Zephaniah and the Rejoicing, Restored Remnant

At present, I am preaching a series entitled “The King and His Kingdom”.  As the name suggests, the focus of this series is that glorious 1,000-year period when the King of kings and Lord of lords rules and reigns from Jerusalem.  How will Israel change when Jesus inaugurates the Millennial Kingdom?  The small book of Zephaniah provides important details.    

Remnant

Zephaniah was the great-great-grandson of Hezekiah (Zephaniah 1:1) and although we are not told which Hezekiah, it is likely it was King Hezekiah.  Though commentators disagree on the meaning of his name, one of the most accepted meanings is “Hidden by Yahweh”.  This is significant due to Zephaniah urging repentance in order to be “hidden” from God’s wrath.  Zephaniah 2:3 says: Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His justice.  Seek righteousness, seek humility, it may be that you will be hidden in the day of the LORD’S anger.  This message to the faithful remnant was clear and unmistakable—they needed to continue to pursue righteousness and to remain under the LORD’S sovereign authority by way of continued obedience if they were to avoid the wrath which was to be poured out on the unrepentant.  

When considering such a theme, our attention turns to the remnant of the Tribulation Period who will be protected and preserved by God as His wrath is poured on the rebellious, wicked and perverse earth dwellers.  After that, when Jesus returns and the remnant of Israel enter the Millennial Kingdom, they will resemble a flock of sheep who, being at perfect peace, are not disturbed by anything or anyone.  Zephaniah 3:13: The remnant of Israel shall do no unrighteousness and speak no lies.  Nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; for they shall feed their flocks and lie down, and no one shall make them afraid.  Micah 4:4 records something similar: But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.  What a day it will be when the Jew has nothing to fear!   

Rejoicing

Although Zephaniah chapter 3 begins with an indictment against the rebelliousness and pollution of Jerusalem, from verses 14 to 20 we bear witness to the glories of what is to come.  Zephaniah 3:14-15 says: Sing, O daughter of Zion!  Shout, O Israel!  Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!  The LORD has taken away your judgements, He has cast out your enemy, the King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall see disaster no more.  When the Jewish people joyfully acknowledge Jesus as King and He reigns during the Millennial Kingdom, gladness will replace groaning and rejoicing will replace rejection.  Enemies will no longer threaten His people, nor will disaster ever strike the nation again.  In fact, not only will the remnant rejoice over God but God will rejoice over the remnant.  Zephaniah 3:17: The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. 

Ordinarily, the Bible would use the Hebrew word “hesed” to describe God’s covenant love toward Israel.  Yet, in Zephaniah 3:17, “His love” is the Hebrew word “ahaba”.  To understand the significance of this, it is helpful to see where else it is used: it is used of the passionate love Jacob had for Rachel (Genesis 29:20); of the fond love Jacob had for Joseph (Genesis 37:3); of the deep friendship between Jonathan and David (1 Samuel 18:1); and of the love between Michal and David (1 Samuel 18:20).  Such is the love portrayed in Zephaniah 3:17 that some call it the John 3:16 of the Hebrew Bible.      

Restoration

The final verse of the entire book of Zephaniah contains a promise vehemently opposed by the Gentile world but precious to God’s people.  Zephaniah 3:20: At that time I will bring you back, even at the time I gather you; for I will give you fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I return your captives before your eyes, says the LORD.  The final verse of Amos also provides a similar promise.  Amos 9:15: I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them, says the LORD your God.  Israel’s walls and cities may have been built by the hands of men, but it is through the bricks and mortar of God’s sovereign will that Israel has not only been preserved but will prosper in the future Millennial Kingdom.  

The promise of Israel’s restoration and spiritual renewal is repeated over 140 times in Scripture.  Yet many Christians (particularly amillennialists) continually deny this truth!  They insist that the many Kingdom promises made explicitly and emphatically to Israel are now the exclusive property of Christians in this present age and that the Kingdom is to be understood in abstract spiritual form through Christ reigning over the hearts of believers.  John Walvoord, when defending the doctrine of a future, political Kingdom ruled by Jesus Christ as King, once wrote: “The evidence for this is so abundant that it is strange that learned men have been able to deny this plain teaching of the Word of God. Psalm 2:8 records the invitation of the Father to His blessed Son: ‘Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.’”

The issue of the Kingdom was widely developed in the Hebrew Bible and for anybody to suggest that there is no future earthly political Kingdom is essentially calling God a liar.  Though we are saddened to hear of more and more churches refusing to accept the plain teaching of Scripture, Dr Walvoord was not surprised.  A number of years ago, he was asked to predict what would be the most significant theological issue to face the church in the decade following that interview.  His answer perfectly predicted the point at which the church at large now finds itself: “The hermeneutical problem of not interpreting the Bible literally, especially the prophetic areas. The church today is engulfed in the idea that one cannot interpret prophecy literally.”