Sunday School: A People Cleansed

Main Point: A day is coming when God will win the victory for His people and reign over them forever.

Intro Option 1: Erase to the Finish

Hand out pieces of paper with/ pencils

Doesn’t matter how hard we try; only God can cleanse sins

Main Point: A day is coming when God will win the victory for His people and reign over them forever.

The Lord will cleanse His people’s impurity

Zechariah 13:1–4 (ESV)

“On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.

“And on that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that they shall be remembered no more. And also I will remove from the land the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness. And if anyone again prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, ‘You shall not live, for you speak lies in the name of the Lord.’ And his father and mother who bore him shall pierce him through when he prophesies.

“On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies. He will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive,

The two causes of the stain of Judah’s sin:

Idol worship

False prophets

Living for the wrong purposes + living for the wrong people

Idols and false prophets = blood on a white towel

No soap

In what ways does sin make us unclean?

We become what we behold

What we praise, we portray.

Idols don’t speak, see hear, think, or go anywhere

When we worship idols, we become like them.

We say, see, hear, think, and do less of what matters.

When we behold the Lord, we become like Him

We say, see, hear, think and do more of what matters for eternity

Israel’s idol worship = less like God = sin fuel

What are some ways we might become less like God when we worship the things of this world?

False prophets: saying what Judah wanted to hear

God promised to clean His people’s filth (idols) with His fountain

Water flowing unaided by human hands

“Flowing waters often symbolize the manifold blessings that the Lord showered on all of his creation.”

The Lord “cuts of the names of the idols from the land”

Name = reputation

Removal of both reputation and acknowledgement

Without idols to speak for, all the false prophets would be banished.

God’s people would be cleansed and given prophets who would rightly represent the Lord.

How do we know which message to listen to or ignore?

Discernment

Reading the Bible

Prayer

2. The Lord will fight for His people’s victory

Zechariah 14:1–7 (ESV)

Behold, a day is coming for the Lord, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.

On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost. And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light.

We might sometimes wonder when God will fully judge and remove evil from the earth.

It’s important to remember that judgement delayed is not judgement denied.

Zechariah saw the day when God would defeat all foes who seek His people’s harm.

Why does God often use the most challenging circumstances in our lives to show us his strength?

The battle Zechariah sees is unique.

God Himself will lead His forces-His holy ones-into battle

And none of God’s forces will fight

God alone will engage in the battle.

God’s holy ones will simply watch their champion overwhelmingly defeat His enemies.

We will win, but only through His might.

What does Zechariah’s vision of God fighting for His people tell us about God?

Romans 8:37 essentially says we are super powerful conquerors through Christ Jesus

Now, our battles are primarily spiritual, but a physical battle for the rule of the world is coming

Through Jesus, we not only win the battles we face, we can overwhelmingly win.

That lone warrior Zechariah foresaw already lives in side of us.

God’s Holy Spirit brings liberty and victory over every enemy as we’re led and empowered by Him

How can God empower us to conquer our spiritual enemies?

3. The Lord will provide His people’s security

Zechariah 14:8–11 ESV

On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter. And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one. The whole land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem shall remain aloft on its site from the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses. And it shall be inhabited, for there shall never again be a decree of utter destruction. Jerusalem shall dwell in security.

God’s people will live in unprecedented security due to an unmatched security guard living in Jerusalem: The Lord who will reign over the entire earth.

It’s hard to start a war when the whole earth serves one King who is truly good.

What do these verses tell us about what God wants for his people?

In Zechariah's vision both God and people are in a secure city together

This couldn't happen without the fountain of cleansing

Unholy people can’t live in His presence

But Jesus, the Holy One, makes people holy, so a cleansed people can live forever in God's presence in peace and security.

Why must we receive God’s cleansing before we can spend eternity with Him?

The people who will have the Lord as King of their city already had Him as king of their hearts

Jesus must sit upon the throne of our lives to cleanse us of sin, defeat the enemies of death and the devil, and give us new birth into God’s forever family.

The King of our hearts will one day be the King of our safe, secure, and eternal city.

What do you imagine it will be like to live without sin, death, or evil of any kind with Jesus? Explain.

Christ Connection

The prophet Zechariah spoke of a day when the Lord would cleanse His people and reign over them in victory.

When Jesus returns, He will put an end to all sin, reign over creation in victory, and all who have trusted in Him will live with Him forevermore.

Head: How should knowing God’s people are cleansed and holy in eternity shape the way we live now?

We have a firm and secure hope that when Jesus returns, we will be like Him and be with Him forever.

This hope in our future with Jesus should cause us to seek purity now (see 1 John 3:3)

Jesus is pure, and we love Jesus, so we should love and seek purity.

Purity means being like Jesus; thinking, speaking, and living like Him.

Right thinking about purity simply says, “I want to be like Jesus. SO whatever is not like Him, I want out of my life.”

Heart: How should knowing Jesus is the one and only Ruler in eternity shape the way we live now?

Who’s calling the shots in your life?

Are you the king or queen on the throne of your heart? Or is King Jesus on the throne of your heart?

In Zechariah’s vision, there was one Ruler over all.

Spoiler alert: The ruler isn’t you or me.

We’ve already tried being the boss of our own lives.

Jesus is Lord, which is the same as king-ruler, master, owner, sovereign-in the Bible.

There will be no rival rulers in eternity, and there must be no rival rulers in our hearts today.

Hands: Why is it hard for us to surrender some parts of our lives to Jesus? How might we help each other do so?

Jesus knew eternity with God is a one-king eternity.

So, Jesus preached the good news of the kingdom of God to others (see Matt. 4:23).

Those who repent and trust in Jesus have Him as King over their eternity with God.

Jesus commands us to preach that same good news of the kingdom to all people in the world (see Matt. 24:14). Those who lives as king or queen of their own lives will not spend eternity with God.

Only those who have Jesus as King live forever in His kingdom.

PRAY