Zephaniah Chapter Three, Give & Take

Zephaniah 3:10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My worshipers, the daughters of My dispersed ones, shall bring My offering. [11] In that day you shall not be shamed for any of your deeds in which you transgress against Me; for then I will take away from your midst those who rejoice in your pride, and you shall no longer be haughty in My holy mountain.

God’s dispersed ones would be Israel, who, according to Joel have been, “scattered among the nations,” Joel 3:2. But also on this day it will be more than just Israel that seeks the Lord. Zechariah wrote, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you,” Zechariah 8:23.

As Israel begins to return home to serve their Lord, others will follow. “Envoys will come out of Egypt; Ethiopia will quickly stretch out her hands to God,” Psalm 68:31. The following verse describes the universality of the nations that have submitted to God’s rule when we read, “Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth; oh, sing praises to the Lord,” Psalm 68:32. When the pure language God restores comes, it precipitates the residue of the nations serving the Lord with one accord, and furthermore recognizing the significance of Israel as the head of the nations, the earthly people from whom Christ came, Romans 9:4, 5.

On that day–the Day of the Lord–the Jews will no longer be shamed for their misdeeds. Why? “In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness,” Zechariah 13:1. The Jews will see the glorified Christ and grieve for their rejection of Messiah; on this same day Christ will defend Israel from the nations that mean to destroy her in the battle famously referred to as Armageddon. Zechariah 12:8-14, 14:3-5, Revelation 19:17-21. As an aside, and as we have discussed previously, Armageddon is not the battle that destroys the world. This is Hollywood sensationalism. Armageddon is named geographically for the Valley of Megiddo, and does correctly mark the end of war proper on earth as the Tribulation period culminates here. But it is not an end to human existence; that continues for another one thousand years after the war’s end, with people even cleansing the valley of corpses for seven months after this final battle, Ezekiel 39:11-16.

God informs Israel that the haughty will not exist on God’s holy mountain. To be haughty means to be arrogantly superior. This term is in agreement with the lament the prophet adds about the Jews rejoicing in their pride: a national pride that involves the presence of the temple and the ownership of the Law. God will humble the nation and states in no uncertain terms on that day, they will no longer be proud, and they will no longer be haughty. You can see this ethnic haughtiness in Jesus’ time, when it was so thick that it entered into the realm of delusion. After Christ our Lord tells the Jews the great truth that if they abide in His word they will know the truth, and by that truth they are set free, they scoff. Rather than marvel at this revelation, they answer Jesus thus, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone,” John 8:33. The irony of this statement is palpable. Rome had long since conquered them and they were living under Roman occupation even as they made this statement. Before Rome it was Greece, and Medo-Persia, Babylon, Assyria, et al. Judges is a record of all of the times Israel was subject–in whole or in part–to bondage to another nation. In Judges alone Israel is enslaved seven times. The above statement, when taken in its historical context, is both laughable and deeply saddening.