The third fraternal triplet...
SERMON FOR THE THIRD MIDWEEK IN ADVENT
THE LORD IS STILL IN YOUR MIDST
Theme: Connected to you by Baptism, Christ continually remains with you
wherever you go your personal life.
God spoke many promises in His Old Testament. God also gave His Old Testament
people the gift of circumcision (Genesis 17:1-14), which was a sacrament. The
gift of circumcision gave God’s people certainty and assurance that they were,
without doubt, personally included and fully participating in the promises from
God. The sacramental benefits of circumcision ended with the coming of Christ
(Galatians 5:1-12). At Christ’ coming, God also fulfilled His Old Testament
promises (2 Corinthians 1:20), but not all of those divine promises are yet
completely fulfilled. Many of God’s Old Testament promises are still being
fulfilled for you in every moment of your life, and some promises await
ultimate fulfillment on the Last Day.
How do you and all God’s Christians today get connected to God’s Old Testament
promises, now that circumcision has been cut out of the picture? How can you be
certain that God’s Old Testament promises are personally yours? Baptism now
does for you what circumcision no longer can do (Colossians 2:11-12). Stated
another way, your Baptism does MORE than assure you that you have personal
place in the things God says to you in His New Testament. Your Baptism also
gives you certainty and assurance that God’s Old Testament promises are
likewise personally yours.
Tonight’s prophecy from Zephaniah is an example of a promise that God
speaks as much to you today as He did to His ancient people. This prophecy
began its fulfillment when Christ came in the flesh, but this prophecy
continues its fulfillment for you—and it shall do so for you—every moment of
your life:
Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all
your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away the judgments
against you; He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is
in your midst; you shall never again fear evil. On that day it shall be said to
Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. The Lord your God
is in your midst, a mighty one who will save.
The One who promises here that He will stand in your midst is your Lord Jesus
Christ and Him alone. Jesus is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians
1:15). Christ is the Rock that accompanied Israel through the desert (1
Corinthians 10:4). He is the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night that
guided them along their way. He is the fourth man in the fire, whom King
Nebuchadnezzar saw standing in the furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
(Daniel 3:24-25). He is the LORD who closed the mouths of the lions for Daniel
(Daniel 6); He is the opening of the Red Sea (Exodus 14); and He is every other
act of salvation in God’s Old Testament.
“The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst,” says Zephaniah. “The
LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save.” This prophecy and
promise from God was most deeply and profoundly fulfilled for you at the birth
of your Christ, whose name is “Immanuel (which means God with us)” (Matthew
1:23). But it was not once-and-for-all completely fulfilled for you at the
birth of your Lord Jesus. This prophecy from Zephaniah continues actively to be
fulfilled personally for you in every moment of every day. This prophecy shall
only be completed for you in its ultimate fulfillment on the Last Day. What I
mean is this: There is never a time when your Lord Jesus is not in your midst,
faithfully with you, accompanying you in every event of your life, remaining
present with you even in hardship and darkness and death. Immanuel is not “God
was with us” but Immanuel is “God with us,” here and now and eternally present
with you
personally and individually.
This is one of the Old Testament benefits of your Baptism, that you
would think of your Lord Jesus as always present with you in every hardship and
struggle, as I tried to illustrate for you on the cover of the bulletin.
Because of your Baptism, Jesus your LORD and your God remains ever present,
complete with His holiness and His righteousness and His forgiveness of
sins—all of which are now yours. Because of your Baptism, there is nothing that
can ever happen to you that Jesus your LORD will not faithfully accompany and
bear you through. Because of the promise and assurance that Jesus delivers
personally to you in your Baptism, Zephaniah’s Words concerning Zion’s strength
likewise apply individually to you: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow
weak. The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save.”
Baptismally stated, these Words could be read, “Hang in there, dear Christian.
You are not alone. You are not forgotten.
You are not abandoned. You are not exposed to any danger, no matter what you
might see and think and feel. The LORD your God is in YOUR midst, and He shall
not fall to save.”
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