PT-4 The Day of the Lord and the Jews from Zeph. 2:1-3

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/4/2016 10:58 PM

Bible Reading & Meditation                    Focus:  The Day of the Lord and the Jews PT-4

Bible Reading & Meditation                         Reference:  Zephaniah 2:1-3

            Message of the verses:  “1 Gather yourselves together, yes, gather, O nation without shame, 2 Before the decree takes effect-The day passes like the chaff- Before the burning anger of the LORD comes upon you, Before the day of the LORD’S anger comes upon you. 3 Seek the LORD, All you humble of the earth Who have carried out His ordinances; Seek righteousness, seek humility. Perhaps you will be hidden In the day of the LORD’S anger.

            At the end of our last SD from the book of Zephaniah we said that there was some good news coming as we end up this first main section from this book, and as you look at the highlighted section from verse three you can see that the prophet is telling the people of Judah to seek the Lord, to humble themselves, to seek righteousness, and to seek humility, so all of this is better to listen to than all of the judgment that we have been talking about in chapter one.

            It is possible that Zephaniah was asking those who are humble, those who are a part of the remnant to think about 2 Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”  This also would be a good prayer for those who are believers to pray to the Lord who live in our country.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “But even if the majority of the nations followed false gods and turned away from the Lord, God would still protect His own precious remnant when the Day of Judgment comes (Mal. 3:16-18).”

            Now it is believed by Dr. Wiersbe that Zephaniah and Jeremiah ministered during the same difficult times that Judah was going through as both of them were telling the godless leaders to turn back to the Lord, and yet this did not happen, but we know for sure that at least they heard the Word of the Lord from these prophets so they had no excuses when judgment came.

            We know from history that the Lord did spare a godly remnant from Judah as they were preserved in Babylon and then into the Persian Empire who conquered Babylon and so as Isaiah promised from Isaiah 44:28 Cyrus would allow the first portion of the refugees to return to Jerusalem to begin work on the temple. 

            Dr. Wiersbe concludes this section by writing “Today, God needs a ‘company of the concerned,’ who will walk the narrow road regardless of what others may do, obey God’s Word, and share His Gospel with the lost.  God is keeping His ‘book of remembrance’ (Mal. 3:16-17), and you and I want our names in that book.”   In our next SD on the book of Zephaniah we will be looking at “The Day of the Lord and the Gentiles (Zeph. 2:4-15).