The Millennial Reign of Christ Prophesied in Zephaniah 3.14-20 (Doctrinal Bible Church in Huntsville, Alabama)

Doctrinal Bible Church

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Wednesday March 19, 2025

The Day of the Lord Series: The Millennial Reign of Christ Prophesied in Zephaniah 3:14-20

Lesson # 63

Zephaniah 3:14-20 describes Jesus Christ’s activities at His Second Advent and during His subsequent millennial reign.

Zephaniah 3:14 Sing a song expressing joy, daughter of Zion! Each and every one of you shout because of your victory! Rejoice, yes express great joy with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem! 15 The Lord has caused the lifting of the judgments directed against you. He has caused your enemy to be turned back. The King ruling over and in a relationship with Israel, the Lord is in your midst. You will absolutely never fear disaster anymore. 16 During that distinct and unique period in the future, Jerusalem will receive the following prohibitions: “Do not be terrified O Zion! Do not let your hands hang limp!” 17 The Lord, the God ruling over and in a relationship with you is in your midst, a mighty warrior characterized as being able to deliver. With a joyful celebration, He will express great joy because of you. He will cause you to be renewed because of His love. He will rejoice because of you by means of joyful singing.” (Pastor’s translation)

Zephaniah 3:14-17 contains a series of imperatives related to the joy of the future remnant of Israel and which commands are based upon the prophecies contained in Zephaniah 3:9-13.

Each of these commands are addressed to the faithful remnant of Israel which will be living during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.

All of the commands speak of great joy expressed by this remnant during this period which corresponds to the rest of Scripture which asserts that joy will be a distinctive mark of the millennial age (Is. 9:3-4; 12:3-6; Jer. 30:18-19; 31:13-14; Zeph. 3:14-17; Zech. 8:18-19; 10:6-7).

Zephaniah 3:15 marks a transition from a series of commands to a series of assertions, which present four reasons for the commands in Zephaniah 3:14.

The first declaration contained in Zephaniah 3:15 asserts that the Lord has caused the lifting of the judgments directed against the remnant of Israel and specifically directed at her when she was unregenerate and unrepentant.

This remnant living during the millennium will not be under judgment from God because they possess a covenant relationship with God through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.

They will experience the blessings of the four unconditional covenants that God establish with the nation of Israel, which are the Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic and New covenants.

Zephaniah 3:16 contains two prohibitions which serve to amplify the last prophetic declaration at the end of Zephaniah 3:15 which asserts that Jerusalem will absolutely never fear disaster anymore because the King of Israel, the Lord will be dwelling in her midst.

These two prohibitions will be directed at the inhabitants of Jerusalem who help to compose this future remnant.

“During that distinct and unique period in the future” is speaking of the millennial reign of Jesus Christ which takes place after the completion of the seventy weeks.

It will take place after Jews experience the forgiveness of sins and a relationship and fellowship with the triune God as a result of trusting in Jesus Christ as their Savior during the last three and a half years of the seventieth week and at His Second Advent.

The first prophetic declaration recorded in Zephaniah 3:17 predicts that the Lord, the God ruling over and in a relationship with the remnant of Israel living in Jerusalem will be in the midst of Jerusalem and thus in the midst of this future remnant of Israel.

After predicting that the Lord Jesus Christ, the God of Israel will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem and in particular the remnant of Israel dwelling in this city during His millennial reign, Zephaniah goes on to describe the Lord Jesus Christ.

He describes the Lord as a mighty warrior who is characterized as being able to bring about deliverance from one’s enemies and mortal danger.

This description asserts that the Lord Jesus Christ is a mighty military hero who distinguishes Himself in war or combat and is very capable of defending those who trust in Him and attacking and defeating the enemies of those who trust in Him (Psa. 24:8).

The second prophetic declaration in Zephaniah 3:17 asserts that the Lord will express great joy because of this future remnant who will trust in Him at His Second Advent to deliver them from their enemies and He will do so with a joyful celebration.

The third prophetic declaration presents the implicit reason for the Lord expressing great joy with a joyful celebration, namely this remnant will have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit through faith in Him at His Second Advent.

The fourth and final prophetic declaration predicts that the Lord Jesus Christ will rejoice because of this remnant and will do so by means of joyful singing.

It speaks of the joy the Lord Jesus Christ will express with songs because of this future remnant of Israel which will worship Him during His millennial reign.

No doubt this joyful singing will take place during the seven great feasts of Israel.

Zephaniah 3:18 “I will gather you who have suffered mental anguish because of the appointed feasts. They are a cause of distress, because of them, a cause of shame. 19 Behold, I myself am about to take action against each and every one of those who habitually mistreat you during a specific period of time in the future. Also, I will surely deliver the lame and in addition I will cause those who are exiled to be gathered. Indeed, I will surely transform them, specifically, I will surely transform their shame into praise as well as honor throughout the entire earth. 20 “During this specific period of time in the future, I will cause each and every one of you to be transported. Specifically, during this specific period of time, I myself will cause each and every one of you in the future to be gathered in one place. Indeed, I will cause each and every one of you to receive honor as well as praise among each and every one of the nations of the earth when I myself restore your prosperity before your eyes,” says the Lord. (Pastor’s translation)

None of these predictions in Zephaniah 3:20 have been fulfilled in history since nothing in the past or up to this point in history has fulfilled them.

Yes, a remnant returned from Babylon in the sixth century B.C. and a remnant of Jews has returned to the land of Palestine after being dispersed throughout the earth for almost two thousand years.

However, at no time in history has a remnant of Israelites been transported by the Lord and gathered together in one place and then have received honor as well as praise from every nation on earth.

The remnant returning from Babylon was mistreated when they attempted to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem and in 1948, the Jews were attacked immediately by her Arabs neighbors when she became a nation again.

However, according to both Old and New Testament prophecies, the first two prophetic declarations in Zephaniah 3:20 will be fulfilled at Christ’s Second Advent and the third and fourth will be fulfilled during the Lord’s subsequent millennial reign.

The prophecies related to the Second Advent of Christ teach that at that particular time, Jesus Christ will defeat’s all of Israel’s enemies, which would include Satan and the fallen angels, Antichrist and the false prophet and the tribulational armies.

Consequently, He will deliver the remnant of Israel.

Therefore, to summarize Zephaniah 3:8-20, the city of Jerusalem will be holy and its people holy as well as the entire nation of Israel will be holy during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ because the Lord will give them pure speech (cf. Zeph. 3:9).

The city of Jerusalem and the entire nation of Israel will be pure during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ because the Lord will remove the proud from the nation at His Second Advent (cf. Zeph. 3:11).

Also, the Lord will cause a humble and meek group of people to remain in the city of Jerusalem and in the nation because they took refuge in His name (cf. Zeph. 3:12).

This remnant of Jews during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ will be holy because they will never act in an unjust manner because they will never speak lies.

A deceitful tongue will never be found in their mouths (cf. Zeph. 3:13), which is the result of being regenerated through faith in Jesus Christ and possessing resurrection bodies minus the sin nature.

The city of Jerusalem and the nation of Israel will be holy during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ because the Lord will lift the judgments He directed against the Jews to discipline them during the seventy weeks of Daniel.

He will also cause Israel’s enemies to be turned back (cf. Zeph. 3:15) the remnant of Jews during the millennium will be holy because the Lord will renew them because of His love for them (cf. Zeph. 3:17).

This remnant will not suffer shame because she will be able to celebrate the seven great feasts the Lord had given them as recorded in Leviticus 23 to worship Him (cf. Zeph. 3:18).

They will also never suffer shame because the Lord will transform their shame as a nation into praise as well as honor throughout the entire earth (cf. Zeph. 3:19).

The Scriptures teach that Jesus Christ Himself will reign bodily in Jerusalem for a thousand years as the King of the earth and Israel will be head of the nations.