Zephaniah 2:1-15

Judgment is not a very popular subject.  We all prefer to think of grace, mercy and love.  However, the prophets have a message of judgment and wrath that they have been called to deliver in order to bring the Lord’s people to a place of repentance and restoration.  The danger of considering only God’s love and mercy is that it will lead us to a false sense of security that will have a devastating effect when the truth of the wrath of God is revealed.  Warnings are never fun to deliver because nobody likes to be the bearer of bad news, but it is very necessary for us to give strong warnings because the coming wrath of God is very real.

A CALL TO REPENTANCE: Zephaniah’s message is a call for the people to gather together and repent.  They are called a shameless nation because they have been involved in sin for so long that they simply no longer have any shame over their sin.  The danger of living in sin and ignoring God’s Word is that it will harden our conscience over sin.  We must not allow this to happen in our lives.  God calls us to a life of sensitivity to His Word.  There is still time to repent but that time is running out.  It is important for the nation to gather symbolizing a national repentance and not just the repentance of a few scattered individuals.  There is always a faithful remnant but Zephaniah’s message is to the nation as a whole and his challenge is for them to seek the Lord, humble themselves before Him and to walk in obedience to the Word of God.  This is the only means of escaping the wrath of God.


A WARNING OF VENGEANCE: Zephaniah now turns his attention to the surrounding nations that have been responsible for tempting the nation of Judah.  For generations they have been a stumbling block to the Lord’s chosen people.  Instead of Israel being an example and influence on these pagan cultures, the godless nations had been a source of temptation to them.  Not only did they attack them throughout their history, but they also induced them to turn from God to worship their lifeless idols.  The Philistines, Moabites and Assyrians had all been sources of idolatry and persecution on the children of Israel.  This would not continue to go unpunished.  God would call them to account and they would become desolate nations under God’s wrath.  They would become pasture lands and salt fields because of the destruction that God would bring down upon them.  We must not live under the impression that God is only a God of love.  He is also a jealous, vengeful God of wrath and judgment. 

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