Mining the Minors: Zephaniah (8)

Zephaniah gives us a brief glimpse in these closing verses of the glories of the millennial reign of Christ in Israel, maybe the earliest among the Minor Prophets and one of the more fully developed visions of the Bible’s version of our future to date. Zephaniah concentrates primarily on the impact that the presence of Christ will have on his earthly people and his restoration of their perpetually-divided and much-maligned nation.

Where will Christians be in all this? Good question.

We should not look too hard for hints about our future in Zephaniah, because we won’t find them. He can’t tell us, but we shouldn’t expect him to. He was a Judean, writing about the hopes of his own people. The specifics of the future blessing of the nations were really not his department. What we can say with certainty is that once believers are caught up in the clouds with the dead in Christ to meet the Lord in the air, “we will always be with the Lord”.

That’s good enough for me.

Zephaniah 3:14-20 — The King in Your Midst

“Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil. On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: ‘Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach. Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,’ says the Lord.”

“Daughter Of”

This final section of the book is addressed to the “daughter of Zion” and the “daughter of Jerusalem”. The expression “daughter of” occurs 175 times in the Old Testament, the vast majority of which are exactly what you would expect: references to the physical lineage of literal women. Figurative uses are rare. When Hannah told Eli she was not a “daughter of Belial”, she was making a statement about her character, and the ESV helpful renders the phrase as “worthless woman”.

These exact names appear for the first time in God’s response to Sennacherib of Assyria through Isaiah, when he mocked and raged during the siege of Jerusalem, and again in the Psalms. Isaiah and Jeremiah use the expression more than anyone else in the OT, often to describe other nations as well, such as the “daughter of Babylon” or “daughter of Edom”. The phrases carry the sense of character and lineage, and may be hopeful or sad, depending on the context. In this case, “daughter of” can only refer to the people who inhabit Israel at some future date very far away. When Zephaniah prophesied, the daughter of Zion would not shout or rejoice for thousands of years.

Reasons to Rejoice

The Lord gives his people two reasons to look forward to a hope for their nation that would not come in their own lifetimes: (1) that he will take away the judgments against Israel; and (2) that he will clear away Israel’s enemies. Having purged the future nation of all its evil and undesirable elements, the Lord will make way for the final glorious millennial state of Jerusalem and the entire nation that would later be described in great detail by Ezekiel and others. The Prince of Peace would first establish peace with God for his nation, and along with it, peace on all sides and freedom from every expression of hatred by Israel’s enemies.

The King of Israel

Peace and freedom from evil are ensured by the Lord in the midst of the people of God, not as a spiritual presence within the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies, hidden away from sight and ministered to by priests, but physically and personally present in Christ, embodied and accessible to all. “The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst,” and again, “The Lord your God is in your midst.”

Many of the other prophets speak of this, the greatest and most glorious era in human history. In Psalm 72, Solomon writes, “May he have dominion from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth! May desert tribes bow down before him, and his enemies lick the dust!” Daniel writes, “There came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.” Zechariah says something very similar to Zephaniah: “Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord. And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.” The Lord Jesus is king of Israel, but brings blessing to the entire world as a result.

Rejoicing and Exulting

Here is a wonderful promise: “He will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

God loves to bless his people. It makes him joyful to be able to give good things to those he loves. He longs to bring the sinner to a place of repentance and faith in order that he can pour out blessing on those who once were estranged from him. This is especially true of the city of Jerusalem and all that it represents. God has invested thousands of years in the thankless task of bringing its people to a saving knowledge of his Son. As the Lord Jesus himself said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem … How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” It’s a sad comment on the hardness of the human heart.

Jerusalem, its people, and the nation it represents have grieved the heart of God by rejecting his Son, first crucifying him, then denying his resurrection and identity as God’s Messiah. When they humble themselves and finally “look on him whom they have pierced” and mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, that moment will be as delightful to God as the return of the prodigal son was to the father in the parable: he will kill the fatted calf and rejoice. And when God himself celebrates, everyone celebrates with him.

Mourning for the Festival

The word translated “festival” here is môʿēḏ, meaning an appointed time or appointed gathering. It is used of all the major events for which the nation of Israel would congregate around the tabernacle and later at the temple in Jerusalem, including Sabbaths, feast days and new moons. Jews today still celebrate the Sabbath and the feasts of YHWH, but in synagogues or homes, mostly among the nations, and never as a single, united congregation. When Christ is king of Israel, all those devout believers of Israelite descent all over the world who have longed for the regathering of their nation and the restoration of all things will receive the realization of all their hopes. The remnant of Israel, those who have felt the reproach of being an exiled people over the millennia, will never again experience the mockery of the nations. Shame will be changed to praise and renown in all the earth.

It will be good to be a Jew in those days. Nobody will have to worry about fighting antisemitism; anyone left on the planet who has such thoughts will keep them to himself.