“Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, to the oppressing city! She has not obeyed His voice, She has not received correction; She has not trusted in the Lord, She has not drawn near to her God.”
What do you suppose is the “rebellious and polluted” city? It is the city of David, the home of the temple, which was the home of Yahweh. It is none other than Jerusalem. This is the “Holy City.” But during Zephaniah’s time, Jerusalem was anything but holy. King Josiah really tried to bring about reform, and he did succeed to a point, but worship of other gods and all that this entailed was too deeply embedded in the hearts and minds of the people in Jerusalem. Zephaniah diagnosed the moral problem that Jerusalem and the Jewish people had. First, they were disobedient: “She has not obeyed His voice.” Through Moses, God laid out the laws that the Jews were to obey. They were laws that demanded a high morality. The first commandment was, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me…” God knew the temptations that they would have when they entered the Promised Land, because they did not clear out all of the people who were already there who were Baal worshippers. Baalism was an earthly, sensual religion. Baalism was a fertility religion, and one of their main ways of worship was with prostitutes. I don’t have to go into detail here; you know what that meant. That was a far cry from “thou shalt not commit adultery.” They disobeyed and fell into the sins of the Canaanites. Today, we need to be careful to obey God instead of the siren call of the world. We probably have even more ways to disobey than they had in Jerusalem. The point here is that God knows when we disobey. We need to ask ourselves if we are being obedient to His voice. Second, they were rebellious: “She has not received correction.” For years God sent prophets to give His word to the Jewish people. They plainly told the people what they were doing wrong, and they refused to receive correction. The prophets were telling the people the very words of God, and they still rebelled against God. They chose to believe other voices than the voice of God. We don’t have prophets today, but we have the written word called the Bible. The Bible plainly lays out the word of God and we rebel against it. In fact, there are a good many people who just dismiss what the Bible has to say. They think that is only an ancient book that has no meaning today. It is an ancient book, but it has eternal meaning and we rebel against it at our own peril. Again, God knows when we rebel. Third, they were faithless: “She has not trusted in the Lord.” The Lord had made some great promises to His people if they would believe. Jesus has given us the same message. In John 6:40 Jesus told the people: “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the son and believes in Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” To believe in Jesus is to trust that He will really do as He promised. He has that authority and we need to trust that authority. We will put our trust in something. Like the people of Jerusalem, we sometimes put our trust in someone, or something besides the Lord. They did not focus on the Lord and what He wanted. They trusted in other gods and did what they wanted to do. We need to ask ourselves if we are trusting in Him, or if we are trusting in our own opinions and ideas. God knows when we are not trusting in Him. Fourth, they were not close to God: “She has not drawn near her God.” When they were disobedient, rebellious and faithless, they were moving away from God. One thing that I say a lot in my preaching and writing if that if you feel that God has forsaken you, God has not moved, but you are the one who moved. God could not bless Jerusalem because they had moved away from Him in their hearts, minds, and in their lifestyles. I have to remind myself sometimes when I feel that God is not near, that He has not moved and that I need to move closer to Him. All four of these points can characterize our lives if we are not careful. Let us take these warnings to Jerusalem to heart and apply them to our lives. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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