“Her [Jerusalem’s] prophets are insolent, treacherous people; her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law. 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.” Zephaniah 3:4-5.
Verse four, the first sentence above has been added for context, it was covered in the last post on 8-6-20 entitled, The Tyrannical City, part 2B.
The first four verses in Zephaniah 3 contain words such as; rebellious, polluted (spiritually), oppressing, insolent, treacherous, polluted (profaned), violence (to God’s law).
The persons referred to by these words are all those in authority; civil authorities, the prophets which would include teachers as well as seers, and priests who had perverted their office.
This moral sickness would not be as prevalent if the common man were not just as polluted as the leadership.
Comparisons have been made in the last two posts between the United States and these passages concerning Jerusalem. The reason for this is to show how far down that path this country has come.
This is not a political site, but there will be no hesitation to warn folks that we are on a disastrous path and unless something is done, this country will come under condemnation and judgment just as Jerusalem and all of Judah did.
“The Lord is righteous in her midst, He will do no unrighteousness.” Zephaniah 3:5a.
The Lord God was indeed in their midst, He called Israel, founded them and led them, and watched over them.
“Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been upheld by Me from birth, who have been carried from the womb; even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.” Isaiah 46:3-4.
God continually showed Himself strong on Israel’s part through men like Moses, Joshua, Kings David and his son Solomon. God fed the children of Israel in the wilderness, led them in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
God gave them great bounty when they entered the land both when they went in and occupied it and then multiplied their crops, sending rain in its due season.
Peace, food, children and a lack of disease were with them while they served Him. But great blessings can often bring carelessness, so they sought other gods and sacrificed to them.
God sent prophets to warn them of the danger of having communion with these demon gods. But the indulgence of the flesh was much more appealing so they continued in their rebellion. In time God withdrew His hand and let the demon gods provide Israel’s rain, crops, and delusion.
Even though many Israelites became gross idolaters they still relied on their God because that is what He was supposed to be, which made Him a talisman, like a lucky rabbits foot.
They had Solomon’s Temple, and they had God’s religion to rely on who could harm them? They were YAHWEH’s nation in name only.
“Her heads judge for a bribe, her priests teach for pay, and her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the Lord, and say, ‘Is not the Lord [YAHWEH] among us? No harm can come upon us.’” Micah 3:11.
If Israel had become so apostate, how could God say in Zephaniah 3:5a, “The Lord is righteous in her midst, He will do no unrighteousness.” What difference does that make at this point?
The people could not see God, how could they know He is righteous? How could the people know that He was in their midst? Their crops might be failing, the rain never comes, sickness and disease would be rampant, why is God doing this to them?
Jews could know that God is righteous for the same reasons that Americans can know He is righteous. God’s word was available for folks to read (almost everyone was literate); in fact the Scriptures were read every Sabbath. That is if anyone cared to listen.
There were also many believers among them who would have been delighted to tell them about the one and only God. Yet they would have been treated the same way as these “whack job” Christians who want to tell you all about Jesus today.
“…for when Gentiles [or apostate Jews], who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them…” Romans 2:14-15.
God was among them in word, He was among them in conscience, and His Holy Spirit worked on the heart of each one.
“…He will do no unrighteousness.” Zephaniah 3:5a.
Even though the Israelites may have blamed God for their failed crops and the droughts, and attributed their prosperity to their other gods, God dealt righteously with His people.
“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perversity. No one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; they conceive evil and bring forth iniquity.” Isaiah 59:1-4.
America is not unlike Israel, it was founded on Christian principles, and many of its laws are taken from laws drawn up by Christian leaders in Europe who were inspired by the Bible.
And though we often strayed from Christ it was still Christians who founded this country with God in mind. They were not deists or Unitarians, they were Christians, despite what liberal historical revisionists and atheists say.
Of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, two were Unitarian, and two were deist, at least eighteen were committed Christians, while the rest were affiliated with a Christian church and either were Christians or shared a godly worldview.
All were wealthy, educated, concerned members of their communities, a few were pastors, and some the sons of pastors. None were Muslim, Hindu, or atheists.
Muslims did not need to come to this country at that time because they had kidnapped and enslaved about one million Europeans and carried them off to their own Middle Eastern countries and remained content with their own enslavement to Islam.
Americans have a consciousness of God in their midst for the same reasons that the Israelites did, more so. The Bible is in nearly every household, the gospel is given out in many churches every Sunday, and Christian Bible studies are held in numerous homes throughout the week.
And there are many Christian “whack jobs” out there to tell about Jesus and His love for mankind. Alas, if only one would listen.
“Every morning He brings His justice to light; He never fails, but the unjust knows no shame.” Zephaniah 3:5b.
Every morning someone in Jerusalem would awaken with the word of God being spoken to him highlighting the justice which had been meted out.
Every morning one can awake and recall news of the death of an ISIS butcher or some evil man or woman and God will remind us that He will require an account of their sins.
Every morning one can awake and remember some bad thing done the day before and Christian or not they will feel conviction to stop sinning before a just God.
“The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to hear as the learned.” Isaiah 50:4.
These words apply to the Lord Jesus; this is how He awoke every morning. They can also apply to the Christian if they determine to walk in the footsteps of their Lord. The non-Christian may also wake to God’s words convicting them of sin – but ignore them.
The above verse should also encourage Christians to arise early in the morning to read their Bible to learn, and with a goal of being inspired to live that day in a godly manner. Prayer should always be included in this quiet time.
In spite of these words of conviction and the examples of the end of the ungodly, “…the unjust knows no shame.”
Anyone who has heard filthy blasphemous God and Jesus jokes, or seen cartoons of the cross or of Christ or Christians knows the lack of shame of these reprobate evil people.
Both America and Jerusalem have or had their fill of such vile offenders. The problem is that their ranks grow in this country day by day because society, and schools and institutes of higher learning encourage godless conduct and teach it.
One university accepted a young man because he wrote “black lives matter” one hundred times on his application. If Stanford’s entrance standards are so low, what will be the value of the things they teach? Why spend thousands of dollars to go to a college that has no discernment whatsoever?
“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.” Zephaniah 3:5.
All of the wicked things written concerning Jerusalem in Zephaniah 3:1-4 were true of that city in 625 B.C. and it was true of it when the Lord Jesus arrived there some 655 years later.
The Lord Jesus was righteous in her midst.
“Thus He [God] showed me: Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand. And the Lord said to me, ‘Amos, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘A plumb line.’ Then the Lord said: ‘Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel; I will not pass by them anymore.’” Amos 7:7-8.
Jesus was Israel’s plumb line showing them a perfect standard of righteousness compared to their unrighteous living which was the same as those living in Zephaniah’s day.
In Zephaniah’s day, the plumb line was the word of God which held up God’s standards.
A plumb line is basically a weight attached to a string. When one holds the string by one end and lets the weight hang down, the string is always perfectly vertical.
If then you are building a wall and you want to make sure that it is not leaning over, you drop a plumb line next to the wall, and if it lines up with the plumb line then the wall is vertical as it should be.
Jesus Christ is always the plumb line of righteousness.
“For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” 2 Corinthians 10:12.
We are not to compare ourselves with other Christians, or any other person other than Jesus; otherwise the results will be wrong.
“Now the chief priests, the elders, and all the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but found none. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. But at last two false witnesses came forward…” Matthew 26:59-60.
Notice that all the representatives of the people gathered to seek false testimony, just as all the representatives were evil in Zephaniah’s day. Notice too that the righteousness of Christ was such that they could not find a true witness against Him.
God’s word was a witness against Jerusalem in 625 B.C. and it was a witness against them in Jesus’ day, about 34 A.D.
In Zephaniah’s day, a little over 25 years later, Jerusalem was destroyed, Solomon’s temple was torn down and the people were carried off to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar’s army.
In 70 A.D. about 36 years after Jesus was crucified, Titus and the Roman legions destroyed Jerusalem, leveled the re-built temple, and dispersed the Jews by selling them off as slaves.
Only over the last few decades have they been able to return to their home in Israel. Even now, they are surrounded by countries determined to murder every last one of them.
Twenty-five years later, thirty-six years later, how long can America, travel down the same path? Will it be 25 years, 36 years later, or?
“Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel [America]?’” Ezekiel 33:11.
The Tyrannical City, Part 3 taken from godisrevealed.com, posted on 4-8-17, updated on 8-9-20.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.