SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/10/2016 9:14 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
A Sinning People
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Zephaniah 3:1-2
Message of the verses: “1 Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled,
The tyrannical city! 2 She heeded no voice, She accepted no instruction. She
did not trust in the LORD, She did not draw near to her God.” “1 Sorrow to her who is uncontrolled and
unclean, the cruel town! 2 She gave no attention to the voice, she had no use
for teaching, she put no faith in the Lord, she did not come near to her God
(BBE).”
We will
only be looking at these two verses in today’s evening Spiritual Diary, and this
is the first subsection under the first main section of this third chapter of
Zephaniah. This first main section is
entitle “Jerusalem: God’s Jealous Anger,”
as seen in Dr. Wiersbe’s outline, and we will look at a very brief introduction
and then we will look at what these two verses.
In our Wednesday
night church service we have been looking at the holiness of God, and when we
think of Jerusalem we think many times of it as being titled the Holy City, but
as we look at these verses from the book of Zephaniah we come to realize that
this was not the best title for Jerusalem during the time when he lived. Let us look at Isaiah 1:21 and then a few
verses after that to help us understand this:
“21 How the
faithful city has become a harlot, She who was full of justice!
Righteousness once lodged in her, But now murderers. 22 Your silver has become
dross, Your drink diluted with water. 23 Your rulers are rebels And companions
of thieves; Everyone loves a bribe And chases after rewards. They do not defend
the orphan, Nor does the widow’s plea come before them.” Jeremiah writes some similar things in
Jeremiah 29:12 and following and so does Ezekiel in chapters 4-6. Dr. Wiersbe writes that “even the Gentiles
called Jerusalem ‘that rebellious and wicked city’ (Ezra 4:12, 15), and they
could cite proof for their statement.”
What we are
seeing in this section of Zephaniah chapter three and in other prophets from
the Old Testament is the fulfillment of what the Lord said would happen in the
book of Deuteronomy chapter 28, as things continually got worse and worse as
far as spiritual matters until the Lord’s long-suffering ran out. Now keep in mind that at the time of
Zephaniah it would be a few years before the Lord would call the Babylonians to
destroy Jerusalem, but it would come because of the sinfulness of the people
living there. Now remember what the name
of Jerusalem means “city of peace,” but it would be anything but peaceful
during these times of God’s punishment on them.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “God gave His people the revelation of Himself in His
Word and His might acts, yet they didn’t believe Him or see Him, ‘Draw near to
God and He will draw near to you.
Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you
double-minded’ (James 4:8 NKJV).”
3/10/2016 9:33 PM
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