Our background photo today features a gate, whereupon passing through, one encounters rows upon rows of lounge chairs … all lined up for people to relax and enjoy life. Sunshine and palm trees. Gentle breezes and not a care in the world.
This picture sums up what the southern kingdom of Judah was like during the years God sent His prophets to warn the nation. The book of Zephaniah was written not too long after the great prophet Isaiah had been on the scene preaching repentance to the nation. Warning! Disobedience to God will result in consequences!
This was also around the same time as the prophet Micah, who warned the capital city of Jerusalem and its leaders about their injustice! You are mistreating the poor and marginalized. Repent! Disobedience to God will result in consequences!
Yet, for all the stir the prophets had made, nothing bad had happened. No disaster had come about.
The nation saw no need for concern. What’s there to worry about? God’s not serious. This sinful living is no big deal. Nothing bad has happened.
Relaxing in lounge chairs … rows upon rows.
Complacent
Content
Continuing in sin
Into this scene, God sent His prophet Zephaniah. Zephaniah came boldly striding through the gate, calling out to everyone lounging in rows upon rows: Warning! Destruction is coming!
“’I will sweep away everything from the face of the earth,’ declares the LORD.” – Zephaniah 1:2
“’The wicked will have only heaps of rubble when I cut off man from the face of the earth,’” – Zephaniah 1:3
“I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish those who are complacent.” – Zephaniah 1:12
“The great day of the LORD is near – near and coming quickly. Listen! The cry on the day of the LORD will be bitter … That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness …” – Zephaniah 1:14-15
If you take a glance at the calendar, you will notice that today, the date of this post, is March 27 … the date when the “sleeping” Mt. St. Helens awoke in sudden volcanic activity back in 1980. All throughout the rest of that March and April 1980, there were warnings … warnings … warnings! The warnings escalated as the calendar turned over to May 1980. Then the day of doom came! It was a day of distress, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness, a day of clouds and blackness!
All was total and absolute destruction within the “blast zone”!
There were those who ignored the warnings. They were destroyed.
The book of Zephaniah was written as an escalation of warning to the people of Judah who were complacent … lounging … rows upon rows … thinking that their sin was no big deal. Warning! Judgment is coming! Disobedience to God will result in consequences!
And Judgment did indeed come!
The book of Zephaniah is a warning to us today! Yes … we too are complacent and lounging … rows upon rows … thinking our sin is no big deal. The book of Zephaniah is God’s warning to us: Judgment is coming! Disobedience to God will result in consequences!
– Zephaniah 1:18
– Zephaniah 3:8
– 2 Peter 3:10-12
– 2 Peter 3:7
– Malachi 4:1
– Revelation 19:11-16
Jesus Christ in Zephaniah
It is Jesus Christ who rescues us from the terrible judgment described in Zephaniah. Jesus’s death on the cross rescues us from God’s wrath that is to come. Jesus Himself will shield and protect us.
– Zephaniah 3:17
– Zephaniah 3:20
– 1 Peter 1:3-5
– 1 Thessalonians 1:10
Jesus Christ is the King of Israel – “The LORD, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm.” – Zephaniah 3:15
