ZEPHANIAH
ZEPHANIAH `
Tuesday Morning Bible Study
October 20. 2026, the Year of Our LORD
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Charles Finney, December 4, 1873: “Brethren, our preaching will bear its legitimate fruits if immorality prevails in the land, the fault is ours in a great degree. If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the world loses its interest in religion, the pulpit is responsible for it. If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it. Let us not ignore this fact, my dear brethren; but let us lay it to heart and be thoroughly awake to our responsibility in respect to the morals of this nation.”
Zephaniah did not flinch or blink when the LORD gave him a Word of Prophecy to declare judgment not only on the priests and prophets, but on the rulers and judges.
In 1:1, we are told who Zephaniah is and the time of his prophetic ministry:
The word of the LORD came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.
That Zedekiah was a Jerusalemite is indicated by his familiarity with the city and his focus on Jerusalem as the main subject of his prophecy. The ministry of Zephaniah is explicitly placed at the time of Josiah’s reign. Zephaniah began to prophesy before the reformation brought it by King Josiah. He was a contemporary of Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel.
Judah was led into apostasy during the fifty-five years of Manasseh’s reign under the military dominance of Assyrian emperors. This included the erection of altars to Assyrian deities in the Jerusalem temples, permission of pagan cults and practices, sacred prostitution, divination and magic, and the practice of human sacrifice.
Which makes this a timely message to preach during Halloween, and before Mid-Terms as many who are running for public office participate and advocate the sins of the nations in this book. God’s judgment is sure against the altars of evil which are erected in homes and the public square during this season.
Zephaniah’s prophecy is everywhere fire, smoke, and darkness, drifting chaff, ruins, nettles, salt-pits, owls, and ravens looking from the windows of desolate palaces.
Zep. 1:5-7 Those who worship the host of heaven on housetops; those who worship and swear oaths by the LORD, but who also swear by Milcom… Be silent in the presence of the LORD GOD, for the day of the LORD is at hand, for the LORD has prepared a sacrifice. He has invited His guests.
Be silent in the presence of the LORD GOD. Those who are invited to such a feast are to be slaughtered.
The Day of the Lord is a fullness of time when the Lord moves sovereignly in His creation and the affairs of man.
The Day of the Lord is a day of “darkness” to the wicked, to those who are walking after the flesh. The Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of light in stark contrast to the kingdom of darkness.
The sins listed are:
1. Religious syncretism (merging of different doctrines and ideas of religion).
2. National disloyalty.
3. Social plunder/.
4. Indifference to Yahweh.
5. Worship of Baal
6. Worship of Milcom and Molech, Assyrian deities
7. Syncretism of Yahweh with Ammonite religion.
8. Adoption of pagan cultic robes.
9. Sacrilege of the Holy of Holies.
10. Idol worship
11. Pagan worship in the Jerusalem temple.
12. Worship of the Host of Heaven (astral deities).
Zeph. 1:15-16: That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress; a day of devastation and desolation; a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. A day of trumpet and alarm against the fortified cities and against the high towers.
Light represents understanding and darkness signifies ignorance. Adam is asleep in the darkness. Jesus Christ is awake in the light, the morning of this new day.
“against the high towers” is a scripture applied to the attack on the twin towers.
To the wicked, God’s day is marked by “gloominess”. The Day of the Lord marks the ending of the old day, the old order. In Moses’ day there was a darkness so dark that the Egyptians could feel it, but there was light at the same time among the Israelites in Goshen.
In Zephaniah, God’s people had become uncaring and uninvolved.
1:12: It shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and punish the men who are settled in complacency, who say in their heart, the Lord will not do good, nor will He do evil.
The effects of divine wrath are profound emotional crisis, loss of material possessions, cosmic upheaval and the terror of invasion.
Chapter 2:2-3 is a call to repentance.
Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together O shameful nation. Before the decree is issued, or the day passes like chaff, before the LORD’S fierce anger comes upon you before the day of the LORD’S anger comes upon you. Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness. Seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the LORD’s anger.
(I will remind our Church that we are a hidden people by God’s Word and have an assembly on a street called, “Hidden.” )
The remaining verses of chapter 2 are God’s judgment against the nations.
2:5: Oracle against Philistia
2:8-11: Oracle against Moab and Ammon
Israel’s unique representative role in salvation history meant that to taunt Israel was to affront the glory of Yahweh. As we have studied the prophets, repeatedly the judgment of the nations was based on their treatment of Israel, even if Israel was being judged by the LORD.
Zeph. 2: 8-9: I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the insults of the people of Ammon, with which they have reproached My people, and made arrogant threats against their borders. Therefore, as I live, says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, surely Moab shall be like Sodom, and the people of Ammon like Gomorrah---overrun with weeds and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation. The residue of My people shall plunder them, and the remnant of My people shall possess them.
Verse 11 embraces the conversion of the Gentiles to Yahweh and all the demons of the nations will be reduced to nothing.
The LORD will be awesome to them. For He will reduce to nothing all the gods of the earth. People shall worship Him. Each one from his place. Indeed, all the shores of the nations.
2:12: Oracle against Cush.
2:13: Oracle against Assyria.
Chapter 3 opens with the oracle against Judah following the oracle against Assyria.
3:3: Her princes and judges devour their prey until nothing is left. They are roaring lions and evening wolves.
3:4: Her prophets wantonly make extravagant prophecies to gain popular acclaim. They are treacherous, either full of deceit, or producing self-originated oracles. Her priests commit sacrilege and thus do violence to the divine instructions.
3:5: The LORD is righteous in her midst. He will do no unrighteousness. Every morning He brings His justice to light. He never fails. But the unjust knows no shame.
The LORD (Yahweh), His covenant name seals the divine covenant of His faithfulness – His justice. He never fails!
The fall of great empires was God’s doings. All we have to do is know our history of the rise and fall of empires to know the LORD is sovereign over all nations.
3:8: Therefore, wait for Me, says the LORD, Until the day I rise up for plunder. My determination is to gather the nations to My assembly of kingdoms, to pour on them My indignation, all my fierce anger. All the earth shall be devoured with the fire of My jealousy.
Announcement of Restoration and Redemption:
Zephaniah now sees beyond the 2000 years of exile into the Kingdom of God and the prosperity of the Messianic Kigdom in which all the world unites and turns to God.
In our lifetime, we are watching as the LORD’s redemption embraces all nations as the gospel of Jesus Christ covers the earth as the waters cover the sea, and the nation of Israel has been restored. The presence of Yahweh’s glory covers the Jewish sector of Jerusalem and Israel. We know from the Word of God that “All Israel will be saved.”
3:9-13: For then I will restore to the peoples, a pure language that they all may call on the name of the LORD, to serve Him with one accord. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, My worshipers, the daughter of My dispersed ones, shall bring My offering. In that day you shall not be shamed by any of your deeds in which you transgress against Me. For then I will take away from your midst those who rejoice in your pride. You shall no longer be haughty in My holy mountain. I will leave in your midst a meek and humble people, and they shall trust in the name of the LORD. The remnant of Israel shall do no unrighteousness and speak no lies. Nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth. For they shall feed their flocks and lie down, and no one shall make them afraid.
In Zephaniah, arrogant self-assertion is the root sin, and acknowledgement of dependence on Yahweh is fundamental to relationship with Him. While pride is reduced to shame by God’s judgment, humility ushers in unspeakable joy, not only for His people, but for God himself. Yahwe will removes those who rejoice in their pride and the haughty.
The new Zion replaces the old. It is a spiritual Jerusalem of humility, exuberant joy, the theocracy, and presence of Yahweh, with divine love and fellowship, concern for the socially weak, plus belonging, togetherness and renown.
Divine wrath and judgment are replaced by the presence of Yahweh: The Lord is with you and in His rightful place as King of Israel.
Jerusalem will never again fear any harm.
3:14-17: Sing O daughter of Zion! Shout O’ Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart O daughter of Jerusalem! The LORD has taken away your judgments. He has cast out your enemy. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst. You shall see disaster no more. In that day, it shall be said to Jerusalem, “do not fear. Zion, let not your hands be weak. The LORD your God in your midst, the Mighty One will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you with His love. He will rejoice over you with singing.”
O daughter of Zion is the Redeemed. O’ Israel is the nation.
3:18-20: I will gather those who sorrow over the appointed assembly, who are among you, to whom its reproach is a burden. Behold at that time, I will deal with all who afflict you. I will save the lame and gather those who were driven out. I will appoint them for praise and fame in every land where they were put to shame. At that time, I will bring you back. Even at the time I gather you. For I will give you fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I return your captives before your eyes, says the LORD.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church, 10115 West Hidden Lakes Lane, Richmond, TX.
I entered into the labors of F. F. Bruce Bible Commentary, Victor A. S. Reid; quote from Charles Finney via Give Him 15, 10/19/2026; – Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of those who I entered into their labors.