Judges 4:1-7, Psalm 123:1-4, Zephaniah 1:7, Zephaniah 1:12-18, Psalm 90:1-12, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, Matthew 25:14-30
A). A MODEL OF SPIRITUAL WARFARE.
Judges 4:1-7.
JUDGES 4:1-2. At the very outset of this short passage we discover that war MIGHT come against the LORD’s people as a direct result of their sin. This simple fact is echoed throughout the book of Judges: “And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD… And the LORD sold them into the hand of…”
This is not to say that every affliction that a person may suffer is a direct consequence of some specific sin (cf. John 9:2-3). Nor do some people die because they are worse sinners than others (cf. Luke 13:1-4).
However, SOMETIMES our sufferings do arise from our sins. One person who was healed by Jesus was told afterwards, ‘Behold thou art made whole: go and sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee’ (cf. John 5:14).
JUDGES 4:2. In the background of the narrative of this chapter stands a Canaanite king called Jabin, king of Hazor. Many years before, another ‘Jabin, king of Hazor’ had raised up a confederacy against Israel, and had been thoroughly defeated (cf. Joshua 11:1-6). Now a new “Jabin, king of Hazor” sent his captain Sisera to oppress Israel.
“Jabin” may have been a common royal name, like ‘Henry’ in England, ‘James’ in Scotland, or ‘George’ in Great Britain. Or perhaps it was a generic name for a king, like ‘Pharaoh.’ But to the people of Deborah’s day, it might have seemed that they were fighting an old foe all over again.
This is significant in our spiritual warfare. Malignant foes who we thought had long since been defeated rear their ugly heads once more. The beast that was mortally wounded yet lives (cf. Revelation 13:3)!
JUDGES 4:3. This is the pattern throughout Judges: the children of Israel sinned; the LORD sold them int the hand of an oppressor; and now (after twenty years) they “cried unto the LORD.” The Bronze Age was giving way to the Iron Age: and Sisera, the captain of the host, oppressed the children of Israel with the latest technology. “Nine hundred chariots of iron!”
JUDGES 4:4-5. “And Deborah, a prophetess… judged Israel at that time.” Deborah’s centre of operations was about 75 miles south of Hazor. She was well enough respected, not only locally, but nationally, and “the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.”
JUDGES 4:6. Deborah was a woman of action, and a woman of authority. She sent to Naphtali and summoned Barak. (Hazor was in the territory of Naphtali.)
Speaking as a prophetess, Deborah gave Barak a directive from the LORD. Barak was to raise an army of ten thousand men from two of the northern tribes of Israel most affected by the oppression, and to “DRAW toward mount Tabor.”
JUDGES 4:7. Meantime the LORD would “DRAW unto thee to the river Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army.” The same LORD who was calling Barak to DRAW into position on the higher ground of mount Tabor, was also DRAWING Sisera, “with his chariots and his multitude” to their defeat in the soft and miry soil around the river.
And so it is with our spiritual warfare. The LORD sets the scene at every stage, and uses what actors He will to accomplish His purposes. All this is so that the praise does not go to people, but to the LORD.
B). AN OPEN-ENDED PRAYER.
Psalm 123:1-4.
This is a short, impassioned prayer: a plea for help in the face of adversaries. It begins with adoration, with an abrupt “Unto You…” (PSALM 123:1).
This is a song of Ascents, and its opening may be paralleled to another: ‘I to the hills will lift mine eyes, from whence doth come mine aid?’ (cf. Psalm 121:1). Our help is not to be found in the high places; however awesome they may seem. The answer follows, ‘My safety comes from the LORD, who heaven and earth hath made’ (cf. Psalm 121:2).
“Unto You,” then, “I lift up my eyes” (PSALM 123:1). Another Psalm takes it a step further: ‘But unto thee, O God the LORD, mine eyes uplifted be: My soul do not leave destitute; my trust is set in thee’ (cf. Psalm 141:8).
But “Unto You”, who? Answer: “O Thou that dwells in the heavens” (PSALM 123:1). The LORD says: ‘Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool’ (cf. Isaiah 66:1). ‘The throne of the LORD is in heaven’ (cf. Psalm 11:4). Are you worried about powerful, scornful people? ‘He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; He shall have them in derision’ (cf. Psalm 2:4). ‘Our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases’ (cf. Psalm 115:3).
The lifting of the eyes is compared to the lifting of the eyes of servants to their masters’ hand, and of a maid to the hand of her mistress (PSALM 123:2). We should be willing to obey the hand that directs, and to accept of the hand that disciplines: but we should also be ready to receive from the hand that graciously gives ‘all good things’ (cf. Matthew 7:11). ‘My eyes are ever toward the LORD; for He shall pluck my feet out of the net’ (cf. Psalm 25:15). ‘My eyes long for your salvation’ (cf. Psalm 119:123). So, “OUR eyes look to the LORD our God, until He has mercy on us” (PSALM 123:2).
The subject of mercy continues over into the third verse. Here the Psalmist twice invokes God’s mercy in the context of his prayer. He is no longer speaking only for Himself, but for the whole community of God’s people: “Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy upon us” (PSALM 123:3a)! This is the corporate form of the language of the taxman in the Temple: ‘God be merciful to me, the sinner’ (cf. Luke 18:13); and of David in the cave (cf. Psalm 57:1).
Now we (at last) get to the petition, to the reason for the prayer: “for we are exceedingly filled with contempt” (PSALM 123:3b). The pride of enemies was also in the purview of David (Psalm 56:1-2). The servants of the LORD are mocked (cf. Psalm 89:50-51). They are the taunt of their neighbours and are surrounded by derision and scorn (cf. Psalm 44:13). When Nehemiah began to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, he spoke of enemies ‘who laughed at us, and despised us’ (cf. Nehemiah 2:19); who were ‘furious and very indignant and mocked the Jews’ (cf. Nehemiah 4:1). Nehemiah turned this into a petition: ‘Hear, O our God, for we are despised (cf. Nehemiah 4:4).
I imagine Ezekiel knew this kind of contempt, too, when he was commissioned to preach to what the Voice from heaven called, ‘impudent and stubborn children’ (cf. Ezekiel 2:4); ‘a rebellious house’ (cf. Ezekiel 2:5). But the ultimate sufferer of such scorning was the One who took it all upon Himself: our Lord Jesus Christ. The Pharisees ridiculed Jesus (cf. Luke 16:14); the onlookers at the Cross scoffed at Jesus (cf. Luke 23:35); Jesus was despised, rejected, and held in low esteem (Isaiah 53:3).
“Our soul is exceedingly filled,” repeats the Psalmist. This time it is “with the scorning of those who are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud” (PSALM 123:4). If we return to the servant image, then we have here those who despise them. ‘In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune’ (cf. Job 12:5). ‘Woe to those who are at ease in Zion,’ cries Amos (cf. Amos 6:1). Why? Because ‘they are not grieved over the affliction of Joseph’ (cf. Amos 6:6).
One of the amazing things about this Psalm, is that it ends just here. There is no evidence of the prayer being answered, but we all own it. It spans the history of the church, and cries in unspoken words (that are spoken in other parts of the Bible) ‘How long Lord?’ (cf. Psalm 13:2; Habakkuk 1:2; Revelation 6:10).
The Psalmist has now presented his petition. Like the lawyer who says, ‘I rest my case’, he leaves it at the feet of Jesus (so to speak). Then he rests. Thus, the godly express their confidence in God. There is no reason to go back over and over it. Will not God speedily answer (cf. Luke 18:7-8)? We know that He will, though the time seem long to us. ‘The LORD will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants’ (cf. Deuteronomy 32:36).
When we have presented our case, made our petition to the Lord, laid it at the feet of Jesus: we should rest in faith. Instead of mulling over it, fretting over the outcome: we should leave it where we put it, get on with our lives, trust in the Lord. It is in good hands. It is no longer our business. God knows. God answers. His timing is perfect. And to His name be all the glory forever. Amen.
C). A CALL TO SILENCE.
Zephaniah 1:7; Zephaniah 1:12-18.
Speaking during the reign of king Josiah of Judah, Zephaniah spends a lot of energy outlining a universal judgment against the whole earth (Zephaniah 1:1-3), INCLUDING Judah and Jerusalem (Zephaniah 1:4-6). “Hold thy peace,” he cries, “for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD has prepared a feast, and summoned his guests” (ZEPHANIAH 1:7). But little did they know that - like the bewildered Isaac in mount Moriah (Genesis 22:7) - THEY are the intended sacrifice (Zephaniah 1:8-11)!
ZEPHANIAH 1:12. The picture of the LORD “searching Jerusalem with candles” gives us the impression of the spiritual darkness of the city. Like the woman searching for her coin (Luke 15:8), the light of a candle shines into all the dark corners and recesses. It is amazing what shady dealings are exposed by the light of the word of God!
Wine is wasted when it rests too long in its sediment. The LORD will punish those who are thus “settled on their lees.” Wallowing in the dregs of sinful disobedience, they complacently imagine that “the LORD will do neither good nor evil.”
ZEPHANIAH 1:13. “Their goods shall become a booty,” because they have put their trust in things of this earth (cf. Luke 12:19). The affluence of the complacent causes even the settlement of the land (Joshua 24:13) to be reversed, in terms of Deuteronomy 28:30.
ZEPHANIAH 1:14. Yes, “the great day of the LORD is near, and hastens greatly.” It shall be bitter, causing the mighty to weep. Whether we are talking about “the day of the LORD” as fulfilled in the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., or in the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. as prophesied by Jesus (Mark 13:2), both point forward to the ULTIMATE day of the LORD, when He shall return, and history will be finally wound up.
ZEPHANIAH 1:15. Even Creation seems to be being dismantled. “Wrath, trouble, distress, wasteness and desolation, darkness and gloominess, a day of thick clouds and darkness.” We read in Amos 5:20 that ‘the day of the LORD’ shall be ‘darkness and not light - even very dark, and no brightness (not a glimmer) in it’ to those who are not right with God.
ZEPHANIAH 1:16. The sound of the shofar is not here a call to worship, or a call to battle, but is actually the rallying of the LORD Himself to the great work of judgment “against the fenced cities, and against the high towers of Judah and Jerusalem.” Judgment begins at the house of God - and if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear? (1 Peter 4:17-18).
ZEPHANIAH 1:17. The imagery of darkness is intensified as the victims of the “distress” (self-imposed as it is, cf. Deuteronomy 28:15) “walk like blind men” (cf. Deuteronomy 28:29). The image of sacrifice is intensified as ‘their blood is poured out like dust.’ Such are the dire, ultimate, consequences of sin.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18. All the affluence of the affluent will not be sufficient to spare them in that great and awful day. Zephaniah again emphasises the universality of the judgment (cf. Zephaniah 1:2). Our God is a “jealous” God (Deuteronomy 6:15).
What are we to do when faced with such a chapter of doom and gloom as Zephaniah 1?
Well, when Jonah preached in Nineveh, he had but one message: ‘Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!’ Their reaction: ‘So the people of Nineveh believed God’ (Jonah 3:4-5), and, significantly, ‘TURNED FROM THEIR EVIL WAY’ (Jonah 3:10). Now that is repentance: a change not only of mind, but of lifestyle. Result: God “repented” of the “evil” that he had said that He would do unto them; and did it not’ (Jonah 3:10).
However, Zephaniah DOES leave room for repentance in the beginning of the next chapter (Zephaniah 2:1-3). By the end of the book we see the LORD, anew, in the midst of His people (Zephaniah 3:17), turning back their captivity (Zephaniah 3:20).
We leave the last word with the king of Nineveh in Jonah 3:9: ‘Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not?’
The answer, for those who will believe it, lies in the Cross of Jesus.
D). NUMBERING OUR DAYS.
Psalm 90:1-12.
Psalm 90:1. It is remarkable that the children of Israel survived 400 years in Egypt, and for some of that time under unspeakable oppression. Yet despite their hard labour and sorrow, the LORD had been their dwelling place “from generation to generation”. This is an expression of God’s covenant love from Abraham to Moses, and onward to our own days.
Psalm 90:2. The LORD is not limited by time as we are. He is the One who inhabits eternity. His perspective is “from everlasting to everlasting”, where days and millennia are of no consequence (2 Peter 3:8).
Psalm 90:3. The theme of this Psalm is the brevity of human life. Man was formed of dust, and to dust he must return (Genesis 3:19). This is the judgement of the LORD against our sin.
Psalm 90:4. For a while after the Creation, up until the flood, men were living to what we might consider extraordinary ages. Yet even the oldest of them died at less than 1000 years old. This is nothing to God.
Psalm 90:5. Since the fall of man, generation after generation have been swept away in death. Even our life is like a sleep, already under the judgement of God. We are like a dream which disappears with the opening of a new day.
Psalm 90:6. We are like a grass which springs up overnight, flourishes in the morning, and grows up. In the evening it is cut down, and withers. Such is the frailty of life.
Psalm 90:7. Yet there is a reason for all this. Our mortality is on account of God’s anger at man’s disobedience (Genesis 3:17). As the couplet goes, “In Adam’s fall, we sinned all.”
Psalm 90:8. Each of us has also aggravated our collective guilt with our individual sins. Every deed, every word, every inmost thought is open to the One who dwells in eternity. He sees it all, and there is no fleeing from His presence (Psalm 139:7).
Psalm 90:9. Our days pass away under God’s wrath. Iniquity already had its hold upon us in our mothers’ womb (Psalm 51:5). We were born already “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1), and our fragile mortal lives have been subject to decline ever since.
Psalm 90:10. It is a far cry from the great age of the patriarchs to our mere seventy or eighty years. We have known trouble and sorrow ever since the fall. For the generality of mankind, it all leads down to the grave.
Psalm 90:11. We cannot begin to imagine how angry God is. Our sin is against an infinite God, so He could only be satisfied with the payment of the sacrifice of His infinite Son on our behalf. His anger is in proportion to our failure to reverence Him.
Psalm 90:12. Yet when we do reverence Him, we will want Him to teach us to make a right application of the truth about the brevity of our lives. We need to know ourselves sinners, and to be aware that death is “the wages of sin” (Romans 6:23). And knowing this, our wisdom is to repent.
E). WAKEFUL WATCHING.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11.
The Apostle has already spoken concerning the status of the Christian dead at the return of Jesus (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14). Now he turns his attention to the question of preparedness for the day of the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 5:1. It would be superfluous for Paul to write to the brethren in Thessalonica about the “times and seasons”, presumably because he had already taught them.
There are two Greek words for time used here:
1. “Chronos” (from which we have the English word ‘chronology’) which speaks here of a marked duration of time, and
2. “Kairos” which speaks here of a destined time.
Jesus had already taught His disciples (using the same two “time” words), ‘it is not yours to know “times and seasons” which the Father placed in His own authority’ (Acts 1:7). This is similar to Jesus’ comment about ‘that day and the hour’ (cf. Mark 13:32).
1 Thessalonians 5:2. The Thessalonian Christians already “accurately know that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.” This is not the first time in this book that the Apostle has reminded the Thessalonians what they already know. Throughout Scripture “the day of the Lord” is bad news for unbelievers, but good news for believers (cf. John 3:19-21).
Jesus Himself used the analogy of the “thief in the night” (Matthew 24:43; cf. Revelation 16:15). The expression “as a thief” suggests unexpectedness.
1 Thessalonians 5:3. The suddenness of ‘the day of the Lord’ is demonstrated in the fact that people will have the words “Peace and security” on their lips when ‘there is no peace’ for them (cf. Jeremiah 6:14)! Upon such will come “sudden destruction.” There are echoes here of what Jesus said about the coming of the Son of man being like the days of Noah (cf. Matthew 24:37-39).
This suddenness is further illustrated by the inevitability of a heavily pregnant woman going into labour. There is “no escape” from it.
1 Thessalonians 5:4. “But you (all), brethren, are not in darkness that the day should overtake you like a thief.” If we are in the light, we need not fear that day.
The word translated “overtake” is the same word as is translated ‘come (suddenly) upon’ in Jesus’ warning: ‘Walk while you (all) have the light, lest darkness “come upon” you’ (cf. John 12:35).
1 Thessalonians 5:5. “All” is emphasised at the beginning of this verse. “Sons” is repeated twice: “All you (all) are sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness.” As “sons” of the new “day” (which dawned with Christ), who we are in Christ Jesus has nothing to do with “darkness”!
1 Thessalonians 5:6. Speaking metaphorically, Paul warns that we should not “sleep” like others, but should “watch and be sober.” This is a call to wakeful watchfulness.
1 Thessalonians 5:7. Sleep and drunkenness are reasons why people might not be ready for the return of Jesus. These are normally night-time activities, associated with darkness. The metaphor is pointing us towards a kind of spiritual stupor which comes over those who are unready.
‘Take heed to yourselves,’ warns Jesus, ‘lest at any time your hearts be weighed down with overindulgence, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and (so) that day come upon you unexpectedly” (cf. Luke 21:34).
1 Thessalonians 5:8. “But we being of the day should be sober” - exercising self-control - “having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.” This is not the first time that the triad of ‘faith, love and hope’ has appeared in this letter (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:3). Here they are seen as part of the spiritual armour of the Christian (cf. Isaiah 59:17; Ephesians 6:14-17).
1 Thessalonians 5:9. “For God did not appoint us to wrath” (cf. Romans 8:1), “but to the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (cf. John 3:17). Our future salvation is based in God’s purposes.
1 Thessalonians 5:10. Our Lord Jesus Christ “died for us” [died as a substitute for us (cf. Mark 10:45), taking upon Himself the penalty of our sins (cf. Romans 6:23) that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21)]. Our future life is only made possible through Christ’s death - “that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.” (Cf. Romans 14:8-9).
1 Thessalonians 5:11. “Wherefore encourage one another and build up one another, even as you (all) are doing.”
F). A RIGHT USE OF OUR TALENTS.
Matthew 25:14-30.
A “talent” (Matthew 25:15) was a small gold coin valued at the equivalent of fifteen years national minimum wage. Whatever currency we translate that into, it is bound to be tens of thousands - and more. Five talents was enough to provide one of our ‘labourers in the vineyard’ (Matthew 20:1-16) with his daily meal for 75 years.
The word “talent” has passed into the English language - not without some etymological link to this parable - and has come to mean an aptitude, a gift, or giftedness. We speak of a talented musician, a talented speaker, a talented sportsman, etc. Yet we all have talents of one sort or another.
Returning to the parable, the word speaks of the superabundance of the grace of God (James 1:17). Has He not given us the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13), and with Him all good things (Matthew 7:11)? Perhaps, like the last of the servants in this parable, we have just one talent: but we must use even that for the glory of God, and the advancement of His kingdom (2 Corinthians 9:8).
In the parable, the king delivered his goods into the hands of his own servants, and went away into a far country. Jesus told His disciples that it was ‘expedient’ for Him to go away (John 16:7) - but He would not leave them ‘comfortless’ (John 14:18). In these in-between times we are held accountable for the use that we make of what the Lord has entrusted to us - our resources, our time, our money, our gifts, etc.
A long time passed, but at last the lord of those servants returned. The first two servants received a commendation, and a reward. The last used the no-nonsense productivity of the master as an excuse for his own laziness (Matthew 25:24-25).
There is a right kind of fear of God: we call it ‘reverence and godly fear’ (Hebrews 12:28). However, the fear of this servant was a fear of doubt, replacing faith and faithfulness with a fruitless and pointless unproductive dread. How does that attitude honour God?
The master answered this excuse in kind: you know that I am a no-nonsense getter of results - so why did you not invest that which I entrusted to you, that I might at least have received my own with interest (Matthew 25:26-27)? Our gifts, our talents - our resources, our time, our money - are not our own to do with as we please: they are still the possession of the Lord who gave them. He is not standing over us micro-managing every detail, but rather has honoured us with His trust: how do we repay that trust?
In the end, the one-talent servant lost even that which he had (Matthew 25:28-29). Be careful how you use that which the Lord has entrusted to you. Wasted opportunities leave many in outer darkness, where will be “weeping and gnashing their teeth” (Matthew 25:30).
Yet, while the Lord tarries, there is time for true repentance, amendment of life (cf. 2 Peter 3:9). In these in-between times, the Lord is well able to restore ‘the years that the locust has eaten’ (Joel 2:25).
Let us pray that the Lord will ‘make us perfect in every good work to do His will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen’ (Hebrews 13:20-21).
