Zephaniah 3.17a-The Lord God of Israel, the Mighty Warrior Who Delivers Will Dwell in the Midst of the Remnant of Israel
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday September 14, 2016
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 3:17a-The Lord God of Israel, the Mighty Warrior Who Delivers Will Dwell in the Midst of the Remnant of Israel
Lesson # 89
Zephaniah 3:17 “The LORD your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.” (NASB95)
“A victorious warrior” is composed of the following: (1) masculine singular noun gibbôr (גִּבּוֹר), “a warrior” (2) masculine singular hiphil active imperfect form of the verb yāšaʿ (יָשַׁע), “victorious.”
The noun gibbôr means “warrior, mighty warrior, valiant soldier” since the word pertains to a mighty hero who distinguishes himself in war or combat and is very capable of defense or attack.
Here it is used of the Lord, the God of Israel and describes Him as a valiant, brave and courageous soldier or warrior and refers to a military hero or in other words, one who distinguishes himself in combat.
The verb yāšaʿ does not mean “victorious” but rather in the hiphil stem it means “to save, to rescue, to deliver.”
It can refer to saving or delivering or rescuing someone in a spiritual sense or in a physical sense such as from an enemy or some great danger.
Here it is used with regards to the Lord Jesus Christ, the God of Israel.
The fact that the word is modifying the noun gibbôr, “mighty warrior” which speaks of someone who distinguishes Himself in combat or war would strongly suggest that the word is used of deliverance from one’s enemies or great physical danger.
Thus, it is referring to the fact that Jesus Christ will physically deliver Jerusalem and the remnant of Israel from great physical danger because of their enemies seeking to destroy them rather than referring to the spiritual deliverance He provides sinners through faith in Himself.
The imperfect conjugation of this verb is a potential imperfect which expresses the idea of the Lord, God of Israel possesses the inherent ability because of His character and nature to deliver people from their enemies or mortal danger.
It is also can be interpreted as an iterative or customary imperfect expressing characteristic action which would mean that the Lord, the God of Israel is characterized as being able to deliver or rescue or save a person or persons from an enemy and mortal danger.
Zephaniah 3:17 The Lord, the God ruling over and in a relationship with you is in your midst, a mighty warrior characterized as being able to deliver. (My translation)
The first prophetic declaration recorded in Zephaniah 3:17 predicts that the Lord, the God ruling over and in a relationship with the remnant of Israel living in Jerusalem will be in the midst of Jerusalem and thus in the midst of this future remnant of Israel.
It echoes the third prophetic declaration recorded in Zephaniah 3:15 which asserts that the King ruling over and in a relationship with Israel, the Lord is the midst of this remnant.
Both of these prophetic declarations predict that the king of Israel, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, will rule bodily in the midst of this city of Jerusalem and the future remnant of Israel during His millennial reign.
This prophecy echoes other Old Testament passages of Scripture (cf. Ps. 46:5; Is. 9:7; 44:6; Ezek. 37:26-28; 48:35; Joel 3:17, 21; Zech. 2:10; 14:9).
The Scriptures teach that Jesus Christ Himself will reign bodily in Jerusalem for a thousand years as the King of the earth and Israel will be head of the nations.
Jesus Christ will establish His millennial reign at His Second Advent when He will come from heaven with the elect angels and the church to deliver Israel from Satan and his angels and Antichrist, the false prophet and the Tribulational armies.
During the millennial reign of Christ, Satan will be incarcerated for a thousand years and Israel will be regathered and the four unconditional covenants that the Lord established with the nation will be literally fulfilled.
There will be perfect social, economic, environmental and political conditions during the millennial reign of Christ because during this time, God will make a display of the absolute authority of divine government through the rule of the Messiah.
The word “millennium” denotes a biblical doctrine taught in Revelation 20:1-6 and throughout the Old Testament.
The millennial kingdom will be a glorious kingdom because of the bodily presence of the Creator, Jesus Christ on the earth in a glorified, resurrection body (Is. 24:23; 4:2; 35:2).
Christ will reign over the nations of the earth from the throne of His holiness (Ps. 47:8-9) and as a result there will be national and individual peace as the fruit of the Messiah’s reign (Is. 2:4; 9:4-7; 11:6-9; 32:17-18; 33:5-6; 54:13; 55:12; 60:18; 65:25; 66:12; Ezek. 28:26; 34:25; Hos. 2:18; Mic. 4:2-3; Zech. 9:10).
There will be a full knowledge of the Lord during the millennium because of the indwelling presence of the Spirit in the subjects of the Lord (Is. 11:1-2; 41:19-20; Hab. 2:14) and this knowledge will be the result of the instruction that issues from the Lord Jesus (Is. 2:2-3; 12:3-6; Jer. 3:14-15; Mic. 4:2).
The Scriptures make clear that the world government during the millennium will be under the rule of the Lord Jesus Christ (Is. 2:2-4; 9:3-7; 11:1-10; 16:5; Dan. 2:44; 7:15-28; Obad. 17-21; Mic. 4:1-8; 5:2-5; Zeph. 3:9-10; Zech. 9:10-15; 14:16-17).
The millennial reign will be marked by the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ (Is. 12:1-6; 25:1-26:19; 56:7; 61:10-11; 66:23; Jer. 33:11, 18, 21-22; Ezek. 20:40-41; 40:1-46:24; Zech. 6:12-15; 8:20-23; 14:16-21).
In Zephaniah 3:17, after predicting that the Lord Jesus Christ, the God of Israel will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem and in particular the remnant of Israel dwelling in this city during His millennial reign, Zephaniah goes on to describe the Lord Jesus Christ.
He describes the Lord as a mighty warrior who is characterized as being able to bring about deliverance from one’s enemies and mortal danger.
This description asserts that the Lord Jesus Christ is a mighty military hero who distinguishes Himself in war or combat and is very capable of defending those who trust in Him and attacking and defeating the enemies of those who trust in Him (Psa. 24:8).
This description also asserts that He is characterized as being able to bring about deliverance and can refer to saving or delivering or rescuing someone in a spiritual sense or in a physical sense such as from an enemy or some great danger.
In a spiritual sense, the word would refer to the fact that through faith in Himself, the Lord delivers sinners from eternal condemnation, condemnation from the Law, personal sins, the sin nature, spiritual and physical death, Satan and his cosmic system.
In a physical sense, it would speak of Him delivering those who trust in Him from an army or enemies seeking to destroy those who trust in Him.
However, the fact this deliverance is used in relation to the Lord distinguishing Himself in combat or war would strongly suggest that this deliverance is used of deliverance from one’s enemies or great physical danger.
Thus, it is referring to the fact that Jesus Christ will physically deliver Jerusalem and the remnant of Israel from great physical danger because of their enemies seeking to destroy them rather than referring to the spiritual deliverance He provides sinners through faith in Himself.
Therefore, this description of the Lord Jesus Christ as someone who is a mighty military hero who is characterized as being able to deliver in Zephaniah 3:17 is prophesying that the Lord Jesus Christ will be known as a warrior who can deliver from mortal danger and one’s enemies.
This will be the direct result of His great military heroics which He will accomplish at His Second Advent.
The “Second Advent” of Jesus Christ is taught in both the Old and New Testaments (Deuteronomy 30:3; Psalm 2:1-9; 24:7-10; 96:10-13; 110; Isaiah 9:6-7; 63:1-6; Jeremiah 23:1-8; Daniel 2:44-45; 7:18-27; Zechariah 12; 14:1-9; Matthew 19:28; 24:27-31; Mark 13:24-30; Luke 12:35-40; 17:24-37; 18:8; 21:25-28; Acts 1:10-11; 15:16-18; Romans 11:25-27; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10; 2:8; 2 Peter 3:3-4; Jude 14-15; Revelation 1:7-8; 2:25-28; 16:15; 19:11-21).
At that time, He will kill the Antichrist and the false prophet and defeat the tribulational armies and imprison Satan and the fallen angels for a thousand years, all of which are attempting to destroy Israel during the tribulation portion of the seventieth week of Daniel.
Therefore, Zephaniah 3:17 describes the Lord Jesus Christ as one who is characterized as having the ability to deliver from one’s enemies and life and death situations.
Isaiah 63:1-6 is a prophesy describing the Lord Jesus Christ as a military hero delivering Israel from her enemies at His Second Advent.
This physical deliverance of this future remnant of Israel at Jesus Christ’s Second Advent is a visible manifestation of a spiritual reality, namely that this remnant will trust in Jesus Christ to deliver them from Satan, Antichrist and the tribulational armies surrounding her during the tribulation period (Ezek. 37:20-28).
Their faith in Jesus Christ will appropriate His power or omnipotence which He will exercise on their behalf to defeat all their enemies both visible and invisible, human and angelic.
At His “Second Advent,” the Lord Jesus Christ will destroy the Tribulational armies, have Antichrist and the False Prophet thrown into the Lake of Fire (Rev. 19:11-19), will imprison Satan for a thousand years (Rev. 20:1-3) and will establish His millennial reign on planet earth (Rev. 20:4-6).
At that time, the Lord and His armies will orbit the earth before landing on the Mount of Olives, which was the site of His Ascension (Acts. 1:9-11).
There will be a great earthquake when our Lord’s foot touches the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:1-8) and will be a unique day having neither day nor night (Zech. 14:7).
The Lord Jesus Christ describes the Tribulation period in detail and His Second Advent in Matthew 24:29-31 and Luke 21:25-28.