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About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman |
The
Biblical text used and quoted in this
commentary is the Christian Standard Bible (CSB) as seen in the authorization
statement below.
Scripture
quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®,
Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian
Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible
Publishers.
Table Of Contents
Other
Books By Stephen Sweetman
My
hope and prayer concerning what you will read in the following pages will both
inspire you and instruct you concerning one important Old Testament prophetic
book, that being the Book of Zephaniah. As
Christians, we often overlook some of those smaller prophetic books of the Old
Testament, but we shouldn't. They
have both historic and modern-day relevance and significance for us.
The
Book of Zephaniah does not only address the fall of Judah (the two southern
tribes of
May
what you read be greatly beneficial to you as a Christian who desires to both
understand and live what the Bible tells us.
Biblical study is more than an intellectual pursuit.
It provides the necessary information about our Lord and His ways that is
meant to enter our brains, and then, sink into our hearts where what we have
learned will become the conviction by which we live.
That is what Bible study is for me, and I hope that is what it is for
you.
Prior
to 922 BC
After
the civil war
Prior
to 586 BC
King
Josiah was king of
2
Kings 22:8 tells us about the Book of the Law that was found in the temple
during a period of time when the temple was being renovated.
That verse reads:
"The
high priest Hilkiah told the court secretary Shaphan, 'I have found the book of
the law in the LORD's temple,' and he gave the book to
Shaphan, who read it."
In
my thinking, the fact that the Jewish Bible, the Torah, the Book of the Law, was
discovered in the temple suggests that
We
also note that during Josiah's rule over
"14 So the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah
went to the prophetess Huldah, wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, son of
Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in
As
a divine act of God's judgment, God finally allowed
Zephaniah
prophesied during the last few years of
We
should take special note that the prophecies we read in the Book of Zephaniah
were directed to
Some
prophetic passages in the Old Testament appear to have more than one fulfilment.
I make mention of this now because I believe, as many do, that parts of
what you read in Zephaniah's prophecy has both an immediate fulfilment in his
day and another fulfilment at the end of this present age.
Daniel's
prophecy concerning what he called the "abomination of desolation" is
an example of a prophecy with a double, even triple fulfilment. Daniel
9:27 reads:
"He will make a firm covenantwith many for one week,
but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering.
And the abomination of desolation will
be on a wing of the temple until the decreed destruction
is poured out on the desolator."
Daniel
11:31 reads:
"His forces will rise up and
desecrate the temple fortress. They will abolish the regular sacrifice and set
up the abomination of desolation."
Daniel 12:11 reads:
"“From
the time the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation
is set up, there will be 1,290 days."
It
is pretty much accepted by most all Bible scholars that the more immediate
fulfilment to Daniel's prophecy about the abomination of desolation took place
in 167 BC. It was then that
Antiochus IV Epiphanes (king of Hellenistic Syrian kingdom from 175 BC to 164
BC) invaded
Now,
read what Jesus said about Daniel's prophecy as recorded in Matthew 24:15 and
16.
"So
when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place
(let the reader understand), then
those in
Jesus
quoted the prophecy of Daniel, but when He did, He gave it a future fulfilment
to the prophecy. He said nothing
about the past fulfilment of the prophecy that I have just mentioned.
There is no real controversy over Jesus' use and understanding of
Daniel's prophecy of the abomination of desolation.
As Jesus predicted, the Roman army overthrew the city of
If
you read Daniel's prophecy closely, it seems to have, as many believe, an
end-of-this-age fulfilment as well. Parts
of Daniel's prophecy are seen by many in the Book of Revelation, especially
concerning the 1,290 days we read in Daniel 11:12.
Most all Prophetic Futurists, meaning, those who believe the Book of
Revelation is yet to be fulfilled, say that Daniel's prophecy has another
fulfilment as seen when the end-time anti-Christ attempts to rule the world.
This, then, would actually give Daniel's prophecy of the abomination of
desolation a triple fulfilment.
So
once again, I comment on this now because it appears to me that some of what
Zephaniah prophesied has an immediate fulfilment in the fall of
Let
us now begin our verse by verse study of a very important Biblical prophecy.
The
Text
1 - The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of
Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king
of Judah.
2 I will completely
sweep away everything from the face of the earth—this is the Lord's declaration.
3 I will sweep away people and
animals; I will sweep away the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea,
and the ruins along with the wicked. I will cut
off mankind from the face of the earth. This is the Lord's
declaration.
4 I will stretch out
my hand against
the names of the pagan priests
along with the priests;
5 those who bow in worship on
the rooftops to the stars in the sky;
those who bow and pledge loyalty to the Lord
but also pledge loyalty to Milcom;
6 and those who turn back from
following the Lord,
who do not seek the Lord or
inquire of him.
7 Be silent in the presence of
the Lord God,
for the day of the Lord is
near. Indeed, the Lord has
prepared a sacrifice; he has consecrated his guests.
8 On the day of the Lord's sacrifice
I will punish the officials, the king's sons, and all
who are dressed in foreign clothing.
9 On that day I will
punish all who skip over the threshold, who fill their master's house with
violence and deceit.
10 On that day—this
is the Lord's declaration—there will be an outcry from the Fish Gate, a
wailing from the Second District, and a loud crashing from the hills.
11 Wail, you residents of the
Hollow,
for all the merchants will be silenced; all
those loaded with silver will be cut off.
12 And at that time I
will search
who say to themselves:
"The Lord will
do nothing—good or bad."
13 Their wealth will become
plunder
and their houses a ruin. They will build houses but
never live in them,
plant vineyards but never drink their wine.
14 The great day of
the Lord is near,
near and rapidly approaching.
Listen, the day of the Lord—
then the warrior's cry is bitter.
15 That day is a day of
wrath,
a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction
and desolation,
a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds
and total darkness,
16 a day of ram's horn and
battle cry
against the fortified cities, and against the high
corner towers.
17 I will bring distress on
mankind,
and they will walk like the blind
because they have sinned against the Lord.
Their blood will be poured out like dust and their flesh like dung.
18 Their silver and their
gold
will be unable to rescue them
on the day of the Lord's
wrath.
The whole earth will be consumed
by the fire of his jealousy, for he will make a
complete, yes, a horrifying end of all the inhabitants of the earth.
My Commentary
Verse 1
"1 - The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of
Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king
of Judah."
Verse
1 simply states a very brief history of Zephaniah's lineage.
Two things we must note from verse 1 are as follows.
First of all, Zephaniah lived and prophesied during the rule of King
Josiah, king of
The
second thing to note here is the name Hezekiah. Hezekiah
was King of Judah and died in 687 BC. So,
assuming the Hezekiah mentioned here is the King Hezekiah, king of
Verse 2
"2 I will completely
sweep away everything from the face of the earth—this is the Lord's declaration."
The
English word "sweep" is translated from the Hebrew word
"sup" that suggests destruction, death, or causing something to be no
more. This is total destruction.
It's not just a broom sweeping away the dust from a floor.
It's the broom sweeping away the whole floor.
The
Hebrew word "adammah" that is translated as "earth" or
"land' in some other versions of the Bible, simply means "tilled
land," that is, land set aside for agricultural purposes.
This judgment is against the earth that provides the agricultural
production of
The
way in which the land was destroyed in Zephaniah's day was due to the violent
overthrow of the
This
sweeping away of everything from the face of the earth, although spoken to
There
are some Old Testament prophecies that do have a double, and sometimes, a triple
fulfillment as I have pointed out earlier. This
part of Zephaniah's prophecy might just be one of these prophecies that have two
fulfillments. The words "from
the face of the earth" suggest that to me.
On the other hand, one could easily interpret those words to be "the
face of the known earth" in Zephaniah's day.
Also, some would suggest that this is hyperbolic exaggeration to make a
serious point concerning God's judgment on
The
verse ends with, "this is the Lord's declaration."
Zephaniah may have spoken these words, but they were the Lord's words.
He spoke them on behalf of the Lord.
He was, in fact, the visible mouthpiece for an invisible God.
That is what a true prophet of God is all about.
Verse 3
"3 I will sweep away
people and animals;
I will sweep away the birds of the
sky and the fish of the sea,
and the ruins along with the wicked. I will cut
off mankind from the face of the earth. This is the Lord’s
declaration."
Again,
we see the phrase "I will sweep away."
Here in verse 3 God proclaimed that He will sweep away, that is, destroy,
people, animals, birds, fish, and pretty much everything.
He said that He would cut off mankind from the face of the earth.
This sounds like total destruction, and of course, it was pretty much
that in Zephaniah's day. This
portrayal of God is difficult for the modern person to deal with, and that
includes many Christians. How can a
God who claims to be love do such violent things to innocent things in nature
such as animals, birds and fish?
I
doubt if we can really see into the mind and heart of God in this matter, but
there are some things that tell us how and why a loving God can destroy so much,
as is recorded here in Zephaniah 1. One thing is this.
God is just, and thus, He must act justly in all He does.
He cannot act unjustly, and if He did, He would not be God.
He must, then, make creation accountable for what it does that opposes
Him. He also must pronounce a
verdict of guilty and a sentencing of death.
This is what we see here in the prophetic Book of Zephaniah.
God
is also the Creator of all things material and all things spiritual.
By virtue of that fact, He owns all things.
All of creation is His, and thus, He can do whatever He wants and
whenever He wants with His creation. If
He wants to destroy what He has created, that is His choice.
He is God and He can do as He wishes.
We
should understand that when this verse says that God will destroy all that is on
the face of the earth, the words "face of the earth," as understood in
the culture of when Zephaniah lived, meant the known earth, not the entire
earth. Zephaniah himself did not
know that the earth is ball shaped, most of which he knew nothing about.
In context, then, this prophecy's immediate fulfilment was directed
towards what we know as present-day
All
the above being said, I repeat myself from the last verse to suggest that there
is some eschatological, that is, end time, significance to this prophecy, or so
I believe. As we read these verses
today, we know from our reading of the Book of Revelation, that the very same
prophetic scenario will take place at the end of this present age.
God will, no doubt about it, sweep away all that opposes Him.
As a matter of fact, He will sweep away the whole earth and provide a new
earth, as seen in Revelation 21:1, that reads;
"Then
I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had
passed away, and the sea was no more."
Also
again, I do not discount the point that this could be hyperbolic language that
is to make a point concerning the severity of God's judgment on
Another
thing we must remember here is that when Adam and Eve failed to obey God, as
seen in Genesis, chapter 3, all of creation fell into a state of entropy, that
is, a state of decay that leads to death. All
of creation was judge because of humanities sin.
We see the reality of this judgment here in Zephaniah's day.
Right
now, we should understand that all of creation is groaning, is eagerly
anticipating the day when it will be released from this decay that leads to
death and the judgment of God that accompanies this decay that leads to death.
Romans 8:19 through 22 reads:
"For
the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God's sons to be revealed.
For the creation was subjected to
futility — not willingly, but because of him who
subjected it — in the hope that the creation itself
will also be set free from the bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of
God’s children. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together
with labor pains until now."
Despite
the fact that creation has suffered futility since the events of Genesis,
chapter 3, and, despite God's judgment being severely placed on creation, the
day will come when all of creation, the animals, birds, fish, and everything
else will be redeemed, restored to its full potential in life.
Some day this old planet will be replaced by a new planet, as seen in
Revelation 21:1 that I just quoted above states.
There will be a new heaven and a new earth.
Verse 4, 5 and 6
"4 I will stretch out
my hand against
the names of the pagan priests
along with the priests; 5 those
who bow in worship on the rooftops to the stars in the sky; those who bow and
pledge loyalty to the Lord
but also pledge loyalty to Milcom; 6and
those who turn back from following the Lord,
who do not seek the Lord or
inquire of him."
Note
the phase "I will stretch forth my hand."
Does God, who is a spirit, actually have a hand as we have a hand?
Jesus Himself told us that God is a spirit, as is recorded in John 4:24.
"God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth."
The
idea that God has a hand is what is called a human representation of God and is
meant to help us humans better understand, at least in part, the nature of God.
In theological terms it is what is called an anthropomorphic
representation of God. I don't
believe that God has a hand as we have a hand.
The term "hand of God" that we read in the Bible is often used
in a metaphoric sense to portray God's divine acts of judgment.
Verse
4 tells us exactly to whom this prophecy was directed.
It was directed to
In
Exodus 19:8 we read that
"Then
all the people responded together, 'We will do all that the LORD
has spoken.' So Moses brought the
people's words back to the LORD."
Any
Jew who knew anything about what we call the Mosaic Covenant that
One
way that
If
the evangelical church today became worshippers of the Islamic god, that would
be similar to what the Jews were doing in Zephaniah's day when they traded
worship of their God with worship of Baal and other such gods.
Over
the last twenty to thirty years of North American evangelical Christianity, a
movement known as Chrislam has emerged onto the ecclesiastical scene.
Those in this movement worship with Muslims because they believe, at
least in the long run, both Christians and Muslims worship the same God.
Such thinking and practice is both not Biblical and illogical.
Islam believes that God has no sons while Christianity believes that God
had a son and His name is Jesus. Clearly,
the Muslim god is not the God of the Christian Bible.
Why a so-called Christian would believe such a thing is beyond my
comprehension, other than it is simple Biblical illiteracy that causes them to
believe such a lie.
Note
that verse 5 speaks of those who worship the stars from their rooftops.
This speaks to the polytheism of the surrounding culture that the Jews
adopted. Polytheism is the worship
of multiple gods. The stars are in
reference to these many gods. Jews
were worshipping many gods and not the One and Only God they should have been
worshipping, and thus, the reason for the destruction of
The
Jews in
Verse
6 basically tells us that the majority of Jews had replaced the Lord God with
other gods, and other things that we will see later in Zephaniah's prophecy.
This is not just an old time Jewish problem.
This is our problem today. We
live in a consumer driven culture that has infiltrated church.
We may not worship gods like Baal, but we worship the product of our own
hands.
Verse 7
"7 Be silent in the
presence of the Lord God, for the day of the Lord is near. Indeed, the Lord has prepared a sacrifice; he has consecrated his
guests."
Here
in verse 7 we see that God is demanding silence from His wayward people.
Think about this. Right now,
if you were standing in the immediate presence of the Almighty Creator God, you
would be silent. You would be
speechless. You would not utter a
word. You would almost stop
breathing. You might even fall to
your knees or lay prostrate on the floor as if you had fainted or even died.
It is what happened to the apostle John when He was in the immediate
presence of Jesus, as seen in Revelation 1:17.
"When
I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on
me and said: 'Do not be afraid. I am the First and the
Last.'"
God
telling the Jews to be silent is a slam against the Jews.
The fact that they had been so arrogant as seen in their not reverencing
their God, shows you how far they had fallen away from the Almighty Creator God.
Due to this lack of reverence, the Day of the Lord was at hand.
Silence
might also suggest that God was giving these Jews one last chance, and in their
silence, they should seriously think about the situation they were in and
repent.
Again,
the Day of the Lord is in reference to the day of judgment, the day of wrath,
when God would bring
Verse
7 speaks of the day of the Lord's sacrifice.
This sacrifice is in reference to the destruction of the Jews and their
nation. The Jews had to be
sacrificed so a remnant of Jews might emerge as God's true people.
I
believe the word "guests" in verse 7 is in reference to the Babylonian
army that God had prepared to facilitate the sacrifice of the Jews.
God was using an evil people to facilitate the living sacrifice that was
the Jews of Judah. You may think of
animals as being sacrificed, or, you may think of Jesus as the supreme
sacrifice, but here,
Verse 8
"8 On the day of the Lord's sacrifice
I will punish the officials, the king's sons, and all
who are dressed in foreign clothing."
Verse
8 points out that the leaders of Judah, those who have legalized the worship of
pagan gods, will be one of the first to be sacrificed as
The
idea that these leaders, and their followers, were dressed in foreign clothes
speaks to how these Jews had embraced the polytheistic paganism of the
surrounding cultures. It is not that
clothes themselves, were or are, the problem.
It is what those clothes represented that was the problem.
As a child, I recall my parent's generation of Christians telling us
children that tattoos are sinful. They
deemed them to be sinful because back in those days, only those of ill repute
wore tattoos. That is not
necessarily the case these days, so, Christians wearing tattoos has become
acceptable.
Verse 9
"9 On that day I
will punish all who skip over the threshold, who fill their master's house with
violence and deceit."
In this portion of Zephaniah's prophecy God is telling the Jews
about much of what will transpire in the Day of Judgment and to whom His wrath
will be poured out upon. In this
instance, metaphorically speaking, God will punish those who skip over the
threshold, meaning, those who turn His house into a violent and deceitful place.
We see Jesus with this very same sentiment as He overthrew the tables of
commerce in the temple at
Verse 10
"10 On that day—this is the Lord's declaration—there will be an outcry from the Fish Gate, a
wailing from the Second District, and a loud crashing from the hills."
Why
the Lord's declaration of coming destruction in this particular verse is
directed to a couple parts of
There
were twelve gates in the wall that surrounded the city of
"You
may say to yourself, 'My power and my own ability have gained this wealth for
me,' but remember that the LORD your God gives you the
power to gain wealth, in order to confirm his covenant he swore to your fathers,
as it is today. If you ever forget the LORD
your God and follow other gods to serve them and bow in worship to them, I
testify against you today that you will perish. u will perish if you do not obey
the LORD your God."
Since
the people of
The
Second District, or, Second Quarter as some versions put it, of
The
loud crashing in the hills mentioned in verse 10 is probably in reference to the
Babylonian army as it approached
Verse 11
"11 Wail, you residents of the Hollow, for all the merchants will
be silenced; all those loaded with silver will be cut off."
The
Hebrew word "maktes" is translated as "Hollow" in verse 11.
It literally means "mortar," as in bricks and mortar.
The King James Bible translates this Hebrew word into English as "Maklesh."
The NIV translates it as "market."
The ESV and the NAS translate it as "Mortar."
This Hebrew word is a literal place in or around
Wherever
this place was, it was also a place of commerce, and once again, God will cut
off, or destroy, the commerce of a rebellious nation as a form of divine
judgment. It is something that He
will often do to an ungodly nation. Again,
it is what we clearly see at the end of this age, as is vividly described for us
in Revelation, chapters 18 and 19.
Verse 12
"12 And at that time I will search
Here
in verse 12 is yet another reason why God brought
I
dare say that this verse paints a pretty good picture of our western world
today, and that includes, the western world of Christianity.
We enjoy, even worship, our comfortable lives.
We have given ourselves to a life of hedonism, meaning, we have given
ourselves to the pursuit of all things pleasurable.
We have set aside Jesus and put Him on a dusty cultural shelf.
Many of us enjoy our comfortable lives so much that we have forgotten our
mission as Christians. I just see so
many similarities between the Jews of Zephaniah's day and the Christians in our
day. I believe that as God judged
Verse 13
"13 Their
wealth will become plunder and their houses a ruin. They will build houses but
never live in them, plant vineyards but never drink their wine."
Again,
we see God's judgment on the economy of
The
Deuteronomy passage came true for
Verse 14
14 The great day of
the Lord is near,
near and rapidly approaching.
Listen, the day of the Lord—
then the warrior's cry is bitter."
Again,
the term "the Day of the Lord" in this instance, and really,
throughout the Bible, refers to a specific day or time when God will bring
judgment on a nation, a civilization, or whatever.
When this verse speaks of the Day of the Lord being great, we might think
that something that is really great, impressive, and beneficial will happen on
that day. That is not the case here.
The adjective "great" is in reference to a great battle, a
massive defeat. This is something
that many of us don't think much about these days, because like the Jews in
Zephaniah's day, we're living comfortable in our world of luxury and pleasure.
This
prophecy states that this great day is rapidly approaching.
That suggests that it has almost arrived onto
"The
revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave him to show his servants what must soon
take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,"
Bible
teachers have debated for centuries what "must soon take place" means.
The word "soon" is a
relative term. Soon to you might not
mean soon to me. Soon to God,
surely, might not mean soon to us.
As
I said in my introduction, and as most Bible scholars believe, Zephaniah
prophesied these things somewhere between 630 BC and 609 BC, when King Josiah,
If
you had any reservations about this great Day of the Lord being a great
blessing, which you should not have thought, the last part of verse 14 makes it
clear that it would certainly not bring a blessing to the Jews.
This is seen in the cry of the warriors, that is, the cry the Babylonian
army will make as it approaches
Verses 15 and 16
"15 That
day is a day of wrath,
a day of trouble and distress, a day
of destruction and desolation,
a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds
and total darkness,
16 a day of ram's horn and
battle cry
against the fortified cities, and against the high
corner towers."
Look
at how this prophecy describes the Day of the Lord.
Can it be portrayed any worse? The
Day of the Lord is a day of God's wrath, trouble, distress, destruction,
desolation, darkness, gloom, and clouds. No,
I sincerely doubt that things could not have gotten any worse for
We
must know that there were some godly men and women who experienced this Day of
the Lord's wrath. Daniel the prophet
was one such man who was not killed by the Babylonian army.
Instead, he became enslaved in
Many
Christians will answer that question by saying that God will somehow,
miraculously protect them. They
expect an escape from the dreadful day. History
proves over and over again that is not always the case, unless you understand
God's protection to be death. I
suppose death could be one way in which to escape such distressful times.
However you feel about that, Christians have been persecuted, tortured,
and executed throughout history for their association with Jesus.
Such torture takes place in nations like
Note
in verse 16 the plural noun "cities."
The Babylonian army did not only destroy
The
term "high corner towers" is in reference to military watch towers,
where soldiers would keep an eye and ear open for coming invaders.
Concerning
the word "wrath," we should note that wrath, as understood in Biblical
terms, is a strong, explosive anger. It
is an anger that can no longer be held inside and controlled.
This is in fact how we should understand God's wrath.
Verses 17 and 18
"17 I
will bring distress on mankind,
and they will walk like the blind
because they have sinned against the Lord.
Their blood will be poured out like dust and their flesh like dung.
18 Their silver and their
gold
will be unable to rescue them
on the day of the Lord's
wrath.
The whole earth will be consumed
by the fire of his jealousy, for he will make a
complete, yes, a horrifying end of all the inhabitants of the earth."
When
verse 17 states that God would bring distress on "mankind" that
suggests to me more than just the Jews of Zephaniah's day.
It would have included all of the ethnic people of the ancient near east.
It also hints, at least in my thinking, of coming judgment at the end of
this age as seen in the Book of Revelation.
As this age comes to an end at the hand of God, all mankind, as this
verse states, will suffer what verses 17 and 18 say.
I
am legally blind. I have worked with
legally and totally blind people in the past.
I know what blindness is like, and it is not pretty.
To walk around in the darkness of blindness as verse 17 states, suggests
total confusion of the mind. It
suggests complete inability to live as a normal human being would live.
You are simply lost in the dark with no way to find your way out of the
darkness. It's what the people at
the end of this age experience when they scream out to the mountains to fall on
them and kill them. They cannot take
the horror any longer. Revelation
6:15 and 16 read:
"Then,
the powerful, and every slave and free person hid in the caves and among the
rocks of the mountains.
And they said to the mountains and to the
rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and
from the wrath of the Lamb,'"
Those
people we read about in the above verse knew exactly who was behind the
destruction they were experiencing. They
had no doubts in their minds as the text states.
They were, in fact, afraid of the Lamb, meaning the Lord Jesus Christ,
who was pouring out His explosive wrath on the nations.
Verse
18 tells us that the Jews silver and gold that they had proudly accumulated
would not help them or save them on that great Day of the Lord.
Their money will be utterly useless.
Again, just read Revelation, chapters 18 and 19 where you will see this
same thing, but in much greater detail.
Allow
me to quote the last part of verse 18 again.
It is just horrific. I cannot
improve on the disaster it speaks of. It
reads:
"The whole earth will be consumed
by the fire of his jealousy, for he will make a
complete, yes, a horrifying end of all the inhabitants of the earth."
The
last few verses here of Zephaniah, chapter 1, at least in my thinking, not only
describes the Day of the Lord in Zephaniah's day, but also the Day of the Lord
at the end of this age. As I said
earlier, some Old Testament prophecies do have a secondary fulfillment, and I
believe this just might be one of those passages.
The Text
1 - Gather yourselves together;
gather together, undesirable nation,
2 before the decree takes
effect
and the day passes like chaff,
before the burning of the Lord's
anger overtakes you, before the day of the Lord's
anger overtakes you.
3 Seek the Lord, all
you humble of the earth, who carry out what he commands. Seek
righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be concealed on the day of the Lord's
anger.
My Commentary
Verse 1
"1 - Gather yourselves together;
gather together, undesirable nation,
2 before the decree takes
effect
and the day passes like chaff,
before the burning of the Lord's
anger overtakes you, before the day of the Lord's
anger overtakes you.
The undesirable nation spoken of here in verse 1 is clearly
God called the Jews to come together, and the call is repeated
twice here for the sake of emphasis. The
fact that this call is written down twice tells me of the urgency of the
situation. You might say this is
God's final call for individual Jews to repent.
From what I read in this prophetic text, God has already made up His mind
to pour out His wrath.
Note the words "before the decree takes effect."
As I said in the last paragraph, the decree of the Lord's judgment has
already been declared. It will
happen. That day will come and it
will blow
In verse 2 we note that the burning of the Lord's wrath is
mentioned twice, just like the call to come together is mentioned twice in verse
1. When God's wrath begins to be
demonstrated in real time, nothing can stop it at that point.
Time is up. It is too late
for any kind of repentance that would end a national judgment.
Personal repentance is another thing altogether, but such a personal
repentance will not end national judgment. This
is yet another warning, a final warning, for any individual person to repent and
get right in the sight of God.
The modern Christian does not think much about God's wrath, but His
wrath is a reality. It is what all
nations and all ethnic peoples will experience at the end of this age.
It is what Jesus experienced at His execution.
At this point some of you might remind me of 1 Thessalonians 5:9,
that reads:
"For
God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain
salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,"
Christians are not objects of God's wrath, but, when God's wrath is
poured out on their nation, they do suffer, despite the fact that His wrath is
not directed specifically towards them. Also,
the context of Paul's statement is the wrath of God that will come upon the
world at the end of the age, as is recorded in the Book of Revelation.
Some people see a pre-tribulation rapture in Paul's statement, but that
is still a highly debatable teaching in my thinking.
As I have mentioned before, if you read Revelation, chapter 7, you
will notice that a great multitude of people who could not be counted due to
their numbers, was executed during the Great Tribulation.
The Great Tribulation will be a demonstration of God's wrath on ungodly
nations. So, these martyred
believers will suffer through a time of God's wrath despite the fact that God's
wrath will not be specifically directed towards them.
Verse 3
"3 Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth, who carry out what he
commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be concealed on
the day of the Lord’s anger."
Verse
3 might just hint at a secondary fulfillment because it is directed to the
"humble of the earth," not just the humble of
Humility
is one character trait that is fundamental to any form of salvation that comes
from the Lord. Repentance is based
on humility. It takes an act of
humility to confess and admit to your sin that causes you to repent and turn to
the Lord. Repentance is what the
Jews of Judah needed. It's what we
all need today. Without genuine
repentance there can be no genuine faith, and, without genuine faith, there is
no genuine salvation. How can you
trust your life with Jesus when you haven't walked away from a life of serving
and trusting yourself? It's not
rocket science.
After
all that I have said about the godly people suffering along with the ungodly
during a time of God's wrath being poured out on their nation, you might say
that verse 3 says otherwise. God
said that if a godly person humbly seeks God, perhaps he or she will be
concealed, or hid, from God's wrath. The
word "perhaps," at least to me, suggests that this concealment is all
up to the Lord. It's His will to do
as He pleases. Just how He hides or
might hide the godly humble person is up to Him.
This being said, I do not believe that this hiding will hide the humble
from results of God's judgment on the humble person's nation.
If it is God's will to completely isolate the repentant person from His
wrath, so be it. He can do it, if He
wants.
I
remind you again of God's people who will be executed during what we call the
Great Tribulation as recorded in Revelation, chapter 7.
This time I will quote the passage. Revelation
7:9 reads:
"After
this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people,
and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before
the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes with palm branches in their
hands."
John
saw a great multitude of people that could not be counted before the throne of
God offering praise and worship to Him. John
was not sure who these people were, so, one of the twenty four elders told him,
as is seen in Revelation 7:14.
"Then
he [he elder] told me [John]: 'These are the ones coming out of the great
tribulation. They washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb.'"
The
great crowd of people John saw before the Lord were those who had been executed
because of their association with Jesus during what we call the Great
Tribulation, the time of God's wrath being poured out on the world.
These people obviously felt the effects of God's wrath even though His
wrath was not directed specifically towards them.
Some might even suggest that their execution was the way in which God hid
them from His wrath, and that might be a point to consider.
The Text
4 For
and
Ashdod will be driven out at noon,
and Ekron will be uprooted.
5 Woe, inhabitants of the
seacoast,
nation of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is
against you,
6 The seacoast will become
pasturelands with caves for shepherds and pens for sheep.
7 The coastland will belong
to the remnant of the house of
They will lie down in the evening
among the houses of
for the Lord their
God will return to them and restore their fortunes.
8 I have heard the
taunting of
and the insults of the Ammonites,
who have taunted my people
and threatened their territory.
9 Therefore, as I live—this
is the declaration of the Lord of
Armies, the God of Israel—Moab will be like Sodom and the Ammonites like
Gomorrah: a place overgrown with weeds, a salt pit, and a perpetual wasteland.
The remnant of my people will plunder them; the remainder of my nation will
dispossess them.
10 This is what they get for
their pride, because they have taunted and acted arrogantly against the people
of the Lord of
Armies.
11 The Lord will
be terrifying to them when he starves all the gods of the earth. Then all the
distant coasts and islands of the nations will bow in worship to him, each in
its own place.
12 You Cushites will
also be slain by my sword.
13 He will also
stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria; he will make
14 Herds will lie down in the
middle of it,
every kind of wild animal.
Both eagle owls and herons
will roost in the capitals of its pillars. Their
calls will sound from the window, but devastation[g] will be on the threshold, for he will expose the cedar work.
15 This is the
jubilant city that
lives in security, that says to herself: I exist, and there is no
one else. What a desolation she has become, a place for wild animals to lie
down! Everyone who passes by her scoffs and shakes his fist.
My Commentary
Verses 4 and 5
"4 For
and
Ashdod will be driven out at noon,
and Ekron will be uprooted.
5 Woe, inhabitants of
the seacoast,
nation of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is
against you,
In
the last verse of chapter 1 we noted that the Lord called everyone on the earth
to seek righteousness and humility. This
command would include the places that are mentioned here in verses 4 and 5.
All of these cities are in today's western
Once
again I remind you that God, as seen in this instance, does use a nation's enemy
to accomplish His goal of judgment on the judged nation.
God used the evil nation of Assyria to bring down
This
fact remains. Even though both
Assyria and
Verse 6
"6 The
seacoast will become pasturelands with caves for shepherds and pens for
sheep."
Without
giving us any warning, Zephaniah's prophecy changes its focus here in verse 6.
We don't know to whom the prophecy is now focusing on, but we will know
in the next verse.
Again,
the sea coast that is mentioned here is the east coast of the
Verse 7
"7 The
coastland will belong
to the remnant of the house of
they will find pasture there.
They will lie down in the evening
among the houses of
for the Lord their
God will return to them and restore their fortunes."
Before
I comment on this verse, I would like to refer you back to the Book of Genesis
where we first see the land that God had promised Abraham and his descendents,
which includes the land that is mentioned in the last two verses.
Genesis 15:18 through 21 reads as follows.
"On
that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying,
'I give this land to your offspring, from the brook of Egypt to the great river,
the Euphrates River: 'the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hethites,
Perizzites, Rephaim, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites."
Without
explaining every place mentioned in the above list, the land granted to the
descendents of Abraham, that is
For
further details about the Abrahamic Covenant you can read my book entitled
Irrevocable Promises, "the Abrahamic Covenant and Biblical Prophecy."
Verse
7 speaks of the day and era when the Lord God will restore that which was lost
to the Jews in judgment. As noted,
in Genesis 15, God covenanted with Himself to bless Abraham and his descendents,
which among other things, included a specific portion of land in the
What
you should realize about the Abrahamic Covenant and the promises stated within
the covenant is this. God did not
enter into a covenant with Abraham. He
actually put Abraham to sleep when the covenant was ratified.
God covenanted with Himself. In
other words, God agreed with Himself to promise Abraham and His descendents
certain things, and, He would keep His promises no matter how Abraham's
descendents responded to Him and His promises. This is important, because, this
means that God will never default on any of the promises He spoke to Abraham.
All will be fulfilled, and, they will be fulfilled at the end of this
age.
The
Jews lost all of the land in judgment but God cannot break the Abrahamic
Covenant. It is not in Him to break
any promise, and therefore, as we see here in Zephaniah, the promised land of
Genesis 15 will at some point be restored to the remnant of
Verse
7 tells us that the Lord will return to the Jews and restore them, meaning,
restore them as a nation. This
restoration has yet to come to pass. This
means, like some of the other passages in Zephaniah, this part of the prophecy
has a future fulfilment.
You
may think that this prophecy was fulfilled when
If
you read the last few chapters of the Book of Zechariah you will learn some of
the details concerning how the restoration of
"In
the whole land —this is the LORD's
declaration —two-thirds
will be cut off and die, but a third will be left in it."
Concerning
the Great Tribulation being called the time of the Jews troubles, or, Jacob's
trouble, Jeremiah says this in Jeremiah 30:7.
"How
awful that day will be! There will be no other like it!
It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved
out of it."
The
day is yet to come when this part of Zephaniah's prophecy will be realized.
Verse 8
"8 I have heard the
taunting of
and the insults of the Ammonites,
who have taunted my people
and threatened their territory."
The
Moabites and the Ammonites lived just east of
The
Moabites and Ammonites are descendents of
Ever
since Abram and
God
had heard all of the taunts directed towards His people, the Jews, and He was
not very happy with what He heard. God
being just, would hold the Moabites and Ammonites accountable for this sin.
Verse 9 and 10
"9 Therefore,
as I live—this is the declaration of the Lord of
Armies, the God of Israel—Moab will be like Sodom and the Ammonites like
Gomorrah: a place overgrown with weeds, a salt pit, and a perpetual wasteland.
The remnant of my people will plunder them; the remainder of my nation will
dispossess them.
10 This is what they
get for their pride, because they have taunted and acted arrogantly against the
people of the Lord of Armies."
Verse
9 speaks of the judgment that would come to the Moabites and the Ammonites.
The Lord of Armies, that is, the God of the Jews, would bring these two
people groups down in judgment.
The
term "Lord of Armies" is seen a number of times throughout the Old
Testament. It portrays God as being
a military general, something that many struggle with.
Yes, God is love, but, He is also just.
He is just as much just as He is love, and thus, He must hold people and
nations accountable for their sin, pass a verdict of guilty upon them, and
sentence them to some kind of judgment.
If
you read the first chapter of the Book of Revelation, you will note that Jesus
Himself is portrayed as a great military general.
This is one character trait of the essence of God that we can never
forget or avoid.
Over
the centuries much of the Middle East, including present-day
Whether
this prophecy has already been fulfilled, and that is a possibility, or whether
there is yet more of a fulfilment, I am not quite sure.
Time will tell us the answer to this question.
Whatever the case, I believe I can safely say it has been fulfilled in
part.
One
thing we know for sure is that God hates prideful arrogance as seen in the
Moabites and the Ammonites, and I do not believe His hatred of such arrogance
has dissipated in these New Testament days.
Note
that the fall of the Moabites and the Ammonites are compared to the fall of
"He
[God] said to me, 'This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into
the Arabah, where it enters the
Zechariah
14:8, although might be speaking in metamorphic terms says this about the
"On
that day living water will flow out from
Verse 11
"11 The Lord will
be terrifying to them when he starves all the gods of the earth. Then all the
distant coasts and islands of the nations will bow in worship to him, each in
its own place."
It
is my thinking that verse 11 might shed light on the question I asked in the
last verse. Verse 11, at least to
me, appears to be in reference to the very end of this age. as recorded in the
Book of Revelation. If that is so,
then the ultimate fulfilment of the fall of the Moabites and Ammonites is yet to
take place.
If
you read the Book of Revelation, even if you cannot totally understand it or
know its interpretation, you will at least realize how terrifying God can be, as
is recorded here in verse 11.
The
reason why I see hints of verse 11 being in reference to the end of this age is
because of the words, "gods of the earth" and "distant coasts and
islands of the nations." These
terms, at least in my thinking, suggest more than a regional war that took place
in 586 BC.
We
see the words "coasts" and "islands" in Ezekiel 39:6, that
reads:
"I
will send fire against Magog and those who live securely on the coasts
and islands. Then they will know that I am the LORD."
Most
people, who hold to the Futurist view of Biblical prophecy as I do, believe the
war that is predicted in Ezekiel 39 is yet to come.
That being the case, most Prophetic Futurists believe the coasts and
islands are not in reference to anywhere near the
The
CSB uses the word "starves" here.
If you read Revelation 18 and 19 you will note a total collapse of the
world economy. That being the case,
starvation will be a direct result of God's judgment on the nations.
Due to the fall of world-wide commerce, the supply chain of products will
be interrupted and even cease to be. Starvation,
again, is a natural result. Our
gods, that is, our economy and all that we have created will cause our final
collapse.
Verse 12
"12 You Cushites will also be slain by my sword."
Pretty
much all Bible scholars say that the Cushites are those who lived in what is now
known as
Verse 13 and 14
"13 He will also stretch out his hand against the north and destroy
Assyria; he will make
14 Herds will lie down in the
middle of it, every kind of wild animal. Both eagle owls and herons will
roost in the capitals of its pillars. Their calls will sound from the
window, but devastation will be on the threshold, for he will expose the
cedar work."
We
see in verse 13 that
If
indeed this fall of Assyria has a secondary fulfillment later on in history, and
in context would be at the end of this age, Assyria would be present-day
Verse 15
"15 This
is the jubilant city that lives in security, that says to herself: 'I
exist, and there is no one else.' What a desolation she has become, a place for
wild animals to lie down! Everyone who passes by her scoffs and shakes his
fist."
There
is some debate over what city is described as a jubilant, or happy, city here in
verse 15. It is either
However
you view the jubilant city, God opposes all cities who exist in prideful
arrogance as is described here in verse 15.
I will quote Ezekiel 39:6 again, because, we see people living in
"security" there as well.
"I
[the Lord] will send fire against Magog and those who live securely on the coasts
and islands. Then they will know that I am the LORD."
As
I have said earlier, it is my position that Ezekiel 39 is in reference to a time
at the end of this present age. Many
people and nations will live in security, or at least what they call security.
In reality, due to their prideful arrogance, it is a false sense of
security, and the hand of God's judgment will prove that to be the case.
I believe, as I type these words, the West exists in a false sense of
security, and we will soon pay the price for that.
Once
again, I see many similarities between Ezekiel 39, Zephaniah 2, and other such
prophetic passages that concern the end of this age.
For this reason, this part of Zephaniah's prophecy has two fulfilments,
or, it has yet to be fulfilled.
The Text
1 - Woe to the city that is rebellious and defiled, the
oppressive city!
2 She has not obeyed; she has
not accepted discipline. She has not trusted in the Lord;
she has not drawn near to her God.
3 The princes within her
are roaring lions; her judges are wolves of the night, which leave nothing for the
morning.
4 Her prophets are reckless—
treacherous men. Her priests profane the sanctuary;
they do violence to instruction.
5 The righteous Lord is
in her;
he does no wrong. He applies his justice morning by
morning; he does not fail at dawn, yet the one who does wrong knows no shame.
6 I have cut off
nations; their corner towers are destroyed. I have laid waste their
streets, with no one to pass through. Their cities lie devastated, without a
person, without an inhabitant.
7 I said: You will certainly
fear me
and accept correction. Then her dwelling place would
not be cut off
based on all that I had allocated to her. However,
they became more corrupt in all their actions.
8 Therefore, wait for
me—this is the Lord’s declaration—until the day I rise up for plunder. For my
decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, in order to pour out my
indignation on them, all my burning anger; for the whole earth will be
consumed by the fire of my jealousy.
My Commentary
Verses 1 and 2
"1 - Woe to the city that is rebellious and defiled, the
oppressive city!
2 She has not obeyed;
she has not accepted discipline. She has not trusted in the Lord; she has not drawn near to her God."
Here
in chapter 3 we see that the Lord God is pronouncing a woe, which means soon
coming judgment, on a particular city. As
yet, the text does not tell us what city is the recipient of this woe, but we
will know soon. The city is
rebellious, defiled and oppressive. You
might think it is
There
are some hints in these two verses to just what city the Lord is talking about.
The word defiled is one hint. The
word discipline gives us another hint, and, the fact that this city has not
trusted in the Lord, gives us yet another hint.
This
city must be a city in
Verse 3
"3 The princes
within her are roaring lions; her judges are wolves of the night, which leave
nothing for the morning."
Verse
3 does not paint a very nice picture of
Verse 4
"4 Her
prophets are reckless—
treacherous men. Her priests profane the sanctuary;
they do violence to instruction."
It
is not only the civil authorities in
The
Jewish priest had profaned the sanctuary, the temple.
By adopting pagan rituals and incorporating them into Jewish worship,
they actually paganized the true religion of the Lord their God.
What
we read here in verse 4 has been duplicated many times in both Jewish and
Christian history. When the Roman
emperor Constantine legalized Christianity and forced everyone to become
Christian in the fourth century AD, many pagan rituals and concepts were adopted
by the church in order to accommodate pagans into the church.
Ever since, church has had a difficult time escaping the influence of the
world on its existence, and really, much of that which is called church today,
has not fully recovered from its paganization of the fourth century.
Verse 5
"5 The
righteous Lord is
in her;
does no wrong. He applies his justice morning by
morning; he does not fail at dawn, yet the one who does wrong knows no
shame."
There
might not have been any godly justice remaining in
Note
here that
Note
the words "morning by morning" here in verse 5.
We often sing the old hymn entitled "Great Is Thy
Faithfulness." It repeats the
words "morning by morning." We
sing "morning by morning His mercies I see," but in this context, it
is not His mercies or faithfulness that is seen morning by morning.
It is His wrath that will be poured out in judgment on
Verse 6
"6 I have cut off
nations; their corner towers are destroyed. I have laid waste their
streets, with no one to pass through. Their cities lie devastated, without a
person, without an inhabitant."
The
words "corner towers" in verse 6 is in reference to watch towers where
soldiers would keep watch out for their enemy.
We
see in this verse that not only Judah, but all of the other surrounding nations
would fall by the hand of God's judgment. The
Babylonian armies would succeed in their conquest of the nations.
Verse 7
"7 I
said: You will certainly fear me and accept correction. Then her dwelling place
would not be cut off based on all that I had allocated to her. However, they
became more corrupt in all their actions."
The
Lord God expected the Jews to fear Him, and as a result of this fear, they
should have been willing to accept correction and discipline. As noted earlier,
this is what the Jews signed onto when they entered a covenantal relationship
with God in the days of Moses. The
problem was, though, the Jews had long sense forgotten about the agreement they
signed onto.
The
fact that the Law of Moses was discovered in the temple in and around 622 BC
tells me that the Jews in that day knew little to nothing about their godly
heritage, and the commitment their ancestors had made to their God.
In other words, their Bible had been lost to most of them.
The Jews may have considered themselves to be religious but they weren't.
They were so far removed from their God and true religion that they had
no clue what true religion was all about. What
they considered to be godly was actually pagan.
Nothing has changed since those days.
In many parts of what is called Christian today, people are so far
removed from true Christianity that what they believe is Christian is not really
Christian.
All
of that being said, God did predict the day here in verse 9 when the Jews would
fear Him and accept correction. As I
have been saying, that day will come at the end of this age, after much
tribulation in what we call the Great Tribulation.
At that point a remnant of Jews will repent and fear their God, which,
they will come to know is Jesus. Then,
as this verse states, the allotted land promised to the Jews will not be cut off
from them any longer. I understand
this to mean the land the God promised Abraham will finally be realized.
This land will stretch from the
Verse 8
"8 Therefore, wait for me—this is the Lord's declaration—until the day I rise up for plunder. For my
decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, in order to pour out my
indignation on them, all my burning anger; for the whole earth will be
consumed by the fire of my jealousy."
Once
again we see a side of God's character that really bothers many who call
themselves Christian today. It is a
side of God that we cannot ever ignore or forget.
We may not like it, but it is God who has created all things, both in the
material universe and the spiritual universe.
He owns all things and He can do whatever He wants with that which is
His, and, He can do it whenever He wants. That,
along with Him being pure justice, means that He has no other choice but to
bring down in an act of judgment on all that which opposes Him.
We would do the same if we were Him.
It
is my opinion that verse 8 is yet another part of Zephaniah's prophecy that has
a double fulfillment. Yes, all of
the known world in and around the ancient near east experienced God's wrath
through the violence done by the Babylonian armies, but the wording of this
verse tells me there is more. What
we read in verse 8 is a simple synopsis of what we read in the Book of
Revelation. There, we note that God
declares judgment on all nations, none excluded.
He will gather them all, as verse 8 says, only to demolish them all as an
act of His divine and justified wrath. As
verse 8 ends, the whole earth will be consumed with the fire of God's jealousy.
It is very clear that our God does not like it when we oppose Him and
destroy what He has created.
If
we fail to recognize this side of God that is pictured here in Zephaniah, then
we fail to understand the God we claim to serve.
Of course, I sincerely doubt that any of us can understand God in His
totality. That being said, He has
clued us in as much as we need to know about Him in the Scriptures, and what we
read here is part of who He is that He wants us to know.
The Text
9 For I will then
restore pure speech to the peoples so that all of them may
call on the name of the Lord
and serve him with a single purpose.
10 From beyond the rivers of
my supplicants, my dispersed people, will bring an
offering to me.
11 On that day you will
not be put to shame because of everything you have done in rebelling against
me. me. For then I will
remove from among you your jubilant, arrogant
people, and you
will never again be haughty
on my holy mountain.
12 I will leave a meek and
humble people among you, and they will take refuge in the name of the Lord.
13 The remnant of
in their mouths. They will pasture and lie down,
with nothing to make them afraid.
14 Sing for joy,
Daughter
loudly,
with all your heart, Shout
Daughter
15 The Lord has removed your punishment; he has turned back your enemy.
The King of
16 On that day it will be
said to
17 The Lord your
God is among you, a warrior who saves. He will rejoice
over you with gladness. He will be quiet in
his love. He will delight in you with singing."
18 I will gather those
who have been driven from the appointed festivals;
they will be a tribute from you and
a reproach on her.
19 Yes, at that time I will
deal with all who oppress you. I will save the lame and gather the
outcasts; I will make those who were disgraced throughout the earth receive
praise and fame.
20 At that time I will bring
you back, yes, at the time I will gather you. I will give you fame and
praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before
your eyes. The Lord has
spoken.
My Commentary
Verse 9
"9 For I will then
restore pure speech to the peoples so that all of them may call on the name
of the Lord
and serve him with a single purpose."
The
prophecy here in Zephaniah now shifts to a more delightful train of thought, and
for that, we are all thankful. It is
what the Jews have been anticipating and eagerly waiting for over the centuries.
It is the restoration of their unified nation of
"Brood of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil? For
the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart."
If
God was going to restore pure speech to His people, He would have to restore
pure hearts to His people, and that He will do as this age comes to an end, and
that, through much hardship that the Jews will face. The goal of this
restoration is to fulfil the promises God spoke to the father of the Jews, that
being, Abraham. God cannot default
on a promise. He must, then, make
Much
of the prophetic writings we read in the Old Testament concerns the restoration
of
"I
will put my Spirit in you [the Jews], and you will live, and I will settle you
in your own land. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
I have spoken, and I will do it. This is the declaration of the LORD."
As
noted earlier, God would not break His promise He spoke to Abraham concerning
the greatness that
"'Therefore,'
say to the house of
The
restoration of
Considering
all that I have just said about God restoring "pure speech," as in,
righteous speech from a pure heart, many Bible scholars see pure speech to be
more than this. They see God
restoring the pure Hebrew language to the Jews at the end of this age. They
derive this thought from the words "pure language" as the King James
Bible puts it here in verse 9. The
NIV states that God will "purify the lips of the people," which would
agree with my understanding of this verse. You
can decide for yourself what the words "pure speech" means.
Verse 10
"10 From
beyond the rivers of
my supplicants, my dispersed people, will bring an
offering to me."
Verse
10 speaks of the Jews returning to their homeland from beyond the rivers of
Many
Old Testament prophecies speak of Jews returning to their homeland.
During the mid eighteen hundreds Jews began to migrate back to what has
been commonly called
If
you read the prophetic Book of Hosea, you will see that God viewed
Here
in verse 10 of Zephaniah 3 we see that the Jews will bring an offering to their
God. Of course, the main offering
the Jews will bring is the offering of their lives.
Beyond that, they might well bring some kind of physical offering.
Many Bible teachers see some kind of restoration of Jewish sacraments and
worship being restored in those days from what they read in the last eight
chapters of Ezekiel. If that is
true, then, the offerings would not be prophetic of the future Messiah.
They would be a remembrance of their present Messiah and all that He has
already done for them. This is a
much debated issue. The last
chapters of the Book of Ezekiel are the most difficult chapters of the Bible to
understand, especially as they seem to be prophetic in nature.
Verse 11
"11 On
that day you will not be put to shame because of everything you have done
in rebelling against me. For then I will remove from among you your
jubilant, arrogant people, and you will never again be haughty
on my holy mountain."
Verse
11 tells us just how shame will be removed from
"In
the whole land —this is the LORD's
declaration —two-thirds will be cut off and die, but a third
will be left in it."
From
my understanding of Biblical prophecy and the Book of Revelation, and, from the
context of Zechariah 13:8, I believe that two thirds of the Jews will be killed
during the period known by Prophetic Futurists as the Great Tribulation.
One third of the Jews will survive and submit to their Messiah, who, they
discover to be the Lord Jesus Christ. What
a shock that will be for them. The
two thirds of the Jews who die are those prideful arrogant Jews that have
brought shame to
Verse 12
"12 I
will leave a meek and humble people among you, and they will take refuge in
the name of the Lord."
The
meek and humble Jews spoken about in this verse are those one third of the
Jewish population who survive the Great Tribulation.
They will take refuge in the Lord, the Lord meaning, the Lord Jesus
Christ. The strife and hardships of
the last days of this age will humble the remnant of
Just
in case you think that I have forgotten any fulfilment of this part of
Zephaniah's prophecy that might have been fulfilled in Zephaniah's day, there
was a remnant of Jews that did survive the fall of
In
538 BC, after the Medes and the Persians overthrew
Verse 13
"13 The
remnant of
You
might ask or wonder how people, as sinful as people are, become so perfected as
this verse seems to imply. Well, if
you understand that this restoration takes place at the end of this age, when
Jesus returns to
Verse 14
"14 Sing for joy, Daughter
shout loudly,
We
see the term "Daughter Zion" and "Daughter Jerusalem" used
many times in the Old Testament, as we read it here.
You could say that any generation of Jews beyond the point in history in
which these terms are used in the Old Testament, could be considered the
Daughter of Zion or the Daughter of Jerusalem.
These terms are often used in a prophetic sense in reference to Jews at
the end of this age. That seems to
be the case here.
When
it comes time for the Jewish nation of
Verse 15
"15 The Lord has removed your punishment; he has turned back your enemy.
The King of
What
I have just written about concerning how the Jews in Jesus' day viewed their
Messiah is seen here in verse 15. Note
the term King of Israel. While on
earth, Jesus did not come across as a mighty conquering king as kings were back
then. No, He came across as a
servant. He would serve His Father
and by so doing serve us by providing Himself as a sacrifice that would do
exactly as is stated here in verse 15. He
would do all that was necessary to provide salvation to all who would trust Him
with their lives, which the Jewish remnant at the end of this age will do.
Beyond
Jesus being a servant, His kingdom was not of this world anyway.
He, nor His followers, would fight on behalf of the real
"'My kingdom is not of this world,'
said Jesus. 'If my kingdom were of this world, my servants
would fight, so that I wouldn't be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my
kingdom is not from here.'"
Understanding
what Jesus said to Pilate is fundamental to understanding how we as Christians
should relate to the political world around us, but that is a discussion for
another day. You can read my book
entitled "The Politics Of God And The Bible' to see my views on this issue.
In
the day of restoration, the Lord God will remove the punishment from
When
Jesus returns to earth to rule the nations from
"Christ
redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is
written, Cursed
is everyone who is hung on a tree."
All
true Christians, whether ethnic Jews or Gentiles have been free from the curses
of the Law of Moses, as seen in Deuteronomy, chapter 28, verse 15 and following.
Of course, Gentiles were never
under the Law of Moses in the first place. The
curses stipulated in the Law of Moses were only directed to
Verse 16 and 17
"16 On
that day it will be said to
17 The Lord your God is among you, a warrior who saves. He will
rejoice over you with gladness. He will be quiet in his love. He will
delight in you with singing."
We
see the word "
We
note from verse 16 that God speaks to
The
reason why the Jewish remnant at the end of this age should not fear is seen in
verse 17. God is with them, and, if
God is with them, there is no need to fear.
God being with the Jewish people is what He has wanted all along.
It is what He wanted when He created human beings in the first place.
It is what He will get when He returns to earth in the form of the
resurrected Jesus to rule the nations from
God
wants
In
verse 17 we see that the Lord God is pictured as a great warrior.
I believe this foretells Jesus as being that great end-time warrior.
I believe I can safely link Zephaniah 3:17 with Revelation 1:12 through
16, that reads:
"12 Then I turned to see whose
voice it was that spoke to me. When I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was one like the Son of Man, dressed in a
robe and with a golden sash wrapped around his chest. 14 The hair of his head was
white as wool—white as snow—and his eyes like a fiery flame. 15 His feet were like fine
bronze as it is fired in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of
ascading waters. 16 He had seven stars in his
right hand; a sharp double-edged sword came from his mouth, and his face
was shining like the sun at full strength."
The
apostle John saw Jesus in a vision as a mighty warrior and it caused him to
fear. He fell down before Jesus as
though he was dead, but like it says here in Zephaniah 3:17,
Jesus told John not to fear, as seen in Revelation 1:17 and 18.
"17 When
I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me
and said, 'Don’t be afraid. I am the
First and the Last, 18 and the Living One. I
was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever, and
I hold the keys of death and Hades.'"
I
am not sure if you have ever thought of God singing, but it appears that He
will, and if He will, I am sure He does sing and has sang in the past.
Verse 17 tells us that the Lord will be so delighted about having His
nation of
Verse 18
"18 I will gather those who have been driven from the appointed
festivals; they will be a tribute from you and a reproach on
her."
Verse
18 is yet another Old Testament verse that tells us that God will gather the
Jews back to their promised land in order to restore the nation of
I
realize that there is more than one way to understand these prophetic promises
concerning land and nationhood for the Jews.
Many spiritualize these prophetic promises.
Others say they are not directed to
We
see that the Jews will return to their land that once housed the sacred
festivals. Does this suggest that
the Jewish festivals will be re-instated once Jesus returns to
If
you read Zechariah 14:16 and 17, those verses suggest that these festivals will
take place during the thousand year rule of Christ on earth.
I would suggest that you read all of Zechariah 14 to get a clearer
picture of this upcoming time of history. Zechariah
14:16 and 17 read:
"16 Then all the survivors from the nations that came
against
Verse 19
"19 Yes,
at that time I will deal with all who oppress you. I will save the lame and
gather the outcasts; I will make those who were disgraced throughout the earth
receive praise and fame."
Here
in verse 19 the Lord tells the Jews of Judah that in the last days He will deal
with those who oppose them, and, if you read Ezekiel 38 and 39, along with other
similar passages, there will be many nations that oppose
In
the end, all of the Jews throughout the world who bow their knees and hearts to
Jesus, that being the saved remnant of
Verse 20
"20 At that time I will bring you back, yes, at the time I will gather
you. I will give you fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I
restore your fortunes before your eyes. The Lord has spoken."
Verse
20 is a repetitive confirmation that
We
see a lot of gloom and doom throughout the prophetic Book of Zephaniah, but it
ends with glory and fame for
So
what can we learn from our study of the prophetic Book of Zephaniah?
Here are just a few things that come to my mind as I wrap up this
commentary.
Zephaniah's
prophecy shows us a side of God's character that many, including Christians,
seem to consistently struggle with. That
is to say, how can such a loving God, as He claims to be, who sacrificed His
earthly life for us, appear to be filled with such explosive wrath?
From my understanding of wrath as seen in Biblical terms, wrath is a
strong and forceful anger. You might
even call it an explosive anger that can no longer be controlled or held within.
There
obviously does come a time when God's explosive anger, His wrath, is
demonstrated on those, both nations and individuals, that oppose Him.
If we neglect, forget, or ignore, this character trait of God's
personality, we fail to understand the God we claim to serve.
Of course, I sincerely doubt that any of us actually understands the
essence of God. That is one reason
why He came to live in a human form, who is Jesus.
We can better understand Jesus than we can God.
God's
wrath is based on Him being just. We
often say, and for good reason, that God is love.
That is certainly true, but, God is also just.
He is just as much just as He is love, and, we must keep these two
aspects of His essence in doctrinal balance.
God being just means that He must make us accountable for our sinful
rebellion against Him and His will. He,
then, must pass the verdict of guilty on us and sentence us to due punishment.
This is clearly seen in the Book of Zephaniah on a national scale.
We
must realize that Zephaniah's prophecy, like much of the Old Testament, was
directed to
Josiah's
attempt at national godliness goes to show us that just because a leader of a
nation desires and works towards national repentance, does not mean that the
nation actually comes to true repentance. Sometimes
this attempt at making a nation godly is actually, what I call, the politicizing
of godliness, and true godliness never is accomplished through political means.
Many Christians today are trying to make their nation Christian through
political means, through legislation and laws, but this makes no nation godly.
External laws can never change the heart of a person, that is why the
Holy Spirit has replaced the Law of Moses. What
makes a nation godly is when the Holy Spirit comes into the hearts of individual
people. Christianizing a nation
through political means has been tried before, and it always fails, and more
often than not, backfires. It makes
things worse.
It
has been said by some that in these New Testament days, often called "the
Age of Grace," that God no longer judges nations and brings them down in a
demonstration of divine wrath, as He did in Old Testament times.
That is not my position on this issue.
In 70 AD, for example, during this Age of Grace,
Zephaniah's
prophecy of
God
cannot default on a promise. If He
declares a promise, then sooner or later, and maybe even later than sooner, He
will fulfil His commitment to keep that promise.
If that were not the case, then, how could we as Christians ever trust a
God who asks us to trust Him? How
would we ever know that He might rethink everything through and change His mind
about things, including His promised salvation for all who believe in Him?
How
you understand the promises that God spoke to Abraham, often called the
Abrahamic Covenant, will determine how you understand Bible prophecy, and that
includes what you read in the Book of Zephaniah.
The problem with many Christians today in their desire to understand
Biblical prophecy is that they begin their study in the wrong place.
They begin their study with the last book in the Bible when they should
begin it with the first book in the Bible. They
begin with the Book of Revelation instead of the Book of Genesis.
Think of it this way. How can
someone enter university without passing out of high school?
That is simple common sense, but common sense is often sadly lacking in
today's Christian.
God
is just as much just today as He has ever been.
He does not change in this respect, and really, He does not change in any
respect. He remains constant in His
essence. Who He is, He has always
been, and He always will be. I
believe, then, that He still causes nations and their leaders to both rise and
fall, as Daniel 2:21 and 4:17 states. That
being so, how will you stand the pressures of life if your nation falls as an
act of divine judgment? Zephaniah
had to stand firm in his day, and you will have to stand firm in your day.
I
do believe that our western-world nations will some day fall at the hand of God.
Maybe that will not materialize in my lifetime, but all nations, sooner
or later do fall. I would not be
surprised if we who live in the western world are in the beginning stages of
that fall right now, here in 2022. Will
you trust your Lord in the midst of that fall?
When
it comes to God's wrath in this present Age of Grace, as individuals we have
been given the opportunity to escape the coming Day of Wrath directed towards
all individuals who have rejected Jesus and the cross of Christ.
This is why this age is called the Age of Grace.
Grace is presently being offered to all people everywhere.
That being said, the day will come when this offer of God's grace
expires. In this respect, God's
grace does have an expiry date. At
that point in time, God's justice, as seen in His wrath, will explode onto all
individuals who oppose Him. They
will be held accountable for their unbelief.
The verdict of guilty will be pronounced on them, and, they will be
sentence to eternal death. They will
continually be in the pathetic pains of dying but will be unable to die, as they
will wish. Until then, though,
nations will continue to rise and fall at the hand of God's judgment until the
day when every last nation on earth will experience the dreadful day of wrath,
and they will be no more. Until that
day arrives onto the world scene, every individual is being offered the grace of
God until such time the expiry date of grace comes to fruition.
When
it comes to church, much of what is commonly called church in the western-world
is no different than
In closing, I strongly recommend everyone to take serious time to read and study the Book of Zephaniah, and really, the other smaller prophetic Old Testament books that we often skip over. Even if you do not totally understand the details of the prophecy, you might just get a further glimpse into the life of the God you claim to serve.