Exposition by Max A Forsythe
The
Reformer's Fire
Exposition by Max A Forsythe
Some years ago I remember enjoying a jingoistic movie set at the turn of the last century. An American citizen had been taken captive, there may have been a ransom demanded from the family or firm. The American consul was notified and then the State Department back home in Washington since no meaningful effort was made by the local Mediterranean administration of the kingdom. When an irate Teddy Roosevelt heard about it, he asked if the Marines had been landed yet! If I remember correctly he was more upset that they had not been sent in, in immediate response, than the fact that the hostage had been taken.
As the scene shifted, a company of armed Marines were seen landing and occupying the capital city of the offending sultan. Of course, by this time in the frame of the story, some weeks had passed and the movie was three-fourths done. Yet, the characters in the movie had anticipated the efforts of their country and president all along. The "fact" of the final intervention was assumed and understood by all the good guys and even those who wore black hats!
I tell you this, not to glorify jingoistic national posturing, but to illustrate the reality of our God in heaven's concern for the ongoing plight of His people! Yes, He is concerned whenever His people are maltreated, persecuted and threatened by the worldly wicked personalities who take their marching orders from the Prince of Darkness. And in the fullness of time, One greater much than mere Marines landed on planet Earth and by His death and resurrection conquered death as well as the dark empire of Satan and all his minions. And yet, the work of the Lord is not limited to the spiritual realm alone. He does as, Zephaniah summarizes from the earlier prophets, judge the nations in their appropriate time.
Five examples are listed by Zephaniah. Symbolically, these nations represent the points of the compass around about Jerusalem. He begins with the Philistines to the west of Judea. Zephaniah here simply summarizes the wrath promised by Amos. Amos of course did much more to lay out the case against the slave selling Philistines who would capture whole Hebrew villages to take their ungodly profit from. For this and countless other offenses against the God of Gods was Philistia condemned.
To the east lay Moab & Ammon the incestuous nations descended from the daughters of Lot. Early on in history they indulged in genocide against the people of Gilead and insulted Edom by burning the bones of a great hero and king in that land to the south. South to the land of Cush and north to that of Assyria God's immediate and final judgment is promised. For centuries Ethiopia was the southern limit of known kingdoms. And Assyria was about as far north as the cultures of the Middle East knew peoples by name. Thus in this cycle of prophecy and promise of the Lord's judgment, all four points of the compass were noted before the judgment was brought to the other end of the earth - that one in the center - the land of Jerusalem itself!
Have you ever pondered the geography of God's earthly creation? Isn't it interesting to look at a globe and notice that the Middle East is well named. Just where the three great continents come together, there was the divine action of promise and redemption worked out. And still in our day the ancient tribes of that area posture themselves for conquest that their respective cultures and empires might be great once again. Remember the Shah of Iran, or the descendent of ancient Persia? Well has he and the successor government sought to increase their influence, wealth and power. Then there is the Mad Man of Baghdad who has already spent a fortune rebuilding ancient Babylon. Assyria too seeks redefinition in the policies and attacks of the nation known as Syria. Egypt, which at least once in antiquity endured an Ethiopian sovereignty, too in our century has fawned upon its ancient greatness and fought the nation in the center - Israel itself - for fame fortune and a parched and dry land.
Along the banks of the Dead Sea, the residents hope to reap a fortune in and through a a newly legalized gambling industry. Sodom and Gomorrah are being reborn by other names, but their humanistic industry does not bode well for the future. Even Israel itself, in our time as well as in antiquity, has become only one among the nations. Our indictment in Zephaniah would read well today!
James Montgomery Boice outlines the four indictments recorded in verse two of chapter three. She, as we would understand it, the Old Covenant community of saints have failed to obey the word of the Lord. Second, she has not received correction because she did not (thirdly) trust in the Lord. Finally, neither did she draw near to the God of Zion. How sadly does Zephaniah show us the religious state of Judea. Looking ahead a little in the chapter, we see the true state of the ruling clique in Jerusalem. Not one of the offices of leadership shows a hint of integrity.
The Princes and the Judges live off of the fat of the land and leave only crumbs for the people. The prophets and priests are not worthy of their office or the Name they represent. "They have done violence to the law" of God. Oh how this history of Judea reads like the daily newspaper in our own time. How many of the clergy in this country are worthy of their calling? A Japanese businessman once compared our professional clergy with the "holy" men of his culture. He observed that there was little holiness, but much in the way of competitive business executives about them.
Even more so may we consider our elected officials, who barely know enough about good legal jurisprudence, let alone the revealed natural law of our Creator God. And then, there is the sum total of the judicial reordering since the last turn of the century. All the hallmarks of Western Civilization have been thrown out, "violence" indeed has been done upon the lawful foundations of our culture as well as upon the very laws, regulations and precepts of our God and King.
"Ever morning He brings His justice to light; He never fails, but the unjust knows no shame." Have His people no ears, no eyes, no mind to comprehend what God has done? Evidently, all around them nations have failed, even a sister kingdom, Israel was carried away because at long last there was very little to distinguish them from their neighbors. Judah too, was living with and very much like the fast crowd of their time. Little, if any attention was paid to the proper guidelines for living outlined in their Scriptures. Even less attention was given to the proper worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
One of the fascinating things about the study of history is the almost certain wastage of cultures, kingdoms and organizations. The ancients built well for the future, but almost all of those palaces, temples and monumental projects are in ruins today. No culture or civilization as we might like to call it, is immune from decay and destruction. The Lord speaks rightly when He promises to gather the kingdoms of the world under His indignation, anger and wrath. We have heard a lot about America being a "Christian" nation, about America being the heir of the promises. So much so, that the leaders of the nations outside of North America are so jaded that they find great joy in the troubles of our First husband, and in the duplicity of our recent foreign policies, whereby our friends and former allies must look to their own resources for protection and security. For the first time since World War Two, Korea, Japan and the others on that edge of the Pacific rim were left without an American Carrier Task Force to deal with Chinese or North Korean instability.
Someone recently asked me if I would like to travel overseas. I shook my head "no" immediately since I would not feel secure. If their were any trouble over there, I would probably have to look after myself, since I have little confidence in my governments willingness or even ability to guard my person or my wealth. But thanks be to the God of heaven that I hold my real and final citizenship in His Kingdom of Heaven. And in that international, intergenerational, and other worldly citizen ship, we have a Kingdom not made by hands, but given freely with much mercy to all of those who will accept Christ as Lord and King.
Look back to verse two and consider the blessing of all of those who not only heard but obeyed the voice of God. And in that hearing, learned the necessary humility to admit our sinful nature and great need for the cleansing power of Christ. Further, by the power of the Spirit and the providential providence of God, we have trusted in Him alone and in doing so have drawn near to Him. You know, at one time I took the course of worldly history more seriously than I do now. I really truly worried what would happen in the course of worldly events. But no more. Come what may, the Lord is ruler of all the nations and even when those nations turn against His own people, what the wicked mean for personal destruction the Lord turns to good.
Just this last week, I heard of a conversation in that bloody library in Colorado. When one of the teenage gunman pointed his weapon at a young lady, he asked her if she believed in God. When she answered truthfully, he blew her way to heaven. Then later he either took his own life or was sent on his final journey by a police bullet. He went to hell! Sadly, he got what he wanted. But our young Christian lady, was carried into paradise where she can no longer suffer or fear. May we be so found when the Creator God comes to judge not only the kings and kingdoms of this earth, but every human as well. May we rejoice in the mercy given to us in Christ, whereby the absolute holy justice of our awesome God is turned aside because of what Christ has done, and we go to be with Him forever and ever.
Resources Used:
Baker, David W. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries: Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah.
Boice, James M. The Minor Prophets: An Expositional Commentary.
Places Preached:
Christ Covenant REFORMED (Presbyterian Church in America)
Box 13926 -- Columbus, OH 43213
Zph 02b 25 April 99
|
Return to |
Return to |
Return to |