Sermons

Sons & Daughters

January 25, 2021 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Introduction

Sons & daughters, hang with me here, are different. If you hand a girl a nerf gun, she’ll wrap it in a blanket and put it to bed. If you hand a doll to a boy, somehow he’ll turn it into a gun. As fathers and mothers, you are called to raise your sons and daughters in the fear and admonition of the Lord. But while the Lord admonishes certain things to all people––male or female––He admonishes certain things for boys who are to become men, and girls who are to become women.

The New Testament does not lift the requirements put upon parents to raise their children in the context of being faithful to God’s covenant promises (Deu. 6:4-9). Parents were told to teach their children diligently to love the Lord wholly; and of vital importance is that the words of the Lord are to be in your heart (Deu. 6:5). There is no substitute for genuine faith, and all your other efforts to raise your children will be futile if not springing from true faith in God. The NT does not exclude children from instructions to walk in the Lord’s ways, they are included: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth (Eph. 6:1-3).”

The Text

Psalm 144:9-15

I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee. It is he that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword. Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood: That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace: That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store: that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets: That our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our streets. Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.

Summary of The Text

The first half of this Psalm deals with David at war (vs1-8), and the second half deals with David at peace. But underneath it all is God’s favor, and thus His strengthening blessing. God strengthened David’s hands (v1) to war against “strange children (v7)”; or (בְּנֵי נֵכָֽר) sons of foreign gods. But it is also God who establishes the peace and prosperity of a kingdom.

After blessing God for granting him might and victory in battle, David sings a new song of praise (v9). Salvation is from God (v10), and so he requests continued deliverance from “the hand of strange children” (v11).

This deliverance is requested so that peace might be enjoyed by the nation. This peace is presented in terms of familial prosperity. God’s favor in conflict brought strength for battle against enemies, but God’s favor in peace looks like happy households. We battle to defend the home, so that the home is a place worth defending.

The olive plants around the table (Ps. 128:3) are intended to grow into masculine strength and feminine glory respectively. By God’s favor in deliverance, Israel’s sons might grow up into sequoias, and their daughters might be the family’s hidden ornaments knitting the family together like polished cornerstones (v12). Garners are filled, the table is laden, the flocks are fertile, the oxen are hardy, and there are no “mostly peaceful protests” (vs13-14). This is true happiness, but it is only because God is their Lord (v15).

Sons of Courage

Children are a blessing from the Lord, but not an automatic blessing. After all, “A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him (Pro 17:25).” The greatest folly which a son can disappoint his parents with is a lack of courage. Boys are to be raised to die. They need to learn to be ready to die in battle protecting their treasured wives, daughters, and mothers; or else to die in backbreaking provision for the household.

When sons are coddled, or left without the discipline of clear instruction, they turn into self-preserving cowards. They want all their appetites satisfied, and will not be troubled to sacrifice their lives in any way. As a result, a nation full of such men will have no spine to fight the battles necessary to preserve the nation.

Sons need straight lines. Go take that hill. Go conquer that enemy. Go obtain that treasure. Go rescue that damsel.

Sons are to be raised to be men who can rule kingdoms, take dominion, and build wealth. To do this, they must first learn to take dominion of their appetites.

If a son is tending towards fear, it is likely that dad needs to take the time to do some scary things with the son. Hike a perilous trail. Camp without a tent. Ride a bike through a BMX course. Slide on the mattress down the stairs. The point is not just to get your son to be an adrenaline junkie; the point is to get him to face a fearful thing and then praise him for his courage. Along with this, sons need to be taught to fail, and how to get back up from the failure.

Daughters of Chastity

While sons need straight lines, daughters need circles. Circles of safety. Circles of companionship. Circles of security. Circles of industry.

In Titus 2:4-5, we are told how older women are to instruct young women, “That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.” Whereas sons are raised up to die, daughters are raised up to give life. She gives life by following the Apostle’s instructions to be “into husband, and into children.” This chastity is to recognize that her privilege is that of bearing life, bringing life, and sustaining life. The home which she keeps is the incubator of life, and she does all this in order that God’s Word be honored.

Daughters are to be raised to be queens of nations, industrious in their creativity, and give nurture and refreshment. To do this, they must first learn to take dominion of their emotions. Daughters are to be like palatial cornerstones, which bind the four walls together; if she is without the discretion to see that she is intended to aid in binding a household together, she is like a jewel in a pig’s snout (Pr. 11:22).

Daughters need to learn that their feelings aren’t in charge of them, they are in charge of their feelings. If a daughter is being a roller-coaster ride of emotions (zany silliness one minute, weepy sobs the next); it is incumbent upon the dad to set aside time to do something, really anything, with her, expressing to her how much he enjoys being with her. She needs a circle of safety from her father; his presence (along with the knowledge that his presence is full of delight in her) is teaching her that he is a surety, and she need not seek far and wide for security.

Fathers, Mothers, Sons, and Daughters

Your father points, your mother encircles. Children need direction and they need nurture. Sons which never grow up into sturdy oaks are the result of some combination of a pampering mother and an ambivalent father. Daughters which don’t become finely crafted palace ornaments are the result of fathers who aren’t affectionate towards them, and mothers riddled with envy and rivalry.

Mothers, you must not raise your sons to be safe. You are a mother, not a smother. You must raise your daughters to be loving wives, and loving mothers, and thus you must model this in your own marriage and parenting.

Fathers, you must not raise your sons to be self-indulgent. You are teaching them to be warrior-poets, not black-holes. Teach them to make, not take. You must raise your daughters to know and understand that they are rare treasures, which you prize highly.

Give clear instructions, not vague suggestions from the other room. When correcting children, you’re not dealing out punishment, you’re giving discipline; and you should not discipline because you were embarrassed. Always accompany that discipline with instruction as to what the sin at the root of their disobedience is, have them seek forgiveness, and the give it readily. And all around it, let your favor and joy and delight in your children be known to them in every manner possible: time, affection, words, and generous gifts.

A Happy People

We talk of our rights for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We will not be a happy people merely by economic prosperity. Better is a crumb in peace than a feast with contention (Pro 17:1). However, a happy home is a blessing indeed, a prosperous home is a blessing indeed, a nation at peace is a blessing indeed. But the closing lines of this Psalm are not either/or; rather, it is intended to draw out how much more happy a people is who enjoy the electing grace of God upon them.

Happy is the people who are in such a case, but that happiness is exponentially heightened when the bedrock underneath, the waves washing overtop, the air all around is God’s favor. This favor is not found anywhere other than in His beloved Son.

God will not look with favor on a people who are not in Christ. So turn to Christ, both you, the wife of your youth, your sons, your daughters, reckon yourselves in Christ, and enjoy the favor of God. God who forgives your sins. God who grants everlasting life. God who also gives sons like oak, daughters like beautifully carved palatial adornments, garners full of the fruit of hard work, and city streets empty of complaining.

Fathers & Mothers

January 18, 2021 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Introduction

The US Congress recently introduced the rules for their new legislative session. They struck gendered familial terminology (i.e. father, mother, son, daughter, etc.) from the House’s rules for legislators. The recent events of our nation reveal our void of fathers and mothers. This is just one more effort by the godless to further erode the biblical structure for families. As Psalm 11:3 says, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

So it is vital that we understand both how God made the world, and then as those who are in Christ, strive to live in this world according to our assigned duties.

The Text

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named Eph 3:14-15

But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

Galatians 4:26

Summary of the Text

When we think about Fatherhood and Motherhood we need to sweep out the clutter. These roles are not optional add-ons which you can discuss with the dealership. They aren’t social constructs which support the oppression of victims. They aren’t the evolutionary development of our species ability to babble some sounds and then linking them with our immediate ancestors. They aren’t interchangeable parts of machinery.

What we see as society rejects the biblical order for family is not an absence of fatherhood and motherhood, but we get mangled fatherhood and motherhood. We get satanic fatherhood, and tyrannic motherhood. We get State-run protection and provision and State-run nurture and rearing. All because those with their hands on the wheel of society are of their father the devil (Jn. 8:44).

Your father and mother are earthly shadows of cosmic realities. That cosmic reality is if you are in Christ God is your Father, the Church is your Mother. That is the evident in these two texts from the pen of Paul.

In Ephesians 3:14-15, Paul bends his knee to God the Father; every family derives its name from God’s Fatherhood. You don’t have family without fatherhood, and you don’t have any of it without God the Father and Creator. In Greek, you can’t say family (patria) without saying father (patera). In other words, God’s Fatherhood fills the world and fills our earthly families as the inescapable reality. In Him we live and move and have our being.

Furthermore, God has taken a bride for His Son, our Lord Jesus, and she is our Mother. Paul, while making the case that we are delivered from the bondage to sin which the mosaic Law revealed, he uses the imagery of Hagar and Sarah. Two mothers: one a slave, one a free-woman. Which one is your mother? Mother Kirk is a fertile mother, because she is marked by grace and thus life springs from her; whereas Hagar (the bond-woman/Sinai), brings bondage and death (Gal. 4:26).

To repeat, God is Father, and thus we have fatherhood; for those in Christ God is their Father, the Church is their mother. For those not in Christ, the devil is their father, and the death of Sinai’s law is their mother. As always it isn’t whether you will have Father & Mother, but which one you will have.

Children of Promise

Children who grow up without parents or with unmarried parents are faced with a deck of statistics stacked against them. With few exceptions, their lifetime income is significantly lower; their education level will not go as high; their likelihood of being abused and then abusing in turn shoots through the roof; their prospects are bleak by almost every metric. Children were not intended to exist in a covenantal void. Scripture is concerned with bastard children, which is why it placed heavy penalties on rape, pre-marital sex, and adultery (Cf. Lev. 18), as well as provision for the care of fatherless children (Deu. 16:11, Ps. 68:5).

So, if you are a father or mother, you must not think of your duty (as father or mother) as being in a separate container from your marriage vows, and the consummation of those vows. You are a husband and a wife first. The potency of this covenantal love produces children. Your children are children of a promise, even as the whole family of believers are children of the Promise.

Covenant Duty of Fathers and Mothers

So Fathers are first husbands which are called to be faithful to their promise of loving and cherishing. Mothers are first wives which are called to faithfully fulfill their vow to submit and obey.

A father which exhibits for his children that he doesn’t beam with delight over their mother (Is. 62:5), isn’t attentive to her (1 Pt. 3:7), doesn’t shower her with love (1 Ti. 5:8) will teach them to railroad her (Pro. 10:1). Husbands love their wives practically by full bank accounts, full cupboards, full closets, and full wombs.

Mothers which run down their husband in front of the kids (2 Sam. 6:16-23), swerving the opposite direction he is leading (Eph. 5:22), or criticizing his leadership at every turn (Pro 21:19) is teaching her children to be lawless rebels. Wives respect their husbands by bearing his name, and being his glory; she demonstrates this respect practically by not being an indecipherable code to get into, but by being ready for him and responding to him in all spheres of their relations (sexually, directionally, financially). So while husbands are called to fill, wives are are called to receive and be filled.

Lazy, inattentive husbands and bitter, nagging wives are teaching the children more than just how to be unpleasant humans. A sin-riddled marriage is presenting a false Gospel, and a marred understanding of God the Father, Christ the Son, and His Bride.

It’s vital that we see that Fathers and Mothers are cosmic categories. Husbands show their children how Christ laid down his life for the church. Wives show their children what joyful obedience to Christ should be. Not only are you teaching them about Fatherhood and Motherhood, but also the glorious Gospel of sacrificial love, responded to in joyful response.

Covered in Sawdust & Flour

These covenantal duties are not pie-in-the-sky intangibles. Rather, these spiritual duties are earthy, and are covered in sawdust and flour.

In Scripture, fathers name; a fathers’ word carry great weight. Fathers provide and protect. Fathers represent God to their families and their families to God. Father’s correct and teach. Fathers sacrifice and intercede. Fathers rule and lead. Fathers head their home.

Mothers respond to this headship by being fruitful. Indeed without the Father, she cannot bear fruit. As the one who bears and nurtures new humans she is to be held in high honor. They are to be fountains of the sort of wisdom which might be worn proudly around the neck of their offspring (Pr. 1:8-9). They are to be industrious, and laugh at all the troubles which are around the bend (Pro. 31:25). Mothers give glorified life and nourishment that is provided by the Father. Fathers face outward, Mothers face inward.

Adopted as Joint-Heirs With Christ

In Reformed theology we generally emphasize justification and sanctification. We blast through the mega-phone that you are not saved by your works of righteousness, you are justified in God’s sight only because of Christ’s righteousness and death in your place. We exhort each other to holiness and growth in sanctification because God has set us apart to be a holy people. But we must not gloss over the fact that one of the terms which is frequently included in NT descriptions of salvation is adoption (Gal 4:4-7).

God the Father, by the redeeming work of His Son, has delivered you from bondage to the law of sin and death. This isn’t like one cruel slave-master defeating another cruel slave-master, and your just caught in the crossfire. Rather, Paul tells us that you are no more a servant, but a son. In other words, you now have a share in the inheritance which belongs to Christ Jesus: resurrection life, everlasting joy, unending glory. You have been adopted as sons. Your Father in Heaven has given to Mother Kirk the Bread of Life and the Wine of Relief, and she has spread a table for the nourishment of her children. The children of grace and glory.

Great David’s Greater Son

December 7, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Introduction

When you are waiting for something, how you wait is just as important as the waiting. How do you wait? Long waiting can turn into gloomy waiting. Despondent waiting. Mournful waiting. Waiting that is very pious about the fact that it is waiting. But godly waiting is marked by the nature of what we are awaiting.

The season of Advent is often painted in the dark hues of solemn waiting. And I grant, Advent is a season of waiting, hoping, longing. But this longing, as our fellow saints of the Old Testament demonstrate in the Psalm before us, need not have too much starch in the collar. The expectation of Israel was jovial, gilded with glistening gold and silver, clothed in royal red and priestly white, and vigorously dancing.

The Text

LORD, remember David, and all his afflictions: How he sware unto the LORD, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob; Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, Until I find out a place for the LORD, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. [ . . . ]
Psalm 132:1-18

Summary of the Text

This not a Psalm of David; rather it is a Psalm about David. As one of the Psalms of Ascent, it would have been sung by pilgrims going up to Jerusalem for their holy feasts. The first stanza of the Psalm is a petition for the Lord to remember David and all his afflictions, but more specifically his restless desire to build a house for the Lord and the ark (vv.1-5).

The second stanza is a meditation on the worshippers and the sanctuary being made ready for joyful worship at the Lord’s footstool, and a request for God to be seated on His throne (vv6-9). We then come to the hub around which this Psalm turns. The worshippers petition God––for David’s sake––to not turn away the face of the anointed (the Messiah/Christ). The Lord’s response is that He will by no means turn away from what He swore to David: “Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.” David’s children, in light of this promise, are called to keep God’s covenant, and evermore shall David have an heir (vv10-12, Cf. 2 Sam. 7:12, 2 Chr. 6:10).

The reason for this arrangement is that God has chosen Zion as His resting place (in answer to their request of vs 8). Because God rests in their midst, blessings abound: bread for the poor, garments for the priests, boisterous songs from the lips of the saints, a fruitful King––from David’s line––Whose lamp won’t be extinguished, Whose enemies will be brought to shame, and Whose crown will never tarnish (vv13-18).

Gabriel’s Word to Mary

Two threads of waiting laid down here in this Psalm are taken up again and woven together in the nativity story. When the angel Gabriel is sent to Mary that she would bear the Messiah, it is framed in terms of God’s promise to David which we find in poetical form in this Psalm.

Gabriel comes to a virgin, espoused to a man named Joseph who was of the house of David (Lk. 1:27). The angel informs Mary that she had found favor with God (Lk. 1:30), she would conceive and bring forth a son who would be named Jesus (Lk. 1:31); this son would be great, and what the Lord swore to David in Psalm 132 would be fulfilled in Mary’s son (Lk. 1:32). Her son would eternally reign over the house of Jacob, and would rule over a never-ending kingdom (Lk. 1:33).

In short, the tidings which Gabriel brought were royal tidings. To put it another way, the prayers of godly saints––epitomized by the poetic words of Psalm 132––for God to restore Israel by fulfilling His oath to raise up from David’s line a king to David’s throne were being answered by the Son of God becoming a Son of David.

Christ Came to be King

Israel is not right except a Son of David is sitting on the throne. As Trufflehunter the Badger would tell you, any other arrangement is how you get a hundred years of Narnian winter, presided over by White Witches.

King David was a remarkable king particularly for his zeal for the worship of God. He longed to restore the Ark of Covenant to Zion. He danced like a fool when it finally was brought to its resting place. His life’s goal, which he vowed to perform, was to build a house for the Lord, a house in which true worship of the Living God might be done.

David swore to build a house for the Lord, and then the Lord swore to put a son of David on the throne. So when the Advent of the promised Christ is given, we should not be at all taken aback when the language is that of a King. Christ came to be a King over Israel, and the scope of Israel’s borders were now global (Cf. Ps. 72:8, Hag. 2:7).

As that wonderful line from the carol puts it, He was “born a child and yet a King.” The story of the Old Testament was God calling the patriarchs, then Moses, then David to build a house for God. The Patriarchs were a house of people. Moses erected a tent to be a dwelling place for God’s presence amidst His people. David made preparation for God’s temple to be a house of praise, and his son Solomon executed that task of building a glorious temple for the God who filled heaven and earth.

With the coming of Christ, the Son and rightful heir had come to inherit the household (Cf. Heb. 3:1-6). So the coming of the Christ child is not quaint. It is not a squishy message of how sweet and innocent babies are. It is not a cutesy story of human brotherhood. It is a flag planted on this world, claiming it all for the rightful King. The true king has returned, and winter meets its death.

From Affliction to Coronation

So note the progression of this Psalm. David in affliction to great David’s greater Son’s coronation. A coronation which spills over, like a plate of Christmas cookies, with blessings. A kingdom, ruled by an eternal King. A horn which buds (Cf. Lk. 1:68-69). A King Whose enemies are defeated.

This is why Advent is not a moment for dour pseudo-piety. These weeks leading up to Christmas morning are days of longing. Longing for a King. Yearning for the worship of Jehovah to fill the earth. Making a ruckus so that the whole world, which rightly belongs to Christ, might hear and heed and come into the household of God.

Our awaiting the Lord’s coming is marked by hope. And true, evangelical hope is certitude. It isn’t a nickel in the fountain, not a make-a-wish, not a wing and prayer. Our longing for deliverance is to be marked by joyful worship.

The reason we rejoice is that God has sworn to David, and in Christ that promise of God’s kingdom come to earth commenced its fulfillment. Now, after living and dying and rising, Christ is seated on the Father’s right hand; and, as Gabriel promised Mary: of His kingdom there shall be no end. The King has come to set things right. After all, He wears both priestly garments and royal robes. Your sins are forgiven, your enemies defeated.

But Christ too, like a true son of David, came first in affliction and humility. Like David, who was zealous for true worship of Jehovah, Christ was zealous for the house of God and by Him we now offer acceptable worship to the Living God. But Christ’s earthly humiliation, which began at Bethlehem, is now exaltation. The horn of David blossoms in the house of God.

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The Sure Incarnation

December 1, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Introduction

This Psalm has three layers to it. The first is the one on the surface. David recounts a deliverance from one of his many trials, and his response of praise. The second layer is that David’s sufferings reflect the common plight of Israel as whole. Her history of exiles and returns, persecutions and deliverances, separation from and the reunion with Jehovah lie just beneath the surface of David’s story. But as we go deeper we see that David’s story, which is Israel’s story, is really the Messiah’s story.

The Text

I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD. […]
Psalm 40

Summary of the Text

In the midst of his distress, David waited for the Lord (קַוֺּה קִוִּיתִי יְהוָה), crying out to Him; God heard his plea and brought him out of the pit (vv1-2). This deliverance springs forth into songs of thanksgiving, and fortifies his faith in God, rather than trust in proud man (vv3-4). This song of praise rehearses God’s marvelous works, which are innumerable (v5); and this gratitude for past mercies is the bedrock for present faith, which understands the true nature of sacrifice and offerings: obedience. The call to obedient service is pictured by the bond-servant’s ear being pierced (v6, Cf. Ex. 21:6).

Now, though he is king of Israel, David comes to the command of the Lord as a bond-servant would obey the master’s will with joyful delight (v7; Cf. Deut. 17:18-19). As king, he is steward of God’s law, and will preach righteousness in the congregation, without skipping a part (vv9-10).

Having presented himself in grateful service to the Lord, and obeyed the Lord’s command, he asks of the Lord a two-fold request: withhold not tender-mercy and let God’s lovingkindness and truth continually preserve him (v11). The reason for this request is “innumerable evils” (echoing God’s innumerable marvelous works in verse 5) surround him, and his iniquities abound to the point of despair (v12). Thus, he makes a plea for deliverance from all evils inward and outward (v13).

The prayer goes on to request the undoing of his enemies; that shame and desolation would come upon them (v14-15). In contrast, those who seek God (not man v4) as their salvation shall be vindicated, and thus their love breaks forth in song: “The Lord be magnified (v16).” The concluding verse highlights David’s humility, and his boasting in the truth that God thinks about him; the end of the psalm echos its beginning: waiting patiently for the Lord (v1) while petitioning God to not tarry (v17).

Obedience is True Sacrifice

This psalm draws a contrast between David’s response to God’s law with Saul’s famous––very pious––disobedience. In 1 Samuel 15:22-23, we’re told of how Saul’s kingdom came to be doomed; this is how it came to be that David was anointed as king of Israel (1 Sam. 16:13). We should also note that the strong allusion to David’s anointing (מָשַׁח), which is where our word Messiah is derived from.

The nub is that obedience to God’s Word was more important than vainglorious exhibitions of spirituality. Saul made sacrifices to seem very spiritual; but he disobeyed the primary task he’d been assigned (Cf. Ex. 17:8-16, Num. 24:20, Deu. 25:17-19). The Psalm reinforces this, that sacrifices aren’t what please the Lord in the first instance. Obedience, from the heart, is His delight. He doesn’t want the blood of dumb animals, He wants the life of the worshipper (Rom. 12:1). So as king, David knows that deliverance is of the Lord for those who delight in His law and obey it by glad trust in God’s will.

Messiah in Our Midst

In Hebrews 10, we find a large portion of this Psalm (vv6-8) cited. We don’t typically think of Hebrews as being a book for Christmas messages, but the underlying doctrine of Christmas is God sending the Messiah in the flesh. This is the point made in Hebrews. Christ coming in a human body was a setting aside of the sacrificial system, because His body was offered that we might be sanctified once for all (Heb. 10:10).

David anticipates that when Messiah came, He would do so in a human body. At first blush, however, Psalm 40 and its citation in Hebrews 10 seem at odds with each other. The hebrew refers to having His ear pierced (or dug open) as a bond-servant (Ps. 40:6); but Hebrews 10:5 cites the LXX, which renders it, “a body hast thou prepared for me.” What are we to make of this? As with most of these seeming contradictions, we don’t need to make them enemies, because they are friends. As a servant, Christ obeyed by taking to Himself a body. Further, He came when told, obeyed by becoming the fulfillment of the entire sacrificial system.

The ear of the bond-servant stood for the whole body of the bond servant; what we might term a synecdoche (i.e. hired hands, boots on the ground, nice set of wheels). So the apostle applies this text to the Messiah’s incarnate ministry. Christ came in the flesh in order to set aside the levitical priesthood which presided over a temporal sacrificial system, so that He might preside as a heavenly priest over an eternal sacrificial system (Heb. 10:11-14).

Not a Disembodied Incarnation

The doctrine of the incarnation is not an insignificant one. Man, left to his own imagination, tries to grab hold of all the stuff, or tries to escape stuff. At Christmastime, we celebrate the Incarnate Lord. God made flesh. The Logos manifest unto us. Heaven come to earth.

Earth is to be redeemed. Creation is to be saved, not discarded. Our bodies are planted like seeds, only to spring forth at the resurrection into everlasting glory. Some pagans sought to escape from the material world through their vain imaginations. Still others sought to hold onto the world.

One is too thick. The other too thin. Vain philosophies sought to escape the material realm through rationalistic knowledge. Whereas certain strains of paganism could not resist making all the stuff objects of worship. What we teach is that Christ came, in the flesh, to redeem creation, and thus ultimately to resurrect the whole thing into greater glory.

The practical application of this is do not shy away from all the gifts…and fudge…and wrapping every imaginable food in bacon…and more fudge. Recognize that all these gifts and blessings are shadows of the blessings which they will become in the resurrection.

These earthly blessings which Christ came to redeem, are not the destination, but they are appetizers to the main course. Earthly glories are like an elevator, they can only go to the top floor, and no further. But that desire for them to go further, that ache for glory that remains, is found in this doctrine which is presented to us in the form of a babe in a manger who later died on the tree, and then rose in the body to the Father’s right hand.

Christ took on flesh, because how else could He be true Israel. “Lo, I come!” are Christ’s words of submissive obedience to the will of the Father; obeying in Adam’s stead, in Israel’s stead, in Great David’s stead, in your stead and my stead. Indeed Christ preached righteousness in the midst of the congregation of Israel, because He was the righteousness of God, He was true Israel, He was the Prophet like unto Moses, He was great David’s greater Son. He came and delighted to do the Father’s will, by taking on flesh and obeying for us, dying for us, and rising for us.

Feet on a Rock

Christ, our Messiah, came to set your feet on a rock. He came, as the bond-servant king so that you might no longer be facedown in the mud of your sin, but stand erect and bold, fearless before the face of man and face to face––without any shame––with God Himself. He took on all your sins, which were as many as the hairs on your head, and bore them all away, so that you might be forgiven for every last one.

This cannot happen without God coming in the flesh, proclaiming in the midst of the congregation the righteousness of God. He came into our midst, as was foretold. And this is the ground of our salvation. This is the only place to find firm footing for faith. The Son of God became a son of man so that He could die in place of sinful man, and that you might also be risen with Him to a glorified earth. An earth which will be “more real” than this one. So celebrate with the stuff––here in the shadowlands––knowing that in Christ it shall all be made more itself at the resurrection.

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.

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.

The Fire & Fury of the Living God

September 2, 2020 By Ben Zornes Leave a Comment

Introduction

The prophetic ministry is not an extra-curricular activity of some believers. Rather, preaching is a part of our corporate worship. We affirm that in the reading and explanation of God’s Word, we are hearing God speak to us. But man would rather reach for the volume knob of his distractions. But God will be heard, and if these are the echoes of His ways, what will you do when He thunders?

The Text

1 The word of the LORD which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah. 2 I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD. 3 I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD. 4 I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarims with the priests; . . .
Zephaniah 1:1-18

Summary of the Text

Zephaniah begins with a personal lineage, which appears to intimate that he’s related to the royal family; there’s also an important mention of polar opposite kings of Judah: godly Josiah and his wicked father Amon. This locates when this prophecy was given––~626BC (v1). Then commences the announcement of God’s coming wrath, which is described in all-encompassing terms; reminiscent of God’s global judgement in Noah’s day (cf. Gen. 6:7) (vv2-3). Judah and Jerusalem are brought into the crosshairs, and we begin to see why God is readying to unleash His holy wrath on the whole world: worship of Baal and the heavenly host persists (Manasseh’s influence), mixed in with a fair helping of swearing by both the Lord and Malcham, and plenty of apathetic apostasy (vv 4-6).

The Jews should lay their hand on their mouth if they think to object to this sweeping judgement, because the oft foretold “day of the Lord” was now imminent (v7). God Himself has prepared a sacrificial meal and invited His guests. The twist here is that Judah will be the sacrifice, and it would seem that the summoned guests are the nations (Cf. Jer. 10:25) which God has brought to “devour” Judah (v7b).

Certain groups are held up as epitomizing the offenses which God is coming to punish: the royal family who have arrayed themselves in “strange apparel” (v8) (Cf. 2 Ki. 10:22, Isa. 3:18), and those who “leap/rush over the threshold” in order to obtain plunder for their masters’ house (v9) (Cf. 1 Sam. 5:5). Think Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham. Lest the commoners think they are somehow so insignificant as to escape the Lord’s notice, Zephaniah describes the cries and howls which will issue across Jerusalem when this ruination comes (vv10-11).

God will be thorough in His search for evildoers, and there won’t be a crevice in which to hide; those who had been dismissive of former prophetic warnings won’t be able to be dismissive anymore (v12). Judah will be wholly plundered, and all the deuteronomic blessings whisked away (v13).

Zephaniah echoes and summarizes earlier prophets’ warnings of “the day of the Lord.” It is near. It is terrible. It is an inescapable reality (vv14-16). As one economist once shrewdly pointed out: “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” This judgement will be devastating, and neither their silver nor gold will deliver them. The fierce fire of the Lord’s jealousy is upon them and He is thundering down upon them to expel them from the land, and wish them, “good riddance (vv17-18).”

The Exceeding Sinfulness of Sin

One of the most damning effects of sin is that we call evil good, and good evil. Sin is so wicked because not only do we trespass in the commission of the sinful act, but we sin by telling ourselves that the sin is necessary, even right. Not only do we sin, we redefine our sin. We buttress ourselves against what our guilty consciences witness against us.

Zephaniah presents us a vivid picture in response to man’s temptation to paper over his sin. God is coming, candle in hand, searching every nook and cranny of Jerusalem to find those who had grown indifferent to the Lord’s claim over that Holy City. God is shown here as hunting down and searching out those who have said in their hearts, “God isn’t going to do good or evil.” But as the Psalmist taught us, only the fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

The Gospel Arc

Zephaniah’s opening salvo leaves no wiggle room for the warm fuzzies of our modern evangelical nannies, which all too often rush in and comfort us with “There, there…God is love.” Some scholars bemoan how derivative this book is, because it borrows imagery from more gifted prophets like Amos and Isaiah. But we should see in Zephaniah a lovely succinctness––a prophetic bluntness––made to startle the complacent. His main objective is to disturb the complacent with a simple but vibrant warning.

In some Christian circles it has become increasingly en vogue to avoid the bad news of the Gospel. They think presenting Jesus as merely an example of tolerance, love, and kindness is all the Church is called to. Good as those virtues are, they are not the ground of our salvation. Kindness is only good if defined biblically. Otherwise it becomes like a child who feeds the new puppy too much dog food simply because neither the child nor the puppy know how to stop.

But, the Gospel, faithfully preached, must first make the unrepentant sinner miserable. That is the Gospel arc we see here in this short prophetic book: a shocking rebuke, a call to repentance, and then, and only then, the assurance of mercy to those who turn to the Lord.

In our age of self-esteem, this is avoided at all cost, even in many pulpits. Nevertheless, the prophetic denouncement of sins big and small, sins of the royalty and sins of the commoners, corporate sins and individual sins, and the just wrath that awaits such sins is meant to incite sinners to ask “What must I do to be saved?”

What Must I Do?

Trying to carve out God’s love as if it can stand apart from His justice is denying His immutability. It assumes that God’s love cannot be so fierce as to burn with the heat of a thousand suns when wickedness is allowed to flourish. God will not be pitted against Himself.

Instead of blushing at the severity of the prophet’s voice, or bubble-wrapping the bad news of the Good News we need to wince. The prophetic Word insists, “Don’t ignore the warnings. Don’t minimize them. Don’t scoff at them.” When God warns, the thing you must do is ask, “Is there anything else? Show it all to me!” Don’t look for refuge in comparison shopping your sin compared to other more grievous sins.

Some may want to balk at Zephaniah’s hyperbole. Isn’t he overdoing it? But often a pastor needs to wave his hands and say in simple terms, “Stop it.” Spurgeon once commented on the severe nature of Zephaniah’s prophetic book, “I bless the Bible for being severe with my unbelief.” Do you want God to “go easy” on evil? Do you really want a God who yawns at wickedness? Do you really want God to let the vilest men never be brought to justice?

The Lord’s City

Remember that this city which is at the epicenter of God’s global judgement, was His city. Judah had broken God’s law, neglected it, mixed it with idolatry, spurned it, and were indifferent to the covenant of their King. Now the King warns, by his messenger, that He’s coming to bring justice down.

So the question is, have you hidden sin way down deep, thinking God won’t care, God won’t notice, nobody was hurt? God has a claim on you. He will search it out. He will bring it out. He will expose it, and that is a grace. But remember, the only place to flee from the wrath of the Living God is in the Living God.

There are two perspectives on when these prophecies were given. Was it before Josiah’s reforms, or after? My position is that it is after, mainly because of the reference to the “remnant of Baal” in verse 4. That being the case, how much more damning is it that they made a good start, but compromised so quickly, got distracted so easily, and in the midst of a wonderful revival many among them tried to preserve just a sliver of their idolatry?

We have made a good start at reformation here in Moscow. But let us not grow weary, lest our reformation being corrupted by compromise become a greater weight of condemnation. Are you trying to dress in strange apparel? Are you upright in business or are you rushing over the threshold to plunder the poor? Are you operating under the assumption that when judgement comes you can hide from the Lord in some remote corner of the Idaho woods? The only place to turn, the only place to flee is Jesus, the true King. The only King who became sin for us, so that all of God’s righteous wrath might be poured out upon Him instead of you. The only King who can truly and fully reform His people. So do not undertake a merely carnal reformation. That’s just French revolution in slow motion. We want a reformation which only the Spirit of God can bring. We want a revival which is sparked by the holy fire of God.