“In that day you shall not be shamed for 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, and 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.” Zephaniah 3:11-12.
In the study of Zephaniah 3:9-10, posted as “The Tyrannical City, Part 7” on 7-27-24, we found that the words “…the daughter of My dispersed ones” indicated that verse 10 spoke of the Gentile nations (non-Jews), and verse 9 referred to a new universal language.
Turning now to verse 11, God again speaks to the Jews of things to come when all of Israel repents and turns to Jesus Christ as their Messiah.
The words “In that day…” are a reference to a moment toward the end of the battle of Armageddon, and the start of the millennial reign of Christ.
“In that day you shall not be shamed for any of your deeds in which you transgress against Me…” Zephaniah 3:11a.
In that day Israel will not be shamed by God for any of their evil deeds which they transgressed against Him, especially in their rejection of Christ as their Messiah, and all their blasphemy against Him.
“It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me [Jesus] whom they pierced; they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves; all the families that remain, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves.” Zechariah 12:9-14.
Note that the above verse is from Zechariah, one book behind Zephaniah
“And I will establish My covenant with you. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, that you may remember and be ashamed, and never open your mouth anymore because of your shame, when I provide you an atonement for all you have done,” says the Lord God.” Ezekiel 16:62-63.
These two passages indicate that despite verse eleven’s promise that Israel will not be shamed for any of their transgressions against God and His Messiah, that they will not go through feelings of shame for their evil deeds which they have done.
However, the above does not void verse eleven. Repentance and an honest assessment of the evil and rebellious attitude we have had against God in our rejection of Christ must always come first.
Humility alone brings true repentance, not arrogance and denial.
“Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” Luke 18:17.
It is the knowledge that the blood of Christ expunges every sin committed that takes away the shame felt by the Israelites, and for all who have accepted Christ as their sacrifice for sin.
“For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:11-12.
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Hebrews 8:10-12.
There is another reason that the Israelites will no longer feel shame for all their evil deeds.
“For then I will take away from your midst those who rejoice in your pride, and you shall no longer be haughty [disdainfully proud, snobbish, arrogant] 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.” Zephaniah 3:11b-12.
Israel’s pride came because they thought being God’s chosen people gave them license, and this gave them a Pharisaic spirit. But John the Baptist put them in their true place as he stood by the Jordan River.
“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, ‘Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.” For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.’” Matthew 3:7-9.
They were as sick and corrupt as any of the heathens they despised, yet they held on to their lucky charm, God.
“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 among us? No harm can come upon us.’” Micah 3:11.
When the Jews would make a statement like “Is not the Lord among us?” it meant that God was among them in the temple, their boasting then was not just in God, but the temple in Jerusalem.
The men and women who made statements like these were ungodly people who gave lip service to God, but their real love was for their idols. They were earthy sensual people given over to their own lusts.
By the end of the tribulation this will all have changed. The tribulation is a seven-year period in which the Jews are pretty much left alone for 3 ½ years, then suddenly the Antichrist will turn on the Israelites intending to annihilate them.
The last 3 ½ years of the tribulation is called the time of Jacob’s trouble. It will be a time of unprecedented persecution when the Jews will be treated in the most despicable manner, far worse than Rome’s games or Hitler’s pogrom. But as always, God has a purpose for allowing these things to happen.
“At that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book [having accepted Christ as their Savior].” Daniel 12:1.
“Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.” Daniel 12:10.
Often it takes a time of great tribulation to get people to turn from their rejection of Jesus Christ and their wicked ways.
But there are those who reach a point of reprobation in their lives when God can do no more to reach them, He then gives them over to their reckless passions.
“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting…” Romans 1:28.
“…a debased mind” is a mind that does not work. This is what it means when it states in Daniel 12:10 above that, “none of the wicked shall understand”, it is because they have a debased mind, a mind that does not work.
“Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” Isaiah 55:6-7.
Despite all of God’s pleadings, many will reject Jesus Christ as their Messiah and Savior.
“And it shall come to pass in all the land [Israel],” says the Lord, “That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, but one-third shall be left in it: I will bring the one-third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people’; and each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’” Zechariah 13:8-9.
In this way God will refine the children of Israel to turn them from their haughty ways to a meek and humble people to fit them for the millennial reign of Jesus Christ their Messiah.
They will never stray again during His earthly reign of one thousand years, after which we shall enter eternity and time will be no more.
“I will leave in your midst a meek and humble people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord.” Zephaniah 3:12.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:3-5.
The Tyrannical City, Part 8 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 4-28-17, updated on 7-30-24 ck.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.