In this episode, we’re taking a closer look at the Book of Zephaniah—a daring prophet who doesn’t shy away from depicting the harsh realities of divine wrath. From understanding the critical message of the Day of the Lord to confronting personal complacency in our faith, this discussion promises to offer both challenge and encouragement for our spiritual journey. Tune in for an engaging discussion rooted in scripture and personal reflection.
Welcome to ADDBIBLE, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Allen J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
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Today we begin the book of Zephaniah. How many of you have ever read the book of Zephaniah? And as Christians, how much time do we really spend with the minor prophets? Books like Obadiah, Nahum, Micah, Zechariah, or Zephaniah? So, let me help you try to find Zephaniah in your Bible. It’s between Habakkuk and Haggai. Does that help you any? At the Ezra Project and in ADDBIBLE, we cover the whole counsel of God, including every book of the Bible, even these minor prophets. So, let’s learn something about the book of Zephaniah from my English Standard Version Study Bible book introduction. We learn that the book of Zephaniah is named after its author, like so many of the prophetic books. His name means Yahweh has hidden or protected. His name may indicate that his parents trusted the Lord during the godless reign of Manasseh. According to the genealogy of verse 1, Zephaniah may have been a descendant of Hezekiah, the godly ruler of Judah, before the next two wicked kings assumed the throne. The prophecy takes place during the reign of Josiah. 640 to 609 BC. The northern kingdom of Israel had already been exiled, so references to Israel refer to Judah, the southern kingdom, and its capital, Jerusalem. The theme of Zephaniah is the Day of the Lord, both judgment against those who sin against God and blessings for those who follow him. The term the Day of the Lord is used seven times in this book. Though Josiah was a reforming king, the people refused to follow and turn back to God, even though they had seen the fall of the other tribes of Israel in the northern kingdom. Zephaniah is trying to clarify the decision that lies before them. Continue the way you are and fall under God’s judgment. or repent and perhaps avoid judgment and experience God’s forgiveness. Zephaniah paints a picture of God’s wrath in a way that few prophets have the courage to do. It’s not a popular subject, but it is a certainty in God’s word. Zephaniah is just three chapters, so we’ll take them one a day, and we’ll listen to Faith Comes By Hearing’s readings of chapters 1 and 2, and I will wrap up Zephaniah by reading chapter 3. So let’s begin with chapter 1 of the book of Zephaniah from Faith Comes By Hearing.
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Zephaniah. Zephaniah 1. The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Ammon, king of Judah.
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I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth, declares the Lord. I will sweep away man and beast. I will sweep away the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea and the rubble with the wicked. I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth, declares the Lord. I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal and the name of the idolatrous priests along with the priests, those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens, those who bow down and swear to the Lord and yet swear by Milcom, those who have turned back from following the Lord, who do not seek the Lord or inquire of him. Be silent before the Lord God, for the day of the Lord is near. The Lord has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests. And on the day of the Lord’s sacrifice, I will punish the officials and the king’s sons and all who array themselves in foreign attire. On that day I will punish everyone who leaps over the threshold and those who fill their master’s house with violence and fraud.” On that day, declares the Lord, a cry will be heard from the fish gate, a wail from the second quarter, a loud crash from the hills. Wail, O inhabitants of the mortar, for all the traitors are no more. All who weigh out silver are cut off. At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent. Those who say in their hearts, the Lord will not do good, nor will he do ill, Their goods shall be plundered, and their houses laid waste. Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them. Though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them. The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast. The sound of the day of the Lord is bitter. The mighty man cries aloud there. A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blasts and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements. 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. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the Lord. 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.
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To help us through the book of Zephaniah, we’ll look at three of my personal Bible reading journals. 1991, when I was reading the Old Testament. 2001, when I was reading the whole Bible. And 2011, again, when I was reading the whole Bible in a year. So those are ten years apart in three different decades. As I was looking to select the journals that I was going to use, I saw that I have read the book of Zephaniah probably about 10 times over the last 30 years. That hardly means that I’m an expert on this book, as you’ll see from my first journal entry. Now, whether you read the Old Testament all in one year or the whole Bible in one year, you usually end up in Zephaniah somewhere around Christmas. So it is in each of these three years I happen to be reading Zephaniah on Christmas Eve day each year. In 1991, after reading Zephaniah, I wrote in my personal Bible reading journal, I do not understand all these minor prophet books at the end of the Old Testament. It takes some study to get something out of these. So, like I said, just because I’ve read the book of Zephaniah over 10 times, doesn’t mean I necessarily get it. Since I’ve read all of Zephaniah on one day in each year, I’ll save the other journal entries for the other days we look at the book of Zephaniah. So, let’s see what we can glean out of Zephaniah chapter 1. In the introduction of the book of Zephaniah, I said that Zephaniah had a pretty graphic description of God’s wrath. So let’s look at what God’s wrath looks like from Zephaniah’s perspective. Verse 2. Verse 4. I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. That’s the audience he’s talking to. Who is he going to stretch his hand out against? Verse 6, Those who have turned back from following the Lord, who do not seek the Lord or inquire of him. Let’s jump down to verse 12. At that time, I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts, the Lord will not do good, nor will he do ill. Oh, there may be many of us who are complacent today. We’re kind of neutral about God, especially his activities in our own lives. Oh, he doesn’t do good and he really doesn’t hurt me. He’s just out there, but he really doesn’t impact my life. Let’s keep going on God’s wrath. Let’s look down to verse 15. A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of cloud and thick darkness. a day of trumpet blasts and battle cry, against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements. Continuing to verse 17, I will bring distress on mankind, so that they walk like the blind because they have sinned against the Lord. And finally, the last verse, verse 18, In the fire of his jealousy all the earth shall be consumed, for a full and sudden end he will make all of the inhabitants of the earth. Yes, Zephaniah is very descriptive about the wrath of God. So let’s look at a practical application from Zephaniah 1. Why is God’s wrath poured out against Jerusalem? Why can it be poured out in your own life? This chapter tells us in the first couple of verses. So let’s go back and look at verses four through six. I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal and the name of the idolatrous priests along with their priests, those who bow down on the roofs to the hosts of heaven, those who bow down and swear to the Lord and yet swear to Malcolm, those who have turned back from following the Lord who do not seek the Lord or inquire of Him. Is that where you’re at today? Caught up in idol worship, meaning living your life with everything except the presence of the Lord? Being so busy with your own life that you don’t have time for God? Have you turned back from following Him? If so, you may be subject to the wrath of God. And then lastly, that verse we talked about earlier about complacency. Verse 12, At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts, The Lord will not do good, nor will he do ill. Are you lukewarm in your relationship with God? Are you complacent? Have you become comfortable in your relationship with God, so that you are no longer hot nor cold, just lukewarm? If your relationship with Jesus is just sort of in neutral, then let me remind you of Revelation 3, verse 15. I know your works, and you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. The challenge from chapter 1 of Zephaniah might be to get hot for the Lord once again, to rekindle your fire about Jesus, to move your complacency back to living for the Jesus who saved you and gives you life. Let’s pray. Father, we thank you for Zephaniah chapter 1. It challenges us to do a checkup on our spiritual condition. Am I complacent? Am I hot for you? Has my relationship gone cold with you? Holy Spirit, examine my heart. Know my ways. Reveal any wickedness in me. Identify anything that keeps me from being hot for you. And Lord, renew a right spirit within me. Fan the flame of my spirituality once again so that I might move from complacency to being hot for you. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening to ADDBIBLE today. If you love the Bible and you love a radio program fully committed to the Bible, keep ADDBIBLE on the air by investing in ADDBIBLE at EzraProject.net. Without your financial partnership, ADDBIBLE will go off the air on September 30th. 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