The Wait for Joy: Anticipating Christ's Presence - Zech 2:10-13

Good morning. It is our privilege and joy here at Dillingham Moravian Church

to be able to lead you in the study of God's Word.

My name is Pastor Simon, and here at Dillingham Moravian Church,

our mission is to make disciples of Christ as we shine the light of God's Word

throughout Bristol Bay, Southwest Alaska, and beyond.

This past December, my wife Abigail and I have been waiting for some gifts to arrive.

As many of you know, that it does take a long time for us here in Bush,

Alaska to get the gifts that we ordered.

We had ordered some gifts from Amazon's Black Friday sale, and we just barely

got our gifts for Christmas.

I was especially in anticipation of receiving the gift that I ordered from my

wife, Abigail, for our anniversary.

Thankfully, those gifts arrived in time, or at least most of them did.

Well, we were in Canada this past October, and I ordered a gift for my brother

and his wife, and I ordered it one afternoon.

Then I was amazed that the next morning, the package was waiting outside the door.

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

especially out here in Bush, Alaska.

You see, when we wait for something that we're eagerly 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,

we are so thankful that you had chosen to send your Son, Jesus Christ,

to earth as God made flesh, to dwell and live amongst your people, Israel,

to live, to teach, to die on the cross, to be the blood sacrifice on our behalf,

so that we may have life, so that we can now be in your presence and have salvation in you.

Thank you, Father. Lord, we thank you that your Son has risen from the dead,

breaking the power of death and sin, and declaring exactly who he is as God and Lord.

Lord, as we go to your Word, teach us, guide us, show us, because we cannot

understand your Word without your power and your loving strength.

In your precious Son's name, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

The book of Zechariah began after 70 years of Judah being in captivity to Babylon.

And the rebuilding of God's temple in Jerusalem was just the beginning.

The Lord spoke to the prophet Zechariah and declared that he,

the Lord, had been angry with Israel and Judah for their sins.

For the people of Judah responded to God's discipline of them and then repented.

They turned their ways back to the Lord.

And as a result of Judah's repentance, God would return the people back to Jerusalem,

rebuild the temple of God, and prosperity would return to Judah and Israel.

God foretold that he would lead his people out of captivity in Babylon and back to Judah.

Even as the Lord's mercy would extend to his people, the Lord's wrath would

come upon the nations who were complacent in their lack of worshiping the Lord.

And this is where we come to our passage today in Zechariah chapter 2.

Zechariah 2 · chapter mention

The Lord foretold through Zechariah in Zechariah chapter 2, verse 10 through 13.

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 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.

I'd like to point out three essential truths that God, through Zechariah,

is teaching us today and always.

The first timeless 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.

One morning, a few weeks ago, I was driving our five-year-old Paul to school

after we had dropped Jonathan off at his school.

When I looked in the mirror behind me to see what little Paul was up to.

Now, I have to say, I always have to keep an eye on what Paul is doing,

even if he's supposed to be strapped in his chair in the car.

Well, this particular time, Paul, at the top of his lungs, was singing with

great joyfulness and great loudness his favorite sea shanty about a whaling

ship that was towed by a whale for 40 days.

Of course, Paul did not stop singing this song when we arrived at Head Start,

but rather he continued to sing his song to his teachers and the other students,

and then the other students began to join in.

My point is that, similar to Paul 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,

Zechariah 2:10

O daughter of Zion, 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.

They will be truly happy. They will burst out into song due to the joy in their hearts.

And 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 genuine happiness is a result of God dwelling or living with His people.

Now, 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 coming or the first advent of Jesus Christ.

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

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

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

people as a human being Himself,

fully God and fully man.

As John in John 1.14 wrote, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

In Matthew 1.22-23, Matthew recorded, "Now all this took place to fulfill what

was spoken by the Lord through the prophet.

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

and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which translates, God with us.

We are singing out our hearts for joy today, are we not?

Why? Because God Almighty, the Creator of all things, came to earth as a baby

to grow up, live among 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 as fully man, fully human, to pay the debt of blood that

the guilt of our sin caused us to pay, but we could not pay for ourselves.

Christ Jesus is God with us so that he could pay the debt from our sins to make

us right with God and so that we can have a relationship with him.

God in Christ Jesus is not just God in the heavens up there,

but one who became a man and knows the frailty of our human body to sickness and pain.

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

of all time 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, you and I, are not alone. His presence is always with us.

And this is what God was telling the Jews, that through their trials and through

their waiting for God to rescue them from captivity to Babylon, they were not alone.

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 4, verse 4 taught, Rejoice, again I say rejoice,

Philippians 4:4

let your gentleness or reasonableness be known to all. Why?

Because the Lord is near. That in the midst of cancer, in the midst of sickness,

in the midst of sorrow and grief over the loss of loved ones who have passed away.

In the midst of temptations to sin and desire to turn away from God.

In the midst of the trials and challenges of parenting.

In the midst of the challenges of being a child. And there are challenges to being children.

In the midst of challenges of work and school.

In the midst of any hardship.

God is with you. God is with us.

I want you to notice that our gentleness or reasonableness is not just a witness

to others, but being gentle and reasonable at all times, including trials,

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

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

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

The second event in Micah's prophecy was that many nations will join to the

Lord and become his people.

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

and become part of the believing Israel.

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

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

but it's 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.

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.

One day, God will be with us physically, and the nations will flock to God,

give up their false gods, and find their hope in the one true and living God, Jesus Christ.

This is the heart of missions and ministry, that over 2,000 years ago,

God didn't stay in heaven, but he descended to earth and became flesh,

lived as a human being amongst his people, Israel.

Now, God in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is dwelling in us through his spirit, the spirit of God.

And one day Christ will physically dwell with his people and he will rule the world.

As humans, we are physically incapable of impacting the world for Christ without

Christ dwelling with us.

Paul wrote in Galatians 2, verse 20, I have been crucified with Christ.

Galatians 2:20

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

This life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved

me and gave himself up for me.

If we as Christ believers wish to be making an impact for Christ,

then we need to be surrendering control over our old self and dying to our own

wants and desires and letting Christ have control as we obey His commands.

Jesus promised in John chapter 15 that if we're obeying Christ as we trust in

John 15 · chapter mention

His love, then God Almighty will make His home in us.

And what is the promise? He will give us His joy and He'll be to the overflowing.

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!

Around eight years ago, a wonderful little foster boy came to live with us, and he hasn't left yet.

Jamal was about 11 years old when he came to us, and now he is 19.

The years have flown by, haven't they? As with all children,

we've had our ups and downs over the years, but Jamal has grown into a fine

young man who has a good job here in Dillingham, and he's living responsibly.

We are so thankful, Lord, for Jamal, and we look forward to what God will do

in and through him in the future.

I share this little testimony with you because in Christ, through his sacrificial

death on the cross, we are now positionally by the Holy Spirit in the presence

of God, but we're not fully and physically in Christ's presence yet.

There is a marvelous joy that we have not yet experienced.

And that joy is the joy of God in Christ, physically living or dwelling with his people forever.

The Lord through Zechariah proclaimed, 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.

The second focus of this passage is that God Almighty, Jesus Christ,

will overthrow all rule and power.

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 9, verse 6-7 proclaimed, For a child will be born to us,

Isaiah 9:6–7

a son will be given to us, and the government will rest on 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,

or on the throne of David or over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold

it with justice and righteousness. this, and from then on and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

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

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

God and has 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 chapter 52, verse 7 through 10.

Isaiah 52:7–10

How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings the 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. 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 bared His holy arm in the sight of all 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,

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

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

Jerusalem burst into song because the Lord has redeemed and comforted his people.

This is another great source of joy and an additional reason why we as the people

of God sing for 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 and rule over the whole world,

and Christ will be our joy.

He who we've been eagerly watching and waiting for will be coming.

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,

loving the people around us in Jesus' name?

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

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

in our families and work, Society is rapidly turning against Christianity.

Maybe you are sick and homebound and you often cannot get out of your 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? There is so much pressure

from companies and medias and advertising to buy more for ourselves and others.

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 and 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

could once again dwell with His people.

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

I want to encourage you today that no matter the trials and stresses of your

life, if you are a Christ believer, one who is saved by the grace of God,

as you responded to Him in faith, God is with you!

He dwells within you!! And this is why we sing our hearts out for joy.

Because our Savior God has come to dwell with us.

And He will come again. Let's pray.

Father, we are so so grateful and joyful that you have sent your Son,

Jesus Christ, to be born as a little baby,

God made flesh to live and dwell amongst human beings, your people of Israel,

so that he could die on that cross and be the sacrifice in our stead that we couldn't pay.

Thank you for him rising to dead and ascending to be with you forever.

Lord, we are so looking for it when he returns and comes back and liberates all your people.

Lord, we love you. Please help us to love you more.

In your precious Son's name, Jesus Christ, we pray in the power of the Spirit. Amen.

I leave you with this blessing from Romans 15, verse 13.

Romans 15:13

May the God of hope 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. May the Lord bless you.