Introduction.
Zephaniah s ministry was between 640 and 609 BC, so the book is undoubtedly directed at the decline of the Jewish people, but it also has a clear end-time profile, something we already see in verses 2 and 3. Zephaniah, or Tsephanyah, means «the Lord hides himself«, or «the Lord has hidden himself«. Then we can think a little about why the Lord hides himself. The reason the Lord hides himself from his people is because they have done all the evil that God has warned them not to do. In Micah 3:4 the prophet says: Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings..
Because of all the prophets that God raised up in the time before Judea was conquered by Babylon, there was indeed a revival in Judea. But this was not a real revival that works an inner change, a spiritual change. This revival was only a revival that created an outward change, only a cosmetic change, in that the Jews presented themselves as godly and pious, while in reality they were just as unclean inside as before the false revival.
What the Jews needed in Zephaniah’s day was a genuine revival, and this is just as relevant today. Today’s Christians have generally adopted a decadent attitude toward God and His Word and have distanced themselves as much from their Creator as the Jews in Zephaniah’s day—if not further. All Christians therefore need to renew their relationship with God daily, a daily revival that stems from a genuine desire to draw closer to Him. Ellen G. White says this: A great religious awakening under the proclamation of Christ’s soon coming, is foretold in the prophecy of the first angel’s message of Revelation 14. An angel is seen flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. (The Great Controversy 355.1).
Because of all the prophets that God raised up in the time before Judah was conquered by Babylon, there were indeed several revivals in Judah. But these were not real revivals that produced an inner change, a spiritual change. These revivals were only revivals that created an outer change, only a cosmetic change, in that the Jews presented themselves as God-fearing and pious, while in reality they were just as impure inside as before the false revivals.
This is something we see in our day as well. Ever since God raised up Martin Luther and all the other reformers in the 16th century, and up through the Advent movement and into the 21st century, we have seen revival after revival, most of which have been just the type of revival that the Jews experienced as described above. This is because Satan knows that there will be a great revival in the end times that will snatch thousands, if not millions, of sincere but deceived people out of his hands. Therefore, he launches false revivals through his agents so that we will not embrace the real revival when it comes.
I have said many times before that the Bible is a typological book, and what has been it is what will be. The wise King Solomon expresses this as follows in Ecclesiastes 1:9: The thing that hath been, it [is that] which shall be, and that which is done [is] that which shall be done: and [there is] no new [thing] under the sun. The book of Zephaniah is no exception in this respect. The entire book shows us what happened to the Jews and tells us that this will happen again in the end times.
10 times the prophet uses expressions that are specifically related to the end times, and they are the day of the Lord, the day of the Lord’s sacrifice, in the same day, in that day, at that time, a day of wrath, and the day of the Lord’s wrath. In addition to this, the prophet speaks of destruction and annihilation of the wicked.
Despite the fact that Zephaniah speaks directly to his people in his time, the book is relevant to the end times. It was not many years after Zephaniah had prophesied the downfall of Judea before this prophecy was fulfilled. For us who live in the end times, it seems that we have been given a much longer period of grace, that is, the time from the message of repentance, conversion and salvation goes out until judgment is carried out on the wicked. But that is only apparently.
From the time Israel took possession of Canaan in 1404 BC until Judea was conquered in 605 BC, a total of 799 years passed. During this entire period, God sent judges, kings, and prophets to his people to lead them in the way God wanted them to go, but as Jeremiah says: Because ye have said, The LORD hath raised us up prophets in Babylon; [Know] that thus saith the LORD of the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and of all the people that dwelleth in this city, [and] of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity; Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them: Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the LORD, which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending [them]; but ye would not hear, saith the LORD, (Jeremiah 29:15-19).
It is worth noting that the Jews were God’s people at that time Zephaniah had his ministry. Israel, or the Northern Kingdom, had already been conquered by Assyria more than 100 years earlier, in the year 721 BC. From Martin Luther starting the Reformation in 1517 until now, 2025, 508 years have passed, and that is a much shorter grace period than what the Jews were given.
All Bible texts are from the King James Version 1611/1769, unless otherwise indicated.
The great day of the Lord, Zephaniah chapter 1.
Verse 1: The word of the LORD which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.
The first verse of the book of Zephaniah sets the time when the prophet lived and ministered. Zephaniah ministered between 640 and 609 BC.
What is the great day of the Lord? This is something we need to find out before we get started on the text in the book of Zephaniah. Initially, we saw that in chapter 1 there are seven different designations that all refer to a specific time, and these are the day of the Lord, the day of the Lord’s sacrifice, in the same day, in that day, at that time, a day of wrath, and the day of the Lord’s wrath. It is undoubtedly a day that no people should look forward to, at least not those who lived in Judah and Jerusalem. As already mentioned, the Jews were the primary target group of Zephaniah.
But as I have also mentioned earlier, this book is also an eschatological book. When Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem in the year 605 BC, this prophecy was fulfilled for the first time. Over the course of 19 years, Jerusalem was besieged three times (605, 597 and 586), and all the people were taken captive to Babylon – except for the poorest who remained in Judah. We can explain the great day of the Lord by saying that it was the day that God let the punishment fall on Judah and Jerusalem.
What happened on the great day of the Lord in Judah is a type of what will happen again in the future, which is the antitype in the typological story. The great day of the Lord is synonymous with the day Jesus returns. When Jesus returns, He comes as judge and will implement the judgment on all people according to their deeds. Yes, Jesus will implement the judgment that has been pronounced in the investigative judgment that has taken place in heaven since the prophetic time ended and the end time began. Jesus then truly says that when He comes, He will have His reward with Him: And behold, I come quickly; and my reward [is] with me, to give every man according as his work shall be, (Revelation 22:12). This means that God has examined all people and decided their fate according to what each one has chosen. Those who have chosen to follow all of God’s Ten Commandments as they are written in Exodus 20 will receive their reward, and that is eternal life, while those who have chosen to disregard God’s Ten Commandments, no matter how much they claim to be Christians and have done good deeds, will receive their final punishment.
Verse 2: I will sweep away everything from the face of the earth*, declares the LORD, (New International Version 1984).
We should note that God will completely sweep everything off the face of the earth. Not even when the Lord sent the great flood upon the earth was everything swept away. At that time, there was a small remnant of all living things that went on board the ark and were saved through the flood.
* Some translations, among them King James Version, use the land instead of the earth. This is problematic because it takes away the end-time perspective, (verses 3 and 4).
Verse 3: I will sweep away both men and animals; I will sweep away the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. The wicked will have only heaps of rubble when I cut off man from the face of the earth*, declares the LORD.
Verse 4: I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all who live in Jerusalem. I will cut off from this place every remnant of Baal, the names of the pagan and the idolatrous priests.
Verse 5: those who bow down on the roofs to worship the starry host, those who bow down and swear by the LORD and who also swear by Molech.
Verse 6: those who turn back from following the LORD and neither seek the LORD nor inquire of him, (New International Version 1984).
Here God repeats His message that He will destroy all life on this planet. When this judgment comes, the Lord will judge all people, which we can read from verses 4 and 5. To this statement I must add that those who belong to God’s remnant will not be destroyed. God’s remnant will receive eternal life, while all the others will go to eternal death, (see also Daniel 12:2). It says in verse 4 that God will stretch out His hand against Judah and Jerusalem, which means that those who are Christians but are not counted as God’s remnant will face the final judgment, while those who are truly God’s remnant will be spared from this.
We have seen that this is God’s way of dealing with people time after time throughout history. We saw it in the time of Noah. Everyone who wanted to seek the Lord had a place in the ark. We saw it in the time of Abraham when Sodom and Gomorrah and their sister cities were destroyed. All who were righteous in God’s eyes were spared and led out of the cities, but only Lot, his wife, and their two daughters were saved.
God did not want to wipe out mankind when the flood came, but the people of Noah’s day were only concerned with self-indulgence and had no time to think about their Creator. It was the people’s choices that led to their death. The same was true of the situation in Sodom where Lot lived. The people lived a life of pleasure and chose not to turn to their God and Creator, and that is why they were wiped out. Zephaniah, like the rest of the Bible, tells us that the same thing will happen in the end times
** Molech or Malcam was one of the Amorite gods, also called Milcom, (see Leviticus 18:21). Molech demanded that children be sacrificed as burnt offerings.
Verse 7: Be silent at the presence of the Lord Jehovah; for the day of Jehovah is at hand; for Jehovah hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath hallowed* his guests, (Darby Bible 1884/1890).
Verse 8: And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD’s sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king’s children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.
Verse 9: And in that day, I will send punishment on all those who come jumping over the doorstep and make their master’s house full of violent behaviour and deceit, (Basic English 1964).
Once again, the message of destruction for Judah and Jerusalem is repeated. This message also applies to people in the end times, and for the end-time a specific day is pointed out. This is the day of Jesus’ return.
* Hallowed is here “set aside” or “sanctified”
It is more than interesting that God will punish those who are clothed with strange apparel. What does that really mean? Could it be everyone who is not dressed like the Jews, or is there another explanation? If we go to other scriptures in the Bible, clothing is used of Jesus’ righteousness, as in the parable of the wedding feast, (see Matthew 22:11-13), or in the letter to the church in Laodicea (see Revelation 3:18). Those who will be punished for wearing foreign clothing must therefore be those who are not saved and consequently are not dressed in Jesus’ righteousness.
When the term sacrifice is used, it refers to the guilty nation of Judea which is like a slaughtered animal.
When the prophet tells the people to be silent at the presence of the Lord Jehovah is because God’s terrible judgments will soon fall upon various groups of people, and it is the pending invasion of Nebuchadnezzar’s soldiers that the prophet is referring to. Although Zephaniah is speaking specifically to the Jews, we must remember that the pending judgment upon Judea applies equally to the ungodly world at Jesus’ return.
To jump over the doorstep isassociated with idolatry (see 1 Samuel 5:1-5). It is clear from the text that it was idolatry that God wanted to eliminate through Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest, and it is the same goal God has in the end times. But as soon as the Jews had returned to Judea and Jerusalem, idolatry flourished again. In the end times, however, God will destroy idolatry forever and ever.
Verse 10: And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, [that there shall be] the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and a howling from the second, and a great crashing from the hills.
Verse 11: Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all they that bear silver are cut off.
Verse 12: And it shall come to pass at that time, [that] I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.
Verse 13: Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation: they shall also build houses but not inhabit [them]; and they shall plant vineyards but not drink the wine thereof.
The expression in that day refers both to the imminent judgment on Jerusalem and Judea, and to the absolute end times. As we see from the text, it is this day that the Lord will judge all who are in opposition to God and His will.
We read in this passage how the day of the Lord, or the day of judgment, will be. It is like a great day of sacrifice where God’s people themselves are the sacrifice, (see verse 7). As I have said so many times before, no one can be indifferent to God. Everyone must make a choice, and only those who actively choose God and follow Him in one and all will escape the cruel punishments that will befall all those who do not choose God.
The expression the LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil, and similar expressions are often used in the Bible to explain the indifference of those people who are in opposition to God. In Ezekiel 9:9 we read the following: Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah [is] exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, the LORD hath forsaken the earth, and the LORD seeth not.
When we know that the Day of the Lord is at hand, we cannot be indifferent and lethargic. We must be careful not to say that the Lord does neither good nor evil, or that He has forsaken us (the land) and therefore does not see what we do.
What we must do is turn to God in silence and seek His face and ask for forgiveness for our sins and align our lives with God’s will. Notice what the prophet Isaiah says: For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not, (Isaiah 30:15). This applies to all people who do not accept salvation. God seeks them, and calls them, but the sad thing is that they will not come to God.
Verse 14: The great day of the LORD [is] near, [it is] near, and hasteth greatly, [even] the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.
Verse 15: That day [is] a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
Verse 16: A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.
Verse 17: And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.
To emphasize the seriousness of the situation the Jews had put themselves in through widespread idolatry, the prophet repeats time and time again that the great day of the Lord is near, and it still applies to both the Jews of Zephaniah’s time and the people of the end times. It is for us who live in the end times to brace ourselves for the events that lie just ahead of us. Let us make peace with God and our neighbour with all our mistakes and shortcomings so that we do not have to walk like blind men, because we have sinned against the LORD. The Jews did not take Zephaniah’s prophecies seriously, and the question is whether we do.
Verse 18: Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the LORD’s wrath. In the fire of his jealousy the whole world will be consumed, for he will make a sudden end of all who live in the earth, (New International Version 1984).
The word earth in this verse comes from the Hebrew root word ‘erets, and the definition of the word is earth, land, ground, country, territory, and is used in the sense of earth. However, many translations use the land (such as the King James Version), and this is correct as long as it is only about the fate of Judea, but in the end-time context it is wrong. Then it must be translated as the (whole) earth.
This verse tells us that no one can save themselves. It is absolutely impossible for humans to save themselves. We cannot do works to deserve salvation, nor can we buy salvation. Even if we had all the wealth in the whole world, it would not be enough.
It is a frightening scenario that the prophet paints in this verse. Nothing can deliver sinful people from the impending judgment of the day of the LORD’s wrath, and to top it all off, it will all happen suddenly and unexpectedly for those who live on the earth. It certainly sounds like a frightening day, a day of darkness and not light, (Amos 5:18). It is the day that the Lord God will finally deal with all evil, and it cannot possibly be a day to long for. Both Ezekiel and John refer to this day when the wild beast of the field and the birds of the air are invited to the sacrificial supper of the great God.
Just notice what the sacrificial meal consists of: And thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, [even] a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan. And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD, (Ezekiel 39:17-20) … // … And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all [men, both] free and bond, both small and great, (Revelation 19:17-18).
Is there then no hope for humanity?
Repentance and judgement, Zephaniah chapter 2.
Ever since man broke God’s commandments in the Garden of Eden, God has done everything to bring man back to Him. God’s people throughout history have had a religious life that is more like a roller coaster, with times when they were close to their God and times when they had fallen far from God. God’s way of turning people around has been through the patriarchs of old, then through judges, kings and prophets. All of these men of God have preached the gospel and called people to repentance.
The first person to call people to repentance was actually the Creator when He called Adam in the Garden of Eden. We find this in Genesis 3:9: And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where [art] thou? It was not because the Lord did not know where Adam and Eve had hidden themselves, but to wake them up and make them realize that they had broken God’s commandments. We can assume, without reading anything into the text, that both Adam and Eve eventually regretted what they had done and repented. This is how God has been working with humans ever since that day in the Garden of Eden. Here too in Zephaniah we find God’s voice crying out to a lost human race.
A call to repentance, verses 1-4.
Verse 1: Gather together, gather together, O shameful nation (New International Version 1984),
Verse 2: Before the decree bring forth, [before] the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD’s anger come upon you.
Here Zephaniah says that the wicked should think about it (that is what is in the expression «gather yourselves») and go within themselves to see where they stand in relation to the word of God. He who lives an unrepentant life lives a superficial life where self is at the centre of all actions. These are the ones God wants to reach with this message, but their repentance must happen quickly. The Jewish people only had a short time left before God’s plan would be implemented, and when God’s plan has been implemented it will be too late to regret and repent.
We who live in the end times have in a way the answer in our hands, and this story that Zephaniah tells us should be a lesson for all people on earth. We must study this prophecy and take to heart what these two verses say to us. We are living in the time of the investigative judgment, when it is finished is not known, but when the investigative judgment is finished it will trigger the return of Jesus, and we have so many prophecies about what the world will be like in the time just before Jesus’ return that we can see it is imminent. Yes, Jesus stands at the door and knocks.
Verse 3: Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD’s anger, (New International Version 1984).
Verse 4: For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up.
In these verses God is speaking specifically to His own people. They are those who have become shameful (verse 1), and who have become indifferent and live a life of increasingly brazen sins. Since the judgment on the people is not that far in the future, God implores His people to think about where they are in relation to Him, and that they must go within themselves so that they can see where they stand and then return to God. It is always associated with great risk to live unrepentantly and carelessly, because no one knows when it is too late to turn. In other words, it is urgent for those of God’s people who have distanced themselves from Him, both in Zephaniah’s time and in our time, to turn back and seek the Lord.
The call that the prophet gives us continues with undiminished force, telling us that everyone must seek the Lord, and that everyone must humble themselves before the Lord God before it is too late. The only thing that can save people is to seek God with a humble heart, then, and only then, do people have a chance to be hidden in God on the day of the Lord’s wrath.
As we see from verse 4, the prophecy says that the entire nation of Judah will be abandoned, devastated, driven out, and uprooted. That is, they will be punished on the day of the Lord’s wrath. This is exactly what happened when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judea and took the Jews into captivity in three stages in the years 605 BC. 597 BC. and 586 BC. However, they had the opportunity to escape this judgment, but then they would have had to turn to their God and Creator.
However, even though God’s people are generally apostate and degenerate, there are some who are loyal to God. This comes from the Hebrew word ‘ulay, which is best translated in this context as perhaps, as an expression of hope. No one has been given a guarantee that they will be saved, it all lies in whether the individual relates to God’s Ten Commandments, God’s law and God’s word. John also asked the following question in Revelation 6:17 when he saw everything that would happen to God’s faithful people throughout church history: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
The answer to John’s question came in chapter Revelation 7 verses 1-4, where it is said that there is a number of 144,000, which is a symbolic number and consists of all who fulfil what is written in Revelation 12:17: which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ; 14:12: they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus, and 19:10: The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. These are the ones who will stand on the great day of His (God’s) wrath.
The woe upon the nations, verses 5-15.
Verse 5: Woe unto the inhabitants of the seacoast, the nation of the Cherethites the word of the LORD [is] against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant.
Verse 6: And the seacoast shall be dwellings [and] cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks.
Verse 7: And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening: for the LORD their God shall visit them and turn away their captivity.
Verse 8: I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the reviling’s of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached my people, and magnified [themselves] against their border.
Verse 9: Therefore [as] I live, saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, [even] the breeding of nettles, and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them.
Verse 10: This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified [themselves] against the people of the LORD of hosts.
Verse 11: The LORD [will be] terrible unto them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and [men] shall worship him, everyone from his place, [even] all the isles of the heathen.
Verse 12: Ye Ethiopians also, ye [shall be] slain by my sword.
Verse 13: And he will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, [and] dry like a wilderness.
Verse 14: And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; [their] voice shall sing in the windows; desolation [shall be] in the thresholds: for he shall uncover the cedar work.
Verse 15: This [is] the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I [am], and [there is] none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! everyone that passeth by her shall hiss [and] wag his hand.
This passage has been brought up by extreme Jews to defend what today’s Israel is doing in Gaza. After an attack by Hamas in which they killed some Israelis and took others hostage on October 7, 2023, Israel has gone to full-scale war against Hamas and at the time of writing, May 2025, they have killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and refuse to let in emergency aid to a population that is refugees in their own country.
But is this really what these verses prophesy about? Is today’s Israel a fulfilment of Bible prophecy? The answer to both questions is a resounding NO! Today’s Israel was established on May 14, 1948, after a political decision by the UN. God’s people were given a grace period, if we can call it a grace period, of 490 years to return to the Lord, to settle their sins. In Daniel 9:24 we read the following: Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city … … We see that it says THY people and THY holy city. Daniel was a Jew, and his people were the Jewish people, and his holy city was Jerusalem.
From a given starting point, 70 weeks of years or 490 years were to pass that were specifically given to the Jews to return to God. The main point of the prophecy is to set a starting point for another prophecy, and we are given an exact year for Jesus’ first coming, that is, the year Jesus appeared as the Messiah and was baptized and when Jesus would die on the cross, so that we can calculate with certainty to the correct year for several prophecies. Verse 25 tells us that from the start of the prophecy, 69 weeks of years (seven weeks and sixty-two [threescore and two] weeks) will pass before Jesus appears as the Messiah, after 483 years. In verse 27 it is told that the Messiah will be cut off in the middle of the 70th week, that is, after 486 and a half years.
When the Jewish leaders demanded that Jesus be crucified, they said we have no king but Caesar (see John 19:15). In doing so, the Jewish nation renounced the privilege of being God’s special people. Three and a half years later, the gospel was given to Christians and all who accept Jesus Christ as their salvation belong to God’s people, regardless of ethnicity. Today’s Israel is therefore in no way a prophetic fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies.
Jesus explains that Daniel is a prophet (see Matthew 24:15), but the problem of Israel today is that they do not recognize him as God’s prophet. If they do, the foundation of Judaism and the state of Israel will fall away by itself.
In the prophet’s contemporary context, it is primarily about the return of the Jews after the Babylonian captivity, which occurred in the year 457 BC. Then they gradually took possession of the coast where the Philistines and the Cretan peoples had lived and drove them away. As for Moab and Ammon, these are close relatives of the Jews. They were descendants of Lot, Abraham’s nephew, and God will punish them for mocking and scorning God’s people. But then there is this with the end-time context. Above all, the end times are woven into the story, and the contemporary context and the end times context go hand in hand throughout the book.
In the end-time context, this is a judgment on all the enemies of God’s faithful remnant in the end-time. Moab and Ammon are descendants of Abraham, and thus in «kinship» with God’s faithful remnant in the end-time. These should make common cause with God’s faithful remnant, but instead of helping their relatives, they have become their enemies. Other peoples and nations that are mentioned are the Cretans, Philistines, Cushite’s and Assyria with its capital Nineveh, all of which are symbols of the pagans, who are also enemies of God’s faithful remnant.
In the prophet’s time, Assyria and Nineveh were conquered by Babylon after a three-month siege of Nineveh from May to August 620 BC. Assyria and King Sennacherib conquered Israel, the ten-tribe kingdom, in the year 721 BC. The prophecy here can therefore be seen as a fulfilment of God’s punishment on Nineveh in the present day, and a picture of what will happen to the enemies of God’s people in the end-time. The purpose of the judgment is that God will destroy all the idols of the earth, that is, the false gods that men have made for themselves (see verse 11), be they gods of gold, silver, wood, or stone that take the place of God the Creator.
The sum of these verses tells us that God will judge all people and nations who are enemies of God’s faithful remnant. Here we find both those who are of the same lineage as God’s people, the fleshly descendants of Abraham, and all other people who are enemies of God’s faithful remnant. God’s people will also be judged, both those who belong to God’s faithful remnant and those who only call themselves Christians in name—the nominal Christians.
The woe upon Jerusalem, Zephaniah chapter 3.
The wickedness of Jerusalem, verses 1-7.
Verse 1: Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!
Verse 2: She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.
Verse 3: Her princes within her [are] roaring lions; her judges [are] evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow.
Verse 4: Her prophets [are] light [and] treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary; they have done violence to the law.
Verse 5: The just LORD [is] in the midst thereof; he will not do inquiry: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame.
Verse 6: I have cut off the nations: their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by: their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant.
Verse 7: I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so, their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, [and] corrupted all their doings.
Jerusalem is both the physical city of Jerusalem and a type of the end-time church. As we know, Jerusalem, through its inhabitants, rebelled against God, and we know what happened to Jerusalem and Judea shortly after this prophecy was given. We who have the answer in hand know that Old Testament Israel did not listen to any of the prophets God raised up among them but killed them. The Lord raised up these prophets to lead His people back to Him, but they listened instead to false prophets who preached a kind of glorious message of peace and no danger.
This is in harmony with what other prophets have said about God’s people. In Jeremiah 7:30, God tells the prophet: For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.
Just before Israel was to take possession of Canaan after wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, God told them through Moses: And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars – all the heavenly array – do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven, [Deuteronomy 4:19 (New International Version 1984)].
The result is seen in Ezekiel 8:16 where the prophet writes: And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’s house, and behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, [were] about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. Old Testament Israel practiced sun worship from God’s sanctuary on earth.
Despite God’s warning in which He says that He has exterminated peoples, laid kingdoms and cities in ruins, the leaders of the Jews would not listen to the Lord. Suddenly, one day, Nebuchadnezzar’s soldiers stood outside Jerusalem, and Babylon conquered Judea, taking the survivors to Babylon during three sieges, 605, 597, and 586 B.C.
If we look at church history, we find exactly the same thing. Large parts of the end-time church have fallen away from the pure faith, and paganism has once again flowed into God’s church. If we look at what God says through the seven letters to the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3, we find that the apostasy began quite early in church history. To Ephesus, God says: … … thou hast left thy first love, (Revelation 2:4). To Smyrna, no rebuke is given. To Pergamum God says: … … thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication, (Revelation 2:14). To Thyatira God says: … … You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols, [Revelation 2:20 (New International Version 1984)). To Sardis God says: Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God, (Revelation 3:2). To Philadelphia there is no rebuke. To Laodicea God says: … … thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, (Revelation 3:15-17)
This is why the Lord comes with a list of the evils the church has done in these verses. It is far from a praiseworthy report that God’s church receives, and God calls her, the church, rebellious, unclean, and oppressive. If we look at the history of Europe from the early days of the early church until now, we see a church that quickly adopted paganism, and she has developed and launched almost countless dogmas that have no basis in the texts of the Bible. In the Middle Ages, between 50 million and 100 million people were killed because they would not submit to all the oddities that came from Rome, and they were killed for their faith, and because they wanted a Bible in a readable language. Just look at how Zephaniah 3:3-4 describes her, that is, the church’s, leaders and spokespeople.
Are we as God’s end-time church able to take on board what the Israelites and Jews did not take on board? Are we able to see what God wants to tell us through this rebuke? Or are we so laid back and satisfied with the light we have received that we believe we are guaranteed to be saved on the day our Savior Jesus Christ returns?
Fortunately, the last verses of the book of Zephaniah tell of a people who will be able to wait on the Lord and be faithful to God’s word.
The call to wait for the Lord, verses 8-13.
Verse 8: Therefore, wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination [is] to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, [even] all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.
Verse 9: For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.
Verse 10: From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, [even] the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering.
Verse 11: On that day you will not be put to shame for all the wrongs you have done to me, because I will remove from this city those who rejoice in their pride. Never again will you be haughty on my holy hill. (Verse 11 is taken from New International Version 1984).
Verse 12: I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the LORD.
Verse 13: The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make [them] afraid.
In these verses, the end-time context shines through clearly when the Lord says He will judge nations and kingdoms. But there is also great encouragement for God’s faithful remnant. In verse 11 we find a couple of expressions that are special, and that have meaning for all the peoples of the world. The first expression is on that day. Here the prophet points forward to a time when the Lord’s faithful little remnant will serve Him sincerely and wholeheartedly, by keeping all of God’s Ten Commandments, and having the faith of Jesus and the testimony of Jesus Christ. The second expression is remove. On that day, those who have lived in self-love and pride, those who have only had their own gain in mind, those who have gone their own way and trusted in material and secular things instead of trusting in God, will be destroyed in the coming judgment, (see Isaiah 2:12–22).
The small remnant referred to in verse 13 is the group mentioned in verse 12, those who will only take refuge in the name of the Lord. They are those who would remain after the sinners of the land had been destroyed. What the prophet is conveying here is the restoration and the joy of God’s salvation. This is something we should look forward to and rejoice in every day we live. That day is coming, and it is coming soon.
The word “remnant” may also need some explanation. The Hebrew word for remnant is H7611 she’eriyth, [(sheh-ay-reeth’); from sha’ar (H7604)]; a remainder or residual (surviving, final) portion: – that had escaped, be left, posterity, remain (-der), remnant, residue, rest.
It is implicit in the word that this remnant is a small part of something that was once larger – much larger. In Noah’s day the world’s population had reached many, many millions. Then there was also a small remnant who were faithful to God, and those were the 8 – eight – people who went on board the ark. In Abraham’s time it was probably only Abraham’s family that made up God’s faithful remnant. In Jesus’ time it was the disciples and a few other people who made up the small remnant. In our day there is a church that meets all of God’s requirements, and they are those which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, (Revelation 12:17); and they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus, (Revelation 14:12; and the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, (Revelation 19:10).
Verse 11 may seem a bit strange, but we must put it in the right context. Who is the prophet talking about in this book, is it a single person or is it to God’s people in general? It does indeed say “YOU” in this verse, and then many will interpret this as one person. The question is whether that is correct. We find the answer to this question in Zephaniah 1:4 where God says He will stretch out His hand against Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Judah, and especially Jerusalem, is a picture of God’s people throughout all time. Zephaniah primarily addressed the Jews of his time. As we know, the apostasy was so great that God intervened and raised up the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar to punish his disobedient people. At that time, only a small minority were considered God’s faithful remnant, and among them were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
In our time, all Christians are placed under the label “Jerusalem” or God’s people. But as we know, even the Jerusalem of our time is filled with false teachings and paganism, except for a small group who will not defile themselves with false teachings. These are the ones who keep all the Ten Commandments of God, have the faith of Jesus, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, which is the spirit of prophecy (see Revelation 12:17; 14:12; 19:10).
The call to rejoice, verses 14-20.
Verse 14: Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.
Verse 15: The LORD hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, [even] the LORD, [is] in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil anymore.
Verse 16: In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: [and to] Zion, Let not thine hands be slack.
Verse 17: The LORD thy God in the midst of thee [is] mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
Verse 18: I will gather [them that are] sorrowful for the solemn assembly, [who] are of thee, [to whom] the reproach of it [was] a burden.
Verse 19: Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame.
Verse 20: At that time will I bring you [again], even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the LORD.
This little passage is full of gems. Let’s look at some of them and what they mean.
The LORD hath taken away thy judgments. This is what is happening in the heavenly temple now, before the return of Jesus, and is what we call the investigative judgment. Our enemy has been defeated by the Savior, and the devil can no longer do us any harm. That God’s people shall not see evil anymore must be interpreted in the light that the sealing of God’s remnant has already taken place.
There are many who completely reject the idea of an investigative judgment, but this is a biblical principle, and we see that God has used this several times throughout history. It is not for God’s own sake that an investigative judgment is made, but so that all the other living beings that God has created will see that God’s judgment and subsequent punishment are just.
When God created humans, they were given a prohibition. They were not allowed to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan was able to deceive Adam and Eve, and they broke God’s commandments. Instead of ending “Project Man” and wiping out sin and sinners right away, God makes an investigation of the facts. This was necessary for all the angels and living beings that God had created, so that they could see that God was and acted justly. Instead of wiping out sin, God comes on his usual walk in the garden. He knew what had happened, but calls out to Adam and asks, “Where art thou?” (Genesis 3:9). The verses in Genesis 3:9-13 are an investigative judgment. God inquiries about what has happened. Then comes a judgment and punishment, verses 14 to 19. This is how God acts every time.
When God created man, He said to them, “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth …” (Genesis 1:28). This means that they were to spread out over the whole earth, not to live together in cities. When we get as far in history as to the time after the flood, we read of Noah’s great-grandson, Nimrod, that he was the first mighty man on earth, that is, he was the first to rule over other people as a king. In Genesis 10:10-11 we read that the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah. Nimrod founded at least seven cities, and in Babel, which was the first city he founded, he began to build a tower.
Nimrod set himself against God by building cities. God was fully aware of what was happening in the land of Shinar, but instead of destroying Nimrod’s cities, God chose to investigate the matter further, and we read the following in Genesis 11:5-6: And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people [is] one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Again, it was not for God’s sake that He did this, but so that all the other living creatures that God had created might see God’s righteousness.
In the story of Nimrod we also find an investigative judgment (verses in Genesis 3:5-6), and then we find a judgment (verse 7) and punishment (verse 8).
We also find this pattern when Sodom and Gomorrah and their sister cities were destroyed (see Genesis chapter 18). It should therefore come as no surprise that God will hold an investigative judgment on all people who have lived and are living in the last days. It is to show all living beings that God’s judgments are righteous.
What is meant by the solemn assembly? It is undoubtedly God’s rest day for God’s remnant in the end times. It will be the subject of complete disregard through a universal Sunday law, which will also command work on the Lord’s day, the Sabbath, our Saturday. There is complete disagreement about which day is the Lord’s rest day, or Sabbath. According to the Bible, the Sabbath is the seventh day of the week, our Saturday. For more on the Sabbath, see “The Sabbath” and what is under this banner.
Many are skeptical of the claim that we will also celebrate the Sabbath in heaven and on the new earth and defend this erroneous claim by setting up a new error – an outright lie – when they claim that God’s law was nailed to the cross with Jesus. If we take the Bible as our basis, and we should, then we find these two verses in Isaiah 66:22-23: For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, [that] from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.
Indeed, it says that God will gather all those who mourn over this disregard of God’s Sabbath, and it is they who are here called [who] are of thee. Once again I will show what characteristics Christ himself attributes to this group: They are those … which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, (Revelation 12:17) … that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus, (Revelation 14:12) … and the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, (Revelation 19:10).
This group is also described this way by God through his prophets in the Old Testament. In Isaiah 62:6 He says: I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, [which] shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence. In Ezekiel 33:7 He says: So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth and warn them from me..
This is also true in our day, and God has set a whole denomination as watchmen, though not all are equally zealous and ardent, and Ellen G. White once said of the watchmen: The Lord is soon coming. The watchmen on the walls of Zion are called upon to awake to their God-given responsibility. Many of them are in the stupor of insensibility. God calls for watchmen who in the power of the Spirit will give to the world a warning message, — watchmen who will proclaim the time of night. He calls for watchmen who will arouse men and women from their lethargy, lest they sleep the sleep of death, (Review and Herald, October 22, 1903).
When in that day, or at that time, comes, the Lord will fulfill all His promises to His faithful people, the little remnant, who are patiently waiting for the Lord’s return. Great things are in store for God’s people, but they will not come until the time is right. Then all the saved will burst into jubilation, rejoice and not least praise and thank their God, because now He has taken away their guilt of sin and removed the punishment they should have been given. But because of the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ for all sinners, the sin of all those who accept the Savior is erased from the books of heaven, and God will remember them no more.