SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/8/2016 8:43 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-4 The Day of the Lord and the Gentiles
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Zephaniah 2:13-15
Message of the verses: “13 And He will stretch out His hand against
the north And destroy
Assyria, And He will make Nineveh a desolation, Parched like the
wilderness. 14 Flocks will lie down in
her midst, All beasts which range in herds; Both the pelican and the hedgehog
Will lodge in the tops of her pillars; Birds will sing in the window,
Desolation will be on the threshold; For He has laid bare the cedar work. 15
This is the exultant city Which dwells securely, Who says in her heart, "I am, and there is no one
besides me." How she has become a desolation, A resting place for
beasts! Everyone who passes by her will hiss And wave his hand in contempt.”
In our
journey through the OT prophets have come across Assyria many times in many
places and we come to her once again in this passage from Zephaniah. We have seen that before the rise of Babylon
that Assyria was the main power in the Middle East during this time
period. Assyria was a ruthless people
and they were notorious for their pride as we can see from the passage we are
looking at this evening. Remember our
study in Jonah, which took place some 150 years before this was written as
Jonah ended up in Nineveh to warn them of the coming judgment of the Lord and
they did repent, but later on it seems like that did not last too long before
they went right back where they were before Jonah’s visit. Dr. Wiersbe writes that “Nineveh was destroyed
in 612. Within the next few years, the
once great Assyrian Empire simply vanished from the face of the earth, and
Zephaniah saw it coming.”
We can
remember a verse in Proverbs that “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty
spirit before stumbling,” well this is what happened to Nineveh.
Dr. Wiersbe
writes: “Since the predictions about the destruction of these nations have all
come true, isn’t it reasonable to assume that Zephaniah’s other predictions
will also be fulfilled? Each of the
these local invasions and conquests was a precursor of the end times Day of the
Lord, which will come upon the whole world.
But when the Day of the Lord has run its course, Israel will be
delivered, and the Lord will establish His glorious kingdom on the earth. In the last chapter of his prophecy,
Zephaniah explains how the Day of the Lord will relate to this promised
kingdom.
“Before we
leave Zephaniah 1 and 2, we must note some practical truths that apply to
believers today. First, God judges His
people when they deliberately disobey His law.
His people are to be different from the other nations and not imitate
their ways or worship their gods (Num. 23:9; Ex. 33:16; Deut. 32:8). ‘Be not conformed to this world’ is an
admonition for all believers today (Rom. 12:2 see 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1).
“Second,
God’s promise to Abraham still stands:
Those who bless Israel, God will bless; those who curse Israel, God will
curse (Gen. 12:1-3). The nations that
have sinned against God by mistreating the Jews can expect Him to judge them.
“Finally,
God’s Word is true and will be fulfilled in its time. God’s people can claim His promises and know
that their God will be faithful, and God’s enemies can be sure that His words
of warning carry costly penalties. ‘It
is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God’ (Heb. 10:31).”
I have to
say that it is quotes like these that cause me to look at Dr. Warren Wiersbe’s
commentaries as I have said repeatedly that he puts the cookies on the shelf
where you can reach them.
3/8/2016 9:07 PM
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