Evening Sermon

March 29, 2009

The Fire of His Jealousy

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Everyone knows the story of Noah. All the children know it. Even people who seldom or even never read the Bible have heard about Noah, about the flood, and about the ark. But not so many people understand what really happened, or want to admit it, for the flood was the most universal example of God's judgment that this world has ever seen.

Why did God send the flood?

Gen. 6:5 "Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the LORD said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them."

God accomplished his purpose.

Gen. 7:23 "So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days."

Then what? Well, the flood waters finally subsided.

Gen. 8:20 "Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. 22 "While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease."

The universal flood didn't change the sinful heart of man, so God said, "I will never bring such a destruction again, as long as the earth endures." And God seals his promise with a covenant, and with a meaningful sign of that covenant,

Gen. 9:8 "Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: 9 "And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, 10 "and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. 11 "Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." 12 And God said: "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 "I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. 14 "It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; 15 "and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 "The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." 17 And God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth."

God promises that he won't send another universal flood in this age, but he does use that flood as a symbol, or a picture, of his judgment. Notice the similarity of language between the account of the flood in Genesis and, v.1-3

Same idea, isn't it? Only this judgment wouldn't come as a universal flood, it would come upon the nation of Judah through the armies of that foreign power, Babylon. That day of judgment would be the great day of the Lord, the day of his judgment.

That day came in 586 BC, the day of the Lord's judgment upon Judah. Yet the day of the Lord would come again. It would come with Jesus, whose death was the triumphant judgment upon Satan, and whose resurrection and ascension forever established his kingdom. Judgment upon the OT nation of Israel then came within Jesus' own generation with the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.

But there will still be a future judgment, a final, future day of the Lord.

2Pet. 3:10 "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells."

And so what we have in Zephaniah is a prophecy of God's judgment upon covenant breakers, the nation of Israel. That judgment, which has already been carried out in history, gives us the pattern and the prophetic description of the final judgment which shall come at the second coming of Christ.

With that, let's begin studying Zephaniah with the understanding that,

I. GOD'S JUDGMENT WILL COME TO COVENANT BREAKERS. This judgment is nothing but the fulfillment of the curses of the covenant. Covenant breakers are judged.

Israel as a nation were the covenant breakers. And the despite the attempted reforms under good king Josiah, judgment would come.

God announced it. v.1

It would be,

A. A judgment of death. v.2-3

Death upon everything, wholesale and widespread destruction. In terms of the judgment which came to the nation of Judah, these words would have to be a hyperbole, that is, an intentional exaggeration. Yet, as a description of the final judgment, there is no exaggeration. As I just read, "the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up."

It will be a judgment of death. Death is the penalty for sin. Death is the wages of sin. Death would come as God's judgment against sin, just as he promised Adam.

Gen. 2:16 "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

Satan tried to make God out to be a liar, Gen. 3:4 "Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. 5 "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Satan was wrong. God was not a liar. When Adam sinned, death came into the world.

As a nation, Judah would face that judgment. And it was specifically,

B. A judgment against idolatry. There are five classes of idolatry mentioned here, all of which Judah had become guilty.

First, Baalism. v.4a

The worship of Baal was the most common form of idolatry, sometimes used simply as a general summary of it all. Originally, Baal seems to have been a personification of the sun. He was also the god of fertility, and his festivals were connected with immoral practices and sacred prostitution.

Then, there are the idolatrous priests, v.4b These were very similar to the Baal worshippers.

Another form of idolatry was the worship of the starry host, or the host of heaven. The sun, moon, and stars. Star worship often took place on rooftops, where people gathered for meditation and prayer. Such worship continues today, and you can prove it by the popularity of astrology.

Then Zephaniah mentions, v.5

These are the people who just like to gather all religions together, combining the best parts of them all, to make sure they get all their bases covered. In our day, that's called pluralism--the idea that differences in religion or in doctrine do not matter so long as one seeks to live right. After all, that good, moral Mormon co-worker certainly worships the same god we do, doesn't he?

Such attempts to combine the true worship of God with all other religions is, by definition, an abomination to the Lord. And the reason here is so obvious, the Lord and Molech have nothing in common. Molech was the chief god of the Ammonites. Do you know what the god Molech was known for? Infant sacrifice. Parents would make their infants pass through the fire as a sacrifice to Molech. They would kill their own children as an act of worship and service to this god. The priests of Molech would take the infant, and place it in Molech's hands to the accompaniment of drums, preventing the father from hearing the screams of his dying offspring.

King Ahab was known for such an abomination. 2Kgs. 16:3 "But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel; indeed he made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out from before the children of Israel."

King Josiah put away such idolatrous practices in 2 Kings 23:10, and Jeremiah speaks of it, too.

Jer. 32:35 "And they built the high places of Baal which are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it come into My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin."

Molech is connected forever with the ultimate in apostate worship of a false king. And the place where it was done, Ben Hinnom in Hebrew, was translated into the Greek name Gehenna, a name which came to identify eternal hellfire.

Think about it for a moment. There is a striking similarity between the sacrifice of infants to god Molech and the sacrifice of infants today to the god of choice, the god of convenience, the god of mammon. An those who burn their own children at the altar of freedom of choice are as guilty as those in Israel who worshipped Molech by sacrificing their own children.

What a horrible expression of idolatry, to worship a false god that would cause you to pass your own child through the fire. Zephaniah is announcing God's judgment against such idolatry, idolatry that still exists today in horrible ways. It's called abortion. The false god of Molech is still alive.

Verse six identifies two final forms of idolatry. v.6

Those who deliberately turn away from the Lord, deliberately forsaking him after following him. And those who neither seek him nor inquire of him, those content to go through life without giving God or his word any consideration.

How many idolators can be placed into those camps today? How many people are there today content to go through life without even considering what God has to say!

God's judgment will come to covenant breakers, a judgment of death to idolators. And,

II. GOD'S JUDGMENT WILL SILENCE COVENANT BREAKERS. God's judgment is a command. "Be silent before the sovereign LORD." We are not given the opportunity to respond or to give our explanations. We are not even given the opportunity to present our defense. Not much of a fair trial, is it?

God will hear nothing from us. He will simply demand our silence.

Our response to a holy and just God should be silence. As we read in Habakkuk, Hab. 2:20 "But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him."

This is a call to cease every manner of opposition to God's word and will, to bow down in submissive obedience, in unconditional surrender, in loving service, to their covenant God. And the reason given is plain. "The day of the Lord is at hand." The day of judgment is near. And it is a matter of life and death, for the Lord has prepared a sacrifice. v.7

The guests have already been invited, those who would share in the sacrifice--they would eat the animal in a festive meal.

Isa. 13:3 "I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have also called My mighty ones for My anger-- Those who rejoice in My exaltation."

The "holy ones" are the consecrated guests, the ones who would share in this sacrifice and carry out God's wrath. In Zephaniah's prophecy, the nation of Judah would be the sacrifice, sacrificed as the appropriate judgment for breaking the covenant. The day is near.

Therefore, knowing that, God says, "Be silent before me." And the prophet further defines those who will be judged.

A. God will silence those who have been unfaithful. That's a general description. Look at the specifics. v.8

What's wrong with that? They were wearing foreign clothes to avoid being identified with Jehovah, God of Israel. These princes and kings' sons evidently had hopes of gaining political or business advantages, so they conformed themselves to the world around them, ashamed to be identified as one of God's people. They were in the world and they were of the world.

Then, look at, v.9a

What's so wicked about that?

Evidently, a reference to, 1Sam. 5:1 "Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the temple of Dagon and set it by Dagon. 3 And when the people of Ashdod arose early in the morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. So they took Dagon and set it in its place again. 4 And when they arose early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the ground before the ark of the LORD. The head of Dagon and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold; only Dagon's torso was left of it. 5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day."

They avoided stepping on the threshold in some sort of foolish, superstitious fear of an idol, one whose miserable impotence had become so plainly manifest.

Their unfaithfulness is obvious. v.9b

Then, B. God will silence those who are arrogant in their wealth. v.10

The Fish Gate is somewhere in the northern wall of the city, providing entry to the new quarter. The gate was perhaps near where the fish markets were located, the place of successful commerce and the opportunity for great riches.

Those rich business would be crying out under the weight of God's judgment. His judgment would bring them, and their wailing to an end.

Those who trust in their wealth would have nothing left in which to trust! v.11

The people will be silenced. Their wealth will be taken away. v.13

Finally, C. God will silence those who are complacent. v.12

They are complacent, taking for granted that God's blessing would always be upon them. They would be like wine left on its dregs, thickened and hardened like wine which sat upon the solid matter which had settled to the bottom of the barrel. In wine making, I understand, that is good for a little while, for the wine acquires greater strength and better flavor, but before the wine was used, it had to be strained to free it from its impurities and refined. But if it remained too long upon those dregs, it became a syrupy, bitter, undrinkable liquid.

There is very meaningful symbolism in that. Isa. 25:6 "And in this mountain The LORD of hosts will make for all people A feast of choice pieces, A feast of wines on the lees, Of fat things full of marrow, Of well-refined wines on the lees."

That translation obscures it a bit, but the banquet of aged wine is wine that is allowed to sit upon the dregs for awhile to age, but is then refined--strained free from impurities. The complacent people of Judah were those who just sat upon the dregs of their own sin, whose lives were never strained free from the impurities.

Oh, how many people today are just like that. Just living happily ever after with all their sin, and thinking that God would never do anything about it. v.12b

Such complacency will be judged, for God calls all men to silence before him. He will silence covenant breakers.

And, III. GOD'S JUDGMENT WILL BRING GREAT DISTRESS TO COVENANT BREAKERS. The description of judgment gets even worse, if that is possible. It will be a day of great distress. There will be bitter cries. v.14-17

And the distress of that great day of judgment is described as the fire of God's jealousy. v.18

The fire of God's jealousy!!! What an awesome description.

Now remember what God's jealousy is. It is a holy zeal to protect the purity of that which is his. It is a holy zeal to protect the faithfulness of his relationship with his people. And to protect the faithfulness of a relationship, you have to exclude others from interfering.

Illus: If a married couple came to me for counseling, and told me that they had decided to strengthen their marriage by giving each other the freedom to engage in intimate relationships with other people, I would say that is absolutely foolishness. You strengthen a marriage by protecting its purity and its unique and loyal faithfulness. If you violate that faithfulness, you violate the marriage itself, by definition! And every married couple should be zealous, or jealous, to protect that relationship. We should separate ourselves from anyone who would be a threat to that purity, even if the threat is a picture, a magazine, or even a fantasy.

God is jealous to protect the purity of his relationship with his bride, his people. And that jealousy causes him to bring judgment upon those who break their covenant vows. That judgment is described as fire, the fire of his jealousy.

God is a consuming fire. v.18b That is his curse upon covenant breakers.

Deut. 4:23 "Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you."

Hebr. 12:28 "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear."

The reality is that God's judgment will bring great distress to covenant breakers, and that distress is described as darkness.

A. Spiritual darkness will come as the consequences of sin. v.15

What magnificent poetry! What an eloquent description of the consequences of sin. Look at how those words are accumulated, one after another. v.15

Words of darkness, spiritual darkness. v.16 Words of warfare. v.17a

Words of darkness again, but now much more personal. Blindness. You should note that blindness was one of the curses of the covenant mentioned in Deut. 28.

Deut. 28:28 "The LORD will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart. 29 "And you shall grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness; you shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and plundered continually, and no one shall save you."

The NT uses that same imagery of darkness and blindness.

Rom. 1:18 "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man--and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things."

"Their foolish hearts were darkened." That's God's judgment upon sin!

In their darkened hearts, they have nothing to look forward to except death. v.17b

How horrible.

And there is nothing that they will be able to do about it! B. Spiritual darkness is incurable by human effort. v.18

That's Zephaniah's message, a message for the people of Judah, a message of judgment. God kept his word, and that judgment did come, the judgment and distress of deep spiritual darkness.

But having said all that, let me say one more thing. If you've lost interest or fallen asleep, wake up. Having preached all this time about God's judgment upon Judah, let me say this--it was into this darkness that God sent his son.

Turn to the words of God's judgment in, Isa. 8:21 "They will pass through it hard pressed and hungry; and it shall happen, when they are hungry, that they will be enraged and curse their king and their God, and look upward. 22 Then they will look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into darkness."

Sounds a lot like Zephaniah, doesn't it?

Isa. 9:1 "Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, As when at first He lightly esteemed The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, And afterward more heavily oppressed her, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, In Galilee of the Gentiles. 2 The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined. 3 You have multiplied the nation And increased its joy; They rejoice before You According to the joy of harvest, As men rejoice when they divide the spoil. 4 For You have broken the yoke of his burden And the staff of his shoulder, The rod of his oppressor, As in the day of Midian. 5 For every warrior's sandal from the noisy battle, And garments rolled in blood, Will be used for burning and fuel of fire. 6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this."

"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light." Today, I proclaim to you that Jesus is that great light.

God's judgment upon the covenant breakers of Israel was all part of his eternal plan to send his own son into that darkness as the light of the world. And so, even as these words of judgment are read, words that also remind us of the judgment to come at the end of the age, I urge you to repent of your sin and turn to Christ in faith, so that you may escape this judgment.

And that's exactly where we will pick up next week, Zeph. 2:1 "Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, O undesirable nation, 2 Before the decree is issued, Or the day passes like chaff, Before the LORD'S fierce anger comes upon you, Before the day of the LORD'S anger comes upon you! 3 Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the LORD'S anger."

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