Book of Zephaniah - Ch. 3, Vs. 8 (11/12/2023)

Well, we begin a fourth section in our study.

Last week, we covered the whole third section, which was talking about the

moral crisis of Jerusalem at the time that Zephaniah was prophesying.

They were in a pretty rough state, of course.

In our first section, we talked about the imminent judgment of Judah by

the hand of the Babylonians and a lot of the reasons why judgment was coming for them.

So it makes sense that Jerusalem was in a pretty bad state itself,

essentially the capital.

But, you know, it is interesting kind of the method or the pattern that Zephaniah used.

Throughout this book, he began with global judgment.

He moved on to the judgment of Judah.

He then shifted to talking about a remnant within Judah and then

back to the rebuke of Jerusalem.

And then now, here we are back where we began, basically come full circle from our opening verses, which is

the future judgment of the world.

That was the title of our first section.

So section four here is future judgment of the world continued.

And that will cover basically the first, you know, maybe five, six verses or so that we will cover.

Now, beginning in verse 8, which is where we'll be picking it up today, Zephaniah chapter 3,

verse 8, we have a pretty interesting shift that takes place.

Last week, we covered verses 1 through 7.

I guess most of you weren't here for that.

But in verses 1 through 7, we covered, again, the

vivid description of what we might call the moral crisis of Jerusalem, the city of David,

the very city where God's house was.

They were rebuked.

Their sins that were on full display were brought forth by the

Lord himself and all these things.

After those verses finish, though, after you get to the end of those verses that are

describing that abysmal state of Israel's spiritual well -being, the prophet then gives

us a therefore in verse 8.

That's how verse 8 begins.

But what follows is the interesting point, because what he's going to do is he's going to tell us, he

tells these people of Jerusalem to, wait ye upon me until the day that I rise

up to the prey.

That is what follows the therefore, which bridges the gap between those

first seven verses we covered last week, the moral crisis of Jerusalem, and the judgment of the world, which is what we're

talking about today.

So let's read verse 8 together.

It says, Therefore, right on the backside of rebuking and

bringing Jerusalem's sin to light, therefore, wait ye...

Who's the ye?

It's talking about those Jerusalem that he was just talking to.

Wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey.

For my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms to pour upon

them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger, for all the earth shall be devoured with the

fire of my jealousy.

So it's kind of interesting because he's talking specifically about

Jerusalem and their lack of obedience, the fact that they had

not received the correction directly from the Lord, that their princes were like roaring lions, that their

prophets were like evening wolves, insatiable wolves.

Her prophets have polluted the sanctuary.

The Lord will bring justice about these things, judgment about these things.

He reminds them how he's cut off the nations previously.

And he finishes in verse 7 by saying, You rose early and corrupted all your doings.

So he's talking about Jerusalem there, and he immediately shifts to talking about

devouring the nations, devouring the world, in fact, with the fire of his jealousy, pouring upon his

indignation upon the nations and kingdoms that he will assemble.

Very interesting transition that Zephaniah makes there.

And we know that it's in direct connection.

Zephaniah, in this very truncated book, as we've discussed many times at this point, he can jump

from one kind of point of focus to another.

The word, therefore, at the beginning of verse 8, though, again, bridges the gap and makes it known to us

that this is intended to be in the same context

that Zephaniah was just talking about Jerusalem within.

Very interesting stuff.

This is the first, if you look at verse 8, it's the first explicit return to the universal

judgment that the whole book began with.

If you guys recall, in just the first two verses, or verses 2 and 3 of

chapter 1, it says, I will utterly consume all from off the earth, says the word

land there, but the Hebrew word arets could be translated earth, and I feel like that is appropriate

given the context here.

I will utterly consume all things from off the earth, saith the Lord.

I will consume man and beast.

I will consume the fowls of the heaven, fishes of the sea, the stumbling blocks with the wicked.

I will cut off man from off the earth, saith the Lord.

And then he goes into talking about Judah and imminent judgment by the hand of the Babylonians.

He talks about the remnant at the beginning of chapter 2.

He then flows into talking about the judgment of surrounding nations of Israel.

You get to chapter 3, he goes back to Jerusalem again, and now here we are for the first time since the very opening

verses talking about the judgment of the whole world.

In the Lord's universal judgment on the whole earth, his cup of wrath will be poured out

on the nations that he assembles for his indignation, as we learn here.

The word determination in verse 8 is interesting.

When we read it in our English translation, we might first assume it's referring to his

determination as in predetermination or forward nation.

His decree of the events that are about to unfold.

I mean, that's a given, certainly.

However, the word determination here doesn't necessarily refer to that explicitly.

It's the Hebrew word mishpat, and it's talking about the justice

of his actions.

The word could be translated justice or referring to the act of deciding a

case or litigation before judges.

This is what the Hebrew word means.

And so another way you could say it, rather than saying, for my determination is to gather the nations,

you could say, for my act of justice is to gather the nations, that

I may assemble the kingdoms to pour out my indignation upon them.

So he's saying it is it is my just action to gather all these

nations, gather all these kingdoms and to pour my wrath upon them.

Which, you know, obviously his determination, as we know it, is involved as well.

But the fact that he brings this to light kind of adds some depth to it, because, you know,

sometimes we think, oh, God is just getting angry.

You know, he's about to just unleash everything, unleashes wrath.

And I mean, that's true.

But you have to ask, why is that true?

Why is it necessary?

And it's because of his justice.

That is why.

It's God's just prerogative to gather the nations for wrath by

virtue of their complete sin and by virtue of his complete holiness.

It's something that he simply has to do.

And that's what he is bringing to light in verse eight of our chapter here.

He rises to the prey.

If we look at the progression in this verse, I mean, verse eight is really interesting.

Here's a little interesting factoid that I picked up.

I don't think it means much.

I think it's just interesting.

But apparently this is the only verse in the entire.

I know you can make fun of me later.

It's the only verse in the entire Old Testament, according to scholars of the Masoretic

Hebrew text that that our Bible is derived from.

It's the only single verse in the entire Old Testament that has every letter of the Hebrew alphabet all in one

verse.

Again, not that that means anything.

I just thought that was interesting.

And it is very I mean, it's packed full of information here.

Let's look at the progression.

It starts and it's all in a single verse.

In verse eight, it says he rises to the prey.

So it starts by saying that he rises to the prey in justice.

I need to make a note here really quick.

A lot of commentators believe that when he says, wait ye upon me until the day I rise up to the prey,

that what's being referred to here is actually the remnant, that he is rising up

to basically gather the prey.

I suppose the prey referring to those being preyed upon by the nations and the

kingdoms of the world.

I guess I guess that could be a valid interpretation when I when I read it to me,

the flow of it makes a lot more sense.

He's saying, wait ye upon me, because when that day comes, I will rise up to the prey.

The Hebrew word for prey there is literally is talking about the target of something.

Well, what's the something?

It's his indignation.

It's his wrath that follows immediately after.

And so I think what's happening is when he says, I will rise up to the prey, he's talking about he is rising up to

meet his prey, the prey of his wrath.

I'm not I'm not sure.

There may be some some more reasons as to why a lot of a lot of, you know, great

commentators believe that's a reference to the remnant.

I'm not exactly sure why, but I do think it makes more sense that he's referring to his

prey, the target of his wrath.

So the progression here, he rises to the prey in justice.

It is just for him to do so.

He gathers the nations and assembles the kingdoms.

And again, it says it is his determination to do so.

It's his righteous act of justice to do this.

And then what does he do after he assembles them?

It says that he pours out his indignation on them.

And then what follows after that?

All of his fierce anger falls on them.

And then what happens after that?

The earth is devoured with fire, which proceeds from his jealousy.

All of that is wrapped into that single verse.

It's pretty crazy.

Now, I want to talk about wrath for just a little bit and look at a

few of its uses in the New Testament.

It's pretty clear what's being talked about right here in Zephaniah 3 8.

It's it's a reference to when he when he comes in the clouds, when

he when his second coming takes place.

The wrath that will follow, of course, this is a reference to

the Battle of Armageddon itself.

I will gather the nations.

I will assemble the kingdoms.

So that's what Zephaniah 3 8 is talking about.

But of course, it mentions specifically his indignation.

And so I want to talk about kind of that concept a little bit.

His indignation, his wrath and things like this.

So turn with me to Romans chapter two, and we're going to look at something kind of interesting.

I believe the Apostle Paul, he talks a lot about the

wrath of God in throughout the New Testament.

In many cases, when you look at the context and we're going to look at a couple of these passages as well, by the way.

But many times when he's referring to the wrath, he's referring to the eternal

judgment, the eternal consequence of sin.

That being, of course, the punishment of hell ultimately.

However, in Romans chapter two here, we see him talking about the wrath, talking about

the indignation in a different, slightly different context.

Let's just start at verse one.

We'll read the first few verses here.

By the way, chapter two begins with a therefore.

So what was just prior to that?

Prior to that, it talks about the entire Gentile apostasy,

the state of apostasy of essentially the world.

Basically, he goes through all the sins, being filled with unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, malice,

malice, all this kind of stuff.

He's going all through that implacable, unmerciful.

In verse 32, the very last verse of chapter one, he ends by saying, Who, knowing the judgment of God, that

they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have

pleasure in them that do them.

So these are the kind of people he's talking about.

When you get to chapter two, therefore, and you can read along with me here, Thou art

inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest, for wherein thou

judgest another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou that judgest

doest the same things.

He's talking about hypocrites here.

He's not talking about righteous judging, using God's word as the

standard.

He's talking about hypocritical people that judge to their liking, but do the same things.

But we are sure, verse two says, that the judgment of God is according to truth.

You notice the contrast there, from hypocrites to God's judgment, which is according to truth,

against them which commit such things.

What things?

Well, all of the preceding stuff in chapter one, but also to the hypocritical judges as well.

And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt

escape the judgment of God.

All right, so hone in really, really carefully here.

That thou shalt escape the judgment of God.

So far, what could this be referring to?

It could be referring to, again, the eternal consequence of sin and the actions that are taking

place in chapter one, that implacable spirit.

But let's see where Paul takes it.

Verse four says,.

Or despises thou the riches of his goodness in forbearance and longsuffering.

We've been talking a lot about his longsuffering spirit in this study.

Not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.

They're missing out on how they could escape all of these

egregious acts.

Verse five says,.

But after thy hardness.

Okay, so repentance is possible.

But verse five says,.

After thy hardness in impotent heart treasurest up unto thyself

wrath.

Okay, so here's where the concept of wrath starts coming into the picture here.

Against the day of wrath in the revelation of the righteous

judgment of God.

So the key here that differentiates Paul's use of

wrath from other uses that other times where he uses the term and the concept

of God's wrath.

Again, we'll look at some of those in a sec is the day.

So he in many cases, he refers to the wrath.

In this case, he's specific in referring to the day of God's wrath

and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.

Just consider, just hold in the back of your mind everything we just read in

Zephaniah 3 .8.

Remember that Hebrew word for determination, the just actions of God.

And you go to Romans 2 .5, the revelation of the righteous judgment of God.

But it's in reference to the day of his wrath, not just his wrath in general, but

the day of his wrath.

Verse six says,.

Who will render to every man according to his deeds.

Now, this is interesting because what's going to happen?

What's one of the things that will take place when Jesus returns?

The separation of the sheep from the goats.

Verse six, Paul tells us,.

On the day of his wrath, he will render to every man according to his deeds.

Verse seven says,.

To them who by patient continuance in well -doing seek...

What happens here?

It's another contrast here.

To them who by patient continuance in well -being seek for glory and

honor and immortality, eternal life.

When the separation takes place, although I guess you could argue that even prior to the separation, that

immortality will be manifested.

Our glory will be manifested because of the rapture as he is coming back in

the clouds.

But in verse eight,.

And to them that are contentious and do not obey the truth.

Think about the disobedience that permeates the book of Zephaniah.

Do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness.

To them, indignation and wrath.

What does Zephaniah 3 .8 say?

Yeah, what does it say?

I will pour upon them my indignation.

And then verse nine says,.

Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first and also of the

Gentile.

Now this is interesting because one of the whole points of Paul, the context of Paul's

chapter here, is essentially God's impartiality

between Jews and Gentiles.

So he's using it to teach the truth that Gentiles, that

God is not impartial, and that Gentiles have every right to

salvation, essentially, to the gospel as the Jews do.

So that's kind of the broad context of what he's talking about here, and yet in doing so, he's

talking specifically about the day of wrath.

And he says when that day comes, or in the context of talking about that day in verse nine, he says, Tribulation and anguish upon every

soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, but also of the Gentile.

So think about what he just said there.

He's saying God is impartial when it comes to His judgment because that indignation will come

first to the Jew and then to the Gentile.

But then in verse 10, and this is the part where we normally focus in on because it's what's great for us, as he says, But

glory, honor, peace to every man that worketh good to the Jew first, then to the Gentile.

For there is no respect of persons with God.

So he's talking about impartiality of God, but right in the middle of that, he's using

the example of the day of His wrath, which I believe is a specific reference to the

same event that Zephaniah 3 .8 is talking about, the day of His indignation, which Paul mentioned, the day that He

pours out His wrath, which Paul mentioned here.

And in that day, when He comes, and throughout

His judgment in general, to those who have hard hearts and do

not repent and continue in their wicked ways, the indignation and

the wrath will be upon them.

So that right there, I believe, is an interesting parallel passage of Paul

regarding what Zephaniah is talking about.

But I also want to look at a few other passages, again, where Paul uses the term wrath,

because, and we've talked about this before, we're going to essentially look at what are

some of the biggest proof texts, quote -unquote, for those who subscribe to the pre -tribulation

rapture and why they believe that is true.

And it comes back to basically God's wrath.

If you turn to Romans 5, now, just skip over a little bit,

it says in verse 9, well, let's see here.

Let's see what kind of context we should gather.

Okay, let's start at verse 1 and go down to verse 9.

And I want you guys to see if the context feels different than the passage that we just read

and what's really being talked about here in chapter 5.

Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom

also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in the

hope of the glory of God.

Paul was referencing that in chapter 2 as well.

For those who obey, to them glory, immortality, eternal life.

Here we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

Those who are justified, that's kind of the key that I want you guys to keep in mind as we read through this passage.

Verse 3 says, and not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that

tribulation worketh patience.

Dad, of course, did an in -depth study of this chapter a while back in that the word tribulation here

isn't necessarily referring to the great tribulation.

It's referring to pressure that is applied to believers during their walk.

And it's this pressure, as we will learn here in just a second, it says that worketh patience, patience experience,

experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our

hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

It's that pressure that basically battle tests us for what's to come, all of

the various battles that we'll face as believers as we live our lives.

So it is through justification that we rejoice in the hope of glory, but

not only that, also everything he just mentioned, the glory that brings

the... we glory in tribulations that bring the tribulation, that bring patience and experience,

and ultimately that hope becomes full circle.

In verse 6, he says, for when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the

ungodly.

For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to

die.

But God commandeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

And then here's the key verse here, much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be

saved from wrath through him.

Okay, he talks about wrath, he talked about wrath in chapter 2, and he just talked about it again in chapter 5, but what's the difference here?

The difference in context is that in chapter 5, he's talking

about those that are justified, and the results of that justification, the fact that

we can glory even through tribulation, because the tribulation brings the patience, and the experience,

and eventually the hope.

But also, because of this justification, we shall be saved being justified by his blood, we shall be

saved from wrath through him.

The context here is more broad, but

also I feel like it carries more of the eternal implications, whereas in chapter 2, Paul is

talking about the day of his wrath.

I believe here he's talking about hell.

We are being justified by his blood, we are saved from eternal punishment, the eternal consequence of the sin

that we had before he died for our sins.

Okay, so in many cases when a verse like this would be used as a quote -unquote proof text to say that

we are going to be saved from the great tribulation specifically, the context seems to make

it very clear that what's being talked about here is the consequence of, the eternal consequence of sin,

not the great tribulation per se.

Now let's look at another one, though, that's kind of similar.

In 1 Thessalonians chapter 1.

Again, what I'm doing here is I'm trying to differentiate, because the concept of wrath is used in a number of

different places.

It's used in our Zephaniah passage.

That first Romans passage that we looked at in chapter 2, I believe is a parallel to the Zephaniah passage.

I believe it's talking about the same day of his indignation, the day of his wrath, as Paul put it, where he

pours out his indignation, his fierce anger.

But there are other places where Paul uses wrath, but in a different context.

Romans chapter 5 was one of them.

1 Thessalonians 1 .10 says...

Let's see, should I start at verse 9 maybe?

Verse 9 just says,

...to serve the living and true God.

And verse 10 says...

This is a big one that is used, again, as a proof

text, so to speak, of us being removed from the great

tribulation.

What's interesting is in the same study of Zephaniah we've done, we've already determined that in a sense

we are kind of removed.

But we're not removed in the sense of a hyper -dispensationalist secret rapture before the

tribulation sense.

We are removed, as Zephaniah put it, in that those that are faithful, those that

remain meek, and those that remain righteous will be hid in the day of the Lord's wrath.

So we will be removed in that sense.

We will be hid, well, it has a prerequisite, those that are faithful and meek, those that continue in

meekness, in righteousness, they will be hid.

But, once again, here we can see that in Paul's context he's not referring necessarily to the

day of wrath.

And that's certainly true.

Wrath and indignation will be there, will be present on that day.

But there is also wrath in the more broad, eternal, consequence of sin kind of way,

which is what we're delivered from.

We are delivered from the eternal separation of God that is to come, but

in addition to the eternal separation, the eternal punishment and torment, and so

on and so forth.

One more here, 1 Thessalonians 5, just hop over a page, and verse 9.

Again, I want you guys to be thinking about the kind of contextual differences in these passages we're

looking at compared to the first passage in Romans that we looked at, where the context

is very clear when talking about the day of the Lord's wrath and how those that

continue in their sin, all of the sins that are mentioned in Romans 1, how they will

see or take part in that wrath and the indignation.

In 1 Thessalonians 5, 9, it says...well, let's start in verse 8 yet again.

But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, for in helmet

the hope of salvation.

What is that?

That is the hope of our eventual redemption,

the fullness of our redemption.

For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our

Lord Jesus Christ.

So again, Paul uses this concept of wrath.

He talked about wrath in Romans 2.

Romans 2, I believe, is talking clearly about not only the Great Tribulation, but more specifically the day of his

return, when that separation of the wheat and the goats takes place, and he pours out the wrath of his

indignation that Zephaniah is also talking about.

But here, what is he talking about?

To obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.

He is contrasting wrath with salvation.

What's the antithesis of our eternal salvation?

It would be eternal damnation.

So again, it's talking about eternal consequence of sin, not necessarily the

day of wrath, which Paul talked about in Romans 2.

So there we looked at at least four uses of wrath in the New Testament,

all from Paul, but using the context of the passages, we can see his use is slightly

different in chapter 2 versus those other places that we just looked at.

He specifically is talking about the day of his wrath that Zephaniah the prophet is also telling us about in chapter 3, verse 8.

But then he goes on in those other passages, Romans 5, 1 Thessalonians 1, and 1 Thessalonians 5,

to talk about basically to juxtapose our eternal salvation with the eternal damnation that will also come

to those that unfortunately will face the day of his wrath for sure.

But even after that is over, there is the eternal wrath that is to come as well.

Okay, so now that we looked at those, and I felt like it was appropriate to touch on those

by, again, virtue of the fact that those are used quite often to prove a pre -trib rapture

theory, not so much.

We can talk about God's wrath, and it remained perfectly consistent with

the historical premillennial view of a post -tribulation wrath

or post -tribulation rapture, and of course the wrath will follow that.

But let's shift back to looking at some parallel passages for just a second on our

passage in Zephaniah.

So, again, let me see if I can turn back there.

We're actually going to be in Revelation if you want to start turning there.

But I wanted to read Zephaniah 3, 8 one more time.

So now we're looking at parallel passages, in other words, passages just like Romans 2 that we just looked at that are talking about

the same event that Zephaniah is talking about.

Zephaniah 3, 8 one more time says, Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey,

for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon

them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger, for all the earth

shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.

Keep that in mind and look at Revelation 6, verse 15,

beginning at verse 15.

It says,.

And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men,

and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the

mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us and

hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of

the Lamb.

One of the most interesting passages, to be sure.

It almost sounds like an oxymoron.

The wrath of the Lamb.

You don't typically think of wrath and indignation coming, proceeding from an innocent

lamb.

But this lamb is different, of course, because this is the resurrected lamb that has already ascended, that is currently sitting on his throne, that

bears the scars of his crucifixion, that we learned about.

We actually looked at this a couple of weeks ago, I think in the message.

It wasn't Sunday school.

It was something we did during the main service that talked about the lamb standing as if slain.

So this is the lamb that is talking about here.

They're hiding themselves from the wrath of the Lamb.

Verse 17 says, For the great day of his wrath.

Same exact phraseology that Paul uses in Romans 2.

The day of his wrath is come.

Who shall be able to stand?

Now, interestingly enough, this question, who shall be able to stand, it's a rhetorical question that's asked not only in Revelation, but all

throughout the Minor Prophets as well.

We looked at one in Obadiah, one in Malachi, one in Zephaniah, or actually not Zephaniah, but

in Amos there's another one.

We see this question phrased in different ways numerous times.

Who will stand when that day comes?

Zephaniah actually gives us an answer to that question, and we studied this like three weeks ago.

The answer to who can stand that day is who he talks about in chapter 2.

Seek ye upon the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment.

Seek righteousness and seek meekness.

It may be that ye are hid in the day of the Lord's wrath, or of his anger.

So there is a group of people that will be able to stand and will be able to

essentially survive that day, and it's those that continue in meekness and righteousness.

But we do know kind of the connotation that comes with this rhetorical question

in most places is those that are the target, the prey, that

Zephaniah talks about where he rises to the prey, those are the ones who he rhetorically asks who can

stand from the wrath that is to come.

Of course, we know the answer to that is no one will be able to.

So it just depends.

Are you talking about the whole world, or are you talking about the prey, the target of his wrath?

If you're talking about that specifically, no one can stand.

If you're talking about the whole world, who can stand when that day comes?

Zephaniah gives us the answer.

It's those that continue in meekness and righteousness.

They will be hid.

Skip over to chapter 14 in Revelation, and let's look at another parallel passage to

our Zephaniah verse that we've been reading.

Revelation 14, beginning in verse 9, says,.

And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast in his image and

receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of

the wine, the wrath of God, which is poured out.

Notice the similarities with the wording in Zephaniah, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of

his what?

Of his indignation.

This is exactly what Zephaniah is talking about in chapter 3, verse 8.

And he shall be tormented with the fire and with brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of

the Lamb.

And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever.

And they lay no rest day or night who worship the beast in his image and whosoever receiveth the mark of his

name.

In our Malachi study, I believe, or maybe it was the very beginning of Zephaniah, No,

it was Zephaniah.

Zephaniah, chapter 1, verse 2, is used as a proof text for the

annihilationist crowd that believe that God doesn't actually,

He doesn't actually temporally condemn people

for all of eternity.

He just kind of snuffs them out of existence.

You know, those who believe on him will have eternal life with him.

But those who don't, it's as if they never existed.

And to them, that's a little bit easier to chew on than the concept or the doctrine of hell as it's

traditionally known.

And yet, Revelation 14 .11 says, The smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and

ever.

It'd be interesting to look at the Greek word there, Dad.

I don't know if you have Blue Letter Bible open, but if you look at forever and ever, I wonder if it's the same

aeon ho aeon, meaning age into age, that's in some of those other passages we looked.

Because that would be, so we have a lot of passages we've looked at that talk

about God's dominion and glory forever and ever.

A literal translation would be His dominion and glory unto age and age,

essentially.

Age unto age, perhaps.

Here we have the opposite side of that same coin.

And it's a devastating one, no doubt.

But here it is.

And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for age unto age.

And they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast in his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

So these parallel passages, of course, they shed a lot more light on this day of His indignation that is to

come that we read about in Zephaniah 3 .8.

It'll be a direct answer to the sins of the heathen nations, but also, as we learned from Paul in Romans

2, that first parallel passage we looked at, that there will be no partiality between ethnic groups,

including Israel, by the way.

And I believe, again, this is referring more broadly to the Great Tribulation,

the judgment that will take place throughout the Tribulation leading up to the day of His wrath.

We know that Paul also tells us later in Romans 11 that all of Israel will be

saved when they actually see their Messiah coming.

But prior to that, there will certainly be, I guess, what we could call

unregenerate Jews that actually are in unity with the

Antichrist.

So there will be some, and many that die, I presume, during the Great Tribulation.

So there's no partiality in His judgment in that regard, because there will be unfaithful Jews that

reject Christ, who will take part in that judgment.

So, as Paul tells us, there's no partiality between ethnic groups, including Israel, during that time.

But, rather, there is partiality, as he ends the passage with in verses 10 and 11, between the

righteous and the unrighteous.

So the Jews that are righteous and Gentiles that are righteous, He

protects and hides, whereas judgment, and eventually the ultimate day of His wrath, will

come on Jews and Gentiles throughout that Great Tribulation period that are unrighteous.

Did you have a thought, Dad?

Okay, so I've never noticed that before, but you have the opposite end of that same coin,

the reality that their torment will be present throughout the ages to come.

It's not an annihilationist, snuffing -out -of

-existence kind of thing.

It is, in fact, a conscious eternal

torment and judgment for those who reject Christ and who hate Him.

Alright, let's, oh gosh, I guess we'll, I did not intend to only get one verse in, but we

used up all of our time.

So, do you all have any other thoughts or anything like that?

We'll just pick it up at verse 9 next week, because I ate up too much time.

But I think we do have maybe a minute, if you all have any other comments that you would like to

make.

Yeah.

Okay.

Well...

Oh, in the case of the pre -trib?

Right.

Well, and it's, okay, here's a thought.

I had this yesterday.

Let's, for the sake of argument, say that all of those places we looked at, where Paul

used the term wrath, is talking about the day of His wrath.

Just for the sake of argument, we're talking with someone who subscribes to the pre -trib rapture theory.

And they say, well, see, you know, we are protected from His wrath, and that's talking

about the day of His wrath, the same day of His wrath that He talks about in Romans 2.

The day of His wrath is referring to when He returns and

begins to separate the sheep from the goats.

Of course we'll be protected from that as well, because we will be on the side of the sheep.

So, in other words, they presume that wrath is referring to the seven -year tribulation period, when in

actuality, when Paul uses it referring to any part of all of that, he's talking

about the day of His wrath, which is when He's coming back in the clouds, like thunder from the east to the west,

after the seventh trump, all this kind of stuff.

So, His wrath is reserved for that day.

Maybe there are some places, Dad, that I haven't found yet.

But to my knowledge, there aren't any passages where His wrath is talking about the

seven -year tribulation period.

His judgment will be present for sure, because that's when the vials will be opened, and the seals, and the

trumpets.

But every context that wrath is used is either talking about one of two things.

The day of His second coming, which is what Zephaniah is talking about.

It's what John in Revelation was talking about.

It's what Paul in chapter 2 of Romans was talking about.

So, that's one use of the term wrath.

The second use of the term wrath, and every other place I've seen it, to my knowledge,

I've looked in every place that I've found, and to my knowledge, there's no other place, is what I'm trying to say here, where the

use of the word wrath is talking about eternal punishment.

I have never seen one where it's talking about the seven -year tribulation period specifically.

So, even for the sake of argument, if you wanted to say all of those passages refer to the day of His wrath, they would have

to be referring to the day of His second coming, not the seven -year tribulation period.

Yes, ma 'am?

I have my glasses on, so I can't look anything up, but isn't there a scripture that

talks about us being called out for the last time?

It's probably Revelation chapter 7.

Oh, okay.

In 1 Corinthians 15.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yes, Mamie.

This lesson wasn't meant to get into the proof passages of a post -trib rapture.

That's what you're referring to.

And in Thessalonians, we will not prevent them is the old English word.

It means proceed, that they have to be raised first.

And what's amazing about it is the whole point Paul even brings that up is he's just reassuring those in

Thessalonica that, don't worry, your loved ones that went before us, they're not missing anything.

In fact, we are not even going to precede them in the rapture

until they come up first and are glorified.

So there is that for sure.

And then 1 Corinthians 15, it talks about the last trump and

the chronology.

If you look at it, we're not going to be...

The first resurrection won't happen until after the last trump.

And then Paul tells us another place, we can't proceed the first resurrection.

So, yes, those are a couple of really good places to go when it comes to

figuring out the timing of things.

All righty, guys, is that it for today?

I will go ahead and end this one.

And Dave, if you don't mind, you could dismiss this in prayer.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your mercy and your grace.

Father, we also thank you that you display wrath towards your enemies.

And ultimately, Father, those enemies are our enemies.

Father, help us to act more like that.

As if they are against you.

And therefore, we are in contrast to them as well.

Father, help us to align ourselves with you.

Help us to be more in tune with your word.

And Lord, we ask that you help us to do so in love, weakness, and humility with

the people around us.

And Father, please give repentance to those that don't know you.

We love you.

Jesus in your assistance.

Amen.