ZEPHANIAH 2
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.– Zephaniah 2:1-3
ZEPHANIAH 2 SEEK HUMILITY AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
God calls all his people to give up their idols and to repent
Because they don’t belong to the world, they need to turn from sin
The Lord is patient to his people but warns them of his wrath
He wants them to watch out for wickedness and pride
All his people have to pursue righteousness and humility
Without these two, they are at risk of falling to pride and vanity.
Much is not known of the prophet Zephaniah except that he was Jeremiah’s contemporary and that he prophesied during Josiah’s reign. According to John MacArthur’s commentary “The moral and spiritual conditions detailed in the book seem to place the prophecy prior to Josiah’s reforms, when Judah was still languishing in idolatry and wickedness. It was in 628 B.C. that Josiah tore down all the altars to Baal, burned the bones of false prophets, and broke the carved idols and in 622 B.C. the Book of the Law was found.”
The whole chapter 2 of this book focuses on the judgment against all the nations that go against the Lord and his laws. There is an essence of imminent danger that you can feel as you read these following verses as if doomsday is just seconds away from them. Josiah was going to make the reforms for all these nations who do not follow the Lord’s laws and continue to worship their idols. I think that it is not just for those nations that these prophecies were given to. In our present time in history, this is a big warning for us to watch out for. As we approach the second coming of the Lord, we will be experiencing a lot of signs of the end times. With all the wars going on around us today, we can easily see that those times written in the bible are not far from happening. The call of the prophet is for these unbelieving nations to warn them of the consequences of God’s wrath but also to invite them to come to the knowledge of God and turn towards repentance.
Humility and righteousness were specifically pointed out as the ways to be free from God’s outpouring of his wrath on the evil and idolatry that stirs God’s hatred of sin.
REFLECTION
- How does seeking righteousness and humility protect us from God’s wrath?
