Who Will Sit Atop The Hill Of The Lord?

Sermon on Zephaniah 2:3; 3:11-13

Text: Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land,
you who do what he commands.
Seek righteousness, seek humility;
perhaps you will be sheltered
on the day of the LORD’s anger.
11 On that day you, Jerusalem, will not be put to shame
for all the wrongs you have done to me,
because I will remove from you
your arrogant boasters.
Never again will you be haughty
on my holy hill.
12 But I will leave within you
the meek and humble.
The remnant of Israel
will trust in the name of the LORD.
13 They will do no wrong;
they will tell no lies.
A deceitful tongue
will not be found in their mouths.
They will eat and lie down
and no one will make them afraid.

When you were younger, did you ever play “King of the Mountain”? If not, you’re familiar with the concept of the game. The goal was to be the last one standing at the top. You had to pull and push others away, so that, in the end, you were the last one standing. Even if you didn’t play that game, there are still instances when you wanted to be the top of the heap. The student strives to be the valedictorian. The team wants to be the one holding the trophy at the end of the season. Little children race to see who will be first. This morning, we are going to be talking about those who will be the ones who are the winners. WHO WILL SIT ATOP THE HILL OF THE LORD? 1. It Will Not Be The Ones World Expects. 2. It Will Be Those Who Trust In The Name Of The Lord.

Before we look at who will be sitting atop the hill of the LORD, we want to find out what it is and why people would want this position. For the Old Testament people, the hill of the Lord was the place in Jerusalem, where the temple was situated. This was the visible evidence of being in the presence of the Lord. This was a way of saying that you were close to the Lord or that you were in a close relationship with him. Surely, all people would want to be in this position.

Another phrase that we need to look at is “The day of the LORD’s anger.” (Zephaniah 3:12) This was understood to be the day of judgment, when the Lord would punish his enemies. Of course, when the Old Testament people heard this, they would think of all those nations, who, throughout Israel’s history, had invaded and harassed the nation. As you read through the Old Testament, you find the Egyptians, the Philistines, the Midianites, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians, to name a few. These nations had attacked God’s people. How they longed for the day when these nations would get what was coming to them. They were arrogant in their opposition to God’s people.

However, the day of judgment that is spoken of here has nothing to do with those foreign nations. This day of judgment is directed at someone else. In speaking to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Lord refers to “arrogant boasters.” (Zephaniah 3:12) What made them arrogant boasters? While they might have thought that all of those foreign nations deserved God’s wrath and punishment, they would be spared from judgment, because they were God’s chosen people. Their ancestor was Abraham, whom God had chosen to be their forefather. God had rescued them from the hand of the Egyptians. God had appeared to them, as he had to no one else. They had the commandments given to them through Moses. God’s temple was in their land. Surely, God is with us. So, as a result, they felt that they were safe. They didn’t feel the need to repent and live godly lives, as is evidenced in the pages of Scriptures. How many times don’t we read of the nation abandoning God and worshipping idols? Yet, they felt safe and secure, because they were God’s people. They were arrogant boasters, who would never sit atop the hill of the Lord.

It is good for us to hear this warning, because, at times, we can have the same attitude as they did. We can follow the same prideful trend as Israel. We think that God’s anger against sin can’t possibly so absolute that it will ignore no sin, that no one will escape unscathed. We like to comfort ourselves by saying, “Oh, yes, those wicked people will get what they deserve. When I hear what they have done, how can anything else happen to them? Certainly, God will see to it that I receive much milder treatment.” We compare ourselves to others and focus on the good that we have done. We end up sounding like the Pharisee in the story that Jesus told. Remember his words? “God, I thank you that I am not like other people — robbers, evildoers, adulterers — or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.” (Luke 18:11-12) This prideful thought that, in some way or another, we can be right with God on our own, would exclude us, also, from sitting atop the hill of the Lord.

Who, then, will sit atop the hill of the Lord? It is those who heed the first verse of our text: “Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD’s anger.” (Zephaniah 2:3) The Lord calls out to the humble. Here, humble doesn’t mean that we are not proud in an earthly sense. It is someone who hears the hammering of the law of God on their heart and they are crushed. They hear the words of James 2:10, “Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” They compare their lives to what God has expressly said in his Word, and they realize that they have gone against it time and again. This humility tells them that they don’t have a chance of standing before the divine Judge and being declared “Not Guilty.” As far as all those things that are done to try to get right with God, they hear the words of Isaiah 64:6: “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” This humility, this contrition moves us to echo the words of the tax collector in Jesus’ story, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” (Luke 18:13) Why is this humbling, this contrition so necessary? It shows us our complete inability, on our own, to ever sit atop the hill of the Lord, to be in his holy presence.

Yet we also note that we are called upon to “Seek righteousness.” (Zephaniah 2:3) While we can never achieve this righteousness on our own, there is one who came to be our righteousness, Jesus Christ. In order to be our righteousness, Jesus humbled himself. When we say that Jesus humbled himself, we are not using it in the sense that we used earlier, that had had to be crushed in contrition for sin. He did not sin, not even once. Yet, Jesus did humble himself, as Paul reminds us in Philippians 2:8, “He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross!” Jesus humbled himself by taking our place, as he suffered and died on the cross. There all our sins were paid for. Jesus’ resurrection assures us that all has been accomplished. He further showed his love for us by sending the Holy Spirit into our hearts to create faith and, as we are told in Romans 3:22, “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” Now we are pure and in a right relationship with God. This is the promise that God has given to those who have humbled themselves and sought refuge in Jesus. We are those who “trust in the name of the LORD.” (3:12) Because of Jesus, we sit atop the hill of the Lord.

One of the ways that those who have humbled themselves and trusted in the name of the LORD are described is found in Zephaniah 3:13, “They will do no wrong; they will tell no lies. A deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouths.” As we live for God and want to thank him for all he has done for us, we want to make sure that we tell the truth. This can come in many different forms. For example, if we see that someone is sinning, we tell them that it is against God’s will for all. When we have the opportunity to stand up for the truths of God’s Word, we don’t hesitate to do so. Of course, we don’t have to go in guns blazing. Rather, as we are reminded in Ephesians 4:15 to “Speak the truth in love.” We aren’t there to win an argument. We want to lead the person we are speaking with to repent of their sin and come to God for forgiveness. We want them to be in heaven with us.

Another thought that comes to mind, when it comes to humility, is serving others. We can do so at home, at school, at our jobs, at church. We have so many opportunities to serve others. Unfortunately, our natural tendency is to want others to serve us. Or, if I am serving someone, I want them to be sure to see how much I am being put out in my service to them. Sometimes, when I have the opportunity to serve, I get a martyr complex. ‘I’m always doing the service work. Let someone else do it.’ However, Paul reminds us in Galatians 5:13, “Serve one another humbly in love.” When I have to opportunity to serve someone, I want to do so. I don’t keep track of how many times I’m asked to serve or what I’m asked to do. I realize that this is another opportunity that God has placed in front of me to show my love and my thanksgiving to him for all that he has done for me.

There are many instances that the Bible teaches the exact opposite of what the world around us advocates. For instance, look at Matthew 5. The world says you must push and scheme if you want to get ahead. Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5) The world says that if you show any kindness or forgiveness, it’s a sign of weakness and people will walk all over you. Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” (Matthew 5:7) The same is true in our text. The world would say that it is the people, who try the hardest to be good people, who do all the right things, that they will be the ones who are in a right relationship with God. Our text tells us that it is the humble ones, those who know that there is no way that they could ever do enough to be right with God. They come, confessing their sins and, through the faith that the Holy Spirit creates, those sins are forgiven. Because they trust in the name of the LORD, because they believe in him, they sit atop the hill of the LORD today and will sit there for all eternity.