Sunday
Morning Bible Study
July
20, 2014
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel preached? Does it address the person who is: Empty, lonely, guilty, or afraid to die? Does it speak
to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach
for a decision Is the church loved? Regular: 2900
words Communion: 2500 words
Zephaniah’s prophecy was given somewhere around 622-612 BC.
Though this was written during the time of the national revival under King
Josiah, the revival was only skin deep. Most of the people were still enamored with
the wickedness that King Manasseh had brought into the nation.
The main theme of the book of Zephaniah is the “day of the LORD”
The concept of the “day of the LORD” is a day when God “shows up”.
It involves judgment on wickedness.
It involves salvation for those who turn to God.
We’ve talked before about the nature of prophecy,
and that there can be more than one fulfillment of a prophecy.
Some of Zephaniah’s prophecy will be fulfilled
with the coming Babylonian invasion.
, ultimately wiping out the nation
of Judah in 586 BC.
Other parts look far into the future, when Jesus comes back.
Zephaniah – Tsephanyah –
“Yahweh has treasured”
Whenever God speaks of future
judgment, it’s not just to make us cower and tremble,
it’s to make us do something.
God wants us to turn around.
There is a way out.
Over the last few weeks we’ve seen that the coming judgments of God not only would
affect the nation of Judah, but the other nations surrounding Judah as well.
Now the focus has turned back to
Judah and Jerusalem.
3:1-7 Jerusalem’s Judgment
:1 Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, To
the oppressing city!
:1 the oppressing city
God is now zeroing in His focus of judgment on Jerusalem, and His own
people the Jews.
:2 She has not obeyed His voice, She has
not received correction; She has not trusted in the Lord, She has not drawn near to her God.
:2 not obeyed … correction … trusted …
drawn near
obeyed – shama– to hear, listen to, obey
received – laqach – to take,
get, lay hold of, seize
correction – muwcar – discipline, chastening, correction
The Greek word used in the Septuagint here is paideuo, which speaks of the discipline
of children.
trusted – batach – to trust
drawn near – qarab – to come near, approach, enter into,
draw near
Lesson
God’s Kids
Four charges are leveled against the people of
God.
They have not listened and obeyed what they knew to be God’s voice.
They have not received correction when a prophet spoke up to challenge
them.
They have not trusted in the Lord.
They have not drawn near to God.
These are four things that describe what it is to
be a true child of God.
1. Obedience
The Bible constantly connects “hearing” with “obeying”.
Both Hebrew and Greeks words for “hear” are also can be translated
“obey”.
God’s kids have ears to hear what God says, and then obey it.
Throughout the
gospels, Jesus is telling the crowd,
(Matthew 11:15 NKJV) He
who has ears to hear, let him hear!
Seven times in the
book of Revelation, Jesus says to the churches,
(Revelation 2:7 NKJV) “He who has an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit says to the churches.
Jesus said,
(John
10:27 NKJV) My sheep hear My
voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
2. Correction
God’s kids allow Him to change the direction of their life when they’re going the wrong way.
Disciplining our own kids isn’t easy. Sometimes
our kids are smarter than we are.
Illustration
Sam was a 4-year-old who loved candy as much as his mom
did. Sam’s dad gave Sam’s mom a box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day. The box
was heart-shaped and filled with tons of various chocolates. After a few days
had passed, Sam went to the box and reached out to touch one of the pieces of
chocolate. Sam’s mom said, “Now Sam, you know that if you touch it you have to
eat it.” Sam then reached out and tenderly patted the top of every piece of
candy with his little hand. He then turned to his mother and said, “Well, now I
guess I have to eat them all.”
I hope you don’t really do it
this way for your child.
Discipline is something you have to work hard at.
Yelling is never a good thing – it only shows how angry
you are. Until you learn to curb your
anger, your discipline is going to be greatly flawed.
There are times when discipline requires a penalty,
something that your child will understand as a bad thing – it could be a careful
swat on the behind, a time out, or removing privileges.
Some discipline involves rewarding good behavior.
Discipline always requires talking. Always talk it out so
that you know that your child understands what is happening.
If we are truly God’s kids, we will experience His discipline from time to
time.
(Hebrews
12:9–11 NKJV) —9 Furthermore, we have had human
fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not
much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they
indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He
for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no
chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless,
afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been
trained by it.
We want to be “trained” by God’s discipline.
3. Trust
We need to trust Him, even when we don’t see what
He’s doing.
This is how we start our relationship with God, by trusting (believing) Him.
(John
3:16 NKJV) For God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but
have everlasting life.
This is also how we continue our relationship with Him, learning to trust
Him.
(2
Corinthians 5:7 NKJV) For we walk by faith, not
by sight.
(Hebrews 11:6 NKJV) But
without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to
God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder
of those who diligently seek Him.
4. Draw Near
We need to press in, to draw near to God.
There may be times when we feel so unworthy that we could never think of
coming to God. We are sure He would kill us.
(Hebrews
10:22 NKJV) let us draw near with a true heart
in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience
and our bodies washed with pure water.
The truth is, there is cleansing with God. He wants us to
come to Him so we can receive cleansing.
The Bible promises,
(James
4:8a NKJV) Draw near to God and He will draw
near to you.
:3 Her princes in her midst are roaring
lions; Her judges are evening wolves That leave not a bone till morning.
:4 Her prophets are insolent, treacherous people;
Her priests have polluted the sanctuary, They have done violence to the law.
:3 princes … judges
First God zeroes in on the leaders.
There is nothing said about the godly King Josiah.
But his sons and the judges of the land are
compared to dangerous lions and wolves.
The leaders ought to have been shepherds protecting the flock, but instead
they are devouring the flock.
:4 prophets … priests
Sometimes religious leaders don’t help.
Sometimes religious leaders are bad people (insolent, treacherous)
insolent – pachaz – (Qal) to be wanton, be reckless, be frothy
treacherous – bogedowth –
treacherous, treacherousness, men of treacherous behavior
:4 polluted the sanctuary
polluted – chalal – to
profane, defile, pollute, desecrate, begin
The sanctuary was to be a place
that was sacred, clean, and holy. They have done just the opposite to it.
:4 They have done violence to the law
I think one of the greatest ways
people can “do violence” to God’s Word is when they are taught to discount it (it’s not that big of a deal), or to altogether disregard it.
Jesus said,
(Matthew 5:17–19 NKJV) 17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the
Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18
For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will
by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19
Whoever therefore breaks one of the least
of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called
least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he
shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Learn to pay attention to the whole
book. Read, study, and follow the whole book.
:5 The Lord
is righteous in her midst, He will do no unrighteousness. Every morning
He brings His justice to light; He never fails, But
the unjust knows no shame.
:5 The Lord
is righteous in her midst
(Zephaniah 3:5 AV) The just
LORD is in the midst thereof…
righteous – tsaddiyq – just,
lawful, righteous
God is “just” and “righteous”, and He is right in the middle of Jerusalem.
Because God is in the midst of Jerusalem, and they are not doing what is
“righteous”, they are making themselves ripe for judgment because they are
acting contrary to the direction that God is nudging them to go.
Lesson
Like your God
You should be able to tell who a person’s “god” really is by stepping back
and looking at their life.
The Psalmist writes about how people make idols out of silver and gold…
(Psalm 115:8 NKJV) Those who make them are like them; So is everyone
who trusts in them.
When money is my god, I will live my life to please money,
to make money.
When power is my god, I live my whole life to get more
power over people.
If your “Jesus” is made out of
plastic and lives on your dashboard, you will probably be a little “plastic”
yourself.
Video: I Am Here
When the real Jesus is my God, my character will look more
and more like His.
When God is truly in the middle of
something or someone, they ought to begin to take on His character if they are
paying attention to Him.
If you have put your trust in Jesus, then He is in you. The Holy Spirit is
in you.
Paul will use the same principles we see in Zephaniah – God in us, His
righteousness, and how it ought to affect us –
(1
Thessalonians 4:3–8 NLT) —3 God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away
from all sexual sin. 4 Then each of you will control his own body and
live in holiness and honor—5 not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his
ways. 6 Never harm or cheat a Christian brother in this matter by violating
his wife, for the Lord avenges all such sins, as we have solemnly warned you
before. 7 God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. 8 Therefore,
anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but
is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
When the “Holy” Spirit is in you, He is going to be
nudging you towards being holy like He is.
You can get mad at the preacher or the friend who is
encouraging you to clean up your act, but your real problem is with God.
:5 He will do no unrighteousness
unrighteousness – ‘evel – injustice, unrighteousness, wrong
John wrote,
(1 John 1:5 NKJV) This is the message which
we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no
darkness at all.
We can sometimes think that God is “out to get us”, as if He’s some evil genius sitting in heaven looking for ways to
make us miserable.
In a way God is “out to get us”, but He’s out to
get us saved. Nothing He does is for the purpose of evil.
:5 Every morning He brings His justice to light
In the ancient Middle Eastern
culture, the administering of justice took place in the morning.
God’s righteous conduct is made known through His true prophets who exhort to
godliness, and warn of the coming judgment on the ungodly.
:5 the unjust knows no shame
:5 unjust – ‘avval
– unjust one, perverse one, unrighteous one
This word is related to the word
translated “unrighteousness” earlier in the verse
:5 shame – bosheth – shame; shameful thing
The role of shame in our lives
:6 “I have cut off nations, Their fortresses are
devastated; I have made their streets desolate, With none passing by. Their cities are destroyed; There is no one, no
inhabitant.
:7 I said, ‘Surely you will fear Me, You will
receive instruction’— So that her dwelling would not be cut off, Despite
everything for which I punished her. But they rose
early and corrupted all their deeds.
:6 I have cut off nations
God has allowed other nations to be cut off.
They had seen the Syrians conquered by Assyria.
They had seen the ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel defeated and
scattered by the Assyrians.
:7 Surely you will fear Me
If God cut off other nations, shouldn’t Jerusalem
be at least a little shook up because of the wake-up call?
Jerusalem would keep right on sinning and judgment would come.
It came in waves.
In 605 BC Nebuchadnezzar first showed up at
Jerusalem’s doorstep. He too some of the choicest people back to Babylon,
including the prophet Daniel.
In 597 BC Nebuchadnezzar came back and this time
he took 10,000 people captive back to Babylon, including the prophet Ezekiel.
In 586 BC Nebuchadnezzar was done with Jerusalem’s
pretending to obey Babylon and then change their mind.
This time he completely destroyed
the city, including the Temple.
This makes me worry about the United States.
We have turned our backs on God just like Judah.
I wonder if some of the things that have happened over the last few years weren’t meant to be wake up calls for us.
Terror attacks. Economic recession.
Even our current drought.
If we don’t turn around soon, we too are very much
open to judgment.
:7 But they rose early and corrupted all their
deeds
Early morning is the best time to
do business in the ancient Middle East.
They couldn’t
wait to get to their evil deeds every day.
3:8-13 Judgment and Restoration
:8 “Therefore wait for Me,” says the Lord, “Until the day I rise up for
plunder; My determination is to gather the nations To My assembly of
kingdoms, To pour on them My indignation, All My fierce anger; All the earth
shall be devoured With the fire of My jealousy.
:8 Therefore…
According to the Masoretic scholars who labor faithfully on the text of the
Old Testament, verse 8 is the only verse in the entire Old Testament that
contains all the letters of the Hebrew Alphabet.
:8 Until the day I rise up
NIV – “stand up to testify”
:8 My determination is to gather
the nations
This is spoken of throughout the Bible – a time when God will bring judgment on the whole earth. (Zechariah 14:2; Joel 3:1-3,
12-16)
(Zechariah 14:2 NKJV) —2 For I will gather all the nations to battle against
Jerusalem; The city shall be taken, The
houses rifled, And the women
ravished. Half of the city
shall go into captivity, But the remnant of the
people shall not be cut off from the city.
(Joel 3:1–3 NKJV) —1 “For behold, in those days and at that time, When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 I will also gather all nations, And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
And I will enter into judgment with them there
On account of My people, My heritage Israel,
Whom they have scattered among the nations;
They have also divided up My land.
3 They have cast lots for My people, Have
given a boy as payment for a harlot, And sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.
(Joel 3:12–16 NKJV) —12 “Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of
Jehoshaphat; For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. 13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is
ripe. Come, go down; For
the winepress is full, The vats
overflow— For their wickedness
is great.” 14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord
is near in the valley of decision. 15 The sun
and moon will grow dark, And the stars will
diminish their brightness. 16 The Lord also will roar from Zion, And utter His voice from Jerusalem; The heavens and earth will shake; But the Lord
will be a shelter for His people, And the
strength of the children of Israel.
(Revelation
16:12–16 NKJV) —12 Then the sixth angel poured
out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was
dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. 13 And I saw
three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon,
out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 For they
are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of
the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great
day of God Almighty. 15 “Behold, I am coming as a thief.
Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.” 16 And they gathered them together to
the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.
:8 All the earth shall be devoured
jealousy – qin’ah – ardour, zeal, jealousy
John records the outcome of that final battle at Armageddon, when the
antichrist (the beast) has gathered the world’s armies to face the invading
army of heaven.
(Revelation
19:19–21 NKJV) —19 And I saw the beast, the
kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him
who sat on the horse and against His army. 20 Then the beast was
captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his
presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and
those who worshiped his image. These two were cast
alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. 21 And the
rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from
the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the
birds were filled with their flesh.
:9 “For then I will restore to the peoples a pure
language, That they all may call on the name of the Lord, To serve Him with one accord.
:10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My
worshipers, The daughter of My dispersed ones, Shall bring My offering.
:9 For then …
From this point on, we see the other side of the “day of the Lord”
It is not just about judgment, it is also about salvation
and restoration.
What we now see will be describing the “Millennial Kingdom”, after Jesus returns and rules and reigns on this earth for 1,000 years.
:9 To serve Him with one accord
Literally, “to serve Him with one
shoulder”
NIV – “shoulder to shoulder”
:10 beyond the rivers of Ethiopia
After Jesus comes back, there will be Jews returning from further away than
Ethiopia to worship the Lord.
The people Zephaniah writes of
would be Jews (daughter of My dispersed ones).
We’ve talked over the years about the “Olim”, Jews from around the world who immigrate to Israel. The
immigration process is called making “Aliyah”.
Just this year there have been large numbers of Jews immigrating to Israel
from India, Ethiopia, Ukraine, and France.
After Jesus comes back, even more will return.
:9 I will restore to the peoples a pure
language
pure – barar – to purify,
select, polish, choose, purge, cleanse or make bright, test or prove
There are a couple of possibilities here.
1) Babel’s reversal (Gen. 11)
When mankind built the Tower of Babel, God confused
man’s languages because of the wickedness and self-will of mankind.
Some have suggested that after Jesus returns, there will once again be a
single language.
Some have suggested its Hebrew. I’ve
also heard other ideas through the years as well.
2) Purifying current languages
Right now we use a lot of language to curse God
and turn people away from Him.
After Jesus comes back, there will be no more curse words, no more filthy
language.
:9 That they all may call on the name of
the Lord
This is the purpose of the “pure language”.
Calling on the name of the Lord is
where there is safety, having a place in Christ’s kingdom. This is how you
obtain salvation.
Joel wrote,
(Joel 2:32 NKJV) And it shall
come to pass That whoever
calls on the name of the Lord Shall be
saved. For in
Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the Lord has said, Among the
remnant whom the Lord calls.
Peter quoted Joel in his sermon on the day of Pentecost, as he preached the
gospel to the crowd that had gathered,
(Acts 2:21 NKJV) And it shall come to pass That whoever
calls on the name of the Lord Shall be
saved.’
Paul quoted this as well when he
talked about how salvation is received by faith,
(Romans 10:13 NKJV) For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Lesson
Salvation
In the day that we’re talking about, after Jesus
comes back, the only people left on the earth are those who have been saved,
those who have trusted in Jesus.
All the rest of the earth will be destroyed.
You have a chance today to be sure you are one of those people.
The Bible says that salvation, our ability to spend eternity in heaven with
God, is dependent upon what Jesus did when He died on the cross.
He died as a sacrifice to pay for our sins.
God now offers salvation to you as a gift.
It’s not something you earn – you don’t “clean up
your act” in order for God to save you.
You simply receive the gift. You say “yes”. You ask God to save you and
then trust that He will do what He promises. That’s
faith.
This is what Paul was talking about when he wrote,
(Romans 10:9–13
NLT) —9 If you confess with your mouth that
Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you
will be saved. 10
For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with
God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. 11 As the
Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” 12 Jew and
Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives
generously to all who call on him. 13 For
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
will be saved.”
Are you ready to trust Him?