Zephaniah: Who Is The Blessed Nation?

Introduction

Open to Zephaniah 3 this evening. Zephaniah 3 and we will read at verses 9-20. But we wont get past 11 tonight

Only four more books, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

In between four and 12 weeks and we will have completed our Servery centrality of Christ in the Old Testament.

I hope that those of you have been with us all long have been able to see that calling this the gold thread is a little silly. Christ is not just a little thread that runs in the text. The text is about him, every bit of it.

Not a tread but an infinity deep store house golden treasure.

A Christocentric (Christ as the center), or as it has been called a historical redemptive hermeneutic (How to interpret scripture) is necessary for correct biblical interpretation as we will see to night.

Or put another way, in order to properly understand scripture, you must see Christ in every text.

There are men of God, people I have great respect for, people that I love dearly for the eminence amount of quality biblical truth they have conveyed over the years who do not teach the scriptures with Christ at the center of every text.

As your shepherd it is my duty to tell you that they are wrong and you will know you are hearing the right interpretation of scripture when Christ is the one being magnified in the text.

Zephaniah prophesied in the time of Josiah,

Those that now their Kings of Judah know that Josiah was a righteous King,

“And Josiah took away all the abominations from all the territory that belonged to the people of Israel and made all who were present in Israel serve the LORD their God. All his days they did not turn away from following the LORD, the God of their fathers.” (2 Ch 34:33, ESV)

Even David didn’t do this, you know how all the kings of Judah are compared to David.

“No Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as was kept by Josiah, and the priests and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” (2 Ch 35:18, ESV)

It is interesting that during this time of corporate rightness that God choose to send am message about the Day of the Lord and the destruction of the nations through Zephaniah.

We learn the necessity the continual meditation on the Holiness of God and how the wrath of God is only settled be Christ.

Think it through, during a time of righteousness, a time when the people seem to be doing the right things that is the time God chooses to removed everyone that he will ultimately judge all.

We cannot forget that none of our righteousness can atone for our sin, it would be hopeless but for Christ.

In the first 2 an half chapters of Zephaniah, God promises judgement, judgment in All nations, judgement on Israel, Judgment on Moab, Judgment on ammoniates, Judgment on the Philistines,

Then God ends with these words,

If you are able please rise for the reading of God’s Word.

Zephaniah 3:9–20 ESV

9 “For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord. 10 From beyond the rivers of Cush my worshipers, the daughter of my dispersed ones, shall bring my offering. 11 “On that day you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me; for then I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones, and you shall no longer be haughty in my holy mountain. 12 But I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord, 13 those who are left in Israel; they shall do no injustice and speak no lies, nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue. For they shall graze and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.” 14 Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! 15 The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil. 16 On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. 17 The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. 18 I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach. 19 Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. 20 At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” says the Lord.

May God Bless the Reading of His Holy, Infallible, and Sufficient Word

Let’s Pray

Transition

Calvin said that “The Prophet [speaking of Zeph] now mitigates the asperity of his doctrine, which might have greatly terrified the godly; nay, it might have wholly disheartened them, had no consolation been applied. God then moderates here what he had previously threatened; for if the Prophet had only said this—“My purpose is to gather all the nations, and thus the whole earth shall be devoured by the fire of indignation,” what could the faithful have concluded but that they were to perish with the rest of the world? It was therefore necessary to add something to inspire hope, such as we find here.[1]

God always promises to save those that are His, these are the elect. Right here at the end of Zephaniah God has already talked about all the destruction of all the peoples and all the nations and in His kindness he reminds his people that the dictum of destruction is not for the ones that he is keeping.

Look at verse 9-13

Body

Those who are Left In Israel

Zephaniah 3:9–13 ESV

9 “For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord. 10 From beyond the rivers of Cush my worshipers, the daughter of my dispersed ones, shall bring my offering. 11 “On that day you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me; for then I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones, and you shall no longer be haughty in my holy mountain. 12 But I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord, 13 those who are left in Israel; they shall do no injustice and speak no lies, nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue. For they shall graze and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.”

Verse nine, there are so many weird interpretation for verse 9.

Everyone will speak Hebrew or this is speaking in tongue

The primary meaning of the Hebrew word here is Lips.

People of pure lips.

Remember Isaiah 6, Isaiah says, I am a man of Unclean or another word impure lips.

Its the same word. You would not say Isaiah means I am a man that does speak Hebrew or I am a man that does not speak in tongues.

This not talking about a people that know the Lord, so that speak rightly about him from lips purified like Isaiahs were.

“pure speech” comes from pure lips,

Jesus said “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12:34, ESV)

And God Premised through Ezekiel to give his people a new heart. (Ezekiel 36:26)

And again through Jeremiah he said his people would know him from the least to the greatest. (Jeremiah 31:34)

And though Moses and Paul again God say this is all by him and for his glory (Exodus 33:19, and Romans 9:15–16)

Verse 10

From beyond the rivers of Cush my worshipers, the daughter of my dispersed ones, shall bring my offering.

Calvin comment here that, “But others, with whom I agree, apply this to the dispersed Jews, so that the Prophet here gives hope of that restoration, of which he had before spoken.[2]

I agree with Calvin here, verse 9 says all people, and the Lord makes clear here that all people include those Hebrews that are of faith.

The Elect who’s hearts/lips have been atoned for, cleaned.

They will all come as one people, with one Lord, and one baptism… by dunking.

So that what Paul said is clear,

“For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” (1 Co 12:13, ESV)

Verse 11a

“On that day you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me;” (Zep 3:11, ESV)

This statement makes no scene unless its speaking of the Elect and the shame of their sin that has been removed from b the work of Christ.

As the Lord said though David “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.” (Ps 32:1–2, ESV)

Who is the one that the Lord, the just judge does not count iniquity? Those in Christ, only those in Christ, full stop, no one else.

Just as we saw verse 9 and 10 include all people Jew and Gentile, verse 11a makes it clear that these are only the elect who sins have been cover by the blood of the lamb.

These are the ones spoken about in Revelation 7:9–17 that “great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb! (Re 7:9–10, ESV)

See there is continuity in the scriptures, every time God make a promise of restoration, salvation, atonement it is to these people. These people are the ones giving the right by Christ himself to be called the Children of God. (John 1:12–13)

Do you know how hated what I just said is?

I have had my salvation questioned because I believable what the Apostle Paul said, that the elect obtained [the promise to Abraham (Romans 11:7) thought Christ who is the one seed (Galatians 3:16)]

Conclusion

So there we are though half of verse 11. We will pick up there next week. I am praying that you can see a little gimps of of how central Christ is to every promise.

As the Lord Said Through Paul, “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.” (2 Co 1:20, ESV)

All of the promises, that is the promises from God to the Elect and as we saw when we were in Isaiah, the Blood King, that will crush his enemies like Grapes, that Jesus as well.

When God promises salvation for his people, that is through Christ, when God premises vengeance on his enemies that is through Christ. It was all created through Jesus and for Jesus, (Col 1:16)

Benediction

2 Corinthians 13:14 ESV

14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

References

[1] John Calvin and John Owen, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets, vol. 4 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 282.

[2] John Calvin and John Owen, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets, vol. 4 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 286.

Bibliography

Calvin, John, and John Owen. Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010.

Scripture List as referenced.

Zephaniah 3:9-13

Isaiah 6:5

Matthew 12:34

Ezekiel 36:26.

Jeremiah 31:34.

Exodus 33:19, and Romans 9:15–16.

1 Co 12:13.

Ps 32:1–2.

Revelation 7:9–10.

John 1:12–13.

Romans 11:7.

Galatians 3:16.

2 Co 1:20.

Col 1:16.