The Day
Zephaniah • Sermon • Submitted
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· 9 viewsGod lays out a warning for destruction that would happen not just to the nations of the world, but also to Judah.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Josiah was a good king.
Hezekiah was a good king.
Two bombs in between.
Not a good legacy for Josiah. Desperate times with Assyria in its prime.
Then, it began to decline in 626 BC. Reforms in 621 BC. Assyria fell in 612 BC.
Assyrian Decline - 626 BC
Josiah’s Reformation - 621 BC
Fall of Assyria - 612 BC
When was Zephaniah written? Pre or Post Reform?
Zephaniah, being a distant cousin of the King Josiah.
Writing about God’s judgment in spite of Josiah’s leadership.
Judgment
Judgment
And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:24-
This represents an unCreation.
This effects all mankind. vv. 2-3
A Global Judgment
“Them”
But, then, vv. 4-5 show that God’s global judgment would also be
A Local Judgment
“Us”
Pointing at
Syncretism
Yahweh & Molech
Even rebels inquire of God! This is how bad their rebellion is!
Then all the men who knew that their wives had made offerings to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, all the people who lived in Pathros in the land of Egypt, answered Jeremiah: “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to you. But we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no disaster. But since we left off making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.” And the women said, “When we made offerings to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, was it without our husbands’ approval that we made cakes for her bearing her image and poured out drink offerings to her?”
God’s concern is global.
Ours should be, too.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Response To Judgment
Response To Judgment
Sometimes we just need to shut up.
The Day of the LORD
Amos - Don’t long for this, it is a dark day of judgment.
Judah is the sacrifice in v. 7.
Judah is a sacrifice for their own sins, but Jesus would be a sacrifice for the sins of others!
Leaping over thresholds.
This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.
Again, a level of syncretism.
Jerusalem is both alluded to and specifically called out.
This is the place where people should best know about the character and history of God.
Yet...
At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
and I will punish the men
who are complacent,
those who say in their hearts,
‘The Lord will not do good,
nor will he do ill.’
Leading directly to the Exile.
Some people will have a willful ignorance of God’s character.
People will reject and pay the penalty.
But, that does not excuse the church to be silent.
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
A Difficult Judgment
A Difficult Judgment
Even the mighty will cry out.
And God’s might will be made known.
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
This judgment is because of what? Their sin! v. 17.
And this isn’t a judgment someone can buy themselves out of. v. 18.
Salvation is by faith alone.
The fire of God’s jealousy.
For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Zephaniah concludes this oracle with a reminder of the unCreation.
“Full and Sudden end”
This is motivation for the lost - seek Christ!
This is motivation for the church - seek the lost!
