God not only judges His people, God also judges other nations. Just because the other nations were not blessed with God’s special revelation, the Bible, as Judah had been, doesn’t mean that they are free to do whatever they please. God never allows ignorance as an excuse for unchecked sin in a nation. Paul addressed this ‘excuse’, this rationalization, extensively in his letter to the Romans.
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse… 14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) Romans 1:18-20; 2:14-15
The peoples of the nations are accountable to God even if they don’t have the Bible. They suppress the truth that has given them. They have no excuse. God has given everyone a conscience. Everyone, made in God’s image, is able to recognize the difference between right and wrong; good and evil. In fact it is clearly seen and understood.
When we see rampant evil in the world; tyranny, injustice, violence, mass murder, racism, slavery, sex trafficking, the widespread ignoring of God’s design for marriage, family, economics, LBTQA+s shamelessly proclaiming their perversions, and much more, it is easy to get overwhelmed. It is easy to feel hopeless. It is easy to question:
What is God doing?
God is being patient. Don’t mistake God’s patience for His inaction or inability to act. God is always in control.
The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever He wishes. Proverbs 21:1
Judgment will come to those who refuse to repent, turn, and walk in God’s way.
Just as Zephaniah had warned Josiah that, after generations of sin, rebellion, and whoring after other gods, His patience with Judah had run out, God comes in judgment against the nations. God’s patience had run out and it was time for a clean sweep. Zephaniah addresses the nations surrounding Judah; the nations to the North, South, East, and West.
And just to be clear, God tells us that when He comes to shake a nation only those things that cannot be shaken will remain.
And this word, Yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Hebrews 12:27
All the false things that people place their faith in, all the hollow things that people count on for their security, will be shaken by God. After the shaking only the things that are true will remain. This should serve as a warning today, not only for our world and it’s many empty pursuits and false beliefs, but it should also serve as a warning to the churches that embrace and incorporate the teaching of the world. The church will be shaken to sort out the false from the faithful. Only the faithful will remain steadfast. The faithful have nothing to fear.
God’s Judgment on Philistia
Zephaniah 2:4 For Gaza will be abandoned And Ashkelon a desolation; Ashdod will be driven out at noon And Ekron will be uprooted. 5 Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast, The nation of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines; And I will destroy you So that there will be no inhabitant. 6 So the seacoast will be pastures, With caves for shepherds and folds for flocks. 7 And the coast will be For the remnant of the house of Judah, They will pasture on it. In the houses of Ashkelon they will lie down at evening; For the Lord their God will care for them And restore their fortune.
God announces judgment against the four main cities of Philistia, Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, and Enron, as well as those living on the sea coast. We are not told why God is uprooting the Philistines but perhaps it has some connection to when the Prophet Amos condemned them some 50 years earlier.
Because she took captive whole communities and sold them into slavery. Amos 1:6
Philistia profited from human slave trade. They would capture whole communities and sell the captives into slavery. God expects even pagan nations to recognize and uphold basic human rights. Justice matters to God. He will not indefinitely overlook nations that ignore human rights. He will not overlook those nations that practice slavery.
In an example close to home; God came in judgment against the United States, shaking the land, at the cost of almost a million lives, for engaging in the sin of slavery. Exodus 21:16 This should also stand as a warning to all those Muslim nations that continue to practice slavery today as their false god, Allah, teaches in the Quran. This should stand as a warning to the Chinese who continue to enslave people today. And this should stand as a warning to all corporations who are currently profiting from the exploitation of Chinese slave labor.
It is interesting that in the judgment against Philistia, God includes a note of hope for the remnant of the house of Judah. The remnant will be gifted the land of Philistia. Even after judging Judah, the Lord their God will care for them and restore their fortunes.
This is a picture of the love that God always showers on His Covenant children. Even when we are faithless, God remains faithful. 2 Timothy 2:13 Yes, as we saw, after Josiah, the people will again fall into heinous sin, but even in that, at the time of their exile into Babylon, God will preserve a remnant. The Lord their God will care for them and restore their fortunes.
God’s Judgment on Moab
Zephaniah 2:8 “I have heard the taunting of Moab And the revilings of the sons of Ammon, With which they have taunted My people And become arrogant against their territory. 9 “Therefore, as I live,” declares the Lord of hosts, The God of Israel, “Surely Moab will be like Sodom And the sons of Ammon like Gomorrah— A place possessed by nettles and salt pits, And a perpetual desolation. The remnant of My people will plunder them And the remainder of My nation will inherit them. 10 ”This they will have in return for their pride, because they have taunted and become arrogant against the people of the Lord of hosts. 11 The Lord will be terrifying to them, for He will starve all the gods of the earth; and all the coastlands of the nations will bow down to Him, everyone from his own place.
The people of Moab were proud in their own strength. In their pride they mocked and taunted the people of God. In reviling the people of God they were also arrogantly mocking the Lord of Hosts… never a good idea. Because of their actions God said that he would terrify them. He would terrify them by destroying their gods. The gods that they believed in and counted on for security and blessing were going to be exposed as worthless.
As Paul reminded the pagan Corinthians: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), 6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. 1 Corinthians 8:4-6
Idols are worthless and God was going to show Moab just that.
Are there people in the world today who mock God and taunt those who believe in Him?
What should the Christians response be to such mocking?
We can take comfort in the sure knowledge that the situation is never beyond God’s control. God’s truth always will prevail. We should pray that they come to their senses and stop mocking the only One who can give them life. As Christ prayed: Father forgive them for they know not what they do. Luke 23:43
Here again, Zephaniah concluded his judgment against Moab with a promise to the faithful remnant of Judah. The remnant of My people will plunder them, And the remainder of My nation will inherit them.” After God judges Moab the faithful in Judah will inherit their land in fulfillment of the promise found in Proverbs 13:22:
A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children: But the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. Proverbs 13:22
God’s Judgment on Cush
Cush was located in what is today Southern Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan. Again, God does not tell us here why Cush would be slain, however, the Prophet Ezekiel, speaking some 20 years after Zephaniah, condemned Cush for her complacency. Ezekiel 30:9 Just as Zephaniah had prophesied that God would punish Judah for complacency, Cush practiced the same sin, believing that they could get along just find in the world by ignoring the law that God had placed in their hearts. They suppressed God’s truth, the truth that He had made known to them. In exchange they jettisoned what was clearly seen and understood and invented their own truth. God had given them a conscience and He intended for them to follow it.
Christ himself had brought this very same charge against His church in Laodicea. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth. Revelation 3:15-16
The nations are never to be complacent. Ignoring the truth brings with it consequences from the throne of God. That is also why Christians are never to quietly blend in with the culture. Christians are to call the world to repentance, imploring them to take stock of their sins. We are to instruct, heal, and love, as we are vocal witnesses to the salvation of Christ to a lost and hurting world. Again, as Christ reminded His disciples:
You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. Matthew 5:13
God’s Judgment on Assyria
Zephaniah 2:13 And He will stretch out His hand against the north And destroy Assyria, And He will make Nineveh a desolation, Parched like the wilderness. 14 Flocks will lie down in her midst, All beasts which range in herds; Both the pelican and the hedgehog Will lodge in the tops of her pillars; Birds will sing in the window, Desolation will be on the threshold; For He has laid bare the cedar work. 15 This is the exultant city Which dwells securely, Who says in her heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me.” How she has become a desolation, A resting place for beasts! Everyone who passes by her will hiss And wave his hand in contempt.
Assyria boasted in her self-sufficiency: I am, and there is no one besides me. In her arrogance she thought that she was secure in following her idols. She believed that there was no need of God. Again, just as Christ had warned His church at Laodicea, saying, You say, I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.
But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. Revelation 3:17
In Psalm 2, David explains that the people of the nations of the world and their rulers arrogantly conspire and plot to escape God’s control over their lives. Assyria boasts, I am, and there is none besides me. Laodicea boasts, I am rich… I do not need a thing. Similarly, nations of the world today mock God and His standards, and conspire against God’s children, persecuting, silencing, imprisoning, and murdering them.
What is God’s response?
Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.” The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.”
God laughs at their arrogance. God scoffs at them and when His gracious patience runs out He rebukes them in His anger and terrifies them in His wrath. And He makes their land a desolation that people look at with contempt. Zephaniah 2:15
Particularly relevant in today’s COVID world, God reminds the people that it is He that sends even pandemics so that people will humble themselves and turn from their wicked ways.
When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a pandemic among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:13-14
We have spent the last year proud of ourselves in our social distancing, our masks, our zoom expertise, and our vaccines, but has our nation or, for that matter, have our churches humbled themselves and turned from their wicked ways?
We have seen God judge the nations of Philistia, Moab, Cush, and Assyria. Is our nation any different?
Do we really believe that God won’t similarly judge us for our idolatry?
Secularism is an empty charade that has intimidated Christians into believing that their religion must stay quiet and safely hidden inside the church. As Gandalf said, Keep it secret, keep it safe. We have been taught and are acting as if we believe that the Public Square must remain neutral. But that is a lie. Morality is never neutral.
Someone’s morality will always prevail; it will either be the bloodlust of the modern secular priests of Baal or the ethic of love for God and neighbor.
If I sit next to a madman as he drives a car into a group of innocent bystanders, I can’t, as a Christian, simply wait for the catastrophe, then comfort the wounded… I must try to wrestle the steering wheel out of the hands of the driver. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
How is it that a nation of hundreds of millions of professing Christians have allowed themselves to be intimidated into silence in the face of the great evils of our time? Do we not care for our fellow citizens?
Wisdom cries aloud in the streets, In the markets she raises her voice’
At the head of the noisy street she cries out; At the Court she speaks:
How long will you insist on being simpleminded? How long will you relish mocking?
How long will you hate knowledge? You ignored my advice.
You rejected correction.
So I will laugh when you are in trouble. I will mock when disaster overtakes you. When calamity overtakes you
When disaster engulfs you and anguish and distress overwhelm you.
you will cry for help and I will not answer.
They anxiously search for Me but will not find Me.
For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear God. They rejected My advice And rejected correction…
Fools are destroyed by their complacency. Proverbs 1:20-33
Will we turn from our sin and confess our complacency? We are to speak out the truth in public. Will God forgive our sin and heal the church or will God remove our lamp stand? Revelation 2:5
Just in our lifetime, how many nations that officially rejected the one true God now have growing or majority Christian populations? The Soviet Union, and her Eastern Block Countries were formerly atheistic but no longer. South Korea is a majority Christian nation.
China, although officially atheistic, is trying unsuccessfully to repress their growing 300 million Christian population. Even in Muslim nations, where the penalty for leaving Islam is death, many are rejecting Allah and coming to Christ.
As God Promised: In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s house will be established as the highest of the mountains… and peoples will stream to it. nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths. The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Micah 4:1-2
All around the world people from every tribe and nation are streaming into Christ’s Kingdom, the church, the New Jerusalem. Revelation 21 They are learning God’s ways. They are following His paths. They are discipling the nations… teaching them to obey everything [Christ] commanded. Matthew 28:19-20
Do you understand that Christ expects the nations to obey Him?
How can they believe if they have not heard? Romans 10:14
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