SING FOR JOY BECAUSE GOD IS DWELLING WITH US! Zechariah 2:10-13

Good morning, and welcome to our fourth Advent service here at Dillingham Moravian Church.

My name is Pastor Simon. May we grow in our faith-filled anticipation of Christ's

birth as we study God's Word together.

A number of months ago, my wife Abigail ordered a new microwave off of Amazon

because our old one is in bad condition as a result of two separate occasions

involving a flaming potato,

and a charred bag of popcorn.

I can tell you one thing, it wasn't Abigail or I that did that.

The first microwave that Abigail ordered went to someplace unknown to mankind,

and the second one got to Dillingham, but due to it being addressed to Amazon

instead of to us, it was sent back to Shipper.

If we're ever to get a new microwave, we will be especially joyful to see it

since it's taken so long to arrive.

I share these details with you to demonstrate that waiting is a part of life,

especially out here in Bush, Alaska.

You see, when we wait for something that we eagerly are anticipating,

our waiting causes us to have more delight and joy when it finally arrives.

For us as believers in Christ, our joy comes not from receiving gifts,

but from knowing and celebrating that Jesus Christ, God-made flesh,

has chosen to dwell with His people. Let's pray.

Oh, Heavenly Father, it is such a joy and privilege to be able to be in your presence,

but we know that we could never have been in your presence had it not been for

your Son's sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection.

Thank you so much for what you've done in Him and through Him and the Holy Spirit. Thank you.

Help us, O Lord, as we go to your Word. grant us

your right understanding your right wisdom lord so that we can apply and know

the truth that you are teaching us and be able to live them out for the glory

of you always in your precious son's name jesus christ i pray amen.

The Lord foretold through Zechariah in Zechariah 2, 10-13.

Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I am coming,

and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord.

Many nations will join themselves, the Lord, in that day and will become my people.

Then I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.

The Lord will possess Judah as his portion in the Holy Land and will again choose Jerusalem.

Be silent all flesh before the Lord, for he is aroused from his holy habitation.

This morning I want to point out to you three essential truths of great joy

that God through Zechariah is teaching us as we're looking forward to celebrating

the birth of our Savior Lord.

The first joyful truth that I want to bring to your attention is that as Christians

we are to sing for joy and be glad because God has come to dwell with us.

This past week, I had the privilege of going to see the elementary school Christmas

concert, in which my six-year-old Paul sang in.

Now, there was definitely different levels of skill in singing,

but that was not the point of the concert.

Rather, the goal was that the children were singing joyfully,

celebrating the Christmas season.

My point is that similar to Paul and the other elementary kids singing joyfully

with a loud cry, Zechariah was prophesying

that the people of Israel would loudly sing for joy to the Lord.

Zechariah 2, verse 10 proclaimed, Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion,

Zechariah 2:10

for behold, I am coming, and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord.

The Lord proclaimed in verse 10 that the people of Jerusalem,

or the daughter of Zion, or of Israel, will sing and shout for joy and be glad.

The word that Zechariah used for sing for joy meant loud and joyful cries.

There will be such loud and joyful cries from the people of Jerusalem and they

will be glad or truly happy.

They will burst into song due to the joy in their hearts.

The question is, where is this true joy and happiness and song going to come from?

Please listen to this and keep it in your hearts and minds.

Joyful song and godly happiness is a result of God dwelling with His people

and His people knowing that God is with them.

There are two events included in this prophecy that God will come down and dwell

or abide with His people.

The first event was fulfilled in the first advent or coming of Jesus Christ.

The Lord, or Yahweh, who is the ever-living, unchangeable, only God of the universe,

who has created all things and who is the only source of redemption and salvation,

had come down and invaded human existence by dwelling and living with His people

as a human being Himself,

fully God and fully human.

As John, in John 1, verse 14, wrote, The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

John 1:14

In Matthew 1, verse 22-23, Matthew recorded, Now all this took place to fulfill

Matthew 1:22–23

what was spoken by the Lord to the prophet.

Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a son,

and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which translated means God with us.

Today, we are singing out our hearts for joy, are we not?

Why? We have joy because God Almighty, the creator of all things,

came down to earth as a baby to grow up, live amongst his people in the flesh as a human being.

God did this in order that he may die on the cross as the only acceptable sacrifice

as both holy God and man, to pay the debt of blood that the guilt of our sin

caused us to pay, but could not pay ourselves.

Jesus is God with us so that He could pay the debt from our sin to make us right

with God and have a relationship with Him.

God in Christ Jesus is not just God in the heavens, but one who became man and

knows the frailties of our human body, the sickness and pain.

He knows what it means to suffer in, which He joyfully carried the greatest

suffering on our behalf.

He is God with us who understands just how weak we are in the face of temptation.

As believers through the Holy Spirit, Christ Almighty God dwells with us always.

We are not alone. His presence is always with us.

And this is what God was telling the Jews through Zechariah.

That through their trials and through their waiting for God to rescue them from

captivity to Babylon, they were not alone.

Own, that He, God, was present with them, and God in Christ is present with us as well.

And this is where our joyful song and true happiness comes from.

Paul in Philippians chapter 4, verse 4 taught, Rejoice.

Philippians 4:4

Again, I say rejoice. Let your gentleness or reasonableness be known to all.

And the question is, why are we able to rejoice? Look what Paul says next. The Lord is near.

That in the midst of cancer and sickness, in the midst of sorrow and grief over

a loved one who has passed away, in the midst of temptations to sin and turn

away from God, in the midst of the trials and challenges of parenting,

in the midst of being a child, especially going to school nowadays,

with the possibility of bullying or other challenges in your school,

in the midst of the trials of work, in the midst of any hardship,

God is with us.

He is with you. And I want you to notice that our gentleness or reasonableness

is not just a witness to others.

Being gentle and reasonable in all times, including trials, is evidence that

we are truly rejoicing in Christ and living in the truth that God is near.

The question we need to ask is, are we believing and trusting and obeying God

in order to be in the presence of God as He is now dwelling with us?

And the second joy in Micah's prophecy that I want to show you is that many

nations will join to the Lord and become His people.

Zechariah 2 verse 11 continued on.

Zechariah 2:11

Many nations will join themselves to the Lord in that day and will become my people.

God through Zechariah prophesied that many nations would join to the Lord and

become part of believing Israel.

The question is why? Because God is and will be present with his people.

This prophecy is the future hope of when Christ physically returns,

but it is also being fulfilled now.

As Christ dwells with us and we dwell with him, people are drawn to become part of the kingdom of God.

You see, it's not just the message of the gospel of salvation that brings people

to be part of the kingdom, but the very presence of God with us that does the growing of his kingdom.

People are drawn to God with us.

People are drawn to God in us. And one day God will be with us physically and

the nations will flock to God and give up their false gods and find their hope

in the only one and true living God, Jesus Christ.

The third source of our joy is that Christ will one day come and rule over the earth from Jerusalem.

Joy comes from knowing that Christ will return to dwell with His people.

I know I've used this illustration before, but around 10 years ago,

a wonderful little foster boy came to live with us, and he hasn't left.

Jamal was between 10 and 11 years old when he came to us, and now he is 20.

The years have flown by fast, haven't they?

And as with all our children, we've had our ups and downs over the years,

but Jamal has grown into a fine young man who does a good job here in Dillingham,

and he's living responsibly.

We're thankful to the Lord for Jamal, and we look forward to what God will do

in and through him in the future.

And I share this with you because in Christ, through His sacrificial death on

the cross and His resurrection, and by the Holy Spirit, we as Christ believers

are now physically in the presence of God, and Christ is spiritually dwelling in us.

But we are not fully and physically in Christ's presence yet.

There is still the most marvelous joy that we have not experienced yet.

That joy is the joy of God in Christ physically living with His people forever.

The Lord through Zechariah proclaimed, Then I will dwell in your midst,

and you will know the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.

The Lord will possess Judah as his portion in the Holy Land and will again choose Jerusalem.

The third focus of this passage is the future joy-filled hope that God Almighty

Jesus Christ will overthrow all rule and power,

and Christ will set up His kingdom on earth, and He will be enthroned and live in Jerusalem.

We see this in Zechariah 2, verse 12, as Zechariah prophesied that the Lord

Zechariah 2:12

will possess Judah as His portion in the Holy Land, and will again choose Jerusalem.

Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 9, verse 6 through 7,

Isaiah 9:6–7

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government

will rest upon his shoulders, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor,

Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

There will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace on the throne

of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and uphold it with justice and righteousness.

And from then on and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord will accomplish this.

I want you to be aware of the relationship between the Lord increasing the nation's

joy because this light has dawned and the child being born unto them who is

God and who is prophesied to rule the world.

Israel's joy will be increased because God would be born as a child and dwell

in their midst as he rules.

Let's look at Isaiah 52, verses 7-10.

Isaiah 52:7–10

How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news,

who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation

and says to Zion, your God reigns.

Listen, your watchmen lift up their voices.

And here it is. They shout joyfully together for they will see with their own

eyes when the Lord restores Zion. Break forth.

Shout joyfully together, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted

His people. He has redeemed Jerusalem.

The Lord has barred His holy arm in the sight of all the nations,

that all the ends of the earth may see the salvation of our God.

Do you notice that the watchmen, those who have been faithfully waiting and

preparing for the coming of the Christ, they lift up their voices in shouts of joy?

Why? Because they have seen with their own eyes the return of the Lord.

Jerusalem bursts into songs of joy because the Lord has redeemed and comforted

His people by returning and coming to live with them.

As the people of God, we can sing for joy and live with joy because we have

hope in Christ that He will return and He will make all things new.

Christ will be seated on the throne. He will rule over the whole world,

and Christ will be our joy forever.

The Almighty Lord of the universe, whom we've been watching and waiting for, will be coming.

You see, biblical hope is different than human hope. Human hope are synonymous

with our dreams and desires for the future.

Biblical hope is based on the absolute reality of God Almighty,

who is the only one like himself, who is always living and who always keeps his promises,

biblical hope is more certain than any bank or government on earth.

And as believers in Christ, are we actively watching for the Lord's return?

Are we preparing for the Lord's return by sharing the good news of the gospel?

Are we living obedient to God's word so that we are ready when he returns?

I want to encourage you that while life can be hard, and there are challenges

in our families and works, society is rapidly turning against Christianity.

Maybe you're sick and homebound. You often cannot get out of the house.

Yet our joy is not to be found in our circumstances, but in our relationship

with Christ Jesus and in the dual hope that we have in Him now and in Christ's future return.

What is it that God, through Zechariah, is teaching us today?

There is a lot of pressure from companies, media, and advertising at this time

of year to buy more for ourselves and others.

And that somehow our buying and consuming will make us happier.

Yet God teaches us that true happiness comes from having God in Jesus Christ with us.

This was always the message in the purpose of the gospel, that God did not stay

in heaven, but he came to earth to be born as a human being in that stable over

2,000 years ago, so that he,

the Savior Jesus Christ, would die on the cross and rise again so that God would

once again dwell with His people.

God in Jesus Christ will return to dwell with us, and our joy in Him will be complete.

I want to encourage you all this Advent season.

No matter the trials and stresses of our lives, if you are a Christ believer,

God is with you, and He dwells with you.

This is why we sing our hearts out for joy this morning.

Our Savior your God has come to dwell with us, and He will come again.

And if you are here or watching on live stream today, and you have never put

your faith in Christ as your only Lord,

I strongly encourage you to do so even now so that you too can have God Almighty, Christ Jesus,

living by the Spirit in you, so that you too can have the certain hope that

you will be part of His universal Church, the people of God whom Christ will

return to live with forever. Let's pray.

Father God, we thank you for the privilege and joy it is to hear from you in your word.

Thank you that we have the marvelous opportunity to love you and to serve you

and to be able to abide in your presence based on what your Son,

Jesus Christ, has done on the cross in his love for us.

Oh, Father, we are so grateful.

And Lord, as we go on our week and as we continue to anticipate the celebration

of Christmas here really soon, may we trust in you by faith in the Son of God

who loved us and gave himself up for us.

May your will be done, Lord. We praise you and bless you. In your precious Son's

name, Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.

I'll leave you with a blessing from Romans 15, verse 13. May the God of hope

Romans 15:13

fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy

Spirit, you may abound in hope.

Have a wonderful Sunday, and Merry Christmas.