Through the Bible - Zephaniah

God, we thank You for Your protection upon Tony and Karen. Lord, we thank You that although they are bruised, banged up, and even have a broken leg, they are still with us, and they still have work to do and accomplish in Scotland. We know that the job is not done, Lord. We lift them into Your hands.

We pray for Karen's surgery tomorrow, that You would be with her. Help her not to be anxious about it. We pray that everything would be successful. We lift Tony into Your hands as well. Help him not to be anxious, but to cast his cares upon You. God, we thank You that You care for us. You know all the things that we go through, so we lift them into Your hands right now, knowing that You will take care of them, even though there is distance that separates us. You are still with them, even at this very moment. We thank You so much for that.

Now, God, as we get into Your Word, we pray that You would speak to us, that You would open our hearts and our understanding, and that You would help us to apply the truths we see here in the book of Zephaniah. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

Now, the book of Zephaniah has only three chapters. How many of you read it this last week? All right, good. We are almost near the end of the Old Testament. We only have three more books left: Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

When you read through these prophetic books, especially the minor prophets, they are divided into two groups: the pre-exilic period and the post-exilic period. What does that mean? You will remember that the children of Israel were carried away captive to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. We read a lot about that when we go through the book of Daniel, and we see what the Lord did for the children of Israel while they were in Babylon through Daniel and Ezekiel.

So, you have the pre-exilic prophets, which come up until this point, Zephaniah, and then next week, we will get into the post-exilic prophets.

After the children of Israel returned from their time in Babylon, they had been exiled for 70 years. Tonight, we focus on the last of the prophets who speaks to the nation of Judah specifically. You will remember that the nation of Israel was divided into two different nations. The northern ten tribes were called Ephraim, and their capital city was Samaria. The southern two tribes were called Judah, and their capital city was Jerusalem.

At the time when Zephaniah came to prophesy to the children of Israel, the northern ten tribes had already been taken captive by the Assyrians. The Assyrian army came in, destroyed the northern ten tribes, and took them captive. They even attempted to destroy the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin, but the Lord defended His people. Even though they had departed from the Lord and were not fully following Him, God still defended them. In one night, an angel destroyed 185,000 of the Assyrian army as King Sennacherib from Assyria tried to conquer the children of Israel in Jerusalem.

However, God still had an issue with the southern tribes of Benjamin and Judah because they had rebelled against Him. God continually spoke to them and called out to them through the prophets. The primary focus of each of these prophets, their underlying theme, was to repent. They preached a message of repentance, and God used various judgments to speak to them. It was almost as if the Lord, as a loving father, came to discipline His children. He allowed them to experience the chastening of different nations coming against them, but the ultimate purpose was to bring them back to the Lord and cause a remnant to return.

As we see the judgments of God in the Old Testament, we must always remember that God's judgment has a purifying purpose. God judges His people and allows trials, tribulations, and hardships to come as a form of discipline. Ultimately, the goal is to bring forth a remnant. This has a purifying purpose, similar to how parents discipline their children. Those of you who have children understand that discipline aims to bring about the peaceable fruits of righteousness. You want them to walk in a right and godly way. That is the core purpose of discipline.

Sometimes we may discipline out of anger, but our God does not. God does not discipline His people out of anger; He is not like us in that regard. Therefore, the Lord does bring discipline upon His disobedient people.

And we see Him constantly calling out to them as He disciplines them, as He chastens them, that they would return to Him. As you read through these three chapters of Zephaniah, you see this message of judgment, this message of God's wrath spoken to them. This is almost like a last-ditch effort, in a sense. God is speaking to them one more time before destruction comes.

The historical setting of this book can be found in 2 Kings, chapter 22. We read in the first verse of chapter 1, "The word of the Lord which came to Zephaniah, the son of Cushai, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah." Now, who was Hezekiah? If you remember, Hezekiah was a good king in Israel. The first thing we find out about this prophet Zephaniah is that he was of the royal family. He is a descendant of the king, in a sense. His great-great-grandfather, Hezekiah, was a good king in the nation of Judah. He was one who brought about a time of restoration unto the Lord. In fact, you can read about Hezekiah in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah chapters 36, 37, 38, and 39 speak about Hezekiah and what was going on during his reign.

Hezekiah was the king who watched God defend Jerusalem. He was the king when God killed 185,000 of the Assyrian army right outside the gates of the city of Jerusalem. This king really saw God move in a miraculous way. He began his ministry as king in a good way; he followed the Lord. However, his life didn't really end in a right way. It's always nice to start good, but it's important to finish well. Amen?

Any of you who have ever run a race or even watched a race know that it's great to start well. You see those people who start at a dead sprint. But oftentimes, they don't finish well, do they? King Hezekiah was one of those guys who started at a dead run and began well, but he didn't finish well. The sad story about his finish is given to us in Isaiah, chapter 39. There we read about this king who, after the Lord had healed him from a sickness, was told by God that he was going to die from this sickness. He cried out to the Lord, and God answered his prayer, healed him, and gave him another 15 years before he would die. However, it wasn't really God's will that he would stay alive. We see that because his descendant, the king who would come after him, his son, was a guy...

By the name of Manasseh, he came to power when he was 12 years old, which means that Hezekiah had this son after he had been sick. If Hezekiah had just followed in the way of the Lord and the will of the Lord, even though God came to him and said, "You're going to die," he responded, "That's a horrible thing, Lord, I don't want to die." But it was God's perfect will; it was God's perfect plan. He cried out to the Lord that the Lord would give him an extended period of life, and God said, "All right, I'm going to permit it." This is God's permissive will. He allowed it, but it wasn't His perfect will.

From that ultimate extra time that Hezekiah had came King Manasseh, who turned out to be, if you remember our history, the most wicked king that the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin ever had. He undid everything that his father, Hezekiah, had done. His father had torn down all the high places and had brought great restoration to the temple. Manasseh undid every single one of those things. Because of the wicked works of Manasseh, the children of Israel would be judged by the Babylonians. As you read through 1 and 2 Kings, you see that the primary reason they were judged was because of the works that Manasseh did. He was a very wicked king.

However, you will also remember that down the line came his son. Manasseh had a son named Ammon, and Ammon had a son named Josiah. Josiah became king when he was 8 years old. We might think that an 8-year-old leading the nation could be almost as bad as a 28-year-old leading the church, but you never know. Here you've got this 8-year-old who is leading the nation. At the beginning, when he was 8 years old, it was the advisors of the king, the princes of the king, who would lead the nation.

There came a point, which you can read about in 2 Kings chapter 22. Ten years after he became king, when he was 18 years old, he brought about a great restoration and a return to the Lord in the nation of Judah. He was the last good king that the nation of Judah saw before they were exiled into Babylon.

When we read about Zephaniah living during the days of Josiah, this is very likely during the early days of Josiah's reign, from when he was 8 to 18 years old, because that restoration and renewal had not taken place yet. The nation was still walking in ungodliness; they were still impenitent and had not turned to the Lord. Zephaniah came and spoke one last time on behalf of God to the people before they were exiled into Babylon, calling them to repentance. He spoke very much of the judgment of the Lord and what we call the great and terrible.

The day of the Lord is a significant concept in Scripture. Tomorrow is Sunday, which we call the Lord's Day, but it is not the same as the day of the Lord. We need to understand that the early church would meet together on the Lord's Day, the first day of the week, Sunday. However, when we read about the day of the Lord in the Scriptures, it is definitely a different matter. It’s almost like saying a cowboy is different from a boy cow. The day of the Lord is much different from the Lord's Day.

The day of the Lord refers to any time in history when God intervenes in man's world. He reaches into our reality and acts. Typically, the day of the Lord is associated with judgment. Whenever we see the day of the Lord mentioned in the Old Testament, it signifies God acting within the realm of human history. There are many different instances in Scripture that can be classified as the day of the Lord. The Bible looks forward to something called the great and terrible day of the Lord, which both the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament writers speak of. We are looking forward to that day, which has not yet come but will certainly arrive, just as the earlier days of the Lord came to pass as the prophets foretold.

Tonight, we will explore what this means for mankind. God looks at His people, who have rebelled against Him and turned away, and speaks of coming judgment. The reason God speaks of this judgment is that He desires His people to turn back to Him. God is not willing that any should perish but that all would come to repentance. Through Amos the prophet, in Amos chapter 3, God tells us that surely the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret to His servants, the prophets. God wants His people to turn to Him in repentance, so He always sends prophets to call them back. Unfortunately, they would not turn; they would not ultimately repent.

Because God is a just God—loving, yet just—He will not overlook guilt. He will ultimately punish His people for their wrongdoing. We have seen this in the various prophetic works we have examined so far. Last week, we looked at the book of Habakkuk, where God promised the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin that they would be judged by the Babylonians. You may remember that Habakkuk struggled with this idea. He questioned why God would use a more wicked nation than theirs to judge them. He acknowledged their wickedness but wondered why the Babylonians were chosen for this task. God's ways are indeed much different than our ways.

We don't always understand why or how He works, but we do know that God is at work. Here, He speaks through the prophet Zephaniah to the people. We read in Zephaniah chapter 1, verse 1, that it was during the days of Josiah, the son of Ammon, the king of Judah. God said, "I will utterly consume all things from off the land," says the Lord. Again, those are powerful words. God speaks to His people and says, "I will utterly consume, I will utterly destroy all things from off the land," says the Lord. "I will consume man and beast. I will consume fowls of the heaven and fish of the sea, and the stumbling blocks with the wicked, and I will cut off man from off the land," saith the Lord.

God speaks a general prophecy unto all mankind, unto all the world, that He is going to bring judgment. This is the very same thing that God spoke through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 24 and in many other passages. The Bible declares that there is coming a day when God is going to judge all mankind. In the Old Testament, we see how God judges individual nations and even individual people, but primarily He deals with individual nations: the Philistines, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the people of Persia, the Babylonians, the Assyrians—all these different nations God judges individually. His own people, Israel to the north and Judah to the south, are also judged.

However, there is coming a day, as the prophets foretell, when God will judge all mankind. He will judge the entire earth. It has not yet happened. When we read about this great and terrible day of the Lord, that is what it is referring to. It is the day when God is going to judge all mankind. In verses 2 and 3, God speaks a general judgment upon all of mankind. But God always takes it from the general to the specific.

In verse 4, we see that specific word spoken where God says, "I will stretch out my hand upon who? Upon Judah and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and I will cut off the remnant of who? Baal." Now remember, Baal is one of the false gods that the children of Israel had turned to. He was a god of the nations around them. God had given His commandments to the children of Israel, and the very first one says, "You shall have no other gods before me." Furthermore, "You shall not make for yourself a graven image, nor bow down to any other likeness." Well, as soon as the children of Israel came into the promised land, what did they do?

They departed from the Lord and began to bow down to the gods of the nations around them. Baal was one of these gods; he was the god of the Assyrians and the god of the Babylonians. His name means "lord" or "master," and they would worship him in all kinds of immoral ways. Primarily, they would bow down to the images they made of Baal.

Here, God says, "I will stretch out my hand upon Judah and Jerusalem. I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place and the name of Chemerims, or the idolatrous priests, with these priests." Among the children of Israel, among the priests in Jerusalem, there were now priests who served and followed Baal instead of God. They worshipped God as well, but they had mixed the worship and praise of the one true God with the worship and adoration of these false gods. The priests, the Levites, the ones who ran the temple, were involved in this kind of worship. A horrible thing was going on in the land.

We read in verse 5 about those who worshipped the hosts of heaven upon the housetops. Not only were the children of Israel, at the level of the priests and the leaders of the nation, worshipping Baal, but the people themselves were worshipping all the hosts of heaven. They were involved in astrology, looking to the stars for what they might be able to tell them. We are doing the same thing in our day, aren't we? People are still engaging in this thousands of years later, even though we think that idolatry doesn't happen here in America. It's still going on in the same way it was during the time of Zephaniah.

God says, "I am going to cut off those that serve Baal, those that worship the host of the heavens, that worship and swear by the Lord and swear by Malkim." The people swore by God at one point in the day; they would swear by Yahweh, Jehovah. They swore by Him and served Him, but at the same time, they were following false gods. God says, "I am going to judge you as a result of this."

He also addresses those who have turned back from the Lord and those who have not sought the Lord nor inquired of Him. "Hold your peace," we read in verse 7, "at the presence of the Lord God, for the day of the Lord is at hand." God calls out to His people and says, "I'm going to judge you." He is speaking through Zephaniah the prophet. Remember, the whole intent behind God's message was that they would repent and turn back to Him.

He says, "I'm going to judge you. I'm going to cut you off. I'm going to consume you. I'm going to completely destroy you by stretching out my hand against you." Why? It's not because I don't like you. It's not because I'm just mad at you or having a bad day. No, I am doing this...

As a result of your sin, you've worshipped the host of heaven. You've turned to Malkhem and Baal. You've turned away from the Lord and have not sought Him. Therefore, He says, "We don't hold your peace. Stand in the presence of the Lord, for the day of the Lord is at hand. For the Lord has prepared a sacrifice and He has bid His guests."

Now, what does it mean when we read that the Lord has prepared His sacrifice and has bid His guests? This has two different fulfillments in view. God is speaking in the short run to His people, the children of Israel in Judah, as we see in verse 4. Remember, God says, "I speak to Judah and Jerusalem because they've turned away from Me." But in verses 2 and 3, He is also speaking to the greater world at large. God says, "I'm going to judge the whole world in general." However, right now, He is focusing on Judah and Jerusalem.

In the wider scope of God speaking to the whole world, He says, "I have prepared a sacrifice and I have bid My guests." When you begin to look at this whole concept of God bidding His guests, what is He talking about? There are two specific passages you can look at in the Scriptures: Ezekiel chapter 39 and Revelation chapter 19.

In Revelation chapter 19, we see similar wording used as all the nations of the earth are gathered together against God in what we call the Valley of Megiddo or the Great Armageddon, this great war that is going to come. This is when God's wrath will be poured out upon humanity. We see it clearly in the Scriptures in the book of Revelation that this is the time when God will pour out His wrath upon this world, the great and terrible day of the Lord. In Revelation chapter 19, He calls His guests to this sacrifice and to this feast.

Let me show you what it says. Turn in your Bibles to Revelation, because the wording is so very picturesque. Revelation chapter 19, verse 17. We should probably back up because what's going on in this passage is so powerful. Look at verse 11 of Revelation chapter 19. It says, "And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He does judge and make war." Who is this? It's Jesus. Jesus is coming from the heavens. This is a yet future period of time, coming to judge.

The ungodly of the world should be aware that the great and terrible day of the Lord is coming. He is coming on a white horse, clothed in a robe. He is called the Faithful, and in righteousness, He does judge and make war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many crowns. He has a name written that no man knows but Himself, and He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood. His name is called the Word of God.

Read Isaiah chapter 63, and you will see the same wording being used about this great and terrible day of the Lord. He comes with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God. Why is His robe dipped in blood? Isaiah 63 will give you the answer: He has tread the winepress of the wrath of God. The armies which are in heaven follow Him upon white horses. Who are they? You and me, clothed in linen, white and clean. Linen is the clothing of the priests, and remember, 1 Peter tells us that we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood.

Out of His mouth goes forth a sharp sword. Remember, Hebrews chapter 4 says that His word is living and powerful; it is like a two-edged sword. So, out of His mouth goes a sharp two-edged sword, and with it, He should smite the nations. He shall rule them with a rod of iron and treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God. Again, the same language is seen in Isaiah chapter 63. He has on His vesture, on His robe, and on His thigh a name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This is Jesus, come to bring judgment upon the earth.

Notice what verse 17 says: "And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice saying to all the fowls, all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, 'Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God.' Come and gather yourselves together unto this sacrifice, unto this meal, that you may eat the flesh of the kings, the flesh of the captains, the flesh of the mighty men, the flesh of the horses, and them that sit upon them, and the flesh of the men, both free and bond, both small and great."

When we read in Zephaniah chapter 1, verse 7, that the day of the Lord is at hand and He has prepared a sacrifice, He has bid His guests to come. It shall come to pass in that day, the day of the sacrifice, that He will punish the princes, the kings, the children, and those clothed in strange apparel. This speaks of all the foreigners. God is going to pour out judgment upon the world. Revelation chapter 19 and Zephaniah chapter 1 both speak of this great and terrible day.

Of the Lord. But who are the guests that He is bidding? It's all the carrion birds, all the birds that come and clean up afterwards. He calls them to come and clean up the mess of this sacrifice because the Scripture says that at this great destruction, this great last war, all these kings, all these men, and all these armies that are gathered together against God are going to be destroyed by the word that goes forth from His mouth.

The Scripture says in Revelation chapter 14 that the blood will run up to the horse's bridle throughout the entire valley of Megiddo. So when He calls these birds, He is saying, "Come and feast upon this." It's the very same wording that's used when we read of the great and terrible day of the Lord in Matthew chapter 24. Matthew 24 speaks of the end of days. It speaks of the great and terrible day of the Lord when God will come and judge humanity.

Notice what we read down in verse 27. It says, "For as the lightning comes out of the east and shines even to the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." What that means is when Jesus comes, it's not going to be a secret event. All humanity is going to see Him coming forth on a white horse, coming with the clouds of heaven, as Acts chapter 1 says. It is going to be like the lightning going from the east to the west; it just lights up the whole sky.

He's going to come. And notice what verse 28 says: "For wheresoever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered." If you look at it in the original language, it speaks of these birds that are going to be gathered together. The same birds that are called together in Zephaniah 1:7. The same birds that are called together in Revelation chapter 19, verse 17. Where the carcass is, here in this valley of Megiddo, all these birds will come to this place.

Why? Well, verse 29 states, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heaven shall be shaken." Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth, or all the nations of the earth, mourn. They shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven unto the other. Now learn the parable of the fig tree: when the branch is yet tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So likewise, when you shall see these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.

Speaking of that great and terrible day of the Lord, you can correlate Matthew 24:27-35 with Revelation 14 and see what is happening. It is the same picture that Zephaniah speaks of, that Ezekiel speaks of, and that Isaiah speaks of. All the prophets looked forward to this great and terrible day of the Lord. It is seen in type and foreshadowed in the Old Testament when God brings a day of the Lord upon different nations. He judged the Philistines, the Moabites, and the Ammonites, and all the different judgments that came upon individual nations can be seen as foreshadowing what is going to come. Isaiah 24 describes when God judges all of humanity at the great and terrible day of the Lord.

Zephaniah speaks about these things, but he also addresses the judgment that is going to come specifically upon Judah, the southern tribes of Israel. Why? Because they had departed from the Lord. They had turned to idolatry, bowed down to Baal, worshipped Malchim, and worshipped the hosts of heaven. Therefore, God says, "I am going to come and judge you."

In Zephaniah 1:10, it says, "It shall come to pass in that day," says the Lord, "that there shall be a noise of a cry in the fish gate and the howling from the second, and a great crashing from the hills." This indicates that when God brings His judgment, specifically upon Judah and the city of Jerusalem, it will be as if the city is surrounded. There will be a cry from the fish gate and then a cry from the other gate on the other side, as they are surrounded by their enemies.

"Howl, you inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all they that bear silver are cut off." During the time of Zephaniah, the people had been given over to materialism. When it speaks of Maktesh, it refers to the central part of the city, which was completely consumed by materialism, focused on those who bore silver and gold.

At that time, God says, "I will search Jerusalem with candles and punish the men that are settled on their leaves," who say in their hearts, "The Lord will do us no good; the Lord will not do good, neither will He do evil." Thus, God indicates that when He comes to judge His people, it will be a significant and sobering event.

God is going to go and search throughout the entire city for their sin, and He is going to deal with their sins individually. Even though the people were complacent and apathetic, they said, "No, the Lord won't do anything bad to us; He loves us." There are many people in our day who are saying that if God is real and if He is a God of love, He will never judge mankind.

Listen, the Scriptures make it very clear that He will judge humanity. I have been talking with a lot of different people recently about something called the emergent church. There is a movement within many evangelical churches towards liberalism and a gospel that claims Jesus will not judge anybody for sin. They say that Jesus is not the only way to heaven and that all roads lead to heaven, which is just the same old liberalism packaged in a different way.

One of the things that these individuals like to emphasize is that the character of Jesus in the Gospels is meek, mild, and loving. That is true; He is meek, mild, and loving. However, they fail to remember that the last revelation we have of Jesus is in the Book of Revelation, where He comes as a lion. He came the first time as a lamb, and He came to die for our sins as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. But the Scripture makes it very clear that He will come again as a lion, and He is coming as a judge and a conquering king.

He came the first time lowly and meek, riding on a donkey. Notice what we see in Revelation 16: He comes the second time riding on a white horse, and His robe is dipped in blood. He is taking no prisoners. The picture of Jesus in the Book of Revelation is a fearful one, and it should be. We should look at that and recognize with reverence that He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, just as Revelation 19:16 says.

We need to see who Jesus is in all His glory. He is the glorious King of kings, the one who came lowly, riding on a donkey, full of grace, truth, compassion, and mercy for thousands. But He is also, at the same time, one who does not clear the guilty. We often do not like to think about God in that context, but that is what the Scriptures reveal. That is what the Bible declares.

God would not give us so many calls to repentance throughout the Old and New Testaments if He was not serious about His law. Amen. God is serious about His law, and He wants us to be serious about it as well. These people had turned from the Lord. It shall come to pass that I will search Jerusalem with a lamp.

I will punish those who have settled upon their leaves, those who were apathetic. There has been a phrase that has circulated for years: what is worse, apathy or ignorance? The answer you always hear is, "I don't know and I don't care." This mindset reflects the people in Jerusalem at that point in time, and it mirrors the mindset of people in America today. Apathy is simply not caring. These people were apathetic and complacent, believing that God would not do anything to them because He is their God and He loves them.

However, their good deeds shall become, or rather, their goods shall become a booty. In verse 13, it is stated that when the city of Jerusalem is destroyed, all the goods they have amassed and all the materials they have gathered will be taken as the spoil of their enemy. Their houses will be left desolate. They shall build houses but not inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards but not drink the wine thereof.

Make a note in the margin of your Bibles to correlate this with Amos chapter 5, verse 11, because Amos speaks the very same words to the children of Israel in Jerusalem. They were going to build houses and not inhabit them; they were going to plant vineyards but would not drink of the wine thereof. Why? Because they were so consumed by their materialism that they would be taken from the land by the Babylonians. They would never get to experience the goods they had worked so hard for.

It is important to note that this is exactly what God promised would happen to His people in Deuteronomy chapter 28. God speaks the curses of the law, saying that if they follow His law and keep it, He will bless them. But if they do not keep His law, then He will curse them. In Deuteronomy 28, verse 30, God specifically states that as a sign of His judgment because of their disobedience, they will plant vineyards and not reap the wine; they will build houses and will not live in those houses.

What we see here is a very clear indication that these people had rebelled and departed from the Lord. Just as He promised them, He is now going to bring judgment upon them. In verse 14, God says, "On the great day of the Lord," and He switches focus. Remember, there is a two-fold purpose.

In this prophecy, as we saw in the first few verses, Chapter 1, verses 2 and 3 give us the grand focus. We are looking at the whole world being judged, but Chapter 1, verse 4 focuses us in on the city of Jerusalem and the nation of Judah. God is kind of bouncing back and forth through the prophet Zephaniah, speaking to these two different situations and these two different days of the Lord.

Now we look back to the great day of the Lord, as described in Revelation Chapter 19. In verse 14 of Zephaniah 1, we read that the great day of the Lord is near; it is coming quickly. Notice what will happen on that day: even the mighty men shall cry bitterly. Those who think they are so great will not be able to stand in the great and terrible day of the Lord. I believe it was the prophet Joel who also speaks about this. He says that on that great day of the Lord, it would be as if you fled from a lion and a bear gets you. You flee from the bear, and you finally get into your house, excited because you escaped the bear. But then you put your hand on the wall, and a serpent comes out and bites you, and you die. There is no escaping the day of the Lord, as the Lord reveals to us.

Yet, He gives us some important information in this book. Continuing in verse 15, we read 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. Does this sound like a day you want to be on the receiving end of God's wrath? I don't think so. It is a day of the trumpet, which is important prophetically, a day of alarm against the fenced cities and against the high towers.

Notice what God says in verse 17: "I will bring distress upon men that they shall walk like blind men." Why? Because they sinned against the Lord. Remember, God does not do this just because He is some kind of cosmic killjoy or because He does not like man. No, God loves us; He created us and desires that we would walk with Him in spirit and in truth and worship Him in that way. Yet, when we depart from Him, He says, "I will bring distress because you have sinned." Their blood shall be poured out as dust and their flesh as dung. What is this speaking about? Again, look at Revelation Chapter 14. We are looking forward, even from where we stand tonight in the year 2008, to a yet coming judgment, where we read in Revelation 14.

Let me read this to you. In verse 14 of John, the one who received the revelation says, "I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and upon the cloud sat one like the Son of Man." Remember what the angels told the apostles in Acts chapter 1? This one who has ascended up in the clouds shall return in like manner.

Now we read here that the Son of Man has a golden crown on His head. He is sitting upon the clouds, and in His hand, Jesus has a sharp sickle. What is a sickle used for? Harvesting, right? It is used for harvesting.

Another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud. Notice what is happening here: there is a temple in heaven, and Jesus is sitting on this cloud with a sharp sickle in His hand. Who is in the temple in heaven? The Father God. An angel comes forth from the presence of the Father, crying with a loud voice to Jesus, who sat on the cloud. The angel says to Jesus, "Thrust in your sickle and reap, for the time has come for you to reap the harvest of the earth; it is ripe."

He that sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. Here, Jesus gathers His elect; He gathers His children. But now, another angel comes forth. In verse 17, another angel comes out of the temple in heaven, also having a sharp sickle. The Father God dispatches another angel from heaven, and he also has a sharp sickle for harvesting.

Then another angel comes out from the altar. He had power over fire and cried with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle. Now one angel speaks to another angel and says to him, "Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe."

Notice what happens: the angel thrusts in his sickle into the earth and gathers the vine of the earth. He casts them into the great winepress of the wrath of God. The winepress was trodden outside the city, and the blood came out of the winepress even unto the horse's bridle by the space of a thousand six hundred furlongs.

So what happened here? God the Father speaks to Jesus there on the cloud and says to reap the earth. He gathers His elect from the four corners, just like Matthew 24 said. Another angel comes and gathers all the men of the earth that are against the Lord into the valley of Megiddo, which is the winepress of the wrath of God.

Jesus goes and treads the winepress of the wrath of God, and Isaiah chapter 63 tells us he will do it alone. Let me read this to you just for a moment. It's not something that anybody else will do. Why? Well, John chapter 5 reveals that Jesus is the one who has been given the authority to judge the earth. No one else has that authority; only Jesus.

In Isaiah 63, the prophet asks the question, "Who is this that comes out of Edom with dyed garments from Basra, this that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength?" He answers, "I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save." Notice what happens here in Isaiah 63:1. The prophet says, "Who is this that just came out of Edom, and he's got this garment that's dyed with red?" He speaks and says, "I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save." Who is that? It's Jesus.

The prophet then asks, "Wherefore are you red in your apparel, and why are your garments like him that treads the wine vat?" He says in verse 3, "I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with me. For I will tread them in my anger and trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garment, and I will stain all my clothing." Why? "For the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come." Remember, he harvests the earth of his redeemed; he harvests those that are his, and then he goes and treads the winepress.

I looked, and there was none to help, and I wondered that there was none to uphold. Therefore, my own arm brought salvation unto me, and my fury it upheld me. Here, Jesus is the one who treads the winepress by himself on the great and terrible day of the Lord. Let me tell you, it is not a good day. All of the prophets look at this day as if it is a day of thick darkness, a day of gloominess. As Joel says, "You flee from the lion, and the bear gets you; you flee from the bear, and the snake gets you." It is not a good day.

The scriptures reveal that on that day, the Lord our God will pour out his wrath upon a Christ-rejecting and sinful world in the same way that the Father poured out the wrath upon Jesus while he was there on the cross. Jesus will now pour out the wrath of God upon the earth. It is a heavy passage.

It is hard to even imagine, and the Scriptures tell us in Joel not to look forward to the day of the Lord. It is not something where we are going to say, "Right on!" Even if we are God's people, we don't sit there and say, "Get them, God." That is not going to be our position. Our position is going to be one of awe and reverence at the power of our mighty God. It is an awesome thing to behold.

But why does God do this? Remember Zephaniah 1:17: "I will bring distress upon men, and they shall walk like blind men because they have sinned against the Lord, and their blood shall be poured out as dust." Remember the blood to the horse's bridle and their flesh as dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall abide to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath. The whole land shall be devoured by fire, by the fire of His jealousy, and He shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

What we read there in verse 18 is that God says not to try to buy your way out of the day of the Lord. You can't. All of your silver and all of your gold will not be able to suffice on the day of the Lord. This brings to mind the words of Peter, where he says we have not been redeemed with corruptible silver and gold. We have been ransomed; we have been redeemed by the precious blood of our Lord. That is the only way to escape this great and terrible day of the Lord.

Notice what God says in light of these coming judgments. He is speaking judgment to the children of Israel and Judah, but He is also speaking a further judgment to the entire world. Look at chapter 2, verse 1: "Gather yourselves, gather together, O nation not desired." This is another word for repent. The children of Israel would gather together for two things: national repentance and worship or war. Here, God calls them together and says, "Gather yourselves, gather yourselves, repent."

Why? Verse 2 tells us: "Before the decree brings forth, before the day passes as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord comes upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger comes." God says to gather together and repent before He pours out His judgment. "Seek you the Lord, all you meek of the earth, which are wrought in His judgment. Seek righteousness, seek mercy." Notice what God says: "It may be you shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger." God tells His people they are going to be judged, the world.

Is going to be judged. This is the judgment that I'm going to bring upon you because of your sins. So what should your response be? Gather yourselves together today. Gather together in the valley of decision, the day of the Lord in the valley of decision. Turn to the Lord; repent while there is still time before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. It may be that you shall be hid from His anger.

Well, can we be hid from the anger of the Lord? Amen, we can. The book of Hebrews tells us that we flee for refuge to Jesus Christ; He is our refuge.

Now, in chapter 2, verses 4 through the end of the chapter, through verse 15, God speaks judgment to all those that surrounded the nation of Israel. He speaks to the Philistines to the southeast of the nation of Israel. He speaks to the Moabites and the Ammonites on the east of the children of Israel. He speaks to the Ethiopians, directly to the south, or the nation of Egypt and Ethiopia in Africa, which are to the south of Israel. Then He speaks to those in the north, to the Assyrians. He says, "I'm going to judge the Philistines. I'm going to judge the Moabites and the Ammonites. I'm going to judge those in Egypt and in Africa, and I'm going to judge those in Assyria."

God tells His children, the children of Israel, "I'm going to judge all your enemies around you." But He also says, "I'm going to judge you." Consider the way I've judged them and turn and repent is the word that God was speaking to His people.

Then He speaks once again directly to His people, the children of Israel, there in Israel, in Judah and Jerusalem. In chapter 3, verse 1, He says, "Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, the oppressing city." He's speaking to His own people, the children of Jerusalem, and He says, "You are a filthy and polluted people and an oppressing city."

Why? Here’s the indictment in verse 2: four things. Number one, she obeyed not the voice; she did not obey the voice of the Lord. Number two, she received not correction. Number three, she trusted not in the Lord. And number four, she drew not near to her God.

So here is the fourfold indictment that God brings against the people of the city of Jerusalem, the nation of Judah. He says, "You did not obey my voice, my word that I gave to you. You would not follow it." As a result of not following it, He would come and rebuke them. He would come and correct them, but they did not receive His correction, nor did they trust.

In the Lord, we are told in the Scriptures that if we trust in Him and lean upon Him, He will direct our steps. However, they did not draw near to God. James tells us in the New Testament that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. What is it that keeps people from drawing near to the Lord? Pride. That's absolutely right, because we read also in James that He resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Out of their pride, they would not obey, they would not receive correction, they would not trust, and they would not draw near to God.

God speaks first to the princes, the leaders of the nation, saying, "Your leaders are like roaring lions; your judges are like evening wolves." We don't really know what an evening wolf is, but He gives us a little more insight when He says their judges are like evening wolves that gnaw not the bones till morning. This means they leave nothing left; they eat everything up. So, her princes are judged, her judges are judged, and her prophets, in verse 4, are light and treacherous persons. God speaks to the princes, the leaders of the nation, and the judges, which also led to the prophets of the nation. They had taught treacherous things to the people, and the priests had polluted the sanctuary. Every aspect of the leadership of the nation of Israel was ruined. They departed from the Lord and have done violence to the law.

The just Lord, in the midst thereof, will not do iniquity. Every morning, He brings His judgment to light; He fails not, but the unjust know no shame. "I have cut off the nations," verse 6 states. "Their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste that none passes by. Their cities are destroyed so that there is no man and there is none that inhabit." I said, "Surely you will fear Me; you will receive instruction, and so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them." But they rose early and corrupted all their doings.

In verses 5 through 7, God says to them, "I judged all the nations round about you." Remember chapter 2, where He spoke to the Philistines, the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Assyrians, and also to the Ethiopians? God says, "I judged all those around you as an example to you so that you would see how I cut off the other nations. But when I called to you, you would not receive Me. You rose up early and corrupted your doings all the more." And so, God says, "I'm going to judge you." Yet, in the midst of God's judgment, as we have seen in so many of God's dealings, there is always a call to repentance and a reminder of His mercy.

Prophetic words in the Old Testament passages always speak of judgment and punishment. God also speaks of restoration and a remnant. From chapter 3, verse 8, until the end of the passage, we discuss this great coming restoration. There would be a restoration upon the children of Israel and Judah after they were exiled to Babylon. God brought them back to the land after they were exiled and scattered throughout the entire world by the Romans in AD 70. Again, in 1948, they were brought back to the land. God has been gracious to them, but He is also going to judge the whole earth. However, He will bring a restoration and a remnant.

Let's read through this quickly. Zephaniah chapter 3, verse 8 states, "Therefore wait upon me," says the Lord, "until the day that I rise up to the prey. For my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms to pour upon them my indignation." God tells us thousands of years before He works what He is going to do. He says, "I'm going to gather all the nations and kingdoms together, and I'm going to pour out my indignation, even all my fierce anger, for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy."

"For then will I turn to the people a pure language. Then I'm going to return the people to myself. I'm going to give them a pure language, one language once again, that they may call upon the name of the Lord to serve Him with consent. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, my supplant, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring my offering."

In that day, we read in verse 11, "Shall you not be ashamed for all thy doings wherein thou hast transgressed?" God is going to deal with our sin. He will take away our sin and the way that we have transgressed against Him. "For then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, and you shall no more be haughty because of my holy mountain. I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord."

The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth. "For they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid." This is speaking of what is going to come after the destruction and desolation of the battle in the valley of Megiddo, what we call Armageddon. The winepress of the wrath of God is going to be tread right there outside the city, and after that time is going to come the glorious thousand-year reign of Christ, the millennial reign of Christ that we read about in the Scriptures.

After the judgment comes the restoration, and so none shall be afraid. Sing, O daughter Zion! Shout, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord has taken away thy judgments; He has cast out thine enemy. The King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee. Thou shalt not see any evil anymore.

Read Revelation chapters 20, 21, and 22, and you will see these things also fulfilled, as Zephaniah speaks. In that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem, "Fear thou not," and to Zion, "Let not your hands be slack." Why? Verse 17: The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. He will save thee; He will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in His love, and 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. I will save her that halteth and gather her that was driven out. I will give 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 praise among all people of the earth when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord.

So God says to the people, there is coming a day after the judgment that I will dwell in the midst of thee. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He shall save, and we will rejoice in Him. Revelation chapters 20 and 21 speak about our Lord tabernacling with us in the midst of us. We look forward to that day.

Listen, we don't look forward to the day of judgment when God will pour out His wrath upon a Christ-rejecting and sinful world, but it is going to come in the same way that the day of the Lord came upon the children of Israel and Judah 2,500 years ago, 2,700 years ago. In this passage, we know that that day will come.

Let me tell you something: look up; your redemption draws nigh. The things that are going on in the world today say that all these things are starting to line up just as God said they would 2,500 years ago through the prophet Ezekiel. When you see what's going on in Iran with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, let me tell you something: it is prophetic. God is doing a work; He is speaking to us. Help us to listen.

To what He's saying, amen. Let's stand and pray.

God, I do thank You so much for the truth of Your Word. We pray, Lord, that You'd help us to understand these things. As we've covered so much ground tonight in these three chapters, we've jumped all over the Bible. I pray, Lord, that You would help us to remember these things and to study them to show ourselves approved as workmen and workwomen, not ashamed, rightly dividing Your Word of truth.

Lord, You have told us before these things come to pass exactly what is going to happen because You've spoken, and You want us to know. You don't want us to be ignorant. Lord, I pray that You'd help us to search the Scriptures like the Bereans and to understand what it is that You're speaking. We ask this all in Jesus' name, amen. Thank You.