In today’s episode, we dive into Zephaniah Chapter 3, exploring the themes of judgment and hope. Allen J. Huth guides us through a deep examination of this scripture, reflecting on personal journal entries from over the years. Zephaniah highlights the rebellious nature of Jerusalem and offers a stern warning and promise of restoration from God.
00:00:09 Introduction to AdBible and Zephaniah Chapter 3
00:14:06 Conclusion and Invitation for the Next Episode
SPEAKER 02 :
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.
SPEAKER 01 :
Today we are in Zephaniah chapter 3, the end of the book of Zephaniah, and I’m going to read the 20 verses of this chapter. Zephaniah 3 woe to her who is rebellious and defiled the oppressing city she listens to no voice she accepts no correction she does not trust in the lord she does not draw near to her god her officials within her are roaring lions her judges are evening wolves that leave nothing till the morning her prophets are fickle treacherous men her priests profane what is holy they do violence to the law the lord within her is righteous he does no injustice every morning he shows forth his justice each dawn he does not fail but the unjust knows no shame I have cut off nations. Their battlements are in ruins. I have laid waste their streets so that no one walks in them. Their cities have been made desolate, without a man, without an inhabitant. I said, surely you will fear me. You will accept correction. Then your dwelling would not be cut off, according to all that I have appointed against you. But all the more, they were eager to make all their deeds corrupt. therefore wait for me declares the lord for the day when i rise up to seize the prey for my decision is to gather nations to assemble kingdoms to pour out upon them my indignation all my burning anger for in the fire of my jealousy all the earth shall be consumed for at that time i will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech that all of them may call upon the name of the lord and serve him with one accord from beyond the rivers of cush my worshippers the daughter of my dispersed ones shall bring my offering on that day you shall not be put to shame Verse 2. Verse 3. nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue for they shall graze and lie down and none shall make them afraid sing aloud o daughter of zion shout o israel rejoice and exult with all your heart o daughter of jerusalem for the lord has taken away the judgments against you he has cleared away your enemies the king of israel the lord is in your midst you shall never again fear evil on that day it shall be said of jerusalem fear not o zion Let not your hands grow weak. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you by his love. He will exalt over you with loud singing. I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach. Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors, and I will save the lame and gather the outcasts, and I will change their shame into praise.” and renowned to all the earth. At that time I will bring you in, at that time when I gather you together, for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the Lord. In chapters 1 and 2 of Zephaniah, I referred to my journals in 1991 and 2001, so today I’ll look at my journal from 2011. Like in the other journals, you end up reading Zephaniah at about Christmas time if you read the Old Testament in a year, or you read the whole Bible in a year. So yes, this was the same this year. I read Zephaniah on Christmas Eve day. I was also reading the book of Revelation at the time. So I wrote about Zephaniah chapters 1 through 3 on this day. God’s judgment will be complete. He will judge and punish rulers, men who are complacent, the rich, yet those who seek him may be spared. God always leaves a remnant of his people. Why will this all come to pass? The same reasons proclaimed by all the other prophets. After his judgment, he turns his hearts back to him. and he restores his people Israel once again. Though Zephaniah has described the wrath of God in great detail, the people do not listen. Though the people of Jerusalem have seen the northern kingdom judged and destroyed by God, they will not listen to the warnings of Zephaniah. Let’s look at chapter 3, starting with verse 1. She does not trust in the Lord. She does not draw near to her God. This is not some pagan city. This is God’s city, the holy city of Jerusalem. Even God thought. He hoped that they would listen. Verse 7, I said, Surely you will fear me. You will accept correction. Then your dwelling would not be cut off according to all that I have appointed against you. But all the more they were eager to make all their deeds corrupt. Sometimes when I read these things in the scripture, I find them almost unbelievable. And yet we as people today are the same way. People have seen God. People know about God. Many people have experienced God. And yet they rebel against God. Like the city of Jerusalem, they won’t listen to his voice. They won’t accept correction. They don’t trust in God. And they don’t draw near to God. We all know plenty of people like that. And like God warned Jerusalem, he warns us. Oh, we may not have prophets today, but we have the word of God. And we have been warned. And yet, so many are rebellious and stubborn when it comes to believing in God or submitting their lives to God. So what choice does God really have? He judges. He corrects. He says in verse 11, On that day you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me. For then I will remove from your midst your proudly exalted ones, and you shall no longer be haughty in my holy mountains. But I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord. So God judges. He takes out those who rebel against him, but he leaves a remnant. He always does. That’s part of his grace, his mercy, and his love. for the Jewish people and for us. Verse 9 says, And like other minor prophet books, it ends with hope. It ends with restoration. Let’s look at verse 14. Fear not, O Zion, let not your hands grow weak, for the Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you by his love. He will exalt over you with loud singing. Zephaniah, like so many other prophets, gives the warning. He shouts out what God will do with judgment and punishment. The people don’t listen. It’s amazing. So God does judge, but he also restores. I believe these books are written not only for the sake of the people of Israel of old, but for our sake today. We are the same, a rebellious, stubborn people. God is all around us. All He wants is a relationship with us, and we continue to reject it. So He has no choice but to judge. He did, and He will. But He warns us over and over to avoid that judgment, to avoid that punishment. Simply come back to Him. That’s our application today, isn’t it? From this book of Zephaniah, this minor prophet. Oh, maybe you don’t have to come back to him, but you know others who do. So maybe you want to share this recording with someone else. Are you bold enough to do it? Maybe you could ask some of your friends to listen to the recordings on just the book of Zephaniah, only these three chapters. And maybe they will, maybe they won’t. but you have at least given people an opportunity to come back to the Lord. It isn’t enough for us to just listen to the Word of God. Sometimes God calls us to action. In James, he reminds us to not just be hearers of the Word, but doers. So again, maybe your application would be to share this recording on Zephaniah with someone else. Someone you care about, someone you want to see restore a relationship with the Lord. Remember we said, Zephaniah, the author’s name, means Yahweh has hidden, he has protected. Friends, if someone turned you on to this and you are listening, I pray that that would be the case for you today. That you would come back to the Lord. You would come back and have relationship with the God who created you, who gives you your very life. What he wants in return is a relationship with you. Is that too much to ask? Heed the warnings. Avoid punishment. Avoid destruction. Come back to the Lord. Let’s pray. Father, we thank you for the book of Zephaniah. We thank you for this prophet who warned Jerusalem about your wrath. And through his voice, thousands of years later, he warns us the same way. Your wrath is real, but so is your love. So draw us back to you. And as you do, may we respond like the people of the city of Jerusalem did, with singing and shouting and praise and worship to you. We thank you for your love for us. We accept it and return our love to you. In Jesus’ name, amen. Thanks for listening to ADDBIBLE today. Across our listening audience, more and more of you are supporting ADDBIBLE by visiting our website at EzraProject.net and purchasing resources like Club 365 subscriptions, Bible reading journals, and one or more of our day-by-day through the Bible devotional books. We thank you so much and encourage more of you to do the same. You will find helpful and inspirational tools to enhance your personal time in God’s Word. Today I want to review the three tools we see most listeners getting. First, Club 365. This is a monthly subscription opening our vault of all AddBible audio recordings and all printed pages of the entire Day by Day Through the Bible devotional series. By joining Club 365 for only $7 a month, you have access to both audio and written information on all 66 books of the Bible. Club 365 is a goldmine, and it is completely flexible to your personal Bible reading plan. So if you’re reading Matthew or Isaiah or Psalms or Revelation, you have access to audio or written comments, applications, and prayers on any of them at your fingertips. Get Club 365 at EzraProject.net today, like so many others have. Secondly, another hot seller are our Bible reading journals. We offer two. One is a chronological Bible reading journal that contains a daily Bible reading plan chronologically. You don’t have to buy a chronological Bible, just get our chronological Bible reading journal. It has over 200 pages, so you can journal your way through the entire Bible. This book is our number one bestseller over the last two decades. The other journal is called the Trio Bible Reading Journal because it has three annual Bible reading plans in it. a New Testament schedule and Old Testament schedule. But if you do them both on the same day, a complete Bible reading plan, you’ll finish the Bible in 365 days. We have a limited supply of the TRIO Bible reading journal. The cool thing about our journals is they start when you start. Day one of the schedule is the day you start, not January 1. Again, completely flexible to your Bible reading habits. Order your journal for just $9 at EzraProject.net and we ship it free. And the third product people are ordering is one of our day-by-day through the Bible devotional books. There are only 11, but they cover all 66 books of the Bible, filled with comments about passages, applications from the passages, and prayers related to the passages. Listeners are understanding Bible passages in a whole new way, thanks to digging deeper with a day-by-day supplement to their daily devotions. You can find all 11 books on our website at EzraProject.net. They are available in print and digitally. Get one today and start understanding your Bible in a whole new way. So that’s all for today. Join me tomorrow for another chapter of ADDBIBLE. I know you’re going to enjoy it.
