Hope In The Rubble

See the victory in the chaos.

[Scripture Reading]

For today’s message let us turn to the book of Zechariah 14:1-8. Zechariah 14:1-8. Let’s read today’s scripture responsively. I will read one verse, everyone the other and let’s read verse 8 together.

스가랴 14:1–8 NIV

1 A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls. 2 I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city. 3 Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle. 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. 5 You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will 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. 6 On that day there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness. 7 It will be a unique day—a day known only to the Lord—with no distinction between day and night. When evening comes, there will be light. 8 On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter.

Amen.

[Welcome]

Good evening everyone and welcome to WOW worship today. Let’s take this time to greet one another. Let’s turn to our neighbors and say, “Your life is in God’s hand.” Amen. I hope our greeting is a true confession of our faith to God. Amen!

[Sermon]

As I shared before, Pastor Steven and our EM Praise team is leading worship at our Sister Church, In2 New York at this moment. And to fill in for him, he asked his personal stylist to come and to preach for him and it is great joy to be here to share God’s message with you all today.

Before I go on to share today’s message, I have to be honest. I feel burdened when Pastor Steven talks about me during EM worship because, he would just put me out there without me knowing and the things he share about me isn’t a compliment or something nice, but something more ridiculous. Don’t get me wrong, I really don’t mind him making fun of me. But when he calls me his stylist and still dress the way he dress? Now, I have problems with that. Every Sunday morning, I would look up and down and check his fit. And there is a place where my eyes stays the longest. And that is to check whether if he has proper socks on. Because he loves wearing them fake socks. They aren’t like athletic ankle socks, its just big enough to cover the toes and the heels of the foot and I think it completely ruins the whole outfit.

It took him a long time to wear some wide pants. But the socks, he never listens. He has his excuses but like come on pastor Steven. Thank goodness that this isn’t recording.

I know, socks don’t really matter. I know he has long pants and shoes on that does not show his ankles. But if you don’t take care of the little details, that completes the whole look, then for someone like me, I think that destroys everything. Why? You never know what is going to happen. It is those little things that count.

You all might be thinking why is this guy talking so much about Pastor Stevens socks. It is because, this is what today’s scripture is telling us. No, it is not talking about Pastor Stevens socks but what it is talking about is that we need to take care of the little details in our faith in order for us to truly see the hopes that God is giving in our lives. In order for us to be trusting in God we need to see the details of his divine works in our lives and live to glorify God for those little things.

Before we go through verse by verse, I just want to address the basic context of the Book of Zechariah. The book of Zechariah is a Post-exilic Prophecy that was given to the people of Israel. God gave this prophecy through the Zechariah whom was the priest of the Judean kingdom and was also a prophet. The core theme of this book is to give hope to the people of Israel of the recovery of the nation after the exile and of the victory to come.

So, to make this context more easy to understand. After 70 years living in a foreign land as captives, finally God opened the way for the Israelites to live free in their land. But let’s think about the return. Jerusalem, the city walls and the temple was a rubble. They had to build things back up again. But the neighboring countries that did not like the recovery of Israel, they were doing their best to interrupt this recovery. So in amidst all this chaos, God is speaking to the Israelites through Zechariah, promising them of a full recovery. Also, God is not only prophecizing to the Israelites but to the whole mankind of the coming of the Messiah.

So, in short, the book of Zechariah is book of hope. It is supposed to bring hope to the readers of the book. But the chapter we read isn’t quite hopeful. Let’s read verses 1 through to 2. On the count of 3. 1, 2, 3.

스가랴 14:1–2 NIV

1 A day of the Lord is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls. 2 I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.

A day of the Lord. For the sake of the structure, the English bible translated this way, but what the orginal text was intending was this phrase. “A day is coming for the Lord.” The NIV bible is more focused on the the “day” but what the author was intending was the focus to be set on the “Lord.” It is a threat that Jerusalem will be conquered.

In verse 2, the Lord is speaking for himself, saying how this day is going to turn out. The city will be captured, women raped, half of the city will go into exile. What is the lord implying? It will be a complete defeat. But don’t get this wrong because, God is explaining the situation. The complete defeat is going to happen for he is not going to be with the people there. How do we know this? Let’s read verse 3. On the count of 3. 1, 2, 3.

스가랴 14:3 NIV

3 Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle.

The Lord will go out and fight. So to elaborate on this. The Lord is going to gather everyone nations up to fight against Jerusalem. But then God is saying, “I’ll fight against the nations that I have gathered.” Why for the people who is remaining, the remnants are his people and he is going to fight for them. And through verses 4-5 it elaborates what God is going to do on the day of the fight. Let’s read verses 4-5. On the count of 3. 1, 2, 3.

스가랴 14:4–5 NIV

4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. 5 You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will 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.

When the Lord comes, when the messiah comes to fight the last battle he will come down on the Mount of Olives. Now, the Mt Olives is a place that is outside of the walls of Jerusalem. the Mountain in Israel that is fit for the Lord to be at is actually the Mt. Zion. But the reason that Messiah did not come down there is because it is already been occupied. So the Lord, the Messaiah is on the Mt of Olives and fight from there and from there the Lord will drive out all the enemies from the Land then God will come and all the holy ones with him will come. meaing that history has reached its Goal. Then from verse 6 through to 8, it shows the change that the Lord is going to bring. Verse 8 is the conclusion. So, let’s read verse 8 together.

스가랴 14:8 NIV

8 On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter.

After God fights the last battle, the living water will flow out of Jerusalem and will bring restoration through out the land.

As I mentioned earlier in the message, the book of Zechariah is supposed to be a book of hope and restoration. But, this specific chapter is not hopeful for the people who is going to be hearing the this oracle. Think about it. They just came back from exile. They rebuilt the city walls while fighting the neighboring countries. The word of hope for them is like, “I am going to bless you now, I am going to make you flourish.” Now they just were settling in. But what is God saying. “Look for the true restoration to happen, there needs to be the last battle.” Yes, there is hope, yes there is restoration. But first half of you need to die. This is devastating.

But this is only half true. This is a blessing. It’s not a blessing in disguise, it is blessing all the way. Why? For this prophecy isn’t about the restoration of just for the Israelites. It isn’t set for the well being of the returning captives but it is a prophecy to show who our Messiah Jesus is.

In Zechariah 9:9 it shows who Jesus is. I’ll read it for everyone.

스가랴 9:9 NIV

9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem he came riding in a donkey right? We know this points to him but today’s scripture also points to the coming of Jesus.

Verse 4 its says that the Lord will stand where? On the Mt of Olives. The Mt of Olives is the place where Jesus ascended into heaven after completing the ministry as a messiah. Verse 8 it says that, “On that day living water will flow out of Jerusalem.” And in John 7:38 it states.

요한복음 7:38 NIV

38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

The Battle it is not about death and chaos. The battle is not about anhilating half of the people’s population like Thanos. The battle the chaos is the platform for the true restoration to happen. It is a platform for the Messaiah to come into this world to be saved by God. So, for us to truly understand today’s scripture, don’t look at the events the Zechariah is sharing, the prophecy is to show that Jesus is coming and he is going to give the victory.

So we need to see these details in life. Our lives, our troubles, our hardship. It isn’t a punishment from God. But it is a platform to see Jesus in our lives. It is a platform to see God do his things in our lives. It is a time and an opportunity to truly embrace the salvation that God is going to give us.

Don’t be fooled by the chaos and the troubles in life, but see what is really happening beneath the rubble because it is where God’s hope is, it is where God’s grace and salvation is at.

On July 3rd I was blessed with the second biggest gift of my life. First is my wife and second is my baby girl Min. I didn’t like the Idea of a child. Being a nextgen pastor for so long, I thought it was all trouble and hardship raising a child. I did it only 6hours a week and I was dead every Sunday. But doing it full time, I couldn’t imagine it. But Min she changed everything. All the care and love, it changed my life but brought more joy then anxiousness. Being a realist, I though babies were just going to be time and money consuming beings but the smile and giggles bring more things that money and time could give. I think all the parents would agree on that. We need to extend this thought for our lifes journey with God.

Life is a blessing with our Messiah. When we can see and find Jesus working in our lives through our troublesome time, that is a blessing. Why? For Jesus is the living hope. For Jesus he gives hope for the kingdom. For Jesus gives the hope of a eternal life with him. And trouble and hardship just makes it so easier to see him as our hope.

Dear fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Find that small detail of hope in your Chaotic life. Then Jesus is going to show himself as our true living hope and through him we will see his great guidance in life. I hope that this message brings that true living hope to everyone here today. Let’s take this time to praise God.

[Prayer]

Prayer Lets confess with our lips that Jesus is my living hope.

Troubles and hardship. Let us see you do your great work.