WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:04.559 Let's turn our attention to God's Word and let's read the text that we will study together this morning. 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:08.800 We're going to read Zephaniah chapter 2 beginning from verse 5. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:12.560 And this morning we'll go all the way through chapter 3 and verse 8. 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:15.519 So let's begin our time for by reading from God's Word. 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:21.519 Would you look down at your copy of God's word and let's read chapter 2 beginning in verse 5? 00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:24.879 God's word says this. 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:31.199 Woe to you, inhabitants of the seacoast, you nation of the Carathites. 00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:38.719 The word of Yahweh is against you, O Canaan land of the Philistines, and I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left. 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:44.159 And you, O sea coast, shall be pastures with meadows for shepherds and folds for flocks. 00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:53.280 The sea coast shall become the possession of the remnant of the house of Judah, on which they shall graze, and in the houses of Ashkelon they shall lie down at evening. 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:57.840 For Yahweh their God will be mindful of them and restore their fortunes. 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:04.879 I have heard the taunts of Moab and the revilings of the Ammonites, how they have taunted my people and made boasts against their territory. 00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:16.480 Therefore, as I live, declares Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, Moab shall become like Sodom, and the Ammonites like Gomorrah, a land possessed by nettles and salt pits and a waste forever. 00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:22.319 The remnant of my people shall plunder them and serve and the survivors of my nation shall possess them. 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:30.159 This shall be their lot in return for their pride, because they taunted and boasted against the house of Yahweh of hosts. 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:39.680 Yahweh will be awesome against them, for he will famish all the gods of the earth, and to him shall bow down each in its place all the lands of the nations. 00:01:40.239 --> 00:01:43.680 You also, O Kushites, shall be slain by my sword. 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:51.040 And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria, and he will make Nineveh a desolation, a dry waste like the desert. 00:01:51.280 --> 00:02:02.879 Herds shall lie down in her midst, all kinds of beasts, even the owl and hedgehog shall lie in her capitals, a voice shall hoot in the window, devastation will be on the threshold, for her cedar work will be laid bare. 00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:09.520 This is the exultant city that lives securely, and said in her heart, I am, and there's no one else. 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:15.039 What a desolation she has become, a lair for wild beasts. 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:18.800 Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:23.680 Woe to her, who is rebellious and defiled the oppressing city. 00:02:23.919 --> 00:02:28.719 She listens to no voice, she does not trust in Yahweh, she does not draw near to her God. 00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:35.199 Her officials within her are roaring lions, her judges are evening wolves that leave nothing till the morning. 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:42.080 Her prophets are fickle, treacherous men, her priests profane what is holy, they do violence to the law. 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:47.439 Yahweh within her is righteous, he does no injustice. 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:53.759 Every morning he shows forth his justice, each day he does not fail, but the unjust knows no shame. 00:02:54.479 --> 00:03:00.400 I have cut off nations, their battlements are in ruins, I have laid waste their streets, so that no one walks in them. 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:04.319 Their cities have been made desolate, without a man, without an inhabitant. 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:11.759 I said, Surely, you will fear me, you'll accept correction, then your dwelling would not be cut off according to all that I have appointed against you. 00:03:12.639 --> 00:03:16.639 But all the more they were eager to make all their deeds corrupt. 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:22.560 Therefore, wait for me, declares Yahweh, for the day when I raise up to seize the prey. 00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:34.240 For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger, for in the fire of my jealousy all the earth shall be consumed. 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:36.479 This is the word of God. 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:47.759 In his classic novel, John Kennedy Toole, the novel's name is A Confederacy of Dunces. 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:53.039 It's all about this incredibly self-important, wild protagonist. 00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:57.199 In that novel, he the protagonist utters this really remarkable line. 00:03:57.439 --> 00:04:04.080 He says, I mingle with my peers or no one, and since I have no peers, I mingle with no one. 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:22.000 Because the scripture proclaimed from the beginning to the end this axiomatic truth that God alone is exalted. 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:25.680 That in fact it's God alone who is in a category all to himself. 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:34.879 In contrast to the ever-present tendency of human beings to exalt themselves, God says he alone is exalted and will share his glory with no one. 00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:37.360 From the beginning to end, we see this in Scripture. 00:04:51.519 --> 00:04:53.600 I am Yahweh and there is no other. 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:58.319 And in fact, as God acts in history, he acts in order to reveal this reality. 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:12.959 In a conversation between Moses and Pharaoh in Exodus in chapter 8, Moses tells Pharaoh that God is going to act to judge Egypt and redeem Israel in order that you may know that there is no one like Yahweh our God. 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:26.399 And as he redeems Israel and he begins to work through them in history, Solomon in 1 Kings chapter 8 is acutely aware of this reality that God works through Israel so that all the peoples of the earth may know that Yahweh is God. 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:27.680 There is no other. 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:36.879 This is why over and over the refrain of the Scriptures is a call to all peoples everywhere, as we see in Psalm 148, to worship the Lord. 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:40.800 Praise the name of Yahweh, for his name alone is exalted. 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:43.680 His majesty is above earth and heaven. 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:46.959 This is the axiomatic truth of Scripture: that there is one God. 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:49.279 He is absolutely, entirely unique. 00:05:49.439 --> 00:05:51.439 He is solitary and self-existent. 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:53.360 He alone deserves to judge the world. 00:05:53.519 --> 00:05:57.360 He alone is worthy of your worship because he alone is sovereign. 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:13.120 As we study this text this morning, we're going to see that in Zephaniah chapter 2, God's Word reveals to us three particular ways that God is sovereign over his world. 00:06:13.360 --> 00:06:18.319 Three ways that God reveals his sovereignty over his world. 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:22.720 Let's study this text together, beginning in chapter two, verse five. 00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:26.560 And what we see is the first thing is that God is sovereign over all people. 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:33.519 God is sovereign over all people, and that's really what it's on display in chapter 2, verse 5, down to the end of chapter 2. 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:40.720 That God is absolutely sovereign over all people, and he reveals this in his judgment of all the peoples of the earth. 00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:45.279 That's what we just read in chapter 2, that God is going to judge all the peoples of the earth. 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:51.439 I want to go through the text kind of as an overview, and then we'll pull out a few observations from the text together. 00:06:51.519 --> 00:06:54.319 So let's just start in verse 5, where the announcement begins. 00:06:54.399 --> 00:06:56.399 In verse 5, woe to you. 00:06:56.639 --> 00:07:00.160 That's prophetic language that God is going to announce judgment. 00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:02.399 Where's this judgment directed? 00:07:02.560 --> 00:07:06.959 Well, verse 5 says, Woe to you, inhabitants of the seacoast, you nation of the Karaathites. 00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:13.759 The Carothites is an old term for those people originating from Crete, which is probably the geographical origin of the Philistines. 00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:19.279 And in fact, God then specifically addresses the Philistines who live in the land of Canaan on the seacoast of Israel. 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:20.639 God is going to judge them. 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:22.639 Notice what he promises in verse 5. 00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:26.079 I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left. 00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:29.279 That is complete annihilation, comprehensive judgment. 00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:47.839 And God continues to announce judgment on the peoples of the earth in verse 8, where he redirects his attention to Moab and Ammon and says in verse 9, As I live, declares Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, Moab shall become like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah, a land possessed by nettles and salt pits and a waste forever. 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:52.560 That's comprehensive judgment on the surrounding peoples around Israel. 00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:57.759 And God goes further in verse 12, where we get this little insight into the extent of God's judgment. 00:07:57.920 --> 00:08:03.199 Notice verse 12, which reads, You also, O Cushites, shall be slain by my sword. 00:08:03.279 --> 00:08:08.879 Now the Cushites, that's the region south of Egypt, so Ethiopia and modern Sudan. 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:18.160 And it's often used this this language of the Cushites is used in Scripture to speak of people far beyond the borders of Israel, who often Israel would have no communication or interaction with. 00:08:18.319 --> 00:08:26.480 And yet God's judgment is not just localized around the region of Israel, but it's over all the peoples of the earth, the far-flung places of the earth. 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:28.480 God's judgment stretches everywhere. 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:31.360 He's totally sovereign over everyone. 00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:44.480 And then he brings this announcement of his universal judgment to a culmination in verse 13, where he says, He'll stretch out his hand to the north and destroy Assyria, and he'll make Nineveh a desolation, a dry waste, like the desert. 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:48.720 There's two ways in which this particular passage really brings this chapter to a culmination. 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:54.960 One of those is that the last people that God addresses in this chapter is the most powerful people in this day. 00:08:55.279 --> 00:09:02.720 The Assyrian nation, in the time when Zephaniah prophesied in the 7th century BCE, is the most powerful global force in the ancient world. 00:09:02.879 --> 00:09:05.120 They have a multi-international empire. 00:09:05.279 --> 00:09:12.320 They are absolutely extravagant in their slaughter and their luxury as they plundered the surrounding peoples. 00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:24.159 Archaeology has discovered that their castles, or rather their palaces, we would probably prefer to say, were absolutely extravagant and demonstrated technological advances beyond any of their neighbors. 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:44.960 What they reveal is that the palaces were grand, filled with paneling of cedar and wood from around the world, containing huge statues of winged bulls and lions and reliefs painted in bright colors all around the palace that depicted the victorious campaigns of the kings and hunting scenes, just to show the kind of luxury that they lived in. 00:09:45.279 --> 00:09:59.919 And that kind of nation, the most sophisticated, advanced, powerful nation, is the one that God culminates on in verse 14, where he says, Herds will lie down in her mists, all kinds of beasts, even the owl and the hedgehog, which are not animals of prey. 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:06.240 That is just wild, wandering little hedgehogs, are going to be able to cozy up in the bed the king now occupies. 00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:15.039 Because God is going to bring judgment, and that place will be empty, it will be a wasteland, as God says in verse 15, a lair for wild beasts. 00:10:15.840 --> 00:10:29.440 So it's the culmination because God is driving towards this climax where he says, even the most sophisticated, advanced, and lofty peoples in the world will be brought low before the judgment of God, because God is the divine, sovereign judge over all people. 00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:37.840 But there's a second way in which this text is the culmination of the chapter, and that is it's the culmination of the geographical extent of God's judgment. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:38.879 Did you notice? 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:46.000 There are four people groups God addresses this judgment towards, and they represent the four directions of the earth. 00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:50.559 You notice the first people he addresses in verse 5 are those people on the seacoast. 00:10:50.639 --> 00:10:52.879 That's those to the west of Israel. 00:10:53.120 --> 00:10:56.240 Then verse 8 and 9 are about Moab and Ammon. 00:10:56.399 --> 00:10:59.840 Those are people groups who lie to the east of Israel, across the Jordan. 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:04.080 Then verse 12, the Cushites, those are the peoples that are south of Israel. 00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:10.240 And finally, verse 13, God will also stretch his hand to the north, north, east, south, west, comprehensive, universal. 00:11:10.399 --> 00:11:14.720 God is the absolute divine sovereign judge over everyone, everywhere. 00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:16.159 No one escapes his judgment. 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:17.279 There's nowhere you can hide. 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:18.399 Would you go to the heavens? 00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:19.840 Would you go to the bottom of the sea? 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:25.919 There he is, the divine sovereign judge who will bring everyone before his throne. 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:32.000 This is why Psalm 96 declares Say among the nations, Yahweh reigns. 00:11:32.240 --> 00:11:34.799 Yes, the world is established, it will never be moved. 00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:37.279 He will judge the peoples with equity. 00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:42.240 All people everywhere will become before the judgment seat of this God. 00:11:44.159 --> 00:11:47.039 Now that's an astonishing claim. 00:11:47.279 --> 00:11:56.480 It should humble us, but I think in the course of seeing and understanding the teaching of Scripture regarding the judgment of God, there are questions that arise, aren't there? 00:11:56.639 --> 00:11:57.120 Are there not? 00:11:57.360 --> 00:12:09.919 In the course of my ministry, I've discovered one of the quickest questions to arise in people's minds when they hear this teaching from the Scriptures is what about these people beyond Israel who don't know much about Israel's God? 00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:11.519 How why would God judge them? 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:18.159 Or the way the question is usually posed in the 21st century in the church is what about people who haven't heard the gospel? 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:24.960 Will God judge people and condemn them for not believing in a Christ whom they have not heard of? 00:12:25.679 --> 00:12:27.360 It's a legitimate question. 00:12:27.679 --> 00:12:32.080 And the place to go with legitimate questions is to the scriptures, which has divine answers. 00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:36.559 And in fact, I think the best place to go, the kind of the classic location to go to begin to answer this question. 00:12:36.639 --> 00:12:43.679 Of course, Scripture has much to say of this, but a concise location to go to to answer this question is to listen to the Apostle Paul. 00:12:43.919 --> 00:12:52.320 Paul, who himself in Romans chapter 15 says his ambition is to go to Spain because he wants to proclaim the gospel in places where he's not yet been named. 00:12:52.960 --> 00:13:03.279 And so let's ask Paul, in your mind, because you think it's so important to get the gospel to every people group, every language on the planet, what happens to those peoples if they don't hear of Christ? 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:10.879 And Paul's answer for us is in Romans chapter 1 and chapter 2, and I think it's worth looking at those texts for just a moment. 00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:14.720 We'll look in Romans chapter 1 first and we'll see two truths in Romans chapter 1. 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:22.879 In Romans 1 and 2, Paul is going to give us two bases upon which God will judge all the peoples of the earth, even those who haven't heard the gospel. 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:31.440 So in Romans chapter 1, we see that God has revealed the truth about God in creation, and upon that basis, all people will give an account to God. 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:34.240 Look at the screen, we'll read this from Romans and chapter 1. 00:13:34.320 --> 00:13:38.960 Paul says, What can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:50.720 For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made, so they are without excuse. 00:13:51.120 --> 00:14:02.639 So Paul teaches that God has revealed enough of the truth of the Creator in the created world that all people know there is a God, and they are responsible for the revelation of God in the natural creation. 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:06.240 Psalm 19 says, the heavens declare the glory of God. 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:19.840 But the twin truth that goes with this reality that God's revealed himself in the created world is that all people everywhere suppress that truth and unrighteousness and exchange the truth about God to worship the creation instead. 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:40.799 Notice the next sentence where Paul continues and says, For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened, claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:41.919 You see these two truths? 00:14:42.080 --> 00:14:48.639 One, that God has revealed himself in creation, so all people are accountable for the reality that God has revealed himself in creation. 00:14:48.879 --> 00:14:58.799 And all people naturally in their sins suppress that truth and exchange the truth about God for a lie and worship creation rather than the creator. 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:02.799 But there's a second basis upon which God will bring all peoples to judgment. 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:10.000 That is, not only has he revealed himself in creation, he has also revealed his moral law written on the human heart. 00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:22.639 That's the second basis that Paul teaches to us in Romans and chapter 2, where he says, For when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 00:15:22.799 --> 00:15:23.279 Why is that? 00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:30.240 Why are Gentiles a law to themselves, though they don't have the revelation, this the special revelation of God's law in the scriptures? 00:15:30.480 --> 00:15:46.399 That's because they show the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. 00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:49.440 So God has written his law on the heart. 00:15:49.519 --> 00:15:52.960 It's revealed in the moral conscience that every human being has. 00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:55.279 Every human being has a conscience. 00:15:56.720 --> 00:16:01.840 The conscience is the soul's warning system, as pain is the body's warning system. 00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:12.799 My young one-year-old son puts his fingers in between the door and his sister slams it and he says, ouch, and he learns don't put your fingers in the door when your sister's in a hurry. 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:24.879 So, as pain is the body's warning system that instructs us, so the conscience is the soul's warning system that instructs us when we've violated God's moral law. 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:31.519 So our conscience tells us, you have done something wrong, ouch, you feel guilt in your conscience. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:34.879 Every human being has the law of God written on their conscience. 00:16:34.960 --> 00:16:37.039 Now their conscience is muddied by sin. 00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:52.799 Our conscience is like a window that has muddy been muddied up, so it allows some light in, it allows some truth of God's moral law in, and we're convicted when we do things we know are wrong, but every human conscience is muddied up and is not a perfect revelation of God's moral law. 00:16:52.879 --> 00:17:02.720 But the extent to which we have a functioning conscience that reveals God's moral law, we will be held accountable before God on the day that God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:10.000 That is, God is going to hold you accountable for every way you have violated his moral law that's been written on your heart. 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:16.480 A classic way to understand this text is through a little illustration of the divine recorder. 00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:22.079 That is, imagine that God had a recording device that he tied around the neck of every human being. 00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:39.440 And the way this recording device works is that every time you pass a moral judgment, either you think in your mind or say with your lips, you shouldn't whatever, fill in the blank, be vindictive, lie, chill, steep, be immoral, be unreliable, whatever moral judgments you pass off, this recording device picks that up. 00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:48.079 And then as you go through your life, it also records every time you violate that standard, both in your actions, your words, and even your thoughts. 00:17:48.960 --> 00:18:03.759 Well, on the day of Christ Jesus, God could simply lift that recording device off your neck, play it back to you, and on the basis of the way you have violated God's moral law written on your heart, you would be accountable to before God, and you would be guilty before the holy God of the universe. 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:15.920 What Paul is teaching is that all people everywhere both have the revelation of God in creation, which they suppress in unrighteousness, and they have the law of God written on their heart, which they violate every day. 00:18:16.079 --> 00:18:21.440 All people everywhere stand in need of the gospel, and apart from the gospel, no one will be saved. 00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:25.759 And in fact, you might say, well, that's the New Testament. 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:26.799 What about the Old Testament? 00:18:27.039 --> 00:18:28.640 What about these angry prophets? 00:18:28.880 --> 00:18:33.599 The angry prophets of Israel just seem like they're just shouting at all the Gentiles around them. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:50.720 But if you read the prophets closely and you listen to the message they convey, you will find that the prophets accuse the Gentile nations on the same basis that Paul accuses the Gentiles in his day, for suppressing the truth of God in creation and for violating the moral law written on the heart. 00:18:50.960 --> 00:19:02.960 And as we go back to Zephaniah chapter 2, we find that Zephaniah in particular zeroes in on what Paul teaches in Romans 1, that all people have exchanged the truth about God and have worshipped idols instead. 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:11.039 Some of the other prophets hone in on the particular sinful acts that Gentile nations engage in by which they violate the law of God written on their heart. 00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:13.119 Amos chapter 1, for instance. 00:19:13.359 --> 00:19:18.240 You'll notice that Zephaniah addresses the Moabites in chapter 2, verse 8. 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:24.079 Well, in Amos chapter 1, verse 13, Amos singles out particular ways that Moab has sinned. 00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:27.200 He accuses them of murdering women and children. 00:19:28.079 --> 00:19:39.680 Some of the prophets zero in on this, violating the law of God, but Zephaniah wants you to note, and we'll just look at a couple verses, zeroes in on the reality that all people everywhere suppress and exchange the truth of God revealed in the created world. 00:19:39.839 --> 00:19:40.880 Notice in chapter two. 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:43.519 Look at, let's look at verse 10. 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:46.079 God says, He's bringing judgment on Moab. 00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:49.519 He says this will be their lot in return for their pride. 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:54.640 Because they raised themselves up and taunted and boasted against the people of Yahweh of hosts. 00:19:54.720 --> 00:19:58.160 They exchanged the truth about God and exalted themselves instead. 00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:10.640 Then down in verse 15, God's word to Assyria, this is the exaltant city that lives securely, that said in her heart, I am, and there is no one else, the sin of exchanging the truth about God and exalting oneself. 00:20:10.799 --> 00:20:19.839 All of this is fundamental and undergirds the reality we find in verse 11 that's ever present in all nations of the earth, the worship of false gods rather than the true God. 00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:23.119 So verse 11 says, Yahweh will be awesome against them. 00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:27.359 He will famish all the gods of the earth. 00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:39.680 This is the basic reality upon which God is going to bring the nations to judgment, for exchanging the truth of God for a lie, and worshiping and serving the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever, amen. 00:20:39.920 --> 00:20:42.240 This is why Paul is eager to get the gospel everywhere. 00:20:42.400 --> 00:20:49.759 This is why, if we can go back for a second to Psalm 96, we find that Psalm 96 says that we have to say among the nations, the Lord reigns. 00:20:49.920 --> 00:21:01.839 You have to declare the truth of God to all the nations, because apart from the knowledge of the true God, through his scriptures, the gospel that God has sent his son into the world to die for the nations, no one can be saved. 00:21:04.480 --> 00:21:06.720 Which is why we send missionaries. 00:21:06.960 --> 00:21:15.599 It's why when you go into the ministry tables, you will find that we send missionaries all over the world because we believe every person on the earth needs to hear of Jesus. 00:21:15.839 --> 00:21:26.559 And that's why we try to equip you to go across the street and share the gospel with your neighbors because if you live in Washington, D.C., you don't have to go very far to find people who do not know Jesus. 00:21:28.079 --> 00:21:32.559 But the message of the scripture is that God is a sovereign judge over all people everywhere. 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:34.480 He's going to bring judgment. 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:40.079 And he is going to bring salvation through his people to the nations, which leads us to the second point. 00:21:40.160 --> 00:21:43.359 We've seen that God is sovereign over all people. 00:21:43.519 --> 00:21:50.960 But the second truth that we see in Zephaniah is as we transition to chapter three, God is particularly sovereign over his people. 00:21:52.880 --> 00:21:59.680 Solomon told us in 1 Kings chapter 8 that God is working through Israel so all the nations of the earth can know that Yahweh. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:01.680 Is God and there is no other. 00:22:01.839 --> 00:22:03.039 But there's a problem. 00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:10.720 The problem is that in chapter 3, verse 1, you'll notice God says, Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled. 00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:19.359 That's that is the same prophetic denunciation, the same prophetic cry of condemnation that God announced in verse 5 of chapter 2 against all the nations. 00:22:19.519 --> 00:22:35.279 God is now announcing against his own people Israel, woe to her, who's rebellious and defiled, who's defiled by her sin, who has been privileged to receive revelation of the true God, and has turned her back on him. 00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:47.119 So the way that the prophet Zephaniah constructs his prophecy is we saw last week in chapter one, he begins by examining Israel, then turns to say, I'm going to judge all the nations. 00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:49.200 There's going to be a day in which I make everything right. 00:22:49.279 --> 00:22:51.759 And Israel had been the victim of injustice. 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:59.519 And it should be good news that there is a day in which God is going to right every wrong in the world, and no injustice will be left untouched. 00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:08.000 But then he comes back to Israel, he says, But that's not necessarily good news for you, because you have been defiled yourself. 00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:11.359 And in fact, your sin is worse. 00:23:12.319 --> 00:23:18.559 You notice if you trace with me in chapters 2, 3, and 4, God details what particular sins he's concerned about. 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:23.440 Notice in chapter 3, verse 2, he condemns four particular sins of Israel. 00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:33.279 Verse 2, God says, She listens to no voice, she accepts no correction, she does not trust in Yahweh, she does draw not draw near to her God. 00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:40.319 And if you'll pause for a second and just examine the particular sins God calls out in this text, you'll notice there's a progression. 00:23:40.799 --> 00:23:44.000 That is, this is the way that God wants his people to draw near to him. 00:23:44.160 --> 00:23:46.319 This is the relationship he wants with you. 00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:55.680 To listen to his voice, to hear the truth of Scripture, to hear the proclamation of God's word and to hear it and then to receive correction. 00:23:55.759 --> 00:24:12.400 That is, as God's word comes to you and confronts your sin and humbles your pride and exposes your arrogance and your self-deceit to receive that correction, to receive that confrontation, and then trust in the Lord, to receive the reality that yes, I have sinned against this God. 00:24:12.559 --> 00:24:14.400 Yes, I am guilty before a divine judge. 00:24:14.559 --> 00:24:25.119 I do deserve to be punished for my sins, and yet this God has simultaneously provided a way of escape, a way of salvation, a way of mercy, a way of acceptance, and to trust him. 00:24:25.839 --> 00:24:27.599 That his way of salvation is complete. 00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:35.680 It's not based on something that I would do for him, it's based entirely in God's sovereign act to make a way to receive me and to trust him. 00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:55.759 And because you trust in this God's act to provide salvation to you, you can now draw near to him with a heart full of gladness, with joy that this God is so holy, he sees and exposes all of your sin, and he's so loving and so kind, he endured the punishment that sin deserves himself, so that he can draw you in. 00:24:56.079 --> 00:25:00.720 God wants you to hear, to accept, to trust and draw near to him. 00:25:01.279 --> 00:25:05.759 And the reason he's condemning Israel is because they did not do that. 00:25:09.839 --> 00:25:21.599 So having condemned these four sins, he then goes further in verses three and four, and he begins to examine individuals, offices of Israel that were supposed to lead the people in this lifestyle of approaching God. 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:30.000 You notice verse three, he says, Her officials within her are roaring lions, that is, they're seeking someone to devour, to exploit people. 00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:34.319 And her judges are evening wolves that leave nothing till morning. 00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:38.000 That is, they're sneaking around, they're devouring people, they leave nothing behind. 00:25:38.240 --> 00:25:43.039 Verse 4 Her prophets are fickle, treacherous men, fickle in the sense that they're unreliable. 00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:50.799 They don't give you reliably the word that God gave to them, they make up their own words and so treacherously deceive people away from God instead of towards him. 00:25:51.359 --> 00:26:00.559 Then finally, her priests profane what is holy because they don't exalt God, they don't revere God, they exalt themselves and so do violence to the law. 00:26:02.160 --> 00:26:05.839 Now notice carefully the way that this condemnation of Israel is structured. 00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:13.440 There's a fourfold condemnation of their sin and a fourfold condemnation of the offices in Israel. 00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:18.880 It's structured to match the fourfold condemnation of the Gentile nations. 00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:21.440 God condemns four Gentile nations. 00:26:21.839 --> 00:26:25.599 Then he turns to Israel, four sins, four offices. 00:26:25.759 --> 00:26:38.799 He's communicating that just as comprehensive as his judgment will be over all the nations, his judgment over his own people, who say they trust him, who say they love him, will be just as thorough, just as absolute, if anything, more so. 00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:51.279 The reason his judgment on his people will be so absolute, so rigorous, so thorough is explained to us in verse 5, where God says, Yahweh within her, he's righteous. 00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:53.200 He does no injustice. 00:26:53.359 --> 00:26:56.000 Every morning he shows forth his justice. 00:26:56.079 --> 00:27:01.200 Each dawn, he does not fail, but the unjust knows no shame. 00:27:01.440 --> 00:27:07.119 That is, he's telling Israel, God has privileged you to reveal the truth of himself to you. 00:27:07.359 --> 00:27:13.519 He's revealed himself through his word, through his actions, through his faithfulness, through all that you have been exposed to. 00:27:13.680 --> 00:27:15.200 He's revealed the truth of him. 00:27:16.559 --> 00:27:19.440 He's not misled you, he's not misguided you. 00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:23.839 And it is with this God that you have to deal. 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:29.759 This God who has revealed himself, and then he goes even further and says, I've acted, I've given you every possible chance. 00:27:30.480 --> 00:27:38.240 So verse 6 he says, I've cut off nations, their battlements are in ruins, I've laid waste their streets, so that no one walks in them. 00:27:38.400 --> 00:27:41.359 Their cities have been made desolate without a man, without an inhabitant. 00:27:41.440 --> 00:27:44.000 And I said, Surely now you'll fear me. 00:27:44.240 --> 00:27:50.000 Surely now you'll accept corruption, then your dwelling would not be cut off according to all that I have appointed against you. 00:27:50.160 --> 00:27:51.839 Do you get what God is saying? 00:27:53.119 --> 00:28:02.000 He's telling Israel, In the course of your history, I've sent you prophets who have declared denunciations against the surrounding nations for their sins, and I've acted upon it. 00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:06.880 I've given you every evidence that I'm serious about judging sin. 00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:14.160 For example, we read in Zephaniah chapter 2, verse 13 and following that God was going to bring down Assyria. 00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:17.599 And in fact, just a few decades later, he did just that. 00:28:17.759 --> 00:28:25.680 In 612, the walls of Nineveh came a tumbling down as a Babylonian army came sweeping through Assyria and destroyed Nineveh. 00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:28.880 God spoke and brought it to pass. 00:28:29.359 --> 00:28:34.319 And now he's saying, I gave you every warning shot that I possibly could have. 00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:44.640 If you don't pull up, if you do not lay down your weapons and stop fighting against me and give your life back to me, there will be nothing left but a final judgment. 00:28:47.359 --> 00:28:56.000 Because he says at the end of verse 7, Though I gave them every chance, they were all the more eager to make all their deeds corrupt. 00:28:56.559 --> 00:28:58.559 Fascinating little wordplay in verse 7. 00:28:58.799 --> 00:29:05.359 All the more eager, literally, is they got up early in the morning to make their deeds corrupt. 00:29:05.839 --> 00:29:15.759 In spite of all the revelation, in spite of every warning shot, they got up early, excited, eager to ignore God and pursue sin. 00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:23.200 And I think the question for us, people who profess to love Jesus Christ, is to ask, what do you get up early for? 00:29:23.519 --> 00:29:24.880 What are you eager for? 00:29:25.039 --> 00:29:26.400 What do you love? 00:29:29.119 --> 00:29:37.440 God wants his people to hear his voice, to accept his correction, to trust in him and draw near to him, to love him, to have zeal for him, to have joy in him. 00:29:37.680 --> 00:29:46.480 And God's calling us and saying, every warning shot in your life, every time you have recognized that God's knocking on my conscience and telling me you're wrong, pull up, pull up, pull up. 00:29:46.640 --> 00:29:47.839 Now is the time. 00:29:50.640 --> 00:29:54.240 To turn from sin and to come close to Christ. 00:29:55.279 --> 00:30:03.599 Because his word tells us that there is a day in which warning shots will cease, and all that will be left is a final day, we see in verse 8. 00:30:03.759 --> 00:30:08.000 Therefore, wait for me, declares Yahweh, for the day when I rise up to seize the prey. 00:30:08.079 --> 00:30:20.000 For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger, for in the fire of my jealousy all the earth shall be consumed. 00:30:23.279 --> 00:30:33.440 This God is absolutely sovereign over all people, particularly his people, who he is zealous for, zealous for their holiness, zealous for their hearts to love him. 00:30:34.880 --> 00:30:47.759 The final thing that we see in this text, the final display of God's sovereignty, is that this God who is going to judge is also a God who is zealous to redeem a people for his name, redeem a people who love him. 00:30:48.079 --> 00:30:52.079 And in fact, he is going to sovereignly accomplish that. 00:30:52.880 --> 00:30:58.400 As we go through the book of Zephaniah, starts with darkness as the judgment of God is announced. 00:30:58.480 --> 00:31:16.400 But as you read through the book and you listen closely, slowly there begins to be an echo that grows and grows and grows into a triumphant chorus that explodes in the end of chapter three with the joy of God and his sovereign salvation of his people Israel and a people from every nation and language in the world. 00:31:16.640 --> 00:31:19.119 And we're going to get there next week. 00:31:19.519 --> 00:31:32.000 But this week I think it would be helpful to conclude our study of this passage with the way, studying the way that echo begins to grow and grow and grow, because indeed it does just that through chapter 2. 00:31:32.559 --> 00:31:42.400 I want you to notice with me some of the ways that God begins to whisper about the salvation he's going to sovereignly achieve, and even in chapter 2, in the midst of his announcement of judgment. 00:31:42.640 --> 00:31:49.759 Go back to the beginning of chapter 2, where we started, in verse 5, and look in your Bibles at chapter 2 and verse 5 of Zephaniah. 00:31:50.079 --> 00:31:52.160 And notice something in this text. 00:31:52.640 --> 00:31:59.039 God says, Woe to you, inhabitants of the seacoast, the nation of the Karahites, the word of Yahweh is against you, but who's it against? 00:31:59.200 --> 00:32:00.880 It's against Canaan. 00:32:01.039 --> 00:32:02.559 That's interesting. 00:32:03.279 --> 00:32:07.839 That probably doesn't ring any bells because Canaan's a common word. 00:32:08.000 --> 00:32:08.720 We know that word. 00:32:08.799 --> 00:32:11.440 That's the land that God promised to Abraham and his descendants. 00:32:11.680 --> 00:32:19.519 And yet it should ring bells if we realize that that was not the word that the prophet in his time should have been using for that land. 00:32:19.920 --> 00:32:21.119 Here's what I mean. 00:32:21.359 --> 00:32:25.279 As Christians, we read the Bible both vertically and horizontally. 00:32:25.519 --> 00:32:33.200 We read the Bible vertically in that the whole scripture speaks with one unified voice because it's all inspired by one Spirit who speaks with a unified voice. 00:32:33.359 --> 00:32:36.319 All scripture comes from one author, the Holy Spirit. 00:32:36.559 --> 00:32:47.039 And we read the Bible horizontally because he inspired particular individuals in historical circumstances who spoke to particular people in historical circumstances. 00:32:47.359 --> 00:32:53.680 And the circumstances in which Zephaniah spoke, Canaan was not the word that was used to refer to that geographical region. 00:32:53.920 --> 00:32:55.440 It was an antiquated term. 00:32:55.519 --> 00:33:01.440 So if you read Kings and you read Samuel, you will find that there's no mention of Canaan in those books. 00:33:01.519 --> 00:33:02.960 It's not the way they referred to that land. 00:33:03.039 --> 00:33:05.279 And that's when Zephaniah was ministering. 00:33:05.519 --> 00:33:08.559 It was an antiquated term back from the time of the patriarchs. 00:33:08.640 --> 00:33:12.000 That's the term God used to promise the land of Canaan to Abraham. 00:33:12.160 --> 00:33:24.160 So when Zephaniah even announces his condemnation of Canaan, he's triggering to the Israelites, hey, remember, that land of Canaan that you never actually inherited, it's still going to be yours. 00:33:24.319 --> 00:33:29.519 God's going to make good on his promise, and though judgment is coming, through judgment, he'll achieve salvation. 00:33:29.759 --> 00:33:38.799 And that's exactly what he says in verse 7, where he promises explicitly that the sea coast will become the possession of the remnant of the house of Judah. 00:33:38.960 --> 00:33:40.000 And on that they'll graze. 00:33:40.079 --> 00:33:46.000 And in the houses of Ashkelon, they'll lie down on eating, they'll live luxurious lives, enjoying the blessing of God. 00:33:46.319 --> 00:33:50.079 And all this because Yahweh will be mindful of them. 00:33:50.559 --> 00:33:59.039 Which is an incredible little word where mindful is not talking about a mindfulness club at a you know, a coffee shop in Arlington. 00:33:59.839 --> 00:34:07.279 Mindfulness is one of the probably twelve different ways that this Hebrew word gets translated in our English versions, but it's a word that just means to visit. 00:34:07.440 --> 00:34:13.039 So sometimes God visits to judge sin, and sometimes he visits to provide salvation and provide for his people. 00:34:13.199 --> 00:34:15.199 It's the word that's used in the book of Ruth. 00:34:15.440 --> 00:34:22.880 When after the famine, God visited his people and into the famine and provided for them, and so Naomi and Ruth came back to Judah. 00:34:23.119 --> 00:34:26.880 That's the word that's used here, that God is going to remember his covenant with Abraham. 00:34:27.039 --> 00:34:32.079 He's going to be mindful of that covenant, and he's going to visit his people and fulfill his promise and give them the land. 00:34:32.159 --> 00:34:36.079 And when he restores their fortunes, another incredible little phrase. 00:34:36.239 --> 00:34:39.599 It's the same phrase that's used at the end of the story of Job. 00:34:39.920 --> 00:34:41.760 Job chapter 42, you remember the story? 00:34:41.920 --> 00:34:50.000 Job is a wealthy man who loses everything, maintains his trust in the Lord, and the conclusion of his story, God restores his fortunes. 00:34:50.079 --> 00:34:54.000 But you'll remember, God restores them even more than he had before. 00:34:54.239 --> 00:35:03.920 That's the language that's used here, that God is going to fulfill his word, remember his covenant with Abraham, and fulfill his promises to his people even more than his people could have imagined. 00:35:04.480 --> 00:35:06.639 That's there even in the midst of judgment. 00:35:06.719 --> 00:35:10.880 And you see another hint of God's promised salvation in the midst of judgment in verse 11. 00:35:10.960 --> 00:35:11.840 Look down your Bibles. 00:35:12.000 --> 00:35:24.400 In verse 11, where Yahweh promises that he'll be awesome against all the false gods of the of the earth, and to him shall bow down, each in its place, all the lands of the nations. 00:35:24.800 --> 00:35:28.800 There's going to be a people all over the world worshiping Yahweh. 00:35:28.960 --> 00:35:36.719 And the particular little phrase here, the lands of the nations, is an exact parallel to Genesis chapter 10, verse 5, which describes a table of nations. 00:35:36.880 --> 00:35:52.239 That is, after the flood, Noah's three sons had descendants spread over the face of the earth, the sons of Yepith, which are Japheth, which are supposed to be, the progenators of the people of the far-flung nations, of the far-flung islands and coastlands farthest away from Israel. 00:35:52.480 --> 00:35:53.920 That's the phrase that's used here. 00:35:54.079 --> 00:35:58.639 All the islands of the nations, all of the far-flung people of the earth, all of them. 00:35:58.800 --> 00:36:01.679 There will be representatives of every people who will worship Yahweh. 00:36:01.760 --> 00:36:03.199 That's what's echoed here. 00:36:03.679 --> 00:36:13.599 Even in the prophecies of judgment, God is still telling his people he will fulfill his covenant, and Israel will inherit the land, and they will enjoy the presence of God. 00:36:13.760 --> 00:36:23.599 He'll be their God and they'll be his people, but not just Israel, but a blessing will go through them to all the families of the earth, and they'll be saved, and they'll worship the God of Israel forever and ever. 00:36:25.360 --> 00:36:36.880 That's why, if you'll notice in verse 8, when God announces that if you do not repent, there is coming a day of judgment, but he says in verse 8, therefore wait for me. 00:36:38.000 --> 00:36:42.000 In other words, he's saying this is supposed to be good news that his judgment is coming. 00:36:42.480 --> 00:36:56.559 There's going to be a day when God judges all evil and rights every wrong, and there is a select group of people who will come through that judgment out the other side to inherit the earth forever. 00:36:57.440 --> 00:37:02.719 There is a people who will inherit the blessings of Abraham and enjoy the Lord's presence forever. 00:37:02.880 --> 00:37:03.760 Who are those people? 00:37:04.719 --> 00:37:15.199 Well, they are the people in chapter 2, verse 3 who meet the spiritual requirements, who seek the Lord, the humble of the land, who do his just commandments. 00:37:15.679 --> 00:37:20.320 They will be hidden on the day of the anger of Yahweh. 00:37:22.239 --> 00:37:25.280 This is where chapter 3, verse 8 has taken us. 00:37:25.519 --> 00:37:35.599 This call that there is a sovereign judge who is going to judge all people, particularly his people, and there is a way that you can be hidden in that judgment. 00:37:36.079 --> 00:37:51.199 A way that you can know that you know that when that judgment comes, and it certainly will come, that you will be hidden, you will be shielded, you will find a refuge from it, so you will come out the other side and join the covenantal blessings that God will reign on his people forever and ever. 00:37:51.360 --> 00:37:58.000 And the question that we should ask to conclude our time this morning is how can I know that? 00:38:00.239 --> 00:38:11.840 Because if we are honest, as we have seen, God is going to judge people for exchanging the truth of God for lying, worshiping and serving the creation rather than the creator, and we have all done that. 00:38:12.639 --> 00:38:18.719 And he will judge us for violating the law of God written on our hearts, and we've done that too. 00:38:19.760 --> 00:38:26.400 And he will judge people who have spurned his special revelation, and people in this room, that's probably us too. 00:38:28.960 --> 00:38:41.360 There is this reality that we have to stand up to, that the judgment announced in Zephaniah chapter 2 and 3, if it's really a holy judgment coming on real sins, then it really ought to come on us. 00:38:43.519 --> 00:38:53.760 But I also want you to see that even in Zephaniah chapter 2, there is a whisper that will turn into a triumphant cry soon, but there's a whisper now that says there is a way of salvation. 00:38:54.239 --> 00:39:02.239 And I want to show that to you just by finishing our study by noticing the way that God echoes throughout the scriptures about a coming Savior. 00:39:02.480 --> 00:39:14.559 The scripture simultaneously announces a coming universal salvation, and the prophets in different ways and different times also tell of a particular person who is coming to save people from that judgment. 00:39:14.800 --> 00:39:20.320 And to get there, I want you to notice the kind of language that the prophet Zephaniah uses to describe judgment in this text. 00:39:20.480 --> 00:39:22.480 There's a motif that runs through this text. 00:39:22.559 --> 00:39:24.559 Look at chapter 2, verse 4. 00:39:24.800 --> 00:39:28.639 In chapter 2, verse 4, he says that Ashcon will become a desolation. 00:39:28.800 --> 00:39:30.079 That's a key word there. 00:39:30.800 --> 00:39:31.679 Become a desolation. 00:39:31.760 --> 00:39:37.199 That is, when God brings his judgment upon a city or upon peoples, they're desolate, they're wasted, they're destroyed. 00:39:37.360 --> 00:39:41.039 That's a common word in the scriptures, but it's particularly used for God's judgment. 00:39:41.199 --> 00:39:44.320 And that word gets repeated throughout the rest of this prophecy. 00:39:44.480 --> 00:39:52.400 You notice down at the end of verse 9, as God turns his attention to Moab, he says, they will be a land possessed by nettles and salt pits, a waste forever. 00:39:52.480 --> 00:39:53.199 That's that same word. 00:39:53.280 --> 00:39:57.360 It's translated as waste forever, but it's the same Hebrew word, desolation. 00:39:57.840 --> 00:40:04.960 And then in chapter 15, God announces that Nineveh and Assyria are going to be a desolation. 00:40:05.119 --> 00:40:07.280 People will say, What a desolation she has become. 00:40:07.440 --> 00:40:10.079 This is the end of those who reject the true God. 00:40:10.559 --> 00:40:14.000 Well, there's one other audience in the prophetic announcement, isn't there? 00:40:14.079 --> 00:40:18.719 That's three people, three people groups, rather, who are said are going to become a desolation. 00:40:18.880 --> 00:40:25.119 The final group is the Cushites in verse 12, who the Lord says will be slain, that is, pierced by his sword. 00:40:25.280 --> 00:40:27.280 They'll be pierced by his sword. 00:40:27.679 --> 00:40:28.960 Here's the problem. 00:40:30.800 --> 00:40:34.239 As chapter 3, verse 5 says, God is righteous. 00:40:34.880 --> 00:40:44.559 And when he gives correction or chastisement, he intends it to bring you to repentance, but if it doesn't bring you to repentance, it will bring you to judgment. 00:40:46.400 --> 00:40:59.679 But if you read closely the unified voice of the prophets, you will find that the same language that the prophets use to describe God's divine judgment coming upon sinners is also used to describe God's divine judgment coming upon his Savior. 00:41:01.679 --> 00:41:06.800 One of the most important texts that describe the coming Savior in the Old Testament is, of course, Isaiah 53. 00:41:06.880 --> 00:41:10.079 And I want you to notice the language that's used to describe the Savior. 00:41:10.400 --> 00:41:12.320 Isaiah says he is the righteous one. 00:41:12.559 --> 00:41:26.559 Just as God is righteous and dec requires that you be righteous, this is the righteous one, my servant, who will make many to be accounted righteous, so they can be accepted by God, because he will bear their iniquities. 00:41:27.519 --> 00:41:33.280 And Isaiah goes on to describe, as he bears their iniquities, he's bearing the same judgment language that's in Zephaniah. 00:41:33.440 --> 00:41:41.360 As many are astonished at you, and this word that's translated astonished, it's the same Hebrew word that's translated desolation in Zephaniah chapter 2. 00:41:41.440 --> 00:41:46.880 That is, when this word is a noun, it describes the end of God's judgment, that cities become desolations. 00:41:47.039 --> 00:41:54.800 And when this word is used as a verb, it describes the way people are shocked and astonished as they see God's judgment come down upon sin. 00:41:55.039 --> 00:42:05.920 So here Isaiah is announcing that when people behold this Savior, they're going to be astonished because he'll be marred beyond human appearance, beyond human semblance, so that you can't even tell that he's of the children of man. 00:42:06.000 --> 00:42:11.760 That is, God's judgment will come down on him, and you'll see that the judgment of God has fallen on this person. 00:42:12.400 --> 00:42:18.960 He goes further to describe his receiving God's judgment as being pierced, the same word that's coming down on the Cushites. 00:42:19.119 --> 00:42:23.920 He's pierced, but for our transgressions, crushed, but for our iniquities. 00:42:24.159 --> 00:42:26.000 Upon him is the chastisement. 00:42:26.079 --> 00:42:28.880 That's the chastisement that Israel did not receive. 00:42:28.960 --> 00:42:30.719 In chapter 3, verse 2. 00:42:30.960 --> 00:42:36.800 That chastisement, that punishment for sin will fall upon the Savior and thereby bring us peace. 00:42:36.960 --> 00:42:40.480 Is by his wounds, God brings healing to us. 00:42:40.719 --> 00:42:59.039 You see the prophets speak with one unified voice, and they teach of an absolutely unique, solitary, sovereign God, who in his great, infinite holiness will bring judgment upon sin, and in his equally infinite love is willing to endure that judgment for you. 00:43:01.599 --> 00:43:05.519 So that as you examine the rest of Scripture, you see this day of the Lord is really a twofold day. 00:43:05.679 --> 00:43:26.000 There is coming a day in which God will bring judgment upon all the earth, and the way that you can know that you will be shielded in that day is by looking back two thousand years ago, where the first stage of this judgment was unleashed, not upon sinners, but upon the sinless Son of God, who drank the fullness of the wrath of God reserved for the sins of everyone who would ever believe in him. 00:43:26.320 --> 00:43:41.039 And if you would embrace Christ, if you would hear his voice and receive his correction and trust in him and draw near to him, you would find that you can know that you know that you will be secure in God's final day of judgment. 00:43:41.760 --> 00:43:48.719 Because when that day comes, you will find that that judge is the very one who already spilled his blood for you. 00:43:50.480 --> 00:43:59.440 This is the truth of the sovereign God who is more holy than you've ever imagined and more loving than you could even fathom, and he's asking you to draw near to him. 00:44:00.719 --> 00:44:02.239 Let's go before him in prayer. 00:44:03.840 --> 00:44:07.920 God, we ask that you would open the eyes of our hearts now to receive the truth of your word. 00:44:11.280 --> 00:44:13.519 We ask that you would convict us of our sin. 00:44:13.840 --> 00:44:29.440 We would ask that you would both convict us of the sins of commission, the ways in which we violated your law, and omission the ways in which we have been slovenly in our love for you and our our joy in you and our zeal for you. 00:44:29.599 --> 00:44:40.800 And we ask that you would comfort us with the truth that Christ has paid for all sins, that Christ is a savior for all time, able to save to the uttermost all who draw near to God through him. 00:44:41.199 --> 00:44:44.880 Lord, give us great joy, not in ourselves, but in knowing Jesus Christ. 00:44:45.119 --> 00:44:46.400 We pray this in his name. 00:44:46.639 --> 00:44:47.280 Amen. 00:44:48.320 --> 00:44:51.199 And now for a parting word from Pastor Jesse Johnson. 00:44:51.440 --> 00:44:52.639 Thank you for joining us today. 00:44:52.800 --> 00:44:54.000 If you're in the Washington, D.C. 00:44:54.159 --> 00:44:56.400 area, I would love to see you at Emmanuel Bible Church. 00:44:56.480 --> 00:45:02.000 Our service times and church information are on our website at ibc.church. 00:45:02.239 --> 00:45:05.599 For more information about the Master Seminary and their Washington, D.C. 00:45:05.760 --> 00:45:08.800 location, go to tms.edu. 00:45:09.360 --> 00:45:19.440 I hope this resource has been a blessing to you and it helps you seek the Lord daily, serve others around you, and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with boldness. 00:45:19.599 --> 00:45:21.199 May the Lord bless you.