{"id":3395,"date":"2019-01-30T15:14:58","date_gmt":"2019-01-30T15:14:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wpmu.azurewebsites.net\/nlt\/?p=3395"},"modified":"2021-12-08T09:22:06","modified_gmt":"2021-12-08T09:22:06","slug":"zephaniah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/2019\/01\/30\/zephaniah\/","title":{"rendered":"Zephaniah"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Zephaniah might be a book that is often overlooked but the prophet brings an important message about pure worship. Read more from the Dancing\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0Desert\u00a0Devotional Bible\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Only decades before Jerusalem\u2019s fall and one generation before<br> Jeremiah, Zephaniah warned of judgment. On the surface, he was an<br> unlikely source for such severe words. He was a descendant of one good<br> king (Hezekiah) prophesying during the reign of another (Josiah). Josiah<br> was early in the process of tearing down unholy altars and revitalizing the<br> nation\u2019s worship. Things seemed to be moving in the right direction. What could be so bad that God would overthrow his people?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"400\" height=\"266\" src=\"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/01\/HammerandNailsSmall-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/01\/HammerandNailsSmall-1.jpg 400w, https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/01\/HammerandNailsSmall-1-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>But Judah\u2019s idolatry was too deeply entrenched to be reversed by Josiah\u2019s reforms, though God would promise to withhold judgment until after the<br> good king\u2019s death (2 Chronicles 34:28). So Zephaniah predicts the worst: \u201ca day of terrible distress and anguish, a day of ruin and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness\u201d (Zephaniah 1:15). At times, his words seem broader than for just Judah and point to a greater, later judgment. But they are painfully urgent for his hearers. These spiritually complacent people are sabotaging their own destiny and are apparently desensitized to God\u2019s voice. Zephaniah\u2019s words are meant to jolt them out of their apathy. They need to know they will begin to experience God\u2019s painful discipline in less than a generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/01\/SmallStorm.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3338\" width=\"483\" height=\"322\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Zephaniah\u2019s prophecy doesn\u2019t end in despair, of course. A restoration is coming, and God will delight in his people and rejoice over them with songs<br> (3:17). Again, Zephaniah\u2019s words seem broader than for his nation alone. God\u2019s restoration will have global consequences\u2014the purification of all people for unified worship. Entire nations will come to worship him (3:9). Israel will be the centerpiece of a much bigger salvation than its people have expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"670\" src=\"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/11\/StumpSmall-1024x670.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3176\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/11\/StumpSmall-1024x670.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/11\/StumpSmall-300x196.jpg 300w, https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/11\/StumpSmall-768x503.jpg 768w, https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2018\/11\/StumpSmall.jpg 1250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s the goal of God\u2019s plan. This ongoing battle throughout Scripture<br> and history is about one primary issue: worship. Idolatry, along with all its<br> symptoms, derails our ultimate purpose. Pure worship fulfills it. And God<br> will do everything necessary to bring the hearts of multitudes into alignment with his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/01\/DancingIntheDesertSmall.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3399\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/01\/DancingIntheDesertSmall.jpg 300w, https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2019\/01\/DancingIntheDesertSmall-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p style=\"font-size:23px\">Take a look inside the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paperturn-view.com\/us\/tyndale-bibles\/dancinginthedesert-nlt?pid=Mjk29123&amp;v=1.16\">Dancing\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0DesertDevotional\u00a0Bible<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Zephaniah might be a book that is often overlooked but the prophet brings an important message about pure worship. Read more from the Dancing\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0Desert\u00a0Devotional Bible\u00a0 Only decades before Jerusalem\u2019s fall and one generation before Jeremiah, Zephaniah warned of judgment. On the surface, he was an unlikely source for such severe words. He was a descendant [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,21,44,45],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3395"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3395"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5827,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3395\/revisions\/5827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com\/nlt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- LIVE: wpmu3.northcentralus.cloudapp.azure.com/nlt//wp-json/wp/v2/posts/3395 -->