Ben Zornes

Unity by Division

September 29, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Our nation is spiraling off into chaos. We deserve it, because we have attempted to unite around idols. But idols are jealous by nature. Territorial. Clannish. Tribal. They get envious of the worship rendered to other idols, and the followers fight to get more attention for their false god.

We’ve set our idols of money, science, power, sex, and pride in the center, and unsurprisingly divisions are the result. After all, your fame competes with mine. You and I want the same thing, and we can’t both have it. So, we take sides respective of our feelings on the particular idol in question.

The Apostle James tells us that it’s our envy which leads us to war with each other (Jas. 4:1-5), biting and devour along the way (Gal. 5:15). We tear each other to shreds, huffing off into our tribal groups, all because of our unfulfilled desires. The idols allure us with unity, but only grant division.

Not so with Christ. He was divided, and now offers His people true unity. Christ was torn, so we could be united with God. Christ’s body was broken, so that we could have true fellowship with His spiritual body, the Church. All the cultural chaos is because we refuse the unity, the fellowship, the cohesive force of Christ crucified.

By faith, His death for your sins binds you to His resurrected life. His death reconciles you with God and neighbor. His body was divided so that His Church might be united. His blood was shed so you and I could forgive each other’s trespasses as God has forgiven us. It’s always either Christ or chaos. It’s either erratic drumbeats of rival envies, or glorious harmonies of praise for the salvation we partake of in Christ’s broken body.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus…

Why We Say “Amen”

September 28, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Families accumulate habits like a magnet sweeping over metal shavings. When a baby is born––or a child is adopted––into the family, they immediately begin acclimating to those customs. A wise family should be able to point at their traditions and give a good reason for why they do it. Parents should always be ready to give an explanation of the customs to curious minds, and encourage cheerful participation in family customs. All those mottos, chants, and traditions should reinforce unity and loyalty. But they aren’t the source of the unity.

If you’re new here, you might’ve noticed that we punctuate our songs and prayers with a corporate “Amen.” Let me assure you, it’s deliberate. We want to follow a custom which we see in Scripture (Deu. 27, 1 Ch. 16:36, Neh. 8:6, & Ps. 106:48): “And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.” We continue this family practice by exclaiming hearty “amens” after our sung and spoken prayers.

Amen (אמן) is Hebrew for “truly, certainly, assuredly, so be it.” It was used in the ancient church to affirm agreement and unity in what was just vowed, spoken, sung, or read. We say it together, because the Father has adopted us into His family. We do it heartily, because the Spirit invigorates us to trust the Word. We say it frequently because our service is piled high with sweet promises from our Savior, and we rejoice in each one.

One practical observation for parents of young-un, this is a great way to help them participate. Even one-year–olds can shout out a loud amen, mingling their infant voices with the rest of the saints as we affirm what our Lord has said to us and our corporate agreement in what we have petitioned Him for.

So, instead of saying “Amen” to God’s promise of forgiveness, we’ve said “Amen” to the retribution of envy, the vengeance of pride, and the indulgence of lust. Instead of saying “Amen” to the praise we should render to Christ, we’ve said “Amen” to our self-love, self-glory, and self-righteousness. Instead of saying “Amen” because we confess that we’re God’s people, we’ve said “Amen” to the creeds and confessions of worldly men. So let us repent of all our sinful “Amens”, and receive grace to turn from all the false gospels, saying “Amen” to the true Gospel that Christ alone is King.

Book Review: “The Madness of Crowds” by Douglas Murray

September 23, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity by Douglas Murray
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I quite enjoyed this one, but I couldn’t help but feeling like there was a big gaping hole right in the middle of it (more on that in a minute). As Reb Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof once said:

As the Good Book says, “Heal us, O Lord, and we shall be healed. ” In other words, send us the cure. We’ve got the sickness already.

Murray points towards our cultural problems with deftness and clarity…like a resident of Las Vegas in the 1950s could point to the mushroom clouds of the atomic bomb tests. Anyone with eyes can see these major problems and conflicts within our culture. Not everyone has the solution.

Douglas Murray is a gay atheist. So, he’s not my typical co-belligerent, you might say. However, he sees our current cultural madness with great clarity. The old adage about blind squirrels finding acorns seems apropos here. His clear identification of the problematic trends in our cultural adoption of the various insanities is an indictment against many professing Christian leaders who’ve simply coasted along with the crowds, adopting all the “new orthodoxies” of feminism, anti-racism, and trans issues.

That is the main point of Murray’s project, pointing out how rapidly Western culture has adopted “new orthodoxies” without weighing why things had been the way they were. He also points out the numerous falsehoods which parade as truth (i.e. that men earn more than women, that racism only goes in the direction of whites towards blacks, that being concerned about gender reassignment surgeries necessarily makes one transphobic, etc.). The main takeaway is to always remember that crowds pick up steam as they go, and it takes great courage to stand against the stampeding hordes.

The hole, however, which is missing in Murray’s book is that he has, of course, left the center of history out of the picture: Christ on the cross. Murray identifies the problems. But his answer/solution is necessarily void of a true and lasting resolution to our cultural enmity. All of our delusions, all of our cultural tensions will only escalate into greater madness and vengeance on each other until we repent and come to Christ.

Murray gives example after example of how our culture has rapidly adopted new views on gender, sexuality, and race, but Murray notes how little reflection has been done on why the rules, norms, mores were there in the first place. He is concerned that society is moving too fast in its adoption of these new orthodoxies, and cautions against the vitriol that is poured out upon those who differ with the new orthodoxy. He points out how dangerous cancel-culture can be by showing examples of how ostensibly progressive people have transgressed the new views and then been summarily condemned as racists, bigots, transphobic, etc. This cancelling happened simply because they expressed an opinion that had only ten minutes earlier had fallen out of fashion. He notes that as a gay man he might not agree with the Christians who want to counsel people out of the gay lifestyle, but he wants to strive to understand why they believe what they believe before banishing them to societal Siberia.

Murray is a good writer, and excellent on the analysis. He doesn’t offer much by the way of solution (as I mentioned already). He seems to think we just need to do more studies (on things like the trans issue) before we condemn people who object to the rapid acceptance of gender reassignment surgeries as a positive good. He does appeal for patience and forgiveness for each other. He is an atheist who seems to really wants there to be a Gospel which can truly forgive our sins against each other, and give us grace to love our neighbor truly. He just doesn’t see it as the true answer to all the maladies we face.

Family Meal & Royal Feast

September 21, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Each Sunday, our service culminates in a meal. It is a family meal, it is a royal feast, and it is a spiritual meal. Let me explain each of those.

First, God has adopted you into His family. If you’ve been baptized into Christ by faith, God owns you as His beloved son or daughter. He’s your Father. As the Father of fathers, He nourishes His children. This meal nourishes your faith by assuring you of Christ indwelling you by His Spirit. It sustains you until at last you reach your heavenly rest. Our Brother brings us here so that the Father might nourish our faith, giving us grace to enjoy true unity and fellowship with Him and all those who are born of God our Father. That is why this is a family meal.

But it’s also a royal feast. Here is the broken body and the spilled blood of the Anointed Hero. Broken and bloody He died––not in defeat––but because by His death He conquered the devil, that murderer from the beginning. The victorious King has now spread this royal table, spread it with the richest of fare, and invited His guests to gather around to celebrate the peace His war has won. Our enemies are conquered. So eat with jubilant gratitude, for you are in fact citizens of the kingdom won by Christ’s body and blood.

Finally, this is a spiritual meal. We take it by faith. We trust that all the spiritual realities of our adoption by Christ and our conquest in Christ are present here. Here we receive rich promises. Here we taste true joy. Here we partake of true unity. Here is Christ, all of Christ, given for you. You are made a son or daughter of God. You are reckoned as a citizen of His endless kingdom.

So come in faith and welcome to Jesus…

When God Sings

September 14, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Introduction

The early portion of Zephaniah’s prophecy is dark, heavy, and full of the thunderings of the law. But only those who are stubborn and stiff-necked need to be fearful of these thunderings. The proud only hear the fire and thunder of God’s just anger over their sin. But the meek are given news ears. They don’t hear the tumult of God’s wrath; they hear the sweetest song. A song that all the most gifted composers, if they worked together for a thousand years, would be unable to compare with.

The Text

Zephaniah 3:1-20

Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God. Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow. Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law. The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame. [. . .]

Summary of the Text

Zephaniah has taken us to the four corners of the compass, to declare to all nations that God is coming in judgement upon the whole world (2:2-15). But now Jerusalem is again addressed, but as if she was one of the heathen nations. She’s become indistinguishable from the nations. She’s a filthy, polluted, oppressing city (v1), rather than being clean as commanded by God (Cf. Lev. 10:10, 11:47). Her chief sins are listed (v2): she wouldn’t obey (שמע) the voice (Cf. Deu. 6:4), receive correction (מוּסָר) (Cf. Deu. 11:2), trust the Lord (Cf. 2 Ki. 18-19, 2Ch. 32, Is. 36-37), or draw near to God (Cf. Is. 29:13). Her princes are lions, her judges are wolves, her prophets are treacherous, her priests have polluted the sanctuary and raped the law (vv3-4).

Despite all this corruption, God the just is still in their midst, and His justice is an inescapable reality (v5). The Lord has ruined nations before, toppling their towers of vain glory (think of Babel in Gen. 11); this should have been a cause for fear for the Jews, but instead they eagerly pursued their corruptions (vv6-7).

The Lord returns to addressing “all the meek of the earth” who were summoned to gather together to seek the Lord (2:2-3). They’re to wait upon the Lord; trusting that He will hasten the promised day, when He’ll gather all nations and kingdoms to pour upon them the fire of His jealousy (v8). Running parallel to this is the Lord’s promise to cause people from all nations to call upon Him with pure lips, while gathering the scattered, yet faithful, Israelites (v9-10). This multi-national host won’t be ashamed for their sins, for God shall have purged His church of the haughty, self-assured boasters (v11). The proud shall be purged out like dross, and in their place the afflicted and the poor who trust in the Lord’s name shall dwell in Jerusalem (v12). The remnant of Israel shall indeed be holy, and shall enjoy her promised rest (v13). Zephaniah initially addresses the people of Judah, but as he zooms out begins to refer to these gathered faithful as the remnant of Israel.

This motley band of faithful Jews and gathered Gentiles––though having been poor and afflicted––are called to sing, like true children of Jerusalem (v14). The Lord has forgiven their sins, destroyed their enemies, and now assumes His place as their rightful King (v15). The gathered remnant shall not dwell in fear, but will be fortified to render faithful service unto God (v16). God their King dwells in their midst as a mighty conquerer, a sure defender, and a husband in the throes of delighted love for His beloved (v17). Those faithful Israelites who endured various afflictions––the derision of their unbelieving countrymen and their foreign captors––will be brought back in glory, fame, and praise, for God will have turned back their captivity before their very eyes (vv18-20).

The One Left Singing

The heathen cities have been presented as rejoicing in their corruption (2:15); but now they are cut down and God and His people are the ones who end the day in joyful song. This is the way it will always go. Recall Bunyan’s “Interpreter’s House”. Passion gets all his now, but Patience waits on and receives a greater reward. Passion is left barren, empty-pocketed, and forlorn. Patience receives all he longed for and more.

Zephaniah is like a cliff notes version of the minor prophets. He summarizes the message which the faithful prophets had proclaimed. First, God will judge the wicked. Second, God is the God of the whole world and so there is nowhere to hide from Him. Third, the only escape is to seek the Lord in meekness. In other words, the proverb rings true: “Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly (Pro 3:34).” The proud shall be brought low, but God will raise the humble up to glory and gladness. God will get the last word, and the last word will be set to heavenly music.

Judgement & Redemption

God’s judgement and our redemption go hand in hand. The faithful await God’s judgement on wickedness, as a means of attaining their deliverance and redemption.

This is unfurled with great glory when Christ comes and takes the brunt of God’s judgement that was due to us, for we were God’s enemies. You can only be saved if first your sin is defeated. So, Christ died for you. He took your judgement, so that you might enjoy the redemption freedom He purchased for you.

A Royal Lineage

Remember that Zephaniah begins this book by trotting out his ancestry.com findings. His connection to the royal lineage is highlighted in the opening verse. Those kings and princes listed there either failed miserably to reform the people, or else played a large role in willfully corrupting the people.

But as Zephaniah concludes his prophecy, he tells of how God will be the King in the midst of His people. He begins with a reminder of the failures of both the good and evil kings of Judah. He concludes by declaring that “great David’s greater Son” will use the Gentile nations to gather scattered Israel back to Him (Cf. Num 27:17). While David’s glorious songs, and Solomon’s lavish wealth were Israel’s ancient glory, the coming Messiah would turn men from every nation to worship the Lord, enjoying His songs over them, delighting in His blessing, grace, and favor.

Your Sins Are Forgiven

As with the whole Bible, the message of Zephaniah is that you are proud sinner, deserving God’s wrath. But for those whom God chooses to humble, who then seek Him with the rest of those He has chosen to gather unto Himself, they are given a bright promise which outshines the sun. God will take away all your shame, all your proud boastings, all your abuses of His law, all your crimes against your neighbor. God will not only forgive you, but He shall delight over you.

This might seem a bit much. A bit over the top to describe God as singing over us a like a love-struck bridegroom would serenade His bride. But the Gospel is over the top. It is good news. It is the news that your sins are forgiven, and God looks upon you, not with a cloud of brooding suspicion, but with joy. He has taken away your shame. God loves you. God loves His bride. Because His Son endured all the wrath you deserved, and has now gathered you to Himself. God has turned back your captivity before your very eyes (Zeph. 2:7, 3:20), so gather together to sing, and feast, and dwell in safety, for your God has redeemed you.

Sand and Stars

September 14, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Go to the seashore. Pick up a fistful of sand. Start counting out the grains.

Go outside tonight. Lift up your eyes. Start counting those sparkling dots of light.

This is what God once told a man without a child to do, and God promised him that one day he’d have as many children as the sand on the shore or the stars in the sky. Abraham believed God’s promise, and God counted him as righteous.

Abraham heard and believed God’s promise to bless the world through His Seed. All of Abraham’s faithful children clung to this promise as well. In the fullness of time, Christ proved Himself to be that promised Seed. Now, people from every nation are welcomed into and counted as Abraham’s children, because we too cling to Christ for ourselves and our children to a thousand generations of God’s lovingkindness.

When we baptize our children, we’re believing God’s promise to Abraham. That is to say, when we baptize our infants in faith, we’re seeing what Abraham saw, and believing what Abraham believed: that God was saving an innumerable host by His sheer grace. So, here is one more grain of sand on the shore of faith in God’s promise. One more star in the constellation of God’s electing grace.

So welcome, covenant child, to Jesus Christ.

Creation Orthodoxy

September 9, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Introduction

For this midweek message, I wanted to tie it in with the Bible Reading Challenge which our church has just kicked off this week. If you have not heard, we’re inviting anyone who wants to join us in reading through the Bible over the course of this school year.

We begin, then, where the Bible begins. After all, this is God’s story to tell, and we are commanded to listen to the story, as He told it, in order that we might not let one word fall to the ground. I want to draw out four important truths which are gleaned from the first chapter of the Bible.

The Text

Genesis 1:1-5

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that [it was] good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. … And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Father, Son, and Spirit

From the outset, God is the main actor on the stage. But because we are fallen creatures, man will not hesitate to fudge on the details. God made the world, but man likes to find ways to get around that fact. He does this by making up his own creation myths, which ape the truth. This is what the ancient religions did. All those ancient myths relied on some deity arising out of the eternal universal. This made the universe ultimate. But a moment of reflection should show what a feeble idea that is.

After Christ came, the early church was immediately challenged to explain how God could be both Father and Son. “Surely, the Son must be a creation of God,” the heretics claimed. But here in Genesis, we are forced to moor ourselves to a doctrine which pervades Scripture. God is One, and God is three. We have here God the Speaker, God the Word, and God the Breath.

John Calvin highlights how Christ the Word must have been present at creation, “Nothing, therefore, is more intolerable than to fancy a beginning to that Word which was always God, and afterwards was the Creator of the world. But they think they argue acutely, in maintaining that Moses, when he says that God then spoke for the first time, must be held to intimate that till then no Word existed in him. This is the merest trifling. It does not surely follow, that because a thing begins to be manifested at a certain time, it never existed previously. I draw a very different conclusion. Since at the very moment when God said, ‘Let there be light,’ the energy of the Word-was immediately exerted, it must have existed long before. If any inquire how long, he will find it was without beginning.”

Here we have God making the world, the Spirit hovering over the void, and by God’s Word (i.e. logos) bringing into being the light. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together made the heavens and the earth. The foundations for the doctrine of the Trinity are here, if you have ears to hear it.

God also begins to reveal his triune nature in the creation of man: God says, “Let us make man…” The Rabbis all puzzled over this language. Is there plurality in God? Other scholars have argued that this was God inviting the angelic host to witness the creation of man, or God using a “royal we”. Here in seed form is what will come to fuller bloom with the coming of Christ, and the revelation He gives us of the Godhead, by declaring that it is into God the Father, Son, and Spirit into which we must be baptized.

Made by God

The second thing which we are confronted with is the fact that God is the Maker, of all things visible and invisible. In other words, when Moses retells the creation of the heavens and the earth, he is rebuking man’s pride by reminding us that we are not the focal point of this world. We are not the originators of it. Man, as it were, woke up in the Father’s house. It was all assembled, prepared for us, so that we might be kings and priests to God.

To put it in more philosophically familiar terms, God is the Causer. God made the world. It wasn’t some primal urge within the universe which occasioned all we see. Otherwise, meaning would be meaningless. It was by God’s will and power which brought all things into being. From His eternal being, the heavens and earth were given their being.

Further, note that Moses––though using lovely poetic language––makes clear that this creation was bounded, by God’s decree, in evening and morning cycles which we call day. Many people try to squeeze into this poetry some notion that these days were eons of time. But there is no need for us to make elbow room in the text for unbelievers to make their unbelief comfortable. God chose to make within the bounds He appointed. He did so in six literal days, roughly 6000 years ago (give or a take a month or two).

We don’t gain anything by trying to make out that “a day” here in Genesis 1 actually means 10,000,000,000,000 days. God was making a world for man, and from the beginning man has been brought face to face with evening and morning, day after day. God wanted this world inhabited by men, and in the retelling of His creative work, Moses tells us why there are seven days in a week, because God said so.

One other objection is often the “order” of the days. How could the sun not come into being until day four, but plant life was made on day three? The answer is fairly clear. Man’s myths would love to attribute creation to something as glorious as the sun. God will have no other gods before Him, so in Moses’ recounting of creation, it is made clear that the Egyptian myths were false, the ancient pagan notions were false. God alone was to be worshipped and revered as Maker.

Man Created in an Office

This leads to an important truth we are confronted with, when it comes to creation of man. Man was made in relation to God. My children, as soon as they start getting the hang of saying words, learn to answer this question, “Who made you?” They answer, “God.” This begins to teach them that they are answerable to their Maker. They are made for a purpose. They aren’t the gunk that fell off the gears of time and random chance. They have meaning, and a chief end: to glorify and enjoy God.

He is the Creator, you are His creation. As one theologian put it, “Animals and plants also stand in relation to God. But in the case of humanity, that relation if a relationship and a post or office.”

This means that there is no such thing as a self-made man. Thus as the Psalmist declares, it is He who made us, and not we ourselves (Ps. 100:3). Furthermore, God made us in His image. He made us to be in relation to Him. To hold a post. To represent Him to the rest of creation.

You don’t get to say who you are supposed to be. You don’t get to make up what you are supposed to do. You are given a job to do, a role to play. So from the beginning God made man to stand in relation to God. We cannot escape that reality, no matter how hard we try. It is only through Christ, now, that we can fulfill the role which God has laid out for us to do.

Our Redemption is Grounded in Genesis

Which brings me to my final point. Our redemption is grounded in these first lines of Scripture. God gave man a commission, an office, a throne. God saw all He had made, and it was very good.

We need to only take a second to reflect on our own inner experience, or take a look at the world around us to know that although this world is certainly beautiful…something is broken. Something is “off”. It ain’t good. There are viruses, and deaths, and mobs, and wars, and hatreds, and envies, and oil spills, and decay, and ruin. This can’t be the way it is supposed to be.

Which is why the story of God’s creative power is so vital for us to found our faith on. God made a good world. God placed man in a garden sanctuary to serve God by tending this world as a priest-king. Man rebelled from his office. The whole world was ruined. So, God became a man, to make it all good again.

Our redemption is grounded on the fact that God made this world for a reason. That reason was for His own glory, and for the good of the crown of His creation: mankind. Now, in Christ, God is restoring man to the height from which we fell. Let me quote Jonathan Edwards here: “The persons of the Trinity were, as it were, confederated in a design, and a covenant of redemption. In this covenant the Father had appointed the Son, and the Son had undertaken the work; and all things to be accomplished in the work were stipulated and agreed. There were things done at the creation of the world, in order to that work; for the world itself seems to have been created in order to it.” To sum up, the triune God made the world by His glory, in order that by the redemption story He would tell in it, He might win for Himself a greater glory. That is the story we are in. So, heed His story. Remember He’s the main character. And play your part, by looking to the script He gave you. Your stage directions are fairly simple: look to God your Creator and your redeemer. Look to Christ, and be ye saved.

The god-killer

September 9, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Introduction

Postmodernism is like a swamp in which all sorts of toxic algae can flourish. Christians who swim in those waters will invariably come down with the side-effects of those poisoned waters. One of the primary consequences of imbibing postmodern thought is that of thinking of the God revealed in the Bible as an isolated deity. But God is the God of the whole world, and every turn in earth’s history proves this to be true.

When God shakes the world––like He has this year––people turn to their gods for salvation. But they find that God has undone their gods. You trust in finance? Ok, here’s an economic crash. You believe in health food? Ok, here’s a global pandemic. You live in awe of Hollywood or sports stars? Ok, they’re all stuck in their basements trying to entertain us on Zoom. You rely on political activism? Ok, none of the activism will make sense (i.e. #BlackLivesMatter or #MeToo). Conservatives cheered when Trump proposed to send out another round of stimulus checks via executive order, while liberals cheered when Biden solemnly claimed to be an originalist when it comes to the constitution.

The Text

Zephaniah 2:1-15

Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; Before the decree bring forth, [before] the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD’S anger come upon you. Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’S anger [ . . .]

Summary of the Text

After a scathing opening salvo, the prophet gives the first hint of hope. Judah is implored to gather together before the day of the Lord comes upon them (vv1-2). These gathered are told to seek the Lord in humility, and perhaps they shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s wrath (v3).

The Lord’s wrath is centered on Jerusalem, but the ripple effects will impact all the nations. The Philistines (Israel’s ancient enemy) are told of their doom: they’ll be left desolate, driven out, and uprooted. All their towns and ports will be destroyed and uninhabited, fit only for the use of wandering shepherds (vv4-6). This is done so that the remnant of God’s people will dwell and feed in peace along the coastland.

Then Moab and Ammon (Israel’s distant relatives and frequent rivals) will have their proud boasts silenced (v8). They’ll be left like Sodom and Gomorrah (Cf. Gen. 19); and once again, God’s remnant shall spoil their enemies’ land, possessing it for their own (v9). All this will come upon these ancient nations because of their boasting against the Lord’s people (v10), and God is coming unto them in holy terror (v11a).

These denouncements form a compass. Philistia to the west, Moab and Ammon to the east. But before moving to the south, Zephaniah declares that God is coming to vanquish all the gods of the earth, and that men from from every place and distant isles shall worship Him (v11b). Then we proceed on our tour by heading to the Ethiopian lands, the most southerly kingdom of the known world; distant though the land of Cush may be, it, too, cannot escape the sword of the Lord’s judgement (v12).

Zephaniah takes us north, to the fierce land of Assyria (which took Israel into captivity). The Lord’s hand is stretched out against its capital city, Nineveh, and He’ll make it as dry as the Mohave desert. That once bustling metropolis will become the haunt of roaming herds; the din of the city will be replaced by the sound of birds and wild beasts; all the beauty of their artisans will be left bare for the dust of the desert to erase from memory (vv13-14). This city––once full of pompous boasts of its glory, at ease in its position as the world’s superpower, which thought “I am, and there is none beside me,”––will soon be a ghost town inhabited only by beasts, and when passersby see it, they’ll wag their heads in dismayed wonder (v15).

God’ll Cut You Down

As that great theologian, Johnny Cash, once sang, “Sooner or later, God’ll cut you down.” In this chapter we have God’s sure promise that Israel’s ancient enemies––Philistia, Moab and Ammon, Cush, and Assyria––will soon be cut down. So, although judgement begins with the house of God, it won’t be confined there.

Israel’s history is marked be repeated episodes of these enemies ensnaring them, enticing them, or infringing on their borders. The Lord is preparing to do what Judah’s kings were unable to do: reform the people and avenge them of their enemies. Zephaniah is building up to a reveal of God being the true King of His people. The apathetic amidst God’s people, and the scoffers amidst the nations will all soon be cut down, regardless of their personal religious views.

Postmodern Goo

Postmodernism wants to think that we can each have a little closet in our life that is full of jars that contain our private “truths.” The Gospel comes along and asks, “Why is your closet full of rotten ideas, selfish mush, moldy jealousies?” The postmodern mind insists that you keep your truth in your closet, and leave their closet alone. Postmodernism has brought people to think that every person has a private closet of views, and we should appreciate and tolerate the contents of each person and culture’s private closet. Really? Should we really appreciate the Hindu practice of sati? Should we really appreciate Muslim dogma which teaches that war against infidels is required for entrance into Paradise?

But the truth of God’s word is universal. God’s reign over the world is complete. God’s claim on the nations is total. While Judah is rebuked first, and rightly so, God will not just politely stay on His carpet square, as if He were a tame god. Zephaniah declares to these enemy nations––near and far, east and west––that God is coming, like a vengeful King, to do battle with their gods. And God will devastate their puny gods. God will break their sacred jars full of postmodern goo.

The Conquest of the Gathered Meek

In the midst of the pronouncements of judgement is the promise that the remnant shall possess the lands of their enemies. God’s promise to this gathered remnant is that He will surely cut down their enemies, that they may then enjoy the spoils of His conquest.

Current events make it seem like the church is cowering in the corner like a kicked puppy. When it looks like the whole world is falling apart, God assures us that He is in the business of conquering His and our enemies. God calls to those who hope for mercy to gather themselves together (Heb. 10:25); not to scurry like cockroaches into the caves.

In Hebrew when you want to really emphasize something, you generally will find a sort of doubling of the same word. In this invitation to humble repentance by seeking the Lord in meekness, we find one such doubling: “In gathering yourselves be gathered.” Yes. God is coming to bring judgement on all wickedness, and not one corner of the world will be left untouched by his roving eye. But that does not mean there is no escape.

There may be a remnant in the midst of Jerusalem. They are implored to gather together in meekness and seek the Lord. Think of the harvester binding the sheaves together, before the wind and fire comes to burn up and blow away the chaff.

But we ought not to think of this remnant as a mousy little band, hiding in a corner. No, they follow behind their Lord as He marches forth to conquer their enemies, and they then enjoy the plunder of His war.

But just like God’s promised vengeance on wickedness cannot be confined to Jerusalem, neither can His promise of mercy be confined to only the Jews. In fact, as God goes out with His sword of judgement––vanquishing false gods as He goes––men from every nation, even the distant isle’s, come to join the remnant in worshipping Jehovah (Cf. Ps. 2).

Severe judgement awaits evildoers, whether in Jerusalem or in the uttermost parts of the earth. So seek the Lord. Humble yourself. Gather with the meek. Then follow the true King of Israel in His conquest of the nations, where their idols are toppled, and those once His enemies become His worshippers.

In the prophetic books there’s a kind of two-fold meaning to their prophecies. The first is the immediate fulfillment. Here it would be that God is drawing out His sword––i.e. Babylon––to effect what has been proclaimed. But there’s a deeper messianic fulfillment that isn’t fulfilled immediately. In this passage, the faithful remnant might wonder after the Babylonian conquest begins: “So if this is means of God’s judgement, when will the promise of possessing our enemies’ land and all men worshipping the Lord be fulfilled?” This messianic promise points to when the sword of the Gospel would be unsheathed, and Christ––the god-killer––would go forth to topple all nations and all their gods, and bring men from distant isles to worship Jehovah.

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