wrath

… as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD. – Joshua 24:15b

Chapter 3 begins with frustration and head shaking. (My thoughts in bold.)

1)) What sorrow awaits rebellious,
polluted Jerusalem,
the city of violence and crime!

Jerusalem may think that they can continue down a polluted, immoral, selfish path without consequences. God is clear, however, that they will not escape justice.

2)) No one can tell it anything;
it refuses all correction.
It does not trust in the LORD
or draw near to its God.

Sounds like what you may hear in school, in the workplace, propagated on TV shows. Those who are wise in their own eyes – Isaiah 5:21. They don’t know God, let alone have a relationship with Him.

3)) Its leaders are like roaring lions
hunting for their victims.
Its judges are like ravenous wolves
at evening time, who by dawn have
left no trace of their prey.
4)) Its prophets are arrogant liars
seeking their own gain. Its priests
defile the Temple by disobeying
God’s instructions.

Verses 3-4 describes the misguided leadership of the day. Leaders are supposed to guide, direct, help navigate people to safety and growth. Yet the leaders of the day did anything but that. Who are the leaders of our day? Music and movie/TV personalities, the “popular” kids at school? Who do we look up to? Who are we looking to when as we seek to know Truth? Are we complacent, satisfied with relative truth or do we seek and apply the absolute truth of God’s Word?

“Yet I will preserve 7,000 others in Israel who have never bowed down to Baal or kissed him!” –
1 Kings 19:18

Continuing in Zephaniah, Chapter 2:4-6, we’re told of God’s judgement and destruction of various cities. However, Zephaniah points out that there will be a remnant of people,
The few survivors of the tribe of Judah, a remnant, will pasture there. In the evening they will lie down in the houses of Ashkelon. The LORD their God will care for them; he will restore their prosperity, fortunes again. – Zephaniah 2:7

God goes on to say in verses 8-11, that Moab and Ammon will be judged and destroyed because they are mocking God-followers. They will receive the wages of their pride, laughing at the people of God. – Zeph. 2:10

God said He would also judge and destroy Ethiopia and Assyria, along with it’s great capital, Nineveh. Again because of their pride. A side note — For Zephaniah to predict the destruction of Nineveh 10 years before it happened would be equivalent to predicting the destruction of Tokyo, Moscow, or New York. Nineveh, like the our current epicenters, were the center for culture, technology, and beauty. Yet the entire city was destroyed so completely that the very existence was questioned until it was discovered, with great difficulty, by 19th-centry archaeologists. – (NLT study Bible notes)

No place, or person, is safe from the wrath of God. But a common tread throughout the Bible is the remnant. A small number, by comparison, of God-followers, who remain faithful to God through the whirlwind of life, and in turn, God promises to remain faithful to them.

Don’t get discouraged if you look around you, and you feel like everyone is “doing there own, selfish, thing”. Instead, trust that God will fulfill His promises. Ask Him to show you other people who desire to follow His ways. He will !! There is always a remnant of God-followers 🙂