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Zephaniah, Prophet of divine protection, Part 10, Results of divine judgment

The day will come, says God, that purified lips will allow them to call upon the name of the Lord (that is, Jesus Christ) with sincere hearts, so that they may be saved. Zephaniah 3:11-13 says,

¹¹ In that day you will feel no shame because of all your deeds by which you have rebelled against Me; for then I will remove from your midst your proud, exulting ones, and you will never again be haughty on My holy mountain. ¹² But I will leave among you a humble and lowly people, and they will take refuge in the name of the Lord. ¹³ The remnant of Israel will do no wrong and tell no lies, nor will a deceitful tongue be found their mouths; for they will feed and lie down with no one to make them tremble.

This does not mean that the people will be shameless in the midst of their rebellion against Christ. It means that their hearts will be turned, and their lips will speak truth. God will “remove” their prideful leaders who have lied to them., whether by removing them from positions of power or by death itself.

The context shows that this is a promise to the nations as well as to Judah and Israel. This has yet to be fulfilled, except through the small remnant of grace who have carried the promise for thousands of years. This promise extends also to “the remnant of Israel,” which includes the “lost tribes” deported to Assyria a century before Zephaniah prophesied.

In Elijah’s day, the remnant of grace included just 7,000 men (families) who were from Israel and probably Judah as well (1 Kings 19:18). With the ratification of the New Covenant by the death and resurrection of Christ, the gospel spread to other nations, greatly increasing the numbers of this remnant of grace. Every believer in Christ was called to be part of that remnant, and in the early days it was assumed that every Spirit-filled believer would be on fire for the Lord. However, over the years the Spirit seemed to wane, the gifts of the Spirit were either misused, neglected, or discarded altogether, and corruption crept into the church.

Hence, there emerged a smaller remnant in the overall church itself, much like what we see in ancient Israel. So a distinction evolved between the church and the overcoming remnant, much like what had occurred earlier in “the church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38 KJV).

The End of Judgment

Zephaniah 3:14, 15 says,

¹⁴ Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! ¹⁵ The Lord has taken away His judgments against you, He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst! You will fear enemies no more.

Divine judgment does not end until repentance occurs. In this case, it is because the proud, lying leaders have been removed, the people’s lips have been purified, and they have called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. This standard is the same for all nations, for God is impartial. As Paul says in Romans 3:22, “there is no distinction.”

Prophetic Daughters

Zephaniah refers to the “daughter of Zion” and the “daughter of Jerusalem,” which are prophetic terms for a future time. Under the Old Covenant, Jerusalem was the earthly city, and Zion was its seat of government. Under the New Covenant, the enduring city is that which God Himself has built, that is, the heavenly Jerusalem, and its seat of government is Mount Sion, the mount where Jesus was transfigured and declared to be “My beloved Son” (Matthew 17:5).

Sion is where true believers gather in support and agreement with Jesus Christ in order to be called the sons of God (Hebrews 12:22 KJV). This is how Genesis 49:10 is fulfilled as well,

¹⁰ The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

This is where the scepter and, by extension, the seat of government is transferred from Judah to Joseph at the second coming of Christ, when Christ comes as the birthright holder of Joseph.

As great as this will be, a greater fulfillment of Zephaniah’s prophecy will come at the end of the Tabernacles Age, when all of the dead are summoned to the white throne for judgment. Here every knee will bow, and every tongue will profess Christ, not only those who are alive at the time but also all who have died in previous generations.

At that time, the rest of the believers—those not raised in the first resurrection—will receive life (immortality), as Jesus said in John 5:28, 29. Those who had been unbelievers will remain under the authority of the overcomers for the age of judgment in the next age, being set free finally at the Creation Jubilee, when all must return to their lost inheritance by grace alone. The Jubilee’s limitation of judgment, by divine decree, is one characteristic of grace.

Only then will Zephaniah’s prophecy be fulfilled in its entirety, because then not only the overcoming remnant, not only the church, but creation itself will be given that which it longs for. Romans 8:19-21 says,

¹⁹ For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

Then, too, the New Covenant promise itself will be fulfilled, saying, “they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them” (Jeremiah 31:34). God will not save anyone apart from repentance and calling upon the name of the Lord, but God—through judgment—will cause them to repent by the power of His sovereign will, so that they can be saved.