3 The Joy of God's Delight

Introduction

Mountain top understanding of prophecy. Prophets see the peaks but not the distance of the valleys between them.

Like Facebook posts. Everyone posts their highlight reel and you see the peaks that they want you to see. You don’t get a glimpse of all the junk moments in between the highlights.

We go back in time a little from where we started two weeks ago. Back to the book of Zephaniah which is several pages back from Malachi, just before the end of the Old Testament. Also back a few years from Jeremiah the prophet.

Zephaniah served as prophet for several terrible kings and into the reign of Josiah, the young king who began pointing the people back to God. The book of Zephaniah is short. 3 chapters. 53 verses.

Begins in 1:1 The word of the Lord came to Zephaniah in the days of Josiah, king of Judah. (divided kingdom)

1:2 begins with the harsh news – I will completely remove everything from the face of the earth. Judgment is coming.

Why do we frequently see harsh judgment in the OT?

God’s people wander from Him, serving the kingdom of the world. God’s wrath is against sin and rebellion. Kingdom of the world is a kingdom in rebellion.

In 1:4-6 we see that the people were worshiping Baal and Molech. God’s judgment is not just against the pagans of the world at that time, but His own people who were turning from Him and becoming pagan. So God is warning that He will “clean house”.

Zephaniah mentions the Day of the Lord throughout the book – pointing to that eventual day when God wipes out all evil. In the near peak - short term, this is the prophecy for Jerusalem. In the far peak - longer term it points to the Day of Judgment when all will be made right.

Chapter 2 begins with a call for Judah to repent, to turn from their wickedness and turn back to God before that Day of the Lord comes.

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Then Zephaniah turns to the judgment of the nations in the rest of chapter 2.

Chapter 3 once the house cleaning is finished, God will restore the remnant. They will trust in the name of the Lord.

The prophecy here is for Judah and Jerusalem in the shorter term, but the longer view leads to the end when Jesus returns as Judge and King.

As we learned last week - The good news is that God’s intention is not to destroy but to love and reconcile, redeem, and restore.

The picture at the beginning of this short book is judgment and destruction. The picture at the end of the book is love and beauty and joy.

We do not deserve God’s love, but He offers it anyway.

The Hope and Joy of Advent is that God has done something in Christ that changes everything.

Read

Zephaniah 3:14–17 NIV

14 Sing, Daughter Zion; shout aloud, Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, Daughter Jerusalem! 15 The Lord has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy. The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm. 16 On that day they will say to Jerusalem, “Do not fear, Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. 17 The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”

Start with the Big Idea: our theme this week is Joy, not Love. That was last week, but as you’ll see…

Big Idea: God’s love and delight over us produce gladness and joy in us.

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God’s Love Fights Fiercely

God’s love is amazing. We often picture Him tenderly carrying the sheep. As we mentioned last week, God’s love is not about warm fuzzies. It isn’t puppies and kittens and little babies.

We celebrate Christmas as the birth of Jesus, but most often the picture is “baby Jesus” the little one who “no crying he makes”. If we’re not careful we reduce our view and the world’s view of the Savior to this little helpless infant.

True, God humbled Himself and took on the form of mankind. But He is still God.

His love is beautiful but not mushy. Comforting but not cozy.

Up to this point we see the fierce, we see the warrior, we see God fighting sin.

Zephaniah 3:17 NIV

17 The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”

calls Him the Warrior Who Saves

(highlight the phrase) calls Him the Warrior Who Saves

An example is in Exodus, after God bring Israel out of Egypt and then through the Red Sea to protect them they sing The Lord is a Warrior, the Lord is his name. God fights on their behalf as He is rescuing them.

The story of the end, the great Day of the Lord in says a sharp sword comes out of His mouth to strike down the nations. A might warrior whose love is fierce.

How does God fight for us today? Sometimes against the external forces as we see in these two examples.

Sometimes, though God must fight for us by warring against the internal things that destroy us. The sin, idolatry, complacency, passivity, selfishness.

God wars against the rebellion in you to draw you back to His Kingdom.

What is God warring against in your life right now?

What sin are you wrestling with?

What struggles are you facing and how might God use those to show you He loves you and bring joy to your heart?

God’s Love Brings Joy

Zephaniah 3:14–15 NIV

14 Sing, Daughter Zion; shout aloud, Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, Daughter Jerusalem! 15 The Lord has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy. The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm.

Daughter Jerusalem - near peak = return and restoration after exile. Far peak = New Jerusalem - new Kingdom - remember Jesus teaching the Kingdom is Near.

v.14 is a call to rejoice

v.14 is a call to rejoice

v.15 is why – removed your punishment, turned back your enemy, King is among you or with you

Isn’t that reason to celebrate? To rejoice? To sing?

We rejoice in the victory of our King, we celebrate the removal of guilt and restoring us to His Kingdom.

Judgment is gone, the enemies (external and internal) are turned back or cleared away

The Lord, The King is with you.

God’s Love Delights

Zephaniah 3:16–17a NIV

16 On that day they will say to Jerusalem, “Do not fear, Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. 17 The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”

(first part of 17)

Yes – The Lord is a warrior fighting against the kingdom of the world.

But God also shows compassion – He delights in each of His own.

v.16 into 17 Have no fear, the Lord is here.

He will take great delight in you.

What does it mean to delight? Do you delight in someone? What does that look like?

Delight – find pleasing, joy

Yes, God’s love brings us joy, but we also bring Joy to Him.

God delights in you – not just love, but true joy. In other words, He likes you.

of course He loves us. He sent His Son to die for us. But God also delights.

In our heads we know that. Do we really experience and understand that fact in our hearts???

Sometimes it is hard to imagine God thinking of us in this way – we may have had a father or mother who treated us poorly. A spouse who walked away. Friends who abandoned us. We don’t always feel loved, or even liked.

God’s Love Quiets

Zephaniah 3:17b ESV

17 The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

(highlight this section.)

Judgment brings unsettledness. Chaos. Frequent change. Upheaval.

Judgment brings unsettledness. Chaos. Frequent change. Upheaval.

in the near peak - Jerusalem would be captured. Life would be upside-down for a generation or so.

The normal course of life can be that way for us as well. Frequent change. Jobs, marriages, children, stage of life, our nation seems to be steadily changing, even our church has been and continues to change.

It can be unsettling.

The middle of v.17 brings calm. He will quiet you by His love.

In His love He will no longer rebuke you. He will calm all your fears.

Different ways it is translated, but the meaning is – judgment is gone, His love settles us. No fear needed.

Men - sometimes we’re uncomfortable talking about love. this is the deep, transforming kind of love that is not mushy but the reassurance of a Father who deeply cares about you. Who sees your struggles and wants to help.

We often recognize that calm the most when we’re sitting in deer blind or drowning a worm in the stream and appreciating His creation. Hanging out with Him.

That calm comes from the reassurance of God in our core as we hang out with Him.

Not just in creation, but also time in His Word, time in prayer, time meditating and worshiping. As we allow the truth of what God has done in us and for us to transform our hearts we rejoice in Him. We find joy and peace that transcend the troubles we’ve been through.

God’s Love Rejoices

I remember my dad singing to me when I was little. Sometimes he changed the words of songs and made up crazy stuff, but he sang to me.

I remember doing the same thing with my kids. Singing over them with crazy songs, but also singing love, singing about God’s love.

Our Father in Heaven loves His own and rejoices over them with singing.

Zephaniah 3:17c NIV

17 The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”

(highlight the last part.)

He will rejoice over you with singing, with loud singing, with joyful songs

We rejoice in our mighty warrior savior because he has rescued us.

He rejoices in us and sings over us because he loves us. Because we return to him and he restores us.

The rest of the chapter ends the book with the promise of restoration.

Remember the parable of the two sons – one a prodigal who wandered away, one a rebel at heart who stayed near but remained distant.

The Father allowed the prodigal to wander. When the wanderer came to the end of himself and went back to the Father he was waiting with open arms, welcomed him back, celebrated over him.

The other brother stayed close but never opened himself to the Father who still professed His love for the son and invited him in.

We have a similar choice. We can stop wandering, turn to the Father, receive His love, and rejoice with Him.

Or we can continue to go our own way, even though we try to make it appear we are close. We go to church, in a group, know the words to say, but our hearts are closed.

Conclusion

Address all - Don’t miss this important concept this Advent season…

God loves you. His love is fierce. God wants the best for you, which means ridding you of the strongholds the kingdom of the world has over you.

God delights in you. He not only loves you, he really likes you too.

God calms you in your spirit as you spend time with Him.

God rejoices over you with singing.

Big Idea: God’s love and delight over us produce gladness and joy in us.

God’s love and delight over us produce gladness and joy in us.

What About You?

Do you know God likes you and delights in you?

Do you experience the calming presence of God in your times with Him?

Does God’s love bring you joy, even in the darkest of times?

Advent is a time of Joy because God showed His great love for us in providing the mighty warrior to fight for us.

Have you experience the truth of 3:15 – The Lord has taken away your punishment?

Is there anything robbing you of your joy today?

Let’s bring these before the Lord. Give Him your sin, give Him anything that is holding you back from His joy.