Zephaniah-Introduction-Purposes and Theology of the Book
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday January 19, 2016
Zephaniah: Introduction-Purposes and Theology of the Book
Lesson # 5
The reason for the book is to proclaim “the day of the Lord” to those Jews living in Judah in Zephaniah’s day to warn them of the God of Israel’s imminent judgment of their nation for their sinful lives.
The book is designed to warn, convict and encourage and motivate those believers in Israel who were in apostasy or who did not believe in the God of Israel to repent.
For those who were believers in apostasy repentance would involve confession of sin followed by obedience to the Lord’s commands.
For those who were unbelievers, this would involve exercising faith in the God of Israel.
Another purpose of Zephaniah is to warn and encourage the future generation of Jews who will live during Daniel’s Seventieth Week (Zeph. 1:14-18).
The book also serves to warn the nations of impending judgment during the Seventieth Week of Daniel (Zeph. 1:14-18).
It also serves to announce that God will establish His kingdom on the earth and that not only Israel will serve and worship Him but all the Gentile nations of the earth will as well.
The theology of Zephaniah is rich.
First, there is the declaration of the God of Israel’s sovereignty over Israel and all the nations of the earth (Zeph. 3:8).
The term “sovereignty” connotes a situation in which a person, from his innate dignity, exercises supreme power, with no areas of his province outside his jurisdiction.
As applied to God, the term “sovereignty” indicates His complete power over all of creation, so that He exercises His will absolutely, without any necessary conditioning by a finite will or wills.
Zephaniah also describes the God of Israel as intervening in the affairs of mankind since it speaks of God judging Judah and the nations and this is called the “immanency” of God.
The immanency of God means that He involves Himself in and concerns Himself with and intervenes in the lives of members of the human race, both saved and unsaved.
The book of Zephaniah also speaks of the God of Israel’s wrath or we can say His righteous indignation (Zeph. 1:14-18), which refers to His legitimate anger towards evil and sin since both are contrary to His holiness or perfect character and nature.
God’s holiness refers to the absolute perfection of His character, expressing His purity of His character or moral perfection and excellence and intolerance and opposition and rejection of sin and evil, thus God is totally separate from sin and sinners.
Thus, God’s holiness is related to all of His divine attributes or in other words, it is simply the harmony of all His perfections or attributes.
Therefore, God’s wrath, which is in reality, righteous indignation is an expression of His holiness, righteousness and love in opposition to sin and evil.
God’s wrath or righteous indignation is used of God’s settled opposition to and displeasure against sin meaning that God’s holiness cannot and will not coexist with sin in any form whatsoever.
It is not the momentary, emotional, and often uncontrolled anger to which human beings are prone and does not refer to an explosive outburst but rather it refers to an inner, deep resentment that seethes and smolders, often unnoticed by others as in the case of God’s wrath.
God hates sin so much and loves the sinner so much that He judged His Son Jesus Christ for every sin in human history-past, present and future and provided deliverance from sin through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
The only way to avoid God’s righteous indignation is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. John 3:36).
The book of Zephaniah also describes the God of Israel as the judge of all mankind (Zeph. 2; 3:1-7).
He has authority to judge since He is the creator.
The Scriptures teach of God’s status as judge (Psalm 75:7; cf. Psalm 50:6; 76:8-9; Ecclesiastes 11:9; Isaiah 33:22; 66:16; 2 Timothy 4:8; Hebrews 12:23; James 4:12).
God also decides disputes (Judges 11:27; cf. Genesis 16:5; 31:53; 1 Samuel 24:15; Isaiah 2:4; Micah 4:3; James 5:9).
He presides in the heavenly court in the third heaven (Isaiah 3:13; cf. Psalm 50:4; 82:1; Daniel 7:9-10; Joel 3:12; Revelation 20:11-15).
He judges the inhabitants of the earth (Genesis 18:25; cf. Psalm 9:8; 58:11; 82:8; 94:2; 96:13; 98:9).
God judges every individual (Ezekiel 33:20; cf. Ecclesiastes 3:17; Hebrews 9:27; 1 Peter 4:5; Jude 15; Revelation 20:12).
He judges the nations (Joel 3:12; cf. Psalm 9:19-20; 110:6; Obadiah 15; Zephaniah 3:8).
God judges rulers of nations (Isaiah 40:23; Jeremiah 25:17-27; Revelation 6:15-17).
He also judges His own people in the sense that He disciplines them as His children (Hebrews 10:30; cf. Deuteronomy 32:36; Psalm 78:62; Jeremiah 1:16; 1 Peter 4:17).
The book of Zephaniah also addresses the subjects of pride and humility (Zeph. 2:3, 10; 3:11).
In the Scriptures, pride is a great evil because it involves pretending to a greatness and glory that belongs rightly to God alone.
It is condemned as evil (1 Samuel 15:23; Proverbs 21:4; James 4:16; cf. Mark 7:22-23; Romans 1:29-30; 2 Corinthians 12:20; 2 Timothy 3:1-2; 1 John 2:16).
It is a characteristic of Satan (Ezekiel 28:2; 1 Timothy 3:6; cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:4, the antichrist)
There are warnings about pride in the book of Proverbs (Proverbs 16:5, 18; cf. Proverbs 3:7, 34; 6:16-17; 11:2; 25:6-7, 27; 26:12; 27:1; 29:23) as well as elsewhere in Scripture (Psalm 119:21; cf. Leviticus 26:19).
God is said to be opposed to the proud (1 Peter 5:5; James 4:6; Proverbs 3:34).
On the other hand, humility is viewing ourselves from God’s perspective meaning we are sinners saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ and expresses itself in obedience to the Father’s will, which manifests itself in loving and serving others.
God commands humility (Micah 6:8; James 4:10; 1 Peter 3:8; cf. Exodus 10:3; Proverbs 16:19; Isaiah 57:15; 58:5; Zephaniah 2:3; Luke 14:9-11; Romans 12:3; 1 Corinthians 1:28; Ephesian 4:2; Colossians 3:12; Titus 3:2; James 3:13; 1 Peter 5:5) and He promotes the humble (Luke 1:52; cf. 2 Samuel 7:8; 1 Kings 14:7).
Believers should humble themselves before God (2 Chronicles 7:14; 1 Peter 5:6; cf. 2 Samuel 22:28).
Humility is linked with repentance (1 Kings 21:29; 2 Kings 22:19; 2 Chronicles 12:6-7, 12; 30:11; 33:12,19; 34:27).
Humility is also linked with God’s favor (Psalm 18:27; 25:9; 138:6; 147:6; 149:4; Proverbs 3:34; 18:12; James 4:6; Isaiah 29:19; 38:15; 57:15; Proverbs 15:33; 22:4; Psalm 35:13; Jeremiah 44:10).
Another theological subject mentioned in the book of Zephaniah is idolatry (Zeph. 1:5-6).
Deuteronomy 32:17 and 1 Corinthians 10:20 teach that the worship of idols is connected to the worship of demons since the sacrificing to idols is in reality sacrificing to demons who promote the worship of idols.
Idolatry is the worship of something created as opposed to the worship of the Creator Himself (Ex. 20:3, 23).
Idolatry is not only the giving to any creature or human creation the honor or devotion, which belongs to God alone, but also is putting anything ahead of your relationship with God and which would prevent you from doing His will (1 Cor 10:14; Gal 5:20; Col 3:5; 1 Peter 4:3).
Ultimately in the New Testament idolatry came to mean, not only the giving to any creature or human creation the honor or devotion which belonged to God alone, but the giving to any human desire a precedence over God’s will (1 Cor 10:14; Gal 5:20; Col 3:5; 1 Peter 4:3).
The book of Zephaniah also speaks of God’s grace in Zephaniah 3:12-20 since this passage reveals that God will restore Israel to her land and her Messiah will dwell within her.
Another critical doctrine found in the book of Zephaniah is that of the remnant which speaks of a remainder of righteous people of God who survive judgment or catastrophe.
Fruchtenbaum writes “The doctrine of the remnant means that, within the Jewish nation as a whole, there are always some who believe and all those who believe among Israel comprise the Remnant of Israel. The remnant at any point of history may be large or small but there is never a time when it is non-existent. Only believers comprise the remnant, but not all believers are part of the remnant for the remnant is a Jewish remnant and is, therefore, comprised of Jewish believers. Furthermore, the remnant is always part of the nation as a whole and not detached from the nation as a separate entity. The remnant is distinct, but distinct within the nation.”