Ep. 203. Zephaniah | I Will Search Jerusalem With Lamps

EPISODE 203

I WILL SEARCH JERUSALEM: ZEPHANIAH

Zephaniah was a prophet during Josiah's reign. Remember that Josiah was king for 31 years. Jeremiah became a prophet during the 13th year of Josiah's reign. It is possible that Zephaniah and Jeremiah were contemporaries or that Zephaniah preceded Jeremiah by a couple of years.

We already know from Jeremiah's extensive book that the people of Judah were wayward and had abandoned the Lord, so nothing in Zephaniah really surprises us. The people succumbed to the gods/idols of the Philistines and even adopted their practices and traditions, like leaping over the threshold.

But like the prophets before and after him, Zephaniah ends with an encouraging word to the people that God will rebuild the nation and bring about justice and peace in the earth. Again, this has nothing (or at least very little) to do with the physical nation of Israel and everything (or at least mostly) to do with the spiritual kingdom of God and the New Jerusalem.

We tend to be shortsighted in our thinking and typically look for the physical restoration of all things rather than the spiritual one. Remember that Abraham was not looking for an earthly city but a heavenly one whose architect and builder was God. We too, ought to fix our eyes on the return of Christ and the making new of all things rather than a temporary, albeit beautiful and beneficial, blessing.

ADDITIONAL READING: 1 Samuel 5:1-5; Jeremiah 7:1-11; Joel 2:2; Amos 5:18-20; Ezekiel 7:19; Psalm 1; 1 Peter 1:13-15; Romans 8:18; Micah 4:6-7