September 15
The Lord Promises Future Glory
Zephaniah
KEY
VERSE: The just Lord is in the midst thereof; he will
not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth
no shame.
n
Zephaniah 3:5
Every age needs a prophet like
Zephaniah. He recognized the sins of his people. He told the people what they
needed to hear, not what they wanted to hear. He warned them that their
disobedience of God would be punished.
The people were not only wanton
sinners, they were arrogant sinners. Even the priests went along with the
sinful idolatry of the people. Rather than challenge sin, they tolerated the
sinful behavior of the people. Obedience to God was replaced with their own
selfishness.
Zephaniah’s words seemed to
fall on deaf ears; the people seemed to laugh at the strange idea that God
would punish the wicked. They went about their lives as though God did not even
exist.
Such faithlessness did not
deter the prophet. He continued to warn the people that wickedness was
intolerable to God and that soon they would face his wrath unless they turned
from their evil ways.
But Zephaniah was more than a
prophet of doom. He was a man of hope too. God gave him a vision of a day when
the people would change; they would worship humbly in the sacred temple. No
longer would they have a haughty attitude toward God.
The prophet says this will come
to pass when God removes the arrogant sinners from their midst, leaving only
those who trust the Lord. The people remaining will be poor and afflicted but
they will be rich in their reverence for God. He describes this remnant with
these beautiful words:
“The remnant of
What Zephaniah prophesied has not yet come to pass. But it will
one day, when the New Jerusalem comes down from God out of heaven. Then
unrepentant sinners will not be in that city, only those sins have been washed
in the blood of the Lamb.
“Lord, I want to be in that
number!”
If you desire to be there also, then
make sure your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.