Thursday, December 18, 2014

DBRP_Dec19_2014 Zeph1-2 Is56 Rev10


The concluding words of Habakkuk are the most often quoted and memorized. I cannot help but underline them for you by reading them again:

17Even though the fig trees have no blossoms,

and there are no grapes on the vines;

even though the olive crop fails,

and the fields lie empty and barren;

even though the flocks die in the fields,

and the cattle barns are empty,

18yet I will rejoice in the LORD!

I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!

19The Sovereign LORD is my strength!

He makes me as surefooted as a deer,e

able to tread upon the heights.

Now we turn to the book of Zephaniah. Constable tells us:

“Zephaniah” means “Yahweh hides [or has hidden],” “Yahweh’s watchman,” or “Yahweh treasured.” The uncertainty arises over the etymology of the prophet’s name, which scholars dispute. I prefer “Yahweh hides.”

Zephaniah was very likely the descendent of king Hezekiah, and he lived in the time of the reign of King Josiah. It seems likely that he preached to the upper echelons of society and it is probable that he helped inspire Josiah in his reforms. And since, like Nahum some years earlier, Zephaniah prophesied against Nineveh, he was probably writing between 635 and 625 BC. Like other prophets, he preached vehemently against idols. He also prophesied these important things:

  • A faithful remnant will be delivered from captivity.

  • The Gentile nations will be converted.

  • One day people everywhere, not only in Jerusalem, will worship God (2:11; Jhn. 4:21).

https://www.bible.com/bible/116/zep.1.nlt

 


 

We turn to Isaiah 56. Rather than commenting on verse Is. 55:11, as I bet some of you thought I would, I’m picking this section to remind you of instead:

8“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD.

“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.

9For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so my ways are higher than your ways

and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

I was struck recently how true it is that God’s thoughts are always counter-intuitive for humans. Take for instance what God says in this chapter: “Come to me. Seek me while I may be found. Come, I am offering eternal food and water for free. You don’t have to earn it.” It takes someone like Paul to tell us why God would do this. (If we earn it, we tend to pat ourselves on the back. And God wants all the glory to go to his Son.) But even with explanations in God’s Word, you can go to a huge number of churches who vastly misunderstand how God wants us to fully believe in Him for our salvation, and not in our own merit. Another way we misunderstand is by saying that ‘free food and water’ mean that people don’t need to repent. But in this chapter God says,

6Seek the LORD while you can find him.

Call on him now while he is near.

7Let the wicked change their ways

and banish the very thought of doing wrong.

Let them turn to the LORD that he may have mercy on them.

Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.

https://www.bible.com/bible/116/isa.56.nlt

 


 

We turn now to Rev. 10. Note that after some huge judgments in Revelation— such as at the end of chapter 6, the people on earth recognize God’s hand and react to the Almighty in some way, such as trying to hide from God. But in others they close their eyes to him— such as in chapter 9:

20But the people who did not die in these plagues still refused to repent of their evil deeds and turn to God. They continued to worship demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols that can neither see nor hear nor walk! 21And they did not repent of their murders or their witchcraft or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

https://www.bible.com/bible/116/rev.10

 


 

 

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