Zephaniah 3

        Zephaniah 3 picks up right where Zephaniah 2 left off, but instead of naming another nation, the prophecy turns back to Judah.  Jerusalem is described as rebellious, defiled, oppressing, listening to no voice, accepting no correction, not trusting in the Lord, and not drawing near to her God.  Her officials and judges are predators not protectors.  Her prophets are fickle, her priests profane and violent.  The Lord within her, however, is righteous and just but the unjust know no shame.  We see in this description of Jerusalem that the city was not how it should be.  They were stubborn and rebellious, and didn't listen to correction.  Apparently judges who should protect were devouring and attacking.  The prophets who were supposed to be firm were being fickle.  The priests who were supposed to be holy protectors of the law were profaning the holy and doing violence to the law.  In the midst of all of this role reversal though, we see that God was still in the city and He was still righteous and just.  God describes how He has judged the nations in the hope that it would cause Judah to fear Him and accept correction.  Instead they were even more eager to make all their deeds corrupt.  Because of this, the Lord promises to judge the nations and pour out His jealous anger on the whole earth.  

      

        At this point though, we now see the mercy of God interacting with His justice.  I feel like there is a tension between the justice of a Holy God and the mercy of God.  I believe this tension is resolved in the remnant of people He will keep.  We already saw that there would be a remnant left of Judah, but we now see that this remnant is bigger than just Judah, this remnant will be global.  In verse 9 we see that God "will change the speech of the people to a pure speech that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord and serve Him with one accord."  A couple of thoughts about this.  These people are in contrast with those who rely on their own strength, or their money, or other gods.  These people believe that God is active in the world.  These people call on the Lord and serve Him.  They understand where they stand compared to God and it compels them to call on His name.  They worship Him and serve Him and give an offering to Him as we see in verse 10.  These people will come not just from Judah, but from beyond the rivers of Cush.  These people are not shameless and have rebelled against the Lord, yet He promises that on that day they will be not be put to shame because of the deeds by which they have rebelled against God.  We see His justice here in that He will remove the proudly exultant and the haughty.  He is purifying His people.  The humble and lowly He will leave and they will seek refuge in the name of the Lord.  They will be just and honest and will have peace.  

      

        Zephaniah then finishes with a song of praise and joy because of the restoration of Israel.  The Lord will have taken away judgements against them and removed their enemies.  He will be in their presence and they will not need to fear.  Why won't they fear?  Verses 16 and 17 give the answer. "On that day it shall be said to 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 exult over you with loud singing."  This is amazing!  The same God who the people rebelled against will not only come and be in their midst, but He will save them.  He will delight in them.  He will love them.  How does a just God show mercy and keep a remnant?  It is because of His intense love and desire for our affections.  It is important to remember that not only is God our saviour, not only is He our judge, but He delights in us and loves us and is mighty to save and restore us.  In verse 19 we see that God will save the lame and gather the outcast and change their shame to praise.  They are in a position of exclusion and it has caused an inward focus on their shame.  God will restore and gather them to Himself and give them the community and inclusion they had been denied.  This will change their inward focused shame to outward focused praise.  God will gather His remnant to Himself and make them into a people who will be renowned and praised.  He will restore their fortunes.  

       Zephaniah begins very negatively.  The people are trusting in themselves and in other gods and ignoring the one true God.  God's will eventually judge them which means they will be destroyed.  However, God will keep a remnant of people who He will restore to Himself.  These people will not rely on their own strength, but rather on the name of the Lord.  They will call on His name and He will restore their fortunes.  We see a people at the end of this book completely opposite to the people in the beginning of the book.  Zephaniah ends up being a promise of restoration and mercy and love.  It is a beautiful promise from God that if we humble ourselves and turn to Him and seek Him and rely on Him, He will save us and delight in us and gather us to Himself. 

Zephaniah 2

      Zephaniah 2 changes the focus from Judah to other nations.  Before doing this, He urges Judah, who he calls a shameless nation, to gather together before the anger of the Lord comes upon them.  He urges the humble of the land to seek the Lord, seek righteousness, seek humility.  This may allow them to be hidden on the day of the Lord.  This shows that there are those in Judah who follow His commands and who are humble.  This is also the main point of this entire book.  This prophecy is designed to show Judah their sin and to cause them to humble themselves and turn back to God, seeking Him and His righteousness.  I believe that this is also the message we should get from Zephaniah.  God is the only God we should seek and follow.  The only God we should trust.  If we have lost sight of that, we need to turn back to Him.  This is similar to 2 Chronicles 7:14 which says, "if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."  It should also be noted that this judgement will still happen.  They cannot stop God from judging Judah, but they can separate themselves from others in Judah who have turned away from God.  This is also the only command in this book.  Zephaniah mostly consists of warnings and promises.  

      

      The book then begins describing what will happen to other nations on the day of the Lord.  The section begins with the word "for".  This shows that the coming warnings back up the call to repentance.  This is why they should repent.  These are mostly neighbors and enemies of Judah.  In many ways, this section is good news for Judah and they would have been happy to hear it.  Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, and Ekron were four city states of the philistines, also known as the Cherethites.  God says he will destroy the philistines and give their land to the remnant of Judah.  The idea of a remnant is interesting.  It implies two things.  It implies that all that will be left of Judah is a small remnant, but it also implies that God will be merciful enough to leave a remnant to be His people.  His justice and mercy are both required when He promises to give the land to the remnant of Judah.  Verse 7 says the "The Lord their God will be mindful of them and restore their fortunes."

      God then turns his attention to Judah's east to Moab and Ammon.  He will make the Moabites and ammonites like Sodom and Gomorrah.  This is because of their taunting of God's people and their boasting.  Once again, God's remnant will plunder them and possess their land.  This is because of their pride; because they taunted and boasted against the people of the Lord of hosts.  I like verse 11. "The Lord will be awesome against them; for He will famish all the gods of the earth, and to Him shall bow down, each in its place, all the lands of the nations."  As it was with Judah, ultimately the nations will be judged for serving other God's than the true God.  On the day of the Lord, He will put their gods in their place.  They will all bow down to Him.  

 

       The focus then turns to Cush and Assyria.  Cush was Northeastern Africa.  It could include Ethiopia and Egypt. Assyria was north of Judah.  It was Assyria that conquered Israel in 2 Kings 17.  God promises to destroy Assyria and their capital of Nineveh.  Only animals will inhabit Nineveh.  Nineveh's sin is laid out in verse 15.  They lived securely and said in their heart "I am and there is no one else".  This phrasing is essentially claiming divinity.  Nineveh denies the existence of a God and have made themselves their god.  Their security was in their own strength.  For this reason, God will destroy them as well.  

      Ultimately, I think chapter 2 is very interesting because it lays out the reasons why the nations will be destroyed and it is very similar to the reasons Judah will be judged.  Israel and Judah may be the people of God, but God is the God of all nations.  Anyone who turns from Him and follows other gods or money or their own strength will be judged by Him for that.  There is no use trying to run away.  This judgement is global.  the Philistines to the west, the Assyrians to the north, the Moabites and Ammonites to the east and the Cushites to the south are all being judged for the same thing.  God is promising there will remain a remnant.  This chapter also shows why it is crucial to humble ourselves.  We see what God's justice demands happen to the arrogant.  This entire chapter, and honestly book, are summed up by Zephaniah 2:3.  "Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, who do His just commands, seek righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the Lord."

Zephaniah 1

       I am studying some of the minor prophets right now.  Why?  Because I believe that the minor prophets can teach us a lot about the character of God.  What is important to Him, what do we do that needs to change, what should we do.  What is a proper attitude of worship?  The way I have approached Zephaniah is I have read it several times, I have researched it, I have thought about it, I have listened to John Piper's sermon from 1982 on it.  I am sitting down with it and going through it verse by verse summarizing it.  When I come to a point that I have a thought on what is going on, I will give it.  These are all my thoughts, but they have been influenced by Piper's sermon. If you want to listen to it yourself, the audio and the transcript are both at http://www.desiringgod.org/sermons/the-lord-will-rejoice-over-you

       This prophecy occurred in the days of Josiah.  This was a time when Judah was turning back to the Lord. The prophecy begins with God promising to sweep away man and animal from the face of the earth.  He then specifies that He will also judge Judah and Jerusalem.  He specifies that he will cut away the remnant of Baal along with idolatrous priests and those who bow down on roofs to the host of the heavens.  He also calls out those who bow down and swear by the Lord and also swear by Milcom.  Zephaniah 1:6 summarizes the sins of Judah which the Lord is judging.  He says He will cut off from this place...those who have turned back from following the Lord, who do not seek the Lord or inquire of Him.  This is the primary issue for Judah.  They do not seek the Lord.  They don't inquire of Him, they don't follow Him.  They basically pay Him lip service while also following and worshipping other gods.  They have relegated the one true God to a status equal to the lesser gods of the nations around them.  This is something that I feel like I am susceptible to myself.  I very often pay God lip service but I don't honestly seek Him.  My first thought is not to inquire of Him.  I ultimately am not following Him.  While I don't have an issue with worshipping Baal or Milcom, or the stars and moon, I do tend to worship myself.  I follow my will, I inquire of myself when I need to make a decision.  I want God's will to submit to mine instead of vice versa.  It is important to remember how serious it is to God when we choose to follow anything other than Him.  

        The chapter continues about the day of the Lord.  This is very similar to Joel 2:1-2 which says "Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness!" (Unlike the prophecy in Joel, God does reveal how the people have sinned in Zephaniah.)  God is going to prepare a sacrifice and consecrate His guests.  I first thought of the sacrifice as referring to Christ, but my notes say it is referring to sinners.  That is consistent with what He says next.  He begins listing who He will punish.  I won't go into a ton of detail, but I will list who He lists.  He will punish the officials and the king's sons, all who array themselves in foreign attire, everyone who leaps over the threshold (Leaping over the threshold was to show respect for a god. 1 Samuel 5:4-5 says, "But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day."), those who fill their master's house with violence and fraud (I think this refers to the temple.  2 Kings 21:3-9 describes how Manasseh built altars and idols in the temple itself).  He lists different parts of Jerusalem which will wail on that day.  He specifically lists traders and those who weigh out silver as being cut off.  Verse 12 seems to once again give a more general reason why God is judging Jerusalem.  The people were complacent.  They say in their hearts that God will not do good nor will He do ill.  They basically don't acknowledge that God is active in their lives at that point in time.  This justifies their following other gods.  God says that they will build houses and plant vineyards but they won't inhabit them or drink wine from them.  The day of the Lord is described in terrible terms.  It is a day of wrath, distress, anguish, ruin, devastation, darkness, gloom, clouds, thick darkness.  A day of trumpet blast and battle cry against fortified cities and lofty battlements.  He says mankind will walk like the blind because they have sinned against the Lord.  Their silver and gold will not be able to deliver them.  (That seems to show something else the inhabitants of Jerusalem had been following instead of God) God will consume the earth in the fire of His jealousy.  

         This chapter is very much a warning to Judah which should teach them a lot about who God is and what He is passionate about.  He is a jealous God who wants us to follow Him.  He wants us to trust Him and seek Him.  He wants us to understand that He is active in our world.  He will not let us get away with turning away from Him and following other gods or money.  I think it is interesting that the reliance on money and foreign gods is very much tied to their complacency regarding the true God of the universe.  This was true of God's character then and it still is. He is jealous for our affections and our worship.  That sounds bad, but God is the only one who deserves our worship and affections.  

Colossians 1:24-29

Paul now shifts his focus to his ministry to the church.  Paul rejoices in his sufferings for the Colossians.  It is weird for us to think of rejoicing in our sufferings.  We will see that Paul’s view of suffering for the church is very different than ours.  Just like in everything else, Paul’s focus is on Christ.  He says he is filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is the church.  Does this imply that Christ’s afflictions were lacking?  Definitely not!  I think what Paul is saying is quite profound though.  As Christians, we are the body of Christ.  Christ lived a life of hardship and sacrifice for our sake.  He died a horrible death to bring us to life.  When we as the church become the body of Christ, we inherit His affliction to some degree.  In order to bring the good news of life to the world, the Body of Christ must sacrifice itself like Christ sacrificed His body while on earth.  Paul sees His ministry as being according to the stewardship from God given to him to make the word of God fully known.  This is not Paul’s ministry, it is God’s ministry, a part of which He has entrusted to Paul.  This is huge when it comes to ministry!  We tend to make ministry personal.  When we succeed it is awesome for us and when we fail or hit a rough spot, we are depressed and feel like failures.  If we look at it as God’s ministry and affliction as us sharing in the afflictions of Christ, this should completely change the way ministry works.  Our focus needs to be on God and not ourselves.  Paul then calls the word of God a mystery hidden for ages but now revealed.  Why was the mystery hidden for so long?  I don’t know and may never know, but the bottom line is it has been revealed to us now and that should prompt a response.  Our lives should be focused on explaining this mystery to those who have not heard it yet!  Paul states that God has chosen for the saints to make known how great the glory of this mystery is among the gentiles.  This mystery is Christ in us, the hope of glory.  This really is a mystery.  We had no hope and then Christ came into us and now we have a hope.  This is profound!  Often we take it for granted, but this is a huge truth!  We are to proclaim Christ, teaching everyone with all wisdom.  It is important to use wisdom when sharing the gospel, but that doesn’t mean to be selective.  We are to proclaim Christ to everyone!  Not just our neighbors, not just Americans, not just people in far away countries, we are to proclaim Christ to everyone!  I don’t believe Christians should have the approach of having been called to a particular area.  We are called to proclaim Christ to everyone!  This is obviously impossible on our own, but it is possible for the full body.  This is the ministry for which Paul toils, struggling with all his energy that God powerfully works in him.  Paul is energized by God to be able to minister.  This does not mean he has it easy.  He says he toils, struggling with all his energy.  God apparently gave Paul enough energy for ministry, but not any more than enough.  Even with God’s help, it is an exhausting struggle for him.  This is a little scary, but also really encouraging!  If you are worn out and burnt out, it’s okay!  Even Paul struggled and was worn out.  Instead of looking at how effective you want to be for Christ, compare how effective you are with Christ to how effective you were before Christ.  When you do that, you should see the impact of the energy that God powerfully works within you.

Colossians 1:15-23

 Colossians 1 continues with Paul talking about the preeminence of Christ.  He is the image of the invisible God.  This is huge in my opinion.  There is so much about God we can’t know.  We can’t see Him, we can’t physically touch Him.  Christ was the image of the invisible God.  Who Christ touched, God touched.  What Christ said, God said.  Jesus Christ is our physical example of the character of God.  By Christ, everything was created.  Everything includes things on Earth and in heaven, things visible and things invisible, thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities.  All things were created through Him and for Him.  This implies that there is a vast spiritual world out there which was also created by Christ.  Sometimes I wonder what this world is like.  Christ is before all things and in Him all things hold together.  He is the head of the church.  He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent.  This passage emphasizes the importance of Christ.  It explains how He was from the beginning and controls everything.  In fact, creation exists because of Christ and for Christ.  I think the name Paul has for Christ, the firstborn from the dead, is interesting.  We think of Christ being the only son of God.  We don’t think of him as being the firstborn from the dead.  This implies that there will be others bon from the dead.  Christ had to be raised from the dead in order for us to be raised from the dead.  Paul says the fullness of God was pleased to dwell in Christ and through Him, to reconcile all things on heaven and earth to Himself.  When I first read this I wonder what in heaven had to be reconciled.  The thought I have on this is that nothing in heaven had to necessarily be wrong.  Creation was unable to reconcile itself with heaven.  Christ came to Earth and was fully man and reconciled us to Him.  He was also fully God and as such heaven was also reconciled to Him.  So through Christ all things were reconciled to Him.  Through Him we have access to God.  Paul continues to say that we who were once alienated are now reconciled in His body through His human body and human death.  We are reconciled so He can present us as holy and beyond reproach.  This comes with a condition though.  We must continue in the faith, stable and steadfast.  We can’t shift from the hope of the gospel, which has been proclaimed in all creation.  Not only does Paul say that the gospel has been proclaimed in all creation, which is significant, he also says we must not shift from that hope.  Does this mean it is possible to lose our reconciliation?  I honestly don’t know.  My personal belief is that we cannot, but passages like this don’t sit quite right with me.  Anyway, these are my thoughts.  Whether they are right or not I don’t know.  I just hope I don’t lead anyone in the wrong direction who reads this!

Colossians Intro

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything!  I fizzled out in Exodus and got busy with wedding planning.  I have been reading Colossians recently though so I’m gonna try to go through Colossians on here now.  We’ll start with Colossians 1:1-14.  My format will be less structured with these.  I’m changing everything up!  Paul identifies himself in the beginning of this book as an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.  His apostleship has nothing to do with who he is or what he has done.  He is an apostle because of the will of God.  Timothy is also writing this letter. 

The recipients of this letter are the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Collosae.  Collosae was the smallest church written to by Paul.  It is located east of Ephesus and was mostly known for its wool trade.  Paul wrote this letter while in prison in Rome.  He probably wrote it about the same time as Ephesians and Philemon.  All three letters were delivered by the same people.  There was a false teaching going around at this time which basically undermined the power and authority of Christ.  Paul was writing this letter partly to set them straight.  The preeminence of Christ is one of the major themes of Colossians. 

Paul finishes his introduction with the greeting, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father”.  He establishes God as our father and attributes both grace and peace to Him.  We are four lines into the book and Paul has already attributed grace, peace, and his apostleship to God. 

Paul begins his letter by praising the Colossian church.  He lists all the reasons he is thankful to God for them.  He is thankful to God because of their faith in Christ and for the love they have for the saints.  He attributes this faith and love to the hope they have laid up for them in heaven.  This is significant for several reasons.  Once again, Paul attributes the Colossians faith and love to the Father.  Secondly, the Colossian church was apparently known for their faith and their love for their brothers.  Their motivation is their hope laid up for them in heaven.  If we ever find it difficult to have faith or love others, we might want to evaluate what our hope is placed in.  Is it placed in affirmation?  Attention from our friends and family?  Do we hope that we won’t feel guilty if we love others?  Or do we love because of the hope we have in Christ.  Is our focus on things of this world or on things of heaven.   The Colossians were placing their hope in heaven and Paul was thanking God for that.  Paul then states that this hope comes through the word of truth, the gospel.  The gospel came to Collosae as it was coming to the whole world.  The gospel was bearing fruit and growing around the world as people were hearing and understanding the grace of God in truth.  When our faith is healthy, we should bear fruit.  Often we look at fruit as only the visible “proof” of our faith.  We ignore the entire purpose of fruit.  Fruit is designed by God to bear seeds and help plants reproduce.  We are to bear fruit to help the gospel spread and grow.  If the church is healthy, it will bear fruit and spread.  Apparently, Epaphras was the man who brought the gospel to Collosae and then reported back to Paul and Timothy.  I find it important that Paul seems to indicate that the gospel didn’t grow in Collosae or around the world until it had been heard and understood.  This underscores to me the importance of discipleship.  Faith comes by hearing, but growth comes through understanding.  It is not enough to just tell people the good news of Christ’s sacrifice for us, we also have to help them understand the grace of God in truth. 

Paul then outlines his prayer for the Colossian church.  He prays that they would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.  This makes sense; we all want to know God’s will.  But what are our motives?  Paul seems to indicate that our reason for knowing God’s will is to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in knowledge of God.  We should want to know God’s will for our lives not for our benefit, but so that we would please God, bear fruit, and increase our knowledge of Him.  I know I personally feel like often I want to know God’s will so that I can know what my future holds or so I can prepare for the future.  My desire for knowledge of His will is partly for my own benefit.  We should know His will for His benefit.  Paul then asks that the Colossian church would be strengthened with all power according to God’s glorious might.  The purpose for this strengthening is for endurance and patience with joy.  Many times I think we ask God to help us avoid hardship or to give us want we want quickly.  What we need to ask for is strength so that we can endure and be patient with joy.  Along with this strengthening we should give thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints.  Once again, it appears that our focus should be on heaven.  It appears that Paul is praying that when hardship and persecution come, the Colossians would have strength to endure by thanking God for their salvation.  Once again, the focus should be on Christ and not the world.  We have been transferred from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of Christ, who has redeemed us.  This is huge!  We need to be careful to remember this and not focus on our earthly problems.  

Oil for the Lamp

Story:  Oil for the Lamp

Passage: Exodus 27:20-12

Characters:  God, Moses

Summary:    God gives Moses instructions for the oil for the lamo.

  

Notes:  This is a very short passage about the oil to be used in the lamp.  However, since God thought it was important enough to specify, we will examine it.  The main thing specified here is that the oil is to be pure pressed olive oil.  Also, the lamp was supposed to always be burning.  The two things Aaron and his sons would have to do to keep the lamp burning were refill the oil and trim the wick.  I feel like this applies to our lives as well.  We are supposed to be the light in a dark world, and we are continuously trimmed and filled by God to do that!  I also think it is cool that the oil comes from pressed olives.  The olives are pressed and the result is they can burn bright.  I think this could be analogous to our maturing and growing through times when we are pressed.  In 2 Corinthians 4:8, the Greek word for pressed or troubled, depending on your translation, is the word used to describe pressed grapes.  We are also pressed and the result is we shine. 

Questions:  Why olive oil?  Why was it to be specifically pressed? 

Lessons:  It is encouraging to know that the moments we are pressed are intended for the glory of God.  It is when we are pressed that we shine brightest for Him.