Zephaniah 3:11-15

Zephaniah 3:11 (KJB)

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.

 

Once the returned captives have come back into the land and begin to seek the Lord and will be obedient unto him, they will no longer have to be ashamed for the lives they led before the captivity.  Their sin will have been pardoned once they begin making the proper sacrifices, then their sins will not be brought back into account.  The Lord will remove from them the instigators who got Judah into all kinds of trouble by causing disobedience to permeate the people.  No longer will be there leaders to lead the people astray because those will have been removed from the population.  It was not only some of the leaders in Judah who caused the people to stray but people of the pagan nations who served the false gods and caused people of Judah to go astray.  There will be no more pride or self-exaltation because the people will now serve the Lord and the holy mountain is referring to the temple mount where they will build the second temple where the people will approach the LORD with humility and reverence and no longer with the arrogance of the pagan.

 

Zephaniah 3:12 (KJB)

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 Lord will leave in the midst of thee referring to the fact that if the Lord did not control the Chaldeans they would have destroyed all the Jews in Babylon which would have meant that the Messianic line would have been destroyed.  The people will return to Jerusalem and Judah as an afflicted and poor people since all their possessions were initially taken from them and the only things they had were what they possessed in Babylon.  The affliction would be that of a poor and contrite spirit which would have been broken being away from their land for seventy years and having to put up with false gods and a different tongue.  Once they return, they will realize the errors of their ways and will come before the Lord and once again place their trust in him and rejecting any affiliation with the false gods that had gotten them into trouble.

 

Zephaniah 3:13 (KJB)

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.

 

Now the Lord begins to speak in the language of salvation.  The remnant of Israel has to do with the Elect of God within the people of Judah who will experience the salvation of the Lord.  The language of salvation in this verse includes the cessation of doing iniquity which means they will not sin in the sight of the Lord.  1 John 3:9 (KJV) Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.  They do not commit sin in their souls which are readied for Heaven immediately upon salvation.  The flesh is still subject to sin but not the cleansed soul.  They will no longer speak any lies but will walk in the truth.  3 John 4 (KJV) I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.  Isaiah 63:8 (KJV) For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour.  No deceit will be found in their mouth.  Revelation 14:5 (KJV) And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.  They shall feed and lie down which is another way of saying they will be secure in their land.  Psalm 23:2 (KJV) He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.  They shall dwell securely and will have no fear of any enemies since God will have vanquished them all.  Micah 4:4 (KJV) But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.

 

Zephaniah 3:14 (KJB)

Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.

 

Because of the great promises God has given the remnant of Israel, they are to sing in joy unto the Lord for the great promise of salvation that is coming to the Elect within Judah.  The entire nation of Judah will not be saved but only those whom the Lord has chosen from the foundation if the world.  All Israel is to shout for joy because the great promise of God that all Israel will be saved someday when the Gentile nations will have the gospel preached to them and all the Elect throughout the world will become saved making up the Israel that will become saved.  Romans 11:26 (KJV) And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:  The daughter of Jerusalem is another word for the church or Elect of God.  Galatians 4:26 (KJV) But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.  When we become saved we are the daughters of Mother Jerusalem from above which is the heavenly Jerusalem.  Revelation 21:2 (KJV) And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

 

Zephaniah 3:15 (KJB)

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.

 

Since the Lord himself was the one who brought the judgment on Judah, it will be he who will exonerate them when the penalty has been paid.  He will also judge the Babylonians and the Medes and Persians who are also the enemies of Judah.  God has promised to be in the midst of them once again as he was in the past when the temple of Solomon was still standing.  Psalm 46:5 (KJV) God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.  Then God states that they will not see evil again which means that he will protect them from every enemy who will try to attack and overtake them.  However, there will come a time again that Judah will go very apostate and will incur the wrath of God and will be destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. never to rise again.

 

This verse is also dripping with salvation language.  God has removed the judgments against us because of Calvary.  Colossians 2:14 (KJV) Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;  Then we see that he has cast out our enemy Satan forever.  Revelation 20:10 (KJV) And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.  Then the Lord Jesus Christ is called the king of Israel which means he is king over all of the complete Israel which contains both Jews and Gentiles.  Romans 11:25-26 (KJV) For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.  {26} And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:  Here we see the description of Israel which is both Gentiles and Jews.  The false prophecy preachers never attach verse 25 to verse 26.  They teach that all the Jews will become saved and that is false, only a remnant of the Jews will be saved.  When Jesus was on earth, there were very few saved Jews who believed in him and the same situation exists today.  It is the same among the Gentiles, in comparison to the billions of people on earth today, only a remnant of Gentiles will be saved.  Then the verse states that we shall not see evil anymore and that is true.  The only evil the Christian will ever see is on earth today and after we go to glory we will never see evil again as Satan and all of his followers will be under eternal damnation.

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