3rd Sunday Of Advent, Year C. Series

Zephaniah 3:14-20, Isaiah 12:2-6, Philippians 4:4-7, Luke 3:7-18.

A). A CALL TO REJOICE.

Zephaniah 3:14-20.

Eight out of the nine oracles in the little book of Zephaniah announce God’s just judgment of all the earth (Zephaniah 1:2-3; Zephaniah 3:8); and the just judgment of the LORD their covenant God against Judah and Jerusalem in particular (Zephaniah 1:4).

However, in the ninth oracle (Zephaniah 3:14-20), we discover that the God of justice and judgment is also the God of forgiveness and hope. He is our King, the LORD in the midst of us (Zephaniah 3:15). He is our incarnate Saviour who, in His love, rejoices over us (Zephaniah 3:17).

This song of rejoicing is not only one in which the people of the LORD are exhorted to raise their voices (Zephaniah 3:14), but also one in which the LORD Himself participates. The covenant LORD “rejoices” over the remnant of His people “with joy”; He “joys” over them “with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17).

The cause of this rejoicing is, yet again, the reversal which the LORD has brought about (Zephaniah 3:15). This is not something which even the so-called ‘faithful remnant’ (cf. Malachi 3:16-18) had brought about by themselves. Rather, it is the work of God in His grace and mercy toward His own covenant people (cf. Zechariah 4:6; Ephesians 2:8-9).

The LORD speaks of a day in which evil will no longer be seen (Zephaniah 3:15). This reaches beyond the immanent Babylonian captivity to speak of our own deliverance from the bondage of sin and death (Romans 6:16) – centred as it is on the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Matthew 1:21).

“Fear not,” encourages the LORD – not for the first time, nor for the last. Lift up your weak hands, He continues. The LORD is mighty to save (Zephaniah 3:16-17).

The beautiful picture of the LORD removing our sorrows (cf. Zephaniah 3:18) resonates throughout the Bible (e.g. Isaiah 35:10). It reaches its climax toward the end, when God wipes away all tears, and there shall be no more pain, sorrows or death (Revelation 21:4).

The lifting up of the outcast (Zephaniah 3:19) recalls the theme of reversal in the song of Hannah (1 Samuel 2:8), which is later echoed in the song of Mary (Luke 1:52-53).

The return of the exiles (Zephaniah 3:20) prefigured something greater that was yet to dawn, and which in some measure remains unfulfilled even for us who live between the two advents of Jesus (read Hebrews 9:28). May we continue to live in constant hope and expectation of His return!

The book ends as it had begun:

‘The word of the LORD…’ (Zephaniah 1:1);

“...says the LORD” (Zephaniah 3:20).

B). A.C.T.S. OF SOLIDARITY.

Isaiah 12.

When I was coming to rebirth as a newborn Christian, I remember our Pastor sharing a well-known acrostic as a guideline for prayer. Thus, A.C.T.S. spells out the words: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication. It is a familiar device which I even yet, from time to time, fall back upon when I am struggling in prayer.

Looking at our four points in reverse order, and in their respective relationships to solidarity in prayer, we will eventually come to Isaiah 12.

SUPPLICATION

The Apostle Paul exhorts the brethren to ‘pray for us’ (2 Thessalonians 3:1). Similarly, we tell people, ‘I’ll be praying for you.’ This would fall under the head of Supplication, where we were told to pray for others first before ever presenting the Lord with our more personal petitions. We also sometimes pray for people unasked; and indeed pray for those who cannot, or will not, pray for themselves.

Praying for others involves entering into their situation with a measure of solidarity. Thus we can reassure them, ‘You are not in this alone.’ How Jesus yearned for some such empathy on the part of His sleepy disciples as He was pressed beyond measure in the Garden of Gethsemane!

THANKSGIVING

Earlier, Paul had given expression to his sense of compulsion in relation to Thanksgiving: ‘We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren’ (2 Thessalonians 1:3). Paul here felt obliged to give thanks to God for what He had accomplished in the church, and returned the glory to Him. Likewise, when we are praying for others, we must also include thanksgiving for them.

CONFESSION

What about solidarity in relation to Confession: surely a person can only repent for themselves? This, of course, is true. However, there is Biblical precedent for our identifying with the sins of others.

Moses identified with the sins of Israel (Exodus 34:9). Isaiah acknowledged that not only was he a man of unclean lips, but also that he dwelt in the midst of a people of unclean lips (Isaiah 6:5).

Ultimately Jesus - who was without sin Himself (Hebrews 4:15) - entirely identified with our sin, and with us, when He died on the Cross (2 Corinthians 5:21). There He prayed, ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do’ (Luke 23:34).