or against whom they are doing so throughout this chapter. Satan always stands to accuse, yet the angel of the Lord stands to oppose, like J’accuse was made by Emile Zola or Bernard Lazare back in the 1890s. 

I’m here because someone stood up to the wiles and devices of the enemy of God, stood tall, declared the blood of the Lamb and got me to have a word of testimony. But I advance this thought too soon.

God promises through the angel of the Lord to Joshua that he will have three results of his two conditional actions. Walk in God’s ways and perform God’s service. Simple. The rabbis teach that he instructed his own sons to divorce foreign wives and go back to Jerusalem. That’s not so clear in this text. What is clear is that Joshua is being given a glimpse into the character of a gentle and lowly God who cares about us and will come to defend us when required.

Look at the fulfilment promise in verses 8 through 10. The accusation is answered by an Advocate, and he gives both an assurance in the moment and an announcement of what or rather who is to come. 

Verse 8. The men/ angels who are there at this vision #4 are a symbol. That means they represent something else. And in this case, God says, “I am going to bring in…” which speaks to the future. Beyond this moment with Joshua and the garments. There is something or someone more. What? Branch. My servant. A person of significance. Like Jeremiah predicted decades before. (23.5-6)

Jer. 23:5    “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, 

“When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; 

And He will reign as king and act wisely 

And ddo justice and righteousness in the land.

6  “In His days Judah will be saved, 

And Israel will dwell securely; 

And this is His name by which He will be called, 

‘The LORD our righteousness.’

This stick, this branch of Jeremiah, is Yahweh or Jehovah our righteousness. He’s not a junior in the company; he’s God himself. The restoration and the promises God made 70 years before under Jeremiah, these are renewed in the night vision of Zechariah here in chapter 3. The Branch is the hope of Israel. That’s the real hope. 

And like the late-night infomercial, wait, there’s more. Verse 9, I have set on one stone 7 eyes. That means a complete view. Nothing will be left out. Seven facets with the engraved inscription, and it’s a promise of land cleansing. The Branch, or in this 2nd picture, the Rock, will cleanse the land of iniquity. God did that in Yeshua a few hundred years later in his dying for us on the cross. Calvary is the fulfilment of this promise. And in that day, the day of the death of the Son of Man, verse 10, we can have peace and hope in our own land. Under our vine and fig tree, in the place we have been promised. The result of this forgiveness is a looking forward to the work of Branch and the Rock, two great titles of our Messiah, who will bring in everlasting righteousness.

Last week a rabbi asked me a question about peace and the promise of messiah. He told me that since there is no global peace that Yeshua could not be the messiah. That’s fairly simple. But I answered with the old fable of the invention of sandals in Mongolia. You can make the world a calm place, but if individuals don’t take this peace on board, there remains internal strife and conflict. Without individual peace, global peace is never going to happen. Messiah had to bring peace to people, one by one, and when we take him on board as Messiah and SAVIOUR from our own sins, then global peace can eventuate.

Giving out new clothing without cleansing us on the inside… that never takes away the problem. We need an inside wash, then the world will work well.

Under your own vine, and your own fig tree. Do you want that?

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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. Pray and receive Jesus as your Messiah and Saviour.

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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/

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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.

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ACTUAL TEXT

Zech. 3:1   Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. 2 The LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” 3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel. 4 He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes.” 5 Then I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the LORD was standing by.

Zech. 3:6   And the angel of the LORD admonished Joshua, saying, 7 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘If you will walk in My ways and if you will perform My service, then you will also govern My house and also have charge of My courts, and I will grant you free access among these who are standing here. 8 ‘Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you — indeed they are men who are a symbol, for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the Branch. 9 ‘For behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave an inscription on it,’ declares the LORD of hosts, ‘and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. 10 ‘In that day,’ declares the LORD of hosts, ‘every one of you will invite his neighbour to sit under his vine and under his fig tree.’”

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Other Bible references to The Devil:

Matt. 4:1   Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Matt. 4:5   Then the devil *took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple,

Matt. 4:8   Again, the devil *took Him to a very high mountain and *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory;

Matt. 4:11 Then the devil *left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.

Matt. 13:39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the 1end of the age; and the reapers are angels.

Matt. 25:41   “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;

Luke 4:2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry. 3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

Luke 4:6 And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and 1its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.

Luke 4:13   When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.

Luke 8:12 “Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved.

John 8:44 “aYou are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. dHe was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks 1a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of 2lies.

John 13:2 During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of bJudas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him,

Acts 10:38 “1You know of aJesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for dGod was with Him.

Acts 13:10 and said, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?

2Cor. 2:11 so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

Eph. 4:27 and do not give the devil 1an opportunity.

Eph. 6:11 aPut on the full armour of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

1Tim. 3:6 and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation 1incurred by the devil. 7 And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

2Tim. 2:26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been bheld captive 1by him to do his will.

Heb. 2:14   Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, bHe Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,

James 4:7 aSubmit therefore to God. bResist the devil and he will flee from you.

1Pet. 5:8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

1John 3:8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil 1has sinned from the beginning. bThe Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.

1John 3:10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.

Jude 9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “dThe Lord rebuke you!”

Rev. 2:10 ‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. 1Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Rev. 12:9 And the great adragon was thrown down, the bserpent of old who is called the devil and cSatan, who ddeceives the whole 1world; he was ethrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Rev. 12:12 “For this reason, arejoice, O heavens and byou who 1dwell in them. cWoe to the earth and the sea, because dthe devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only ea short time.”

Rev. 20:2 And he laid hold of the adragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bbound him for a thousand years;

Rev. 20:10 And athe devil who adeceived them was thrown into the blake of fire and 1brimstone, where the cbeast and the cfalse prophet are also; and they will be dtormented day and night forever and ever.

There is hope... based on Habakkuk 3

 “And yet: a story of hope” (Taken from Habakkuk 3)

A sermon given in Nashville

27 November 2022

 

OPENING ANNOUNCEMENT: On November’s Fourth Sunday, with global missions as a consideration, please remember my work among the Jewish people in Australia. This QR code-- if you shoot it from your phone will take you to a website that links Lockeland Springs, Jews for Jesus, and us, Bob and Patty Mendelsohn. I don’t know how those administrative folks make that happen, but I’m glad we can keep in touch with each other.  The church is already donating to help us in this season, so please do not feel any obligation to add to that.

I return to Sydney on Tuesday and get to work right away. Each week my team and I share significant times in our outreach book shop and in the homes and offices with Jewish contacts. We unpack the story of our Messiah, his death and burial, the resurrection and his soon return. It’s a joy to report of men and women making public profession of their faith. I’ll do my best to update you as often as you’d like to hear. 

If you’d like to donate, that’s always welcome, and for those who prefer to fill out a paper form, I even have some of those with me. 

When you pray for Patty and me, for the team back in Sydney, please pray for us to keep our eyes on the Lord of hope, as Thursday begins our summer outreach. Your being with us in partnership is something I would never take for granted. Thanks for listening to me today. 

Thanks for listening to God today. 

Thanks for sharing God’s awesome love and hope, to the Jew first, and also to all the Gentiles of Middle Tennessee.  

SERMON

A very hearty thank you to Pastor David and Nic and to their family, to Charley and her bands, to the staff including Alec, Miller, Sarah, Brooke, and Kiefer and all who make The Church at Lockeland Springs such a great place here in East Nashville. Our mission here is to engage the whole person with the whole gospel of Yeshua the Messiah, anywhere, anytime, and why not today?

This is of course, Thanksgiving weekend, which includes the most travelled day in the US every year, and after Thursday night, the time when people bought more products on Black Friday and when Amazon makes enough money to pay for all their ads, they smile at us all the rest of the year. And a good time for us to remember to be thankful. 

Today some say, is also the beginning of Advent, so to each of you and for those who might join in the celebration of Advent, may this season be full of joy and hope for you in knowing the living God. A season for anticipation, of getting ready to receive the promise yet again, and in the historic mainline church, a time to anticipate the 2^nd coming of Messiah as well. Come, thou long expected Jesus.

Today is also the Fourth Sunday of the month when here at The Church at Lockeland Springs, we focus on global mission. As a missionary to Australia the last 25 years of my life, I appreciate that focus, even today.

So many events and notices to highlight, but I also want to bring to conclusion the study of the Jewish prophet Habakkuk whom you have been considering the last two weeks here. 

In the last two weeks, David has told us about lament, the prayer he has offered to God 1,000 times, he said. Lament is when Habakkuk has this frustrated and yet faith-filled conversation. A conversation, mind you, and not a monologue. A conversation, not a lecture from heaven. It reminds me of the personal chats the fictional character Tevye had with God. If you remember the Broadway show or the movie “Fiddler on the Roof”, or you ever read the stories by author Shalom Aleichem involving Tevye the milkman, you would have met this Jewish man living in the Russian shtetl, the little village of Anatevka. His life was hard; the anti-Semitism of the local constable and the townspeople was palpable and painful; Tevye’s poverty overwhelming. No wonder he had so much to say, and he did say, in scenes like this one

https://youtu.be/RBHZFYpQ6nc

Poverty; it’s no great honour either. I love the relationship Tevye had with the Almighty, and maybe you have experienced this example of prayer as well. Some of you will remember the account in Genesis (chapter 18) when Abraham negotiated with God—trying to prevent of judgment of fire and brimstone falling on Sodom and Gomorrah. 

That scene started with this statement. “Abraham was still standing before the LORD. Abraham came near and said, ‘Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?’ Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?” (Genesis 18.22-24) 

 

Note this. Abraham was standing before the Lord. He had his relationship firm and stood his ground. This is not defiance; this is Abraham, the friend of God. (James 2.23) And what was God’s response to the question of the 50?

“If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place on their account.” (18.26)   

In other words, yes, I agree with your request. This is the type of conversation I’m speaking of. Honest. Personal. A moment later perhaps, Abraham drops the threshold to 45. (.28) Again God approved of the new negotiation. And the contract’s data continued to be downgraded to 40, then 30, 20, and finally 10.  

That’s the kind of prayer, the kind of conversation that God is hoping to have with us, during Advent, or after your parent-teacher conference at school, or when your company sends you a pink slip and you won’t have a job in 2023… God wants to be with you, to speak with you, to love on you. That day, and throughout your days. 

With that in mind, let’s turn to Habakkuk chapter 3, and see what this one chapter has to say to us, now 2500 years after originally given to the people of Judah, in the uncertain times of 6^th century BCE, in our uncertain times of COVID and beyond. 

“A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.” (3.1)  

Verse 1: A prayer of the prophet. We are used to prophecies coming from a prophet, but a prayer? Now we are talking. And you and I are learning what it takes to be a significant spokesman for God’s people in our days. Prayer. 

           “LORD, I have heard the report about you, and I fear. O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make it known.  In wrath remember mercy.” (3.2) 

Verse 2: I heard, and I fear. I take you seriously. God, you are not a once-a-week, Sunday 10:30 AM only deity. You have spoken and I’m listening. What is the report? For that I’ll only reference his contemporary Jeremiah and tell you that the report includes a promise of the Babylonian conquest. This takes place around 586 BCE. For Jewish people this is a watershed moment in our history and a terrible blight in that history. Remember in the genealogy of Yeshua, recorded in Matthew chapter 1, we read of three sections of Jewish history. “From Abraham to David, from David to the exile, and from the exile to Messiah.” (Matthew 1.17)  Great person to great person, then great person to a horrible event, then from that event to Messiah. Messiah? After the captivity? Seems that, no matter what or how bad things turn, God seems to have a “And yet…” up his sleeve. There is hope. Somehow.

That horrible event-- the capture of our people from the land of Judah and the destruction of the Holy Temple by Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans/ Babylonians-- defined Jewish people for generations. It’s the “Where were you when Kennedy was shot?” event. It’s the “What were you doing on 9/11?” question. That’s what the captivity in Babylon was for the Jewish people for hundreds of years. 

The promise given to Jeremiah (Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10) is God’s judgment based on three things, according to the rabbis. Our sins of adultery, idolatry and murder were the cause of the judgment. 

When you think of promises, you probably don’t think of that one. You think of God’s promise to be with you always, to the end of the age. Or you might think of the promise that if we lack wisdom, we can ask of God who will give it to us without rebuke. Or how about the promise of eternal life for each person who believes in Jesus, no matter the depth of sins we have committed. 

But God’s promise, or as it says in verse 2 ‘the report’ causes Habakkuk to fear. He believes that Jeremiah is correct. He believes that the Jewish people will be in captivity for the next 70 years or more. But listen to his clear hope, and you hear hope several times in Habakkuk 3… verse 2, “in wrath remember mercy.”

Asking God to remember something is what Abraham felt comfortable doing with Sodom and Gomorrah. It’s what Tevye felt comfortable doing in “Fiddler.” It’s what Habakkuk is asking with faith. Without faith, it’s impossible to please God. With faith, we have the victory. NOT the victory of beating the Babylonians. Not the victory of seeing our homeland in a decade or two. But the victory that our grandchildren will live in Judah again. The victory that we can have confidence in the living God to be with us, in captivity and in our home. In our failings and in our victories. 

Listen to the Apostle Paul remind us of this same word, in Romans chapter 8, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (Verse 35)

Do you hear the apostle shouting,”NOT ON YOUR LIFE!” All these things are real and worrisome at times, AND YET reality is above all these issues, all these troubles. Those troubles are real, but God is MORE REAL. He continues with the famous ending of Romans 8.

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8.38-39)  

Remember mercy. 

The rabbis teach that God has two hands, the right hand of mercy, the left hand of judgment. And “mercy triumphs over judgment.” (James 2.13) Remember in Jesus’ story, the goats are on the left, sheep on the right. I’m not telling you this to help with your seating arrangements for Christmas dinner, or to make you shake your head about Thanksgiving seating, but to let you in this priority system in God’s character. Yes, he’s the God of justice. Yes, he will bring Judah to her knees in the Babylonian conquest. AND YET… there is something greater. Mercy will triumph over judgment. After 70 years, not two weeks, not a couple of losing seasons, but after 70 full years, mercy will triumph. “If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.” (2 Timothy 2.13)

A comment about that word we heard three times in our reading today. The word is ‘selah.’ End of verses 3, 9, and 13. It means that in a public or even private reading, one should pause, ponder, wonder, and listen deeply in your spirit. Don’t rush. Wait for it. Remember in chapter 2 last week, 

“For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay.” (2.3)

 

Waiting is something with which we all struggle. When you are on hold with a company’s telephone, and someone comes on and says, “thank you for waiting patiently” I wonder if they are talking with me. Me? Patient? Ha! Waiting, I’ll give you that, but patient? I’m working on that one. 

Selah reminds me to drink deeply of the text. Selah tells me to wait for the information to sink inside me. 

The major text today is found in the final section we read. Verses 16 and following: “I heard and my inward parts trembled, at the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, and in my place I tremble because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, For the people to arise who will invade us. For though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in the LORD,  I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord GOD is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, and makes me walk on my high places.” (3.16-19)  

His fear is apparent. His trembling and the sound of his lips is quivering. Life in the Habakkuk household is stressed. He knows what is coming; he knows the end is near. He is not wearing a sandwich sign, no END OF THE WORLD language, but he sees the proverbial handwriting on the wall. The Babylonians are coming. We are losing. 

You would think the summary of his views, near the end of this little book in the Bible would be hopeless. “Oh well, let’s get on with it. I’m consigned to my lot.” Mighty Casey has just struck out. Day of distress. People will invade us. It’s all there. 

Habakkuk summarises the setting. The agriculture—gone. Fig tree? No blossom. Vines? No fruit. Olive’s yield? Zilch/ failure. Flock? Cut off from the main herd. No crops; no cattle or sheep. Ruin. Emptiness. He is probably going into a blues club, down to the basement, and start digging holes. The end is near. 

Listen. Selah. Listen. Ponder. Pause. Listen.

“yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord GOD is my strength, and He has made my feet like…”

WHAT? You’ve got to be kidding! He says, I will exult in the Lord. I will rejoice” He’s got to be joking. He’s got to be high on something. Nobody rejoices when things are so bad. Do they? 

Do they?

You bet they do. That’s what the people of Hebrews 11 represent. They believed God when faith was a joke to everyone else. Chapter one of Habakkuk showed the Chaldeans laughing in mockery at the defences of all who tried to withstand them, like the Texans trying to stop Derek Henry.  (1.10)

Faith though, sees beyond the natural. Faith sees the end of the drought. Faith sees the time 70 years down the road when the people of Judah can go back home, delivered from Babylon. Faith for the Hebrews in Egypt saw 300 years ahead when Moses delivered us. Many Jewish prophets like Isaiah and Micah saw even further, hundreds of years ahead and expected the Messiah to come, in Bethlehem, in Judah, no matter what the Babylonians would cause in Habakkuk’s days. They saw a virgin having a son who would be the hope of Israel. They saw by faith, for there was nothing else in view that would give them hope. And their ruthless faith in the God of Hope gave them joy; they saw the Advent of the Messiah, and they believed. They saw his healings and his salvation, and they rejoiced.

Faith sees beyond the natural. The natural man can see the fig tree and no production. The natural man can see no fruit on the vines. But the woman and the man of faith can still shout, “Yet will I exult in the Lord.” 

They and they alone can sing, “Come thou long expected Jesus.” 

Have you joined their chorus? Have you looked beyond your 401K to the God of all provision? Have you seen the world’s uncertainty and pretended it isn’t there, or have you looked to the Real One above the realities of homelessness and sadness? Is Jesus your Lord and Saviour? Are you calling on him to be your long-expected One in your days this weekend, even today? If you’d like to pray, a simple prayer, a prayer of professing who He is, Lord of Hope, Saviour even of your world, then join me.

SAMPLE PRAYER:

God, eternal God, who is not shaken when the world shakes, thank you for helping me see you beyond my circumstances. Help me to trust you, honestly, and to surrender to you. Even now. And give me gratitude to shout, “I exult in you” “I rejoice in you.” For you have done great things. 

 

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Actual full text:

Hab. 3:1   A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth. :2   LORD, I have heard the report about You and I fear. 

            O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years, 

            In the midst of the years make it known; 

            In wrath remember mercy.

Hab. 3:3            God comes from Teman, 

            And the Holy One from Mount Paran.  Selah. 

            His splendour covers the heavens, 

            And the earth is full of His praise.

⁴           His radiance is like the sunlight. 

            He has rays flashing from His hand, 

            And there is the hiding of His power.

⁵           Before Him goes pestilence, 

            And plague comes after Him.

⁶           He stood and surveyed the earth. 

            He looked and startled the nations. 

            Yes, the perpetual mountains were shattered, 

            The ancient hills collapsed. 

            His ways are everlasting.

⁷           I saw the tents of Cushan under distress, 

            The tent curtains of the land of Midian were trembling.

Hab. 3:8            Did the LORD rage against the rivers, 

            Or was Your anger against the rivers, 

            Or was Your wrath against the sea, 

            That You rode on Your horses, 

            On Your chariots of salvation?

⁹           Your bow was made bare, 

            The rods of chastisement were sworn.  Selah. 

            You cleaved the earth with rivers.

¹⁰          The mountains saw You and quaked. 

            The downpour of waters swept by. 

            The deep uttered forth its voice, 

            It lifted high its hands.

¹¹          Sun and moon stood in their places. 

            They went away at the light of Your arrows, 

            At the radiance of Your gleaming spear.

¹²          In indignation You marched through the earth. 

            In anger You trampled the nations.

¹³          You went forth for the salvation of Your people, 

            For the salvation of Your anointed. 

            You struck the head of the house of the evil 

            To lay him open from thigh to neck.  Selah.

¹⁴          You pierced with his own spears 

            The head of his throngs. 

            They stormed in to scatter us. 

            Their exultation was like those 

            Who devour the oppressed in secret.

¹⁵          You trampled on the sea with Your horses, 

            On the surge of many waters.

 

Hab. 3:16          I heard, and my inward parts trembled, 

            At the sound my lips quivered. 

            Decay enters my bones, 

            And in my place, I tremble. 

            Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, 

            For the people to arise who will invade us.

¹⁷          Though the fig tree should not blossom 

            And there be no fruit on the vines, 

            Though the yield of the olive should fail 

            And the fields produce no food, 

            Though the flock should be cut off from the fold 

            And there be no cattle in the stalls,

¹⁸          Yet I will exult in the LORD, 

            I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.

¹⁹          The Lord GOD is my strength, 

            And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, 

            And makes me walk on my high places. 

            For the choir director, on my stringed instruments.