Wailing at the Fish Gate
Sunday AM, May 3, 2009
Zephaniah 1:1-3, "The word of the LORD which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah. I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD. I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD."
I think it’s interesting to look at the names of people in the Bible and to begin to gain some insight into God’s plan as he works with men to bring about the plan of God.
In this passage God is speaking to a prophet in the Land of Judah by the name of Zephaniah. His name means, “the Lord is my secret”. I think that’s a great name, don’t you? Zephaniah was God’s secret in the Land of Judah during a time when Israel was steeped in idolatry and had turned its back on God. It is interesting to note that in midst of Israel’s rebellion, God had a “secret” in their midst.
God is ever present and there is nothing hidden from his sight. No matter how far we may try to run, or how deep we go into the depths of sin, his presence is always right beside us. I hear the stories of people all of the time who were once in the very depths of sin. Some had gone so far down that they couldn’t see a way up anymore. When hope is lost and Satan has done his worst, it may seem that there is no way out but death, remember, “God has a secret”. That “Secret” is that his presence is ever near and according to 2 Peter 3:9 God is, "… is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
Bro. Mike was relating to me yesterday some of the things that he will never forget from his past life. Sometimes it does us good to remember lest we forget how far God has brought us, and how blessed we are to still be here, standing in his presence. God had a secret for Bro. Mike during those days that he lived for Satan so strongly. That secret was that “God was still there, watching over him, keeping him, preserving him for a time when he would become a man after God’s own heart.”
Aren’t you glad that God never gives up on us? David said in Psalms 139:7-10, "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me."
No matter what you are facing this morning; and no matter how from God you may roam, God still has a secret, “He’s still there with you, desiring that you turn back to him.”
Israel was at a low point in its history. The judgments of God were beginning to fall and God was doing all that he could to bring them back into a place of obedience and blessings. In the midst of all of this corruption and impending judgment, God had set a fire that would ignite a revival in Israel. Many days of sufferings, economic collapse, death and destruction lay ahead, but even now, it’s it beginning stages of judgment, God had a secret, he had a message, he had a man and God had set a king in place whose name was Josiah, meaning “the Lord burns, the fire of the Lord”. God was getting ready to burn idolatry and sin out of the hearts of his people. Hard times were upon them. Economic and social disaster loomed on the horizon, brought on by the fire of God. But through it all, God had a secret, he had a man for the hour, and God’s presence would be ever near.
The judgments of God, accompanied by the fire of God will bring a consuming power upon the land. God’s fire consumes evil men, either bringing them to repentance or removing them from their place, so that the healing process may begin. He consumes the produce of the land, and those things that men have learned to trust in, but that won’t stand the test of fire.
In Zephaniah 1:7God speaks and says, "Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests." This was Zephaniah’s call to the ministry on behalf of his people.
Zephaniah’s preaching wouldn’t be popular for his was a message of God’s anger upon Israel for their sin. His message was a message of doom and gloom for a people who wanted only to hear of blessings and good things to come. His was a message of impending judgment, not of God’s tolerance for sin, and unwillingness to do anything about it. Zephaniah had no choice but to preach the message that was given to him. To not preach it was to condemn even those who may repent of sin, to a certain death under God’s wrath.
You see, we cannot just pat everyone on the back and say, “You’re Okay and I’m Okay”. To do that is to encourage people to continue in their sin and to be condemned and burned by God’s consuming fire. Sin will never go unnoticed; and the debt for that sin must be paid in full. It will either be paid for by the blood of Jesus, or by our being eternally consumed in God’s fires of wrath.
When God’s judgments began to fall, one of the first things that we see is that God begins to destroy Israel’s economy. Men place too much trust in the power of riches and in the wealth of business, production, sales and the market places. Wall Street, with it’s chance to become wealthy in playing the stock market, has become what David Wilkerson called, “America’s Golden Calf”. We all know what happened to Israel’s “Golden Calf” in the days of Moses, so it should come as no surprise that God will bring down our “Golden Calf” the same way. His consuming fire has just begun, and unless we repent of our sin, it will only get worse from here.
I was reading a newsletter that I received from Bro. Wilkerson just a few days ago and in that letter he is predicting a national disaster, especially in the northeastern states of New York, New Jersey and others that will make the 9/11 attacks seem like a picnic by comparison. I don’t know what will happen, and he doesn’t really know the details either, but I believe that he is right in his prediction. America has just begun down a long path of judgment, and greater judgments are sure to come because we will not repent of our sin as a nation.
Yet, in the midst of all of this, God still has a secret. His secret is found in those preachers and Christians who will still call upon his name, repent of their sin, and proclaim his Word to a nation that refuses to hear. God’s presence is ever near, and it is not his will to bring judgment, but he must not allow sin to remain unpunished.
I think that it’s interesting to point out that in Zephaniah 1:10, God begins to talk about the Fish Gate and the effects that his judgments will bring upon that place.
What’s the Fish Gate all about? Why did God specifically tell Zephaniah about that Gate first? Why not start with the Sheep Gate, or the Golden Gate or some other Gate?
The Fish Gate was the place where the fish markets and business of Jerusalem were centered. God says that when judgment begins to fall, the Fish Gate is where it would be felt most of all.
Zephaniah 1:10, "And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and an howling from the second, and a great crashing from the hills."
Thus we see that a howl, a wailing, a fearful cry would come from the market places as their businesses were destroyed and consumed by the fire of God’s judgment. Israel’s judgment came in the form of a Chaldean army that invaded the land, while our judgment came, not as an invading army, but as an invading irresponsibility on the part of men who were totally consumed with the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. When God’s fire of judgment began to fall on Wall Street, the howling and wailing was quick to come.
Corporations and big business, financial institutions that had behaved completely irresponsibly began to crash, and the wealth of great men was consumed in a moment of time. Trillions of dollars in America’s stock market were consumed in an instant by God’s fires of judgment, and Billions upon Billion more were spent with more to come as an aftermath. Yet this is only the beginning. God has no desire to see nations fall, but sin and rebellion must be dealt with, and I see no great spiritual revival; no turning back to God; no ceasing of the actions that brought us to this point. Man refuses to see the hand of God in his judgments. Instead we excuse it all away and continue doing the same things as before.
The high government officials are not reprimanded much for failing to stop the criminals. The criminals are rewarded for their irresponsibility and on we go, headed for the next round of God’s consuming fire.
Yet, through it, God still has a secret. It’s only a secret because men won’t see it, not because they can’t see it. We simply refuse to recognize that God is in it all, and that we need to heed his warning. The message is clear, but we just don’t get it and don’t accept it. Yet the secret of God’s message continues on. Preachers proclaim his judgments are coming! Christians proclaim his soon return! Evangelists declare that the answer is only found in repentance for sin and turning back to God! The secret is out – but America is blind in her sin, and the roar of her voice against God drowns out the sound of God’s messengers.
At the Fish Gate of Israel the wailing and howlings began, but it didn’t stop there. The ripple effect of God’s fire of judgment against Jerusalem’s economy was felt throughout the land. There was a howling from another gate, often referred to as the “Bird Gate” in historical writings. This was just a signal that the economic meltdown was just at the Fish Gate but that it was spreading throughout the land.
Then came a crashing from the hills. Some historians have said that the homes of the wealthy were located on the hills around the Fish Gate and Bird Gate and that when the enemy attacked their homes were destroyed. The sounds of crumbling wall, breaking glass and the noise of battle made it sound as though the very hills were crashing down.
Is this not a picture of the crashing of big business and the collapse of financial institutions? The howling became worse and more business leaders began to wail loudly as the economic meltdown continued onward. God’s fire was still consuming and its still consuming today. Judgment has begun and when will it end? That’s up to us, not just you and me, but America as a whole.
When will Congress declare a day of repentance for its rebellion against the God of Heaven? When will the Supreme Court begin to judge according to the Truth of God’s Word rather than the whims of the sinful heart of man? When will big business and politicians fall on their face in repentance for their sin? I don’t see any of that happening, do you? That’s why I believe, like Bro. Wilkerson, that judgment has only just begun and there are worse things on the horizon.
Zephaniah 1:11, "Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all they that bear silver are cut off."
What, or where was Maktesh? Maktesh was a place where the silver merchants had their businesses and where the Phoenicians carried on their trade with Israel. In Maktesh, In the ripple effect of God’s judgment fire, the silver industry was destroyed and many of them went out of business. The foreign trade market suffered collapse as well.
Did the judgments of God only affect America? Of course not; the ripple effect continued around the world. Our money, represented in the silver of Maktesh, lost a lot of its value on the world markets and suddenly inflation became an issue. Foreign trade deficits are on the rise, and America now finds itself in the position as a debtor to other nations of the world. We once were a nation that other nations owed debts to, now the tide has reversed, all because of economic judgment.
On top of that, a huge portion of property, businesses and industries in America are now owned by foreign companies and nations. We are so reversed in our thinking that we encourage foreign nations to invest by giving them tax breaks and legal loopholes that no domestic people can hope to get. Meanwhile we have less production to send overseas so our trade deficit gets larger all the time. We have outsourced so much of our own industry that we can’t just kick out the foreign investors anymore. America’s congress and its economy are at the mercy of foreign investors because we lack the ability to go it own our own anymore.
Yes it’s all part of God’s judgment upon our land, but we are our enemy, destroying ourselves from within because of greed. Money is the driving factor, and the love of money is the greatest evil of all. Money is our idol god and has been for a long time.
Look at verse 13. If there is any clearer picture of what is happening right now, I don’t know where you would find it.
Zephaniah 1:13, "Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation: they shall also build houses, but not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof."
There it is; proof positive that we are facing the same judgment that Israel faced so long ago. “They shall build houses, but not inhabit them; plant vineyards and not drink of the wine produced there.” The collapse of the housing industry is the clearest sign of all. Houses by the thousands, built by financial institutions in the hopes of gaining quick money through inflated prices and floating interest rates, given out to people who didn’t quality for the loans and had no ability to keep up the payments but had the greed to own a big, fancy new house; houses built to be inhabited and yet no one living in them, all contributed to the fall. Today 14 millions houses, 1 out of every 9 in the country, are empty according to the latest estimates.
Notice now what is coming next:
Zephaniah 1:14-18, "The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land."
We are drawing to the close of this age. Jesus is coming soon and the wrath of God is about to be poured out upon this world as never before. The present judgments are only the beginning. God is trying to get our attention, and we aren’t listening anymore than Israel did.
The defenses of our country won’t be enough. The money thrown about like paper in congress won’t be enough. The troubles and distress will only increase as time goes on. There will be no hope for deliverance as the world tumbles ever closer to the end. The trumpets will sound the time of war as riots and national conflict spreads around the world. Nothing will spur the anger of people more than the loss of life’s conveniences and the loss of their money. Men won’t have an answer. Their sin has blinded them and life will become valueless.
All of this is in preparation for the rise of the Antichrist so it should not take any of you by surprise. We all pray for the Rapture of the Church. We all desire to see Jesus come again. In order for those prayers to be answered, the calamities and judgments of God must come, so don’t let them take you by surprise.
All of the second chapter and most of the third chapter of Zephaniah’s prophecy against Israel only points to greater and greater judgments that will fall upon Israel. Remember now that these are God’s people, his chosen nation. Judgment must begin at the House of God, but where will that leave the world?
If you are a part of this world’s system and a part of the problem, then you will face the fires of God’s wrath and his judgments without hope.
Hebrews 10:31, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
It’s a fearful thing to know that the hand of God is against you and that God’s wrath is aimed right at you; but if you’re a sinner, not cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, you are in that position.
I don’t want to leave you cringing in fear or bound by despair. There is hope and a great hope it is! That hope is found in Jesus Christ who can forgive your sin and make you whole again. As a Christian, you may suffer some things with other men in this world. You may face hard times and financial problems, but you are not going to be destroyed in it all.
God is your refuge. You don’t run from his hand, you run to his hand and allow him to hold you in the palm of his hand as your God, your provider and your Savior. God is your refuge in the time of the storm and he will bring you through victoriously.
Look at God’s final words to Israel in Zephaniah and let hope arise in your hearts.
Zephaniah 3:16-20, "In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden. Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame. At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the LORD."
If you are a Christian, in the end, you win! You have nothing to fear. Your God will deliver you. He will provide for you. He is mighty and his joy is to give you all that you will need.
Those that will gather in a solemn assembly, falling down before him in repentance for sin; staying in his presence where they can know him and know his secret; those that will learn to rest and trust in his love; those are the ones who will be the victors in the end.
Do you know Jesus today? Are you ready for the coming storm? Do you know the secret – that Jesus is with you no matter what may come? Do you know the secret – that you can trust in God to supply all of your needs? Do you know the secret – that God is ever with you, a very present help in time of need? Do you know the secret – that to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior means a glorious victory awaits?
God’s judgments are meant for two purposes; to judge sin and to bring men to repentance. If your sins are judged at the cross of Christ, and the debt for your sin has been paid, then you have nothing to fear from the judgments of God. Come to Jesus today and make sure that you are on the winning side.
