Zephaniah
|
||
Zephaniah Chapter 3
When we think of pollution, we usually think about the environmental concerns such as air and water pollution. The pollution here does not refer to that. It refers to spiritual filth and pollution. God's concern is always the spiritual. When the spirit is healed and is seeking God, the other things are taken care of also in time. When our hearts are right with God, it affects the way we live, how we treat our neighbors, and it would even affect our environment. That is why the Lord tells us not to be overly concerned by outward things but to major on the necessary things and the other will be added as needed.
Happy are they that take heed and do all these things by the strength of the Lord. We can't go it alone.
Over and over again we see these warnings. How sad to read, "She obeyed not the voice, she received not correction, she trusted not in the Lord." Since the beginning of creation, men and women have continually turned from God unto things that are vain and worthless. The human race has never fully trusted the Lord except for a few faithful people. We are always reminded of Noah and his sons. Such a few were saved in the Ark while the vast majority perished. There is a verse in the bible somewhere that exhorts us not to follow a multitude to do evil. God always sends someone with correction and reproof but again, we refuse and trust not in the Lord. It breaks my heart to see many in my own country refuse the correction of the Lord. They laugh and try to shut up anyone who preaches against sin. The preachers who tickle the ears do not bother them but any who dare to preach holiness or godliness with correction and reproof is mocked. They make movies to mock preachers. By reading the bible you can tell clearly what causes God's judgment upon a nation. If God judged Israel, He will judge any nation that do the same things Israel did.
Men who rule with cruelty and not fairly are pictured here. Bad leaders destroy a nation. They take bribes, they devour the innocent and persecute those that speak truth.
They either misinterpret the law, use it for material gain, add to it or change it altogether. Some may even ignore it. This is still happening today. Many use the word of God to deceive and draw followers after self instead of after God. Some preach according to what men want to hear and not God's word. We are not to add to or take away from God's word. If any do not want to be deceived, read and study the bible. There are places you can get bibles free. We do not have to be deceived anymore. There are bibles all over the country. Of course since we've lost the fear of God in our land, we have to be careful of the newer translations and paraphrases which water down and sometimes change the meaning of the bible continually.
Today we have people that work to try to remove guilt from people's lives. The time to worry is when we do not feel guilty when we sin. If we can sin and not feel guilty about it, then know of a surety that God has departed from us. Sin should bring guilt until that sin is repented of and one turns away from that sin. After you continually sin and fail to repent, the sin will not seem wrong anymore but it is still sin. The conscience becomes seared after continual refusals to repent. This is why that verse says that the unjust know no shame. They sinned until their conscience became seared. If you ever feel guilty, repent and let God remove the guilt. Don't ignore the guilt if you are still doing the thing causing the guilt. However, don't be under guilt that you repented of and there is no longer any way to make restitution if it was against someone else. God has cleansed us of past sins when we repent and turn to Him.
God sent judgment and they still did not recognize that it was the judgment of God. Not all bad that happens is God's judgment but it doesn't hurt to seek God when bad calamities happen and search our hearts just to see if we sinned in some manner. It is never does any harm to ask God if something happened because we sinned and need to change things. However, like in the case of Job, some things may happen because Satan is trying to destroy our testimony before the world. There are trials that happen to those faithful believers in Christ. We need to remember though that there may be another reason why bad happens and things don't turn out right. In all these things we need to seek God for advice and not close our minds to the fact that we just may have allowed some sin in our lives that is hindering our prayers. If we read history, we can see the rise and fall of nations. What we do not see is God's hand of judgment behind the fall of nations that were once mighty and great.
Let us seek not to justify ourselves but seek God for His justification. He will cleanse us when we turn from sin and seek Him. So we see sometimes bad happens as a trial to our faith and sometimes it happens because we have let down our guard and allowed some sin in our lives that is hindering the fullness of God to have its way in our lives.
This is the battle of Armageddon in which all nations will be judged who persecuted Israel and those that follow Jesus Christ. The faithful will suffer persecution. The bible says that all that is godly shall suffer persecution. When this happens, we are to wait patiently for the Lord's return when vengeance and retribution will be poured out upon the enemies of God. Always remember though that vengeance is the Lord's. We are never to lift a hand against any of those who do not believe. Some have tried in past centuries and have only succeeded in hurting the innocent and bringing reproach upon the name of the Lord. God is the only one that is to execute vengeance in the latter days. We must not try to help God in this manner or else we will hurt the wrong people. This has happened repeatedly. The Catholics persecuted the first protestants, the protestants in the Church of England persecuted the Puritans. The Calvinists persecuted those that disagreed with them. Some of the Puritans persecuted the Baptist and Quakers. Some of the mainline denominations persecuted the Pentecostals. You see that it is important for us to let God be the judge in some cases of doctrinal disputes. We have to have law and order, police, judges, and those that enforce the law of the land, but in the matter of conscience, we should preach the word and warn but never use force and threats to get people to obey the rules of conscience. The bible is to be obeyed from the heart and in the love of God. It cannot be forced upon anyone by law. Those that did that in the past failed miserably. God will judge those kind of things at His coming. Lets leave that sort of judgment to Him. Nevertheless we still must preach against sin and warn people to repent and allow God's spirit to convict and bring them to repentance. God will do the judging, all we are supposed to do is spread His word. He enforces it. To preach the gospel of repentance and salvation in Jesus Christ is not judging, it is a command of God.
This will happen during the Millennium and it will happen by the power of God, not men. The trouble comes when men and women read these words and get the idea that they have to bring it to pass by their own strength. This only will happen at the coming of Jesus Christ. We cannot try to bring this about in the natural realm, or we will bring reproach and hurt the cause of Christ.
This is a prophesy of the re-gathering of Israel in the latter days no more to be dispersed upon the earth. Pride and haughtiness are the opposite of what pleases God. Israel will repent and God will cleanse them of all sin.
Being humble simple means to recognize that God is our source. Like a child depends on it's caregiver, we are to trust in God's presence and continual guidance that is freely given to those that believe in Him.
Those that are poor and have nothing are usually the ones that trust in the Lord more than the ones that have plenty.
We see here the traits of the faithful who follow the Lord.
God will always have a remnant or a people that trusts in Him. Even throughout history there has always been a few that still held onto the word of God. The majority follow the world. This has always been the case. If you are prone to follow the crowd, watch out, you could be wrong.
That narrow way is Christ alone. He is our way of salvation and there is no other name among heaven and earth that we can trust in to save our eternal souls. No other way to God. This also includes obeying the word of God.
Singing and worshiping in spirit and in truth comes when we walk in the will of God. There is a day coming when the nation of Israel will sing and shout because of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. People wonder why some people shout and praise God in their worship services. We have reason to shout. God has shown us filthy Gentiles His way of salvation. He has washed away our sins and we were adopted into the same vine as the children of the promise, Israel. There are Messianic believing Jews that are already coming to believe in Christ all over the world.
God's will is for us to walk in love and in joy. This joy comes when we believe in His way of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ and are baptized in the Spirit. Being baptized in the Holy Spirit brings a refreshing, peace and continual joy. This was rejected by the nation of Israel at the beginning but we see clearly that bible prophesy both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament shows us the restoration of the nation of Israel. Israel returns not only to their physical land but they will turn to God. Some Jews have already returned to God but the nation as a whole has not yet recognized Jesus Christ as their savior from sins as of Novembert 2021. These prophesies along with those given to Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Micah, Zechariah, and others show us that Israel shall be saved and re-gathered form all nations.
We should always sorrow and mourn for sin and pray for cleansing. Joy should be delayed until this process takes place. We should never rejoice if we have not turned from sin. Joy comes after we are free from sin and are trusting in Jesus Christ for our salvation. This tells us that during the great tribulation, Israel after much suffering from those that hate them, they will repent and be cleansed from sin. They will rejoice and be glad after mourning over their sin. Here is other prophecies concerning the mourning over sins.
A solemn assembly as I've stated many times, is simply a time of repentance, renewing and seeking the face of God.
This will be a day of rejoicing to see them recognize the Jesus the Messiah that was pierced. This is the day that they will see that the same Jesus that was rejected by their ancestors is the very Christ, the way of salvation, the Son of God.
God's judgment will be poured out upon all that afflicted and persecuted Israel. Here is the promise of God to Israel. This is not the church and Israel should not be confused with the church. The final time of Jacob's trouble will be to bring Israel back to God and to bring judgment upon those that harmed Israel. Judgment also comes upon those that harm faithful believers in Jesus Christ even if they were not originally part of the nation of Israel.
Notice here that repentance from sin is the part that has to come before salvation and righteousness. There is no peace without repentance and cleansing from sin. Jimmy Carter, George Bush, and all other peace makers are wasting their time. I love them for their efforts but it is a waste of time. There is no peace until we repent of sin and turn to Jesus Christ. 69 weeks or 69 groups of seven years have already past. After the Messiah was cut off or crucified, the church age began and also the time of the Gentiles. After the church leaves or the church age ends, God's attention returns to Israel and the clock starts to begin again. The last week or period of seven years is the great tribulation where the nation of Israel returns to God and the judgment falls upon the persecutors of Israel. Be careful, presidents of the United States, how you deal with Israel. Please do not pressure them to trade land for peace. It will not bring peace but judgment to our own land. True believers will be gathered together at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ including all Israel which are to be saved. Since the tribulation deals primarily with Israel and the church age ends at the beginning of the tribulation, I would assume that the faithful in Christ Jesus has to be taken out of the world before it starts because as long as a strong believing church is on the earth, the antichrist is hindered from being revealed or in coming to take control. Many believe the church is taken out after the first 3 1/2 years and then some believe the church will go through the tribulation. Notice though that the church is not mentioned after Revelation 3 and is not seen again until the very end. It may be represented by the 12 elders seen in heaven. Some believe the number that cannot be numbered who were killed during the tribulation period is the church that was martyred for the cause of Christ. If that is the case where are the ones raptured who were alive when the dead in Christ rises first, but were not killed or martyred? Paul speaks of those that are alive and will be changed at the coming of the Lord. The tribulation saints are all martyrs. I will not argue these points but I just believe the antichrist cannot be revealed or allowed to come until the church is gone. I hope and pray that is the right interpretation but if not, we do not know the day nor the hour and we need to be ready in either case. There is no reason why any person reading this message cannot be part of the family of God. There is no reason for any of us to be a slave to sin. Jesus came to give eternal life. Jesus will return for all who have turned from sin and accepted Him as savior. Jesus is returning to a glorious church without spot or wrinkle. He made a way for all mankind to be free from sin and be born again. He loves everyone and wants everyone of us to be saved. It is the will of God for you to inherit eternal life. He does not want you to die and spend eternity in hell. Believe on Jesus Christ today. Read what He has to say to you in the bible. Do not delay. Be saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ without further delay.
|
||
|
HOME |
BIBLESTUDY INDEX |
SITE MAP Dorna's Lighthouse ©2021 oldpathlighthouse.com |
||