COV LIFE BLOG
God’s love is set forth in this gracious call to Judah to come together and face the fact of God’s judgement, take heed, and repent. The sad thing was that Judah as a nation did not respond to this gracious call. What do we learn from this gracious call of God and the attitude to it in the world today. The fact is that eternal judgement upon sinners is clearly taught in the Bible. When Christ returns he will come to judge the living and the dead. All will stand before him on that fateful day. We are told in the book of Revelation that all whose names are not written in the book of life will be cast into hell. All ministers need to be like Zephaniah and call people to consider that the final judgement for sin is fixed, and call them to take heed, repent, and trust in Jesus Christ for the promiser of forgiveness and eternal life in him.
For those who sought the Lord in the time of Zephaniah, and were humble and did the Lord’s commands, it was the assurance that in the coming judgement, the Lord would not forsake them. They would have the assurance that come what may, he would be their God, and keep them safe in his love in this life and the next. It also was a peace that in the midst of the coming judgement, perhaps God would be gracious and mitigate the suffering for them, and perhaps allow them to stay in their land when the nation was taken away into exile.
For us today, this seeking the Lord, being humble before him, and living by his word in the Bible, means that the certainty of our eternal salvation is made more assured to us, so that though by faith we know the promise of eternal life in Christ, yet in our daily life the assurance of it may be made more and more clear, so that all fear is removed.
It will mean also that in the midst of life and as we face the future, we will know with deep assurance that God is working all things for our good, and even when the all things may be painful and testing, yet still God is working for our good. We will know that our future is sure and mapped out by our Lord, and as we seek his guidance and will for the future we will know that he is with us, and that he will keep us in his will in all the choices in life we have to make.
God’s judgment is a reality. The world will be finally judged. God’s judgements are being made manifest all through history. We who have faith know that we are always safe in the arms of Jesus, and free from corroding care.
SCRIPTURES FOR MEDITATION
Read Zephaniah 2 and consider the grace of God to rescue his people from judgment. How fully do you delight in the glory of Christ in his grace towards you? How can you grow in this? And how can you share this with others this week?
SONG FOR THIS WEEK
Lord From Sorrows Deep I Call by Matt Boswell and Matt Papa
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