Hope: A Message From The Book Of Zephaniah

It's important for us to understand the time and era in which Zephaniah lived for us to get a full picture of what's really going. So I'd like to give just a brief background and talk a little about the history of what's going on at this time.

As we see in Zephaniah 1:1, the current king of Judah is a guy by the name of Josiah.

"The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah."

Zephaniah 1:1 (ESV)

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KING JOSIAH

Let's talk a little about Josiah - because there's some interesting stuff going on here. Josiah became the king of Judah (the southern kingdom) when he was just 8 years old. His dad, king Amon had been assassinated, and in those days the son succeeded the father, so - king of a nation.

A 3rd grader.

King.

Of a nation.

The most powerful nation on the planet at the time.

I can tell you that, for me, at 8 years old and in 3rd grade, my primary concern in life were things like TV, video games, riding my bike with my friends.

If I were a king when I was 8, that would've probably meant unlimited TV.

My royal counsel, "King Austin - don't you think it's probably time for bed?"

"I think it's probably time for you to bring me some more pizza."

Who's going to tell an 8 year old king their own schedule?

In fact, I think one of the most terrifying things might just be an 8 year old who has complete and total control of their own schedule.

8 years old and a king. Man that would be awesome. Bed time is whenever you want it to be.

Dinner is whatever you want it to be. Feel like using heavy cream for the milk in your cereal and watching TV til the sun comes up?

No one to stand in your way.

What a life.

But in all seriousness, and this is the amazing thing:

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THE LAST GOOD KING

The Bible tells us that Josiah was actually one of the few good kings in all of the history of Judah. If you remember, we've talked about it in this series before, that in the nation of Israel there was a civil war, and so we had kings to the north in the nation of Israel, and kings in the south in the nation of Judah.

In Scripture, there's not one good king recorded in the north in this time. Not one. Ever.

In the south there's just a couple and Josiah is one of them.

In 2 Chronicles we find Josiah's story, and specifically chapter 34 in the first part of verse 3 in fact tells us that:

"For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David his father,"

2 Chronicles 34:3a (ESV)

So as a teenager at just age 16, Josiah begins to seek the Lord, to press into God. That's already amazing, but let's continue reading that verse.

"For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David his father, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, and the carved and the metal images."

2 Chronicles 34:3 (ESV)

So if we're making a timeline:

At 16, he seeks the Lord

At 20, he removes idols and idolatry from the land of Judah.

When I was 20 years old, I was deciding on if I wanted to add an Art History minor to my degree. Priorities, right?

Let's continue:

"Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had cleansed the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God."

2 Chronicles 34:8 (ESV)

So now at 26, he opens the Word of God and begins to renovate the temple.

This is huge because the temple had been closed. People were worshiping the God's of other nations, which meant that no one was worshiping God, making sacrifices, you name it. For years.

The nation of Israel under his grandfather Manasseh, a wicked guy, didn't worship God.

Amon, his father, yet another wicked guy. That's why he was assassinated.

Josiah comes from a lineage of of wicked men who weren't worshiping God.

And here comes Josiah, saying "I'm opening the temple."

And what do they find when they open it?

God's Word. The Law.