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ZEPHANIAH 2:12-15
(Scripture: Revelation 18:21-19:5; Nahum 3:1-19)
God Covers All Points Of The Compass!
Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ…
The two nations mentioned in our text this morning were two of the most fearsome names for those Judeans hearing Zephaniah’s prophecy.
More than any other countries these were the most powerful – and the most awful.
Especially this was so for Judeans when the name Assyria was mentioned.
You see, that would be like using the name ‘Moslem’ for many persecuted Christians today.
Or you could compare it with the name ‘Communist’ that frightened many in previous decades.
And earlier last century there was also the name ‘Nazi’ that sent shivers down the backs of millions of people.
When Zephaniah goes to the last two remaining points of the compass – to south and north, he really brings it home.
Because here are those you just did not get in the way of!
And yet here are those the Lord is going to most decisively do away with!
Congregation, this will quite comprehensively round off the Lord’s judgment of the world surrounding Judah.
No other power can stand in the way of his power.
Much as they have tried so hard to do!
And what will that mean when the Lord turns his wrath upon those who, of all people, should have been going his way?
Let’s see now how the Lord’s power comes out in these verses.
And so it is that we turn to verse 12.
It is here we come to see … THE LORD’S GOING TO SLAY THOSE OF THE SOUTH.
Verse 12 is brief.
It has the Lord declaring, “You also, O Cushites, shall be slain by my sword.”
But this verse should have us wondering also.
Why Cush of all nations?
If you’re going to go south of Judah, why not Edom, those descendants of Esau?
And just a bit further south still there is Egypt.
Now there’s a nation which is worthy of the most devastating judgment!
Why Cush?
We will have a look at this question in a moment.
But first let’s have a closer look at these Cushites.
Cush was the son of Ham, the son of Noah.
We read of that in Genesis 10 verse 6.
Traditionally Cush has been equated as being Ethiopia.
And Ethiopia would certainly fit in as being the nation found in the upper Nile region.
But let’s not get it confused with modern Ethiopia – that’s further south still.
This is more closely connected to northern Sudan, or Nubia, as it was also known.
This is the area geographically between modern northern Sudan and Egypt.
Technically it is described as being between the second and third cataracts of the Nile river.
It was this Cush that for a period actually ruled over Egypt.
This was from around 720 till 654 B.C., which fits right in with this time frame.
Thus you will find that Cush had its own Pharaoh’s and its own pyramids and so on.
We are starting to answer the question as to why Cush gets the mention in verse 12.
And that is because Cush was right then the great power controlling Egypt.
You see, we have to understand that over the course of history, Egypt was not always controlled by the ethnically Egyptian dynasties as we know them.
Cleopatra, for example, was not actually Egyptian but an ancient Greek Queen, whose family happened to have conquered Egypt some time before.
She was related not to the ancient Pharaohs but to one of Alexander the Greats’ generals.
Sure she called herself Pharaoh but she was in Egypt after all!
In the same way, there was at one stage a Phoenician dynasty ruling Egypt.
And at the time of our text it was the Nubian/Cush power in control.
This is a dynasty that is known historically as the Ethiopian Twenty-fifth Dynasty.
While this Cush kingdom may never have actually directly impacted upon Judah that doesn’t mean they’re out of the Lord’s picture.
The whole world is in his hands.
So even this far off empire is going to be judged!
And what a judgment that will be!
If you live by the sword you will die by the sword!
It declares that quite plainly here!
Congregation, all the heathen will come under God’s judgment.
Verse 12 tells us of how comprehensive that judgment will be.
No one will get away from it.
And so no one has any excuse to get out of it!
In the situation of Cush we know that that empire was defeated by Cambyses II of Persia in 525 BC.
He fought through Egypt into the upper Nile region, where he defeated the Cushites.
But while it may have been another great power that the Lord used to destroy this far-away power, let no one think it was not the Lord directing it all.
Even the way the personal pronouns change in verse 12 shows God’s personal hand in this.
For note how the second personal pronoun commencing this verse, ‘you’, becomes the first person pronoun, ‘my’ at the end of it.
“You too, O Cushites, will be slain by my sword.”
In other words the Lord says, ‘No one can think they’re right out of the way, I’ve got you all under my eye!’
‘I’m personally going to deal with you,’ he declares.
Calvin comments, “The Prophet begins the verse in the second person, summoning the Ethiopians to appear before God’s tribunal; he afterwards adds in the third person, they shall be slain by my sword.”
And just in case we think this is all doom and gloom, we can add a positive side to this being conquered by the Lord.
For while there is the campaign by the Persians a little further on in history, we can also see how the Lord conquered Cush in a quite different way in the 1st century A.D.
We only need to turn to Acts chapter 8 and the account of Philip meeting the Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians.
That man was converted through the preaching of the gospel and became baptised.
And that man went on his way rejoicing.
From that time many trace the coming of Christianity into the upper Nile region.
Thus it is that Christ will be King, as Psalm 72 declares.
His rule will judge his people in righteousness.
And he will humble all who don’t bow the knee.
We move now from the south, though, to face the completely opposite way.
For now we turn to the north.
And here the focus is set on one enemy Judah knew only too well!
This was an enemy whose name is synonymous with the most cruel and barbaric acts.
This was a power of which we have never seen the like since in cruelty, even after the excesses of recent history!
Congregation, in the words of the second aspect to the text, we see … THE LORD’S COMING UPON THOSE IN THE NORTH.
Here we move on to the verses 13 and 14.
Now, if we needed an insight into the disposition of Assyria didn’t Nahum’s third chapter give that to us?
It is the most vivid description of how bloodthirsty and inhumane she was.
While after the Babylonian exile the Jews were able to return to Palestine and many more stayed in Babylon and did well throughout the empire, after the Assyrian exile there’s no trace to be found of the ten northern tribes.
We don’t, however, need to read those other scriptural passages, or consider other history, to see how bad Assyria is.
By verse 13 beginning with the phrase, “He will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria,” we have all the indication we need.
The Lord is going to wipe them out.
And he’s going to wipe them out in such a way that it will be clear both how bad they were and how good he is.
Dear friend, that’s a bit of a twist isn’t it?
But this is the nation which was described as the ‘climax and fount of heathendom’ over two hundred years before Israel first felt the weight of bondage to her.
She was so characterised with a spirit of ruthlessness that the terrible punishment prophesied for her was in every way deserved.
I mean, didn’t we think that about the terrible tyrannies that have reigned over different parts of our world in recent times?
There was Stalin’s butchery, Hitler’s decimations, and so many more like them in places like Uganda and Rwanda and Myanmar.
Yet God will carry out his judgment.
Nineveh will be utterly desolate and dry as the desert.
Nineveh was, of course, the great capital city of Assyria.
There she was on the side of the mighty Tigris River.
She was the centre of everything – trade, arts, government, you name it - it was all there!
She was even the sports capital of the world!
Congregation, we saw earlier in Zephaniah 2 the long and proud histories of Gaza and Ashdod and Ashkelon.
Well they had nothing on Nineveh!
This was the city built by Asshur in the earliest days of human history.
Genesis 10:11 tells us of that.
And, yet, despite all its cultural prominence as a centre of learning and with a very large library, it was known everywhere for its cruelty.
Indeed we read Nahum 3:1 describe her as “the bloody city.”
It was this great city which about to become the very opposite.
It is this opulent habitation that will experience the most utter desolation!
What had almost every conceivable luxury will revert to the most arid wilderness!
Verse 14 goes on to picture the extent of this.
Forget any more people living in or near there – only animals will be there.
It will be the place the sheep and the goats and the cows take over.
It will be the place the wild animals are found.
And it will be where birds are roosting on the ruins.
Now you may have noticed a difference in relation to the animals described if you had a different version than the ESV.
The New King James speaks of the pelican and the bittern; the New American of the pelican and the hedgehog; the AV of the cormorant and the bittern; and the NIV of the desert owl and the screech owl.
The Hebrew is somewhat unclear on the species.
What it does tell us, though, is that both these animals are associated with desertion and lack of human habitation.
Much like in verse 9 the type of nettle found in the wasteland that was once Moab and Ammon shows that land is good for nothing, so too these animals testify to a land where there is no man.
To speak then of their calls echoing through the windows further reinforces the desolation there.
You know what it sounds like in an empty house.
And the picture is even further painted.
The rubble is described for us exactly where it falls – in the doorways.
The beams are naturally exposed because of the destruction and the lack of maintenance.
Where are those costly cedar panels now?
The winds and sands of time have worn them long away.
And then we come to verse 15.
Here we have the Lord’s evaluation of what lies at the back of this all.
And it’s the heart again, isn’t it?
In the words of the third aspect we note … THE LORD’S JUDGING THEIR CITY FOR HER PRIDE.
You know, there is something about these cities in Scripture.
They seem to draw up within themselves all that is set against God.
They are the idolatrous cultural centres which are hostile to God.
We only need to compare what Nineveh says of itself here with Babylon’s statement in Isaiah 47, the verses 8 and 10.
And then compare that with what is said of Babylon in Revelation 18 verse 7.
There it says of the city set against the Lord that in her heart she boasts, ‘I sit a queen; I am not a widow, and I will never mourn.’
Well, how’s that for pride?
And how much aren’t cities full of themselves?
They have everything you could ever possibly want – they are completely self-sufficient.
They have it all, and much more too – until a huge flood comes and spoils it all!
And that’s exactly what happened to Nineveh at her fall.
When the Medes, Babylonians and Scythians besieged the city, a sudden rise of the River Tigris swept away a great part of the city’s wall of sun-dried bricks and rendered her completely defenceless.
God certainly wiped the floor with her.
Indeed he obliterated her off the world map altogether!
In 401 B.C. the Greek historian Xenophon could find few traces of the great city.
Indeed, it has only been recently that archaeologists have been able to find where Nineveh exactly was.
How apt a punishment for the city who thought she was sure to be great forever?
What better reward could there be for thinking she was without equal in this world?
She had claimed a god-like status, and there is but One God.
Congregation, God pulls down the curtain on this particular outrage against him.
The prophet exclaims in amazement at the fall and degradation seen in the great city which has become such a ruin.
She is certainly a lesson for the rest of mankind.
By saying that all who pass by her hisses and shake their fists shows people know she got what she deserved.
I mean, haven’t we said the same when some tyrant got his comeuppance?
Whether it was Hitler, or Idi Amin, or some other despot, we shook our fists at them.
But let’s not forget that we can only do that now because of whose hand was stretched out against them in verse 13.
This message starts with God’s hand raise in judgment and closes with a human hand raised in confirmation of the same.
It was never the Medes and the Babylonians and the Scythians who took down the Assyrians.
God had planned it out a long time ago.
And it’s the same today, congregation.
God continues to judge the world around us.
And isn’t that the most gracious thing?
He won’t let us endure beyond what we can bear.
He certainly is judging those set against us.
Much as they might have the victory for a moment.
It is only momentary – it will soon come to pass.
And where are those great empires and their gods now?
The Lord is taking us very much to heart here with these words.
The safety of the Church is very dear to him.
That’s what he wants to assure us of in this part of Scripture and also at its end.
For after Revelation 18 and its description of the fall of the great city Babylon, which stands against God, there comes Revelation 19 and the great ‘Hallelujah’ of God’s people as they praise him for who he is and what he does.
Dear believer, whatever this world might throw at you, it cannot overcome you!
There is One who holds them all in his hand.
The very hand stretched out against Assyria is the hand that is holding on to you.
There is no better place to be.
Amen.
PRAYER:
Let’s pray…
O Great & Glorious & Gracious God…
We praise you for your wise rule.
For you are working out all things for the good of those who love you, those you have called according to your purpose.
And we are those who confess that amazing care.
O Lord, we bow with the deepest thankfulness for all you’ve done and are still doing and are yet to do.
And we pray that we will show your great love making the ultimate difference in our lives.
Through Jesus Christ our Saviour and Lord, we pray, 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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