Bible Study - Zephaniah - Part 6

Last week, we heard many more warnings and judgments against Cush (Lower Egypt and Ethiopia, Zephaniah 2:12), against Assyria and its great city, Nineveh (2:13-15), against Judah and Jerusalem, again (3:1-5), and against all the evil of the whole earth, on the last day (3:6-8), until “all the earth shall be consumed.”

Then, at last, come more words of comfort and hope and even rejoicing, as the Lord Himself will bring change, as He announces through Zephaniah. (In a way, this parallels what we have been hearing in the Advent season in our churches. John the Baptist and others have been calling people to repentance and confession of sins because everyone needs forgiveness of sins. Then comes the 3rd Sunday of Advent, Rejoicing Sunday. As Psalm 126 says, people have been crying out, “Restore our fortunes, O Lord,” and the Lord acts and “has done great things for us,” in His rescue of us, especially in Jesus Christ. Then, “We are glad!” “Our mouths are filled with laughter and shouts of joy,” even though there are still times of challenge and “weeping and tears.”)

In Zephaniah 3:9 we hear God’s promise that He will act and “will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord.” Obviously, only in eternal life, in the New Jerusalem of heaven, will there be only believers. But this is speaking of a time when, as 3:15 says, “the King of Israel, the Lord” Himself “is in your midst.” This is repeated in 3:17: “The Lord your God is in your midst,” with the addition, “a Mighty One who will save.” This is clearly referring to the Messianic age, when Jesus, God’s Son, came into the world to be the Savior of the world, Jews and non-Jews. The phrases are used again and again- “at that time” and “on that day.” (See 3:9, 3:11, 3:18, 3:19, 3:20.)

Jesus came to bring in the new Israel, “the Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16, 3:14,3:26-29), what we now call the Christian church. It is the Lord God Himself who “will bring people in, at the time He gathers His people together,” and He “will make them renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth” (3:20). This is especially the work of God the Holy Spirit, the New Testament reveals, as He works through God’s Word and the Sacraments to bring people from all nations to saving faith in Jesus.

Think about the Pentecost story in Acts 2, when people from many nations were brought to faith in Christ and baptism. See the story in Acts. 8:26-39, in fulfillment of Zephaniah 3:10, where a man from Cush (Ethiopia) is brought to faith in Jesus. An angel and “the Spirit” led Philip to reach out to him through the Scriptures and Baptism, and He was brought into the Christian faith. This man was a eunuch, a man castrated because of his position of service to the Queen of Ethiopia. That would have made him an outcast among the Jews, limited in what he could do, even as a follower of Judaism. But again, in the Messianic age, the Lord says through Zephaniah in 3:19, “I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise.” (I have also mentioned in previous studies that even though judgment would fall upon the Cushites in Zephaniah 2:12 for their many sins, there was still hope, in the coming of Jesus as Savior - and today, there are millions of Lutherans in Ethiopia, more than in the United States.)

With the coming of Christ and the Messianic age, there will be, above all, a clear proclamation of the forgiveness of sins, because of the saving work of Jesus and His dying on the cross in payment for the sins of the world. In Zephaniah 3:11, God says, “On that day, you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against Me.” And in 3:15 we hear, “The Lord has taken away the judgments against you.” What good news (Gospel) that was and still is! Whatever our sins and failures in the past, there is full and free forgiveness for us in Jesus and what He has done for us, through being brought to faith in Him, through the Word of God and our own Baptism. “The restores our fortunes, too, before our eyes” (Zephaniah 3:20).

I will stop here, as there is much more Good News in this prophecy of Zephaniah and how it directly relates to Jesus that we still have not looked at. The Lord’s continued blessings. If you are reading this just before Christmas, remember the many promises fulfilled in Jesus in the Christmas story, too. Best wishes in Christ.