Zephaniah 3.15a-First Two Reasons Why the Future Remnant of Israel Will Rejoice
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday September 7, 2016
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 3:15a-First Two Reasons Why the Future Remnant of Israel Will Rejoice
Lesson # 86
Zephaniah 3:14 Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! 15 The LORD has taken away His judgments against you, He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; You will fear disaster no more. (NASB95)
“The LORD has taken away His judgments against you” is composed of the following: (1) third person masculine singular hiphil active perfect form of the verb sûr (סוּר), “has taken away” (2) masculine singular proper noun yhwh (יהוה), “the Lord” (3) masculine plural construct form of the noun mišpāṭ (מִשְׁפָּט), “judgments” (4) second person feminine singular pronominal suffix ʾat (אַתְּ), “against you.”
The proper noun yhwh, “Lord” is the covenant keeping personal name of God emphasizing the personal covenant relationship that the future remnant of Israel living during the millennial reign of Christ will enjoy with God.
The verb sûr (soor) means “to cause the lifting of something, to cause the termination of something” since it pertains to the termination of something concrete or abstract.
The word’s object is the masculine plural construct form of the noun mišpāṭ (meesh-paht), which means “judgments” since the word pertains to a judicial verdict decreed by God against guilty sinners resulting in some sort of disaster or calamity for the guilty party.
The second person feminine singular pronominal suffix ʾat (aht) means “you” referring to the future remnant of Israel living during the millennium.
The perfect conjugation of this verb can be interpreted as a prophetic perfect expressing the certainty that this event will take place in the future.
The implication would be that this future event would serve as motivation for the Jewish remnant to rejoice in the present.
However, the perfect conjugation of this verb could also be interpreted as a complete-action perfect which describes a past action or event as a complete whole or in other words, it is a constative perfect which is describing in summary fashion the action of the Lord terminating the judgments He directed against Israel.
“He has cleared away your enemies” is composed of the following: (1) third person masculine singular piel active perfect form of the verb pānâ (פָּנָה), “He has cleared away” (2) masculine singular construct form of the noun ʾōyēb (אֹיֵב), “enemies” (3) second person feminine singular pronominal suffix ʾat (אַתְּ), “your.”
The verb pānâ (pah-nah) is in the piel stem and means “to remove, to turn away” since the word pertains to removing or taking something away, conceived of as turning something away and denotes a change of direction.
The object of this verb is the masculine singular construct form of the noun ʾōyēb (owe-yehv), which means “enemy” since the word pertains to a person who is in open opposition and hostility to another and is used of a person who is treated as an enemy in military, moral and social contexts.
The second person feminine singular pronominal suffix ʾat once again means “you” referring to the future remnant of Israel living during the millennium.
The perfect conjugation of this verb is a complete-action perfect which describes a past action or event as a complete whole or in other words, it is a constative perfect which is describing in summary fashion the action of the Lord Jesus Christ terminating the judgments He directed against Israel.
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. (My translation)
Zephaniah 3:15 reveals four reasons why this remnant was to obey the commands in Zephaniah 3:14.
The first reason presented in verse 15 which serves as the basis to obey the commands of verse 14 is that the nation of Israel was no longer being disciplined by God since the seventieth week of Daniel (490 prophetic years) has been fulfilled with the Second Advent of Christ.
Secondly, the Lord has defeated all of Israel’s enemies including the final great enemy, Antichrist.
Thirdly, the king of Israel, Jesus Christ will bodily present in her midst during His millennial reign.
Lastly, this remnant was to rejoice because she would no longer have any need to fear disaster as a result of Jesus Christ living in her midst.
The nation of Israel will not fear anyone because her time of discipline will have ended.
She will no longer fear anyone or anything because Jesus Christ has destroyed all her enemies.
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.
These are the Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic and New covenants.
Which member of the Trinity is in view with the “the Lord?”
It would appear to be the Son rather than the Father or the Spirit since it will be the Second Advent of Jesus Christ which will terminate the seventy weeks of Daniel prophecy.
These seventy weeks are 490 prophetic years in which God disciplines the nation of Israel for her rebellion and disobedience to His Word.
Are these judgments mentioned in this first declaration contained in Zephaniah 3:15 referring to the judgments God decreed against the Jewish people during the seventieth week of Daniel which would include the seven seal, trumpet and bowl judgments?
Or do they refer to all God’s judgments which were administered throughout all these 490 prophetic years?
It would appear to be the latter since we must remember that this future remnant of Israel living during the millennial reign of Christ will be composed not only of regenerate Jews who lived during the seventieth week but regenerate Jews from every dispensation in history.
Thus regenerate Jews who lived during the dispensation of Israel under the Mosaic Law will be members of the remnant living during the millennium.
Also, regenerate Jews who lived during the church age are a part of this remnant as well.
All of these regenerate Jews from all these dispensations experienced God’s judgment as unregenerate, unrepentant sinners.
The implication of this first declaration in Zephaniah 3:15 would be that the future remnant of Israel living during the millennial reign of Christ can rejoice now that the Lord has terminated the judgments of the seventy weeks.
In other words, the fact that the Lord has stopped judging Israel would serve as motivation to obey the commands to rejoice in verse 14.
The judgments of the seventy weeks were designed to motivate the nation of Israel to repent and trust in the Lord.
The nation of Israel will trust in Jesus Christ at His Second Advent which will end the seventy weeks and thus the judgments contained during this period.
This paves the way for the nation of Israel to rejoice during the millennium which follows the Second Advent.
The second declaration contained in Zephaniah 3:15 asserts that the Lord Jesus Christ, the God of Israel has caused this enemy of the remnant of Israel to be turned back.
Who is this enemy?
Is it used in a collective sense for all of Israel’s enemies throughout the seventy weeks prophecy or does it refer only to the Antichrist?
It would appear that this enemy is being used in a collective sense for the enemies God used to discipline the nation of Israel throughout the seventy weeks of Daniel.
There are several factors which indicate this is the case.
First, as we noted earlier, we must remember again that this future remnant of Israel living during the millennial reign of Christ will be composed not only of regenerate Jews who lived during the seventieth week but regenerate Jews from every dispensation in history.
Thus regenerate Jews who lived during the dispensation of Israel under the Mosaic Law will be members of the remnant living during the millennium.
Also, regenerate Jews who lived during the church age are a part of this remnant as well.
God raised up enemies against all of these regenerate Jews from all these dispensations when they were unregenerate, unrepentant sinners.
Therefore, with this being the case, these enemies of Israel would include Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome and the final stage of the Roman Empire under Antichrist during the seventieth week of Daniel.
Ultimately, Satan is the greatest enemy of Israel and has used unregenerate Gentile rulers to discipline her like Nebuchadnezzar and Antiochus Epiphanes IV.
He will use Antichrist during the seventieth week to do so as well (cf. Rev. 12).