The Day of the Lord Zephaniah 1:7–2:3

 

By David M. Levy 

On June 22, 1990, a massive earthquake hit northern Iran just after midnight. Iranian radio estimated the death toll at around 45,000, with up to 130,000 injured. In less than a minute entire villages were in ruins or completely buried. Most North Americans are incapable of understanding this kind of devastation because they have never experienced an earthquake of this magnitude.

It was called "Doomsday Hour" in the July 2, 1990 issue of Time magazine. Newsweek in its July 2, 1990 issue called it "Persevering in the Test of God." Little did these bureau reporters know the prophetic undertones of their headlines. A day is coming when such destruction will sweep over the whole earth, a day called in biblical terms the Day of the Lord.

Need For Judgment (verses 1:7-13)

Zephaniah announced that God was ready to judge Judah. He further said, “Be silent before the Lord Gᴏᴅ; for the day of Lᴏʀᴅ is at hand” (v. 7). People were to be silent before the sovereign Lord of the universe. A plea for mercy did not avert His vengeance, for God's judgment was ready to fall upon the nation.

The judgment is described as "[His] sacrifice" to which God has already "called [appointed] his guests" (v. 7). The victim was to be Judah, and the guests were the hated Babylonians

Who will kill the land and eat it like a sacrificial animal in the temple? Zephaniah mentioned seven groups that would suffer God's judgment. First, the "princes" (verse 8)—those who serve as judges, magistrates, and aristocrats in the royal court—will be judged. These leaders should have been the prime example of morality, righteousness and justice in the nation, but instead they were the prime promoters of wickedness and severely oppressed the people.

Second, the king's offspring will be judged. After Josiah's death, God did not allow his children (verse 8) to have a long and successful reign. Jehoahaz's reign lasted only three months (2Ki 23:31-34). King Jehoiakim reigned for 11 years (2 Kings 23:36) but was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 24:1–2). Jehoiachin's reign lasted only three months before he was deported to Babylon (2 Kings 24:8-16). The last king of Judah, Zedekiah, reigned for 11 years, but was eventually captured, blinded, and deported to Babylon (2 Kings 24:18–25:7).

The iron rule of totalitarian despots in Eastern Europe is a prime example of such oppression in this century. These communist leaders committed incredible atrocities on their people, milking their countries of their resources while they themselves lived in luxury. Judgment fell on many of them. As a result of the socialist reforms, some of these leaders were ignominiously removed from office, some were thrown into prison, and others were executed.

The rebellion of Judah's leaders was seen in their clothing: "such as are clothed in strange garments" (v. 8). Adopting such an outward garb meant that the leaders adopted the habits, customs and ways of their ungodly neighbors—Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon. In other words, they took on a worldly appearance materialism (cf. Is 3:16-24). Isaiah summed it up well when he said, "The showing of their faces testifies against them" (Isaiah 3:9).

The Lord established certain requirements regarding clothing for the Israelites (Deut. 22:11-12). The reason for not mixing wool and linen in the same garment (Deut. 22:11) is uncertain; it may have been a pagan practice from which Israel was protected. The Israelites were commanded to put fringes (tassels) on their garments (Deut. 22:12) to serve as a reminder of the Lord's commandments and their covenantal obligation to obey them (Num. 15:37-40). Similarly, Peter reminded Christian women that their dress should be in harmony with godliness (1 Peter 3:3–4). This is not the case with many Christian men and women who dress in worldly ways.

Third, robbers will be judged, "those who leap over the threshold, who fill the houses of their masters with violence and deceit" (v. 9). The expression "jumping the threshold" may refer to the superstitious practice of the Philistines not to step on the threshold (because the image of their god Dagon fell on the threshold in his heathen temple, 1 Sam 5:4–5), or to quickly enter a stranger's house in order to robbery. The second view seems more likely. Such inferior men were kept by their masters (political leaders in the royal court) to acquire wealth through violent and fraudulent means.

Fourth, the people in every area of ​​Jerusalem—“the fish gate [the northern part] … the second quarter [the new city, northwest of the Temple] and … from the hills [the whole area of ​​the city]” (v. 10) — would wail in agony when they felt God's judgment. There were howls and shrieks, mingled with the shouts of victory from the enemies who were plundering and killing the people. In the background, houses, palaces and temples could be heard crashing as they were being destroyed.

Fifth, the polluted business district would be destroyed. "Everyone who receives money is cut off, everyone who receives money is cut off" (verse 11). They were located in the "Makteš" (mortar or depression, v. 11), the lower part running north and south along the temple wall known as the Tyrope valley. Jewish merchants and money changers did business in this market.

Zephaniah called them "a people of merchants" (verse 11), a derogatory phrase for the people of Canaan and used for the unscrupulous Phoenicians who were shrewd, greedy, and dishonest in trade and usury. The Jewish merchants clearly resembled the Canaanites in the way they conducted their business. Both merchants and money changers (those loaded with silver, v. 11) would be cut off.

Sixth, the people without the passion of Jerusalem, "the men who sat on their dregs" (verse 12), will be destroyed. The lees are the sludge that must be separated from the wine during its processing. If you leave the lees in the wine too long, it becomes a thick, bitter syrup. Therefore, to settle in the sludge is to become hardened, spiritually complacent and callous in character and behavior. Instead of cleansing themselves from the mire of sin by daily repentance, the people of Judah settled in the mire of impurity and practiced the moral wickedness of their pagan neighbors. Then they projected their own spiritual impurity and complacency onto the Lord, saying: The Lord will do neither good nor evil" (in . 12). They became so indifferent to God that they looked upon him in the same light as a heathen idol, having no interest or ability to interfere in human affairs. They reached the point where they denied God's divine providence in the universe, as well as His power and promise to deliver from God's judgment.

This is true today for some members of the Church who profess Christianity. They regard God as their Savior, but not as their sovereign Lord. They give Him lips from time to time, but

living as if God cared little for them personally and had no control over the circumstances of their lives.

The Lord will "search Jerusalem with lamps" (verse 12) and will look for such people to judge. God is shown diligently searching every area of ​​Jerusalem, just as a man searches every corner of a darkened room. During the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the inhabitants of the city were dragged out of sewers, holes, caves and tombs to be put to death.

Yes, we must not forget that God is the only one who seeks and saves the lost (Luke 15:8-10).

Seventh, the possessions of the rich would be destroyed: "their possessions will become a spoil and their houses desolate" (verse 13).

God did not allow them to be content with welcome homes and vineyards (cf. Lev 26:32-33; Deut 28:30; Amos 5:11; Mic 6:15). God would prove to Judah that he keeps his promises by depriving rich people of their possessions.

 

Paul warns that Christians seeking wealth will fall into temptations, snares, and lusts that will destroy them. In fact, those who desire to get riches have actually gone astray from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. Paul further exhorted believers to flee from the pursuit of riches and pursue righteousness and godliness (1 Tim. 6:9-11).

In the age of materialism, this is a message that all believers must listen to.

Nearness of Judgment (verses 1:14-18)

Once again Zephaniah returned to his theme, this time twice emphasizing the nearness of the "Great Day of Lᴏʀᴅ" (v. 14). He emphasized His nearness by declaring that "He is near and very [quickly] hastening "toward His coming. (v. 14). The word near is in an emphatic position to emphasize how quickly it will come.

He is so near that the voice (sound) of his coming can be heard (v. 14).

How true the prophet's words were. It was close to the Assyrians who were destroyed in 612 BC. It was close to Judah, which suffered three waves of Babylonian persecution and was finally destroyed in 586 BC. It was close to the Babylonians who were destroyed by the Medo-Persian Empire in 539 BC

The coming day of the Lord will be so terrible in its horror that "the mighty one there will weep bitterly" (v. 14). Even hardened warriors who fear neither conflict nor man will cry in terror like frightened children when the judgment of the Lord comes.

The final day of God's wrath will be a time of complete destruction. Zephaniah provides an important explanation in the pentagrams. This will be "the day of distress and distress... destruction and destruction... darkness and gloom... cloud and darkness... trumpet and siren" (verses 15-16).

Jerusalem was enveloped in thick darkness

smoke,...suffocating people in an inferno of total destruction.

 

The sound of war horns mixed with the war cries of the invading tribes filled the people with anxiety and fear. Distress and death so overwhelmed the bound inhabitants of Jerusalem that they staggered through the city, dazed and helpless, "like blind men" (v. 17; cf. Deut. 28:28-29). Jerusalem was shrouded in thick, dark smoke, obscuring the hot August sun and suffocating the people in an inferno of utter destruction. The nation was completely defenseless against the advancing warriors; none of the "fortified cities" or "high towers" (verse 16) stood against the Babylonian army. There was so much carnage that their blood was "poured out like dust and their flesh like dung"

(v. 17). The invaders cruelly ravaged the bodies of the dead and piled up their internal organs like the filth of dunghills.

All this happened because "those who sinned against God" (verse 17) patiently prayed to the one who loved, trying to persuade them to repent and harden. Now they were denied repentance, and no amount of "silver or their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath" (v. 18). They could not bribe the enemy or God to delay the destruction.

 

All nations (earth) will burn with the fire of His (God's) jealousy. The same is true in the spiritual realm. Man cannot be "redeemed with perishable things, such as silver and gold... But [only] with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot" (1 Peter 1:18-19). What was true of Judah's destruction will one day be true of the whole world: "the whole land [of the earth] will be consumed by the fire of his [God's] jealousy" (verse 18). When God's judgment falls, it will bring "the speedy deliverance [the complete end] of all who dwell on the earth" (v. 18).

National judgment (verses 2:1-3)

Zephaniah pleaded with Judah to gather before the judgment came. "Collect yes in the summer, the country is not getting enough" (2:1). By repeating this phrase, the prophet emphasized the urgent need for Judah to cry out to God together in repentance. The verb to gather pictures a beggar bending down to gather stubble from the field after the main harvest. The word nation is used for Gentiles who do not know God. The phrase unwanted refers to people white (pale) with shame who do not even blush before God. The people of Judah are depicted as worthless, like the Gentiles, who do not know God and are not ashamed of their sin, ready to be destroyed by fire.

 

There is no time to delay, it needs to be done immediately. Judgment will come. So Zephaniah issued a final call to the nation to repent, introducing each sentence with the previous word. Repent "Before the decree is born, before the day passes away like chaff" (v. 2). The appointed day of the Lord was decreed, and God could bring it about as quickly as the chaff is carried away by the wind.

"Before Lᴏʀᴅ's fierce wrath comes upon you, before the day of Lᴏʀᴅ's wrath comes upon you" Repent (v. 2); that is, before the burning wrath of God's wrath is poured out in all its fury.

There was a remnant of people in Judah who remained faithful in their commitment to the Lord. The prophet exhorted them to constantly “seek the Lᴏʀᴅ, … seek righteousness, seek meekness” (v. 3). If the faithful remnant continued in righteousness, "perhaps [they] will hide themselves in the day of the Lᴏʀᴅ's wrath" (v. 3).

The remnant was hidden (concealed) from the Day of the Lord's wrath. Many were sent captive to Babylon, while the "poorest sort of people" were allowed to remain in Judah (2 Kings 24:14-16).

God's grace and mercy reappear in judgment. So it will be during the Great Tribulation when the Lord will protect the godly remnant of Jewish believers from the last day of the Lord (Rev. 7:3-8; 12:13-17).

Although the term "Day of the Lord" refers to the local judgment that God brought upon Judah (vv. 1:7, 14; 2:3) and its neighboring nations (vv. 2:4-15), it also speaks of a future day. when God intervenes in the affairs of this world.

The Lord's Day can be defined as God's direct intervention in human affairs after the Ecstasy, including events such as the Great Tribulation (Rev. 6-19), the millennial kingdom (Rev.

20:2-6) and the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev 20:11-15). It is clear from Scripture that this day will not only be a time for God to pour out His wrath on the wicked,

But it will also be a blessed time for the people of Israel and the Church throughout the millennium.

Christ's reign on earth.

Peter wrote: “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, and the heavens will perish with a roar, and the elements will melt in the fire.

heat; earth also” (2 Peter 3:10).

Because these events will take place after the millennium, the Lord's Day will also include a time of blessing.

The Time magazine reporter may have been right, the "Doomsday Hour" may be very near. World events indicate that the rapture of the Church may be near and the Day of the Lord may soon appear.

At a time like this, no better warning can be given than Paul's: "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men" (2 Corinthians 5:11).

We must make people believe that the apocalypse will come in this world. We must convince people that they will come to Christ as their Judge. We must convince people that because the Lord's day has come, they must be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. Click here, to download original pdf book.