Zephaniah wrote approximately 600 years before the time of Jesus. During that time, people were looking for the day of the Lord, when God would come as a conquering hero to release them from the oppression of their enemies.
Rather than a time of deliverance, Zephaniah and the other prophets proclaimed that the day of the Lord would be a time of distress instead of blessing.
The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter;
the warrior cries aloud there.
That day will be a day of wrath,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness. Zephaniah 1.14-15
When God brings judgment upon people, He always explains the reason why He does so. His prophets deliver the news that the people have turned their back on God, and He must correct them through judgment.
I will bring such distress upon people
that they shall walk like the blind;
because they have sinned against the Lord,
their blood shall be poured out like dust
and their flesh like dung. Zephaniah 1.17
The Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount were given to humans so we would learn how to live properly with God and each other. When we disregard what God has taught us, we ruin our relationship with God and we greatly harm our brothers and sisters in the world.
For this, God must bring correction.
I read recently that the five richest humans on Earth are so wealthy that if each one spent a million dollars a day, it would take them years to spend their wealth. Such fabulous wealth is the envy of many, but it is nothing before God who comes to judge the Earth.
Neither their silver nor their gold
will be able to save them
on the day of the Lord’s wrath;
in the fire of his passion
the whole earth shall be consumed,
for a full, a terrible end
he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth. Zephaniah 1.18
God’s Counsel to Humans
Zephaniah’s words have been on Earth for at least 2,600 years. How are we going to respond to what he has to say? I think the next verse gives us a prescription for an appropriate response.
Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land
who do his commands;
seek righteousness, seek humility;
perhaps you may be hidden
on the day of the Lord’s wrath. Zephaniah 2.3
Zephaniah conveys three important messages to us. First, we should seek the Lord. Next, we must pursue humility. Finally, we should follow these steps with obedience to His guidance.
(1) Seek the Lord – My morning Bible reading today was from Isaiah 29, and I discovered something very important about seeking the Lord.
The Lord said:
Because these people draw near with their mouths
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me
and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote. Isaiah 29.13
The last phrase states that “their worship of me is a human commandment.” We must not allow our relationship with God to be fueled by what we learn from other humans.
Instead, our relationship with God should be something that comes directly from interaction with Him.
Let’s examine ourselves and ask: Am I seeking God to hear from Him, or am I basing my relationship with God on what other people tell me about Him, filtered through their experience?
(2) Seek Humility – “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4.6).
The height of pride is the belief that we know better than God. We think we know how to run our lives better, and if God will just give us what we want, everything will be okay.
On the other hand, humility says, “God, you are all-knowing, you are all-powerful, you are the one who loves me more than I love myself. I submit my life into your care.”
(3) Obedience – The old hymn that says, “Trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey,” is exactly right.
We demonstrate that we have genuinely sought God and humbled ourselves before Him when we learn His assignment for our life and follow through with obedience.
Zephaniah provides a prescription for living in a proper relationship with God. He does not, however, give us a prescription to obtain what we want from God. His last phrase is, “Perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the Lord’s wrath.”
We live out our faith with God, regardless of what happens to us, knowing that in the end, He knows all and loves us eternally.
YouTube Video
Rudy Ross and I discuss this passage on YouTube today. It is on the Bob Spradling channel.
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