Zephaniah 1.7c-The Character of God Revealed by the Warning in Zephaniah 1.7
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday February 23, 2016
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 1:7c-The Character of God Revealed by the Warning in Zephaniah 1:7
Lesson # 20
Zephaniah 1:7 Be silent before the Lord GOD! For the day of the LORD is near, for the LORD has prepared a sacrifice, He has consecrated His guests. (NASB95)
Zephaniah 1:7 Be silent before the presence of my Sovereign, my Lord because the period of judgment to be brought about by the Lord is imminent. Indeed, the Lord has prepared a sacrificial meal. He has consecrated His invited guests. (Author’s translation)
Zephaniah 1:7 teaches many things about God.
The first is that God is sovereign over Judah, Jerusalem and all of creation and over every creature.
The second is God’s wrath or righteous indignation.
The third is that God is the Judge of the Jews and all the Gentile nations.
The fourth is that God is immanent.
The fifth concept is God’s grace.
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 1:4-13 speaks of the God of Israel’s wrath or we can say His righteous indignation against His people living in the kingdom of Judah and those living in the city of Jerusalem and those who are not His people.
God’s “wrath” refers to His legitimate anger towards evil and sin since both are contrary to His holiness or perfect character and nature.
In fact, God’s righteous indignation expresses His holiness, which pertains to the absolute perfection of God’s character.
His holiness is expressing the purity of His character or moral perfection and excellence and means that God can have nothing to do with sin or sinners.
He is totally separate from sin and sinners unless a way can be found to constitute them holy and that way has been provided based upon the merits of the impeccable Person and Finished Work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross.
The presence of evil, sin and injustice is totally absent in the character of God, thus God does not tolerate evil or sin because it is contrary to His character, i.e. His inherent moral qualities, ethical standards and principles.
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).
Zephaniah 1:4-13 describes the God of Israel as the judge of all the inhabitants of Judah and the city of Jerusalem.
The book of Zephaniah also speaks of 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 is judge over the whole of creation and 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) and 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).
Zephaniah 1:4-13 describes the God of Israel as a God of grace and love since these verses serve as a warning for those of His people living in apostasy that He will severely discipline them if they don’t repent by confessing their sins and obeying His commands and prohibitions.
They are also a warning to the unregenerate that God will judge them which will result in eternal condemnation if they don’t repent and trust in Him.
Grace is all that God is free to do in imparting unmerited blessings to those who trust in Jesus Christ as Savior based upon the merits of Christ and His death on the Cross.
It is God treating us in a manner that we don’t deserve and excludes any human works in order to acquire eternal salvation or blessing from God.
Grace means that God saved us and blessed us despite ourselves and not according to anything that we do but rather saved us and blessed us because of the merits of Christ and His work on the Cross.
It excludes any human merit in salvation and blessing (Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5) and gives the Creator all the credit and the creature none.
By means of faith, we accept the grace of God, which is a non-meritorious system of perception, which is in total accord with the grace of God. Grace and faith are totally compatible with each other and inseparable (1 Tim. 1:14) and complement one another (Rom. 4:16; Eph. 2:8).
Grace, faith and salvation are all the gift of God and totally exclude all human works and ability (Eph. 2:8-9).
Zephaniah 1:4-13 makes clear to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah that the God of Israel is intervening in their lives since it speaks of God judging them for their sinful lives.
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.
So here in Zephaniah 1:7, we have the prophet Zephaniah warning the citizens of the kingdom of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem that the day of the Lord is imminent.
This is the first of two times in which this expression appears in the book of Zephaniah.
The other occurrence is the Zephaniah 1:14.
Zephaniah 1:4-13 makes clear that this indefinite period of time is a time in which God will judge those of His people living in apostasy in the kingdom of Judah and the city of Jerusalem as well as those who were not His people, namely the unregenerate.
The presence of the noun yhwh, “Lord” appearing in the command in Zephaniah 1:7 and the reason for this command makes clear that Zephaniah is speaking with reference to those of God’s people who were living in apostasy.
This is indicated by the fact that this word is the covenant-keeping personal name of God used in connection with God’s covenant relationship with the Jewish people.
It emphasizes that God has a covenant relationship with these individuals living in the city of Jerusalem who were turning themselves back from following Him.
This word thus indicates that the Lord through Zephaniah is speaking of those who have trusted in Him and are believers since in Old Testament Israel non-believers do not have a covenant relationship with Him but only believers.
Therefore, this command indicates that the Lord is threatening to severely discipline His people living in Judah and the city of Jerusalem who were living in apostasy and which apostasy is described in Zephaniah 1:5-6.
The threat of judgment is also against the unregenerate who are described in Zephaniah 1:4.