Thursday, October 15, 2009

Old Testament survey (36): Zephaniah

The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.

That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,


A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.


And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.


Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
(Zephaniah 1:14-18)

Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’S anger. (Zephaniah 2:3)

The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17)

Overview

[1] Zephaniah, from Thru The Bible Radio with Dr. J. Vernon McGee ©, with free downloads Notes & Outlines (PDF), Complete 5-Year Study (MP3)

Two thoughts stand out in this brief book:

1. “The day of the LORD” occurs seven times in this little prophecy. Obadiah and Joel, the first of the writing prophets, were the first to use this expression. All of the prophets refer to it; and now Zephaniah, the last of the writing prophets, before the Captivity, brings it to our attention again. He uses it more than any of the other prophets. The actual phrase occurs seven times, but there are other references to it. This expression has particular application to the Great Tribulation period, which precedes the Kingdom; but the Day of the Lord also includes the time of the Kingdom. The Great Tribulation period is ended by the coming of Christ personally to the earth to establish the millennial Kingdom—and all that is included in the Day of the Lord. The emphasis in the Book of Zephaniah is upon judgment. Joel also opens his prophecy with a description of a great locust plague, which he likens to the Day of the Lord that is coming in the future. Joel says that the Day of the Lord is not light; it is darkness. It is on the black background of man’s sin that God writes in letters of light the wonderful gospel story for you and me.

2. “Jealousy” occurs twice in this book. God’s jealousy is on a little different plane from that of yours and mine. In our jealousy, we seek to do evil. God is jealous of those who are His own. He is jealous of mankind. He created him, and He has purchased a redemption for him, and made it possible for him to be saved. It is not His will that any should perish; He wants them saved—He is jealous for mankind. But when they don’t turn to Him, He is going to judge them. The thing which the Book of Zephaniah makes clear is that God is glorified in judging as well as He is glorified in saving. A great many people cannot understand how that is possible. Ezekiel 38–39 speaks of the time in the future when God will judge Russia. We read there, “And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes” (Ezek. 38:16). In other words, God is saying, “I intend to judge this godless nation, and when I do, I shall be glorified in that judgment.” That is a tremendous statement for God to make, and for a great many people, it is a bitter pill to swallow. But it might be well for us to learn to think God’s thoughts after Him, realizing that our thoughts are not His thoughts and our ways are not His ways at all. (Read the complete article)
[2] Book of Zephaniah, from gotquestions.org (this website is also available in Afrikaans, Arabic, Bengali, Burmese-Myanmar, Cebuano, Chinese - Simplified, Chinese – Traditional, Hausa, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Malaysian, Persian-Farsi, Portuguese, Quechua, Sesotho, Spanish, Swahili, Tagalog, Tamil, Thai, Urdu, Vietnamese, Zulu, and 70 other languages)
Zephaniah pronounces the Lord’s judgment on the whole earth, on Judah, on the surrounding nations, on Jerusalem and on all nations. This is followed by proclamations of the Lord’s blessing on all nations and especially on the faithful remnant of His people in Judah.

Zephaniah had the courage to speak bluntly because he knew he was proclaiming the Word of the Lord. His book begins with “The word of the Lord” and ends with “says the Lord.” He knew that neither the many gods the people worshiped nor even the might of the Assyrian army could not save them. God is gracious and compassionate, but when all His warnings are ignored, judgment is to be expected. God’s day of judgment is frequently mentioned in the Scriptures. The prophets called it the “Day of the Lord.” They referred to various events such as the fall of Jerusalem as manifestations of God's Day, each of which pointed toward the ultimate Day of the Lord.

With a few adjustments in names and situations, this prophet of 7th century B.C. could stand in our pulpits today and deliver the same message of judgment of the wicked and hope for the faithful. Zephaniah reminds us that God is offended by the moral and religious sins of His people. God's people will not escape punishment when they sin willfully. Punishment may be painful, but its purpose may be redemptive rather than punitive. The inevitability of the punishment of wickedness gives comfort in a time when it seems that evil is unbridled and victorious. We have the freedom to disobey God but not the freedom to escape the consequences of that disobedience. Those who are faithful to God may be relatively few, but He does not forget them. (Read the complete article)
[3] Zephaniah, from Scofield Reference Notes (1917 Edition)
This prophet, a contemporary of Jeremiah, exercised his ministry during the reign of Josiah. It was a time of revival (2 Ki. 22), but the captivity was impending, nevertheless, and Zephaniah points out the moral state which, despite the superficial revival under Josiah (Jeremiah 2:11-13), made it inevitable.

Zephaniah is in four parts:

1. The coming invasion of Nebuchadnezzar a figure of the day of the Lord, Zephaniah 1:1-2:3.
2. Predictions of judgment on certain peoples, Zephaniah 2:4-15.
3. The moral state of Israel for which the captivity was to come, Zephaniah 3:1-7.
4. The judgment of the nations followed by kingdom blessing under Messiah, Zephaniah 3:8-20.
Discussion

[1] References to “day of the Lord” in Zephaniah
Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD [is] at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests. (Zephaniah 1:7)

And it shall come to pass 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 strange apparel. (Zephaniah 1:8)

The great day of the LORD [is] near, [it is] near, and hasteth greatly, [even] the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. (Zephaniah 1:14)

Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land. (Zephaniah 1:18)

Before the decree bring forth, [before] the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD’S anger come upon you. (Zephaniah 2:2)

Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’S anger. (Zephaniah 2:3)
[2] Other references to “day of the Lord”
For the day of the LORD of hosts [shall be] upon every [one that is] proud and lofty, and upon every [one that is] lifted up; and he shall be brought low: (Isaiah 2:12)

Howl ye; for the day of the LORD [is] at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. (Isaiah 13:6)

Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. (Isaiah 13:9)

For [it is] the day of the LORD'S vengeance, [and] the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. (Isaiah 34:8)

For this [is] the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates. (Jeremiah 46:10)

Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the LORD'S anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed. (Lamentations 2:22)

Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD. (Ezekiel 13:5)

For the day [is] near, even the day of the LORD [is] near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen. (Ezekiel 30:3)

Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD [is] at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. (Joel 1:15)

Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for [it is] nigh at hand; (Joel 2:1)

And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp [is] very great: for [he is] strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD [is] great and very terrible; and who can abide it? (Joel 2:11)

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. (Joel 2:31)

Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD [is] near in the valley of decision. (Joel 3:14)

Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end [is] it for you? the day of the LORD [is] darkness, and not light. (Amos 5:18)

[Shall] not the day of the LORD [be] darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it? (Amos 5:20)

For the day of the LORD [is] near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. (Obadiah 1:15)

Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. (Zechariah 14:1)

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: (Malachi 4:5)

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: (Acts 2:20)
[3] References to “jealousy” in Zephaniah
Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land. (Zephaniah 1:18)

Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination [is] to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, [even] all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. (Zephaniah 3:8)
Further study (Be like the Bereans! Acts 17:11)

[1] The Fearsome Day Of The Lord’s Anger Commentary On The Book Of Zephaniah, by Paul G. Apple

[2] Materials by David Malick
[3] Zephaniah, by Hampton Keathley IV

[4] Zephaniah, by Richard D. Patterson

Sermons on Zephaniah (Be like the Bereans! Acts 17:11)

[1] Lenten Devotions Day 29 Zephaniah 2:1 -3, Central Baptist Church – Lowesville

[2] God’s Day of Wrath, by Charles Leman Eldred

[3] Sermons by Rev. Harold A. Winter
[4] Where is God? by Tim Carter

[5] Singing - A Strange Thing Zephaniah 3:17, by Tim Adams

[6] A Picture of God, by Alberto Hernandez

[7] God wants to do us good, by Peter Grenfell

[8] Advent 1997 -3- Be Glad and Rejoice! by Richard DeRuiter

For other available sermons, please surf to Sermon / Preaching resources. Sermons are also available from South McGehee Baptist Church, McGehee, Arizona; Central Baptist Church, Lowesville; First Baptist Church, Mountain View, Missouri; Swift Creek Baptist Church; Word of Life Baptist Church, Pottsville, Philadelphia; Palm Springs Baptist Church, California; South Woods Baptist Church; Grove Baptist Church, Ulster; Dudley Baptist Church, United Kingdom; Independent Fundamental Baptist Sermons, Fundamental Christian Radio Broadcasts, Off-Site Audio Page and The Christian Radio Tuner

Notes: (1) This ministry does not necessarily endorse or share all the views and opinions expressed in the materials, resources or links mentioned in these posts. Please always refer to the Articles of Faith and Biblical distinctives of Baptists when you study these materials. (2) This lesson is part of the projected 300 plus lessons. From time to time, the lessons will be updated, revised, combined, formatted, and edited to comply with the VOA Simplified English word list. Later on, these lessons will be categorized, numbered sequentially, and made available as PDF downloads.

No comments: