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Join Dan and Rob as we walk through Zephaniah 2.
Network. Thank you for watching tonight. You're with Dan and myself. I'm Robert and tonight we're going to be talking about and walking through Zephaniah Capital. We need to know what to do now that we got all that out of the way.
Dan, how are you doing? Good. How are you doing? I'm doing good. Doing pretty good. Got my coffee. It's hot. And so I'm thankful for that.
There you go.
You've got some cold weather up where you are.
Yep. It is very chilly right now. We're going to warm up a good bit tomorrow. Supposed to get up to 25.
Nice. Nice. Well, let's get started on Zephaniah. You ready?
Let's do it.
Let's do it. All right. So we we looked at Zephaniah chapter one last time and we discovered that chapter one was pretty much a judgment going towards Jerusalem to Israel. Zephaniah was around the time of King Josiah and Zephaniah wanted to bring about or Josiah wanted to bring about some restorations, bringing back the true worship of God.
And Zephaniah's warnings could have been part of that. Part of that motivation initiation with King Josiah. And then we which was beautiful. We got to we worked through Zephaniah chapter one. And then, as you told us, of course, there were no originally there were no chapters and verses.
So we we look at chapter two verses one through three. And this is this is a beautiful invitation of God's mercy and grace to to the people after the warning. This judgment is coming. This judgment is coming.
But I'm still going to show mercy. I'm still going to show grace. And here here it is. Here's your invitation. And it was just a beautiful door to open up for the gospel and to talk about Jesus. Here's some things that I've thought about as we went from chapter one going into chapter two.
You'll see. Which question do I want to ask first? Let's ask this one first. So a big theme in Zephaniah, we see it in quite a few places. Chapter one, verse 14. Near is the great day of the Lord. So you'll see this this theme, the day of the Lord, the day of the Lord.
It's a pretty common, pretty common theme throughout scripture. If you're a student of God's word, you'll talk about the day of the Lord. Chapter 10. On that day declares the Lord that we, you know, sounds of Christ.
So quite a few verses in Zephaniah speak of the day of the Lord. And then we get to somewhere like here is second Peter, chapter three, verse 10. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.
So you have this this wording, this phrase in the New Testament here in second Peter. What would you say as to or how we understand to understand the day of the Lord when it comes to its use here in Zephaniah?
Is it the same thing in second Peter? What have we got here?
The day of the Lord generally talking about some sort of judgment. It really depends on the context where you place that judgment. From my understanding, there would be several days of the Lord. Not all of them as wide ranging as what we would know in New Testament and eschatology think of as the day of the Lord.
Here in Zephaniah, we see a just a direct rebuke of a certain people for a certain sin. And we see a certain punishment that would come upon them. And that would be the day of war. That'd be the wrath that's coming upon them.
The anger of the Lord that's going to be like it says in verse or chapter two, verse two. Before let's see before the day of the Lord's anger comes upon you. It's it's his it's his anger being poured out on people for their sin.
But we also see a great hope coming for those same people. I mean, like next verse, seek the Lord. You have upheld his justice that you may be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger. So it'll go well for you.
What we see all throughout the Old Testament is the day of the Lord speaking of a time of judgment on a particular people. When we move into the New Testament, God still does deal with nations, but he has expanded the scope of things by introducing his own kingdom into the world.
It's the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, this kingdom that's that's on the earth that's made up of his people. And that means that all other nations that are upon the earth are then on the outside of the good promises that are given to his kingdom, to his church.
So what you see in the New Covenant, in the New Testament. Is a expansion of what you saw in the micro in the Old Testament. So while Israel was being declared as being sinful and they were going to have wrath come upon them, it was a regional judgment, as we'll see in chapter two.
Those going to several other nations were all going to be taken over by either Assyria or Nebuchadnezzar through Babylon. But in the end, the final analysis, there is another great day of the Lord, the day of the Lord, when Christ himself will return to take his kingdom and deliver it to the father.
It's on that day when all evil and wickedness will be taken from his earth and will be cast into outer darkness. It will be judged. And so what you see in the small sense through a nation who has been sinful, they will be judged based on their sin.
You're now saying in the New Testament as the world will be judged because of the world's sin. And only those who are a part of Christ's kingdom proper, who have turned from their sin, who have found a place or faith in Christ, who have been elected by God, will actually see that deliverance in the day when the Lord comes to judge all the living and the dead.
And I don't want to get my pre-meal and my post-meal mixed up here, but that day that you're referring to that's coming in the future, is that what we know as the great white throne judgment? There's two different throne judgments, right?
The great white throne judgment and the Bemis seat judgment?
Yes and no.
Okay.
The dispensational pre-millennialist says that the great white throne judgment is only for the unbeliever. I don't think that's accurate. I believe that that's a general judgment for all people. You'll be judged based upon your works.
Now granted, if you're hidden in Christ, you're hidden in Christ where your works, your evil works have been done away with, paid for, and put aside as far as the East is from the West. They will never be viewed by God in the judgment because Christ has already paid for those things.
Your judgment based upon your works will be the good works that you do because as it says in Ephesians 2 .10, We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that we should walk in them.
We'll be judged upon those good works. At the same time, at the same judgment, those who do not have their evil works covered by the blood of Christ, who since have not been removed from them as far as the East is from the West, they will be judged based on those evil works.
So we'll all be judged based upon our works, with our works either being, our evil works either being covered by Christ or left to us. Depending on if we know or have placed our faith in Christ. So there is a sense in which there are, it's two different styles of judgment, but really it's all the same event.
Sorry about that, Rev. Terrell. It was as you were describing those things, it made me think about that. But originally we were talking about the day of the Lord. And so what I gleaned from that is what they have in common is the fact that judgment is involved.
But the event, the time that it comes, how it's delivered is different. So here in Zephaniah, the day of the Lord is going to be different than 2 Peter 3 and the end great day of the Lord that you're referring to.
So they all mean judgment, but they're all, there could be different times and different means of delivering that judgment. And here, I think we're in agreement that Babylon is those means, is that correct?
Yeah, to these people, it would be Babylon. The Northern Kingdom at this point, I believe has already been taken over by Assyria. So unless some of these people went toe-to-toe with Assyria before they went toe-to-toe with Babylon, yeah, Babylon was going to be the one who struck them down.
Because Zephaniah is in the Southern Kingdom at this point.
Right, right, right.
All right, so my second intro question as we get started kind of looks like this. I was looking over this and things started popping into my mind and thinking about, thinking things through. And I asked myself the question, what, you know, we always understand and know Israel as God's chosen people throughout the whole test.
God's elect, God's chosen people. So here we, well, not just here, but here and all throughout everywhere in the Old Testament, even prophecies in the Old Testament pointing to future events. God judges Jerusalem because He cares, because He cares about His covenant.
First and foremost, He cares about His word. But He judges Israel, but He also grants mercy and grace to Israel. So we see that, but also we see that God cares, if you will, about other nations. You know, He sends Jonah to Nineveh to call them to repent.
We see that those prophecies that I mentioned earlier, that God is going to draw all nations to Himself. They're going to flow to that great mountain. And so He cares about other nations, not just His chosen nation.
And here in Zephaniah, of course, in chapter one, as I stated earlier, it's pointing to a judgment toward Israel, towards Judah, towards Jerusalem. But then in chapter two, as we were talking about before we started, yes, it's warning or it's telling God's people that He's going to destroy their enemies, destroy these other nations.
But then, as you pointed out, there's also the fact that there's going to be a remnant from those nations. So He's going to show mercy to those other nations. So back to my original thought, we know Israel as God's chosen elect people.
But we see God treating them and other nations very similarly with judgment and with mercy. So how is Israel in relationship to God unique, different than all the other nations? From your perspective, what would you say?
Well, actually, I have scripture for this one.
And I never told you the question.
Right, right.
You're on it, man.
Yeah, I don't know how, but well, here we go. Israel is different, not because they were all saved, because they weren't. But they were saved because they were called out by God for a specific purpose.
So if you look at Romans 3, Romans 3 answers the question. He says he's talking back and forth with somebody who's not really there. Paul is. He's basically making up somebody who's going to ask questions.
Hey, what about this, Paul? So he answers and says, what advantage then has the Jew? Or what profit or what is the profit of circumcision? Which is pretty much your question. How are they special if they're getting judged too?
Much in every way, he says, chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God, which would be the scriptures. For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect?
Certainly not. Indeed, let God be true in every man a liar. As it is written, that you may be justified in your words. You may overcome when you are judged. So what is a special place that Israel holds?
Israel holds a special place because God covenanted through Abraham that he was going to make all the families of the earth, all the nations of the earth blessed through him. Israel is the nation of Israel.
The physical descendants of Abraham were the people through which God had chosen to bless the rest of the world. So the Messiah was going to come through that bloodline. The nation that he was going to be born into was that bloodline.
They were a special people because God picked out of all the people of the earth. He said, Israel, I'm going to do something great for the entire world through you. And what's sad is that a lot of them turned away.
And that's why Paul writes that. What benefit did they have? They had the oracles of God. They had the covenants. They had this, that, the other thing. Is God faithless because he used these people and then they turned away?
No, because God is true. He kept his promise even though every man's a liar. So Israel was kept and protected, especially for the purpose of bringing salvation to the entire world. He brings up the same point again in Romans 11.
He says, talking about the tree that was, the olive tree. He says that some branches were broken off and thrown to the side so that way wild olive branches could be grafted in. And he says, hey, wait a second, you wild olive branches have been grafted in.
If he tore them off to make place for you, I don't think he won't tear you off and make place for them again. If they're faithful, they'll be grafted back on too. So the purpose of God's covenant and plan was salvation all along.
And he did that through the nation of Israel. So that's why they were important.
That's similar to where I would have went to, because they had the word and they had the word. The oracle and the living word of God.
Yep.
In human flesh, God in flesh. So that's cool. Well, thank you for that, Dana. And you're a good sport for me not giving you the questions beforehand and ready to answer. So I appreciate you doing that.
As we look through, you can tell me if you agree with this assessment, but Dr. Constable's expository notes, he says, as we look through Zephaniah chapter two, these are five things that he saw as he went through the chapter, that the Lord is God of all the earth.
The Lord plans for spiritual needs of the world. The Lord is in charge of the whole historical process. The Lord's people are central to his world purposes. And the Lord is the fierce enemy of pride. And I didn't see any problem with that.
I mean, that spoke to the sovereignty of God and the purposes of God, God using those purposes to glorify himself. I didn't see any problem with those things. And I think we may see all those things in chapter two as well.
So let's start going verse by verse. Let me pull up the screen here.
Here we go.
Zephaniah chapter two.
Oh, my.
Sorry about that.
I want to minimize this.
There we go. Zephaniah chapter two. And we've already looked at verses one through three. That was the great invitation to Judah. And then, you know, as I was looking at this, I was noticing how it was an encouragement.
Well, it was a warning. But then you have this encouragement. If you stay with me, you know, you will be preserved. I will have this remnant if you remain faithful. Jerusalem is going to get judged. But, you know, you can remain.
And not only that, I'm going to take care of your enemies for you, too. So there's this blessing for the remnant. Let's start in chapter two, verse four. And you can comment. I guess I'll read a few verses.
For Gaza will be abandoned and Ashkelon a desolation. Ashkelon will be driven out at noon and Ekron will be uprooted. That's a mouthful. Do we need to stop there?
Yeah, you had a mouthful when you said the word for. Really, one of the things I learned, and it's been helpful in learning Bible interpretation and hermeneutics and stuff, is whenever you start with for or therefore you need to stop and ask what it's there for.
Why is it there? Why is the word for or therefore present? You can't just start with that. I mean, it presupposes that there's other stuff going on. And the other stuff that's going on isn't just verses one through three.
It's the entirety of the book beforehand where you see Israel being here. Here's a great warning, a judgment coming to Israel. And then there's a great hope. And he's saying, seek the Lord in verse three, seek the Lord.
All you who see all you meet of the earth who have upheld justice, seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you'll be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger. So what's in view here is a salvation and for the people of Israel and the day of the Lord's anger, which was promised to the people of Israel who had been unfaithful.
And then it says for Gaza shall be forsaken. So this judgment is not just a judgment that is not just judgment against Israel's enemies. It's a judgment that's coming over the entire region for their faithlessness to God and God's people.
The trueness of God's people being those who have faith and believe who are turning from their sins and trusting in God and at that time, future Messiah that was to come. What you see here is that there's one judgment coming and it's going to land upon Jew and Gentile alike.
But the only people who have a glimmer of hope so far, because we'll get to nine through 11 and stuff in a little bit. The only people who have hope so far are those Jews who were faithful to the covenant that God had laid before them.
So when it says for, it gives you the idea that there is a judgment coming and there's a special people who are going to be preserved through this judgment. And this is those who care about justice and righteousness, true justice and true righteousness, not whatever we think of in the 21st century, but those things are going to be.
That's what's in view here. So when it says Gaza will be abandoned, Ashkelon, a desolation Ashdod will be driven out at noon and Ekron will be uprooted. He's naming a specific people that are right next door.
They're basically occupying some of the same land as Israel. And saying, it's not just you. These folks are going to get it too. And the reason why they're going to get it is because of their idolatry.
They were wretched people. So because of their idolatry, they're turning away from God. They were uncircumcised and they fought against the Israelites and they tried to take away the land that was promised to a people who was going to bring of the Messiah.
They turned their back against those promises of God. It was given to the, to the, that they would have benefited from. They were given to Abraham. They turned away from those promises and they, they went hard towards sin.
They will, they're going to be judged.
Let me ask you this question. I don't know if we can make an umbrella statement or not over this. Maybe, you know, right off the hand, it's based on something you were mentioning to me earlier. We know a lot of the reason for the troubles that, that Israel has is because when they were wandering in the desert, being led to the promised land and, and on that, on the way there and when they got there, you know, they were given orders to take out all these people and to not leave any thing behind and not to take any of the treasures or the, the bounty back with them.
They disobeyed on all fronts on all those commands. So are these, are these some of the nations or are all of these nations or peoples that were left behind that, that Israel originally should have taken out because we know that's at least some of these nations and they mixed with them and they started worshiping their idols.
So what do you think?
These here, these cities of the Philistine, absolutely. They should have been wiped out.
Now the, the Ammonites and the Moabites that we see over in verses eight and nine or 10 and 11, they were cousins. Lot was Abraham's nephew. They were relatives kind of like Edom, Edom, Moab, Ammon were all people that were supposed to be family.
You know, they're not, they weren't circumcised. They weren't marked off as having the covenant given to them, but they were still considered family, which is why when, who was it?
Moses.
When Moses was taken to people through the land, they were going to go real easy, like up into Canaan, but they couldn't because they were going to, they were going to pass through Edom and they weren't going to buy anything.
They were going to just pass through. They're going to buy their food, buy their water. They weren't going to take anything from them. They were going to treat them with respect. But Edom said, no, I don't want you coming through.
And God was like, well, don't attack them. They're your family.
Go around.
So they went, this thing's mirrored, so it's throwing me off. So they went around and ended up coming in the other direction, which they kind of passed through two kingdoms to do that. But it's another story.
So some of, not all of these listed were those people, but the Philistines definitely were. The Philistines were a descendant from the people of Crete. So they'd come over beforehand, taken land that was then promised to Israel.
They were being judged previously, but that judgment didn't come because Israelites were unfaithful. We even see in Titus where they still have a reputation to be in terrible folks because he leaves Titus on Crete and then says to him,.
What is it?
It's in here somewhere.
Yeah.
Titus 1 .12, one of their own prophets said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. This testimony is true. Talking about the people of Crete who had sent folks to the southern lands of Israel to be close to Egypt so that way they could have a trade route from Egypt up through the coast lands of Israel and then back over to Crete.
So they were there. The land that they were living on was promised to the Israelites by God and they were never destroyed. So at this point, I guess that the sins of the Philistines were filled up just like the sins of the Amorites were not yet filled up.
So when the children of Israel went into Egypt, they went in because the sins of the Amorites had not yet been filled. And so when they came out, it was filled and they took over that land. But the Philistines were absolutely supposed to be taken out at that point.
Gotcha.
And that leads us to verse five. Woe to the inhabitants of the Seekers, to the nation of the Cherithites. The word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines. I will destroy you so that there will be no inhabitants.
Right.
Yeah, that's a, I kind of was talking about that, I guess.
So the Seekers will be pastures with caves for shepherds and folds for flocks.
It was going to be, it was going to turn into its original purpose. Pasture lands for the people of Israel.
Verse seven. And the coast will be for the remnant of the house of Judah. They will pasture on it in the houses of Ashkelon. They will lie down at evening for the Lord, their God will care for them and restore their fortune.
There's that promise again. You're not going to do it, so I'm going to do it. And I'm going to, not only am I going to do it, take care of these people that you were supposed to take care of, but I'm going to restore your fortune.
And this, it's interesting. This happened. But it's funky the way that history goes. It happened, but then at some point, Israel again lost their claim to the land and people, probably a small remnant of those same folks who had lived there their whole lives came back and then they fought over it for, well, until today.
But the issue is, were those people who were Jews back then, and the people who claim to be Jews now, are they the same people? Do they have the same claim? And I don't believe the answer is yes. I believe the answer is no, because it wasn't left for just the people of Judah who left.
It was there for the remnant. That remnant is those people who we find in verses one through three, who were those who repented of their sin, who looked to God, who sought justice and righteousness and humility, and they were hidden from the Lord's anger.
It's talking about faithful believers. Those faithful believers are today Christians because they saw the Messiah come, pay for sins, rise up, go into heaven, establish his kingdom on the earth. So eventually this land again will be the possession of the true Israelites, the true Jews or Christians.
We see this actually in Romans four. Romans four says that those who have faith like Abraham are the inheritors of the promises of Abraham and will inherit the entire earth.
That's a mind blower. And that's a bomb in, I guess, this end times eschatology. It's, oh my goodness, what we've held on to for so long, what we've been taught in our churches for so long, not that I want us to turn anti anything.
We still should be allies and help and be that way for everyone. But on one hand, we're pro-America. We're America first. But then if you're any kind of Christian at all, at least for the past however many years, you are also pro-Israel.
And the prophecy was, according to what we followed, was that Israel was going to become a nation again, and there they did in 1948. But if I heard you correctly, what you were saying was it's not necessarily the case that those that are occupying now that reclaimed the nation in 1948 is who God promised would ultimately occupy.
That's not who we are looking for to occupy. The true people of God that are promised to occupy are the remnant who are believers.
Right, because there's a thing in Scripture that it's been described as a scarlet thread. Scarlet thread of redemption. Have you ever looked at a piece of fabric that has a weird colored thread running through it?
You don't always see it, but every once in a while it'll pop up and you can see the color for a while and then it'll go on the backside and then it pops up and then you can see it again. The idea of covenant or salvation through covenant, it's that scarlet thread that runs throughout all of Scripture.
You see it from the very beginning. God promised to Adam that he would crush the head of the serpent. You see that promise carried on to Noah through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, all the way through.
What you're seeing here is not a new prophecy that's making a new promise. What you're seeing here is an old promise made to Abraham that there was a piece of land that would be his. What you do is you see that piece of land and it gives them dimensions of what the land would be in Genesis.
This is a part of that land. Then you move on into the New Testament and it pops up again in Romans 4 where Paul is talking about this very same idea of the inhabitants of a certain place and the heirs of Abraham's promise being heirs of the entire earth.
It's not just a promise of a physical piece of land to a physical nation. It's a promise of salvation through covenant throughout all of Scripture. Why are these people going to be brought back? Because all of the earth is going to be the Lord's.
The earth shall be covered with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord like the waters cover the seas. You're going to see a remnant, the faithful people of Judah, sitting in this land. Why? Because they're going to inherit the entire earth.
It's what God had promised from the very beginning.
1948 is not the prophecy. It has nothing to do with it.
Probably.
Here's the thing.
I think some people put a lot more on that date than they should. Here's why I say possibly. If, and judging by what we've seen, huge if, if the people who populated that area called themselves Jews, Tel Aviv, all of it, if those folks were believers who trusted in Christ, then we would have to look at it a little bit differently.
There may be something to that. But from what we've seen, that's basically a secular nation that has taken a Jewish heritage, and it doesn't look a lot like the people of the Old Testament.
The remnant aren't in charge there.
Right. Now, there are some Christian Hebrews there, but they are generally not the ones who are in charge.
It's not their land yet.
Right. Plus, you actually have the Israeli government giving away the portions that were promised to the remnant. You see Gaza, Ashkelon, all those places are the places that they marked off and gave to the Palestinians.
Wow.
So I don't believe we're looking for a land promise in the small sense. I really think what this is pointing to is a land promise in the big sense that those who are the heirs of Abraham are those who have faith, and they will inherit the entire earth, which is those who have faith from this area will inherit the land that.
They're in.
We see this coming up in verse 11, when it starts talking about Moab and Ammon. It says, then the distant coasts and islands of the nations will bow and worship to him each in its own place. What place are they going to have and what place are they going to worship from the place where they are?
Why? Because that place is going to be the Lord's.
What's going to be interesting as post-millennialist, we believe that the earth is going to be filled with believers, with the remnant, with the sentence of Abraham spiritually and physically. Those who believe in the Messiah, all nations are going to flow and stream to the big mountains.
So, you know, we believe that eventually we're going to head to that goal or that end game. As you were talking, as we've been talking about this, what struck me is going to be interesting is you've got Israel, this whole time,.
You know,.
They're still looking for their Messiah to come. And then you have the Muslim community, they're looking for their final Imam or what did they call it?
Something like that.
I think there's a number associated with it, like the 12th or some sort of Imam.
So something similar to their Messiah to come,.
I guess.
So they've got very firm beliefs in those two systems. And of course, when we believe that those systems, those spiritual systems, those religions and then the political spheres, all those things are going to be knocked down by Christ.
What's going to be interesting to me is, is which one falls first? Is it going to be the Israel's hold to their future Messiah to come and they submit to Christ? Or is the Muslim community going to submit to Christ first?
That will be fun to be there to see that, to see which one falls first and submits to Christ.
Yeah. I don't know.
It'll be good.
It'll be good. It'll be great. Let's see. I think we're on verse eight.
I have heard the taunting of Moab and the revilings of the sons of Ammon, with which they have taunted my people and become arrogant against their territory.
Therefore,.
As I live declares the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, surely Moab will be like Sodom and the sons of Ammon, like Gomorrah, a place possessed by nettles and salt pits and a perpetual desolation. The remnant of my people will plunder them and the remainder of my nation will inherit them.
Harsh.
You were speaking to that earlier.
You were talking about Lot's descendants. Yeah,.
Their family. Lot was Abraham's nephew. They separated and Lot went off into the Valley of Jordan, which had Sodom and Gomorrah in it before they were destroyed. And he actually ended up in Sodom after a while.
We see that they were not good people. They lacked hospitality. They were into sexual sin and they were just wretched. Just horrible people. Actually remind me a lot of ourselves today, but they were destroyed and they were destroyed.
But because of Lot's proximity to Abraham, he said,.
Hey,.
Will you spare my nephew? And he did. He spared his nephew and his two daughters and his wife for a period of.
Time.
His wife ended up looking back and turned into a pillar of salt.
Actually,.
You want to talk about somebody being a savage. Look at what fills that land. It's nettles and salt pits. Like of all the things they could fill there. It's a testimony to turning back to your wicked ways after seeing a deliverance provided for you by God.
Brutal.
So what you had was a lot when he, he hit up in the caves and his daughter said,.
Look,.
We don't have anybody to continue on our family line. So they got their father drunk and then they both slept with him and they had two sons. They became the nations of Moab and Ammon. These two nations.
So he says the, the people of Moab and Ammon who were spared because they were close to Abraham. They will be destroyed just like the cities that they inhabited destroyed were destroyed. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed and they were preserved from it.
They went and they filled up the land. They pointed to Israel and laughed at Israel. They saw them go off into captivity for 400 years. They came back, they taunted them. They messed with their borders.
They were just terrible neighbors, terrible family.
They're the,.
They're the cousins and uncles you had next door that were throwing trash over the fence.
I mean,.
They were just not good people to have around. And because of their hatred for the people of Israel, because of their love for other gods, they were then destroyed. They're going to be wiped out just like Sodom and Gomorrah.
So that destruction that they saw a temporary reprieve from still came to.
Them.
That's something that we should all take to heart.
We,.
Especially those of us in the church,.
We should,.
We should remember that it's not anything that we did to cause our salvation. We should be very careful not to become arrogant, boastful, prideful, think highly of ourselves, because it very well may be that we end up leaving the faith without even realizing it and becoming wretched folks.
The people who were,.
At one point thinking that they were safe from harm, because at one point they had an emotional religious experience, come to find out they never actually left their sin behind. And the judgment that they thought they escaped, caught up with them.
I'm not trying to say that anybody can lose their salvation, but I am trying to say that we should work out our own salvation in fear and trembling, knowing that there were people in the past who, after seeing the grace of God come flooding into them, seeing like literal saved from fire, like literally saved from fire while it was raining down on the place where they lived.
Those people, several hundred years later, turn their back on the God who preserved them and found themselves in a heap of trouble.
It just all speaks to the fact that we, we need something outside of ourselves that we can't, we can't change. We may for a moment where season turn, if we do have a moment of clarity, some people don't even turn their cows, but if we do have a moment of clarity,.
And I'm speaking in general terms of all humanity and Israel throughout their.
History,.
We have that moment of clarity and we turn, but like you said generations, generations or even the next generation or generations down the road, go back to the old ways, go back to the high places to, to worship those idols again.
And we keep turning from God in and of ourselves. We keep turning away from God. It's inevitable. And this history that we're, we're looking at and that we're studying, we're reading is just a testimony to that.
It should be screaming to us that it's us and, and we need someone else out of ourselves. So verse 10, this they will have in return for their pride, which God hates because they have taunted and become arrogant against the people of the Lord of hosts because of their pride.
I mean that,.
That speaks to God's how God feels about pride that he's, he would do this to a people.
It's interesting that, that they they're preserved from death by God wants and they had pride against the people who had been thrown into captivity and then came out. And it's even, it's interesting that those same people or those people who they were taunting were themselves a bit arrogant thinking, well, I've got Jewish blood running through my veins, so I'll be saved.
They didn't turn from their sins either, which I think is kind of what he's getting at here in verse 11.
Verse 11. And here's where I was teasing you before we started the podcast.
So no more stuff. You got to throw, throw at me.
It's not necessarily a question. I've just got a viewpoint on, on this here and I want to see, get your thoughts on it. So verse 11 says, the Lord will be terrifying to them where he will starve all the gods of the earth and all the coastlands of the nations will bow down to him, everyone from his own people.
So the context of what we're looking at here is God taking care of these.
Nations.
He's wiping them out. He's judging them, taking care of them, however you want to phrase it or put it. And so the phrase that I'm looking at here is for,.
He will,.
To me,.
It's a word picture. He will starve all the gods of the earth. And here's what happens in my mind. So we know that there's no other God before the Lord. None of the other gods are real. They're all idols.
So they can't, they can't eat. They can't, because we're using that terminology starve here. They can't eat and they can't consume anything. They can't smell an aroma.
And if,.
And I don't think it's talking about taking away their sacrifices necessarily because if you just take away this false God sacrifices, you still have a people who are, or can offer sacrifice again to these people,.
These gods.
I'm not sure that it's necessarily talking about sacrifices. What I think is talking about, if you're going to starve a false God, then you're going to take away its worshipers. How do you feel about that?
I, I,.
I think I was about to say the same thing, only I was going to say it differently.
I was going to say it absolutely had to do with their sacrifices being taken.
Away,.
But not because the place of the sacrifice was taken away or because the altars were moved or torn down, but because there were not going to be a people left to make those sacrifices. Right. Because it's, they're going to be starved because the worship of those gods is going to cease in the air.
And what's interesting is in its place will arise. Worship of the one true God where it says, and all the, all the coastlands of the nations will bow down to him. Everyone from his own place, the ones who are going to worship before.
Here I stand.
All those folks.
I forgot where I was going.
Oh,.
Claude got me turned around.
Well,.
When I read, when I read that and, and that was coming to my mind where, where God is starving these gods by taking away their worshipers. I'm thinking about our, our current context and contemporary context and, and how, what that would look like.
And,.
And a lot of, a lot of cases we're worshiping ourselves.
Our,.
Our own cells are our idols,.
Our false God.
And you,.
If you starve that God,.
You're in big trouble.
And all the other things that we worship and, and we hold up as, as idols before God,.
It could be a very, I don't know,.
Awful scene. God begins to, to shake down all the, all the worshipers of false gods in our town.
One of the biggest false gods we have now, and this is for 98 of the population. That's probably a terrible number,.
Like 94 of statistics made up. I just made that one up. So I would say a lot of folks today, Republican and Democrat, Libertarian,.
Whatever,.
Constitution party. A lot of people view their, their Lord and savior to be the government, either a government that will take care of them, provide for them, or a government that will give them their liberties.
That's one thing that the constitution did do.
Is it said that the creator endowed them with certain, certain liberties. Now it doesn't give homage to that creator, which is mad, but at least it acknowledges that our rights and, and liberties come from our creator and not from the government itself.
Because what we're seeing is people who are looking to the government to fix all of these problems instead of looking to.
God.
So to starve the gods of the earth today to starve the God of government will be to see incredible turmoil as governments are thrown down and demolished, which could look pretty ugly.
Oh yeah. That's what I was looking for earlier.
Ugly.
But imagine every place where the government is thrown down, nations will bow down to him. Everyone from their own place. As we see no America's government inadequate to provide the things that only God can provide.
People will turn from their false idols as those idols starve and they will worship God.
And to me, this is the post meal principle that will starve all the gods of.
The earth.
If we're looking for an end game here, that all nations are going to flow to, to the high mountain, to Christ. If that's the case, if that's where we're headed, then this has to happen. God has to starve all the false gods.
They have to be gone somewhere or another because eventually all of the coastlands, all of the nations are going to bow down and worship God. So there has to be a point where one has gotten rid of and the other, and it's replaced with another, with a worship of true Messiah, with a true God.
And so you're, you're exactly right. When we think about political things, we must think about those things when we're in the voting booth. And I've got to the point where,.
I vote my conscience.
I don't,.
I don't care. I'm not voting pragmatically anymore.
We've got to vote for the lesser two evils. I'm voting my conscience because I want to be on the remnant side. I don't want to be on the idle side because those idols are going to be starved and they're going to be cast down.
And what's going to be left are the true worshipers of the living God. That's the side I want to be on. Does that make sense?
Absolutely.
Okay,.
Good.
All right. Verse 12. You also,.
Ethiopians will be slain by my sword and he will stretch out his hand against the North and destroy Assyria. And he will make Nineveh a desolation, parched like the wilderness.
Can you imagine being from Ethiopia? You've got all these, these long people, these long things saying,.
Ashkelon,.
Ashdod,.
You're all going down. Here's why. And Ammon,.
Moab,.
You're going down and here's why.
Ethiopia,.
I'm looking at you, Assyria. Ethiopia is going to be sitting there. Like, what did we do?
Which part of us is wrong?
Oh no,.
We're in trouble.
I don't know.
Maybe that would work better if you're like, I don't know what we did. Maybe we should just start repenting of everything.
That's harsh.
It's just, it's short, almost like this is settled. Y 'all are going down. Oh man, like we better, we better bow up. We got some issues going on here.
And he will,.
He will stretch out his, his hand against the north and destroy Syria. And he will make Nineveh a desolation parts like the wilderness. So Nineveh was saved. But then here's a promise that they will be destroyed.
We talked about Jonah before. And Assyria who, we'll see Assyria took Assyria, took Israel first and then Babylon,.
Correct?
Because Babylon took over is Syria.
Syria took the Northern kingdom.
And then Syria was, was taken over eventually by the Babylonians.
So we're on track here. Verse 14 flocks will lie down in her midst. All beasts, which range in herds, both the Pelican and the hedgehog will lodge in, in the tops of her pillars. Birds will sing in the window.
Desolation will be on the threshold at the door. For he will, for he has laid bare the Cedar work.
Cedar work being that quality craftsmanship, usually reserved for King's palaces and stuff like that.
So what's going on with all the animals here and their, their lodging and singing? What are your thoughts?
One of the, remember when Israel was going in to take over the land and they couldn't take over all of it because if they did the, all of it at once, because if they did the wild beast would come and destroy them while people overtake them.
These are all wilderness animals. It's talking about having like herds all over the place, just running them up. Like herds of wild Buffalo. If you think of out West, the Pelicans being out there, they're kind of gross.
They'll eat up whatever they can. The hedgehogs always talked about as a place of living or something that lives in a place of desolation, no, a desert, a wasteland, a wilderness birds will sing in the window.
Why is a bird going to sing in the window?
Nobody's going to be there to tell it to go, to go on basically saying that there's not going to be enough of you to keep the wild beasts from taking over the land again.
Verse 15. This is the exultant city, which will securely, who says in her heart,.
I am,.
And there is no one beside me.
How she has become a desolation, a resting place for beast. Everyone who passes by her will hiss and wave his hand in contempt.
True. Yeah.
If you remember when they, when they came by, they came by and they, they yelled, Hey guys,.
You,.
Your,.
Your gods can't save you. You're going to be destroyed.
Your gods can't do anything.
Uh,.
We're here to take you over. Basically saying that the ones who thought that they were, no God's gift to the world while they were definitely used by God to,.
Judge those who needed to be judged.
They too were going to be judged and they're going to be judged in such a way where when people pass by and say,.
That,.
That was Nineveh, they were so big, but they're, they're just a bunch of punks.
They're going to be thrown down,.
Hated.
Imagine.
In the.
Late forties, early fifties,.
Somebody who,.
Drove past or flew past Berlin. You flew over, imagine a Jewish person flying by Berlin in the late forties, early fifties,.
Right? Hiss,.
Throw stones, do whatever. Stupid. Berlin. Look at you guys. Now you got your, your city all torn up into two pieces. Can't even take care of yourselves.
A bunch of jerks. I hate you guys. Basically saying the entire world is going to look at Nineveh like that. But you guys came by, you thought you were somebody big, but you were nothing. You fell.
Um,.
And here, here's the thing. We look at places like Germany,.
Nazi,.
Germany,.
Syria, Babylon,.
The old Roman empire. We think of people that fell. All those wicked folks over there, they fell. They were, they had it coming to them and they did. But look at, look at just about every other country on the earth that has rejected Christ.
Man, they,.
They all deserve the same thing.
There,.
Even the nations that at one time,.
Covenanted together,.
For Christ,.
Think of Scotland, Scotland at one time,.
Put in their charter that they were under the rule and authority of first King Jesus.
It is, it's a far cry today from, from what it was then.
Oh yeah,.
And on the note, before you go any further,.
I'm going to find this quote because brother, brother Ramsey,.
He sent me this taste of the day,.
Which,.
I was familiar with it and, and I'm sure you are too being from the state.
But he,.
He sent me this quote and,.
And though the,.
The federal documents, like you said,.
Are,.
Are vague and in general,.
Promoting a religious freedom,.
For anybody and everybody, but the state of North Carolina and their constitution in December, 18th, 1776, section 23. This is what our constitution says. I'm not sure the current state of this, this phrase in part of the constitution, but it says.
No person who shall deny the being of God or the truth of the Protestant religion or the divine authority of either the old or new Testament shall hold any office or place of trust in the civil department within the.
State.
So it doesn't say the name Jesus, but if you're going to have somebody hold to the Protestant religion and the authority of the new Testament, you know who they're talking about.
Yup.
And though the federal government didn't do it, North Carolina did it.
But you see where we are now because we,.
We've left, left those rooms.
In fact, the, uh,.
The federal government made an amendment to strike that part down where it said that you can't have any religious tests in order to hold office in the.
Land.
So we actually had the federal government fighting against,.
The States at that point.
We see,.
We see how, how that turned out.
If,.
If you don't look at the current state of our nation and see the mess that we're in,.
Then you're just blind.
You're,.
You're completely blind to the, to the messes that are in our society,.
Because of neglecting,.
The Lordship of Jesus Christ and honoring him and submitting him to that in that position. So I want to answer this question and, and let you answer these,.
This question as well.
And then we'll wrap things up.
Cause I think that's what this question will do. So what we see in Zephaniah, Zephaniah chapter two,.
I,.
I glean,.
Spiritual and physical benefits from this.
And you tell me your spiritual benefits that we can glean from it as well. So the spiritual benefits I see are,.
We see a guy that we can trust. We see a guy that fulfills his promises,.
Whether,.
His people aren't going to do it, he's going to do it.
So I,.
I see a God that, that makes promises, makes covenant and keeps those promises, keeps those covenants. And so throughout history and in our lives,.
We have a God before us that we can trust. And he has a track record of keeping and fulfilling his promises.
And then to,.
Physically,.
We have a God, we have a situation where,.
Man may continue to feel,.
Fail to fulfill their part in,.
In,.
In filling the earth.
Not,.
Not only did they not take down the idols, take down the nations and,.
And replace it with a worship, uh, of God.
But they didn't,.
They didn't fill the earth with believers.
They didn't,.
They didn't fill the earth with, with dominion,.
Um, that,.
That dominion mandate,.
They,.
They continue to fail over and over again.
But,.
But we have a God who, despite our failure is, is going to fulfill that,.
Where,.
And where we couldn't save ourselves. We have a God who, who intervened and, and takes over that role, showing us that we need him. We need him in all those areas.
Spiritual,.
Spiritual fulfillment of things and physical fulfillment of things.
So,.
So what's your take on spiritual gleaning and physical gleaning from this passage?
Well, real quick,.
I wanted to hit a rabbit trail off of something you said about how,.
Uh, we,.
As, as people are not fulfilling the dominion mandate,.
Be fruitful, multiply, take dominion over there.
In fact,.
We are actively fighting against that.
What was the biggest thing? One of the big things that you hear about today,.
The earth is overpopulated.
Oh yeah.
We need to have less of us.
There were a set of stones put up in Georgia,.
Georgia,.
Georgia guide stones. The very first point on it is to maintain the world's population at 500 million people.
That is a lot of dead people. If we're going to reach that, that place, it's also not being fruitful, multiplying and filling the earth. It's something that fights against God. There's no, anyway, we're not going to go kick that rabbit.
We're just going to say,.
Where's the rabbit trail? We're going to move on. Just interesting point.
I had stuff to say.
No, I just,.
I just came up blank.
Let's see.
Oh, uh,.
I think throughout the,.
The,.
This, this whole chapter, even the whole book up to this point,.
The thing that I would remember from all of it is that,.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
The place where the nations failed is that they were not afraid of God. I mean, you look at the word fear,.
In the,.
In the Bible and you look it up in the Greek, you look it up in the Hebrew and it means fear. It means to be afraid. Like people will try to say that fear just means to respect or to understand. It means afraid,.
Fear,.
Like,.
Ah,.
Like fear. So for us to understand that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, lack of the fear of the Lord is not, since it's only to begin wisdom, to fear the Lord, not to have any fear of the Lord is utter foolishness.
Because what comes when we don't fear the Lord? Destruction. It also means for us that us as,.
Christians, when we fear the Lord, we fear him, but we recognize his goodness.
The Chronicles of Narnia, there's a question asked to,.
Believe it's Mr. Beaver by the children. Don't quote me on that.
Could be wrong.
But anyway,.
They're asking him about Aslan,.
The lion. And they ask,.
I believe it's Mr.
Beaver.
They ask him, is he safe? And they say, he says,.
No,.
He is not safe. He's very dangerous. And Aslan being a,.
A,.
A picture of Christ in the story. And then he says, but he is good. And I think that's where we, what we see here in Zephaniah and, and what we've covered so far and what we'll cover in the third chapter, the God is not safe.
He is one to be feared. He's not one to be trifled with.
We should look at him and we should tremble because he is, like it says in the new Testament, he's not only able to destroy our bodies, but he's able to take our souls and to throw it into hell. He's not someone to be messed with.
He is our creator and we ought to respect him and treat him with the utmost respect.
And, and,.
And we ought to be afraid of coming into contact with the Holy God, knowing that we are sinful, but we have to remember that our God is good because plop down right in the middle of all this judgment.
There's three little verses where he says, uphold justice, seek righteousness, seek humility, seek God, and you'll be spared from judgment. And why is that? Because Christ himself came and took that judgment that was meant for us and took it upon himself.
It's the same Christ that is coming back with a bloody sword, a flaming sword, a bloody gown, and he's going to be ushering in death judgment.
This is a scary, scary, scary God. And yet he is good and kind and loving. So when we look at all of this destruction, all of these people,.
Who God is calling them out for destruction,.
We should recognize God for who he is, but we should also recognize God for his mercy and grace in the face of.
That.
It's something to take serious, but it's not something to lose heart over because our God is good. He gives opportunity to repent. He gives opportunity to turn away from our sin and to seek him. And because of that, he is very good because he doesn't know us.
That's kind of where my brain took me while, while reading all this.
In the beginning, the beginning of that wisdom that comes from that fear of the Lord is turning to Christ.
And that's where Dan was taking us is turning to Christ.
That's,.
That's the beginning of that wisdom. And then it grows from there. It moves from there. And parallel passes. That I was, I was just thinking about, I was trying to look it up real quick. I thought it was in Hebrews chapter 11.
I looked at it not too long ago where it speaks of God, God shaking things so that those things that can be removed will be, but those things that can't be shaken won't. And those things that can't be shaken is Christ kingdom.
And so that's, that's what we see going on in Zephaniah. Happening here today. All right.
You know, he's,.
He's getting rid of getting rid of these idols, getting rid of these, these things that keep people from, from turning to him and worshiping him. But God, God is shaking the earth. God is shaking things spiritually.
God's shaking things physically. However, he's shaking things. He's shaking them so that those things that, that can't be shaken will. And the only thing that's going to remain is the kingdom of Christ.
And that's why we were talking about earlier,.
Instead of having a fear of man and,.
And going,.
Going along the path of the majority or whatever it may be,.
Go with your conscience, knowing that you are going to be a part of the remnant part of that kingdom that can't be shaken. And that's why we want you to, to grab onto that fear of the Lord so that, that wisdom that you will receive from that will cause you to turn to Christ, to be a part of his kingdom, the kingdom that can't be shaken and, and the remnant that will, that will remain and last and be a part of the kingdom that will, will last forever.
And that's the promises that we hear at Christmas that, that his kingdom will last forever. His, it will, he will reign forever and ever of, of his kingdom. There will be no end is the language that, that we see here at Christmas.
So that's our encouragement to you. That's our encouragement to our community that we want people to turn to Christ. And the, these things are going to pass away. These, these political scandals, these political parties,.
It's just,.
It's going to fade. It's going to go away and we have to endure it, but we have to keep our eyes focused. Have our eyes set on,.
Is it Colossians three? Have our minds set on things above? Where am I at?
New Testament.
Do like Paul said, he's like somewhere, sometime it was written.
That's right. Having our minds set on things above. So that's what, that's where we want to be sanctifying our hearts. Or sanctifying Christ as Lord in our hearts. And keep our eyes and our mind on things above.
So that,.
That's our encouragement to you. Turn to Christ and be a part of that unshakable kingdom. Any last thoughts,.
Dan,.
Before we get off here?
Nope.
All right.
Let me pray for it.
I got one little one just to kind of tie it into history. These events that he's talking about. The destruction of Gaza, Ashkelon, Ammon, Assyria even. All this is coming very soon with the Babylonians.
The Babylonians, specifically Nebuchadnezzar is given a, a vision that Daniel interprets as being that he, Nebuchadnezzar, the gold, the gold standard for what a king is at the time is going to be destroyed.
And then the Greeks who come after him will be destroyed. And no,.
I lied.
The Medo-Persians to come after him will be destroyed. And then the Greeks to come after them will be destroyed. And then the Romans who come after them will be destroyed. Being that the governments of this world, these ones who are facing judgment, the governments of this world are being put down when the little stone, which is Christ's kingdom is coming to destroy the world's government.
So even in the midst of all this destruction and mayhem of all this judgment, the God's putting on people is not just putting judgment on people to be some sort of capricious, hateful God. This is all a part of his plan to usher in his kingdom, to bring many people to repentance.
And so as we, as we look through the old Testament, just kind of place it in the context of history, he's calling out to a people saying,.
Not only you may have, you may find, you may be hidden from the Lord's anger on that day. It's not just that there'll be hidden from his anger when a physical judgment comes upon them, but that everything is working together for the salvation of his remnant.
Hundreds of years before Christ even came, he was thinking of these people who would, who would need salvation. So just to kind of put that in, in context of history and what all is happening in biblical events.
These events are leading directly into the coming of the Messiah and the life that is given to us through Christ on the cross.
And you made me think of another passage that, that makes it even more consistent. Everything, everything comes together. Everything's logical. Everything's consistent. You brought us to, to the Roman empire.
And then the kingdom of Jesus, the kingdom of Christ,.
Heaven is coming.
Our text today at church.
We started Matthew chapter three. Now in those days,.
John,.
The Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea saying, repent, which is what you were talking about for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
And what was going on?
Talks about the prophecy.
The Baptist fulfilled the prophecy.
Verse four.
Now,.
John himself had a garment,.
Evil,.
Camel hair, wild honey,.
Locust.
Then Jerusalem was going out to him and all Judea and all the districts,.
Around the Jordan. And they were being baptized by him in the Jordan as they confess their sins. So they were, they were leaving Jerusalem and coming out into the wilderness to repent. And believe, believe the good news and join this new kingdom.
I see them.
This is just the visual of turning, turning away from, from Jerusalem and going out to repent, receive this new kingdom,.
The kingdom of Christ. And then John tells with the Pharisees,.
Sadducees,.
When they come,.
Who,.
Who warned you, you brood of vipers to flee the wrath to come.
And to me,.
What was part of Jesus' message is his message was to, to flee Judea, flee Jerusalem, because there's going to, there's a destruction coming. And so he's asked them who, who warned you that to flee the wrath to come.
It all ties together.
It's,.
It's all consistent.
Almost like there was one author.
That's right. Exactly.
They had to leave that,.
They had to leave that system. They had to leave Jerusalem, what they held on so tightly.
They had to turn from it and turn to Christ,.
So that they could be that, that remnant be his remnant. So we, we encourage you to come to Christ. That that's our, that's our ultimate goal is for you to see him and, and desire to come to him and then be, be lovers of his word and the truth of his word.
So we hope that we,.
You were encouraged and edified spending time with us tonight.
Let,.
Let me pray for us as we close father. We thank you for our time together. We pray that you were glorified in this time that we spent looking into your word.
And we,.
We pray in that you used us to, to lift up your son,.
To,.
To show him off and to exalt him and to, to praise him for all the wonderful things that, that he has done. Thank you for his kingdom. Thank you for his kingship, his justice, his goodness, and his mercy.
You always do what's right. Thank you for allowing us to, to see your work in our world.
Despite, despite the fear, despite the sin that's in our world, we know that you are working and you're good.
So we,.
We trust, we trust in what you're doing and we pray all these things in Jesus name.
Amen. All right.
Thank you guys for watching. Remember that Jesus is king. Go live in that victory.
Go,.
Speak with the authority of Christ and live in the authority of Christ, the victory of Christ and continue to go out there and share the gospel of.
Christ.
And we hope to see you soon.
