Zephaniah Chapter Three, Zeal For Corruption

Zephaniah 3:6 “I have cut off nations, their fortresses are devastated; I have made their streets desolate, with none passing by, their cities are destroyed; there is no one, no inhabitant. [7] I said, ‘Surely you will fear Me, you will receive instruction’–so that her dwelling would not be cut off, despite everything for which I punished her. But they rose early and corrupted all their deeds.

God reminds Israel of the former nations (including Samaria) that had fallen in times past. Even Israel’s introduction as an established nation began with the displacement of seven kingdoms that comprised Canaan after they were led out of Egypt.

Zephaniah Chapter Three, Righteous God

Zephaniah 3:5 The Lord is righteous in her midst, He will do no unrighteousness. Every morning He brings His justice to light; He never fails. But the unjust knows no shame.

Zephaniah reveals some prevalent truths about the nature and person of Yahweh to Israel. The first is a compounded reality: that God is righteous; in fact the prophet states unequivocally that He cannot do unrighteousness.

Following The Lord

This Easter Sunday I was leading my youngest daughter by the hand while she had her eyes closed. Why? The gym we were walking through was filled with eggs for an Easter egg hunt, and she wasn’t supposed to see them yet. But as we walked, and she faithfully followed my lead, it occurred to me what a remarkable simile it would make for our own walk with the Lord.

Zephaniah Chapter Three, Corrupt Leadership

Zephaniah 3:3 Her princes in her midst are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves that leave not a bone till morning. [4] Her prophets are insolent, treacherous people; her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.

Zephaniah looks to the leadership in Jerusalem, both secular and religious. His indictment begins with the princes of Judah, born from the lineage of David. Though Josiah was a godly king, his successors would not be. There were four kings that reigned after Josiah’s demise, beginning with Jehoahaz.

Zephaniah Chapter Three, Absence Of Trust

Zephaniah 3:2 She has not obeyed His voice, she has not received correction; she has not trusted in the Lord, she has not drawn near to her God.

In order to obey a command, one must first hear what that command is. The apostle Paul used this argument when he wrote, “On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet,” Romans 7:7. Jesus, in like manner, when He was confronted by the Pharisees about spiritual blindness and sight, said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains,” John 9:41.

Zephaniah Chapter Three, The Polluted City

Zephaniah 3:1 Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, to the oppressing city! [2] She has not obeyed His voice, she has not received correction; she has not trusted in the Lord, she has not drawn near to her God.

From Nineveh to Jerusalem, God refers to the people of His name as the oppressing city. The people within are given two descriptors: rebellious and polluted. The spectacle of the city was a whitewash: a shining, glimmering shell of nobility that included the king’s palace and the temple of Solomon. But within its shining exterior and luster lay wickedness.

Molehills: The Tradition Of Lent

One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. Romans 14:5

With this simple verse we contemplate the reality and necessity of the tradition that is Lent. Following is a truncated history of Lent. Sparse historical context places early preparations to celebrate what would become Easter as far back as the second or third century, but not for forty days. In fact it was believed to be drastically shorter; merely a handful of days

Zephaniah Chapter Two, Desolation At The Door

Zephaniah 2:14 The herds shall lie down in her midst, every beast of the nation. Both the pelican and the bittern shall lodge on the capitals of her pillars; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be at the threshold; for He will lay bare the cedar work. [15] This is the rejoicing city that dwelt securely, that said in her heart, “I am it, and there is none besides me.” How has she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down! Everyone who passes by her shall hiss and shake the fist.

The description of Nineveh continues in this passage. Nineveh was a great city in Assyria, and a city that no less than two Biblical writers focused upon in the OT: Jonah and Nahum. Jonah was sent to Nineveh to preach repentance in the face of impending destruction. Nahum, however, preached against the city as a cesspool of corruption that valued trade more than human life; in fact it bartered human life for material gain.

Zephaniah Chapter Two, Nineveh

Zephaniah 2:12 “You Ethiopians also, you shall be slain by My sword. [13] And He will stretch out His hand against the north, destroy Assyria, and make Nineveh a desolation, as dry as the wilderness.

In the Old Testament the reference to Ethiopia is not what we modernly refer to in regards to geography. The OT Hebrew and contemporaneous Egyptian referred to this land as Cush, but the Septuagint–a Greek translation of the Old Testament–rendered the term “Aithiopia.” Modern English translations tend to follow the Septuagint, hence the term Ethiopia.

Zephaniah Chapter Two, Restoring The Nations

Zephaniah 2:11 The Lord will be awesome to them, for He will reduce to nothing all the gods of the earth; people shall worship Him, each from his place, indeed all the shores of the nations.

Following the verses contextually, “them,” would refer to Ammon and Moab, who we have been learning about since verse 8. God will be awesome to them, in the sense that He will render all opposing deific contenders moot. Molech, Chemosh, et al., will be revealed as imposters and demonic fronts to mislead the nations.

Zephaniah Chapter Two, Pride & Consequence

Zephaniah 2:10 This they shall have for their pride, because they have reproached and made arrogant threats against the people of the Lord of hosts.

Pride is perhaps the most fundamental sin in Scripture. It was the sin that caused Lucifer, the Light Bringer, to err in regard to his position of importance as a created being, Isaiah 14:12-14. Being the greatest of the angelic hosts God created in the beginning, his wisdom was marred when he considered his position as the covering cherub, Ezekiel 28:14.

Zephaniah Chapter Two, Moab & Ammon

Zephaniah 2:8 “I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the insults of the people of Ammon, with which they have reproached My people, and made arrogant threats against their borders. [9] Therefore, as I live,” says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Surely Moab shall be like Sodom, and the people of Ammon like Gomorrah–overrun with weeds and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation. The residue of My people shall plunder them, and the remnant of My people shall possess them.”

Moab is one of the incestual sons of Lot after he and his daughters fled Sodom, Genesis 19:37. Lot, being the son of Haran, was Abraham’s nephew, Genesis 11:31. Moab became father to the Moabites, cousins as it were to Israel. Yes there was no love between these peoples. Moab, in the book of Jeremiah, is called, “the people of Chemosh,” Jeremiah 48:46.

Zephaniah Chapter Two, Intervention

Zephaniah 2:6 The seacoast shall be pastures, with shelters for shepherds and folds for flocks. [7] The coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; They shall feed their flocks there; In the houses of Ashkelon they shall lie down at evening. For the Lord their God will intervene for them, and return their captives.

In this passage we get a glimpse of what is theologically referred to as the Millennium, or the thousand year reign of Jesus Christ on earth from the throne of David, in the city of Jerusalem after the conclusion of the seven year Tribulation period.

Zephaniah Chapter Two, The Fate of Philistia

Zephaniah 2:4 For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon desolate; they shall drive out Ashdod at noonday, and Ekron shall be uprooted. [5] Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast, the nation of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines: “I will destroy you; so there shall be no inhabitant.”

The resultant Day of the Lord’s lens turns to the coastland and the inveterate enemies of Israel, the Philistines. The Philistines are said to have hailed originally from the land of Caphtor, and were previously referred to as Caphtorim, see Genesis 10:14, Deuteronomy 2:23. Caphtor is most commonly believed to have been the island of Crete. This I find to be an interesting revelation, and does something to reveal to the reader a little about the Philistines’ culture from an outside perspective.

Zephaniah Chapter Two, Hidden By God

Zephaniah 2:3 Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger.

Our Lord once said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth,” Matthew 5:5. In this same utterance, Jesus added, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled,” Matthew 5:6. Our Lord attests that the meek will be the inheritors of the earth, and that those whose desire is for righteousness (as God defines the term), it shall be sated.

Zephaniah Chapter Two, Commanded To Seek

 Zephaniah 2:3a Seek the Lord,

In verse 1 Yahweh instructed His people to gather before the day of the Lord arrived. Now gathered, He tells them to seek Him. This seeking is more than just an intellectual ponderance of the reality of God. It begins here, as it must. But the realization of God’s existence heightens a growing and condensing search that craves defined (and definable) answers as to the nature and person of the being we attribute the title of God to.

Zephaniah Chapter Two, Undesirable Nation

Zephaniah 2:1 Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, O undesirable nation, [2] before the decree is issued, or the day passes like chaff, before the Lord’s fierce anger comes upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger comes upon you!

God issues a command for Israel to gather together; they are the undesirable nation, the nation “not reckoning itself among the nations,” Numbers 23:9. The prophet Joel proclaimed a similar command, writing, “Consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly; gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord,” Joel 1:14.

For Shame!

The Biblical concept of shame is, in my own opinion, one that is sorely needed for today’s cultural milieu. In the Pilgrim’s Progress the character Faithful encounters a peculiar man wrongly named Shame. In the discourse they share after Faithful’s conversion, Shame says this to him:

Zephaniah Chapter One, Sinning Against God

Zephaniah 1:17 “I will bring distress upon men, and they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord; their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like refuse.” [18] Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to save them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of His jealousy, for He will make speedy riddance of all those who dwell in the land.

The Day of the Lord is about the end of God’s patience with rebellious mankind. For thousands of years God has generously and copiously warned about the impending wrath to come; but He is not a puppet master. God will not decide for each of us if we will accept or reject the gospel of Jesus Christ. If we accept and believe our destiny is Heaven and reconciliation. If we reject our destiny is the Lake of Fire and eternal torment.

Zephaniah Chapter One, The Gravity Of The Day

Zephaniah 1:15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. [16] A day of trumpet and alarm against the fortified cities and against the high towers.

God is juxtaposing the imminent exile of Judah to Babylon with the forthcoming Day of the Lord in this chapter. In verse 7 the prophet is given a large glimpse of God’s ultimate retributive culmination with the Day of the Lord, contrasting that day with what is about to fall upon Israel.

Zephaniah Chapter One, Proximity

Zephaniah 14 The great day of the Lord is near; it is near and hastens quickly. The noise of the day of the Lord is bitter; there the mighty men shall cry out.

The believer always refers to the return of Christ as being imminent. But what does this mean? What it means is that, as far as the Rapture of the saints is concerned, there is nothing prophetically significant that needs to occur between now and then. The Lord could catch us up this moment, or tomorrow. The believer does not know–indeed, cannot know–the time of the Lord’s coming; rather we are to always be prepared with candles burning, standing at the window for His arrival.

Zephaniah Chapter One, Lighting Up The Dark

Zephaniah 1:12 “And it shall come to pass at that time that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and punish the men who are settled in complacency, who say in their heart, ‘The Lord will not do good, nor will He do evil.’” [13] Therefore their goods shall become booty, and their houses a desolation; they shall build houses, but not inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards, but not drink their wine.”

Here the Lord begins to discuss the thoroughness of His judgment. In verses 10 and 11 the prophet mentions districts and portions of the city, and how no portion of Jerusalem (or beyond it) will be exempt or immune from this day. Moreover, God will search the city with lamps, shedding light in its darkest recesses to reveal the peoples’ evil and apathy.

Zephaniah Chapter One, The Extent Of The Day

Zephaniah 1:10 “And there shall be on that day,” says the Lord, “The sound of a mournful cry from the Fish Gate, a wailing from the Second Quarter, and a loud crashing from the hills. [11] Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh! For all the merchant people are cut down; all those who handle money are cut off.

Verses 10 and 11 continue detailing the Day of the Lord, explaining the scope of the event. The Day is a day of judgment for the wicked and deliverance for the righteous. Its authority will be wholly consuming, reaching every quarter of the holy city and beyond, as the prophet references the hills beyond Jerusalem’s walls.

Zephaniah Chapter One, The Master's Threshold

Zephaniah 1:9 In the same day I will punish all those who leap over the threshold, who fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.

In the Day of the Lord God will punish those who leap over the threshold. This incident refers to 1 Samuel chapter 5. The Ark of the Covenant had been taken by the Philistines after Israel incurs a disastrous loss. The Philistines put the ark in the temple of one of their principle gods, Dagon.

Zephaniah Chapter One, The Lord's Sacrifice

Zephaniah 1:8 “And it shall be, in the day of the Lord’s sacrifice, that I will punish the princes and the king’s children, and all such as are clothed with foreign apparel.

The day of the Lord’s sacrifice is still in reference to the Day of the Lord, the day of God’s holy wrath on a sinful world. In the same time period when the Lord gathers His guests and offers a sacrifice, He will punish Israel for her transgressions. Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 address Gog, who represents a mighty coalition of nations that fall upon Israel and are suddenly and brutally defeated by the Lord’s intercession. The prophet writes, “Surely it is coming, and it shall be done,” says the Lord God. “This is the day of which I have spoken,” Ezekiel 39:8.

Zephaniah Chapter One, The Day Of The Lord

Zephaniah 1:7 Be silent in the presence of the Lord God; for the day of the Lord is at hand, for the Lord has prepared a sacrifice; He has invited His guests.

God’s condemnation of this insidious conduct and thinking reaches crescendo. There is an abundance of discordant noise in God’s presence, but none of it genuinely or spiritually pleasing or meaningful to Him. Religious overtures do not compensate for a lack of personal accountability grounded in a relationship with Yahweh.

Zephaniah Chapter One, Spiritual Abandonment

Zephaniah 1:6 Those who have turned back from following the Lord, and have not sought the Lord, nor inquired of Him.”

Zephaniah already addressed the idolatrous priests, or those once seemingly faithful in His flock who went after idols in verse 4. There are the double minded who swear oaths to both Yahweh and Milcom in verse 5. And now God addresses unfaithful Judah who has turned back from following Him as their spiritual head.

Zephaniah Chapter One, Worshiping Stars & Abominations

Zephaniah 1:5 Those who worship the host of heaven on the housetops; those who worship and swear oaths by the Lord, but who also swear by Milcom;

Verse 4 spoke of Baal, a Canaanite deity. Now the Lord warns people who ascend to the housetop to worship the host of heaven, or the constellations. Utilizing one’s Zodiac is–and has been—extremely in vogue in popular culture. It is said that R.H. Naylor of Britain was credited to have put the first horoscope in the newspaper in 1930. This means that we are fast approaching 100 years of the printed horoscope in the newspaper, and people taking the vagaries of its contents as something mystical and religious in nature.

Zephaniah Chapter One, Baal Worship

Zephaniah 1:4 “I will stretch out My hand against Judah, and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off every trace of Baal from this place. The names of the idolatrous priests with the pagan priests–

God focuses upon Judah and the city of Jerusalem, or rather the people who dwell in it. Judah was the remaining, dominant tribe after northern Israel or Samaria was taken in captivity by Assyria (around 720 BC). And as Samaria was the capital city of northern Israel, becoming synonymous with it, so was Jerusalem to Judah. Jerusalem held the temple built by Solomon, and the king’s palace. It was a holy place to the Jews, who had dwelt there after expelling the Jebusites from it during the time of King David.

Zephaniah Chapter One, The Prophet's Calling

Zephaniah 1:1 The word of the Lord which came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.

Zephaniah was called to be a prophet during the reign of Judah’s last godly king, Josiah. His family lineage is traced back to his great grandfather, Hezekiah. This may indicate that Zephaniah descended from the royal bloodline in Judah. Since it is not expressly stated, we do not know. Furthermore, since this Hezekiah is not referred to as King Hezekiah, it seems less likely that this is in fact the case.

Apologetics: Who Made God?

An apologetic is a reasoned or reasonable answer to a question posed to those outside of Christendom to offer a valid explanation. It is derived from 1 Peter 3:15, which states, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.”

Jude, God Alone

Jude 25 To God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.

The final passage in Jude’s benediction shines the light perfectly and completely upon God. He ascribes to God a quaternity of attributes, extolling the Lord for His virtues; virtues which provide definition for His otherwise inscrutable character. There is very much we would not–and could not–know about the nature of God if He did not deign to share it with the sons of men.

Jude, Faultless

Jude 24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,

Jude concludes his epistle with a benediction, or blessing. As is appropriate for a Christian minister, his desire is to direct our undivided attention to God, where it properly belongs. The benediction begins with a presentation of Him, who is able to keep the saints from stumbling.

Jude, Fear Of Burning

Jude 23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

Now we come to the second camp of people. In verse 22 we are instructed to have compassion on some, showing a distinction; that distinction being that there are those honestly doubting who just need loving, prayerful support to help them in time of need. Then there is another camp who needs to be saved with fear.

Jude, Distinctions

Jude 22 And on some have compassion, making a distinction;

The NASB renders this verse, “And have mercy on some, who are doubting.” The NIV says, “Be merciful to those who doubt.” It is not a sin to doubt. All Christians suffer doubt in some area of our faith and our lives. The church is to be ready to offer support, edification and compassion to those who doubt. To doubt is not to apostatize. Doubt can come from a seemingly infinite number of sources; but here, in this context, the doubt within Christ’s church may arise from the Satanic, worldly doctrines the false teachers promote.

Jude, God's Mercy & Eternal Life

Jude 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

Jude appeals to Christians to remain in God’s love; we are to abide in Christ, and by doing so, He will abide in us, John 15:4. The idea is to remain steadfast in God’s love. But what does this mean?

Jude, Built Upon Christ

Jude 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

Jude diverts the reader’s attention from the false teachers that have thus far been the object of his epistle to themselves. Jude tells his fellow Christians to build themselves up on their faith. The idea here implies that we are, as God’s saints, to build upon the foundation of our faith, which is Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 3:11.

Jude, Sensual, Divisive & Unsaved

Jude 19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.

This verse is the final direct conversation Jude has about these false teachers, though he will allude to them again toward the conclusion of his epistle. In this verse we learn three more things about the false teachers. In an effort to bring us into this culmination, we should recapitulate what Jude has already said about these men.

Jude, What Is Right In Their Eyes

Jude 18 how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts.

I don’t typically begin the conversation with a biblical quote, but it is appropriate to cite 1 Timothy 4:1: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.” The apostles of the Lord warned that we should adhere to the words they have committed by virtue of the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, Jude 17. Why? Because the same Holy Spirit warns the church that in later times professing Christians will leave behind the truth, paying attention to, and being deceived by, the doctrines of demons. The saint is not to, “give place to the devil,” Ephesians 4:27; that is, not to give him a foothold in our lives by which he may lead us from our faith whichever distraction most pleases us.

Jude, Remembering

Jude 17 But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Jude reminds us (and his readership) that if we are fellow Christians, we are beloved. We are not only beloved by Jude, but we are to love and be loved by anyone who names Jesus Christ as their Savior. Jesus told us, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another,” John 13:34, 35.

Jude, The Anatomy Of False Teachers

Jude 16 These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage.

Jude refers to the ungodly first as grumblers and complainers. The two words are synonymous but one is slightly more aggravated. To be a grumbler is to complain. We may easily find records of the Jews complaining against God during the wilderness wanderings and His reaction to such ungrateful, spiteful, unfaithful conduct, which emanates from an unbelieving heart.