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| > Sermon Archive > Sermons by Author > Rev. Sjirk Bajema > The Lord’s Judging His People Soon! | Previous Next Print |
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ZEPHANIAH 1:7–13
(Scripture: 1 Thess.4:13-5:11; 1 Sam.5:1-12; Zeph.1:1-13)
The Lord’s Judging His People Soon!
Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ…
The verses 2 till 6 clearly set the scene.
Nothing has escaped the eye of the Lord.
He has seen through all mankind – the whole world.
And so it will be destroyed in a far more comprehensive way than that flood of old.
But, most of all, the Lord has seen through his people.
The one nation he especially entered into a covenant with and whom he had showered the greatest of blessings upon had completely turned their back on him.
There is no doubt about which course of action he must pursue.
Before that punishment is executed, however, there is a pause.
But don’t think that this pause is a break for anyone.
Indeed, it’s this pause which is the most pregnant pause.
It is full of the most serious meaning.
For it is none other than the ruling and supreme God who announces this pause.
He commands his hearers to be silent.
And he does so using an expression common amongst the prophets as an interjection of awe and respect.
This is how verse 7 begins.
There the prophet of the Lord declares, “Be silent before the LORD God!
“For the day of the LORD is near…”
Not only is the Day of the Lord coming, it is near!
In fact, so close is it that the Lord has made the necessary preparations for it.
This is what verse 7 goes on to tell.
So, what is it verse 7 goes on to say?
“…the LORD has prepared a sacrifice,” the sentence continues.
If this is about judgment – and there’s no doubt it is – this is an event associated with that judgment.
Going back to earlier prophets, this is a theme found several times.
Isaiah 34:6 speaks in this self same vein.
And later Jeremiah and Ezekiel have identical strands.
But then there’s the twist.
For when Zephaniah says that the Lord has consecrated those he has invited, don’t think now that here is a special place of honour.
The only thing these guests have been set apart for is to be the sacrifice!
A sacrifice to please the Lord is made by the offering up to his judgment of those who have very much angered him.
It’s an interesting thing that this is described as a sacrifice rather than a slaughter.
What could something being offered to God have to do with those who haven’t been offering themselves to the Lord?
Well, we have to note that these guests are not invited.
Rather, they are consecrated.
That means they are set apart.
Much like the animal which would be sacrificed as a peace offering was brought to the priest.
It was the one offering where the priest laid his hands on the animal’s head.
He committed it to the Lord as an offering.
In this case it’s the Lord who has prepared the sacrifice – he’s the One making it holy.
It’s clear the almighty and all-holy God is on centre stage here.
And so it is that we have come to our first aspect in connection with the text.
Our theme of ‘The Lord’s Judging His People Soon!’ is shown by seeing … IT STARTS WITH THE PRINCES.
Here we are told some more detail about those who will be sacrificed.
And in verse 8 this begins by speaking about “And on the day of the Lord’s sacrifice…”
Thus we have joined together both motifs of the Lord’s Day and the sacrifice.
It all comes to a head.
And each of those heads now is described too!
This is starting off with none other than those ones who are the heads of the people – the princes themselves.
Verse 8 identifies them quite clearly as number one in the list.
“I will punish the officials and the king’s sons…” it spells out.
The officials here cover all those who are the heads of tribes and families.
It was a group Zephaniah himself was a part of.
But that doesn’t stop him declaring the Lord’s word for those men.
The “officials” here were the king’s brothers, his uncles, his cousins.
And others too.
This is also clear from the explicit naming of the “king’s sons” in the next line.
There’s a special word of the Lord for them too.
Mind you, the king himself is not mentioned, and rightly so.
Josiah walked in the ways of the Lord.
Because of his piety and fear of God a prophet of the Lord had said he would not himself see the outburst of the judgment of the Lord.
The king’s sons are mentioned because they weren’t walking in the ways of their father.
Their hearts were set on other ways.
The ways which had already been outlined in the verses 5 and 6 above.
Naming the king’s sons like this also supports Zephaniah’s prophecy as being spoken in a later time in Josiah’s reign.
If it were in the 18th year of Josiah reign – when the Book of Law was found - Josiah’s son Jehoiakim was only 12, Jehoahaz was 10, and Zedekiah had yet to be born.
Then verse 8 finishes off by describing a further part of this ruling group.
They are described as “all who array themselves in foreign attire.”
But what could this be?
Is this a condemnation of anyone wearing clothes from another cultural background?
Do you have to put away those Balinese sari’s?
The context helps us here.
For while certain regulations are been laid down in the law as to what his people were to wear, they are not extensively detailed.
The Hebrews weren’t meant to be like a cult where everyone wore exactly the same clothes.
But here the fashions being taken over from foreign countries also tied in with those foreign religions.
And Judah was meant to be the Lord’s.
Judah shouldn’t be like the world around them, but rather be separate from the nations of the earth.
It’s a principle we need to note today also.
While a fashionable dress sense is important it shouldn’t be taken to the extreme where people think that we’re no different than what’s in the world.
There are some very negative sub-cultures out there we should avoid copying – and certainly any sexual or greed related fashions don’t belong with us.
You see, if you are compromising with the world around you this way, it goes into other ways too.
The connection here with the ruling classes shows the influence they have on the rest of society when they do these things.
Despite what politicians say about keeping their private lives out of the public eye, when they’re involved in immorality and debauchery we all know about it!
And that goes for many others in positions of prominence.
Indeed, we note this with our second aspect.
Here we see how … THIS GOES ON TO THEIR SERVANTS.
Verse 9 describes even further how far the depravity has gone.
For this is very much ‘out there’ to use contemporary language.
All the public servants – the officials of the court – and their families are showing the same.
And don’t we see the same with the way tattoos and bodily modifications sported by those in the public eye become copied by so many of the public?
Every time you have another shocking headline regarding something one of the so-called ‘stars’ has done you can be sure it will seen in your neighbour soon enough!
But you might be wondering how verse 9 fits in with this.
What does it mean speaking about those who avoid stepping on the threshold?
You might find here a footnote in your Bibles to 1st Samuel chapter 5.
That is the story of when the statue of Dagon, the Philistine god, fell prostrate before the ark of the Lord.
As a result of that event, those pagan priests and anyone entering to worship that god step over the threshold where the statue’s head and hands were lying.
You would have thought that this incident might bring the right worship and honour to the Lord God!
But that didn’t happen at all.
Rather, in the way of their superstitious practices, it only adds another element to paganism.
And this was an element which had become quickly taken up within other religions of that area too.
Dear friend, I only ask you to look around in our society today.
The threshold refers to the pedestal upon which the pagan altar stands.
So this is about those who bow their knee to the customs and practices of other religions.
And how many don’t do that today?
Also within Christendom.
‘There are many ways to heaven,’ they say.
‘We must respect everyone’s beliefs.’
And especially if it gives the Christian faith a battering!
Isn’t that true?
When any other religion gets a foothold within what has been a Christian nation, every vestige of the Bible is soon dismantled and dismissed.
But you try being a Christian in the countries where those other religions or philosophies rule!
The Lord is not being some kind of big meanie here.
He’s not being insensitive or being the ultimate in divine bullies.
He is absolutely right!
Here is a recent illustration of the way that secular humanism has imposed its nonsense on us recently.
It is entitled, ‘A Politically Correct Christmas Greeting.’
It goes: “Best wishes to you for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, politically correct, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, celebration of the summer holidays, practiced within the most joyous traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, but with respect for the religious persuasion of others who choose to practice their own religion as well as those who choose not to practice a religion at all.
“Additionally, we wish you a financially successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the next generally accepted calendar year, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures or sects, and having regard to the race, gender, religion, age, marital status, disability or impairment, sexual preference, family responsibilities, status as a carer, political beliefs or transgender status.”
As you’ve probably realised, this is said very much tongue-in-cheek!
But there are certainly a lot of people doing their utmost to respect every possible point of view!
In the end, though, that only shows their true religion!
And they are our rulers.
And then we may wonder how someone fills the temple of their gods with violence and fraud.
That’s the way verse 9 ends.
Well, they do that because it is all about them.
All the false religions of this world only benefit the rich and powerful and their servants.
Don’t tell me, for a moment, that any of them are concerned with the betterment of all mankind.
In fact, the only time in the history of those pagan nations that there is any semblance of true order and peace is when the gospel comes and has an impact.
This is the lie that human secularism also likes to spin us.
We are told, for example, that Islam is a religion of peace when its true motive is the elimination of every other religion – and the minor sects within it as well!
And much as Oprah and so many celebrities are taken up with the eastern religions you only need to realise the place of untouchables in those societies to realise this deceit.
This is the warning the prophets constantly cried out.
They pleaded for the widow and the orphan.
They exposed how unfair this corruption is.
Then verses 10 and 11 take this judgment into the middle classes.
Here we come into the third aspect of the text.
For next we note … THE WAY IT AFFECTS THE MIDDLE CLASSES.
Here a lot more of Jerusalem’s population get to feel God’s wrath in a way that really hits their ‘hip-pocket’.
The scene is certainly quite descriptive.
On judgment day we’re told there’s crying and wailing and loud crashes.
And it’s a howling coming up from the key trading and financial hubs.
The first of these mentioned is the ‘Fish Gate’.
This was in the eastern portion of the wall which bounded the lower city on the north side.
Most likely this was the closest gate way to the fish market as it was through this gate that the fish from the lake of Tiberias or the River Jordan were brought in.
It’s this gate that was the most vulnerable to any foreign invasion.
The Second Quarter was located to the north and west of the temple area.
It was here that the wealthy lived in their luxurious homes.
This was also where the prophetess Huldah lived.
The “hills” is a more general description, although at the time it may have been a specific name for a part of Jerusalem.
It certainly would closely describe another part of northern Jerusalem, because there was a group of small hills there.
Then there is what is called “the Mortar”.
This is the market district.
This was the lower, basin-like section of the city.
It was here where the Phoenician and Jewish merchants did their trade.
Following this theme of judgment, these merchants are mentioned because they are following the pagan financial practices.
So dishonesty would have been the order of the day.
And now they’ve been made to pay!
Congregation, it’s as if there’s been another crash at Wall Street.
And isn’t there despair then?
The stock brokers and bankers are throwing themselves out of windows.
The paper shredding machines are doing overtime before the government agents come in.
Everything that was once of value is decimated in a moment!
In the wider context of our text, this would have been the time when the foreign armies were the arm of the Lord to bring his judgment.
But it’s not those forces which grab our attention here.
For note the people’s reaction themselves.
Can you sense what’s happening here?
What is it most of all they are feeling there?
Isn’t it the very fact they got caught out?
If you look at the times of financial collapses in our modern era you see the same.
People had been operating fraudulently.
They even began to believe their lie.
Whether pyramid or ‘Ponzi’ schemes, or a little adjusting of the books, how much isn’t it all spin?
But all the time they’re living on borrowed time.
And now the Lord has reined it all in.
Now he is calling, ‘Time!’
In this way we come to the last of the groups identified here.
As our fourth aspect puts it … THEN GOD CATCHES UP WITH THE REST OF THE GUILTY.
There are still more to be judged, in fact, a whole city to be called to account.
They won’t be allowed to escape either, much as they might try to get away.
This explains the first part of verse 12 where the Lord says that he will search Jerusalem with lamps.
Because this is the most thorough and detailed search.
There’s no possibility of them getting away – even if they go underground into the huge natural and artificial caves and tunnels which are under Jerusalem.
There’s no one who can give the Lord the slip.
The nature of this sin is different to what we’ve had listed in the verses 8 till 11.
There the sins were acts of commission – they were deliberately done.
Now the focus turns to acts of omission – wrong done because they simply haven’t done good.
This is what it means to punish the complacent.
The next word picture demonstrates this.
And here we need to refer to the footnote.
That tells us literally what the Hebrew says here.
And it says the complacent are like wine left on its dregs.
Wine left on its dregs is wine left to settle quietly.
It means the heavier particles settle at the bottle, leaving dregs at the bottom of the cask or bottle.
To avoid this there needs to be a constant turning.
Otherwise the wine becomes sluggish and begins to coagulate.
So, unlike wine which matures as it ages, the people of Jerusalem are stagnating in apathy and non-involvement.
‘What can I do about it?’ is the common reply to the problems of the day.
They don’t heed the prophet who exhorts Israel in Micah 6 verse 8 to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with their God.
In fact, it’s quite the opposite!
They are thinking the Lord’s doing nothing.
So much like the people at the time of Noah who just went on like they’d always done when Noah warned them to do otherwise.
This is what Paul warned about in his first letter to the Thessalonians.
As he wrote to them there in chapter 5 about the return of the Lord he said that it would be exactly when people thought they had peace and safety that destruction would sweep upon them.
The Day of the Lord would come like a thief in the night, the apostle declared.
Congregation, those who don’t actively believe on the Lord will suffer the way Zephaniah describes here in verse 13.
All their precious earthly possessions will be taken away from them.
All they had struggled and worked so hard to build up over the years will be wiped out.
You see, they are exactly like the man Jesus described in ‘The Parable of the Rich Fool’ in Luke 12.
Remember, that man thought to himself that he could build bigger barns and take up an early retirement.
But that very night his life was taken from him!
And that’s how it is with those who store up things for themselves but are not rich toward God.
Is that what you’re like, dear friend?
Are you looking forward to taking life a lot easier?
Now, no one can deny a person the opportunity to cease from his regular 40 hour-a-week work.
But what is he going to do then?
That’s the crunch, because that shows what’s on his heart!
Congregation, we know Judah was judged through the Babylonian invasion in the 6th Century B.C.
Then these words were largely fulfilled.
But we also know that this tells of a far greater Day of the Lord yet to be finished.
This is a Day which we are in already.
This is a Day which is nearly coming to an end.
Let’s not be caught out.
If judgment is going to begin with the household of faith let’s be those who are found faithful and not faithless.
Let’s be those who are ready to welcome the Great Judge on that day.
Think about it: Isn’t he the One who has appointed you not to receive wrath but salvation in his Name?
Isn’t he your own personal Lord and Saviour?
Amen.
PRAYER:
Let’s pray…
O Lord Jesus, we come pleading in your Name alone.
We look to your sacrifice on the cross at Calvary.
This was the humiliation which began with your being born amongst us and over which you rose victorious, defeating sin and Satan and death.
Dear Saviour, we don’t look to what we have here below, or those gods that human minds and hands have made here below.
Instead, we look to you, you who with the Father and the Spirit is the One True God up above, who is ruling in love, and who very soon will bring this present world to an end, judging all mankind.
Please hear us and intercede continually for us.
Amen.
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Rev. Sjirk Bajema, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
(c) Copyright 2019, Rev. Sjirk Bajema
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