The Book of Zephaniah is one of the shortest books of the Bible but best known for being the least known book of the entire Bible. It is a small book, nestled in the midst of the Minor Prophets, toward the end of the Old Testament. Among the Minor Prophets, we are certainly much more familiar with Jonah and Hosea. Nevertheless, this is a great book with a significant contribution to make to the Old Testament and to the lives of the saints of every age. Zephaniah was the great-grandson of Hezekiah, thereby making him of royal blood. He is kin to Josiah, Josiah’s reign was from 639-608 B.C. This was preceded by the long wicked reign of Manasseh, who wrought a great reformation in which Zephaniah was a prime mover. Thus this prophecy was uttered only a few years before Judah’s day of doom struck.  

Zephaniah Chapter 1

1 The word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah. I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the Lord. I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling blocks with the wicked: and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the Lord. I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarims with the priests; And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship and that swear by the Lord, and that swear by Malcham; And them that are turned back from the Lord; and those that have not sought the Lord, nor enquired for him. 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. In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and an howling from the second, and a great crashing from the hills. Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all they that bear silver are cut off. And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil. Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation: they shall also build houses, but not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof. The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,  A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord‘s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

Jerusalem on that day of destruction is coming. All the routines everyone was going through if you were doing crookedly before you would be doing crookedly on the Day of Lord. If it was coming in the city, it is coming on the whole world. They were marrying and being given in marriage, building houses and not able to live in there. No horse you’ll be able to ride upon fast enough, no ship to sail far enough will allow you to escape that day. That day is fastly approaching, the judgment on nations. This is what were are dealing with today. The sins of all this world, are coming to a point, all the lies, all the hated, all the jealousy, all the strife that is in the world but also in the Chruch, it is coming to a head. The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. All the mess going forth now in the house of God today will cease. The Bible says judgment begins a the house of the Lord first. Before He goes out into the streets, He’s going to clean house. We have to be waiting for His return. I don’t mean standing up looking at the sky, but doing the work of the Lord, going out in the highways and hedges and compelling the people. But everyone has their own thing going on today. They aren’t concerned about their brothers or sisters, but themselves. They are only concerned about themselves, their agenda.

Zephaniah Chapter 2

2 Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord‘s anger come upon you. Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord‘s anger. For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up. Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! the word of the Lord is against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant. And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks. And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening: for the Lord their God shall visit them, and turn away their captivity. I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border. Therefore as I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them. This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts. The Lord will be terrible unto them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen. Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword. And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness. And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds; for he shall uncover the cedar work. This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.

You be found doing the work of God with your whole heart, so when the day of the Lord comes upon all these, you won’t hide but stand boldly working the works of the Holy Ghost. It is too late to pursue your career and do what you want to do, but stand still and see the salvation of God, walking in the Will of God and not your will. It’s not about you it’s about doing the will of God He has for you.It is not about hating your neighbors and getting over of them or on people in general, but about doing the will of God in your life, while you have life in your body. All these people like you see in California and the Ivory Coast, marveling at what they did like they are somebody. The Lord said all these places will be desolate, nothing there. The animals will use it to roam in, no people there, all the buildings utterly destroyed, like Soddom and Gomorrah. If you look at the place of Soddom and Gomorrah today, there is nothing left but potash, no green things grown there. All that has been destroyed, all the different form of arts of voodoo, witchcraft and devil worship will be utterly destroyed because they have offended God and His people. We need to understand that the Word of God says touch, not My little ones. Don’t bother something that doesn’t belong to you it belongs to Me. That’s an important statement to make. The World has got away with making all these rules and structure. This country has adopted homosexuality, that it is ok. My comment is like the Word of God, its an abomination. You cannot produce any seed from a man-man or woman-woman. There is no increase, its death, dead. Because there is no life in that situation that can be generated, then it is an abomination just like Sodom and Gomorrah. You hear in the new how they always say “I love this person, and I have a right to love who I want to love.” You can love who you want to love, you are to love everyone, but not sexual arousal love. Every couple of the same sex, there is always intimate sexual contact in that relationship. Why? You are acting out the same thing a man-woman goes through. What’s more is you can’t accept that you have problems with the opposite sex. If you look at any kind of homosexual or lesbian relationship, there is always a dominate person in that relationship that acts like a man, and the other acts as a woman. Now if it was meant to be natural in this existence, then they wouldn’t take such dominant roles as one being male and other female. They do this out of only one thing, a lustful, sinful, demonic feeling, to satisfy their soulish lusts.

Zephaniah Chapter 3

3 Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the Lord; she drew not near to her God. Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow. Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law. The just Lord is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame. I have cut off the nations: their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by: their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant. I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings.Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering. In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me: for then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy mountain. I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid. Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden. Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame. At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord.

We know this is dealing with the fall of Judah, how the Jews were scattered, all their enemies were upon them, and they were filtered into the World. But the Lord brought them back as a people again. Now we have a lot of people who say they are Jews, but I call them “wannabes.” My great-grandmother was Jewish so that makes me Jewish. No it doesn’t. You have Jewish blood but that does not make you a jew. The whole point is Zephaniah was given a prophetic saying from the Lord talking about the destruction of Judah, but I correlate that to today. Jerusalem and its surrounding areas will be under attack again. Those who have chosen to be their enemies, God will utterly destroy them, caring not if they aPalestiniansans, Canaanites, Assyrians, they are the enemies of Israel and of God. So it behooves people today to stand behind the Lord. Do His will. Don’t attack His people. Because if you are a Child of God, you are one of His people, grafted int to the Body of Jews. We only have one Lord, faith and baptism. In this great day coming upon this world, on this great day ahead, we will see and hear things that we never thought would ever happen. We will see people going back to the old days, the demonic tribal days, the hatred, insults, all of the things that use to be shall be again. Its up to the Children of God, the people who call themselves the Children of God to stand, after having done all they have done stand, stand for what the Word of God says. Walk by faith and not by sight. God has ordained that. He said in John 15 if you abide in Me and My word abides in you, you will ask what you will and it shall be done. Remember. God has not given us the spirit of fear but of love, joy and a sound mind.