Chris Hamilton Sermon Notes: Zephaniah 3:14-20 – Our Joy and Restoration
Good morning Three Rivers. My name is Chris Hamilton. It is a blessing to be with you all
in worship today.
It’s been a while since I have preached, and although I know many of you well, I still want
to encourage those of you who may feel uncomfortable by someone unfamiliar preaching
this morning. Rest assured, this should feel familiar to an extent as my wife, Lizzy, and I
have been sitting under Mitch’s teaching for a handful of years now. While Mitch and I
may not be identical in our mode of communication, we are quite similar in our length of
communication.
I don’t want any of you to be surprised by that, so you should also know that I have never
been criticized for telling short stories, speaking too quickly, or getting to the point too
fast. So now that you know what to expect, let’s get comfortable and dive into today’s
message.
We have a lengthy introduction to set the stage for our passage. But if you would, go
ahead and open your Bibles to Zephaniah, chapter 3, verse 14. Zephaniah, it’s towards the
end of the Old Testament. Aim for Matthew, then flip a chunk of pages to the left. For
those who don’t know, a ‘chunk’ is an intellectual word used to explain the mechanics of
physically navigating your Bible.
Anyway, once you get to Zephaniah, find chapter 3 and hold your place because we’ll read
it together shortly before we get too far into the introduction.
Advent:
The first thing I want to address is why we’re even looking at this specific passage.
Something tells me that most of us, when we think of Christmas passages, we don’t think
about this one.
As many of you do know, this is week three in the Advent season. In the Christian
calendar, Advent is the beginning of the church year. The celebration of the coming of
Christ.
In the church year, Advent sets us up for the New Year where the secular world
recognizes these “new beginnings,
” and where we as followers of Christ experience a
reminder of God’s grace and new mercies. A reminder, just like each new morning, that
God has sustained us thus far as the Great Provider and Lord of all. A reminder that no
matter the trials and tribulations that have been, are, or will come, God will continue to
sustain us and we can rest in the assurance that Christ is still King and will return again
for His people one day.
And on that day,
“When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home,
what joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration and there proclaim: ‘My
God, how great thou art!’” (How Great Thou Art–v. IV)
I love the way Advent is described in a little book called A Guide to Prayer (Norman
Shawchuck and Rueben Job). Listen and be mindful of these words as we continuethrough this Advent season and as we gather tonight even, to feast and sing songs of
Advent:
“This [Advent] season proclaims the coming of Christ in the birth of Jesus, in the
Word and Spirit, and in the final victory when God’s kingdom shall be complete.
Our privilege as Christians is to receive the gracious gifts of God’s presence in
Christ. Our task is to prepare for His coming so that we will not miss life’s greatest
gift….Jesus Christ has come, is present with us, and will come again in final victory
when all darkness, pain, and evil will be no more. In Advent we begin again to try
to make plain the wonderful truth of the most extraordinary good news the world
has ever heard. Soon we will join the angelic chorus in singing,
‘Christ the Savior is
born.
’” (pp. 20-21)
Understand this, Advent is not a Lifeway marketing scheme, Advent has been a formal
season of remembrance and hope for the Church as early as the 4th century. As Mitch
wrote in one of the recent Advent devotions,
“[In advent] We remember what God has
done, what He is doing, and look forward to what He is going to do.
” So today, as we
examine the Word together, we do not do so haphazardly with a text pulled randomly
from the pages of Scripture. But we do so, joining with saints of years past who have read,
studied, and encouraged one another with this specific passage for hundreds upon
hundreds of years in this Advent season. We join together today, worshipping the Lord in
the proclamation of His Word, the same Word used to encourage and bring hope to the
Israelites some 2600 years ago.
So Church, stand together and let us read the Word of the Lord:
Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem!
The Lord has taken away the judgments against you: he has cleared
away your enemies.
The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again
fear evil.
On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
“Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak.
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you
by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing.
I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that
you will no longer suffer reproach.
Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors.
And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will
change their shame into praise and renown in all the
earth.
At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you
together; for I will make you renowned and praised
among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your
fortunes before your eyes,
” says the Lord.
This is the Word of the Lord. Praise be to God.Let’s pray,
‘Father, we have gathered today to worship You. To bring all honor and glory to
You for You alone are worthy. We recognize and confess our sinful ways before You. The
ways in which we so easily can distort this Advent season into something so fleeting and
worldly. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear Your Word that we may continue to be
molded into the likeness of Christ Jesus. For those who do not know You as Lord, may
they hear the welcome invitation into the Kingdom of God today and trust in You. Amen.
’
1. Zephaniah’s Historical Context in the History of Israel:
a. Zephaniah 3:14-20. We’re still in the introduction, and the second
thing we need to cover is the context of this passage. Who? What?
Where? When? Why?
b. Understanding where Zephaniah is in Israel’s history and in
redemptive history is key to grasping the importance of today’s
passage. My goal in this next portion is to give a concise recap of some
500 chapters in the Old Testament. All the notes are on Theology in
the Dirt, so don’t distract yourself with jotting things down right now.
Pay attention to themes throughout this retelling of Israel’s history,
and then I want you to keep those things in mind as we get into the
text.
Let’s roll.
2. Old Testament Overview:
a. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Right? We
know that. Then sin entered into the equation. But from Genesis 3 we
see God’s redemptive plan beginning to play out. But let’s not
misunderstand Moses’ writing in Genesis about the Beginning.
i. A friend of a friend put it this way,
“The prophecy and plan of
God to rescue and redeem a people for Himself from every
nation was not a reaction to sin, but an eternal plan from the
foundation of the world.
” (Erik Reed)
b. In Genesis 6, verse 5 we see…
i.
“The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the
earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually.
”
c. So comes the call of Noah. God floods the earth, yet preserves a
remnant to Himself to sustain and establish when the rain ceased and
the flood waters were swallowed by the earth.
d. Soon after, the remnant began to multiply as commanded before the
fall, but instead of inhabiting the whole earth and subduing it, man
stayed put. And someone had the bright idea, saying,
‘Come on guys,
let’s make bricks…build ourselves a city, and a tower that will reach all
the way to the heavens, and then we’ll make a name for ourselves lest
we get sent across the expanse of the earth.
’
i. God basically says,
“nah, I don’t think so.
” Boom, all the peoples
get dispersed over the face of the earth and thus the Slavic and
Germanic languages were born to confuse everyone…
1. But the remnant is preserved.e. Then follows the call of Abram. Abram, later Abraham, a descendant
of Noah, is called by the Lord to follow Him and is promised to
become a great nation, to receive blessing and a great name so that he
would be a blessing to many nations.
i. Abraham to his son, Isaac, Isaac to Jacob. Then Jacob to Judah.
The promise continues and the descendants of Abraham get
glimpses of the promise fulfilled through the generations. The
remnant is preserved. (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are then
referred to throughout the Old Testament as a reminder to the
people of God of who God is and what He has done.)
f. Then we see God’s hand in Joseph’s life. From a place of honor in his
father, Jacob’s household–Joseph is sold into slavery, wrongfully
convicted and forgotten, until God restores Him to an even greater
place of honor to rule in Egypt. Jacob and his other sons—who
eventually form the tribes of Israel—are then brought to the land of
Egypt and restoration occurs among the descendants of Abraham. The
remnant is preserved.
i. But Joseph passes, and so does the Pharaoh. The people of God
are then imprisoned as Egyptian slaves for 400 years.
g. Then follows the call of Moses. Raised in pharaoh’s house, but knows
his true identity as a descendant of Abraham. He spends 40 years in
the wilderness, returns upon the Lord’s calling, leads the Israelites
from Egyptian captivity and is used to establish the written Law of
God. (See Exodus for more)
i. The Israelites then spend 40 years in the wilderness and are
finally led back to the land that God promised Abraham so
many years before. God uses Joshua, the one whom Moses
discipled, to lead the Israelites through the conquest of Canaan.
ii. Recall the promise to Abraham here. The remnant has been
preserved, the descendants are now a great nation, and they’ve
been given the law to abide by—guidelines for righteous living
that produce the flourishing of mankind.
h. Unfortunately, we hear a familiar theme in Judges, chapter 2 about
God’s chosen nation.
i.
“And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the
Lord and served the Baals. And they abandoned the Lord, the
God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of
Egypt.
”
ii. So the Lord gave the people judges to rule over them. But they
continued to push against God. Envious of the nations around
them, Israel begged for a king.
i. The prophet of the Lord, Samuel, dumbfounded at the preposterous
idea of a king, remained, however, obedient to the Lord (1 Sam 8): the
Lord said to Samuel,
i.
“Obey the voice of the people…they have rejected me. Obey
their voice, only you shall solemnly warn them and show them
the ways of the king who shall reign over them.
”
1. Samuel warns the people…and the Lord establishes Saul
as king over Israel. (See 1 Samuel 9 for more)ii. Saul is succeeded by King David, and David by his son,
Solomon. And then finally, the temple is built. The place of
worship has a permanent establishment…at least, it was
initially.
3. History of the Two Kingdoms:
a. Solomon turned away from the Lord, and the Lord raised up
adversaries. And upon Solomon’s death, Rehoboam (Solomon’s son)
and Jeroboam (the leader of the rebellion) commence a civil war in
Israel with the tribes of Judah and Benjamin against the remaining
tribes of Israel. The northern tribes separated from the tribes of Judah
and Benjamin and thus the Kingdoms of Israel (the northern kingdom)
and of Judah (the southern kingdom) were established roughly
around the 10th century B.C.
i. (Now that may be the most simplified way of explaining the
conflict of the two kingdoms, but that’s not our focus today. By
all means, go study more of this with friends and family.)
b. Everyone still tracking? At this point, the chosen people are in the
promised land, but riddled with strife and turmoil, it’s far from
functioning as the land the people were promised so many
generations before. And at that, the people were so far from being the
people they were called to be as God’s chosen nation.
c. Fast forward through much of first and second Kings and Chronicles
to the 8th century B.C.
i. Israel (the northern kingdom) has been exiled to Assyria. And
now, as Zephaniah writes, the people of Judah (the southern
kingdom) have heard much of the devastating destruction of
Israel by the ruthless Assyrians. But, that’s not their biggest
concern, because now there are murmurs of a new world
superpower, the Babylonians, who will eventually destroy
Judah as a nation and exile them to Babylon.
1. The people of God had still heard the promises of the
Lord though. They knew He had a plan to redeem and
restore the Kingdom of God as it was intended from the
beginning. But, any light of hope seemed dim in the face
of Assyrian and Babylonian domination.
4. Background of Zephaniah:
a. Now…enter Zephaniah. Zephaniah means God has hidden. Yahweh has
hidden, has protected and brought comfort to His people through
faith in Him. The early church fathers interpreted Zephaniah’s name
as the watchman of the Lord. This minor prophet’s oracles have been
described as a concise yet detailed and systematic gathering of all the
oracles of the prophets. (Martin Bucer) (Minor only because of the
translation from Latin that originally intended minor as in “smaller
prophets” in reference to the size of the books. Which for much of
Church History have just been referred to as the Book of the 12. (F&S
pp. 187))
b. The Prophets:i. The prophets acted as the mouthpiece of God. They called the
covenant people of God to covenantal obedience to God’s
covenant. Simple enough.
ii. The prophetic books span from the 8th century to the 5th
century BC. And that doesn’t include Moses, Samuel, Elijah and
Elishah. Through the wars, famines, exiles and return to
Jerusalem, the prophets functioned as a call in word and in
symbol for the people to repent of their unfaithfulness to the
Lord and His Law and to live righteous lives in light of the
coming “Day of the Lord.
”
1. It’s imperative to your understanding of the prophecies,
poetry, and wisdom literature of the Old Testament that
you grasp the story of Israel and the connections
throughout as you read through texts that may be
unfamiliar to you.
c. With Zephaniah, he’s one of the few prophets we have some
background on. In chapter 1, we see that Zephaniah is in the lineage of
Hezekiah, likely King Hezekiah, the God-fearing and benevolent king
of Judah. King Hezekiah was the king who is described as having
reformed “Judean worship, making it what it should have been, and
whose trust in God was vindicated, as the Assyrians failed to take
Jerusalem.
” (ESV Study Bible, 1 Kings 18:1-20:21)
i. However, after King Hezekiah, Judah experienced wicked
kings. But, it seems that Zephaniah’s lineage was one of devout
worshippers of Yahweh. Zephaniah, an Israelite, was brought
up to know Yahweh as the true Lord of all, despite his parents
and ancestors having lived in the midst of wicked rulers of
Judah. This, a testimony to the enduring and living Word of the
Lord when faithfully taught to the generations to come.
ii. When Zephaniah spoke these words, King Josiah was ruler over
Judah. Josiah was the king who reestablished proper Judean
worship as we know King Hezekiah had. But, King Josiah was
the son of King Amon, an evil king, and the grandson of King
Manasseh, the apostate king of Judah. (ESV SB, Zeph 1:1) This,
yet another testimony to the enduring and living Word of the
Lord despite man’s sinful abandonment of it.
iii. When Zephaniah delivered this prophetic word, the cup of
wrath for Judah was full. The day of the Lord, the day of doom,
the day of His wrath pouring out to destroy the sin that has
worked to destroy His creation, had come to the people of
Judah.
1. Zephaniah, by the Spirit’s guidance, says to the people,
“The word of the Lord is against you.
” This building
dread, encroaching upon their lives, threatening their
comfortable way of life was to come in the form of a “foe
marching against them…[a foe] whom they would fight in
vain.
” The great nation of Israel now split in two, with
half exiled and the southern territory remaining. The
territory that had prevailed against one superpower andboasted in their might. Now, by the prophet’s words,
delivers this condemning message.
“He rang the knell of
their doom.
” (quotes from the Spurgeon study Bible)
2. King Josiah is the one who then stumbles upon the Law
of God when they were cleaning the Temple. He reads it,
realizes they have fallen astray, and calls the nation to
reform..
5. Overview:
a. i. ii. iii. This is the backdrop to which Zephaniah writes to the people of God
in Judah. Somewhere likely between 640 and 621 B.C.
The Babylonian invasion was only years away,
a good king was on the throne,
the house of worship was being restored along with the
practices of worship,
iv. but the Day of the Lord had not yet come for Judah.
6. Zephaniah 1-3:13—
a. In Zephaniah 1, Judah, having recently witnessed her sister, Israel,
receive destruction and exile, she remains hardened in her ways,
refusing to turn back to her covenant obligations toward God.
i. Zephaniah warns of the coming judgment.
“A day of wrath is
that day. A day of distress and anguish.
”
b. In chapter 2, Zephaniah calls the people to seek the Lord and perhaps
they will be hidden on the day of the Lord. He says to the people, your
only hope is to repent of your ways and throw yourself on the mercy
of God, the only one who can forgive, who has done it before and may
do it again.
i. A fantastic theologian and biblical scholar you should read, Dr.
Tom Schreiner, explained the day of the Lord as like the Old
Testament sacrificial offerings, the day of the Lord will
consume the enemies of Yahweh. The enemies of Yahweh, not
just the obviously pagan nations, but all those who do not know
and obey Yahweh. (The King in His Beauty, p. 404)
ii. Zephaniah reminds the people of God’s justice and grace. His
judgment and mercy. Zephaniah is not describing God’s
authority as whimsical and disorderly in saying “perhaps,
” but
he is reminding the people that God is the mighty one. His
grace, His mercy, and His forgiveness should not be taken
lightly or expected as though they deserve it because they said
“sorry.
”
1. Zephaniah works progressively through the surrounding
nations’ historical opposition to God in the prophecy.
Addressing these pagan neighbors and enemies before
God,
a. The Philistine city-states are called out. (These are
the peoples of the northern and coastal lands of
the former Canaan.)
b. Moab and Ammon are rebuked. (The neighbors to
the east.)
c. Then Cush, that is Ethiopia and Egypt.2. d. Then for the superpower of the time, Assyria. Even
the most powerful civilizations of the world won’t
prevail against the power of God.
But He continues. Judgment on Jerusalem.
a. As an Israelite at this time, you’d hear the
destruction of your enemy neighbors—and while
for us today, we may hear of the destruction of a
national enemy or collective evil and there would
likely be rejoicing. For example the absolutely
overwhelming press coverage in 1945 when
Germany and Japan surrendered, or when Saddam
Hussein and bin Laden were captured and
eliminated. I’d argue, there was great rejoicing for
us—but we aren’t Israel in the 7th century BC.
i. I’d imagine for the Israelites, especially
those familiar with the oracles of the other
prophets, to hear these prophecies of
destruction for your enemy neighbors, an
underlying dread would rise within.
ii. As Zephaniah expounds upon the case for
the destruction of the surrounding
nation-states, surely any reasonable Israelite
would begin to realize they also had
committed the same atrocious sins against
the same God whose just wrath was going to
pour out on the pagan nations that Judah
would have probably celebrated in seeing
decimated.
1. Zephaniah’s oracle of judgment
displays God’s “uncreation” of these
people. A complete reversal of how
the creation narrative is written, we
see God’s systematic and complete
judgment for His opposition played
out. (Baker, Zeph., 255)
a. And upon this realization, an
overwhelming and gut
wrenching anxiety paralyzes
the people of Judah. As the
Lord says in chapter 3, verse 6:
i.
“I have cut off nations;
their battlements are in
ruins; I have laid waste
their streets so that no
one walks in them; their
cities have been made
desolate, without a man,
without an inhabitant.
”c.
“On that day,
” the Lord Almighty, will gather all the nations to judge
them all. No one shall escape His justice.
d. Then in verses 9-13, leading up to our passage, we receive this
glimmer of hope. The usual perspective I’ve heard when reading the
prophets is that we just read about judgment after judgment, blow
after blow to the Israelites and the surrounding peoples. Just
depressing and exhausting. And we’re simply reading it. We’re not
even the ones anticipating the coming exile and we still find ourselves
saying “woe is me.
”
i. But, God’s character is deeper than ours. His capacity for justice
and mercy, punishment and grace, far suprasses the shallow
reservoirs we possess. I love how the notes in my Study Bible
put it: “God the judge is also God the gracious.
” (ESV SB, Zeph
3:9-20) God the judge, the God of holy wrath is God the
gracious, the God of holy hope. (Minor Prophets, McComiskey,
vol. 3, p. 897)
1. God the judge is still calling a people unto Himself. God
the judge is still sustaining the remnant and purifying a
people for His Kingdom.
2. The same God, God the judge is God the gracious. God’s
oracles of judgment, against foreign nations and against
Judah, therefore are concluded with the oracle of hope
and salvation.
Zephaniah 3:14-20
1. As children of God, we can rejoice in the Lord:
i. Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and
exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!
b. Zephaniah commands the people of God to sing aloud, to shout,
rejoice and exult… but why? The cities will be made desolate. Zion is a
far way off from being fully realized, Israel is divided and the northern
territory exiled, and Jerusalem will soon be destroyed and its walls
decimated.
i. So why Zephaniah, why sing aloud… why shout… why rejoice
and exult?
c. Verse 15:
i. The Lord has taken away the judgments against you: he has
cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in
your midst; you shall never again fear evil.
ii. Why worship? Because, as we often remind each other here,
worship is the only right response from God’s people to His
holiness.
1. It is a natural human response to rejoice and celebrate in
the face of a thing commonly understood to be good. And
the opposite stands true as well.
a. For example, if you are among the preserved
remnant who have faithfully rooted for the chosen
football team since the early days of the elusive
(and I’d argue, fate-inducing) black jerseys of 2008,iii. then you naturally rejoiced this last weekend at
their victory over the cows with big horns.
b. Or maybe football isn’t your thing… but Christmas
is. And if it’s not your thing, I hope that’s because
you’d like to argue over the semantics of what I
intend when I say Christmas. Do I mean the clever,
maybe even manipulative marketing schemes of
big tech, media, and shopping industrial
complexes that seek to steal, kill, and destroy the
true joy of Christmas by absolutely flooding you
with their truncated version of Christmas and
inundate you with their own version of evangelism
that joy is found in more stuff? If so, then sure, I’ll
give you that.
i. But I mean Christmas, with the real
authentic essence that Christ has come and
will come again. A time of remembrance and
celebration of true joy and fellowship only
experienced in Christ. In that, there is great
rejoicing. We have songs to sing, chants to
shout, eternal truths to rejoice in, and good
news to exult and proclaim.
c. Another major point in our current history as a
nation, the recent election. I know of many in this
town who greatly rejoiced, and I know of many
who have suffered great despair. Right, wrong, or
indifferent, it’s still a natural response.
2. So it’s easy for us to see how we might rejoice in the face
of good things or despair in the opposite. But what about
the reality that the people Zephaniah was addressing
would be facing in just a few short years? How are they to
rejoice when all they know and love is at the brink of
devastation?
And what about us? How do we rejoice in the face of trials and
tribulations? In the face of loss, loss of a friend, a parent, a
child, a sibling or other family member? The loss of financial
security, the loss of trust in a person and the damaged
relationship that comes from that. The wrongdoing of another
to you. What of the struggles of trying to get pregnant, the
struggles of pregnancy, and then struggles of raising children in
a fallen world. What of our brothers and sisters currently
imprisoned for the sake of the Gospel? One of which is our own
fellowship’s brother? What about the pains of sickness or
disease, or the pains of broken relationships, regrets, and
responsibilities forced upon you because of the neglect of
another?
1. The Apostle Paul writes,
“Rejoice in the Lord always,
again I say rejoice.
” You might be sitting there thinking,
“Great. Thank you Chris for that Bible verse bandaid. Theiv. only way you could’ve made it better is if you added a
cool design and then maybe you could sell them to
Hobby Lobby or something.
”
a. But in all seriousness, how could Paul really say
that? Isn’t he the one that told the church in
Corinth that he had suffered,
i. imprisonments, with countless beatings,
and often near death. [He says] Five times I
received at the hands of the Jews the forty
lashes less one. Three times I was beaten
with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I
was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was
adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger
from rivers, danger from robbers, danger
from my own people, danger from Gentiles,
danger in the city, danger in the wilderness,
danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in
toil and hardship, through many a sleepless
night, in hunger and thirst, often without
food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from
other things, there is the daily pressure on
me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who
is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to
fall, and I am not indignant? (2 Cor. 11)
2. How do you rejoice; how do you, Christian, have joy in
times of trials and tribulation?
a. We rejoice, because the essence of our joy as
followers of Christ is not something manufactured
out of that which we can only fathom in our
earthly understanding.
b. One of my favorite songs contains this refrain:
i. Our hearts surrendered, we worship at Your
throne; All for You, Jesus, the True and Only
One; Our King Eternal, who was and is to
come; Your name is Jesus, the True and Only
One.
Our joy as the bride of Christ and ability to worship is sourced
in Jesus Christ, the true and only one. The only one who will
comfort and satisfy you by His presence alone in the depths of
your being in suffering and loss. The only one who can bring
about restoration to the damages of sin in relationships with
others. The only one who can forgive you for your
wrongdoings, thus enabling you to forgive others. The only one
who comforts and sustains in the hoping, bearing, and raising
of children. The only one who perseveres the soul of the
imprisoned and their families. The only one who can heal and
soothe those in the hands of physical pains and anguish. The
only one who can provide in the stead of our inadequacies.d. 1. When we realize this—which I add with caution, not so
that you might avoid this, but as Peter writes in his letter,
so that you would not be surprised—this realization, as
shown in scripture and life, this side of eternity, is not
easily learned when on the mountain tops of existence.
It’s worked out in the grueling, hiking through the dense,
humid jungles and the long stretches of barren
wastelands that fill the valleys of life. And it’s a lesson
which may never fully be learned, but in His goodness
and mercy, He walks with us through it all.
v. Understanding who Christ is, what He has done and will
continue to do, and grasping our purpose, which is to glorify
God, we can sing with the Psalmist:
1. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on
earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart
may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my
portion forever. (Ps. 73:25-26)
When God is the strength of our heart, He is our joy.
i. Our joy in God is not optional, it’s essential. You’ve likely heard
Piper’s explanation of this sort of symbiotic relationship of joy
and glory: He writes…
1.
“God’s ultimate goal in the world (His glory) and our
deepest desire (to be happy) are one and the same,
because God is most glorified in us when we are most
satisfied in him. Not only is God the supreme source of
satisfaction for the human soul, but God himself is
glorified by our being satisfied in him. Therefore, our
pursuit of joy in him is essential.
”
ii. Zephaniah tells the people to sing, shout, rejoice, and exult. He
tells them to worship. They worship because God alone is
worthy to be worshiped.
1. For the people Zephaniah is addressing, it’s not a matter
of suffering because of trials and tribulations, it’s a
matter of cause and effect, and the cause is that they, the
covenant people of God have not stayed true to the
covenant. They have become, yet again, the adulterated
covenant people of God, whoring after other gods.
iii. As we covered moments ago, God’s holiness is the standard, and
Judah and all the surrounding nations have fallen short of that
standard, yet God in His grace and mercy,
‘on that day’ has
taken away their judgment, He has cleared away their enemies,
and now the people of God shall never fear anything else again.
1. What’s their hope and assurance to never fear evil again?
God’s presence. The King of Israel, Immanuel, here with
us. The same assurance and hope for the people in
Zephaniah’s day is the same hope for us.
2. Christ, the manifested presence of God is here with us,
dwelling among us. When the King is with you, when you
are with the King, the One whom no one can overcome,2. the adversary’s shadow kingdom and shadow army is
exposed to you as the copycat and facade it truly is.
3. On that day, the dark kingdom of this world and its
so-called mighty ones will be ultimately decimated and
exiled to eternal destruction.
e. The Lord is in your midst, the Lord is dwelling in you who have
believed, so you shall never again fear evil. In Romans 8, Paul
encourages us along these same lines:
i. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation,
or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger,
or sword?…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor
life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to
come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in
Christ Jesus our Lord.
f. Christian, with an assurance like that, there is nothing to fear.
As children of God, we can trust and hope in the Lord:
a. On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not
your hands grow weak.
”
i. It shall be said to Jerusalem–the people of God–that on that
day… the day of final judgment and of salvation…fear not. Fear
not O Zion, fear not redeemed people of the Holy city
Jerusalem, you shall not fear and your hands shall not grow
weak.
1. The command to fear not, is the command to be strong
and courageous. The command to fear not and let not
your hands grow weak (inactive, useless, paralyzed by
fear) is the command… as the writer of Hebrews
instructs…to
a. …let us consider how to stir up one another to love
and good works, not neglecting to meet together,
as is the habit of some, but encouraging one
another, and all the more as you see the Day
drawing near. (Heb 10:24-25)
ii. For the people in Zephaniah’s day, this exhortation was crucial
with the approaching Babylonian occupation and exile.
b. Verse 17: “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will
save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His
love; He will exult over you with loud singing.
”
i. Yahweh dwells with us now. And Zephaniah’s encouragement to
Judah was that Yahweh, the mighty one who will save, the
mighty one whose strength will not waiver like the mighty ones
of Israel’s past, the mighty one who will ultimately save His
people to Himself, is now in their midst.
1. A few weeks back I was talking with one of my sisters
about this passage. Her church is working through the
minor prophets right now, and as she and I looked atverse 17 together where it says: He will rejoice over you
with gladness; quiet you by His love; [and] exult over you
with loud singing.
a. My sister made the comment —
“We often
underestimate the joy God has in His people, we
tend to think too much that God is just annoyed
with us.
” (Abby Hamilton)
i. It’s easy to take that perspective when you
look through the endless judgments and
rebukes upon the people of God in the
prophetic texts. It’s easy for me to slip into
that mindset when I look at my own sin and
see how God opposes it, and I find myself
again needing to come before Him in
repentance.
ii. With that being said, you might find yourself
having adopted the same mentality;
thinking,
‘well I just need to repent more so
that He would be satisfied.
’ Do not mishear
me. Repentance is a must. But we will never
repent enough in this life.
ii. Mitch shared a lengthy post recently that unpacked this
doctrine of forgiveness. In it, the author reminded us of the
story of the prodigal son. He said…
1.
“God’s forgiveness is never a layaway plan, where you
finally get to take it home once you’ve satisfied the
payment plan with enough acts of repentance. That’s
because forgiveness does not originate from repentance;
it originates solely from Christ. The Father did not
forgive the prodigal son because he returned home, said
he was sorry for his sins, and was unworthy to be called a
son anymore. The father had forgiven his son even while
that son was feeding swine in a faraway country. The
father had forgiven his son before he saw him a long way
off and began running toward him. The father had
forgiven his son because he was his son, because he
loved him as only a father can.
” (Chad Bird)
c. Follower of Christ, as God’s child, you shall not fear, you are freed to
worship Him fully, because you rest in the embrace of the One who
rejoices over you with gladness, the One who quiets your soul by His
love, the One who exults over you with singing.
i. In reference to this verse, the great preacher, Charles Spurgeon
writes,
“God is so happy in the love he bears to his people that
he breaks the eternal silence, and [the] sun and moon and stars
with astonishment hear God chanting a hymn of joy.
” (Spurgeon
SB)
ii. God’s love is directed toward His people. And His delight is in
those who seek and follow Him, those who rejoice in Him and
trust in Him alone. As we’ve heard it said here before, it’s not3. iii. Jesus plus anything. That’s heresy. You are chosen by grace
alone, not by works.
For those saved to life from death, you have been saved by
grace through faith, and Christ is your savior. Christ is the
atoning sacrifice, the means by which God embraces you now
as His redeemed child. Christ’s righteousness imputed upon
you, and the Holy Spirit’s dwelling within you is the reality, the
status, the foundation of your calling to holiness in which on
that day, there will be great reward when God gathers His
people to Himself and glorifies them in Him. And that truth, is
what stirs up the rejoicing for the people of God.
1. If you are not a child of God, repent and believe. Respond
to His holiness in the only right and good way possible,
worship Him. Trust in Christ alone, boast in Christ alone,
hope in Christ alone.
As children of God, we can worship the Lord:
i.
“I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, [verse 18]
so that you will no longer suffer reproach.
”
b. You may have noticed this, but in verses 16 to 17, God is the one
speaking. He continues speaking through verse 20. But in verse 18,
God’s grammatical approach changes.
i. Initially He refers to Himself as the Lord your God, a mighty
one. He’s referring to Himself in the third person. Then verse 18,
after He’s established who He is as the Lord your God and how
His delight is in you as His children, after this cadence of how
He will rejoice over you, He will quiet you, He will exult over
you…He switches to the first person and hits a lyrical stride.
Says…
1.
“I will gather you”
….
2. Verse 19,
“I will deal with your oppressors”
….
“I will save
the lame and gather the outcast”
….
“I will change their
shame to praise”
….
3. Verse 20 “I will bring you in”
….
“I will make you renowned
and praised among the whole earth”
….
ii. When the Lord makes this grammatical shift, the emphasis on
the blessings heightens with it. The beautiful imagery in this
poetic masterpiece casts a shadow over the great poets of
generations past. The sweet truths and compounding promises
of hope and salvation should comfort the ears of His chosen
ones as the singing of a songbird on a gentle morning.
(Spurgeon’s Sermons, vol. 6, p. 297)
c. Verse 18, He says,
“I will gather those of you who mourn for the
festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach.
”
i. Earlier this year in our Bible reading, as we read through the
book of Lamentations, you may recall coming across these
verses about the festivals…
1. The roads to Zion mourn,
for none come to the festival;all her gates are desolate;
her priests groan;
her virgins have been afflicted,
and she herself suffers bitterly. (Lam 1:4)
Then a few verses later…
2. He has laid waste his booth like a garden, laid in ruins his
meeting place; the Lord has made Zion forget festival and
Sabbath, and in his fierce indignation has spurned king
and priest. (Lam 2:6)
ii. Why? Because of sin and their turning away, great mourning
among the people commenced at the realization of their
position of separation from God.
1. Yet God, in His great love, He promises the people in
Zephaniah’s day that He will gather those who mourn so
that they will no longer suffer the reproach brought
about by their sin, the shame brought upon by their
turning away. Where their disgrace and shameful status
did not allow them to participate in true and right
worship, God promises the people that He will provide a
way and will gather His people to Himself. That way is
ultimately Jesus.
d. Verse 19: “Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And
I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their
shame into praise and renown in all the earth.
”
i.
“I will deal with all your oppressors.
” He says. As the good
shepherd, He will protect His flock. He will sustain and
preserve your soul against the schemes of the enemy.
ii. He says,
“I will save the lame and gather the outcast.
” In the
book of Micah, we see this promise fleshed out a little more:
1. In that day, declares the Lord,
I will assemble the lame
and gather those who have been driven away
and those whom I have afflicted;
and the lame I will make the remnant,
and those who were cast off, a strong nation;
and the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion
from this time forth and forevermore. (Mic 4:6-7)
iii. When the chief priests were discussing what to do with Jesus,
John records the following:
1. But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year,
said to them,
“You know nothing at all. Nor do you
understand that it is better for you that one man should
die for the people, not that the whole nation should
perish.
” [John writes] He did not say this of his own
accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied
that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the
nation only, but also to gather into one the children of
God who are scattered abroad.e. iv. The gathered remnant is a promise we see throughout scripture,
seen here in these two passages from Micah and John. A
promise fulfilled in Christ in His death, burial, resurrection and
ascension, but, it’s a promise ultimately realized in Christ’s
second coming.
Verse 20: “At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you
together; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the
peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,
”
says the Lord.
i. For the people of Zephaniah, these words are a foreshadowing
of their return to Jerusalem, a restoration of their nation and
identity after the downfall brought about by Babylon. A
forewarning in the form of promise that for the people of
Judah, they didn’t realize was necessary. A few decades would
pass before the exile, and the people of God would need to be
reminded by new prophets about these promises.
ii. But for us, it still matters right? Absolutely. We read this oracle
of hope and salvation for the people of Judah, and we can
understand it in their context. But for us, this oracle of joy,
hope and salvation is a promise already realized now in what
God has done, but also yet to come. The already but not yet. My
friend Josh Price put it this way, it’s “kind of now, but also a bit
not yeti.
”
1. I can’t help but hear these notes of familiarity in this
passage found later in the Bible.
a. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the
first heaven and the first earth had passed away,
and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city,
new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from
God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He
will dwell with them, and they will be his people,
and God himself will be with them as their God. He
will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and
death shall be no more, neither shall there be
mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the
former things have passed away. And he who was
seated on the throne said,
“Behold, I am making all
things new.
” Also he said,
“Write this down, for
these words are trustworthy and true.
” And he said
to me,
“It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give
from the spring of the water of life without
payment. The one who conquers will have this
heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my
son.
” (Revelation 21:1-7)
2. The scattered citizens of the Kingdom will one day be
gathered together triumphantly by the Good King. Bysuch a gathering, the people will bear the name and
esteem of their King among all the earth. The blessings of
the King and His Kingdom will be the people’s. They will
be His people, fully realized, and He will be their God. All
by the gracious salvation of God through Christ, to the
praise, glory, and honor of His name forever and ever,
amen!
4. Application:
a. What do we do with this today?
i. Four points of application, then we will stand and respond in
worship through song together.
b. But before that, if you today, in hearing the Word of God, have realized
that you are not a child of God. Repent and believe in Him. There’s no
magic prayer as though God is some mysterious force to be conjured
up with a spell. With a humble and contrite heart before Him,
surrender to His calling on your life and trust in Christ as Savior and
Lord. You matter to the King, and He desires that you be part of His
Kingdom as His son or daughter.
i. If this is you and you would like to speak with someone, grab
any one of our members here, and we would love to talk with
you about what this transformation means in your life.
c. Alright, brothers and sisters, hear these points of application, and
take them with you this week as you go out into your domains God
has placed you in.
i. First: Trust in the Lord.
1. Trust in the Lord and do not fear, for the Lord your God is
in your midst.
2. It’s not a matter of your willpower to believe you will be
okay in the midst of trials. It’s a belief in Christ as your
strength, sustenance and provision. It’s based on who He
is, on His character, not yours. Your faith, your trust in
Christ is rooted in the absolute truth of Christ’s character
as Saviour, and your faith worked out is in your
obedience to Him as Lord.
3. Trust in the Lord’s promises, recognizing that even
though the evidence your eyes can see may be lacking
now, know that God’s promises are sure—
“more sure,
even, than the evidence of [your] eyes.
” (Frame,
Systematic Theo., p. 955)
a. For I will make you renowned and praised among
all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your
fortunes before your eyes,
” says the Lord.
4. You can trust the Lord’s word to be true with hope-filled
anticipation that on that day, the Lord will establish the
evidence of His promises before your eyes.
ii. Second: Rejoice in the Lord.
1. As we covered earlier, for the believer, we have a truth we
can hold to, and we have a future hope we cling to inChrist, but all has not been made right yet. There is more
to come. So as we navigate through this already, but not
yet, we rejoice in the Lord.
2. We rejoice in the Lord because He is holy. Because He is
holy, we were in desperate need of being made right
before Him, otherwise the full weight of His wrath would
crush us. Knowing this, He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to
be the propitiation for our sins. He became sin who knew
no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God.
In this we rejoice.
3. We rejoice in the fact that Christ is King and has called us
into His Kingdom.
4. We recognize though, it’s easy to sing, to shout, rejoice
and exult when our lives are full of delights. When it’s
sunny, traffic is flowing, and people are fun to be around.
The challenge presents itself when life is dark, our minds
are congested, and patience is worn thin by the
never-ending siege of demands before us.
a. Be encouraged, O spouse of Christ, by the psalmist
words, even
i. though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the
heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its
swelling.
There is a river whose streams make glad the
city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be
moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
iii. …..
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear. (Psalm 46)
5. So rejoice, daughter of the King, rejoice you sons of the
Mighty One. Rejoice in God the good and gracious King
who is your victory always, and ‘when all around your
soul gives way, He then is all your hope and stay.
’ When
the foe approaches, sing. Sing the praises of Christ our
victorious King and rejoice, for He is the reigning one
who will make all things right on that day.
Third: Hope in the Lord.1. How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, Is laid for
your faith in his excellent word; What more can he say
than to you he hath said? You, who unto Jesus for refuge
have fled.
2. Even the people in Zephaniah’s day and throughout the
Old Testament had an understanding of a future hope,
and at that, they had a future hope in the resurrection. Of
course, they did not have the detail to which we possess
today in knowing Christ’s resurrection and further
canonical writing on the resurrection to come, but the
resurrection—the hope that death would be defeated and
things would be restored to the original intent God
created them in with a people gathered unto Himself—is
seen throughout the Old Testament. From Ezekiel and
Daniel, to Isaiah and the other prophets, even the
teachings that continued to when Jesus was walking the
earth and the religious leaders were debating over the
resurrection of the dead and the writer of Heberews’
referring to Abraham’s belief in the resurrection. We can
see their hope throughout.
a. Job even said,
i. For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at
the last he will stand upon the earth. And
after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet
in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see
for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and
not another.
3. The God of promises has appeared to us in Jesus Christ.
To us He gave us His oath, His covenant, His blood; and
thus, we can rest in the blood of Jesus which makes His
covenant sure. And in the end, on that day, we will stand
with Christ in our redeemed state proclaiming His glory.
a. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the
throne of God and of the Lamb will be in [the New
Jerusalem], and his servants will worship him.
They will see his face, and his name will be on their
foreheads. And night will be no more. They will
need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will
be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
4. Christian, hope in the Lord, for He is the only one whose
eternal promises will satisfy such deep longing.
5. A few weeks ago, I read an excerpt from a poem during
our observance of the Lord’s supper. I’d like to read the
full poem, as it’s one that I believe captures these points
of application quite well. It’s one that I’ve known for
years, but have grown more fond of in the last 18 months.
It’s by missionary C.T. Studd. I encourage you all to read
it, and think on it when you have the time. It reads,Two little lines I heard one day, Traveling along
life’s busy way;
Bringing conviction to my heart, And from my
mind would not depart;
Only one life,
‘twill soon be past, Only what’s done
for Christ will last.
Only one life, yes only one, Soon will its fleeting
hours be done;
Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet, And stand
before His Judgment seat;
Only one life,
‘twill soon be past, Only what’s done
for Christ will last.
Only one life, the still small voice, Gently pleads
for a better choice
Bidding me selfish aims to leave, And to God’s holy
will to cleave;
Only one life,
‘twill soon be past, Only what’s done
for Christ will last.
Only one life, a few brief years, Each with its
burdens, hopes, and fears;
Each with its days I must fulfill, living for self or in
His will;
Only one life,
‘twill soon be past, Only what’s done
for Christ will last.
When this bright world would tempt me sore,
When Satan would a victory score;
When self would seek to have its way, Then help
me Lord with joy to say;
Only one life,
‘twill soon be past, Only what’s done
for Christ will last.
Give me Father, a purpose deep, In joy or sorrow
Thy word to keep;
Faithful and true what e’er the strife, Pleasing Thee
in my daily life;
Only one life,
‘twill soon be past, Only what’s done
for Christ will last.
Oh let my love with fervor burn, And from the
world now let me turn;
Living for Thee, and Thee alone, Bringing Thee
pleasure on Thy throne;
Only one life,
‘twill soon be past, Only what’s done
for Christ will last.Only one life, yes only one, Now let me say,
“Thy
will be done”;
And when at last I’ll hear the call, I know I’ll say
’twas worth it all”;
Only one life,
‘twill soon be past, Only what’s done
for Christ will last.
6. As we consider the truths in this passage from Zephaniah
and the ways in which we can be obedient to this text, we
have one final application.
iv. Fourth: Worship the Lord.
1. Our response to who God is and what He has done is
worship. Be not surprised, you will surely feel the pangs
of this world. The pangs of sorrow, tears, and groans.
a. When confronted with the reality of loss, we
lament, and we long for satisfaction to fill the great
chasm of pain that results; when assaulted by
adversity’s theft of happiness, security, and peace
of mind, our soul cries out for justice; in the
betrayal of wrongdoings from others,
abandonment, mistreatment, and hatred, we weep
at the core of our being; when wrestling with
questions of why and your mind cannot avail itself
to reasonable answers, you trudge along for
another day; in the midst of it all, when we look to
the face of God,
“we will be led to this conclusion,
‘God has willed it so; let us follow his will.
’ This
should be our thought when all around are the
pangs of sorrow, tears, and groans. Only so will we
train our heart to bear joyfully the things which
cause it grief.
” (Institutes, p. 808)
b. Then, despite being surrounded by the paltering of
Job’s friends, we can join him in saying,
“the Lord
gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the
name of the Lord.
”
2. Church, stand to worship Christ the King in song this
morning.
Grace and peace to you.