You Sing Over Me?

You Sing Over Me? by Steve Keeler

Zephaniah 3:15-18

The LORD has taken away your punishment, He has turned back your enemy. The LORD, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm. On that day they will say to Jerusalem, “Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. The sorrows for the appointed feasts I will remove from you; they are a burden and a reproach to you.”

“Is that really true?” “Did I read that correctly?” “Is that even possible?” “What wonderful promises!”

If you read the first chapter Zephaniah you would find that God’s people had disregarded Him to the point of rejection for centuries.

Then in our scripture it says; He will be in the midst of that sinful people, rejoicing over them, quieting them by His love, and singing songs over them.

He sang over them! Wow, did these people do something special? Did they become more religious or finally work hard enough to please God? Now, we know we can’t do enough to right even one wrong against God, let alone centuries worth of disobedience!

So, how does God sing over sinners, like me, like you? I don’t know about you but I sin everyday, I never want to but I do.

Just like Paul, I don’t do what I want and I do what I don’t want to do over and over. I am totally unworthy of any praise from God and I know that.

When we finally realize that we can work our way into God’s grace, we are finally at the point where we can enjoy the rich gospel promises of Jesus Christ.

When you finally realize you don't deserve God's mercy, that’s when you can see the wonder of the gift that He has for us.

It’s only at that moment when we see, it’s God's grace that has “taken away the judgments against us” by the death of His only son Jesus, Christ.

Our sin makes all us worthy of the wrath of God. But once in that love relationship with Jesus, the judgments we deserve have been taken away. All the sins of all our past all forgiven all at last. We, the Christ followers, have had an enormous weight removed from our shoulders.

What should be a swift sword of judgment has become a song of joy sung over us. Amazing Grace!!

Zephaniah shows us how the sinner becomes a recipient of God's exuberant rejoicing. God changes pride-filled sinners and makes them humble.

In chapter 3:9-10 says; "For then I will give to the peoples purified lips, that all of them may call on the name of the LORD, to serve Him shoulder to shoulder. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My worshipers, My dispersed ones, will bring My offerings."

These verses demonstrate how the Gentiles "peoples" in verse 9 and the Jews "dispersed ones" in verse 10 will be changed and all of them will call upon and worship God side by side together.

How does this happen? God must change the heart. He will make the proud, humble causing them to seek Him above all other gods.

He promises in 3:12 that "I will leave among you a humble and lowly people, and they will take refuge in the name of the LORD. " That’s still not enough to give us a singing Savior. Wrath still must be poured out for sin in order for God to remain just as He extends His heart changing mercy.

So what does God do? He sends His suffering, Servant King, Jesus, to take the wrath that we deserve, live a perfect life that we are incapable of living.

He then takes our sin upon Himself, and by His death frees us from the punishment of sin, granting to us His righteousness. All this is promised in the Bible.

This is how God gladly sings over sinners like you and me. He changes them, sends His Son to die for them.

He then overcomes death for them so that if they trust and abide in Jesus, they can be made righteous and saved from His just wrath, and receive the promise of His glorious presence forever.

Now, because of Jesus, these promises at the end of Zephaniah are ours. 1 Corinthians 1:20 tells us that ALL the promises of God find their yes in Jesus.

Now let me make it very clear. God will never be unhappy to admit us into His Heavenly Kingdom. It’s not as though Christ found a loophole in the law, did some fancy plea-bargaining, and squeaked us through the gates by getting around the Judge.