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Today’s Verse
Our holy God is a God of love, but He is also a God of righteousness and justice, and all sin must be punished. The Lord determined in His heart to execute judgement over all the earth, and the prophecy of Zephaniah spells out, in graphic detail, the approaching doom for ungodly Gentile nations. He also details the terrors pronounced over Jerusalem because of their unbelief, their refusal to turn from sin, their rebellious attitude towards God, and the sacrilegious practices of their prophets, priests, people, and leaders.
Little is known of Zephaniah, except that he was the son of Cushi and traced his regal ancestry back to good king Hezekiah. He used the phrase: “Day of the Lord,” seven times in his writings and paints a dark and gloomy picture of a time when God’s wrath will be poured out on a God-hating sinful world that has rejected His anointed Messiah, refused His offer of salvation, and defiantly celebrates sin.
At the time of writing, the few attempts by godly leaders to turn the people back to righteousness by worshipping the true and living God, had fallen on the deaf ears of a defiant and disobedient nation. And the inevitable decline and dispersion of the nation and the shocking prophecies of doom and destruction in the “Day of the Lord,” flood through the pen of this prophet.
Zephaniah vividly portrays the coming destruction of the earth when God will stretch out His hand against Judea, Jerusalem, and wicked nations of the world. He swears in His wrath to remove birds from the air, fish from the sea, and both man and beast from off the face of the earth: “I will completely remove all things from the face of the earth, declares the LORD.”
Although many of the stern warnings in his short book were fulfilled when the southern kingdom of Judah was finally swept into Babylonian slavery, the ultimate and final fulfilment is yet future: “The Day of the Lord’s wrath,” will be poured out during the 70th week of Daniel, that future “time of Jacob’s Trouble,” when the full force of God’s wrath and anger will be spewed out on a world that rejected His Son and refused to be saved by grace through faith.
And although the message was written and delivered by the hand of a human herald, the incredible content of his book was received directly from the Lord, for all Scripture is living, active, and inspired of God. The Word of the Lord, through the pen of Zephaniah and all the prophets, cannot be broken, and stands fast for ever and ever.
Our awesome God of righteousness and justice is also an amazing God of love and mercy; a God of goodness and grace. His punishment of sin is just and righteous altogether, and there is a wonderful purpose in His retribution; the restoration of His nation Israel, the resurrection of myriad of His saints, and the 1000-year reign of His appointed Messiah when: “Righteousness and peace will kiss one another,” and “the earth will be filled with the glory of God.”
And despite his prophecies of doom and destruction, Zephaniah concludes his inspired writings with a promise of the restoration of Gentile nations, the reinstatement of Israel as His chosen inheritance, the redemption of His people, Israel, and the return of their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as God of gods, King of kings, and Lord of the eternal ruler of heaven and earth.
My Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for the inspired Scriptures which are living, powerful, and cannot be broken. Thank You for the prophecies of holy men of God, like Zephaniah, warning us of the wrath to come. I am so thankful that You provided a way for me to be saved, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I praise You that Your plan of redemption will finally come to fruition and all believing Israel will be redeemed and restored for Your greater honour and glory. Help me not to become complacent about the wrath that is to come on this God-hating, Christ-rejecting, sinful world, but to share the good news of the gospel of grace with as many as I can so that many more would come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and be plucked from the brands. This I ask in Jesus’ name, AMEN.
Bible References
103 Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6 The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.
7 He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.
8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
9 He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.
10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.
14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
16 For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.
17 But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;
18 To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.
19 The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.
20 Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.
21 Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure.
22 Bless the Lord, all his works in all places of his dominion: bless the Lord, O my soul.
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
11 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
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