“I will utterly consume all things from off the land” (1:2).
Man had become obnoxious in the sight of God, polluting the land with his idolatry and violence, defiling the whole creation. There was nothing but for him to disappear under God’s judgment.
“Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth…it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger” (2:3). In the midst of corruption there has always been a remnant that fears God. Such are called on to seek Jehovah so that in the day of His anger they may be hidden. This brings us to the heart of the prophecy. Zephaniah means “hidden of the Lord,” and he foretells how the “hidden ones” will be brought through the storm of the last days into the joy and glory of the millennial world.
Who but Christ could be the hiding-place of these godly Jews? From Him will come the resources to sustain them in their faithfulness to the truth. He will be their protector until the land is purged of the ungodly.
The prophecy does not refer to Christians but to Jews. Yet we observe a parallel between what Zephaniah unfolds and the gospel. Man in the flesh is utterly obnoxious to God, and must be got rid of in judgment. The believer can see this effected for him in the cross. Man, the world, sin, himself–all is removed from the eye of God in the death of Christ. But in raising Him from the dead, God starts the history of man again. It is, however, man of a new order, the order of Christ. We are brought to God as hidden in Him. This is beyond what we find in the prophets, but we can hardly read Zephaniah without being reminded of the way that God has brought us into blessing in Christ.
In chapter 2, the nations around the land of Israel come into view for judgment: Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Ethiopia, Assyria. But just as there will be a spared remnant of Judah, so there will be some spared Gentiles to share the blessing of Christ’s kingdom–“the isles of the heathen.” They are not “hidden” like the remnant, but when judgment is executed they are spared, and have the healing and peace that will come.
In chapters 2 and 3, the remnant is in view, the afflicted and poor who trust in the Lord (3:12), and who are blessed in Christ. Three times Jehovah is said to be in the midst of His people. That surely is Christ.
“The just Lord is in the midst thereof; He will not do iniquity…He faileth not” (3:5). The state of Jerusalem is dealt with in this chapter, called “filthy.” Her princes were roaring lions; her prophets treacherous persons. Her priests had defiled the sanctuary. But in shining contrast we have Him who was “Faithful amid unfaithfulness; ‘mid darkness, only light.”
But His presence brought to light the workings of evil, and necessitated the condemnation of it. Besides judgment for the rebellious, however, there were other results that flowed from His presence in the midst of Israel. He attracted many to Himself. They were not of much account in the world, a few poor fishermen and others, but they were precious in His sight. And they will have their counterpart in that day, for there shall be “an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of Jehovah.” This remnant will be characterized by that which marked Him when He was here: “the remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity.”
“The King of Israel, even Jehovah, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more” (3:15). God’s thought of a king is that he should rule for the blessing of his subjects. Israel had suffered at the hands of many rulers. Her first monarch oppressed her and appropriated her possessions (1 Sam. 8:11-18); most of his successors walked in his ways. But Christ will be in the midst of His people with unbounded blessing. If, as the Righteous One in the midst, He exposed Israel’s sin (and bore it), as the King in the midst He will drive evil away, so that it may be said: “Be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.”
“The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy” (3:17). What an insight into the very heart of God! Often He had mourned over the unfaithfulness and sin of His people. He had, times without number, entreated and warned them. But they had turned a deaf ear.
At length God shows Himself mighty, not to judge, but to save. Instead of mourning over His wayward people, He will rejoice over them with joy. Whose singing? Ours? Israel’s? No: the Lord Himself “will joy over thee with singing.”