A Promised Messiah - Pt 6: Zephaniah

Intro

Background

Kingdom of Judah, During Reign of Josiah

Peak of the nation of Judah’s history after the nation split in 2

Major reforms from this YOUNG king - 8yrs old when began to reign - reigned 31 yrs

18th Year of his reign (~26 yrs old), the Book fo the Law was found in the Temple

Leads to an amazing moment of Repentance, and for the first time in at least 26 years (probably longer), the Passover is kept —that meal that God told His people to keep each year, reminding them of the salvation from bondage in Egypt.

In spite of these reforms at the national level—at the Kingly level—things in the nation continue to get worse, and worse and worse.

After 31 years of reigning in Judah, Josiah is killed in Battle—as a result of not listening to the Lord. He went into battle when the Lord said not to. He’s killed, and Judah spirals. His son reigned for a mere 3 months before Egypt came in and he was deposed.

It’s during this reign of Josiah, when the King is turning back to God, but the people aren’t following suit…that Zephaniah prophesies.

The first 3 1/4 chapters are all about destruction. We’re not going to unpack all it entails because, well, we’ve seen it already, but there’s something I do want to point out. There are 3 stages of Zephaniah’s prophecies of destruction:

Judah

Judah’s Enemies (the nations surrounding them)

Judah & the Surrounding Nations (their enemies)

And it’s important to note this as we focus in on the remainder of chapter 3 this morning and the hope that is given. As we see the Promised Messiah—the King of Israel—show up. The hope that arrives in the midst of the destruction that has come upon this people because of their decision to walk away from God.

Hope for His People

We’re going to pick it up this morning in Zephaniah 3, and we’ll start in verse 9.

PRAY

READ: Zephaniah 3:9-13

First thing to note here, is the context. This is why I mentioned the 3 stages of Zephaniah’s prophecies of destruction. This message of hope and restoration comes directly after the prophecy of destruction that includes both Judah and the surrounding nations. “the peoples” - Not just Israel…not just Judah…the peoples…yes, Israelites included in that, but also the people of the nations they were driven to… This hope that was given not just to Israel, but was extended outward. We, again, see this inclusion of people from every nation into this great hope that’s been given.

Remove the Proud; Leave the Humble & Lowly The distinguishing mark given here between those who are removed, and those who remain. Not the proud and arrogant, but the humble and lowly, those who seek refuge in the name of the LORD. And here’s what it says about those people:

do no injustice (VERY different than before - Hosea 8:5 - “…incapable of innocence…”

speak no lies

none shall make them afraid

This is a people who reflect the heart of God. Those who are secure in Him. These are the type of people who will remain in Israel. A redefinition, or perpahaps a reclarification of what it means to be the people of God. Not the pride and arrogance of so many during the time of this prophecy—those who thought they were free and clear, safe from any punishment for the simple fact that they were ethnically Jewish. God is destroying any such notion, any such prideful arrogance—it is those who truly, genuinely seek refuge in Him. This is the people He is establishing, and He is calling them from every nation.

Hope of a King

Let’s keep going:

READ Zephaniah 3:14-20

The first thing this people is told to do: REJOICE! “The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil.”

What does this King do that is worthy of rejoicing in?

Saves.

Rejoices Over His Poeple - This is an expression of GREAT JOY!

Quiets. - Indicating Peace.

Exults. - Shout! Cry of jubilation!

Gathers - those who mourn, who are in torment, who are suffering: Why? For the festival—-for the celebration of the presence of God. Those who long for Him, He will gather to Himself. What a beautiful thing! He gathers those who long for Him. They don’t have to go searching. They don’t have to figure it out. We long for Him, and He gathers us to Himself.

The Here, but not yet here, Kingdom of God

We hear all of this, and think wow…how amazing is that! (At least I hope you do!) What a beautiful promise, what a beautiful hope!

But when? How? Is this merely something that we are waiting for to one day happen? I think too often, that’s our thinking. We read passages like this, we read the promises of God, and stick them into the purely “one day” category.

But here’s where I want to challenge us this morning: When the King of Israel, God Himself, came to the earth, He came to establish His Kingdom. But the way in which He did so…the timeline of how he established it, the ways in which He is continuing to grow and establish His kingdom, went against much of what the people of Israel expected. But instead of me just standing up here trying to explain this Kingdom He has established, let’s listen to our King’s explanation of this Kingdom.

Here’s what we learn of this Kingdom:

At the start of Jesus’ ministry, after He was a baptized and spent 40 days in the wilderness fasting and being tempted by Satan, this was his message: Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”” The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. That phrase, “is at hand”, do you want to know what it means in the greek? It’s the word “engizo” it means “to be moving toward and not be far distant from a moment in time; to come near” Jesus was saying: The Kingdom has drawn near! It is to arrive in a not far distant moment in time. Here’s the reality: Jesus established His Kingdom through His death and Resurrection. We are not awaiting the establishment of the Kingdom. It has already been established by His blood.

What we ARE waiting for: is it’s culmination. It’s fullness. This is often referred to as the Here, but not yet Here Kingdom of God. And we see this explained by Jesus in a couple of parables—turn with me to Matthew 13, we’ll start in verse 31. So Jesus is, in this section of Matthew’s Gospel, telling parables, (short stories that teach us something) regarding the Kingdom of Heaven, or the Kingdom of God. This Kingdom He came to establish. We’re going to look at 2 (well, 3, but two are very similar) parables.

READ Matthew 13:31-33

Mustard Seed & Leaven - What do these teach us.

This was seed that was planted, that will grow. It wasn’t established in its fullness right away, but was planted as a seed that would grow and one day be a tree. (a Tiny Seed, that would grow MASSIVE)

It would start out small, tiny like leaven (or yeast) - but would make it’s way all throughout the dough (the world). It started out small, in one particular place and one particular time…yet would work it’s way throughout the entire world.

So we see the establishment of the Kingdom of God - The rule and reign of this Promised King of Israel, was a Kingdom that began small—it didn’t come in and depose of the Romans, destroying all other nations, setting up an earthly kingdom of Israel like the Jews expected. It was established…and it’s growing. SO DON’T LOSE HEART! The Kingdom is here. And while we are not yet seeing its fullness, while we are still awaiting the bodily return of our King, let’s not forget that His Kingdom has already been established. The mustard seed has been planted. The leaven is being worked into the dough. ZEPHENIAH: “The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil.” We can hope in this NOW!

READ Matthew 13:24-30 ; 36-43

While this Kingdom is being established, while the wheat is growing — so are the weeds. And this is the reality of the world as we look around us. When we see the fruit of sin and evil in our world. There is still sickness and pain, evil, destruction… But a day is coming…as God patiently waits…as His love and desire for all to come to know Him is displayed through His patience…we know the day is coming, when He will return, and the fullness of the prophecy in Zephaniah will be realized. When the weeds will be gathered. When “ALL CAUSES OF SIN AND ALL LAW-BREAKERS” will be removed. When the proud, exultant ones are removed, as Zephaniah says.

The day is coming when we will see the culmination of the Kingdom of God that has been established in Christ.

But just because we haven’t seen the culmination of His Kingdom, does not mean we are not already a part of it!

And this is the encouragment I pray we go away with today!

When we read: “The king is in their midst…” we can read of all that He does, and have conficence that inspite of the weeds around us, inspite of the evil and sin and brokenness still present: His Kingdom has been established and He will one day return to remove all causes of sin.

Don’t Lose Heart

So don’t lose heart. Don’t forget, child of God, whose Kingdom you belong to.

We are given this great promise, found in Colossians 1:13

Colossians 1:13 ESV

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

He HAS done this! The moment we embrace Him! The moment we LONG for Him, and He gathers us to Himself…we are a part of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, the King of Israel, the Promised Messiah.

So let us walk in that confidence. Let us not lose hope, not lose heart…but walk knowing He has already established His Kingdom and this Kingdom continues to grow, as a mustard seed, it continues to spread throughout the earth as leaven…and The King, by His Spirit, is in our midst…and He will one day, bodily return, bringing His Kingdom to completion!