Zephaniah 1-2:3 - The Day of Yahweh and A Call To Repentance

Podcast Transcript (Auto-Transcribed by Apple Podcasts)

Hello, and welcome back to Season 3 of Tabernacle Talk. Today, we are going to be starting a whole new adventure. We're going to go somewhere really, really obscure, someplace that perhaps you have never gone before in your Bible reading.

It is one that, as people often think about their Bible reading and what they need to be reading, they don't often think of the word Zephaniah. And it might be that you have never read through it before.

Maybe if you're like me, you know you've read it maybe three or four times throughout your life. Maybe if you're one of those that have done like the Bible in a year, that maybe you've read through it in that way before.

But other than that, you can't recall ever having read through it. We're going to study it over the next few days. And I don't know particularly how long this study is going to take.

The book of Zephaniah is only three chapters long, so it's not going to take us very long. Today, Lord Willen will get through about chapter two and verse number three. And we're going to look at this book.

This book is written at the very end of the Kingdom of Judah. And if you don't maybe know some of that story, I've referenced a little bit of it before, that you had the Kingdom of Saul and David and Solomon. That was all of Israel.

They're united. And then after Solomon's death, he had a son, Rehoboam. And there was a person that had been a military commander at one point that just had a lot of favor with the people named Jeroboam.

And Rehoboam had the opportunity to say, okay, yes, I know that my dad had you guys doing a ton of building projects. And he really kind of made life hard. There were a lot of hard taxes and some different things.

But I'm going to lighten it up a little bit on you. And he even had some advisors that told him, hey, if you tell the people that they will serve and love you forever. And he went, no, I'm not going to follow that advice.

I'm going to tell him, you thought it was hard under my dad. It's going to be so much harder under me. And the people obviously didn't go for that.

And so ten tribes went and they went with Jeroboam as their king, and they became the northern kingdom of Israel. You'll see it often mentioned in the prophets under the name Ephraim, who is kind of a big tribe in those ten tribes.

You will also see it named Samaria after that main city, that capital city that they had there. So, that was the northern kingdom of Israel, and then there was the southern kingdom of Judah.

And the kingdom of Israel never had a king that followed God and pursued him. The southern kingdom had a lot of kings and about four or five of them that ended up seeking the Lord and wanting to follow him.

None really that did it to the same extent that David had done. There were some great kings, and one of those kings was King Josiah who he became king at a very, very young age. His dad had died.

I think he was about eight or so years old when he took the throne. And as he kind of came into full kingdom, that there had been a steward that was kind of over some areas of the kingdom until Josiah got to the age where he was old enough.

And when he became old enough, he then instituted some pretty heavy reforms into Judah. Judah and Israel had worshiped the local Canaanite god Be'al, some other gods even that we'll read about today.

And it was entirely against what God had wanted for his people, that they weren't worshiping the Lord, they weren't obeying him, they weren't worshiping in the temple, they were bringing in idols and just worshiping anything and everything.

And they had built up these high places of groves of forests where they would do worship and some different things that were just drastically against God and his word.

And accompanying with that idol worship, there were many things that the false priests and things would say, hey, you need to do this type of thing. You need to have these type of sexual relationships in order to worship this God.

You need to make these kinds of child sacrifices. And it was all horribly against what God had said.

And because there wasn't an emphasis on what Yahweh, the God of Israel had said, people would steal and people would extort others and people would do horrible things. And they thought God's never going to punish me for this.

God's just one of the pantheon and he's not really the one that's in control.

And Zephaniah preached during this period of Israel's history, and he proclaimed what God had said, that there's going to be a day of judgment that comes because of your sin.

Zephaniah chapter one says this, the word of Yahweh that came to Zephaniah, son of Cushy, son of Gedalia, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah, son of Ammon, king of Judah. So here's the prophecy that happens.

Here's the poetry that Zephaniah writes so that people would remember what God had said about these things. He says, speaking for the Lord, I will completely sweep away everything from the face of the earth. This is Yahweh's declaration.

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 Yahweh's declaration. So here, if you'll notice, he's saying, I'm going to undo those days of creation from Genesis that he goes, OK, I'm going to make the birds of the air and the fish of the sea on day number four.

And on day number five, I'm going to put the animals. And day number six, I'm going to put humans. I know I have those days messed up just in case anyone was listening, but it is that sixth day.

So he says there, all right, I'm going to make all of these things. And now here in Zephaniah, God says, I'm going to undo all of this in this area. He says, you're going back to the chaos, the disorder where there is no life in this area.

Well, why would he do that? What would be the reason why God would do this? Well, he tells us in verse number four and on, he says, He says, I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the residents of Jerusalem.

He says, I will cut off every vestige of Baal from this place.

The names of the pagan priests, along with the priests, those who bow and worship on the rooftops to the stars in the sky, those who bow and pledge loyalty to Yahweh, but also pledge loyalty to Milcom and those who turn back from following Yahweh,

who do not seek Yahweh or inquire of him, be silent in the presence of Yahweh God, for the day of Yahweh is near. Indeed, Yahweh has prepared a sacrifice. He has consecrated his guests.

So here there's one of the charges that God brings against Jerusalem and against Judah. He says, here's what you all have done. He says, you are worshiping Baal.

You have these pagan priests that are worshiping on rooftops the stars in the sky.

We've talked before, in the ancient Near East, there was this thought that viewed the spiritual realm, so spiritual beings, what we would think of today as angels and demons, Seraphim and Cherubim and all of those things, the heavenly beings, they

pictured the things in the sky as being a picture of those. So you have the stars that they have all their regular courses, and then you have what in Greek is called the planetes, the planets, the ones that don't really follow the rest of the stars

in their courses. They're just kind of doing their own things. It's the wanderers. And they pictured those as those are the gods.

Those are the spiritual beings that are going off and doing their own thing. And so here, God is saying, hey, you people in Judah and Jerusalem, you are worshiping these false gods. You're worshiping Baal.

You're worshiping Milcom. You are saying, oh, yeah, we worship Yahweh. And then you also worship these people.

You don't ask me. You're going and you're asking, you know, false pagan priest Jim. You're asking him these questions.

You're not asking God these questions that you have about your life. And so as a result, there's a day of judgment that's coming, just like God promised you from the very beginning in the book of Deuteronomy.

Says, OK, I'm going to send you into this land, but I know that you are going to rebel. You're going to worship the false gods, just like the people that were in the land before you worshiped the false gods.

And so as a result, God is going to expel you back to where you came from.

So Abraham came from Babylon, and you can even read Genesis 10 and 11, that that's where kind of all the cradle of civilization, it's often called, in that Mesopotamian region.

God says, you guys came from Babylon originally, and I'm sending you right on back because that's who you want to act like. You want to worship those false gods.

You want to worship the demons, those evil spiritual beings, instead of worshiping the Lord. He continues here now in verse number 8.

He says, On the day of Yahweh's sacrifice, I will punish the officials, the king's sons and all who are dressed in foreign clothing. On that day, I will punish all who skip over the threshold, who fill their master's house with violence and deceit.

Here he's saying, I am bringing this judgment against you because of you are going to hear officials with children, their sons, their ones that are in charge of things that are dressed in foreign clothing, that they are going to Egypt, they are going

to Assyria, they're going to Babylon, they're going to whatever other nations. They are seeking their help. They are building alliances with them. They're not worshiping God.

They're not following God. They're not asking God, hey, what would you like me to do in this time and in these circumstances? He says, you're searching after everyone else.

And he says, and if that wasn't bad enough, there in verse number nine, there are these people that they are filling, it says their master's house. It could be implied here, royalty as we think here of Josiah that wanted to do what was right.

But you have these people that are filling their master's house with violence and deceit, that they are using their influence in the kingdom to get things, that they are taking advantage of people, that they are punishing people through, we would

think of it today like a police force, that if you have a corrupt person that's using the police to accomplish their own ends, he says, here's what you're doing. And so I'm going to punish these people that are doing these wrong things.

Verse number 10, On that day, this is Yahweh's declaration, there will be an outcry from the fish gate, a wailing from the second district, and a loud crashing from the hills.

Whale, you residents of the hollow or the market, he says, for the merchants will be silenced. All those loaded with silver will be cut off. He says, all of your riches aren't going to do anything.

All of your great bustling trade that you have right now isn't going to save you from the punishment for your sin.

Verse number 12, And at that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish those who settle down comfortably, who say to themselves, Yahweh will not do good or evil. God's not going to do anything about my actions.

He says, 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.

Here he says, it doesn't matter how much money you have, you're not going to get away from God in this day. He says, the great day of Yahweh is near. Verse number 14, near and rapidly approaching.

Listen, the day of Yahweh, then the warrior's cry is bitter.

That day is the 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, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the high

corner towers. I will bring distress on mankind, and they will walk like the blind, because they have sinned against Yahweh. Their blood will be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung.

Their silver and their gold will be unable to rescue them on the day of Yahweh'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.

I want to stop right here. I want you to note something that then the New Testament authors pick up as they're reading through this.

They go, okay, we know that this judgment on Jerusalem and on Judah really did happen, that the fortified cities were taken, that the wicked were punished, and God accomplished his means.

But they realized that God said some things here about total destruction, about a judgment coming on the whole world because of sin that had not yet happened.

And so even as you look at the book of Revelation, you'll see some of these same words being brought out. You can read through some of Paul's letters and some of John's epistles, and you can see this phrase, the day of the Lord.

You can read about it in 2 Peter, that the day of the Lord, yes, it came during this time, it was something that was drastic and complete, that Judah was no more and they were taken into captivity.

But the full force of this, it's like how I've heard it phrased before, you have Zephaniah and he's looking at it.

And it's like if there's a hill that's in front of him that he can see, then there's a valley behind the hill that he can't see, and then there's another hill on the other side of that valley.

So as he looks out, he sees both hills and he doesn't see the valley in between.

And so as he's looking, as he's prophesying about what is going to happen in the day of the Lord, he's seeing both the destruction of Jerusalem, that would happen in 586 BC, and he's also seeing the ultimate day of the Lord where God brings that holy

fire on the earth. It's that battle of Armageddon at the end that John writes about in Revelation, that he says, hey, Jesus is going to come and the armies of this world assembled against Jerusalem, just like here, God sends an army against

Jerusalem. He sends the nation of Babylon against them. There at the end of time, it's the nations are coming against Jerusalem and Jesus comes, as Jude would put it, with 10,000 of his saints.

And as they return to earth to save the Jews, to save God's people, now that they have turned back to him, as Romans 11 prophesied in different things.

Now, as all of that is taking place, Jesus speaks and it says, it's like a sword goes out from his mouth and the armies of this world are torn asunder. And it says, the blood of the armies of the world will reach up to the horses' bridles.

And here it's the same thing that's been said here in Zephaniah. Their blood will be poured out like dust.

And here, Zephaniah is seeing not just what God will currently do to punish sin and to bring back Israel, but he's seeing what God will ultimately do and he is prophesying about that as well. So what's the call from Zephaniah's thing?

Is he just saying you're under condemnation and God's gonna get you? So too bad, have fun being destroyed. The answer is found in chapter 2 and verse number 1.

Gather yourselves together. Gather together, undesirable nation, before the decree takes effect and the day passes like chaff, before the burning of Yahweh's anger overtakes you, before the day of Yahweh's anger overtakes you.

Seek Yahweh, 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 Yahweh's anger. We'll continue reading through the rest of Zephaniah. I believe we'll go through a good bit of chapter 2 and maybe a little bit of chapter 3 tomorrow.

But here what Zephaniah is saying is the result of this is not, ha, get you, God just hates you so much and he wants you destroyed. He is pleading, hey, right now you're undesirable to God because of your wickedness. But he says turn to him.

Be humble. Seek righteousness. Don't seek violence and deceit and money grabbing and worshiping all these false gods.

He says seek for a right relationship with God and with humans. He says seek righteousness, have humility, and he says God will conceal you.

And I think even of what Jesus says in, I believe it's Matthew 24 or thereabouts, where he says Jerusalem, how I wanted to wrap you up like a mother hen wraps in her chicks under her wings. And Jesus says I wanted to conceal you.

I wanted to save you. I wanted to protect you. God's plans for you are not that he would punish you for sin.

God's plans for you are not that he would condemn you, but that as you see him, as you see his holiness, as you see that he is just and that when he is just, he is just completely. He doesn't just wink at sin. He absolutely annihilates it completely.

But God doesn't want to annihilate you. God wants to rescue you. He wants to save you.

He wants you to not be under any condemnation. And he is begging for you to turn to him.

Man, what a wonderful truth that Jesus is that one who has concealed us, that he has saved us from the wrath of God, that he is the one who when he comes back to earth, he is the one that is executing this righteousness and this justice.

I can think of the verses that say that now all judgment has been given to the son, that the son is the one that executes God's will.

He is the one that has all of God's wrath, but he is the one who poured out his love for us through his shed blood on Calvary. And he wants to have a relationship with you. Today, maybe you have been in this kind of sin situation.

Maybe it's not you worshiping an idol, but maybe you've been worshiping money. And you've been saying, God, like, sure, I know you have things that you want me to do with my life.

I know you have ways that you want me to run my business, but I'm not going to do that. I'm going to do it my own way. Turn back to God.

Repent. Turn to Him. Come in humility and forgiveness and say, God, I was wrong.

I'm going to do it your way. I'm not going to do it my way.

Maybe it's in your relationship that you've been short, you've been angry, you've been standoffish, you've been withholding love from people, from your kids, maybe from people that maybe have wronged you and not in the way that would be healthy for

you to separate from, but you're just not having forgiveness for another person. Forgive them today. Turn to God. He has forgiven you.

He has loved you. He has a desire to forgive all of your wrongs. Do that same thing for others.

Whatever in your life, you know, God, I'm not right with you. Zephaniah warns us like God is just. So let's turn to him.

He has no desire to condemn you or to destroy you.

But if we persist in our own way, if we're proud, if we keep sticking our neck out and going, all right, God, I know that you're not going to do anything to me, like he says in Chapter 1, then we put ourselves in spiritual danger.

It would be awful if we went through our lives and maybe God punished us for something. It would be even worse if we went through our lives and God allowed us to simply go through our life and we just end up following our own way.

And that's all that we ever get out of life is us. We don't ever see God's blessing because God said, all right, you want to live without me, I'll allow you to live without me. So let's turn to him.

Let's be humble. Let's repent and let's seek righteousness to live right by God and by other people. I hope Zephaniah would be an encouragement to you, a challenge to you.

I know it's a challenge to my heart.

We often think about the love of God as we should, but let's not forget the justice and the judgment of God and let it motivate us to follow him with right hearts that pursue him, that are humble, that say, God, I'm not right in everything I do.

I need to follow and to love you. Thanks for tuning in and I look forward to continuing Zephaniah 2 with you tomorrow.