Category: Zephaniah

Reading

Audio, Visual

SAA Notes

Jerusalem Above is the future God has for His people. Jerusalem Below (earthly, present Jerusalem) is the city of oppressors, rebellious and defiled. It has no future with God.

SJA Notes

* Father God, please give us Your wisdom today.

“But I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the LORD, those who are left in Israel; they shall do no injustice and speak no lies, nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue.”

This can be a strange world we live in today.

What wisdom does God have for us as we experience world-altering events?

It is the same wisdom that is for us in times of peace and plenty.

God’s people are to be humble and lowly.

God’s people are to seek refuge in His Name.

God’s people are to uphold justice, rejecting any opportunity for injustice.

God’s people are to be truthful, ignoring the temptation to lie.

God’s people are to hold our words tightly to His truthful standard, rejecting even the hint of deceit.

As we wrestle with what happens in our lives, let us continue to be brought back to God’s word.

He is faithful. His love is steadfast. His Name is wonderful. His word is true.

This is a word for us today!

* Dear Lord God,

You are the Good Shepherd – Please protect us Your flock as we go about our lives in this broken world.

You are the Great Physician – Please heal the divisions and ruptures amongst Your people that we see today.

You are the Creator, Sustainer, Life-Giver – Please grow us each day toward You!

Amen.

Reading

Audio, Visual

SAA Notes

Zephaniah cries out: seek the LORD, seek righteousness, seek humility. The NKJV puts the translation: It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the LORD’s anger. Jew and Gentile, all are accountable to God for their actions, policies, plans. Whatever other Australians do, let us seek the Lord!

SJA Notes

* Lord God, please show us Your truth today.

“Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands; seek righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the LORD.”

Here is a truth, a hard word, that we have seen and will continue to see through all of God’s word.

The Lord’s anger burns against both God’s people and the rest of the world because of our sin against Him.

God has His purposes, He is working them out, and will bring them to completion at the end; for all the earth to bow down before Him (whether in judgement or in thankful worship).

BUT.

In the now, this temporary vale, what is the word for us?

Seek the Lord. Seek righteousness. Seek humility.

Where do we find those things?

In Jesus. He is the answer. He is God in the Person of the Son. He is the Righteous One. He submitted Himself as Son under the will of His Father in all humility.

HE IS OUR HIDING PLACE!

In Jesus we are hidden on the day when God’s wrath will be poured out on all this broken creation that lives in opposition to Him.

Jesus is the answer.

Jesus is our hiding place.

* Gracious Father,

Please put within us a heart for the lost.

Please break the hearts of our loved ones, those around us, of our suburbs and cities and nations – Please let people seek and find rescue and refuge in Jesus.

Amen.

Reading

Audio, Visual

SAA Notes

Josiah was a godly king who turned to God with all his heart, soul and strength. Yet the kingdom hardly survived his death in battle. Zephaniah’s message is one of judgment on an obstinate and unrepentant Jerusalem and the people of Judah who opposed passively and actively their Messiah, Josiah.

SJA Notes

* Dear God, please teach us wisdom today from Your word.

“I will bring distress on mankind, so that they shall walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the LORD; their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung.”

We are told in the beginning of this passage that Zephaniah preached when Josiah was king of Judah.

Josiah was a king who had a great desire to please the Lord God. He worked very hard to remove idolatry from Israel.

We read in 2 Kings 23,

“Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.”

AND YET.

Listen to what the Lord says to His people and to the whole world through the prophet Zephaniah,

“I will bring distress on mankind,”

This is not a gentle rebuke.

“In the fire of his jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full and sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.”

These verses should bring us to a deeper understanding of Jesus’ return.

We read in Revelation 22,

“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.”

Our _only_ hope in life is to be found in Jesus. Solely and wholly. Only in Him will we find rescue from God’s just and consuming wrath.

* Holy God,

In Your mercy and grace, please open our eyes to see, our ears to hear, our hearts to understand what You are saying here in Zephaniah.

Please write Your word on our hearts today Lord God.

Amen.