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.

Now Israel was, under Josiah, in the midst of religious reform that, on the surface, smacked of a return to true worship. But Zephaniah and his counterpart Jeremiah both preached contrarily; they both warned that in due time Babylon would come and take all of Judah away into captivity. Neither was the Lord remiss about why such things would happen. Here is one small sampling of the prevalent attitude in Judah prior to the exile, “Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and every one to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim liberty to you,’ says the Lord–’to the sword, to pestilence and to famine! And I will deliver you to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth,” Jeremiah 34:17. Here is one more. “And it happened, when Jehudi had read three or four columns (of Jeremiah’s scroll), that they king cut it with the scribe’s knife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth…yet they were not afraid, nor did they tear their garments, the king nor any of his servants who heard these words,” Jeremiah 36:23, 24.

Why is this? Religious reform cannot come from external compulsion. This is part of what was meant when John wrote, “who were born…[not] of the will of man, but of God,” John 1:13. External compliance does not equate to internal transformation. No, internal transformation must come first, and external compliance will be the natural result of God’s interposition within the human heart. This is why fundamental Islam, who compels conversion, or rather reversion by the sword will always fail. A mind changed against its will is a mind unconvinced still. Oh, and Islam uses the phrase “reversion” because it is taught that becoming Muslim after being a different religion shows you are reverting to your true and first faith: Islam.

Josiah certainly meant well. He wanted Israel to return to her roots, to return to her God and proper worship. He despaired at the terrible sins the nation had been committing and knew that judgment was coming. Josiah heard the burden of the word of the Lord against Israel when he sent an entourage to hear what God had to say about the state of Israel, 2 Chronicles 34:20, 21. This is the word they returned to him: “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will bring calamity on this place and its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in this book which they have read before the king of Judah, because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore My wrath will be poured out on this place, and not be quenched,” 2 Chronicles 34:24, 25.

Josiah was the last godly king of Judah, and the last man to sit on the throne by proper accession. His successors were puppet kings and imposters who one and all steered the kingdom to utter ruin. When Josiah perished in battle it marked the beginning of the end for Israel. Josiah did not know the day of his death, but was promised that Israel would have peace until it happened, 2 Chronicles 34:28. In this respect Josiah’s removal from the throne by death corresponds to the Rapture of the saints: the singular event that prevents the arrival of the Antichrist and the Day of the Lord from commencing. He did not know when he would die; he was just assured that God’s wrath would wait until such an event occurred. The world awaits the taking away of the saints in like fashion; and so the church will depart, the Holy Spirit’s unique presence in it will be removed, and the grim day described vividly in Zephaniah and the other prophets will commence in earnest.

The descriptors given by the prophet hardly need elucidation. The day will be #1 wrath, #2 trouble, #3 distress, #4 devastation, #5 desolation, #6 darkness, #7 gloominess, #8 clouds, #9 thick darkness, #10 trumpet, #11 alarm against the fortified cities and towers. The strongholds of man will be under siege by God Himself, and they will not withstand Him. This is the day of God’s wrath. With it comes a cavalcade of discordance the likes of which humanity can scarcely perceive. There will be hardship (trouble and distress), destruction (devastation), isolation and loneliness (desolation). Desolation implies an emptying out. The cities and nations will be emptied as lives are either lost or scattered by human cruelty or divine retribution. There will be blindness (darkness, gloominess, and thick darkness). Men will not know what to do; they will not know where to go, or how to carry on. Purpose, if ever we could ascribe one apart from God, will be trampled down. There will be panic and paranoia (trumpet and alarm), fixed especially on the bastions of human pride. It is a day, I pray for all, that we do not willingly enter into unsaved and unready. Be reconciled to God today, be saved through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, have life in Jesus’ name, and be spared from God’s impending wrath. Amen.