NOTES for Zep 3:1-20

The Book of the Prophet Zephaniah is short. We have already reached its final chapter. Yet how vividly its message is expressed! God is holy and can no longer endure sin, falsehood, and injustice among the people of Israel. He calls people to come to their senses and turn to Him, but they do not listen. He warns them of the approaching danger and promises to avert it if they remember God, but they pay no heed. Then no other path remains, and catastrophe—the destruction of Israel and Judah—is coming. Yet God is not only just but also merciful. Even in captivity He will call out to His people, and part of the people, the “remnant,” will turn back, humbly acknowledge their dependence upon God, and cast aside their pride. Then God will return His people from captivity to the Promised Land and restore the ruined kingdom. The book ends with a hymn of joy about radiant Zion and glorified Jerusalem.

Actual history confirmed the truth of these predictions, but the Old Testament prophecies are also important to us because they prefigure the movements of the soul, the personal history of every human being. We too can see here a description of our own path, heed the warnings in time, repent, and enter the Lord’s triumph in His New Jerusalem.