Meditations on Zephaniah (2)

Zephaniah 2

It would seem that there was still hope even after the terrible judgment that was going to befall Judah is pronounced. There may still be those who are obedient and humble. They are told to seek righteousness and humility so that they may escape the coming calamity. They are the remnant. Throughout church history, we learn that in its darkness hour, God still preserves His remnant, those who have yet bow down to ‘Baal’.

Post Tenebras Lux – After Darkness, Light. That was the motto of the Protestant Reformation. God remains faithful. He never allows His people to be forever in bondage even though sometimes it was His people themselves that put themselves in bondage. Geographical and spiritual exile does not last forever. The Jews returned from the exile to rebuild the temple and walls of Jerusalem. In God’s providence, the bondage to the corrupt institutional church of the Middle Ages was broken through the rediscovering of crucial doctrinal truths.

In spite of being judged, God still considered Judah, ‘my people’ (v.8) and ‘ the people of the LORD of hosts’ (v.10). This conveys a sense of affection. What more now, the church, a people purchased by the blood of Christ.

Even as God’s own people are being judged, those who are their enemies, who attacked them, who taunted or mocked them are not spared either. The totality or completeness of God’s judgment against these nations can be seen from their geographical areas. The west is covered by those from the seacoast, Moab and Amon are located east of the Jordan, Cush is at the south and the mighty Assyria is north of Judah.

The church has had its external enemies too whether in the form of a particular individual, group, religion or ideology. The church is still standing though some of its enemies are already history. It is only a little more than two decades ago that the Berlin collapsed, paving the way for the eventual collapse of Communism, one of the foremost anti-Christian ideologies since the birth of the church. Judgment has arrived.

Malaysian Christians of late have been facing pressures from certain quarters. The Al-Kitab is still technically banned and considered a threat to national security, the right to use of “Allah” to address God is still pending in the court, churches have been torched, we have been accused of conspiring to make Malaysia a Christian nation and just recently a church has been raided by the Muslim religious authority on the suspicion of converting Muslims to Christianity.

We can take comfort from Zephaniah who reveals to us a God who is sovereign over all the nations and peoples. He is the one we worship and trust.