Restoration of Zion Blessed Are Those Who Mourn 1985

like a man being raised from the dead, like a ruined city coming up out of its own ashes and rising into something far more glorious than it ever was before, Zion is being touched by the hand of God at this hour all over the earth. The body of Christ worldwide is experiencing something that's not visible maybe to every eye yet, but very soon will be. And God is reviving, restoring, and cleansing, and healing, and building up his church, his body on earth by working a miracle in the lives of a people inside the body who would seem to be the most unlikely.

He is doing it by touching a people whom the prophets called, and whom Jesus called the mourners. Reviving the church through the mourners. Whenever things go bad in a city, or a nation, or in the body of Christ, four kinds of people emerge.

There are the exploiters, there are the indifferent, there are the complainers, and there are the mourners. The exploiters are from top to bottom. The exploiters are the ones who always take advantage of the situation for their own gain, whether they're looting stores after an earthquake, or whether they're false prophets, you know, taking people for their money.

Scribes and Pharisees who, for a pretense, make long prayers while they devour widows' houses. And then you have the indifferent, the people who, as soon as things become a little dangerous, or somewhat uncomfortable, shrug their shoulders and walk away. They hold themselves aloof from anything that looks like a problem.

When Jesus starts to talk about the cross, about eating his flesh, and drinking his blood, and walking in his steps, many of his disciples say, this is a hard teaching, who can listen to it and walk away? They are indifferent. And then, of course, you have the complainers, the people who are forever moaning and groaning about how bad everything is. They really don't care enough to pitch in and do something to help.

They aren't concerned enough to take this thing to God and cry out in intercession. What they do, and they do it endlessly, is find people like themselves to complain to, and gripe to, and moan, really, to anybody who will listen. And then you have the mourners.

The mourners are the ones who care enough about their city, or about their nation, or about the body of Christ, to take their concern, and their anxiety, and their worry to the Lord himself. They rise above the level of continuous moaning, and groaning, and complaining, and bring their tears to God, and weep before him. Blessed are those who mourn, says Jesus.

They shall be conquered. Blessed are those who mourn, for they are the ones by which God renews his body on earth. Reading from Isaiah 61 again, starting at verse one.

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of prison to those who are bound. To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn.

To comfort all who mourn. He comforts all who mourn by transforming these mourners into builders of the new Jerusalem. How does he do it? Reading on with the very next verse.

Verse three of Isaiah 61. To grant to those who mourn in Zion, see, who care? To give them a garland instead of ashes. The oil of gladness instead of mourning.

The mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. That they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. They, that is the mourners, shall build up the ancient ruins.

The mourners shall raise up the former devastations. They shall repair the ruined cities and the devastations of many generations. For instance, in the days of King Saul, the mourners in Israel collected gradually around David.

Together with David, these mourners in Israel became the ones who were given a garland instead of ashes. The oil of gladness instead of mourning. The mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.

And it was through these people that Israel, the nation, was restored. In the days of John the Baptist, the mourners in Israel gathered around John, down at the Jordan River. Everybody started going down there to John.

They knew something was wrong and they were expecting a Messiah and they didn't know what to do, but this man seemed to have hope for them. Then John announces to Jesus, behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. And many of his disciples, perhaps most of his disciples, left John and went with Jesus.

And together with Jesus, these mourners became the ones who were given a garland instead of ashes. The oil of joy instead of mourning. A mantle of praise instead of a heavy spirit.

These are the ones who became oaks of righteousness and they are the ones through whom God restored Israel. We are living in a time when again, there is a collecting, a gathering together of the dry bones, when the mourners are again all over the earth being brought together. And God is visiting these mourners.

It's like fire coming down from heaven upon a sacrifice that has been prepared. See, and when this fire from God comes down on the sacrifice, you'll have glory. We are being called now to be part of that sacrifice.

We're being called to join and be part of this band of mourners. And who are the mourners today? They are the ones who care. They don't just complain, they care.

They have wept and they have tarried and they have fished all night and taken nothing, but at least they were out there fishing. And they have begun to repent of their own injustice in a world of injustice. They don't just walk around pointing their finger at everybody else's injustice.

They begin by repenting of their own injustice. They're not busy trying to pull a speck out of everybody else's eye. They're busy getting a log out of their own eye.

These are the mourners. And we need to ask ourselves whether we at this moment can honestly say that we're numbered among them. Are we among them? If not, we can be.

If we've been in some way exploiters, we can repent. If we've been indifferent, we can repent. If we've been complainers, and who of us hasn't? We can repent.

And we can become mourners. People who care, people who care enough to cry out for the blood of the Lamb to cleanse us all, and for the spirit of God to revive us all. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are those who mourn, for they are the ones who were used by God to restore Israel, to build up the body, to create under his power the new Jerusalem, to grant to those who mourn in Zion, to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit, that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. They shall build up the ancient ruins.

They shall raise up the former devastations. They shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. Now, if we are willing to be mourners, to repent of being complainers, to repent of being indifferent, exploiters, looters, whatever we've been, and become mourners, then the Lord will do five things with us.

He'll give us a garland instead of ashes. He'll give us the oil of gladness instead of mourning. He'll give us the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.

He'll make us oaks of righteousness, and he will use us to build the new Jerusalem. First, if we are willing to be mourners instead of complainers, God in this life, beginning at this hour, afresh, will give us a garland instead of ashes. Instead of having ashes on our head as a sign of discouragement, we have the garland that they put on the people who won the prize, the victors.

And this garland is a sign of the beauty of the Lord, the glory and light of God coming down in the midst of the ugliness. So we can walk down the alley and we can see glory, even in the midst of the garbage and the rats running behind the dumpsters and all the broken glass and all the ugly things that are there, we see the glory of God. We see the sky overhead rejoicing, the rain that's falling down.

We see a light of hope in that little old lady with the wrinkled face and the shopping bag. We see God so clearly that everything we touch brings beauty and hope and encouragement to other people. And instead of being the wet blanket, here come those Christians again, we become the bringers of joy.

If we are willing to be mourners instead of complainers, second thing that happens to us is that we are given the oil of gladness, the anointing of gladness instead of mourning. Our sorrow is turned into joy. All night long, every time Peter lowered his net, it came up empty.

And every time that net came up empty, he was discouraged. I guess I lost my touch. I don't know how to do it anymore.

Nothing is happening here. This is terrible. In the morning, as the day was breaking off at the shore, there was a figure of a man who piled across the water.

Have you caught anything? No. Cast the net on the right side of the ship, you'd get something. Up comes this net loaded with fish.

And when Peter sees those fish, he sees God. He sees a sign that God is with him. And he realizes that he's in the wrong place.

And this is pretty quickly, he understands this is Jesus on the ship. He's on the shore and he's comforted and he has great joy. And he throws himself into the water and goes.

Well, our net is coming up loaded with fish now as a sign that God is with us and that Jesus is with us. John chapter 16, verse 21. When a woman is in travail, she has sorrow because her hour has come.

But when she is delivered of the child, she no longer remembers the anguish for joy that a child is born into the world. So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy from you. And it happened.

And that day, you will ask me no questions. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the father, anything of the father, he will give it to you in my name. Hitherto, you have asked nothing in my name.

Ask and you will receive that your joy may be full. Joy, the oil of gladness and joy instead of mourning. He gives that to us if we're willing to be mourners instead of complainers.

If we're willing to be mourners instead of complainers, the next thing that happens to us, he gives us the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit, the mantle of worship instead of a heavy spirit. And so instead of the heaviness and the weariness and the discouragement, we begin to be lifted by the spirit of God into worship and praise, thanksgiving and joy. As an example, there were these two men walking out of Jerusalem on Sunday afternoon and they were discouraged.

Two days before, Friday afternoon, they had watched their Lord die. So they're walking along, talking about these things and a stranger joins them. Why do you guys look so sad? What's the problem? I mean, are you the only one in Jerusalem who hasn't heard what went on this weekend? What are you talking about? We're talking about Jesus, a prophet, mighty in word and deed before God and all the people.

But the chief priests and the rulers delivered him up and had him crucified and we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yeah, and this morning, some of our women, some of the sisters, they went to the grave and it was empty and they say they saw Jesus. They saw a vision of angels who said that Jesus is alive.

So we sent some of the brothers to check it out, you know, you, these hysterical women. And they saw that the tomb was empty, but they didn't see Jesus. Fools, slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken.

Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things, to enter into his glory? Isaiah 53, he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him.

With his stripes, we are healed. Don't you understand? And he opens the scriptures to them. Now they're in Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem.

Sun is going down. The stranger's gonna go on. They say, don't, please come in with us.

The day is far spent, evening's at hand. And as they sit at table and the stranger lifts up the bread and gives thanks and breaks it and passes it to them. Their eyes are open and they see Jesus and he vanishes from their sight.

And immediately they had a mantle of praise. They're full of joy and suddenly they're no longer tired. They turn around and go right back to Jerusalem and share what they saw with everybody else.

And pretty soon, in a matter of a few weeks, they're filling the streets of Jerusalem with worship and praise to God. And in a matter of a few years, cities all over the empire are hearing those praises to the Messiah of the land. Now that same spirit is offered to us today.

He will give us the mantle of praise and help us to praise instead of this heaviness. If we're willing to be mourners instead of complainers. If we're willing to be mourners instead of complainers, the next thing that happens is that we are made into oaks of righteousness.

The thing the world is looking for when they look at us is righteousness. They wanna see, do these people live a different life? Are they for real? Can you trust them? You know, or is it all talk? Oaks of righteousness. People who bear the stamp of the nature of Jesus.

People who, in fact, live the Sermon on the Mount. And they are oaks of righteousness, not reeds that blow around in the wind. Today, they're looking righteous, and tomorrow, look out.

Hold on to your wallet. Oaks of righteousness that survive, that bear the nature of the Lord day in and day out through every storm and through every season. And they keep going.

Food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, welcome for the stranger, clothing for the naked, visitation and healing for the sick, visitation and encouragement for the prisoner. Righteousness, mercy, steady, constant day in and day out. And finally, if we're willing to be mourners instead of complainers, He will use us to build a new Jerusalem.

They shall build up the ancient ruins. They shall raise up the former devastations. They shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.

And they build up the new Jerusalem, not just with talk, but with power. The Spirit of the Lord comes into their lives, into our lives if we are among them. And we bring, each one of us contributes healing encouragement, cleansing, life, strength, truth, integrity, and joy to the body.

Now this revival is already in progress and it'll go on with us or without us. It's going on. It's happening now and we already see it.

And we are being given the privilege of being part of it, of being lifted out of our doldrums up into worship and praise and thanksgiving and righteousness and power. But there's one thing we got to do. We have to go down where the mourners are.

We have to leave the hall of the exploiters. We have to flee from the court of the indifferent, run from that crowded ballroom of the complainers and go down to that room where Jesus meets with those who weep for Jerusalem and care about what's happened to Zion, enough to pray. And tarry and wait, even in fact, to bring it to the Lord and cry out to him.

If we are willing to do that today, he will visit us afresh with his spirit and he will lift us up and he will give us a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. He will make us oaks of righteousness and through his power, we will build up the ancient ruins and we will raise up the former devastations and we will repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. Let's wait upon him now.

Let the spirit speak to our hearts as individuals in silence, just in silence.