Bible Study - Zephaniah - Part 7

Last week, we heard that Zephaniah 3:9-20 is predicting the Messianic age, when the Lord Himself would be with His people, in the midst of them (3:15), especially in the coming of His own Son into this world, with the conception and birth of Jesus, the “Mighty One Who will save” (3:17). Jesus would do His saving work, so that “the judgments against us” (3:15) for our sins, our “deeds by which we have rebelled against God,“ are taken away (3:11). In that day, worshippers would come from Cush (Ethiopia) and many other nations, for the Good News of Jesus is for “the peoples… that all of them may call upon the Lord” (3:9-10). “God so loved the world” (John 3:16), and Christ “gave Himself as a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:5-6).

In His teaching and ministry, Jesus emphasized the same things predicted in Zephaniah 3, also. Jesus wished that people “would serve Him with one accord” (Zephaniah 3:9). See the prayer of Jesus in John 17:11, that His believers “may be one,” and the words of Paul in Ephesians 4:1-6, that believers “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” with “one body and one Spirit”… “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” This is spoken of throughout Ephesians 4, as well as the reality that “the visible church“ that we see is far from perfect because we struggle with sin and our sinful nature.

God also warned, through Zephaniah, “I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones,” who are all wrapped up in themselves instead of the Lord. The true unity is in what is sometimes called “the invisible church,” the true believers whom only God knows and sees, “the holy Christian church” of the creeds, all believers who are counted righteous by God’s grace through faith. “Abraham believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). “To the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:3-8). “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ" (Galatians 2:16).

Zephaniah also called for humility in God’s people, instead of the pride warned about in 3:11. “Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land… seek humility” (Zephaniah 2:3). And the Lord Himself said through Zephaniah, “You shall no longer be haughty… But I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge” not in themselves but "in the Name of the Lord” (3:11-12). “I will gather those of you who mourn…” (3:18).

Think now about Jesus, early in His ministry, teaching in His Sermon on the Mount and beginning with the words, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the land” (Matthew 5:3-5). Later on, Jesus said, “Come to Me… and learn from Me… for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). And again Jesus said, “The greatest among you shall be your servant, whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:11-12). Jesus above all was that humble servant. He sacrificed His life for us and died for us so that He might save and forgive us. (See Philippians 2:1-11. Paul wanted the followers of Jesus “to be in full accord and of one mind”… not acting from “selfish ambition or conceit.” We don’t do that so well, but Jesus did it perfectly for us. He “emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant”… “He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.”)

We could go on and on with parallels between what is predicted in Zephaniah and what Jesus did as “the mighty one who will save” (Zephaniah 3:17). He gathered so many people who were “outcasts” in their society (3:19), not just the Ethiopian we mentioned last week. Think of the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:7-9, 16-18, 27-27, 39-42). See John 15:1-2 - “tax collectors and sinners” - and Luke 18:9-14 and Luke 19:1-10. Jesus also healed the “lame” and so many others (Matthew 11:2-6) just as also predicted in Zephaniah 3:19. Jesus also “came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). That includes you and me, too. We would be lost in our sins and failings without Jesus and what He did and still does for us (Romans 3:19-24).

When Jesus carried out His ministry, people noticed and used some of the same terms as predicted in Zephaniah, too. When Jesus met Nathaniel (John 1:47-50), He said that he was “an Israelite in whom there was no deceit,” as desired in Zephaniah 3:9 - “pure speech” and “speaks no lies, nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue” (Zephaniah 3:13). Nathaniel responds with exactly the title for Jesus, the promised Savior, that is used in Zephaniah 3:15: “You are the King of Israel.” When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, humbly, on a donkey, people also cried out the same, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel” (John 12:13,15). Those opposed to Jesus mocked Him, as He hung on the cross, but said, “Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe” (Mark 15:32). He was “the King of Israel,” but stayed on the cross to do His saving work.

Finally, note the great encouragement given because the Lord would be with His people, as described in Zephaniah. His “humble and lowly people” will be cared for like sheep with their Shepherd. “They shall graze and lie down, and none shall make them afraid” (Zephaniah 3:13). Jesus is that Good Shepherd (John 10:1ff and especially v.14). The Lord also says, “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak” (Zephaniah 3:16). The New Testament tells us that the Heavenly Father is treating us as His children, through Christ our Savior. That means He can sometimes discipline us for our good because He cares for us. (See Hebrews 12:3-13, and the words very similar to Zephaniah 3:16 in Hebrews 12:12-13: “Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.” And in Christ and His blood shed for us on the cross, we will come to the “heavenly Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Hebrews 12:22-24).

Listen, in closing, to the amazing care of the Lord, fulfilled in the Lord Jesus and His love and care for us as His children, described so beautifully in Zephaniah 3:17:  Your Savior “will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing.” We in turn, also, “sing aloud” and “shout” and “rejoice and exult with all our heart” (Zephaniah 3:14) that “the Lord our God did come into our midst” (Zephaniah  3:15,17), as we celebrate Jesus’ Christmas birth and all He did for us as our Savior and His continuing presence and help as our Risen Lord, alive forever for us, His children.