THE BOOK OF ZEPHANIAH – THROUGH JUDGMENT TO BLESSING

We started this study of the Minor Prophets a few months ago and I warned you then that you would find that the different prophets shared a common message over the 200 years or so of their combined ministries. They all held the people of Judah and their rulers to account for their sins and warned the people of the certainty of judgment. Now we come to the last of the pre-exilic prophets. The last three of the remaining Minor Prophets prophesied after Jerusalem was repopulated during and following the times of Ezra and Nehemiah. 

  In introducing himself to us, Zephaniah gives his pedigree more fully than any other of the prophets. He is "Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah" (1:1). The reason for this lies in the last of these names. This Hezekiah was the godly king Hezekiah; and we can understand how a prophet like Zephaniah would be grateful to show his near descent from a king like Hezekiah. So then, Zephaniah is by distinction the prophet of royal descent. He is a prince of the house of David, and the great-great-grandson of King Hezekiah.

Zephaniah also tells us when he prophesied. It was "in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah " (1:1). This carries with it the information that he was a contemporary of the prophet Jeremiah though Jeremiah would outlive him. We can well appreciate that king Josiah, in his brave effort at religious reforms, would have the ardent backing of his prophet cousin and it may be that much of the urge toward these reforms came from Zephaniah, who would carry the influence of a relative in the royal house.

There is something pathetic about the religious reform in the days of King Josiah. Outwardly it looked good but inwardly it fell far short of what was needed. It was an outward reformation sponsored by the king, rather than a real spiritual revival among the people themselves. We read about this in 2 Kings 22-23 and 2 Chron 34-35. Note particularly the words of prophetess Huldah to Josiah, in 2 Kings 22:15-20. In effect, the prophetess said: "Yes, King Josiah, do all that is in your mind; it is good: but the heart of this people is become gross; there will not be a real heart-turning to God such as would avert judgment." Certainly Josiah's clean-up of Judah 's religious abuses, and his reorganizing of religion on the older lines, gave a good royal lead but even a king cannot "organize" a real revival and the movement in Josiah's time was reformation as distinct from regeneration. It did not get down to the heart of the nation's life. This is made clear by Jer 3:6,10. The stream of iniquity flowed on. Judgment was unavoidable although the storm was not unleashed until king Josiah's reign was over.

Zephaniah ignores these outward reforms. He knew the real state of the nation's sin. He exposes the transgressions and pollutions of his days, and with a stern vehemence warns his people that the "Day of Jehovah" hastens toward them.

What Zephaniah has to say falls into three parts.

LOOK INSIDE!

WRATH COMING ON JUDAH (1:1-2:3).

THE PURPOSE OF JEHOVAH TO JUDGE (1:1-6).

THE " DAY " OF Jehovah "AT HAND " (1:7-18).

And so - plea to Jerusalem (2:1-3).

Part one runs from chapter 1:1 to chapter 2:3. A glance through these verses will show us at once that everything here refers to the judgment that is coming on Judah . In all this run of verses there is no mention of the outside nations. The one theme is the sin and coming judgment of Judah . Note the one grimly significant "because" in chapter 1:17 . Why is the entire terrible calamity which is described in the foregoing verses coming on Judah ? Verse 17 gives the simple, fundamental, awful answer- "Because they have sinned against Jehovah." And note, also, that this part of the book ends with an appeal for repentance, and an encouraging word to the little company of upright ones among the degraded populace (2:1-3).

LOOK AROUND!

WRATH ON ALL NATIONS (2:4-3:8).

WEST, EAST - PHILISTIA , MOAB , AMMON (2:4-11).

SOUTH, NORTH - ETHIOPIA AND ASSYRIA ( 2:12 -15)

And so - "woe" to Jerusalem (3:1-8).

Part two runs from chapter 2:4 to chapter 3:8. There can be no mistaking it. In this part the prophet looks away from Jerusalem and Judah to the surrounding nations. First he turns west, to Philistia and the Philistines (2:4-7). Then he turns east, to Moab and Ammon (2:8-11). Then he turns south, to Ethiopia ( 2:12 ). Then he turns north, to Nineveh and Assyria (2:3-15). This part concludes with a sudden turning round on Jerusalem again, the point being that if God so smites the surrounding nations with judgment, how certainly will he smite the people of Judah who have had privileges far above all others!

This is the point of this rising crescendo to part two. is clear from the last three verses in it - "I have cut off the nations; their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passes by; their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant. I said, Surely (in view of all this) thou ( Jerusalem ) wilt fear Me, thou wilt receive instruction but they rose early and corrupted all their doings. Therefore...I rise to the prey" (3:6-8).

LOOK FORWARD!

AFTER WRATH, HEALING (3:9-20).

CONVERSION OF GENTILE PEOPLES (3:9).

RESTORING OF COVENANT PEOPLE ( 3:10 -15).

And so - the new Jerusalem (verses 3:16 -20).

Part three runs from chapter 3:9 down to verse 20, which is the last verse of the chapter and of the book. Here the prophet is not just looking within, at Jerusalem and Judah, nor looking around, at the other nations; he is looking beyond, to a time of healing and blessing which shall come to Israel and to all peoples alike, after the days of judgment have served their purpose. The passage begins: "For then will I turn to the peoples a pure language that they may all call upon the name of Jehovah, to serve Him with one consent."

In this the vision of Zephaniah is like that of other prophets. The coming Messianic kingdom is to embrace all the nations but the covenant people are to be the centre of that kingdom and Zephaniah concludes by picturing the exalted blessings of Israel in that golden age.

There is to be a gathering together of the dispersed (verse 10).

There is to be a change of attitude and behaviour in the people (1-13).

There is to be complete banishment of evil and an exultant joyfulness (14,15).   

God Himself is going to find great pleasure in the Holy City and her people.

It shall be said to Zion : "Jehovah, thy God, is in the midst of thee, the Mighty One who will save; He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love; He will joy over thee with singing" (verses 16,17). All afflictions are to be forever over, and Israel is to be made "a praise among all the peoples of the earth" (verse 20). It is a beautiful picture and sets our longing hearts praying the more fervently: "Even so, come, Lord Jesus " ( Rev 22:20 ).

The key thought in Zephaniah is not expressed so much in any one verse as in the contrast between the very first verse and the very last. After the introduction, the first word is, "I will utterly consume." This is the fierce fire of judgment.

But the last word of the book is, "I will make you a name and praise." This is the final fullness of blessing.

God has a glorious end and purpose in view; but even that goal will not be gained at the expense of absolute justice and righteousness. Present sin must be met with present judgment. Even so, the present process of judgment shall eventually issue in the final blessing. This is what we have in Zephaniah. There must be the smiting with retribution before there can be the smiling of restoration. Thus we may say that one of the key thoughts of Zephaniah is, "THROUGH JUDGMENT TO BLESSING" and closely allied with this is the thought that "Jehovah is in the midst." He is in the midst of Jerusalem to judge (3:5) and He is in the midst of Jerusalem to save ( 3:15 ,17).

There is a correspondence between Zephaniah's day and our own. We are not claiming to be prophets in the sense that Zephaniah and the others mentioned in the Bible are, yet in another sense we shall not deny that we are truly the Lord's spokesmen. If we do not have the special kind of inspiration by which God spoke through the Hebrew prophets, that is not now needed, since "the volume of the Book" is now completed for our guidance; but we do claim to have the illumination of the Holy Spirit, and we do claim to be honestly interpreting the word of Scripture, in declaring our conviction that the time is once more here when we must lift up our cry that "The Day of the Lord is at hand." Zephaniah's fervid depicting of "The Day of Jehovah" - the awful judgment which was determined on his own generation, is really an example of that all-eclipsing "Day of the Lord" which is to be at the end of the present age.

Unless we are strangely deceived, the words of the Book, together with the signs of the times, point to its near approach. The religious and social conditions are morally similar to those of Zephaniah's days. Despite some bursts of religious activity Modernism has done its deadly work through those unbelievers who have infiltrated the pulpits and schools of our land and the gulf between organised religion and the masses grows steadily wider. We fix no dates. We give no limit of years but we keep to the clear words of the Book and the indications of our time. We are surely in that period now which is to move up quickly to the awful day of Christ's return.

That day will be joy superlative for Christ's own, the blood-bought, Spirit-born members of the true Church but it is well that we should cry aloud the terror of that day to many others. This is the aspect of his prophetic ministry which grips and excites Zephaniah. No longer will the righteous be caught up in the judgments of the wicked. Smiting will give place to smiling. The peoples shall serve the Lord "with one consent." God will perfect His purpose, and fulfil all His promises. Christ shall reign. The curse shall be gone. God will rejoice over His redeemed sons and daughters. He will rest in His love. He will "joy over them with singing."

And you can be part of that joyful throng enjoying listening to God expressing His joy by singing.