Are you readers getting “tired” of judgment?

So far, with little variation, that’s been the theme of Zephaniah, the Holy and Righteous Standard of Almighty God and how mankind has violated such Purity.

But today, in Zephaniah 3:5, we get a glimpse of Something Beautiful, Someone Pristine.

Yes, the Prophet talks about our great God.

“The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame.”

God is present!

Even in Judah, everywhere else too!

The initial adjective “just” that describes LORD means “straight, lawful, correct.”

“In the midst” means “among.”

That God does no iniquity is a “given.” The noun “iniquity” suggesting that the Lord will “never act wrongfully.” He will never deviate from His Truth!

The “light” mentioned here reminds me of the Old Testament Glory of God, the Shekinah Glory (Cloud) and all its (His)Luminosity!

Every morning God reveals His Righteousness! Think of Jeremiah’s words in Lamentations 3:22-23. “It is of the LORD’S MERCIES that we are not consumed, because HIS COMPASSIONS fail not. THEY ARE NEW EVERY MORNING: great is thy faithfulness.”

Wow!

God judges (according to this Text) every day, every sunrise! His judgment is apparently not just a future event! His Grace reigns daily, Romans 5:21. But so is His judgment proactive! (I would love to preach this neglected thought some day!)

Then one more clause about God, “He faileth not.” Indeed! Here the verb “faileth” translates “adar” in Hebrew, meaning “to lack” anything. God never comes up short! And this little verb is only used 11 times in all the Bible! It’s beautiful!

But, all the foregoing being accurate and true … humanity still disappoints. “But the unjust knoweth no shame.” He is never sorry or regretful for his doings! No repentance. No humility. No thought of ever being wrong. Not yet, anyway.

A great God.

A sinful creation.

Yes, judgment must come.

Or repentance.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

An old Preacher used to say, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” The Book of Proverbs essentially agrees. For example: “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.” Proverbs 29:2

Zephaniah today illustrates that principle. One reason God is judging Judah so harshly is due to her inferior (sinful) leaders. “Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow. Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.” Zephaniah 3:3-4

The list is far ranging, including the Jewish “princes” (her royalty, her future kings), “judges,” and “prophets” (preachers), plus her “priests.”

Secular and sacred, we would say today.

God, in today’s Text, lists the “charges,” too!

Instead of ruling in kindness and grace, the younger members of the king’s family (the “princes”) have become tyrants, fear inducing monarchs! Like “roaring lions,” ready to devour even their own people!

And the “judges” now are open to “bribes,” padding their own pockets, fleecing the people … as if they were a pack of hungry wolves! “What’s in it for ME?” … that kind of selfish attitude among the judiciary.

Her “prophets” are no longer serious about the things of God, either. “Light and treacherous” it’s said of them. Living in open sin, and not ashamed (the meaning of the word “light” here). And “deceitful” (the Hebrew definition for “treacherous”) to the core, preaching one thing but not believing an iota of it!

And finally her “priests,” men who were charged with the responsibility of “teaching” God’s Word to the Israelites … have become impure and no longer reverence the Law they were called to uphold.

So, God is about to judge the entire Nation.

Psalm 9:17 is still in the Bible! “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” Oh, that our world would heed these words. As America approaches the time she will elect a new President, we might should re-read these Passages from Zephaniah!

God means what he says.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Relentlessly the stern words of warning (and rebuke) continue! The Prophet Zephaniah (actually quoting Almighty God) will not stop short of obeying Isaiah 58:1. “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.”

Wow!

Today’s Verse lists 4 general areas where Judah sinned repeatedly. “She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.” Zephaniah 3:2

The transgressions seem similar, at first.

But there are differences.

Yet truly, ALL SIN is, according to 1 John 3:4, “the transgression of the law.” The whole verse: “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”

Let’s enumerate these “shortcomings” of Judah’s. Perhaps the four divisions in one of Zephaniah’s Sermons on a typical Sabbath Day!

“She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.”

First, she “obeyed not.” The Hebrew verb here is “shama,” translated “to hear” 785 times in the Old Testament! That is its predominant meaning, really. But it means “to hear” with the clear intention of “doing something” about what you have heard! Therefore, it is also translated “to obey” 89 more times in the Bible! The negative particle “lo” means “not” in Hebrew, “no” with a “final force!” Stubborn Judah!

Second, she did not properly respond to God’s Correction. She did not “laqach” (Hebrew for “latching onto” something) God’s chastisement. The word “correction” means “discipline,” just like a Father gives a wayward child. If we do not submissively bow before God’s “whippings” He administers to us … we will become even more hardened and bitter toward the One Who loved us and saved us!

Third, and maybe the “heart” of all these sins, Judah “trusted not” the Lord! “Batach” means “to lean on someone, to believe what He says,” so much that you … no longer “worry” one iota about that Person not keeping His Promises! “Careless” in that sense, positive in one’s reliance! But Judah had lost that high degree of faith.

Last, she “drew not near” the Lord. The verb here is “qarab,” meaning “to approach, to present (oneself), to enter into.” Frequently it also means “to offer” the One you’re approaching a “gift.” Judah no longer worships the Lord! Not in any way that pleases Him!

Now … to me anyway … these 4 categories no longer blend so easily. One type of sin likely led to another … until Judah was ripe for judgment. James 1:15 captures this truth. “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” See the sequential “steps” downward?

But let’s not “give up” on Judah yet!

God certainly did not, has not even yet!

Zephaniah will still end on a sweet note of love and grace!

God is forgiving!

Let’s praise Him today.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Jerusalem, Capitol City of Judah, is in view today, in our Lesson. And three descriptors are applied to these precious people, “accusations” from God Himself.

Let’s read the specifics, Zephaniah 3:1. “Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city.” (I really wanted to include verse 2 in this Monday’s Lesson, but it must wait another day.)

The introductory “Woe” found here is an interjection in Hebrew, a part of speech expressing great surprise, astonishment even. It’s also a warning of troublesome times to come. It often contains a touch of “sympathy, pity,” according to one lexicon.

By name a “city” is being addressed. Unidenified, specifically … but Jerusalem, obviously. (Notice there is no mention of a foreign, heathen nation in the sentence, in its whole paragraph really.) Matter of fact … God often “preaches” to His Own people, first! Peter said: “The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” 1 Peter 4:17

Here God’s Special City (He loves that place dearly) is labeled with 3 poignant adjectives; filthy, polluted and oppressive! Graphic, isn’t it, this description?

“Filthy” translates an extremely unusual word, “mara” in Hebrew. It literally means “to beat the air, to flap one’s wings!” It is only used twice in the Bible. The other place being Job 39:18 of the bird we call the ostrich, who “lifteth up” herself on high! I think this is “filthiness” as in “pride!” Sinful pride, self aggrandizement.

“Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.”

Then the City is “polluted,” spelled “gaal” and meaning “stained, desecrated, defiled.”

The verbal “oppressing” means “to treat violently, to do wrong (egregiously),” and is spelled “yanah” in Hebrew.

God KNOWS the heart, always! “The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

By the way, God knows our hearts, too.

Psalm 15 mentions a man who “speaketh the truth IN HIS HEART!”

Oh, to be pure in the sight of God!

Jesus in Matthew 5:8 taught: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”

Amen!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

I wonder if God says anything about Washington, DC? Or New York City or London or Paris or Moscow? Of course He knows the rebellion inherent in the world today. And as with Jerusalem … so with all the world … some day judgment will come. In that context Amos thunders, “Prepare to meet thy God.” Amos 4:12

 

Now, Assyria is under discussion, in today’s Text, Zephaniah 2:13-15. Yes, God in Heaven will even bring this mighty Nation “down!”

As He has done so many other entities … primarily because of their hatred and mistreatment of the people of Israel, the Jews. In fact, Zephaniah 2 is a sample “list” of such nations. First mentioning the Philistines and then the Moabites and Ammonites followed by the Ethiopians … the chapter ending with the defeat of these Assyrians.

“And He (the Lord) will stretch out His Hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness. And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he shall uncover the cedar work. This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! Every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.” Again, Zephaniah 2:13-15

God’s Hand upon one “for good” is a blessing. (Nehemiah 2:8 offers a clear example. “And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.” Where the “me” is Nehemiah.)

God’s Hand upon one “in wrath” is quite another! (Our Text is my example of this. “And He (the Lord) will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness.”

God is AGAINST Assyria!

Finally, what Jonah had earlier hoped … Nineveh’s dissolution … Zephaniah was allowed to prophesy … with certainty. (The event happened in 612 BC, when the Babylonians overran the capital City.) Once Zephaniah, under the Direction of the Holy Spirit, wrote these words … Nineveh only had a decade or two left!

Once a bustling City … now pastureland for livestock!

“Uncovered cedar work” equates to houses being deconstructed. Left open to ruin in the rain and wind and heat!

The happy-go-lucky City (“rejoicing city”) will no longer party and party and party!

“And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness. And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he shall uncover the cedar work. This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! Every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.” Zephaniah 2:13-15

To “dwell carelessly” means to be so strong, so militarily secure … that even the thought of an enemy is foreign! Safe to the extreme! (Like the Edomites once, before God humiliated them. “The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?” Obadiah, verse 3)

Listen to the inflated ego Assyria possessed: “Who said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me.” But who met her “Match” one day, as do all the ungodly.

She will become the “laughingstock” of humanity … “Every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.” In other words, “Everyone who passes by her will hiss (in scorn) and wave his hand in utter contempt.”

Yes, God “cursed” Assyria. As He either has already done or will some day do to all those who oppose and seek to annihilate the Jewish people.

Powerful verses.

A powerful chapter.

Many a nation today should take heed, including America.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell