painting by Gwen Meharg
We continue this week in the minor prophets with Zephaniah. Zephaniah was roughly contemporary with the reformist king Josiah of Judah (2 Kings 22). The story of Josiah is fascinating. The priests rediscover the Hebrew scriptures, most importantly the book of Deuteronomy. In the eighteenth year of his reign, Josiah begins to implement God's law. Idols are cast out. The people begin to worship the Lord. Josiah is the last good king in 2 Kings.
Zephaniah's prophecy most likely heralded and caused this change in Judah. In Zephaniah's prophecy, God's judgment universal judgment gives way to the possibility for universal restoration. The message of Zephaniah holds today. At Christmas, God established His presence in the midst of the people, coming as a strong deliverer, beginning to reconcile the world through a baby. The cross of Jesus proclaims the same universal judgment on sin, evil, and injustice; the resurrection proves that the incarnation began to restore all the world to God, gathering in the lame and the outcast.
Rejoice!
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