Zephaniah

7/3/22

Listen to Lesson Audio:

---

Sermon Transcript

Good evening. You certainly made it easy to separate the sheep from the goats tonight.

I want to start by saying something that, in my experience anyway, has rarely ever been uttered in the church from the pulpit. In fact, I can’t think of ever having heard it uttered. And what is that statement that has so rarely been uttered from the pulpit? It is this, “Please open your Bibles to the book of Zephaniah.” Zephaniah, if you’re wondering where that is, go to Matthew and count back four books. And if you’re thinking, “Didn’t we just spend half a year in Sunday school studying that book,” that was Zechariah, not Zephaniah.

Zephaniah is a neglected book, but it shouldn’t be. I think we’re gonna find that that book has some tremendous lessons and some tremendous warnings for the people of God in any age, including and perhaps even especially our own age.

So who was Zephaniah? Well, the opening verse of Zephaniah tells us he prophesied during the reign of King Josiah. And that fact alone tells us something important about these prophecies from Zephaniah. It tells us they were written between two extremely important events in the history of the Jews. The Northern Kingdom, Israel, had been carried off by the Assyrians in 722 BC, and the Southern Kingdom would be exiled by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC. In fact, the city would be destroyed, the temple would be destroyed, all that was yet to come. And what we’re seeing here is that Zephaniah, since he’s prophesying during the reign of King Josiah, is in between those two events, in between what happened to Israel, the Northern Kingdom, and what was gonna happen to the Southern Kingdom.

King Josiah’s three immediate forerunners as king were Hezekiah, Manasseh and Amon. Those were the kings that preceded Josiah. Hezekiah had tried to keep his kingdom, the Southern kingdom, from going the way of the Northern kingdom. So he had tried to rid the Southern kingdom of everything that had caused the Northern kingdom be carried off into exile by the Assyrians. And in fact, verse one tells us that Zephaniah himself was a descendant of King Hezekiah. So not only was Zephaniah a prophet, he was also of the royal line.

After King Hezekiah, the next king was Manasseh. And Manasseh, we’re told in 2 Chronicles 33:9, “Made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err and to do worse than the heathen whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel.” Now, Manasseh later repented of that, but it was too late. The damage had been done. Manasseh was followed by his son, Amon, who followed the evil ways of his father. That’s the bad news. The good news is Amon lasted only about two years before he was assassinated by his servants. And then after Amon, his eight year old son, Josiah became the king. And it’s during the reign of Josiah that Zephaniah is prophesying.

In the annals of godly teenagers, King Josiah deserves a place alongside Daniel, who we’ve been studying on Sundays. Daniel, of course, was another godly teenager. And in fact, Daniel was born shortly after Josiah. They were almost contemporaries. When Josiah was 16 years old, 2 Chronicles 34:3 tells us, he began to seek after the God of David, his father. And when you think about Josiah’s own father and grandfather, it’s a wonderful testimony to him that at such a young age, he was seeking after God.

And when he was 26, he began to repair the temple that had fallen to disrepair. And 2 Chronicles 34:14 tells us that Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of the Lord given by Moses. It was during those repairs brought on by Josiah that the book of the law was rediscovered in the temple by the priest Hilkiah. And that led to a time of great religious reform in Judah during the reign of King Josiah. 2 Chronicles 34:31, “And the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statues with all his heart, with all his soul to perform the words of the covenant written in this book.” And that book was the book that had been rediscovered after it had been lost for so long. They read it and they purposed to do it.

Sadly, those reforms didn’t last very long. After Josiah died, Judah was plunged into a very rapid decline so that after just a couple of decades, they were carried off into exile, city was destroyed, temple was destroyed. How did that happen? Why did that happen? That is why Zephaniah was written. To answer those questions.

What was Zephaniah’s burden? What was his burden? Every prophet in the Bible had a burden. What do I mean by that? I mean that there was some situation or some threat or some event that there was the major focus prophecy that caused them to proclaim God’s word, that caused God to speak through them to the people. Something was going on historically at the time, as true of every prophet. What was Zephaniah’s burden? What was the purpose of Zephaniah’s prophecy? Well, Zephaniah’s prophecies were intended to support the reforms of King Josiah. We’ve already been told that Zephaniah was prophesying during the reign of Josiah. We already know that Josiah was trying to reform the people by reading the law and doing what was in the law. What Zephaniah was doing was trying to encourage the people to do that, to avoid the coming disaster that would come upon them if they were not faithful to God.

Now there’s some debate in the commentaries about whether Zephaniah’s prophecy was written before the book of the law was found or after the book of the law was found. I think it was written after the book of the law was found. Because when I read Zephaniah, what I see are a lot of parallels with the Old Testament law that had been rediscovered. Zephaniah 1:13, “Therefore their goods shall become booty in their houses of desolation. They also shall build houses, but not inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof.” Then you compare that with Deuteronomy 28:30, “Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her. Thou shalt build a house and shall not dwell therein. Thou shalt plant a vineyard and shall not gather the grapes thereof.” I think Zephaniah had been studying that book of the law that had been rediscovered and had been found. And we see that in his prophecy here. So I think Zephaniah was prophesying after the book of law was found and after these religious reforms had begun.

What would that mean if that’s the case? Well, what that would mean is that although King Josiah may have been and I think was perfectly sincere in wanting to reform, I think a lot of the people were not sincere and did not want to reform and were not much interested in the reformation and were not very interested in the law of the Lord. I think we see that in the book of Zephaniah. You know, as with any reformation, I think Josiah’s reforms faced fierce opposition from some of the people. And, you know, I think what we also see here is that some of them were acting like they were being reformed. They were doing the outward observance of the law, but there had been no change to their heart. And we see that in the book of Zephaniah. We also see that in Jeremiah. Jeremiah 3:10, “And yet for all this, her treacherous sister, Judah, has not turned unto me with her whole heart, but faintedly,” says the Lord. She had feigned a religious reformation, but had not changed at all in her heart. On the outside, it appeared they had turned to God, but they had not turned to God. They acted as if they’d embraced the King’s reforms, but they had not embraced the King’s reforms. They had persisted in their rebellion. And Zephaniah is gonna tell them what’s in store for them if they persisted in their rebellion against God. And in fact, sadly, it happened to them about 20 years later.

Well, what is the theme of Zephaniah? Well, there are several themes. It’s a short book, but it’s got several themes. One theme running throughout the book of Zephaniah is the theme of deceit, deceit. The people were deceived and they in turn practiced deceiving others. We see deceit all throughout this book.

Well, how were they deceived? How were the people deceived? Well, for starters, they thought they would never fall and would never be judged by God. They thought these things would never happen to them. And you know, when I read this, I think their problem was that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. And I think they had just enough knowledge to know that God had a plan for Jerusalem and just enough knowledge to know that God had a plan for the line of David. And they thought, well, we’re in Jerusalem and the royal family’s here, so we will be safe forever. God will never do anything to us because he needs us. They thought the day of the Lord would never come for them. Zephaniah hits that deception head-on in the first chapter. Look at Zephaniah 1:14-15. “The great day of the Lord is near, it is near and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord. The mighty man shall cry there bitterly. 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.” That day was coming. And why was it coming? Why was it going to happen? Well, Zephaniah answers that question too in Zephaniah 3:1-2. “Woe to her that is filthy and polluted to the oppressing city. She obeyed not the voice. She received not correction. She trusted not in the Lord. She drew not near to her God.” That is why that day was coming. The people were deceived. They did not understand their condition. They thought they were safe when they were not safe. They did not see their own sin.

But not only were they deceived, they were deceivers. They were deceiving others. Isn’t that usually what happens? Those who are deceived go about deceiving others. Look at Zephaniah 1:9. “In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.” They deceived others, they deceived themselves. They tried to deceive God by appearing to follow the reforms of Josiah when they were not changing themselves on the inside. I guess they thought God would notice. But God has a message for such people. Galatians 6:7, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” That verse from Galatians 6:7 is probably the best statement of the theme of Zephaniah. God is not mocked, be not deceived. God knew their hearts. They may have deceived everyone else, but they could not deceive God.

Deceit is a theme that runs throughout the Bible, not just in Zephaniah. The whole Bible has a lot to say on that topic. “We know that sin is deceitful,” Hebrews 3:13, “but exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” We know that Satan is the deceiver of the entire world, Revelation 12:9. “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.” We know it’s possible to deceive our own selves. James 1:22, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” And we know the surest way to be deceived then and now and ever is to follow the wisdom of this world. 1 Corinthians 3:18, “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.” The people in Zephaniah’s day were deceived and that deception led to their exile and led to the destruction of their city.

What caused them to be deceived? Well, I’m sure there are a lot of different things, but I think if we look at the text of Zephaniah, we can see some of the key, the root reasons why they were deceived. They were deceived first because they had divided loyalties. They had divided loyalties. Idolatry was a big problem for Israel at this time. You know, interestingly, after the exile, it was never quite the problem it was before the exile. I think that’s one lesson they learned. But at this time, they hadn’t learned it yet. Baal worship had been rampant since the days of Manasseh and Amon. And although a reformation was taking place, it was proving very difficult to stamp out all of that false worship, all those false gods. Zephaniah 1:4 tells us that some of them were still worshiping Baal. And Zephaniah 1:5 tells us that some of them were worshiping the sun, the moon, and the stars.

Zephaniah 1:5 also tells us something else though, something very telling about the reform that was taking place. “Them that worship and that swear by the Lord, and that swear by Molech.” It seems that to some of them, their idea of religious reform was just to give God a place among some mix of pagan gods that they were already worshiping. In fact, verse five tells us that. They were swearing by God and swearing by Molech, a false god. 1 Kings 11:5 describes Molech as the abomination of the Ammonites. And what was truly horrible about Molech is that the worship of Molech involved child sacrifice. Leviticus 18:21, “And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech.” But that command had not been followed. King Ahaz had burned his children in the fire, 2 Chronicles 28:3. King Manasseh had burned his children in the fire, 2 Kings 21:6. And 2 Kings 17:17 tells us that that was one of the main causes why the Northern Kingdom had been carried off into exile, because they were burning their children alive in their worship of those false gods.

But wait, 2 Kings 23 tells us that King Josiah destroyed the high places of Molech. Doesn’t that mean that problem had ended? No, it hadn’t ended. In fact, it came back. How do we know it came back? Because years later, Ezekiel was still condemning the practice. Ezekiel 20:31, “For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, even unto this day,” Ezekiel says. It had not gone away. So yes, the people had divided loyalties. And yes, they were deceived by their divided loyalties. And can we imagine any loyalty more divided than that? They were swearing allegiance to God and swearing allegiance to Molech. They were trying to combine the worship of God with the false worship of Molech and child sacrifice.

Seems hard to imagine. But maybe it’s not as hard to imagine as we might like to think. How many people today call themselves a Christian and support abortion? We’ve seen it in the headlines. How is that not the same sad combination we see here in Zephaniah 1:5? We may look with disdain at these ancient people who worship God and Moloch, but we need to be careful that we don’t fall into the same web of deception that caught them up. And we’re deceiving ourselves if we believe that any false idol we place on equal footing with God is any better than Molech. When it comes to the subject of divided loyalty, Paul gave us the proper comparison. Philippians 3:8, “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” Our loyalty must never be divided. We must never serve two masters, Matthew 6:24. If we think we can, then we’re being deceived.

A second way that the people were being deceived here was because they had become indifferent about God, indifferent to the things of God, indifferent to the word of God. We read that attitude in the very next verse, Zephaniah 1:6. “And them that are turned back from the Lord; and those that have not sought the Lord, nor inquired for him.” They turned away from God. They did not seek God. They did not pray to God. You know, I think they would have recoiled at the idea that they were an atheist, but how did they live any different from an atheist? God was not in their thoughts. And don’t they also have a lot of company today? Aren’t there a lot of people out there that call themselves Christians yet never spare a thought for Christ? Many who call themselves Christians and yet take no delight in the Word of God or in the people of God or in the things of God, who never go to God in prayer? Isn’t that the greatest deception of all, to believe I’m right with God when I’m not right with God? And is there any deception that delight Satan more than that one? Matthew 7:21, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” What that verse is saying is that I can call myself a Christian all day long and all night long, but I’m not a Christian if I’m not doing the will of God. Whether or not I’m a Christian is not determined by what I call myself, it’s determined by how Jesus sees me. And Jesus gave us the test right there in Matthew 7:21. And if I think I’m a Christian when I’m not following the will of God, when I’m indifferent to the things of God and to the people of God and to the word of God, then I am deceiving myself.

A third way that people were deceived was because there’d been a failure of leadership. Yes, King Josiah was leading the people in the right way, but King Josiah could not do that alone. Most of the leaders among the people, it seems, were not at all like King Josiah. Most of the prophets were not at all like Zephaniah. Most of the priests were not at all like Hilkiah. Look at Zephaniah 3:3-4. “Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow. Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.” Princes like lions, judges like wolves, treacherous prophets, polluted priests. It’s hard to imagine a greater breakdown in leadership than that. And bad leaders do what? They deceive. That’s something Jesus warned us about. Matthew 15:14, “They be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” Blind leaders of the blind. The leaders have been deceived and they’re deceiving people in turn. The princes should have been looking after the weakest people in their society, but they were not doing that. Instead, they were feeding on them like a lion feeds on its prey. The judges should have been impartially dispensing justice, but they weren’t doing that. Instead, they were gnawing the bones of the people like a wolf. The prophets should have been warning the people and relaying the Word of God to them, but they were not doing that. Instead, they were treacherously speaking of their own accord and for their own personal advantage. The priests should have been reminding the people of God about the Word of God and the things of God and the demands of God, but they were not doing that. Instead, they were polluting the temple. They were profaning the law. And the result? The result was that the people were deceived. They believed the false prophet. They trusted the false priests. They followed the bad leaders. They sought protection from princes and judges who had no protection to offer them.

And again, do we think that is just an ancient problem? It’s not. How many Christians today look to political leaders and look to judges for solution to their problems instead of looking to God? How many once faithful congregations have gone astray because of a breakdown in leadership? We know it’s possible for entire congregations to be deceived. We see examples of that in the opening chapters of the book of Revelation. We see congregations who thought they were strong, but they were weak. We see congregations who thought they were loving, but they had left their first love. We see congregations who thought they weren’t tolerating evil, but Jesus told them they were tolerating evil. If we ever fail to take heed lest we fall, then we’ve been deceived.

Well, so far we’ve seen that the people were deceived and we’ve looked at several reasons for that deceit, several sources for that deceit. But about what were they being deceived? What were they being deceived about? We’ve already looked at one example, they thought they were invincible. They thought the day of the Lord would never come for them. They thought that because they were in Jerusalem and they were from the line of David, that they were invincible and God would have to protect them. They soon found out that was wrong. They soon found out they were being deceived.

But what else were they being deceived about? Well, one way in which the people of Zephaniah’s day were being deceived is that they wrongly thought that God was not involved. Satan’s primary plan from the garden, from the opening of the Bible, Satan’s primary plan has been to deceive mankind about the nature of God. Think about it. That’s always what Satan’s trying to do, deceive mankind about the nature of God. That’s what Satan was doing with Eve in the garden. He’s still trying to do that today. And one way Satan does that is to convince the world that God is not involved. That God does not really care about what happens here on earth. Peter described that attitude. 2 Peter 3:3-4, “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” Nothing changes. God doesn’t care about us. God’s not involved. And it seems that same attitude was prevalent in Zephaniah’s day as well. Look at Zephaniah 1:12. “And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil.” They had been deceived about the nature of God, hadn’t they? They wrongly thought that God was not involved, didn’t they? They thought God did not care, but God was involved. God did care. In fact, God was so involved and he cared so much that at this very time, he was working through this people to bring about the blessing promised to the whole world through the seed of Abraham. He was bringing Christ into the world through his work with these people at this time. That’s how involved God was. That’s how much God loved them and cared for them and us. The love of God, the care of God, the concern of God, the involvement of God. Those things are shown by everything that God does and by every word of God. Show us those things about God. Don’t ever let Satan deceive us about the nature of God. We know the nature of God because we’ve read the word of God. We know what God is like. God is love. These people had been deceived about the nature of God.

A second way in which they were deceived is that they wrongly thought their money would save them. Are we seeing some themes here that carry over to the modern day, maybe? As material riches increase, there’s always a temptation to trust in them rather than to trust in God. Paul warned Timothy about that in 1 Timothy 6:17, “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.” And once again, it seems that same attitude was prevalent in the days of Zephaniah. Look at Zephaniah 1:18. “Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath.” Why? Why won’t their silver deliver them? Why won’t their gold deliver them? Because those riches are uncertain riches, as Paul described them. Because material wealth has no salvation to offer. All go to the grave from the billionaire to the pauper. The greatest danger of having material wealth is that we will be deceived by it. That’s what Jesus warned us about in Matthew 13:22. “He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.” Our riches can deceive us. And that is something we must always be guarding against.

A third way in which the people of Zephaniah’s day were deceived is that they wrongly thought “There was no shame in their sin.” No shame in their sin. Again, Jeremiah described that attitude. Jeremiah 6:15, “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush.” That verse was written 2,500 years ago. And doesn’t it sound like it could have been written yesterday? That which was once considered an abomination is today embraced as a source of great pride, isn’t it? Last month is something the world calls pride month. You know, I wonder, are they planning to have a month of celebration for all seven of the deadly sins? Are they ashamed? Not at all. They don’t even know how to blush. That is how sin hardens. That is how sin deceives. And again, this attitude was prevalent in Zephaniah’s day. Look at Zephaniah 3:5. “The just Lord is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame.” The unjust knoweth no shame.

Why does it seem today that so many people are just completely unreceptive to the good news of the gospel? I think we’ve all noticed a change there. Why? I think the reason is simple. And it is this, that no one will believe the good news until they first believe the bad news. And what is the bad news? Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” That’s the bad news. And we live in a world today in which the concept of sin has passed from the land. Far from seeing shame in sin, people today don’t even see sin, not in themselves and not in others. And perhaps that is the ultimate deceit of sin, to convince the world that there is no sin. 1 John 1:8, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Hebrews 3:13, “But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Sin hardens, sin deceives. Until at last, a society reaches the tipping point and good and evil swap places. The prophets described it long ago. Isaiah 5:20, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Isn’t that what we’re seeing in our own world right now? Aren’t we seeing at the tipping point? It’s difficult to think of anyone who is more deceived than someone who calls evil good and good evil, and we are surrounded by a society that does just that.

So was there no hope? Was Zephaniah’s message just a message of doom and gloom? No, it was not. Remember, this book is from God. So far we’ve been focused on deceit as a central theme of Zephaniah, but there’s another central theme in the book of Zephaniah. There’s another theme, a theme that rings just as loudly, in fact, I think even more loudly than that theme of deceit, and that is the theme of hope. The theme of hope rings loudly in the book of Zephaniah. In fact, hope was the reason that God was doing these things. Hope was the reason why God raised up Zephaniah to tell the people these things. Absent hope, God would have just wiped Judah off the map like he’d already done with Israel. Isaiah 1:9, “Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.” This hope belonged to that faithful remnant. They were the reason that God sent Zephaniah. They were the reason God was working to preserve that remnant, to bring his son into the world, to bless the entire world. There was hope.

And Zephaniah tells us about this faithful remnant. Look at Zephaniah 3:12-13. “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.” That’s the faithful remnant. There’s no deceit in their tongue. There’s no iniquity. They’re not speaking lies. They’re trusting in God. Not afraid. That’s the remnant. That’s the hope. And Zephaniah tells us what was promised to this faithful remnant. And he does so in one of the most beautiful passages anywhere in the Bible.

Zephaniah 3:17-20. “The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, 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: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and 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 a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord.”

That’s the hope. That’s the faithful remnant. That’s the good news. And the good news is that we are the faithful remnant today. We are the faithful people of God. And that door is wide open for anyone who would join and become a part of that church when God adds them to the church, their obedience to the gospel. If there’s anyone here tonight who’s being held captive by the deceitfulness of sin, either because you’ve never been baptized for the remission of your sins, or perhaps because you’ve wandered away from Christ and fallen away. There is a path to freedom. There is hope. God has a plan. God loves you and cares for you and has a plan for you. We see that plan working all throughout history. We see it in the days of Zephaniah. We see the outcome of it today through the gospel of Jesus Christ. “For I will make you a name and a praise among all peoples of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord.” If any here tonight are still in captivity, please come while we stand and while we sing.