Year 9, Day 255: Zephaniah 1

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Zephaniah is nothing if not honest.  He’s also not afraid of layering out a healthy dose of fear.  Very little about this first chapter of Zephaniah is what we would call pleasant.  It is honest, but not much to anticipate.

Zephaniah speaks to the whole world.  God says that He is going to sweep away everything from the face of the earth.  When He says everything, He means everything.  He is going to sweep away man, beast, bird, and fish.  There is something else at the end of verse 3 that is worth noting.  God will sweep away all idols that cause mankind to stumble.

I believe this to be quite significant.  God is not just interested in cleaning house, He is interested in showing that He is the dominant influence in the world.  In fact, it is His world to begin with!  He is interested in showing us that what truly concerns Him is getting rid of that which distracts us from Him.  He wishes to do away with the very things that we turn into idols.

As a prophet, Zephaniah is not ashamed of speaking about this process in honest terms.  God’s Day of Judgment will be a harsh day.  Zephaniah describes it as wrath, as anguish, and trouble, as gloom, and as blackness.  Because of our sin, we will grope around as blind. 

Our wealth won’t be able to save us.  His jealousy will consume the world.  It’s an image we don’t think about God.  His jealousy will come against our idolatry.  His jealousy will be our downfall.  He desires relationship with us so much that it will be the cause of our judgment.  His wrath will come against us in judgment because He is jealous for us.

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