August 7, 2020
Zephaniah 2:4-19
For Gaza shall be deserted, and Ashkelon shall become a desolation; Ashdod's people shall be driven out at noon, and Ekron shall be uprooted. Woe to you inhabitants of the seacoast, you nation of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is against you O Canaan, land of the Philistines; and I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left. And you, O seacoast, shall be pastures, with meadows for shepherds and folds for flocks. The seacoast 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.
For the Lord, their God will be mindful of the and restore their fortunes.
“I have heard the taunts of Moab and the reviling’s of the Ammonites, how they have taunted my people and made boasts against their territory. Therefore, as I live,” declares the Lord 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. The remnant of my people shall plunder them, and the survivors of my nation shall possess them.” This shall be their lot in return for their pride because they taunted and boasted against the people of the Lord of hosts. The Lord 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. You also, O Cushite’s, shall be slain by my sword. 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. Herds shall lie down in her midst, all kinds of beasts; even the owl and the hedgehog shall lodge in her capitals a voice shall hoot in the window; devastation will be on the threshold; for her cedar work will be laid bare. This is the exultant city that lived securely, that said in her heart, “I am, and there is no one else.” What a desolation she has become, a lair for wild beasts! Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.
In verse four, the Prophet is referring to four of the five Philistine cities that He will bring judgment on. But for Judah, they will be restored. It is unclear if it is referring to the physical or the spiritual. The nations around Judah were into taunting and God singles out Moab and the insults of the Ammonites. Never forget God makes promises, and this is what God promised for Moab and the Ammonites. God promised that Moab will be like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah and that His people would plunder them.
You and I are living in a time of ignorant people who hate and are hated, and they in their blindness of God’s love for them have become enemies of His Church. We the Church should be asking God to open their eyes before God brings judgment on them. If you’re asking for judgment and not mercy, that will not bring about judgment on them, and maybe harmful to you. I am asking the Lord to let certain leaders and powerful men and women not have a night that they do not see the judgment that God will bring on them in an everlasting hell if they do not repent, but I’m praying that their eyes will be open to His love for them. When one becomes prideful, they enter into a very dangerous place, followers of Christ or haters of Christ.
As you read verse 15, could that be you? Christian, have you now placed your faith in what government can do, have you placed your faith in our military, or nation? If so, you must repent and seek the face of God, for like the Assyrians and Babylonians, the USA will be judged.
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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