On Tuesday March 16, 2021, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced the discovery of two new Dead Sea Scroll fragments. This is an extremely significant find, since the last discovery was made sixty-five years ago in 1956! This recent surprise occurred in what is called the Cave of Horror near the western shore of the Dead Sea. “It’s a site where insurgents were believed to have hidden during the uprising led by Simon bar Kokhba against the Roman empire in A.D. 133–136.” “Unlike most of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were written in Hebrew and Aramaic, the fragments from the Cave of Horror contain Greek letters.” “It likely represents a development or revision of the standard Greek translation – often referred to as the Septuagint.”(1)
The two fragments contain small sections of verses from the books of Zechariah and Nahum; and when you look at what these verses actually say, they appear to address what’s happening in the world today – especially in America. So, I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that these Dead Sea Scroll fragments were found at this particular moment in history after sixty-five years! I believe the Lord has delivered a warning message to the world; one which says, “Here’s how you need to act, and should you fail to heed My words, then judgement is coming; and then you’ll know the true meaning of horror!” – and so, I’ve entitled our message, “Warnings from the Dead Sea.” We’re going to get started by looking at the first of the two Dead Sea Scroll fragments, which is Zechariah 8:16-17.
The Things You Must Do (Zechariah 8:16-17)
16 These are the things you shall do: Speak each man the truth to his neighbor; give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace; 17 let none of you think evil in your heart against your neighbor; and do not love a false oath. For all these are things that I hate, says the LORD.
I’m calling this set of verses, “The Things You Must Do.” Zechariah was preaching to the Jews returning from the Babylonia exile, and his book is “dated from 520 to 518 B.C.”(2) In these verses, “The Lord . . . invites [the returning exiles] to make a new covenant, to establish a new relation[ship]”(3) with Him; to live differently – and more righteously – than their formers ways which led to their time in exile. “Verses 16-17 . . . is a summary of God’s requirements for those who would enter into covenant with Him” and “it is comparable in function to the Ten Commandments in earlier covenant ceremonies.”(4)
The word “things, in verse 16, can also mean ‘words’ or ‘commandments.’ It is the same word used to describe the Ten Commandments in Exodus 34:27-28. The Ten Commandments are literally the ‘ten words.’ Therefore, the meaning here can also be, ‘These are the commandments which you shall do’” – not just the “things” you shall do.(5) The Broadman Bible Commentary elaborates how “the requirements of the covenant are simple: truth in everyday conversation, judgment which is both factual and makes for peace, an end to mutual conspiracies among the people, and a renewed appreciation for honesty and faithfulness in worship and in every other phase of life.”(6) This Bible commentary says that the requirements of the covenant are simple; but not for someone intent on leading a life of sin and determined to live in deliberate rebellion against God.
The first command is to “speak each man the truth to his neighbor.” All you have to do is watch the major news networks to see how lying seems to be the norm, as they keep sharing fake news; and then there’s the opposite of lying, which is withholding truth for fear of persecution or “cancellation.”
The second command is to “give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace.” The Lord said in Amos 5:10, “They hate the one who rebukes in the gate,” referring how the people had entered a place where they despised law, justice and authority. We need to understand that the city gate was where legal proceedings were held, and the city gate was equivalent to the modern-day courtroom. Just look at our Supreme Court today, and you will see how justice in the gate is becoming a thing of the past. The Justices have gotten to a place where they are refusing to hear certain cases that are politically unpopular, leaving the people with no legal remedy. And also, you’ve probably noticed how “innocent until proven guilty” is now the other way around. People only need to see a video clip, and they will rush to condemn someone before a legal investigation is conducted and the evidence is presented.
The third command is to “let none of you think evil in your heart against your neighbor.” When someone despises the fact that his neighbor is a Christian, and tries to get them arrested for attending church; or when an employee tries to get his coworker fired for being a Christian or having conservative values, then you know that people have evil in their heart toward their neighbor.
The last command is “do not love a false oath.” In one sense, this is referring to the ninth commandment, found in Exodus 20:16, which says, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” Having malice toward your neighbor will lead to bearing false witness in order to harm them. Now, in another sense, the command of “do not love a false oath” is referring to how people love to consume gossip. Proverbs 26:22, in the New Century Version says, “The words of a gossip are like tasty bits of food; people like to gobble them up.” Rather than believing the worst in everyone, let’s give people the benefit of the doubt, instead of rushing to accuse. The people of our nation seem to be reacquiring that terrible spirit of mob rule, which in the past led to lynchings.
These verses end with the Lord saying, “For all these are things that I hate” (v. 17). Each of these commands about evils that should be avoided can be found in the well-known passage on the things that God hates. We read in Proverbs 6:16-19, “These six things the LORD hates; yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren.” This appears to be an accurate description of how people regularly behave in our society. Perhaps they act this way because they have no fear of God; but the Lord is a God – not only of love and compassion – but one of vengeance who hates sin.
Some of us might be offended to learn that God hates. Billy Graham said, “We in the church have failed to remind this generation that while God is love, He also has the capacity to hate. He hates sin, and He will judge it with the fierceness of His wrath. This generation is schooled in the teaching about an indulgent, soft-hearted God whose judgments are uncertain and who coddles those who break His commandments. This generation finds it difficult to believe that God hates sin. I tell you that God hates sin just as a father hates a rattlesnake that threatens the safety and life of his child. God loathes evil and diabolic forces that would pull people down to a godless eternity just as a mother hates a venomous spider that is found playing on the soft, warm flesh of her little baby. It is His love for man, His compassion for the human race, that prompts God to hate sin with such a vengeance.”(7)
I want to conclude our look at Zechariah 8:16-17 by sharing an important passage from Galatians 5:19-24: “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
We need to understand that those who practice the things that God hates will not inherit the kingdom of God. We also learn that those who practice these things do not belong to Christ. Galatians 5:24 said, “Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Instead of lying, perverting justice, thinking and plotting evil, and bearing false witness; those who belong to Christ will live and walk in the fruit of the Spirit. So, if we are doing the things that God hates, then we really need to search our heart and ask ourselves, “Am I a Christian? Have I confessed Jesus Christ as Savior and made Him the Lord of my life?” Bear in mind that there is literal hell to pay if you make yourself an enemy of God; and that’s what we’re going to find out in our next set of verses. Turn with me now to Nahum 1:5-6.
The Day of the Lord is Coming (Nahum 1:5-6)
5 The mountains quake before Him, the hills melt, and the earth heaves at His presence, yes, the world and all who dwell in it. 6 Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by Him.
I’m calling this set of verses, “The Day of the Lord is Coming.” In the book of Nahum, the prophet preached concerning “the destruction of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria,”(8) and “the book dates from about 612 B.C.”(9) Commentator John Tullock says that the first chapter of Nahum “starts with an ancient poem of the Lord as an avenging God.”(10) He tells us that “behind this idea of the Lord as the avenger is the basic idea that the Lord is the God of justice, the one who can set things right in the universe. The Lord’s enemies are those who would destroy the principle of justice in the earth, but things will be set right. The Lord’s vengeance is directed toward punishing the guilty and righting things that have been made wrong.”(11) So, this passage is God’s response to Zechariah 8:16-17. He’s saying, “These are the things you shall do; but should you fail, you can be sure that My justice will prevail.”
God’s justice will be unleashed on the world in something called “The Day of the Lord.” The New Bible Dictionary says, “The Day of the Lord is . . . the occasion when Yahweh actively intervenes to punish sin that has come to a climax. This punishment may come through an invasion, or through some natural disaster . . . All lesser interventions come to a head in the actual coming of the Lord Himself. At this Day there are truly repentant believers who are saved, while those who remain enemies of the Lord, whether Jews or Gentiles, will be punished. There are also physical effects on the world of nature. In the New Testament the Day of the Lord is the second coming of Christ.”(12)
In speaking of the second coming of Christ, the apostle Peter declares in 2 Peter 3:10-11, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?” In that last statement, Peter was saying that we need to consider whether or not we are living for the Lord; and we need to consider whether or not we have been saved. Jesus said, “Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly . . . Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:34, 36).
In 2 Peter chapter 2, the apostle shares what this world is going to look like just before the Day of the Lord. He says that there will be “false prophets among the people . . . who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord . . . and many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed” (vv. 1-2). So, Christians will stop acting like Christians, and their hypocrisy will lead many of the lost to hell. Peter continues to say that there will be those who “are presumptuous [and] self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries” (v. 10), and they “speak evil of the things they do not understand” (v. 12). He says they have “eyes full of adultery and they cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls” (v. 14). He continues to add that “they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, [and] through lewdness” (v. 18); and lastly, he observes that “while they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption” (v. 19).
When the Lord sees such unconstrained evil loose in the world, He is going to call forth His followers and all the hosts of heaven to do battle against the unjust and the unrighteous. I want to invite you to read along as I share from the book of Joel, chapter 3, verses 9-16. I’m going to start reading in verses 9-14:
“Proclaim this among the nations: ‘Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ Assemble and come, all you nations, and gather together all around. Cause Your mighty ones to go down there, O LORD. Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down; for the winepress is full, the vats overflow – for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision” (Joel 3:9-14).
These verses likely inspired the well-known hymn “Battlefield of the Republic,” which says, “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. He has loosed the fateful lightening of His terrible swift sword. His truth is marching on.” Also, “He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat. He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat. Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet! Our God is marching on . . . Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on!”
The Day of the Lord will be a time of war, and God will bring destruction on all His enemies! As we read in Hebrews 10:31, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” But did you catch that part about “the valley of decision?” “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision” (v. 14). In the valley of decision, the day of the Lord is “near,” but “not yet,” for there is still time. Time for what? Time to get right with God and repent. Continuing with the passage, we read in Joel 3:15-16, “The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will diminish their brightness. The LORD also will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; the heavens and earth will shake; but the LORD will be a shelter for His people, and the strength of the children of Israel.” For those whose lives are right with God, He will be a shelter to them during the great and terrible Day of the Lord.
So, how do we get our lives right with God? Well, allow me to share some more from the book of Joel. In Joel 2:11, the prophet asks this question: “For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; who can endure it?” I’m sure we’re all wondering who will be able to endure. He answers in verses 12-13, “Now, therefore, says the LORD, turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. So, rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm.” Joel said that if we have a deep sorrow over our sin and we return unto God, then the Lord will turn back from the destruction He was getting ready to bring.
Listen to what Joel said in chapter 2, verses 31-32, about how to be saved from the destruction that will come in the Day of the Lord. He said, “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the remnant whom the LORD calls.” Joel said that those who call on the Lord as their Savior are set apart from destruction, and they are seen as God’s faithful remnant who will inherit the New Jerusalem.
Time of Reflection
The statement made by Joel, where he said, “whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved,” was the very first message preached by the apostles, as Peter stood to represent them on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:14-21). But it’s also familiar, as the apostle Paul used it in the well-known passage on how to be saved. In Romans 10:9-11, Paul said, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame’.” He went on to say in verse 13, “For ‘whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved’.”
We not only need salvation from armies, wars and earthquakes; but we need salvation from hell. The Day of the Lord is not only a day of physical judgment, but spiritual judgment; and if we want to avoid being judged and condemned, then we need to have our sins forgiven. When Jesus died on the cross, He died for our sins. He took on Himself the penalty that we deserve, for Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.” Each of us is supposed to die a spiritual death for our own sins, which means that we are to be eternally separated from God in a horrible placed called hell. However, Romans 6:23 continues to say that “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God wants us to be acquitted of judgment for doing the things that He hates; and this acquittal comes in the form of a gift.
So, what is this gift that leads to eternal life? John 3:16-17 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” The gift that God gave is His Son, who took our place in death as He died on the cross for our sins. If we will believe with all of our heart that He did this for us, and (as Romans 10:9-10 says) believe in His resurrection from the dead and confess Him as Lord, then we will be saved from our sins and receive eternal life. So, I want to invite you to come today and confess your sins to the Lord, ask for His forgiveness, and trust in Jesus as your Savior.
NOTES
(1) Chip Hardy, “Dead Sea Scrolls Discovery Reveals New Details About the Bible’s Earliest Translations,” March 18, 2021, Christianity Today: https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/march-web-only/new-dead-sea-scrolls-discovery-bible-translation-israel.html (Accessed April 1, 2021).
(2) John H. Tullock, The Old Testament Story, 5th ed. (Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1999), p. 302.
(3) John D. W. Watts, “Zechariah,” The Broadman Bible Commentary, vol. 7 (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1972), p. 337.
(4) Ibid., p. 338.
(5) Ibid., p. 338.
(6) Ibid., p. 338.
(7) Billy Graham, “Things God Hates,” August 25, 2011, Decision Magazine: https://decisionmagazine.com/things-god-hates/ (Accessed April 5, 2021).
(8) Tulloch, p. 231.
(9) Ibid., p. 231.
(10) Ibid., p. 231.
(11) Ibid., p. 231.
(12) J. S. Wright, “Day of the Lord,” New Bible Dictionary (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1962), p. 269.
