WEEKLY SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
An international Sunday school lesson commentary
For Sunday June 19, 2016
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THE JOY OF RESTORATION
(GOD will restore a repentant heart)
(Zephaniah 3:9-20)
Despite Zephaniah’s
underlying theme of judgment and punishment, this short three-chapter book
closes on a very positive note, not to say that judgment and punishment are not
meant to have a positive effect on us, because they are. However, here in
verses 9-20 Zephaniah describes a scene immediately following the Israelites
Babylonian captivity, just 70 years down the road, as he announces that, after
GOD judges HIS wayward nation, HE will raise up a remnant of faithful believers
who will continue to serve HIM as HIS covenant people.
Looking at this in the eschatological sense,
he may very well be describing a time of the “second coming” of CHRIST when HE
will set up HIS “Millennial Kingdom” here on earth with a remnant of believers
who have stood the test of the tribulations of satan. During those days GOD
promises to give those survivors a new “human spirit” (Ezekiel 36:26). Similarly,
GOD says here that HE will quiet them in HIS love, and rejoice over them with
singing (3:17). At that time, “with Judah’s evil purged”, the LORD will gather
them up again, and bring them back safely to their homeland.
And
so we see that despite the failure of that generation, or even ours, and future
generations as a whole, to maintain a reverence for GOD, the obedience of a few
from each generation are assured of a bright future with the LORD. Our hope in
CHRIST, “the Christian Hope”, is not just for this life, but rather, it is for
the eternal life yet to come in Heaven. That is why true Christians are not,
and should not be “miserable people”, but rather, to the contrary, we are
people who retain an unshakable joy, while still living here on earth.
It
is a true fact that JESUS has been raised from the dead, and HE became the
first fruit of a great harvest of believers who will be raised to life again,
after HIM. And just as death came into the world through Adam, resurrection
from the dead, into eternal life with GOD, has been ushered in by JESUS CHRIST.
Everyone
dies because of their “earthly” relationship to Adam, but everyone can live
again, eternally, through their “Heavenly” relationship with CHRIST JESUS. Death
will be the last enemy of man to be destroyed, or nullified, and so, we must
not be fooled by unbelievers, desiring to be like them in the world as ancient
Israel did, or, as we still do today.
Remember,
bad company corrupts good character, and so we have to come to our senses and
quit living in sin, by coming to know GOD on a personal and experiential, “life
saving” level, and choosing to follow after righteousness instead of following
after the world (Vs.20-34).
It
is a certainty that GOD will always discipline us when we sin, and sin will
always be a seed that will produce consequences, judgment, and death. And while
we can always be saved from hell, we can, in no way, ever be saved from the
LORD’s judgment, or the consequences of our sins. Our sins must run its course,
just as GOD says.
And
so finally, this book of Zephaniah, which had begun so miserably, now ends with
a proclamation of joyful promise and praise. In verse 20 of this chapter, the
phrase “I will give you a good name”, should serve to remind us that,
all that we have and receive from GOD, is ultimately, a “free gift”, for GOD
can never owe us anything, and no matter what we do, we can never put GOD into
our debt. It is the free gift of salvation, the ultimate expression of GOD’s love
and grace that we can’t afford to not accept. It is only because GOD is willing
and committed to give, that we are able to escape this dark world, and be able
to look forward, with confidence, to a bright future in Heaven in GOD’s OWN
glorious presence, where JESUS already is.
A Sunday school lesson by,
Larry D. Alexander
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