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Jehovah’s Judgments | 4. Defiance

“In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.”
~ Zephaniah 1:9

Zephaniah 1:4-13 describes five (5) reasons for God’s judgment of Judah when He sent them off to Babylon in captivity. In previous articles, we examined the first three ways in which Judah’s rebelled against God: idolatry, pride, and worldliness. Now let us examine a fourth way in which Judah rebelled: defiance.

In our text, the phrase: “leap on the threshold” is defined by action “fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit”. A threshold is a boundary, and in the context of Zephaniah 1:9 it is the boundary between slaves/servants and masters. Thus to “leap on the threshold” is to be defiant: it means undermining, even destroying those on the other side of the boundary.

To better understand the significance of the phrase, consider that the word “threshold” (miphtân) is used seven other times in the Bible. And in five of those, it refers to either the boundary between the entrance to the Temple and outside, or the boundary around the place of sacrifice. Therefore, the threshold was a line of demarcation that separated those who had a certain duty, or a certain authority, from those who didn’t.

For example, in the Temple in Jerusalem, Hebrew men could enter the inner court, but women and strangers could not cross that boundary, that “threshold”. Likewise, priests could enter the area where sacrifices were made, but no one else was permitted to cross that “threshold”.

Therefore, to “leap on the threshold” is to attack or undermine the boundary and the authority that the boundary signifies. Hence, those who “leap on the threshold” are specifically attacking/eroding the authority of their employers/masters.

Why is that a problem?

God’s word to us through Zephaniah is that we should consider, reflect on, how we respond to boundaries, how we respond to authority in our lives. For example, how should a wife respond the the authority of her husband? Or how should children respond to the authority of their parents? Or (in the current politically polarized times) how should Christians respond to the authority of the (secular) government in their country?

However, since God is sovereign and ultimately in control of all our circumstances, our text is really challenging God’s children to consider how they respond to God’s authority in their own lives.

Zephaniah’s preaching/prophesying shows that the people of Judah had a problem with authority. Those that found themselves without authority responded with “violence and deceit”: i.e., with malice and dishonesty.

This also remains true of us today. For example, many employees respond to authority by deceiving their employers about how much work they are actually doing or by performing their jobs in a way that hurts their employers.

Similarly, children reject the authority of their parents by being disobedient and seek to hurt their parents with harsh/unkind words and by withdrawing their affection.

And so on…

The real issue that we face when we don’t have authority is that we want it. And often we will do whatever it takes to get it or to resist it or to undermine it. However, it is God that bestows authority. No one can have authority unless God allows him/her to have it. Therefore, to rebel against authority is to rebel against God.

To be clear, this does not absolve anyone who has gained authority unjustly or who uses authority unfairly. God allowed satan the authority to hurt Job and his family. But satan then and now remains evil and under God’s judgment.

Likewise, Jesus submitted Himself to the authority of the Chief Priest and the Roman government both of which were evil and committed the vilest crime of crucifying The Son of God.

The question is, “How do I respond to authority?”, regardless of whether that authority is wielded for good or for evil. Peter’s first letter put’s it this way:

“Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.” ~ 1 Peter 2:18-20

The quality of the person/s in authority can vary, from good to bad, from righteous to evil. But the response to authority that God requires remains the same: submission. Not resistance, not undermining, not violence not deception, but submission is what God demands.

To seek authority that God hasn’t given us is to reject God’s authority over us. Similarly, to resist the authority God has placed over us is to reject God Himself.

“I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;”
Isaiah 65:2

The lifestyle of people of Judah had become destructive because they resisted God’s authority. Rather than yield to God’s authority, in the social struture that existed, the people of Judah were determined to live by their own authority: they had decided to “leap on the threshold”: they decided to defy God.

The world we live in promotes and exalts defiance. But that is not from God. God expects us to submit to authority. Not because authority is good. But because He is good and He is the ultimate authority.

“But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.

“But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.”
Jeremiah 7:23-24

There is no Faith when God is Optional

Published by reflectionsintheword

And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, ‘Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.'”
~ Exodus 32:1

Moses had gone up to Mt. Sinai to meet with God. And he would be there for forty days and forty nights (Exodus 24:18). At some point within this period, in less than six weeks, the Hebrew nation got tired of waiting on Moses (and God). So they decided to make their own gods (idols) to lead them.

This demonstrates the primary problem that the nation had at that time: Although God had led them out of bondage in Egypt, although He had made a way for them through the parting of the Red Sea and had miraculously taken care of them, they still didn’t have faith in Him.

No matter how many times and how many ways God had demonstrated His power and His love, He was replaceable. Even worse, He could be, and was, replaced by gods of their own making. They could make/find gods that were just as good or even better than Jehovah.

In fact, a close examination of their words (Exodus 32:1, above) shows that they had no personal relationship with God: they knew Moses and what had been accomplished through him. But they did not relate their liberation from slavery in Egypt to God’s agency. They did not mention God at all, because they didn’t know Him.

Ultimately, they had only tolerated Moses’ God: they had no faith in Him. Indeed, God Himself would identify this as the reason they were unfit to enter the promised land (Numbers 14:22-33). For if they trusted Jehovah, if they believed in Him, then He would be irreplaceable: they would have waited on Him because they would have had no alternative, no other gods to turn to.

This mindset was also illustrated in Jesus’ ministry, when Jesus told some hard truths to the crowds that followed Him (John 6). Many of His followers “…went back, and walked no more with him.left Him” (John 6:66) because His teachings were hard (John 6:60). However, when Jesus asked the twelve disciples if they would also abandon Him, their response was as follows,

“Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.” ~ John 6:68-69

In other words, their faith in Jesus meant they could not turn away from Him: they could not replace Him with gods of their own making. They couldn’t just turn away because His teachings were hard.

Indeed, those that can turn away from God, never had belonged to Him, and never had trusted in Him.

“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” ~ 1 John 2:19

We cannot trust in God partially; faith is all or nothing. Moreover, our attitude towards God will eventually reveal itself when difficulties arise.

What will you/I do when God seems far away? What will we do when we feel abandoned/forsaken?

Will we trust His Word? Will we wait on Him? Or will we seek other options?

What if we don’t like God’s plans for our lives? What if His teachings are hard to accept? Will we find a better god to replace Him?

Faith is for the fallow times. It’s easy to think we are exercising faith when things are going well. But that’s an illusion. The truth about our faith comes during the storms of life, when things are desperate and it looks like Jesus is asleep. The truth about our faith is in the options we have in those storms. Those who have the option to replace The Captain were never actually sailing on His ship.

We’ll Get Through This

Published by reflectionsintheword

A Poem by Joanna Fuchs

We’ll Get Through This

Lord, our troubles
Are so great,
We don’t know what to do;
The price for our
Iniquity
Is finally coming due.

The world is crumbling
All about;
No safe place can be found.
Right is wrong,
Wrong is right;
The change is quite profound.

Lord, we need
Your guiding light
To lead us out of here;
We’ll focus on
Your Word, and prayer,
To take away our fear.

Temptations of
This dying world
We’ll rule out and let go;
Give our burdens
All to you,
Shed all worldly woe.

That’s how we’ll
Get through this, Lord,
Fixed on heaven above,
Assured of your
protection, help,
And everlasting love.

By Joanna Fuchs

Abounding Grace

Published by reflectionsintheword

A poem by an unknown author.

Where sin abounded, grace much more
Abounded by God’s love.
When Jesus for our sakes came down,
And left the throne above.

The rich One from the Glory bright,
For our sakes, was made poor,
And untold pain and anguish
On the cross He did endure.

They mocked Him, and derided Him,
With hatred in their face,
But in return, He offers them
His wondrous, matchless grace.

They scourged Him, and they buffeted,
With cruel, heavy blow,
But Jesus answered not a word,
Because He loved them so.

The very hatred in man’s heart,
Which nailed Him to the cross,
He used to bless His enemies.
To save their souls from loss.

The very spear that pierced His side,
By cruel, hateful man,
Brought forth the blood to cleanse their souls,
By God’s redemptive plan.

When awful hatred—matchless love,—
At Calv’ry’s cross did meet,
The Saviour wrought a finished work,
Atonement was complete.

O will you not accept this One,
Who suffered thus for thee?
Then peace, and rest, and joy are thine,
Throughout eternity.

What Christ Is To Us

Published by reflectionsintheword

A poem of an unknown Author

The Truth for every heart;
The Balm for every smart;
The Sharer of each load;
Companion on the road.

The Door into the fold;
The Anchor that will hold;
The Shepherd of the sheep;
The Guardian of my sleep.

The Friend with Whom I talk;
The Way by which I walk;
The Light to show the way;
The Strength for every day.

The Source of my delight;
The Song to cheer the night;
The Thought that fills my mind;
The Best of All to find—is Jesus!

Photo by Luis Quintero from Pexels

You’re Always There for Me

Published by reflectionsintheword

A Poem by Joanna Fuchs

When the world comes crashing in
And chaos rules my mind,
I turn my heart to you, Lord,
And pure, sweet peace I find.

You lift me out of trouble
You comfort me in pain;
You nourish, heal and cleanse me,
Like cool, refreshing rain.

In times of joy and bliss,
When things are going right,
You lift me even higher,
And fill me with delight.

You listen to my prayers;
You hear my every plea;
I’m safe because I know
You’re always there for me.

By Joanna Fuchs

Photo by Mohammed Hijas on Unsplash

Yours

Published by reflectionsintheword

Please take my heart as anger pours
From all the wounds this life ignores
And heal the hurt for I am yours.

Much like the chill of winter’s cold,
My mind is numb from bitter’s hold,
So may I now your love behold.

My story vengeance yearns to tell.
Instead, let waves of mercy swell
And peace to fill my tattered sail.

Don’t let me dwell on settled scores
As I recall the painful wars
For through surrender I am yours.

So take the sum of all the wrongs,
Replace them with your mercy songs
For in my heart your love belongs.

Regardless if we’ve lost or won
We all will stand before your Son
And answer for the deeds we’ve done.

We pray that as our Lord explores
Our dreadful sins, your mercy pours
And covers us for we are yours.

Jehovah’s Judgments | 3. Worldliness

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“Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God: for the day of the Lord is at hand: for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice, He hath bid His guests. And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord’s sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king’s children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.” ~ Zephaniah 1:7-8

Zephaniah 1:4-13 describes five (5) reasons for God’s judgment of Judah when He sent them off to Babylon in captivity. In previous articles, we examined the first two categories of Judah’s rebellion: idolatry and pride. Now let us turn to the third category: worldliness.

First, notice that there is a shift in emphasis from the earlier verses (Zephaniah 1:4-6). In the preceding verses, the issues were devotional: they covered the relationship between God and man: the place God had (or didn’t have) in the lives of the people. However, from vs. 7 onwards, the focus shifts to how people live and how people treat each other.

Our text tells us that the ones to be punished are the wealthy and powerful of Judah: “the princes, and the king’s children”. However, God’s judgment was not due to their wealth. Rather, they were being judged for what they did with the wealth God had entrusted to them.

Our text gives one telling example of how the upper-crust of Judah spent their wealth, as it describes them as being “clothed with strange apparel”. Here, strange means the clothes (apparel) were foreign, not from Judah/Israel. And, in that period of history, foreign clothes (and goods) were expensive and thus a way to display one’s wealth. Common people could not afford such extravagances.

Why is that a problem?

First, the affluent elite of Judah failed to acknowledge that it was God that had allowed them to have wealth and privilege. And, therefore, they were obligated to use those resources to do His work according to His will. In other words, they were to be stewards of God’s assets.

In the economic circumstances of Zephaniah’s time, there were many poor who needed help. Hence, there were many better ways for the elites to spend money than on expensive foreign clothes. Again, the clothing in itself was not the issue. Rather, the problem was their disregard for those in need and their (tacit) denial of their obligation to God as stewards of His blessings.

*“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” ~ Romans 12:2*

⁷If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother:
⁸But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.

¹¹For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.
Deuteronomy 15:7-8, 11

If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
James 2:15-17

The sin of Judah’s elite is often repeated by the elite of today. But that is to be expected. Except when it happens in the Church. Because we know better. Or, at least, we should know better. Unlike the world, the children of God should be fully aware of our calling as stewards and our obligation to help the poor. We must know, we must acknowledge, that to ignore the needs of the poor is sin.

The second problem was that, in their choice of clothing, Judah’s elite were imitating the idolatrous cultures of the neighboring ungodly kingdoms. Why should God’s people use God’s blessings to imitate the lifestyles of those who hate God?

Why should Hollywood, Paris, or Milan determine how we dress or what we wear?

Why should the world define our values?

“This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
But ye have not so learned Christ“
Ephesians 4:17-20

Sadly, our churches, for the most part, have acquiesced to the immoral, strange, fashions of our society. We have exchanged chastity for conformity, purity for prurience, wholesomeness for worldliness.

Don’t worry about whether this viewpoint is old-fashioned. Only ask whether it is the truth.

Scripture makes it clear that worldliness, in all its forms, is incompatible with God.

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
Matthew 6:24

“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
James 4:4

To embrace worldliness is to relinquish godliness.

Judah was judged because, in pursuit of worldly ways, they chose to ignore the poor and needy and they chose to imitate the godless. Let us be sure not to make the same mistakes. For we will surely reap the same consequences.

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”
1 John 2:15-17

His Eyes

Published by reflectionsintheword

The multitude
was not subdued
with Jesus on display.
So I pushed near,
to better hear
what they all had to say.

It was his task
that Pilate ask,
Are You King of the Jews?
With Jesus mute
there was dispute
and so the crowd would choose.

Barabbas won,
so on the run
good Peter tried to hide.
The time was grim
when asked of him,
but three times he denied.

Now at the cross
was greater loss
with torture and with pain.
From crown of thorn
to nails and scorn,
would someone please explain?

Though not His fault,
they would not halt.
Was this unstoppable?
I called His name
so I could blame
the one responsible.

Above the din
I asked again,
“Oh, whose sin it could be?”
Through blood and sweat
I won’t forget
when His eyes turned to me.

Jehovah’s Judgments | 2. Pride

Published by reflectionsintheword

“And them that are turned back from the Lord; and those that have not sought the Lord, nor enquired for Him.” ~ Zephaniah 1:6

Zephaniah 1:4-13 describes five (5) practices that led to God’s judgment of Judah when He sent them off to Babylon in captivity. We looked at the first sinful practice, idolatry, in a previous article. Now we will look at the second, pride.

Our text is actually the completion of the statement that started in Zephaniah 1:4. Accordingly, it could be considered as part of the judgment of idolatry. Nevertheless, there is a clear shift from rejecting God to serve idols, to just rejecting God. This change in emphasis highlights the fundamental issue that undergirds idolatry namely, pride.

Zephaniah explains pride in two ways:

“Them that are turned back”
“Those who have not sought The Lord, nor enquired for Him”

Firstly, “Them that are turned back” refers to persons who once sought The Lord, but decided that God’s way was not for them. To be clear, this does not describe ones who are backslidden or have fallen into sin like the prodigal Son of Luke 15. These individuals were at one point interested but never saved: Like King Agrippa, they were “almost persuaded”, but ultimately lost (Acts 26:28). They might have appeared to be Believers, but their rejection of God shows they never really were His:

“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.”
1 John 2:19

The crux of the problem is that, having looked at God’s way, they decided they could do better. That is the quintessential definition of pride.

“There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” ~ Proverbs 16:25

But this was not unique to Judah then, and it certainly isn’t now. Every day, though aware of God, though being taught the truth, individuals decide to go their own way. They decide that what the world has to offer is superior to God’s promises. They decide that their concept of life and their perception of truth is at least good enough that they can ignore God and go their own way.

Bizarrely, many also assume that God will be okay with their rejection of Him. Judah discovered the truth the hard way: God is not mocked and God does punish evil: God judges those who reject Him.

“He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”
John 12:48

The second way in which pride is manifested is demonstrated by “Those who have not sought The Lord, nor enquired for Him”. The emphasis is on not desiring to KNOW The Lord personally or to look to Him for salvation, for guidance or for help. The individuals might have been diligent in keeping The Law, but the had no desire to relate to the God to which they made their sacrifices.

In the present day, we see this in evidence where God and His church are merely cultural institutions. A person goes to church when they are supposed to, but there is no real relationship with God. There is no real interest in knowing God, knowing His Word, seeking God’s guidance. The church is just something one attends and God is the guy they talk about, sometimes.

While this state of being might not be as open of a rejection of God as those who “turned back”, it still is rejection. The key issue here is that God isn’t worth knowing: He isn’t important enough to seek out and He doesn’t have anything I need.

“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” ~ Jeremiah 33:3

Sadly, our churches are full of those for whom God only “matters” for the few hours they spend in church each week. But God is only Lord of me if He is Lord of ALL of me ALL of the time.

If I can live without God some of the time, then I can live without Him all of the time: Therefore, I don’t need Him. That is, again, the exact definition of pride. If I don’t need God, then I am my own God.

“The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.”
Psalm 10:4

God is available, God cares about us. The question is whether we care enough to seek Him.

“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah 29:13

In closing, it is often easier to identify those who reject God to worship something/someone else. However, God is also rejected by those who consciously, deliberately turn away from The Truth. And by those who live as if they don’t need Him, even if they profess otherwise.

God will not force Himself on us: He is not a bully. We can choose Him or reject Him, but we must expect to live with the consequences of our choice. Judah did.

“Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:

But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.”
Jeremiah 9:23-24