A call to turn from selfishness and rebellion to turn to the Lord...

This week we are looking at a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Zephaniah. Yesterday we looked on as Zephaniah revealed the actions that the Day of the Lord would bring upon the Jewish people as a result of their selfishness and rebellion against the Lord in their relatively near future.

Zephaniah proclaimed that the Lord would exercise His right and just response to the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people that led them to commit idolatry by worshiping something other than the Lord as God. In verse 4, the prophet exposed the idolatry of the priests who led the people to worship the false god Baal instead of the Lord. In verse 5, the prophet exposed the idolatry of those who worshiped the sun, moon, and stars instead of the Lord.

In the second half of verse 5, the prophet exposed the idolatry of those who worshiped at the spiritual buffet by adding the worship of the Lord to the worship of false gods in order to create their own religious system that took what they liked about the Lord and false gods, while ignoring the parts of the Lord and false gods that they did not like In verse 6, the prophet exposed the indifference of the Jewish people who turned their back on the Lord so as to ignore the Lord.

And because of the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people, Zephaniah proclaimed that the Day of the Lord was coming in the form of the Babylonian Empire. The Babylonian Empire would be instrument that the Lord would use to exercise justice and judgment against the Jewish people. Zephaniah painted a word picture of an animal that would be offered as a sacrificial offering in the Jewish religious system to proclaim that the Lord was preparing the Jewish people to be a sacrifice that would pay the penalty of their selfishness and rebellion. 

The Babylonian Empire would be the invited guests that would participate in this sacrificial offering against the rebellion of the leaders of the Jewish people. The Babylonian Empire would be the invited guests that would participate in this sacrificial offering against the rebellion of those who oppressed others by leaping upon them to commit violence and robbery, only to offer up what had been stolen in worship to false gods. The Babylonian Empire would be the invited guests that would participate in this sacrificial offering against the rebellion of the merchants who exploited the Jewish people.

What is so fascinating is that what Zephaniah proclaimed in verse 10-11, was fulfilled 40 years later when, in 586 B.C., the Babylonian Emperor Nebuchadnezzar entered Jerusalem through the “fish gate”. The Babylonian Empire would be the invited guests that would participate in this sacrificial offering against the rebellion of the indifference and agnosticism of the Jewish people to the Lord and the things of the Lord when the Day of the Lord came upon the Jewish people in the very near future. We see Zephaniah continue to proclaim what the very near future in the second half of Zephaniah 1:14-18:

Listen, the day of the LORD! In it the warrior cries out bitterly. A day of wrath is that day, A day of trouble and distress, A day of destruction and desolation, A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness, ¹⁶ A day of trumpet and battle cry Against the fortified cities And the high corner towers. ¹⁷ I will bring distress on men So that they will walk like the blind, Because they have sinned against the LORD; And their blood will be poured out like dust And their flesh like dung. ¹⁸ Neither their silver nor their gold Will be able to deliver them On the day of the LORD'S wrath; And all the earth will be devoured In the fire of His jealousy, For He will make a complete end, Indeed a terrifying one, Of all the inhabitants of the earth.

Less than 20 years after proclaiming the Lord’s message to the Jewish people, in 605 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who at this time was a prince, besieged Jerusalem and made the Jewish people a vassal of Babylon under King Jehoiakim. As part of that process, the Babylonian Empire deported many of the Jewish people’s best and brightest men to be indoctrinated in the culture and religious practices of the Babylonians to further strengthen their rule. Then, in 597 B.C., after the Jewish people rebelled against the Empire, the city was besieged again, with even more Jewish people deported.

Finally, in 586 B.C., after another rebellion by the Jewish people against the Empire, the Babylonian Empire would conquer Jerusalem and the Jewish people would be taken away into exile. After proclaiming what the near future held for the Jewish people as a result of their selfishness and rebellion against the Lord, we see Zephaniah proclaim a second message to the Jewish people in Zephaniah 2:1-3:

Gather yourselves together, yes, gather, O nation without shame, ² Before the decree takes effect-- The day passes like the chaff-- Before the burning anger of the LORD comes upon you, Before the day of the LORD'S anger comes upon you. ³ Seek the LORD, All you humble of the earth Who have carried out His ordinances; Seek righteousness, seek humility. Perhaps you will be hidden In the day of the LORD'S anger.

Here we see Zephaniah, in the midst of proclaiming the potential of the Lord exercising His right and just response to the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people in order to bring justice and judgment for that rebellion, call the Jewish people to repent. Zephaniah called the Jewish people to turn away from their selfishness and rebellion so as to turn to the Lord by seeking the Lord. Zephaniah called the Jewish people to turn away from their selfishness and rebellion so as to turn to the Lord by living in humble recognition that the Lord is the One who is large and in charge.

Zephaniah called the Jewish people to turn away from their selfishness and rebellion so as to turn to the Lord by faithfully following and obeying the Lord. Zephaniah proclaimed that if the Jewish people turned from their selfishness and rebellion and turned to the Lord, that they would not experience what humanity would face on the “Day of the Lord”, when the Lord will express His right and just response to the wrongdoing and injustice of humanity by removing the wrongdoing and injustice of humanity that flowed from their selfishness and rebellion.

Then, in the remainder of the second chapter of Zephaniah, we see the prophet proclaim the Lord’s judgment against the nations that surrounded the Jewish people. Whether it was the nation of Philistia to the west, the nations of Moab and Ammon to the East, the nation of Ethiopia to the South, or the Assyrian Empire to the North, there would be a day in the near future when the Babylonian Empire would be instrument that the Lord would use to exercise justice and judgment against the selfishness and rebellion of these nations.

The Lord would provide these nations a “near” circumstance in order that they might better understand a far more significant event in the future, which would be when the Lord would remove the wrongdoing and injustice of humanity against God and others that flowed from their selfishness and rebellion as He expressed His right and just response to that wrongdoing and injustice upon Jesus return to earth. Then, in chapter 3, we see Zephaniah transition to turn his attention and message from the Lord back to the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people.

We will look at what Zephaniah had to say to the Jewish people on Friday…