The first reading we read today came from the book of Zephaniah chapter 5.
The Book of Zephaniah is probably best known for being the least known book of the entire Bible. It is a small book, it is in the middle of the Minor Prophets, toward the end of the Old Testament.
There are Major prophets and Minor prophets. Major prophets are Daniel Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel; these books are kind of easy to find in our Bibles.
And minor prophets who wrote books in the Bible too; these books are difficult to find in our Bibles. The name “minor” is given not by importance of what they wrote, but are called minor prophets because the amount of pages they wrote.
Among the Minor Prophets are Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi and the one we are studying today Zephaniah, his book is only 3 chapters.
We know about the book of Jonah, remember the God is going to destroy a city and sends Jonah to tell them the bad news, but Jonah disobeys and is thrown out of the boat and eaten by a big fish. The fish has him for three days in his tummy. After this three days Jonah is thrown out of the fish just where the Lord wanted Jonah to go. He preached the message of God, repent or die. Jonah was ready to see the destruction of the city, but they repented and God did not destroy the city.
Even thou we are more familiar with other minor prophets today we study the book of Zephaniah that is a great book with a significant contribution to make to the Old Testament and to the lives of the saints of every age.
We know very little of Zephaniah, the man -- the author of this book. Strangely, though, his genealogy is traced back four generations:
Zephaniah 1
This is the prophetic message that the Lord gave to Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah. Zephaniah delivered this message during the reign of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah.
Zephaniah, was a priest and lived on the time of King Josiah on the south of the kingdom belonging to Judah. When we study a little bit of Israel story we see that the first king was King Saul, when Saul died none of his sons were made king, but King David.
King David had many sons, but Solomon was made king.
The kingdom was broken, the country divided into two kingdoms. Israel on the north side and Judah on the south. Judah where the name Jews comes from.
Judah’s history was a mixture of those kings who were righteous, walking in the ways of David, and those who were wicked, following the path of bad kings.
Now when Zephaniah was the prophet, Josiah was king of Judah; he was a good man who worship God, not like some other kings who forgot to worship God.
The prophet Zephaniah spoke more about Jesus than some other major prophets.
Zephaniah spoke about the punishment for Judah for looking for other Gods.
Zephaniah 1:
“I will completely remove all things
From the face of the [a]earth,” declares the LORD.
3 “I will remove man and beast;
I will remove the birds of the sky
And the fish of the sea,
And the [b]ruins along with the wicked;
And I will cut off man from the face of the [c]earth,” declares the LORD.
4 “So I will stretch out My hand against Judah
And against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
And I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place,
And the names of the idolatrous priests along with the priests.
5 “And those who bow down on the housetops to the host of heaven,
And those who bow down and swear to the LORD and yet swear by [d]Milcom,
6 And those who have turned back from following the LORD,
And those who have not sought the LORD or inquired of Him.”
Clearly the Lord is upset with man; God will destroy everything because man, the crown of creation did not worship HIM. Man decided to worship created things instead of God who made heaven and earth.
Romans 1:25
25 For they exchanged the truth of God for [a]a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed [b]forever. Amen.
Who is they?
You know who they are. They are all people who instead of worshipping Jesus worship other things created for instance the sun, the moon, technology, money, their own bodies.
Psalm 14:1
The evil one has said in his heart, “There is no God”. They are corrupted and they are defiled in their schemes and there is none who does good.
Some other people say there is no God. People have stopped believing in God in the time of Zephaniah. And people have stopped believing in God in our own time.
The Lord never changes. He said
Zephaniah 1
14Near is the great day of the LORD,
Near and coming very quickly;
Listen, the day of the LORD!
In it the warrior cries out bitterly.
15 A day of wrath is that day,
A day of trouble and distress,
A day of destruction and desolation,
A day of darkness and gloom,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
16 A day of trumpet and battle cry
Against the fortified cities
And the high corner towers.
17 I will bring distress on men
So that they will walk like the blind,
Because they have sinned against the LORD;
And their blood will be poured out like dust
And their flesh like dung.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
Will be able to deliver them
On the day of the LORD’S wrath;
And all the earth will be devoured
In the fire of His jealousy,
For He will make a complete end,
Indeed a terrifying one,
“A day of wrath is that day”. This is a very strong statement. God will destroy this world as we see because of evil. Who is evil? we are evil.
“Lord forgive me for the evil within me” we pray. We need Jesus to help us; we know that without God men have no hope. All the ways of man lead to destruction.
Proverbs 14:12
12 There is a way which seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death.
What can we say, there is no hope?
NO, there is Hope:
Matthew 7
13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Listen to what the Lords says through the prophet
Zephaniah 3:
8 “Therefore wait for Me,” declares the LORD, “For the day when I rise up as a witness.
Indeed, My decision is to gather nations, To assemble kingdoms, 9 “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.
12 “But I will leave among you a humble and lowly people, and they will take refuge in the name of the LORD.
13 “The remnant of Israel will do no wrong And tell no lies, Nor will a deceitful tongue Be found in their mouths;
For they will feed and lie down With no one to make them tremble.”
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.
Aren’t this good news?
“No more fear of destruction. the Lord God has forgiven his people”
God is given us rest. God I promising there is no more death for his people. Jesus is saying shout for joy, rejoice, exult with all your heart because the promise of God is with you.
But how?
Did that Lord change His mind. God had a plan since the beginning.
Zephaniah 3:
16 In that day it will be said to Jerusalem: “Do not be afraid, O Zion; Do not let your hands fall limp.
17 “The LORD your God is in your midst, A [e]victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy,
He will [f]be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.
God through the prophet Zephaniah is saying I am in your midst.
I am in the middle of you. I am not far, far away in heaven anymore. This day I am in the middle of you, in the middle of your city. JESUS IS Today WITH you. You are not alone. Jesus your Savior is with you. The promise God made in the time of Zephaniah is fulfilled. God sent Jesus to earth.
Who is victorious warrior?
His name is Jesus. He is the only Son of God who came from heaven to earth to bring us this new pact to us, a Treaty of peace among God and man.
Zephaniah 3
19 I will save the lame And gather the outcast, And I will turn their shame into praise and renown In all the earth.
20 “At that time I will bring you in, Even at the time when I gather you together;
Indeed, I will give you renown and praise Among all the peoples of the earth,
When I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” Says the LORD
JESUS THE PRINCE OF PEACE IS OUR SAVIOR.
AT HE END OF THE BOOK THERE IS THE SIGNATURE OF WHOM IS TALKING
SAYS THE LORD. AMEN.
