TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
After their reigns, God allowed a righteous king, Josiah, to reign. He renovated the Temple and brought the Word of God back to the people. This resulted in a spiritual revival in which the people repented and turned back to the LORD. Judah was a small kingdom surrounded by powerful enemies. But through God, this oppressed nation had hope again.
To encourage their faithfulness, Zephaniah exposed the sins of Judah’s rulers. He exhorted the Jews to look at the way God judged her neighboring nations as a motivation to accept His correction. Zephaniah makes it clear that the Lord God is in control, guiding them until the time when the Messiah comes. This anointed leader will come at the end of days. He will be God’s Son. In our scripture for today, the Judeans are urged to seek God, to succumb to God, and to serve God. Only through God can they be sheltered from the hot breath of God’s anger.
The Bible includes hundreds of prophecies about the Messiah, and each and every one of them are fulfilled in only one person…Jesus the Christ. In the midst of a message of judgment, Zephaniah brings a message of mercy, hope, and restoration for that small remnant who surrender to Him. Jesus said that broad is the way to destruction, but narrow is the way to salvation, and few find it. As you read these verses, make a renewed commitment to quit following the crowds to be part of the chosen few who love, serve, and are saved by the LORD!
Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord’s anger. (Zephaniah 2:3). The book of Zephaniah is a message to Judah and to the surrounding nations. Judah was coming out of a dark time in their history having endured the reigns of Manasseh and Amon, two of their most evil kings who worshipped pagan Gods and engaged in horrible perverse practices.
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