1:1 The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.
The Coming Judgment on Judah
2 “I will utterly sweep away everything
from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.
3 “I will sweep away man and beast;
I will sweep away the birds of the heavens
and the fish of the sea,
and the rubble with the wicked.
I will cut off mankind
from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.
4 “I will stretch out my hand against Judah
and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
and I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal
and the name of the idolatrous priests along with the priests,
5 those who bow down on the roofs
to the host of the heavens,
those who bow down and swear to the Lord
and yet swear by Milcom,
6 those who have turned back from following the Lord,
who do not seek the Lord or inquire of him.”
The Day of the Lord Is Near
7 Be silent before the Lord God!
For the day of the Lord is near;
the Lord has prepared a sacrifice
and consecrated his guests.
8 And on the day of the Lord‘s sacrifice—
“I will punish the officials and the king’s sons
and all who array themselves in foreign attire.
9 On that day I will punish
everyone who leaps over the threshold,
and those who fill their master’s house
with violence and fraud.
10 “On that day,” declares the Lord,
“a cry will be heard from the Fish Gate,
a wail from the Second Quarter,
a loud crash from the hills.
11 Wail, O inhabitants of the Mortar!
For all the traders are no more;
all who weigh out silver are cut off.
12 At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
and I will punish the men
who are complacent,
those who say in their hearts,
‘The Lord will not do good,
nor will he do ill.’
13 Their goods shall be plundered,
and their houses laid waste.
Though they build houses,
they shall not inhabit them;
though they plant vineyards,
they shall not drink wine from them.”
14 The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter;
the mighty man cries aloud there.
15 A day of wrath is that day,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness,
16 a day of trumpet blast and battle cry
against the fortified cities
and against the lofty battlements.
17 I will bring distress on mankind,
so that they shall walk like the blind,
because they have sinned against the Lord;
their blood shall be poured out like dust,
and their flesh like dung.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
In the fire of his jealousy,
all the earth shall be consumed;
for a full and sudden end
he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
Judgment on Judah’s Enemies
2:1 Gather together, yes, gather,
O shameless nation,
2 before the decree takes effect
—before the day passes away like chaff—
before there comes upon you
the burning anger of the Lord,
before there comes upon you
the day of the anger of the Lord.
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.
4 For Gaza shall be deserted,
and Ashkelon shall become a desolation;
Ashdod’s people shall be driven out at noon,
and Ekron shall be uprooted.
5 Woe to you inhabitants of the seacoast,
you nation of the Cherethites!
The word of the Lord is against you,
O Canaan, land of the Philistines;
and I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left.
6 And you, O seacoast, shall be pastures,
with meadows for shepherds
and folds for flocks.
7 The seacoast shall become the possession
of the remnant of the house of Judah,
on which they shall graze,
and in the houses of Ashkelon
they shall lie down at evening.
For the Lord their God will be mindful of them
and restore their fortunes.
8 “I have heard the taunts of Moab
and the revilings of the Ammonites,
how they have taunted my people
and made boasts against their territory.
9 Therefore, as I live,” declares the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel,
“Moab shall become like Sodom,
and the Ammonites like Gomorrah,
a land possessed by nettles and salt pits,
and a waste forever.
The remnant of my people shall plunder them,
and the survivors of my nation shall possess them.”
10 This shall be their lot in return for their pride,
because they taunted and boasted
against the people of the Lord of hosts.
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.
12 You also, O Cushites,
shall be slain by my sword.
13 And he will stretch out his hand against the north
and destroy Assyria,
and he will make Nineveh a desolation,
a dry waste like the desert.
14 Herds shall lie down in her midst,
all kinds of beasts;
even the owl and the hedgehog
shall lodge in her capitals;
a voice shall hoot in the window;
devastation will be on the threshold;
for her cedar work will be laid bare.
15 This is the exultant city
that lived securely,
that said in her heart,
“I am, and there is no one else.”
What a desolation she has become,
a lair for wild beasts!
Everyone who passes by her
hisses and shakes his fist. (ESV)
For background on the book of Zephaniah check out Pastor Ben’s blog:
http://www.churchforhighschoolers.com/blog/zephaniah/
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.
Before this verse, it was saying some pretty scary stuff about what is going to happen on the day of the Lord, on judgment day! And this verse is telling us how to not face God’s wrath on that day:) Through Jesus Christ, we have to be the humble ones, who SEEK RIGHTEOUSNESS and humility! In the OC, righteousness is not commonly sought out among high schoolers, and most wouldn’t know where to find it! This means that seeking righteousness is not going to be the same as seeking a party to go to on Saturday. In our time, high schoolers go to parties on Saturday nights. So if you were to be seeking a party, chances are you know ten people who know about a party thats going down. But if you were to walk up to someone at school on friday and say, “Hey! I’m looking for a place where they’re teaching righteousness and humility this Saturday night! Do you know where I can find one like that?” most students would answer “uhhh no but theres this great party I know of…” However, I have met a lot of people at True North who would say “Come to church with me! They teach straight from GOD’S WORD!” How much more righteous can you get than God’s word? Being a new Christian, this needs to be something that I am seeking daily! I am blessed with a bible that is sitting on my table next to me, but instead of reading it, a lot of the time I am napping or watching T.V. My prayer is that I would be motivated to seek God’s word and righteousness instead of the worldly things that weigh me down and draw me into sin, so that I can be faced with the better of two eternal destinations when I die! I know that if I seek the ability to be humble, and righteous, and wise, and caring before God, He will give these things to me and I will grow in my walk with Him:)
Sounds like Shossa that you have that right heart. The more chances
to get into God’s Word daily the better. In the morning is an awesome time to start us off into the day in Christ;as I see you did today!The Holy Spirit will teach you and strengthen your heart and mind to be able to say no to sin,and make Godly choices. We ought to fill our mind with things from above.(Col.3;2)
Like music praising God, and Christian music with lyrics that Christ would be pleased with. Filling your mind with God’s word: memorizing it, reading it, studying it. We can pray and ask God for help when we need Him. Before we read the word we can ask God to teach us His word, and ask him to help us understand it,and apply it to our life daily.We can ask him to help us seek it, and to teach us personal truths that He wants us to learn,and that He will make them true in our life. :) You are right! attending True north and applying God’s truth that Pastor Bobby, Pastor Ben, teaches is very important! and hanging out with Christian friends like at True North and getting together with them on your own, is awesome also.Christa has a bible study for Christian high school girls, I think it is on monday nights(we can ask her about it if we haven’t seen her invitations on line); I hear its awesome! I think all the girls in TN would love it!, this study will help them to grow stronger in Christ, and desire to seek Jesus’ face daily. SHOSSA, your comment was so encouraging to me! to pick up the bible, as my first choice(it is my first choice,but all the time) in leisure time too. Lets encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ in God’s Truths! This comment was to glorify God and to love and encourage all True Northers!
Ephesians 3:14-19
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,15 from whom”every family in heaven and on earth is named,16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through the Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith- that you, being rooted and grounded in love,18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,that you may BE FILLED WITH ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD.
I have not met you yet Shossa, If you are a guy I apologize and you may not attend the girls bible study. :) Although, if you are a girl you may! :)xox
awesome!!! :) and yes she is a girl haha. i love this comment though! its so good to see you on sotd everyday. love you!!
love you too Tate! nice to see you on here too!
Hi Beth, I know we need to meet! And thank you so much for your comment!! I loved the verse, Ephesians 3:14-19! I went to the last bible study at Christa’s and am looking forward to the next:)
Awesome! I’m excited to see how excited you are about learning God’s word! I enjoy reading your comments! See you this weekend Sat. or Sun. Thats way cool you are going to Christa’s bible study!
Great comment Shossa :)
It’s SO encouraging to see you on here everyday :)
Its great seeing you on SOTD also Michaela!
DAANG GURL! ur posts r sooo incredible everyday, thanks for the inspiration! oh, and if you don’t mind my asking, why were you up so early!!!???
AMAZING comment Shossa!
15 A day of wrath is that day,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness,
This sounds like a day I want to avoid! When God judges a nation he does a complete and thorough job! One day soon Jesus is going to come back to judge this whole word and it will be a day of distress, anguish, ruin, devastation, and gloom. God is a righteous, holy God and yet man sins again and again and again. We deserve all of God’s judgment. He is so good to us and yet we continue on sinning. I want to make sure that I am ready for when Christ comes back to judge the world. When Jesus comes back I want him to find me loving and serving him. I need to be like Jonathan Edwards, “Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.”
I always enjoy your encouraging comments Meisha! :)
The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter;
the mighty man cries aloud there.
15 A day of wrath is that day,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness,
16 a day of trumpet blast and battle cry
against the fortified cities
and against the lofty battlements
YES Meisha!! It seems like the same scripture strikes us all the time!! When He comes back I also want Him to find me serving Him and loving Him!! He came here once to bring peace, this next time there will be distress, anguish, ruin, devastation, and gloom.
xoxo
Niiiice to see you on SOTD Sharon! yes Sharon
can’t wait for Him to come back, and find me Ready for Him! <3
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the Lord. In the fire of his jealousy,
all the earth shall be consumed; for a full and sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
So this chapter was intense and serious for me…This judgment on Judah was described so vividly in these two chapters. And the only reason He was plannning on destroying them so violently was because time and time again, they didn’t obey Him and only pursued their own desires and put their faith in the things of this world like at the beginning of the verse where it says “Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them…” I want to remember this example whenever I’m tempted to put anything above God.
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.
But even yet as His wrath was coming, He still gave them a chance to come to Him and be spared in chapter 2! Their destruction was at hand for their disobedience and He STILL held out the hand of grace to them…Whoa!How often am I that loving towards other people?? Even having patience with my little brother is what God calls me to do when He gives us the command to love others. These peole had slapped God in the face with their sin and He still wished to see them in heaven with Him and not burning in Hell. I can think “Well those people were really bad and should’ve accepted the truth a long time ago…” But I was the same. I knew the truth and still didn’t want to give up the world, my destruction was imminent and still the Lord kept out the hand of grace towards me. I should remember this whenever I’m tempted to sin and show my gratefulness to our merciful God with obedience and servitude!
MARANATHA!!!!!!!!!1
right on Elizabeth!
YEAH FOR TOMORROW!!! :D
Great post Elizabeth. Nice picture.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
In the fire of his jealousy,
all the earth shall be consumed;
for a full and sudden end
he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
Material possessions and wealth often tear our focus away from the Lord. Many people find false security in having earthly possession, yet God warns the Israelites that their silver and gold will not save them from his wrath. I don’t want to allow the things of this world to steal my affection from the Lord and I definitely don’t want to look to these things to bring me satisfaction. I need to remember that this world is temporary. In one of our small groups at Revival, we talked about spending our time pursuing worthless things. Let’s make sure that we are spending time pursuing what really matters! Not wealth or possessions or acceptance, but the Lord and his Word!
This is a very encouraging statement for me Katie!
“I don’t want to allow the things of this world to steal my affection from the Lord and I definitely don’t want to look to these things to bring me satisfaction.”
Amen!
14 The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter;
the mighty man cries aloud there.
This is a great and exciting verse for me as a Christian, but not for the others who don’t know Jesus. It is a great reminder to me that I always need to be living every second to glorify God in hope of His return to earth. I also need to think of the Bible first instead of other worldly and useless things, as Shossa said earlier, because God is all I want to live, “for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:2)! This chapter makes me excited to share God’s word during the school year so that other people can experience the joy of being one of God’s children!
that is awesome! God is good…
Yes Annie! I will be praying that you are a bold witness for Christ on campus this year!
2 “I will utterly sweep away everything
from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.
3 “I will sweep away man and beast;
I will sweep away the birds of the heavens
and the fish of the sea,
and the rubble with the wicked.
I will cut off mankind
from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord
What a way to begin a chapter. He will wipe everything away. The earth shall be no more. All about the coming judgement. God will judge all and like Pastor Bobby said at Revival, we are heading to one place either Heaven or Hell. Which life are we living for, which game are we playing?
no games! living in Jesus!
so true,strong comment !
6 And you, O seacoast, shall be pastures,
with meadows for shepherds
and folds for flocks.
7 The seacoast shall become the possession
of the remnant of the house of Judah,
on which they shall graze,
and in the houses of Ashkelon
they shall lie down at evening.
For the Lord their God will be mindful of them
and restore their fortunes.
God is just and right,
and God will be mindful of them.
Praise you God for being Just and right!
(verse 3 of chapter 2 is aweosme!)
4 For Gaza shall be deserted,
and Ashkelon shall become a desolation;
Ashdod’s people shall be driven out at noon,
and Ekron shall be uprooted.
Just yesterday I was asked how I could possibly believe in a God who people claim is so powerful and loving, but allows murder, theft, adultery, and all other sin on earth.
So I told her that it’s because not only is our God loving and extremely merciful, but He’s also just and judges accordingly.
But for whatever happens on earth, you can be sure God has a plan for it.
So for all these nations that are going to be destroyed, He’s doing it because of their sin and He saw this punishment as just. But along with His punishment, He has a perfect plan for everything that occurs.
I need to remember how powerful and merciful God is and be grateful for that everyday.
We are like little ants, He could wipe us all out so easily, but He doesn’t.
I need to be spreading His word and living completely for Him everyday of my life so that I can try to be a vessel in bringing others to the Lord who have not yet seen Him.
This chapter totally reminds me of just how great our God is. I was talking to someone about how you know if you’re talking to yourself, or if you’re talking to God when you’re praying. I told them that you know when you keep your focus on Jesus and who they are. Humbling yourself before a mighty and powerful God isn’t easy if you’re not meditating on who He is and what He’s done for you. I know if I don’t first think of how just and powerful He is first, I don’t give Him the respect that He deserves. There are so many things that you can say about Him!!!!!!! He does judge the world just as He will judge at His second coming and just as He judged the enemies of Judah. I don’t think I’d EVER want God to turn His back on me! Praise the Lord that I have a relationship with Him! Maranatha!
Woo bethany what a AWSOME comment…nver look at it that way about praying thanks for that!
1: 6 those who have turned back from following the Lord,
who do not seek the Lord or inquire of him.”
In this verse God is declaring that he will destroy all those who have turned away from their faith and become apostate. It does not matter to God that our parents are Christians, or that we were raised in a Christian home, or that at one point in our life we professed to have faith in Him. The only way to avoid God’s wrath on Judgement Day is to have a clear point in our life where we turn to Him in repentance and faith and live in obedience to Him with our whole hearts for the rest of our lives! So many people have professed faith in God, but over the years they fall away, just like the Judahites did. This is a frightening thing because God will punish apostates more severely than people who never claimed to have their faith in Him. It is my prayer today that all the people who have claimed to become Christians this summer through True North would stay standing in their faith so that they will be rewarded on Judgement Day and not condemned!
great comment Beth!
Amen!!
Mhmm so true
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.
Both these chapters spend most of their length prophesying about fore coming judgment. They speak of how the Lord is ready to punish the nation of Judah for all of the wrong that they have done. And the second chapter goes on in to description of many different nations. The Lord calls many out individually to tell of how we will bring judgment upon that nation. Yet while he was speaking to Judah and warning of the judgment he will bring, he offers one piece of encouragement. He speaks out to humble of the land, those in Judah who still seek to obey the commands of the Lord. God tells them to seek righteousness and humility, and on the day when he comes to judge the nation of Judah, they may be spared of the judgement.
This situation is still incredibly relevant to our time today. Like the nation of Judah, the majority of the people in our world have turned from God, turning to sin and chasing after the lusts of their eyes. And so the majority are deserving of God’s judgment. God has told about how he will come down a last time to pour out his wrath on all sinners and take with him his people to dwell with him forevermore. He will open up his can of wrath, pouring down just judgment upon the earth. However, there are those that will escape this judgment. They are the ones who have been saved by Christ, his perfect resumé standing in place of theirs. And to the Christians, confident that they won’t suffer God’s final judgment, they need to go all out in living for God now. And this is me; I need to go all out in living for God right now. I need to seek righteousness and I need to seek humility along with it! I already know I will be spared on the last day because what Jesus has done, not because of myself. but knowing this is a further motivation to leave no reserves as I live for Christ with all I have!
Great Comment Steffen!!!!!!!
1:5 those who bow down on the roofs
to the host of the heavens,
those who bow down and swear to the Lord
and yet swear by Milcom,
Judah was being a giant hypocrite when she would “worship” the Lord! The people of Judah would bow down to the heavens (the stars, sun, and moon), swear by Milcom, but then swear to the Lord! They mized in worship of other gods with the worship of the one true God, and they expected not to be judged. This is a good warning to many people today, including myself. A lot of times we think we are worshiping the Lord only. We only sing worship songs to Him (not to the stars), we only read His Word, and we obey what He says. But when we trust things that aren’t God, whether it be people, things, or ourselves, we are not worshiping just God. God wants us to find true joy in Him, and only Him. He doesn’t want us praising Him one minute in True North Sunday morning, then living it up for ourselves the rest of the week. He wants ALL of us! I need to make sure that all of the time I am worshiping God, and only Him! I need to stay focused on glorifying Him and enjoying Him, and making Him my ONLY and TOP priority!
2:10 This shall be their lot in return for their pride,
because they taunted and boasted
against the people of the Lord of hosts
God hates pride. He absolutely hates it. Here we see that He is bringing judgment upon those who taunted His people and boasted in their own power. When they attacked Judah and defeated her, they thought it was their own power and by their own might that they had won. But really, God is sovereign over all, and they won because He enabled them to. They should have realized that God was in control, and ultimately not them. In my own life, I need to recognize that the good things that I do are because of Him, for He is not only in control over nations and ancient Bible-time countries, but over my life. Nothing good comes from me, rather, everything good that I do is from God. I mustn’t be like Judah’s enemies and boast in myself or my own works, but give glory to God. I am reminded of James 4:6, which says that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. In all I do, I need to seek to glorify and exalt the Lord, not myself!
12 At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
and I will punish the men
who are complacent,
those who say in their hearts,
‘The Lord will not do good,
nor will he do ill.’
because of the hyprocriticy of/and on-the-fence “christians”, so many people think that God is all just fluff and ribbons, that no matter what we do, He will always Love us. not necessarily. He is a Just God; and Love takes on many forms, like…Discipline. My parents dicipline me cuz they love me, even though at first I really didnt like the fact that they’d be scolding me. however, looking back, it was so I could learn from my mistake and grow even more wise than before whatever situation I was in. there are many more worse things than rebuke, and in the same Aspect, God for now watches ocer us, but he will wait until Judgement Day, when he pours out his wrath to those who aren’t saved.
2:1 Gather together, yes, gather,
O shameless nation,
2 before the decree takes effect
—before the day passes away like chaff—
before there comes upon you
the burning anger of the Lord,
before there comes upon you
the day of the anger of the Lord.
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.
Good morning. :) this verse is talking about how the day of the lord is coming so we need to make sure our hearts are right with God. God here was talking to a nation to make sure that there hearts were right with God because he was going to come back soon. this is a great reminder to show us how we need to make sure that our hearts are seeking the lord so that when he comes back to destroy the earth he will save us. this is a great reminder for me to always be in the word of God and in prayer to grow in my relationship with God. i also need to test my self like in james to see if i am in the faith so that we can be 100% sure that i am going to heaven. i am going to work on seeking humility and trying to be humble.
Good comment (:
What an awesome attribute to seek from the Lord Josh. Humility is priceless!
2 “I will utterly sweep away everything
from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.
3 “I will sweep away man and beast;
I will sweep away the birds of the heavens
and the fish of the sea,
and the rubble with the wicked.
I will cut off mankind
from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.
Judgment day can be the scariest or the best day of your life because God will either wipe you out or welcome your.
Zephaniah 1:6 “those who have turned back from following the Lord,
who do not seek the Lord or inquire of him.”
Verse 6 is technically the end to a very long statement, but really what stood out to me was just this part. Regardless of the context, when is it EVER going to be good to be the ones who turned back from following the Lord?..or being the one who does not seek the Lord or inquire him? Just the thought of being one of those people scares me! I don’t ever want to turn my back on the Lord! I don’t know about everyone else here, but I know that if I turn against my God, I’ve got some serious problems waiting for me.
Zephaniah 1:14 “The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter;
the mighty man cries aloud there.”
Zephaniah 1:14 stood out to me a lot because to someone who isn’t a Christian, they would read that as terrifying, that the day of the Lord is NEAR…and hastening fast!! But when I read that I wanted to shout out throughout the house, MARANATHAAAA!!!!! Of course, then I realized the people in the house would probably be mad that I woke them up, but I was so excited after reading this verse!!..and to think that some people would find that verse terrifying. I just want to live for Him!! I can’t wait for the day of Christ to come. :)
Zephaniah 2:11″ 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.”
Alright, I don’t know about the rest of you, and I think we are reading the ESV, but I’ve never seen the word awesome in the Bible before. The Lord will be AWESOME against them!!!! When I think about God, I think that He’s awesome, and I want to shout it to the mountaintops! After saying that he’s awesome the verse pretty much says that he’s powerful, and people should watch out. :) My God is an AWESOME God.
MARANATHA!
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
In the fire of his jealousy,
all the earth shall be consumed;
for a full and sudden end
he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
The day of God’s judgement for each and every one of us is inevitable. Those who chose to repent and put their faith in God will be welcomed in and it will be our greatest day. But those who chose to live for money or other selfish ambitions will be sent to Hell. and all the time they spent trying to get all the money it just wont matter. Like the saying “Whoever has the most cars wins” this is the mindset of the era that we live in and its easy to be striving for the wrong things, the temporary things. Everyday God tells us to build his kingdom and he will rewards us in heaven where it will be eternal.
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.
Also God tells us to be humble and righteous and seek after the Lord and his wills for us. Everyday we need to be in the Bible and seeking the Lord and growing in our understanding and relationship with him and that will help us to get a better grasp of how amazing and righteouss he truly is and gives us a great life example
Great comment Jimmy!!
12 At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
and I will punish the men
who are complacent,
those who say in their hearts,
‘The Lord will not do good,
nor will he do ill.’
Its scary to think how well these verses describe the world today. The world is filled with complacent hearts, those who will not surrender fully to the Lord, nor will they deny his existence. This half-heartedness reminds me of Revelation 3:16, “So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth”. The Lord detests half-hearted people! I need to make sure that I am never acting like a half-hearted Christian by reading my Bible just to check the box, not standing up for the Lord, etc.
So true Elise! We are either Hot or Cold. Great Comment!
These chapters brought forth the image of DEEP CLEANING to me. I don’t know about you guys, but when I do my deep cleaning (that most people refer to as SPRING cleaning), it ALWAYS gets worse BEFORE it gets better. You gotta deal with the FILTH. And that’s precisely the template God describes for HIMself. He has to deal with our filth before we can gleam. It’s also the same principle as working out. Before you can enjoy the healthiness of being in good shape, you have to endure the, “punishment,” of regimented work-outs, severe discipline, and eating right.
It always gets worse before it gets better.
Eye on the Prize. Let us also not cling to anything about this life: whether our bodies, our homes, our friends, our future dreams…
I’m excited to have some deep cleaning done tomorrow! See you at 10 :D
ME, TOO! I’ll see you in the mornin’ :)
15 A day of wrath is that day,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness,
16 a day of trumpet blast and battle cry
against the fortified cities
and against the lofty battlements.
THese two verses really stood out to me. In this chapter they talk about the Judement Coming on Judah and the Coming Day of the Lord. The Day is near and we MUST be prepared for it. We will be judged by our creator and we will go through our life, which includes EVERY sin. This Day will be full of wrath, ruin, destruction, darkness, etc. It will not be a fun day for the unrighteous. But as for us…..
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.
We must seek the Lord! Those who follow his just commands must seek the Lord, righteousness, and humility. God specifically tells us how we can prepare for the Day of the Lord. We must follow it!!
right on Allie!
AMEN!! Awesome comment Allie! (: We must seek the Lord!
2 “I will utterly sweep away everything
from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.
Just reading this verse is scary. Fearing the Lord is definitely a real thing, I don’t know how people argue otherwise. God is big, powerful, and just. He loves His people but He is just. And the part where it says He will sweep EVERYTHING away is crazy… because we know He will. When I think about God’s rath and justice being shown I usually don’t think about other countrys too… my mind mostly stays in Orange County, or maybe California, or maybe the U.S. But being here in Italy and seeing all these beautiful people, and seeing how VERY dark it is, is so sad. It kills me. My prayer is that I and all of us can reach out to everyone around us so that there will be as little people as possible on this earth when God destroys it.
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.”
Very true Grace! Im praying for you and your family!!
Be the missionary He’s called you to be, girl! Praying for you and your family…I love you, Gracie! And I miss you girls.
That’s awesome you are leaving comments from Italy! We miss you guys but I am glad we can keep in touch like this and keep the encouragement going!
HEY… I read
I like Zephaniah 1:14,”The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter;
the mighty man cries aloud there.”
I like this verse because it talks about the day of the LORD coming. This was around 2,000 years ago. How much more should we be anticipating this day? GOD is coming and when HE comes I want to be found doing something that is pleasing to HIM. I need to make sure that I’m always ready for GOD to come back. This means I want to preach more, Pray more, and worship HIM as much as possible. Pray for me to do as much as I can for the LORD.
CYA
18a Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
Earthly possessions will do nothing for us when God comes, or in eternity. Heaven will be soo much better than this life, so why try and gain what’s “valuable” on earth, when we’re only going to be here for a little bit. Then we’re going home, where we’re going to stay for eternity. Anything that we idol over on this earth will mean nothing. Live for the next life, not for this one, because this one matters, but our social or financial position doesn’t. What matters is if we live our lives for God, telling people about Him, striving to be more like Him, that’s what matters.
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.
These two chapters are gruesome, but there is hope! Seek the Lord! Run after Him, seeking to be more like Him. God is so loving He provided a way out of this terrible anguish, which no one wants to live through. Because no one wants to live through this, we, as God’s children, need to tell them! Tell them where they’re headed and tell them about God’s love and mercy. If someone had not told me, I wouldn’t be going to Heaven, so we need to tell more and more people!
The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast
This verse really hit me because it got me thinking, if God came this very minute, would I be ready? Would He catch me in a moment of glorifying Him or would He catch me sinning? As christians we need to represent God in everything we do. In sports, in school, in freindships, and in our families. The people surrounding us should see the light of Jesus Christ shining through us! When God finally comes, I want to be ready! :) MARANATHA
Nice comment:) I will be praying for you that you can represent Him in all aspects of life!!
15 A day of wrath is that day,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness,
This is why people that dont have trust in the lord they will burn in hell and those who do have trust in the lord will not perish cause they have put there life in God!!!!!!!!
14 The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter;
the mighty man cries aloud there.
So the first part of this verse is sort of comforting. “The day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast.” This is what I am most definately looking forward to, the day when He comes back! Then there’s the second part, which I do not want to be around for: the bitter sound of the day of the LORD which would make the toughest man cry out! Yikes! I’m happy I know where I’m going! MARANTHA! (:
good comment kyle (:
17 I will bring distress on mankind,
so that they shall walk like the blind,
because they have sinned against the Lord;
their blood shall be poured out like dust,
and their flesh like dung.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
In the fire of his jealousy,
all the earth shall be consumed;
for a full and sudden end
he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
God tells the people flat out why he is angry with them, that is because they have sinned against the Lord. If I were in that position and God gave me another chance to shape up and He told me what I was doing wrong,I would if I knew all that I do today, TRY to get sin less because God is an awesome GOD.
7 Be silent before the Lord God!
For the day of the Lord is near;
the Lord has prepared a sacrifice
and consecrated his guests.
this is a Great verse because we need to be ready when the Lord is Coming!!!!!!!!! We need to be telling like 3,000 people about God. Just like Pastor Bobby said last Saturday at Church
Be silent before the Lord God!
For the day of the Lord is near
The day is coming!! But what i don’t understand is, “be silent before the Lord God”, I thought it meant not to swear, because the verses before this talked a lot about it.
Perhaps a better answer may come from another, but what I understand this to mean is that we need to shut our mouths and exercise gentleness, meekness, and humility before the all-powerful, almighty God! There is no defense we can offer before our holy God–we are rendered speechless before Him.
Too often we are quick to spill excuses and justifications when we are caught red-handed. But we are to have a humble, contrite spirit before the Lord. We are called to have a GODLY sorrow that leads us to true repentance that sends us running in the opposite direction from the sins we lived in, as opposed to a WORLDLY sorrow, that leads to a momentary or temporary cessation of our sins.
True repentance means we agree with God’s perspective on sin, and we resolve to STOP. And with this state of heart comes a silence.
Jesus is described as a lamb before slaughter. He was utterly quiet. He TOOK the punishment, even though He did nothing to warrant it. How much MORE ought WE to be silent before the Lord on the Day of His Return…
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.
Humility is a prerequisite for getting right with God. We will never embrace the Saviour until we admit we need one. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 5:3). In other words the kingdom of God belongs to those who realize their need for Him. They humbly admit that they are nothing in comparison to God and are completely dependent on Him. Thus they put their trust in His solution for their sin problem as well as their day to day affairs. I should value humility and the development of it which is exactly opposite of the self pride and self reliance the world promotes.
1:5 those who bow down on the roofs
to the host of the heavens,
those who bow down and swear to the Lord
and yet swear by Milcom,
1:6 those who have turned back from following the Lord,
who do not seek the Lord or inquire of him.”
1:17 I will bring distress on mankind,
so that they shall walk like the blind,
because they have sinned against the Lord;
their blood shall be poured out like dust,
and their flesh like dung.
God takes sin very seriously. More seriously than we do. It is far to often that we are like the people of Judah, going to True North, Revival, or beach night and worshiping the Lord, and then going back home and ignoring the Lord. God hates it if our hearts are undivided. He wants us to give Him our whole heart every moment of every day. We need to be examining our hearts to see where we are compromising in our full devotion to the Lord. I need to make sure today that in everything I do my heart is continually focused on what will bring God the most glory.
Amen!
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
In the fire of his jealousy,
all the earth shall be consumed;
for a full and sudden end
he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
material things such as gold..silver.. or just anything; they are worth dust,they will perish, they wont matter when Jesus returns. He will judge us for how we have lived our life for Him, not for our material things that mean nothing. We need to remember to put God above EVERYTHING!! He is our 1st priority. When He comes back it will either be the worst day of your life, or the best day of your life. im praying that i will put God before everything, when i wake up, i will go on Scripture of the day, rather than facebook. This chapter was awesome. :)
MARANATHAA[:
i like this. it is a good Scripture.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
In the fire of his jealousy,
all the earth shall be consumed;
for a full and sudden end
he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
Usually possessions on earth seem more important to us because we can actually see them and know that they are ours. God tells the Israelites that their silver and gold will not save them from His wrath. I do NOT want to be pulled in by this world. God is the only true thing that really matters. Nothing should be
above God.
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.
I know i do not want to still be on earth when God’s wrath takes place. We need to seek the Lord and still be humble about it. It was God’s choice in choosing us and we should not be boastful and say it was are doing. The Bible is such an amazing thing and where else would be better to seek the Lord ?! I need to make sure that when I read my bible every day it’s not just to check it of the list but really sit there and think about it. Thank you God so much for everything You have given me !
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.
I think this verse applies to us the most as christians because in this chapter we can see the wrath of God, yet in this verse He describes the way out that we have. This is comforting because as a christian i can have assurance that I am going to heaven, and I will not have to face the full wrath of God!
7 Be silent before the Lord God!
For the day of the Lord is near;
the Lord has prepared a sacrifice
and consecrated his guests.
Our God is a lot more awesome than we give Him credit for. Society likes to play Him down as a loving sidekick that loves you no matter how you live, but I too don’t consider His awesome power like I should. God is an all-consuming fire that is the epitome of justice and will utterly destroy evil forever. I need to fear Him. Sometimes I don’t think about this as much because I have been saved, but I need to soberly remember the judgment I would have been facing and praise God more and more that He saved me from such wrath. LORD, please help me to be silent before you and consider who you are – your awesome power and attributes. Please forgive me for letting a bunch of random thoughts fill my mind when I should be contemplating you more often so that I might praise you for being the Almighty God of the Universe that in love that I can’t understand decided to save me.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
I think a lot of times we depend on all of our material things to make things a lot easier here on the earth but this verse makes it clear that in the end NONE of those things are going to help! I do not know why I spend so much time on the things of the world when one day they are going to burn and they are not going to even benefit me. Why do I spend so much time on these things when they never help me grow spiritually and they don’t encourage me to spend time in the word? I need to start wanting to spend time talking to God and reading his word!! I will be fully satisfied with that than with worthless worldly things.
MARANATHA!!!! :D
Great Comment Lauren!! We all need to work on glorifying God and not the things of this world! :)
So true Lauren! Loving the comment:)
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.
Awesome verse. I love how the Bible is so clear. This verse says “Seek the Lord”. So many people just say that believing that Jesus died on the cross for our sins is enough but this verse says we have to do our best to live for Him unless we want to not be hidden on the day of judgement. Being humble is definitely something i struggle with. I am going to work on being more humble for sure.
Great comment! :)
6 those who have turned back from following the Lord,
who do not seek the Lord or inquire of him.”
We should never turn from the Lord, we should always look to Him for guidance. We should always seek after God and turn our backs to Him. God is so important we should always make Him our number one priority. In Matthew 4:10 Jesus says, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.” Jesus tells us to praise, devote, and serve only God. This verse reminds me of Zephaniah 1:6 because it talks about how we do need to seek after God and not serve other things. GOD IS NUMBER ONE!
5 those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens, those who bow down and swear to the Lord and yet swear by Milcom,
When Pastor Ben mentioned that we cannot pursue God and worldly things at the same time, it really struck a chord. Just today, I was watching Project Runway and I was thinking about how there was a time where a big group of us were competing for a chance to sing in this one show. I was thinking hmm, I know God has a reason for everything but why didn’t He help me win so I could sing for His glory? Good one Elizabeth. I realized that singing in public is a very worldly thing and I know EXACTLY why God didn’t allow me to get chosen. It was because He wanted to save me from feeling the sense of competitiveness, which I strongly disapprove of. So thank you Lord for helping me realize that!
17 I will bring distress on mankind,
so that they shall walk like the blind,
because they have sinned against the Lord;
their blood shall be poured out like dust,
and their flesh like dung.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
In the fire of his jealousy,
all the earth shall be consumed;
for a full and sudden end
he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
when i read verse 17, that just blew my mind. the picture that came to my head about the blood poured out like dust. i read that and was picturing the war of the worlds movie where everything was covered in red. when the bible said aboout gold and silver cant deliver you for the wrath of God, it made me think why would people try and buy there way out of heaven. If they didnt repent and put their faith in God they dont deserve to go to heaven, and another reason God made this earth he dont need silver and gold from sinners.
Great to see you on Sotd Summer! I like you analogy of War of the Worlds and how everything was covered in red. It is scary to think that people have thought that they can buy there way into heaven when the only way is through repentance and faith. Keep up the good comments!
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
In the fire of his jealousy,
all the earth shall be consumed;
for a full and sudden end
he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
This verse is saying that there is no way to buy yourself out of God’s wrath. No amount of money or possesions will do anything to change your eternal destination. The day of the wrath of God is inescapable unless through Jesus Christ. Without Christ the fire of God’s jealousy will consum the earth and decimate all its inhabitants to where they will be thrown into the lake of fire.
Maranatha
2 At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
and I will punish the men
who are complacent,
those who say in their hearts,
‘The Lord will not do good,
nor will he do ill.’
In my NASB translation it says “stagnant” instead of “complacent”. These are the people that just stopped caring and became stale in their relationship with God. They didn’t pursue God and they thought that He wouldn’t do anything; bad or good! God hates this attitude in people, Christian (Rev. 3:15-16) and non-Christian! I need to be pursuing God, taking ground in my faith, constantly growing, and becoming more like Him.
7 The seacoast shall become the possession
of the remnant of the house of Judah,
on which they shall graze,
and in the houses of Ashkelon
they shall lie down at evening.
For the Lord their God will be mindful of them
and restore their fortunes.
Chapter 2 kinda reminded me of Habakkuk. Even though God would punish Judah with the sinful Babylonians He would not let the Babylonians off the hook. We see the same here with Judah’s other neighbors. Everyone is going to get judged, but God will always take care of His people. He will punish us because He loves us (Heb.12:6-11), but all the Christians will be restored in righteousness and never be cast out of His presence. When trials (discipline) come my way I am going to rely on the faithfulness of my God instead of despairing. There is no reason for that! I should rejoice in all things, and look forward to the future fulfillment of God’s goodness in Christ…Heaven.
3 Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land,
who do his just commands;
seek righteousness; seek humility;
This verse just needs to be a verse i live my life by! Always seeking the Lord, righteousness and humility. If i am constantly seeking these things out, my relationship with God is going to bear so much fruit!!
15 A day of wrath is that day,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness,
This verse is super scary and i dont want anyone i know to have to endure this!! Like Pastor Bobby said, if we arent telling people the truth that we know, then we hate them, because this is what they are going to have to go through!!
(v17-18)
I will bring distress on mankind,
so that they shall walk like the blind,
because they have sinned against the Lord;
their blood shall be poured out like dust,
and their flesh like dung.
Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
In the fire of his jealousy,
all the earth shall be consumed;
for a full and sudden end
he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
God is good ALL the time? In verses like this my first impression is wow God is a crazy psycho-path trying to bring torture and distruction to mankind. In the fire of his jealousy? The wrath of the Lord seems like a REALLY scary thing! But thats just it. We SHOULD fear the lord! He might not be a cold blooded killer but he is mighty enough to sweep us off the face of the earth at any moment. They will walk as bind men because they have sinned against the Lord. God could come at any second. We as Christians are so blessed to be chosen and not have to worry about where we are going to be spending eternity. Now with all this extra time we have not having to worry about where we are going lets tell others that they too can have that same hope! MARANATHA
Yesss!!! :) Im liking this comment! The fear of the Lord is the begining of wisdom.
8 “I have heard the taunts of Moab
and the revilings of the Ammonites,
how they have taunted my people
and made boasts against their territory.
9 Therefore, as I live,” declares the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel,
“Moab shall become like Sodom,
and the Ammonites like Gomorrah,
a land possessed by nettles and salt pits,
and a waste forever.
The remnant of my people shall plunder them,
and the survivors of my nation shall possess them.”
I like these verses because again they tell of the power of our Lord God. Just look at what He says, “Moab shall become like Sodom, and the Ammonites like Gomorrah,”. At will He punishes His enemies and utterly destroys them because they are of the devil, they’re evil.
2 “I will utterly sweep away everything
from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.
3 “I will sweep away man and beast;
I will sweep away the birds of the heavens
and the fish of the sea,
and the rubble with the wicked.
This whole earth is going to perish someday as it says here. Nothing will be left. This makes me think… Why do I constantly focus on earthly things that aren’t going to last? The only thing that is going to last forever is my salvation and the words of the bible. Thinking about this makes me want to rely on God more and really be an effective Christian. If we really look closely at the bible and it’s context our whole purpose here is to Glorify God and make disciples. Sharing the good news of Christ isn’t just an “option” for us Christians. In John 14:15 God says “If you love me you will keep my commandments”. God commands us to “make disciples!” Can you say you really love God? He loved us enough to die and be nailed to a cross for us. Sharing what he did shouldn’t be an option.
Great post Katie! I am praying for revival at Mission this year as we share the gospel on that campus!
I have a question that I have wanted to ask for a while now but thought everyone would think I am dumb for asking. Through out this destruction that the prophets are seeing, is this the same destruction that we hear about in revelations? Or has this stuff already happened? Most of these cities and empires have already fallen soo is this referring to what will happen at the second coming of Christ?
Any ways, this SOTD really captures the essence of Gods wrath. Do you want to be there when your “blood shall be poured out like dust,
and their flesh like dung.” I dont know about you guys but to me that does not sound like a pleasant thing to experience. If any of you are reading this that are not legit christians yet, you WILL go through this some day if you dont change, the day of the Lord is near and we have to be ready. God loves us sooooooo much that he gave his only son to be tortured for our sins. If you gave your only son to be crucified for the world and the world continually slanders you, mocks you, and denies your word, you would be angry too. 1john says that God is Love. God is also pain. Show God that you love him and he will love you back. Show God that you hate him or ignore him and you will perish forever. Thats how it works.
Legit post bro keep it up! Evangelism Sat night?
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.
The Lord’s wrath is coming upon those who don’t believe and deliberately sin against Him. Come judgment day, those who have failed their trials and fallen into deep transgressions will be judged justly by the Lord. Those who have remained faithful to Him and remained righteous will not face the anger and wrath that the Lord will put upon the unrighteous.
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.
These verses are pleading and begging people to seek the righteousness of God, so that they will not face his judgement. For me these chapters are a bit hard to understand without knowing the situation that Israel is in, but it reminds me of the period of the judges where Israel continued their cycle of sin and punishment.
This is a proud moment in history for True North –
“Ogden said she ordered 1,300 tacos from Taco Bell, 1,000 breakfast burritos from McDonald’s, 750 six-inch sandwiches from Subway, 100 pans of pasta and 1,300 slices of pizza from Pizza Hut.” – Havasunews
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
Nothing we do can deliver us from God’s wrath. In this verse, even though the people offer silver and gold, which are seemingly valuable things, it doesn’t stop God in His anger. Nothing we do, no matter how good we think it is, will save us. No trophies, no good deeds, no amount of sacrifices we make will get us into heaven. It is only through Jesus Christ’s blood that we are able to be in the presence of God. If God were to ask me why I should get into heaven, it would be silly to show him all the trophies I won or all the old ladies I helped across the street. Life on this earth is so incredibly short, and heaven lasts forever. I need to stop storing up so many treasures on this earth, and instead store up treasures in heaven.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
In the fire of his jealousy,
all the earth shall be consumed;
for a full and sudden end
he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
When the day of the Lord comes, God will judge and pour out His wrath. But absolutely nothing will be able to deliver the people from God’s wrath, no matter how rich you are or how much stuff you have! The day of the Lord is coming soon and not one person can stop it! I am so excited for the Lord to come back and to finally go home! But while I’m waiting for God, I need to be telling everyone I know about the Lord. Nothing of this world matters and it definitely won’t matter when we are in Heaven so we need to store up our treasures in Heaven instead of on earth.
3 “I will sweep away man and beast;
I will sweep away the birds of the heavens
and the fish of the sea,
and the rubble with the wicked.
I will cut off mankind
from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.
Well what a good and scray chapter aswell, we have to know that the earth n the world is not forever…it doesnt last forever but God does heaven n hell does where ever u are u cant turn back but if u are in heaven i dont think you ever wanna go back. When people go to the lake of fire they cry and they wanna know why they are there? Cuz they have sinned against the Lord and wanted to live for themselfs and of this world, n they cry thinking “why” they wish they can take it all back but they cant, its scary! but the piont that im trying to make is that Jesus can come back anytime n anyday now. The world will be nothing, this verse reminds of that”nothing” How God can just wipe everything away,and for some of us that would be a GREAT thing cuz he will call us home.
14 The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter;
the mighty man cries aloud there.
I always get excited and happy and how can i not love this verse when its saying “the LOrd is near”to me thats a -MARANATHA! dont u think?
but this verse to me means that we have to get/be ready fast and once again live everyday like we are saved and get ready for his return.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
In the fire of his jealousy,
all the earth shall be consumed;
for a full and sudden end
he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
nothing will be able to save us from Gods wrath, except Jesus christ, so we need to make sure we are with him NOW, and not realize to late that we arent for him
c u all later
7 Be silent before the Lord God!
For the day of the Lord is near;
the Lord has prepared a sacrifice
and consecrated his guests.
This verse basiclly yells WAKE UP CALL!!!!!!!! God is coming back. When you think God is coming you usually picture it happening in about 30 years or so. But as the bible explains it could be at any given moment. He could come back in 1 second, 1 minute, 1 hour, 1 week, 1 month, you get the point. God is coming like a thief in the night meaning we will not at all be expecting it!! Now for us christians this should be a day we look forward to whether it be in this life or after we die. The thing we should be worried about is other people who arent christians or think they are. People dont realize hell is a place were you are alone and in extreme torture. They think its a party and a place to hang out. This is so not true. Hell is a bad nightmare you will never ever escape. We as christians need to tell as many people of Gods word before its to late! God is coming back, lets be ready! MARANATHA!!! :D
pastor bens blog really helped me better understand these chapters. thank you pastor ben.
anyways these were great chapters. i really like verse 1:5
5 those who bow down on the roofs
to the host of the heavens,
those who bow down and swear to the Lord
and yet swear by Milcom,
in zepheniah the judeans were bowing to the Lord and also idols, which seems like its obvious they shouldnt do that. a lot of times we do that too. sometimes when im reading my Bible or praising God i will be focused on something else when i need to be focused on God which makes him angry. he doesnt want me to praise him and something else. he needs our full praise and honor and he receives all the glory. God deserves more then my 100% focus and praise. i need to stop thinking about worldly things and be fully focussed on God.
Good Comment Taylor! We definately need to be 100% focused on God when spending time with Him!!! :)
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the Lord. In the fire of his jealousy,
all the earth shall be consumed; for a full and sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
No material thing will last Gods wrath. Everything that we have today that distracts us from God will burn up in an instant. Is it worth it to forfeit your soul over material things that God despises? Nothing will be able to save us on the day of judgment except for the grace and forgiveness of the Lord Jesus Christ through repentance. God hates everything that gets in between him and us. The more attention we give worldly materials the more we get distracted from God and his love for us. I do not want to waste my time on things that will burn away. I want to spend my time constantly meditating on Gods word and him alone. The only thing that matters is if we’re right with God. Only Jesus Christ, the most precious gem of all, can save us from Gods wrath.
Zephaniah 1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
This prophetic book of the Bible written by the prophet Zechariah. Since at the time this book was writtem, the northern kingdom of Israel had already been exiled, t is addressed mainly to the remainder of Israel: little Judah and its capital, Jerusalem. Even though all these different prophets at the time are compelling the people to repent from their sin, and turn from their evil ways, there are yet some who refuse to respond. These people are so stubborn. Even though Judah had recently witnessed the exile of her sister country, hey still don’t turn back to God. Consequently, God calls for Judah’s punishment. God makes it clear that He is the judge of EVERYBODY, because He did in fact create everybody. Judah, its pagan neighbors, and everyone in the whole world is subject to God’s wrath because since our God is a fair and just God, he judges EVERYBODY. Since our sin is universal among all humans, so is the Lord’s judgement. I liked verse 18 because it makes the point that material items valued by us humans means absolutely nothing to God, and cannot withstand God. We, like the people of Judah trust so much in the work of our hands, we think that something we create can be greater than our God. The creation cannot overrule the creator! Nothing we create will ever be able to rescue us from the Lord’s wrath because He is so much greater than us.
After reading this, one thing I can pray about is having the right attitude towards our God. We need to be humble before our great God and stop trying to make ourselves seem better than him in some way, shape, or form. We need to be accepting of the fact that we are subject to His judgement, and frankly, we are truly deserving of it. The things of this world do not last, nor can they ever be more “worth it” than the Lord. My prayer is that I can be accepting of the Lord’s seat of authority over me and that I can be humble before this great and powerful God. When it comes time for the Lord to judge me and the everyone else, we need to know that we are truly deserving of all the punishment we WOULD receive. However, through Jesus and his sacrifice, he has taken the punishment that we were deserving of. Our God is worth so much of our praise! Merciful God, how can we not sing His praises?!
3 “I will sweep away man and beast;
I will sweep away the birds of the heavens
and the fish of the sea,
and the rubble with the wicked.
I will cut off mankind
from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.
Oh wow. This is so convicting. Again and again many of us, including myself, put earthly things before God. We forget he put them there and he can take them away just as easily. Focusing everything on God is what our life should be about. Today at Camp Compass the kids learned that we must be in constant prayer. Always thinking about God no matter what we are doing, for all things we have are given to us by him.
:)
15 A day of wrath is that day,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness,
i dont know about you guys, but this sounds like a day that i do NOT want to be a part of! thankfully, us Christians dont have to! What an amazing God we have that although we have sinned against him so many times, he has forgiven us, and is allowing us to live with Him ETERNALLY!
Amen :0)
Christina-
It’s so encouraging to see you so on fire for God! Keep it up and don’t ever stop!
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.
5 those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens,
those who bow down and swear to the Lord and yet swear by Milcom
These are people who would have said they were followers of God. They went to the temple and prayed, they did things for God, they knew all about Him and about His word. But their hearts were divided. They blatantly worshipped other things as well, and they were convinced that God was okay with it. Obviously, He is not. God hates it when His creations put objects on equal par with Him.
Many people today are good people. They would say that they are Christians. They go to church and do things for God. THey know all about Him. But their hearts are divided as well. It’s not a statue that they bow down to this time; instead, it’s money, cars, popularity, friendships, relationships, or anything else. THey lower God to this level in their hearts and think that He is okay with some of their heart – or even most of their heart – while they hold on to whatever it is they treasure most. This is not okay. As a Christian, I need to lay everything before God, leaving behind anything that is not glorifying to Him and serving Him and HIm alone in my heart.
Awesome comment Mike! It is so sad to see how so many people put objects on equal par with God!
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.
in order to seek the Lord we must submit to Him and others. humility is a very hard thing to do. i need to work on being humble in my thouhts.
MARANATHA!!!!!!!!!!!!.
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.
God wants me to be humble and seek His will. He doesn’t want me to be selfish or focused on what i want, but He wants me to be righteous through Him. God is angry with the world and it’s sin, i don’t want Him to be mad at me for not doing what He tells me to do!
The beginning of this passage is telling us how bad it will be on judgeent day!It shows the incredible wrath that god has and how he will use it on the people who have forsaken him and turned against him. The whole earth will be destroyed but for those who are saved will be living in heaven with our almighty god:)
7 Be silent before the Lord God!
For the day of the Lord is near;
the Lord has prepared a sacrifice
and consecrated his guests.
8 And on the day of the Lord‘s sacrifice—
“I will punish the officials and the king’s sons
and all who array themselves in foreign attire.
9 On that day I will punish
everyone who leaps over the threshold,
and those who fill their master’s house
with violence and fraud.
WOW! Great chapters! Throughout MANY of the Old Testament books it feels like they all talk about the coming of the Lord. That was way long ago! This prophecy was prophesied way back when and so many other prophecies were prophesied and came true which means this prophecy will be true also.(haha sorry if that did not make sense and is spelled wrong) Okay, to continue, this week at Camp Compass one of the bible points was: God’s word is TRUE! and it is! The word is God and was with God in the beginning and so it is true and should not be changed. Reading the Bible is the best thing for one to do! :]
See you all this weekend! :]
5 those who bow down on the roofs
to the host of the heavens,
those who bow down and swear to the Lord
and yet swear by Milcom,
Wow, this is convicting. God’s anger is specifically aimed towards those who, as Revelations 3 puts it, are neither hot nor cold, but are lukewarm. Yet the description of a hypocritical follower of God is made clearer through the Judah’s sin at that time. The verse says that they pursued both the Lord fully (hot) and Milcom fully (cold). The two cancel each other out. If I pour hot water and cold water together do I not get lukewarm water in result? And if I worship the Lord God every day, read the bible, pray and evangelize, and yet my heart is pursuing after something else, is that not the same thing?
I need to be on guard, especially during the school year because the push of the world is to devote everything to three aspects: 1.) school, 2.) job, and 3.) college (and I could add getting married, but I believe that is something that God delights in because it is a picture of the marriage between Christ and the church). Admittedly the future is important, but in the critical years of Junior and Senior year I need to not get caught up with the hype for future success. My success needs to be in the Lord, as the psalmist says, delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart, which since I delight in him will be holiness not happiness or worldly success.
Lord, if I pursue anything, will it be out of worship to your name, and bring you glory, otherwise I want no part of it. Why live if I am living for myself, but if i live for you it is worth living. May I live for you O’ Lord.
Nice comment Spencer!!(:
I liked how you said, “I need to not get caught up with the hype for future success. My success needs to be in the Lord.”
Thank you for those encouraging words that are applicable to my life(:
5 those who bow down on the roofs to the hosts of heaven, those who bow down and swear to the Lord and yet swear by Milcom,
6 those who have turned back from following the Lord, who do not seek the Lord or inquire of him.”
As I read this it reminded me of the problems we hav in the modern church. I thought about how even in the Old Testament people still claimed they followed God bu did not live it out at all. As Jesus put it in the New Testamant, they wer lukewarm. We need to b watchfull for these people in our everyday life, at school even CHURCH! Because clearly God detests lukewarm Christians in the Old Testamant, and Jesus said he will spew them out of His mouth, so clearly they r a danger in this time and age as well. Be on the look out and if u find u are one REPENT!
Great meeting with you today Josh! And great to see you here on SOTD! Keep it up!
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.
Silver and gold, nor anything of this world will be able to save you from the wrath of God. God is not interested in your material possessions, he is interested in your heart. With our heart, we should be seeking the Lord and obeying his commands.
James writes that if you draw near to God, he will draw near to you. Jesus preaches that if you seek first the kingdom of God, his righteousness will be given to you. The things we should be seeking are the things of God, his righteousness, and his humility.
Gold and silver will one day perish, but our hunger for righteousness and our desire for the Lord will always be!!
I read…
In Zephaniah Chapter 2 Verses 8-9 the Lord shows us His protection over His people. When the Moabites and Ammonites taunted the Lord’s people (the Israelites at the time) He makes it clear that punishment is coming towards them and that He will wipe them out. This can encourage us as Christians because God has this same attitude towards people who persecute us. So, do not be discouraged when people laugh at and taunt you for the wrath of God will avenge it.
7 Be silent before the Lord God!
For the day of the Lord is near;
the Lord has prepared a sacrifice
and consecrated his guests.
I like these verses because it gets me excited that one day we will be in Heaven with God for eternity. It also scares me because when the Lord comes some of my friends and relatives may not enter the Kingdom of God. So that makes me want to spread the Gospel more so that they can live in Heaven for eternity.
Alec, i LOVE seeing you on sotd! Lets evangelize to our relatives together! I love you!
7 Be silent before the Lord God!
For the day of the Lord is near
The Lord is coming. We need to be ready when He comes back. This is what the sermons at Revival were all about. Know where you are going. For people that are not Christians, this will be a very bad day, but for the people that have been saved by Jesus Christ it will be the best day ever.
MARANATHA!!!
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the Lord. In the fire of his jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full and sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth
No riches, money, or any worldly things will get us into Heaven. God has made it clear that he hates idolatry and sin and that only repentance and faith will allow us to enter his eternal kingdom. Like this verse says, our God is also a jealous God. He wants us to turn from our selfish and sinful ways and to start living for him. When he comes back, he is going to destroy everything in this sinful world, making it new. No one and nothing will stop him because our God made this world and he has the power to destroy it too.
7 Be silent before the Lord God!
For the day of the Lord is near;
the Lord has prepared a sacrifice
and consecrated his guests.
/i think its important that we are prepared for the day of when the Lord comes back. we need to know where we are going and not be wondering or unsure if we are going to Heaven or not and say “well im pretty sure im going up there.” we need to know and be sue a totally positive that we will be with the Lord.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
In the fire of his jealousy,
all the earth shall be consumed;
for a full and sudden end
he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
This verse has a great point! Silver and gold were obviously important to the people back then, but today, there are more things people become consumed with. It takes their focus off God! God needs to be looked upon as better because God saved my soul, created me, and a whole bunch of better things! The worthless things for me like Facebook, can only do so much! Nothing can compare to what God can do! That is such a great point and reason to turn my eyes from worthless things.
I liked verse 14. The day of the Lord is approaching so we need to prepare as much as we can to let others know what they need to do to be able to go to Heaven and be with the Lord. Im very excited for the Lords coming. Maranatha!
14 The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter;
the mighty man cries aloud there.
15 A day of wrath is that day,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness
1 Corinthians 15:52 says, “In a moment… In the twinkling of an eye.” This verse and 1st Corinthians both say that at any moment the angels will be singing Maranatha! and Jesus will come, so we need to be ready, we can do this by being humble and righteous, Shossha Raulston does a good job of explaining this. Because if we dont do that, we wont be faced with angels singing, but of the distress and anguish of the wrath of God. About half of each chapter is devoted to illustrating God’s awesome power to destroy his enemies and the rest is about his power to save and provide for his children. I think that everything in Zephaniah 1 and 2 is perfect and just. Thats why I decided to put my trust and faith in Jesus Christ, because it is perfect and just for me to die and go to hell for the sins Ive committed, yet God had shown me mercy and saved me so that I will not be destroyed, but live eternally with Him.
Great comment Ephraim! I am so excited that you put your faith in Jesus Christ! Keep living it out man! Praise God that he has saved you so you will not be destroyed but enjoy eternal life with him!
I enjoyed reading this chapter. Some verses stood out to me. Like verse 14 The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there.
The Lord promised that he would come back. We should ready for the day of his return. He can come back any time. Like the Bible says he will come back like a thief in the night. That is why we have to be ready because we don’t no the time or the place. Also when Christ comes back he will bring his judgment down upon the earth. But those who are truly Christian will be raptured up. We should make spreading the word of God a top priority so if Jesus comes back in our life time less people will be left behind.
2 “I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord. 3 “I will sweep away man and beast; I will sweep away the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, and the rubble with the wicked. I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.
This is just amazing to me that ONE person can do such amazing things. Our Lord can do anything! Including take away EVERYTHING from the earth, or the world, this just the blink of an eye. When the world ends He will take everything we have from us but will give us a million times better things in Heaven and I am sooo stoked for when that day actually does come! MARANATHA! (:
Classic Minor Prophet! Israelites sin, prophet arises, God’s anger is kindled. It seems to get repetitive. But, I know there must be a deep meaning to the repetivity (is that even a word?) of this structure. I once heard that whenever the Bible repeats itself it isn’t because it’s losing new plot ideas, but because it’s important. Think about the gospels, there are four different gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Why is that? Wouldn’t Jesus’ life be known with only one of the gospels. It seems to me that the gospels repeat the same stories over and over again. In fact, three of the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) are called Synoptic Gospels because of the very fact that they are so identical. Jesus’ life is the most important thing to me, and to my brothers and sisters. So, it is repeated and told four times.
But back to the point of this discussion: the Minor Prophets seem to reapeat somethings. They repeat Israel’s sin, God’s judgments, and God’s redeeming plan.
Speaking on the first repetition, I told my dad that it angered me how studpid the Israelites seem. Because I’m reading through the book of Judges and it seems like every tenth verse one reads, “The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD”. I was so fed up with how though God saved them time and time again they just kept going back to serving false gods (ie. Baal). Why were they so dumb!? Then, I realized something. I’m an Israelite. God saved me, yet I turn my back on Him and serve other gods each time I sin. But my gods aren’t visible, they’re hidden from the human eye. My gods are lust, pride, and all other forms of joy outside of God. I felt like I was a hypocrite and just like the self-righteous judger in Matthew 7:1-5. I was trying to pick the speck out of Israelites eyes and I couldn’t even see the log that was blocking my view. I was so self-righteous. I am the worst of sinners, and until I fully accept that fact I am living a lie. Paul, the great apostle, made this very same conclusion in 1 Timothy 1:15, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full accpetance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost”. God saved me. This isn’t some impersonal act. God saved me. I was brought into God’s arms. I didn’t want to go to heaven. I wanted to go to hell. It was my desire to walk away from God. But God changed me. God stripped me of my free will and implemented me with a new will, the Will of the Spirit. Now, I don’t want to walk to hell, I want to sprint to heaven. And that’s how I see how I am just like the Israelites, in desperate need of a savior for I stray off to other gods.
Second, God’s judgment is always repeated. God is just and must punish evil and reward good. We see evil happen all the time with His people: the Israelites. They sin and God judges them. This type of judging isn’t the final judging but a reflection of what is to come. While reading Zephaniah 1 & 2, there was a very specific verse that caught my eye, “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” (Zephania 2:11). God is awesome even in His judging. That’s amazing and so beautiful. My God isn’t some angry God who judges because he likes seeing the pain of others. No! My God is a good God that judges awesomely and without any error. However, though it be fair that God judge all and all go to hell, my God wants to redeem His people.
Finally: God’s redeeming plan. Throughout of the biblical history we see God’s hand in history. Whether it be Joshuah defeating Jericho, or the Babylonians bringing Israel into slavery, God’s hand can always be found. But, at least to me, one of the most striking aspects of God’s work in human history is the fact that He redeems. I sin, God saves. Amazing! But, there is no greater story of a superhero that saved then the humble life of Jesus Christ. God comes to earth as a fragile needfull baby. Grows up in a carpenter’s family and ends up being homeless for the rest of His life. But, though being in human form, Jesus did not sin. He lived the perfect life and shared truth with those with ears to hear and eyes to see. He died to propitiate (to appease) God’s wrath towards the elect and was buried. But! On the third day, He rose from the dead with a new, resurrected body to prove that not even death had power over Him. Now, all those who call on the name of our good God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be saved. How awesome is our God!
Reading the minor prophets, Pastor Bobby, has truly been a joy. Whether it be from my own convictions or understanding of God’s character, my joy has become complete in doing so. Now, I must say, I am truly unconvinced why more high school ministries don’t read through the Minor Prophets.
Oh wow people! Jonny Wright just dropped a book on SOTD! That’s what I’m talking about Jonny! Yes, reading these Minor Prophets has been legiT! Every single one of them has something important to say about God and who he is that most Christians today are missing out on! I am so glad we can read this and discuss it through the comments, even from Nashville! Get back here soon!
17I will bring distress on the people
and they will walk like blind men,
because they have sinned against the LORD.
Their blood will be poured out like dust
and their entrails like filth.
18Neither 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.”
The Lord is loving as he is just
Just read through all of the comments so far today and I am really encouraged by them! Let’s stay in God’s Word and keep the Revival going!
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.
Seeking the Lord is a great description of our Christian life. The reason we repent and live righteous is to be right in a relationship with God. We are actually going to talk about seeking God this weekend at True North from one of the psalms:
Psalm 63:1 – O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirst for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Please pray for me as I am preparing to preach tonight and tomorrow morning and I hope to see all of you at True North for another awesome time of worship and hearing God’s Word together! Revival 24/7!
God is going to punish people according to their deeds, and he makes it pretty clear that the only way to avoid it is to come to him.
“I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal
and the name of the idolatrous priests along with the priests,
5 those who bow down on the roofs
to the host of the heavens,
those who bow down and swear to the Lord
and yet swear by Milcom,
those who have turned back from following the Lord,
who do not seek the Lord or inquire of him.””
2 “I will utterly sweep away everything
from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.
wow what a powerful verse i think this one verse completely sums up god’s character.
1. it shows that god is the creator that he CAN sweep everything off of the face of the earth.
2. it shows that he is just and this is exactly what we deserve.
3. it shows that he is loving/merciful that instead of enflicting his just wrath on us by sweeping away everything from the face of the earth(including us) he poured out his wrath on his perfect son.
Zephaniah 1:14
We don’t know when the day is going to approach us and we won’t be able to do a thing when it does come. All we can do is live this life now for the next life. I need to start preparing for the day when I will see the Lord.
5 those who bow down on the roofs
to the host of the heavens,
those who bow down and swear to the Lord
and yet swear by Milcom,
Like Pastor Ben said in his blog, This verse is talking about how the people try to incorporate God AND other worldly things both into their lives. This simply does not work. WE, as Christians, need to be setting our sights and goal on Christ and we need to be pursuing him whole heartedly. We can’t fully follow God if we are still holding on to useless things in the World.
17 I will bring distress on mankind,
so that they shall walk like the blind,
because they have sinned against the Lord;
their blood shall be poured out like dust,
and their flesh like dung.
Walking without God is the same as walking blind. Clearly from this verse, living in sin is being blind and without direction. It may seem cliche, but this highlights how the best direction for anything in life comes from God’s Word. It’s easy to lose sight of how important it is to seek guidance from the Creator when we often turn to our friends, peers, and even ourselves for what we should do. I’m reminded of how the Bible isn’t just a big rulebook as non-believers like to say but it’s really a path to eternal life. Knowing this, it’s silly to ever say we’re bored or have “nothing to do”, because learning from His Word is a lot more than just something to pass the time with. I pray that I will set aside more time for purposeful Bible reading, because that will make this the best summer yet.
6 those who have turned back from following the Lord,
who do not seek the Lord or inquire of him.”
The preceding verses to this one say that God will stretch out his hand against and cut off the people who do this. This is a scary an serious thing. And it is sad how in our Christian culture today, people act like anyone can call themselves a Christian and then turn to and from God as life goes on. This is not Biblical! When someone repents and turns to follow the Lord, there is no going back, only a constant pursuit of him! All day today, I have been praying for individuals who have professed repentance and faith at Revival X, that they would continue to seek the Lord and continue to follow him and never stop!
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.
After reading the entire chapter I realized how intense God’s wrath really is. I’m pretty sure that if you had a chance to read Zephaniah and you knew you were going to be utterly destroyed as described in this book, you would want to do anything to get out of it. So, amidst all the verses on destruction and wrath, God gives us this verse, Zephaniah 2:3 to give us a way out. Live your life for God, He gave His Son’s for yours and you will dodge this horrific destruction and you will be in His kingdom for eternity. How can someone say that it is too “extreme” or “hardcore” to live your lame, worthless, incredibly short, mortal life for His glory? To reject the commands of someone who can destroy both your FLESH and SOUL just doesn’t make much sense to me. He is so good and I cannot thank Him enough. Praise Him!!!! Maranatha!!!
1:4 “I will stretch out my hand against Judah
and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
and I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal
and the name of the idolatrous priests along with the priests,
5 those who bow down on the roofs
to the host of the heavens,
those who bow down and swear to the Lord
and yet swear by Milcom,
6 those who have turned back from following the Lord,
who do not seek the Lord or inquire of him.”
God does not want us to live a life devoted both to Him, and other worldly things. These worldly objects, desires, hobbies, maybe even some friends, can distract us and turn our eyes away from the Lord. Here, God warns these people that He will stretch out His hand and cut them off if they chose to follow Him, yet also allow themselves to worship other gods. In today’s culture, like I said above, the things of this world can turn our love and our eyes away from the Lord. Lets make sure this does not happen! but keep our eyes ever fixed on Jesus.
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.
this is a great verse to live by especially when concerning repentance. We are to seek the Lord, daily and in every moment, for only He, the God of the UNIVERSE, is worthy of our devotion, of praise, and of oour hearts.
13 And he will stretch out his hand against the north
and destroy Assyria,
and he will make Nineveh a desolation,
a dry waste like the desert.
I also thought this verse was incredible, as it predicts the downfall of Assyria explaining how the city of Nineveh would soon be destroyed by Babylon.
v.13 Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them; though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them.
This is a great reminder that the things we work for and build will only last if they are done for the Lord. This reminds me about Pastor Bobby’s sermon about BUILDing up the church with our lives and the verse he shared:
1 Corinthians 3:12-13
Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.
For some, the fire of God’s wrath will bring destruction, for others, it will manifest the result of obedient works built upon the foundation of Christ!
I will cut off mankind
from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.
This is what i deserve, death and nothing more. It is so absolutely amazing to me that the Lord saved me! The Lord is so mighty in power, i am amazed that he would even allow me to know him. He can wipe everything off of this entire planet, he can erase a nation from existence, and he can and did save a wretched sinner like me!! This gets me really excited to grow in my knowledge of WHO GOD IS.
“I am, and there is no one else.”
This is my prayer, that the Lord is my everything and there is nothing else. He deserves every ounce of me praising Him, and nothing less. God is. and i am here to do his will.
12 At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
and I will punish the men
who are complacent,
those who say in their hearts,
‘The Lord will not do good,
nor will he do ill.’
God hates the complacent at heart, those who are so satisfied with what the earth has to offer that they don’t seek God and ignore His Word. So many people (esp. deists) believe that God is a God of peace, not hurting anyone but also not playing any role in good on earth. Therefore, they believe that they can live a life for this world, yet still go to heaven because they believe in God. On the contrary, God is in charge of everything, and the same God who gives us happiness and goodness also inflicts pain and punishment on those who do not seek Him.
2:11 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.
I think this is so awesome. God is going to “famish all the gods of the earth” and “all the lands of the nations” will bow down to Him. Today so many people “bow down” to worldly possessions and desires, but they amount to nothing in God’s Kingdom. Some people even think that if they miss out on heaven, then “at least I’ll have ______.” That is so wrong, and like we learned at Revival from Pastor Lucas, God’s good gifts will not reach those in hell. He will take away the things that people on earth have made “gods” and everyone will realize that the Lord is God, though for some it will be too late. Maranatha Lord! I pray that I see You soon so I can bow down at Your feet and worship You.
Zephaniah 1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
Back then, today, all throughout history human culture has leaned toward having more material things. having bigger, better, more abundant things. What they society just cannot seem to comprehend is that no material thing will ever save them. You cannot buy your way into heaven. So it is pointless to invest our time in material things. We should be looking toward the “prize” or eternity in heaven. We need to have eternity driven actions!
MARANATHA!
It doesn’t go well for God’s enemies. He definitely gets angry at sinners, and his judgement is so severe that we would have to be crazy to live a life of sin.
18 …
In the fire of his jealousy,
all the earth shall be consumed;
for a full and sudden end
he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
just bringing this up because I find it interesting. There is a neutron star with a meteor orbiting around it many lightyears away from earth. if this meteor ever hits this neutron star, it will cause it to shoot out x-rays with extremely high energy in two directions, one of which is our solar system. no one knows if the meteor wil hit the star or if it already has, but if the x-rays hit earth, they will be so strong that the sky will catch on fire. I just thought that might be how God plans on ending the earth, but of course no one knows but God. He doesn’t even need to obey the laws of physics to do it.
Basically two things stood out to me in these chapters.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
Now I know that this prophecy is about the judgment that was coming on Judah back in that day, but today we also know that there is a Day coming when Jesus will return and God will judge the world. All his wrath on sin will be finally released and the earth will be made new. And, just like back then, “not a one will stand” against His mighty hand. No material thing that anyone could possess today (be it silver, gold, or anything else) will be able to shelter them from God’s wrath. There is only One who can do that. One person. And that is Jesus Christ, who died on a cross and took God’s punishment for sin on Himself, the only sinless One. The only reason that *anyone* is going to be able to avoid God’s future justice is because of Jesus and the work that He did. Praise the Lord!
10 This shall be their lot in return for their pride,
because they taunted and boasted
against the people of the Lord of hosts.
“Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Literally, in this case. But the point is that God clearly is against pridefulness. In fact, I might even say that it is the root of sin, having such a high view of ourselves that we think we can do something on our own strength and not give the glory to God. Pride is to think that I am something on my own. Humility is simply to acknowledge the reality that I am *nothing* on my own, but totally dependent on God for everything. It is only by His grace that I can do anything good, and yet when He lets me, I always seem to think that I had something to do with it. This is when I am most vulnerable to so many other temptations, when I think I am something good on my own. LORD, please let me realize every single day that I am nothing, and can do nothing good on my own; please show me just how desperately I need You and Your grace! Amen.
7 Be silent before the Lord God!
For the day of the Lord is near;
the Lord has prepared a sacrifice
and consecrated his guests.
This passage made me “get my boots on” when he said the day of the lord is near. I always think of it as something that will happen in a long time but the Bible is clear that it is near, It will come like a theif in the night. FOr me as a christian I am psyked out of my mind for Jesus to come and take us up to live with him, but it also made me think about the people who dont have faith in Jesus. If it is comming like a theif in the night then we need to do all we can to get the gosple out to everyone because the day of the LORD is comming, so lets get our boots on and get ready for work!!!!
Awesome to see you on SOTD brother Tyler. Evangelism Sat. Night?
14 The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter;
the mighty man cries aloud there.
We need to be ready for God’s returning. God is coming soon and at an unexpected time so we need to be ready for it. We need to spread the word of God before it is too late.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
In the fire of his jealousy,
all the earth shall be consumed;
for a full and sudden end
he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
I like this verse because it really emphasizes the fact that earthly treasures have no merit in God’s eyes. It’s easy to get caught up in wanting one thing or another, but really, what do they do for me? The only thing that matters is being saved from God’s wrath, and this verse specifically says “gold and silver” cannot do that. This verse also makes it very clear that nobody will be spared….”full and sudden”, “all the inhabitants”, etc. I need to focus on being right with God, not being comfortable *here*.
Zephaniah 1 & 2
I thought it interesting that God’s anger was revealed thru the prophet Zephaniah during the reign of King Josiah. Who led the people of Judah to destroy their idols and lead them away from their idolatry. God might have used these prophetic words to initiate this change in King Josiah and the people of Judah. If this prophecy came later in King Josiah’s reign than we see the people of Judah are quick to revert to their old ways of Idolatry. Whatever the case God’s anger was revealed to the people of Judah and He was not going to let them get away with their idolatry. Either way the people of Judah are so quick to go back to their old habits of serving other idols. Thru out the Old Testament we see the Kings of Israel and Judah go from doing what was right in the sight of the Lord to doing what was evil. Very seldom do you see a king doing what was right in the sight of the Lord. This is so true for us today as we see those who profess Christ go back to the sins of their past. If we are truly a new creature in Christ Jesus we will not revert back to the pattern of sin that entangled us before. We will move towards holiness thru the process of sanctification. Lord you are a merciful God but you are also just and will hold every man accountable for their sin. Lord thank you for the Cross and your Son Jesus Christ.
14 The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter;
the mighty man cries aloud there.
The day of the Lord is near! Jesus could come back at anytime and we need to be ready! We should be living like today could be the day when Jesus returns. I need to start telling more people about the gospel so they can be ready too!
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
on the day of the wrath of the Lord.
There are so many things on the Earth that can tempt us to live a worldly lifestyle. However, the things of this world are going to pass away and will not last for eternity. It is terrible to think that many people are looking for the worldly things and to know that they are not going to last and they will spend eternity in hell! Only God can satisfy us and deliver us on the day of the Lord, nothing on Earth can save us.
6 those who have turned back from following the Lord,
who do not seek the Lord or inquire of him.”
I like what Christa wrote about this verse! Once we repent and turn that 180 degrees from our sin, our lives should be totally different! There should be definite changes that other people would be able to see, and there would always be a desire to follow God and live for Him. If people profess that they became saved (just say at like Revival for ex.), but then the next week are totally forgetting that they ever became “saved” and are still living for themselves, then they never even became real Christians. I pray that all of the people who proclaimed that they became new creations would be continuing to live 100% for Christ, and that their faith would not ever stop!!
During this book the beginning it talks about God wrath and how much we he hates sin. We deserve his wrath, but his son took Gods wrath for us so we can have a way to go to Heaven. Makes us realize how God is good allk the time. John3:16 for it was our sins that nailed Jesus to the cross. It has a great reminder about how we should always be on our toes for the return of our Jesus Christ. The end is near and we have to know who’s team we are on. So we need to stop being Lukewarm and start being on fire for God. When we are on fire we all know where we are going.When we see people living against our God and lend a helping hand they will then see there is a better way to live and a better ending for them. So let’s share the gospel so all Gods children can be with him. Let the revival continue