How Do We See the Gospel in the Old Testament Book of Zephaniah?
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When I was first learning how to navigate my way through the Scriptures, I’d always jumble up the last few books of the Old Testament. I knew there were a few that started with H’s, and M’s, and Z’s. But I found myself really attached to at least one verse in one of those Z books.
I was intrigued by this vision of a singing and dancing God that we find in Zephaniah 3:17:
“The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”
Now, all these years later, I think I can keep my M’s and H’s and Z’s straight. And I’m still intrigued by this concept of a God who sings and dances. It still captivates me because it’s really the story of the gospel. Zephaniah is, in some ways, a micro story of the whole Bible. I’ll show you how the gospel weaves its way throughout this book.
How Do You Find the Gospel in the Old Testament?
I suppose before understanding how to find the gospel in the OT, it’d be helpful for us to define the gospel. The simplest definition is one given by JI Packer: God saves sinners. If you’d like to put a bit more meat on your gospel presentation, I use two different frameworks with four points each. The first is God—Man—Christ—Response. The second is more of a story: Creation—Fall—Redemption—Glory.
The first presentation centers upon God’s character and how humanity fails to meet God’s holy standard, as such the judgment of God is upon us. But the good news is that Jesus Christ fixes this by fulfilling what is required through his life, death and resurrection. Our only fitting response, then, is to respond to Him in repentance and faith. When this happens, we are united to Christ and his record becomes our record.
The second presentation centers upon the overarching story of the Bible. God lovingly created us to love Him and enjoy Him forever. We were made for rest, rule, and relationship. But we made shipwreck of this, and so rather than having the blessings of obedience we are under the curse of disobedience. Rather than having peace (rest), purpose (ruling), and healthy relationship we often experience the opposite. Ultimately, we are alienated from God. But thankfully God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to bear our curse and to fulfill what God intended for humanity. As such we now experience the blessings of Jesus’ obedience in our place. He restores the rest, rule, and relationship we were created to enjoy. Someday everything will be ultimately restored and we will live in a new heaven and a new earth.
We could write entire books focusing on these various themes of the gospel. But every gospel story follows this basic skeleton. No matter where you find yourself in the Old Testament (or the New Testament) you can find one of these various threads. Every place in Scripture is either telling you something about God, something about our rebellion, something about His rescue, or something about our future restoration. If you can spot this, then you can fill out the rest of the story.
How Do You Find the Gospel in Zephaniah?
I had a professor in college who liked to sum up the story of the Bible with two phrases: man’s ruin and God’s remedy. Zephaniah would appreciate his summary statement — as it seems that this is how he’s structured his book.
Zephaniah begins with a sweeping declaration of judgment. He will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth. It’s a shocking statement. And the universal scope is intriguing, but Judah and Jerusalem are just lumped in with the nations, it seems. Nobody escapes this judgment.
But we also have to be aware of where God is taking us in this book. There is a reason for this judgment. It’s a bit like a surgeon who cuts open a patient, removes all the cancer, and really cleans everything out. One might say that the judgment of a doctor removing cancer is also sweeping. The family breathes a huge sigh of relief when the doctor says, “I got all of it.”
Well, it is similar with the Lord. He is removing everything that keeps us from dancing and singing. He is, to use my professor’s language, overturning all that man has ruined. Chapter 2 is a call to repentance. An invitation to seek the Lord in the midst of this judgment — to be the remnant who will trust him in the midst of this. Perhaps we could liken this to white blood cells or parts of the body that will remain as the cancer is removed. It’s essentially the doctor saying, “will you let me do this surgery”?
The final chapter shows the switch from judgment to hope. In 3:9-20, Zephaniah envisions a future where God has purified the people and now His presence dwells with them. And this is where we get our beautiful picture of a dancing and singing God. God has gathered His people, removed their shame, and is now rejoicing over them with singing. The surgery happens so that the dance can follow.
And this is really the story of the gospel. Zephaniah shows us the reality of sin and judgment — sin is not a trivial matter but an offense against a holy God. But sin and rebellion doesn’t get the last word. God is radically dedicated to redeeming a people for Himself, which means that He’s willing to be a surgeon.
Zephaniah points to God’s heart for restoration. As stated earlier, Zephaniah 3:17 is one of the most tender pictures that we have in all of Scripture. This is the surgeon with amazing bed-side manner walking with us through the process of healing. But that image is too sterile. He’s so much more than a successful surgeon. He’s a dancer. He forgives and cleanses, but Zephaniah fills out the picture for us so that we see He does this with delight. He rejoices to forgive. He’s begrudging. He loves to see the hurtful cancer removed.
Zephaniah also points to our only fitting response to this work. Zephaniah’s urgent plea to “seek the Lord” (2:3) underscores the necessity of turning from sin and turning towards God. It is a call extended to all of the nations. It is in this book where we see God’s heart for the nations. Israel is like the other nations in their sinfulness, but they are also like the other nations in their redemption. Christ redeems humanity from all peoples.
In Zephaniah we also see a little glimpse of the new creation. The vision of a purified people and renewed world in Zeph. 3:9-20 finds its culmination in Revelation 21. This is where God is taking us. What a beautiful story this is for us.
Imagine a couple that love to dance together. They enjoy being in one another’s presence. But sickness has ravaged the body of the beloved. Her knees are now so inflamed that she can’t dance anymore. And she’s become bitter and angry. Hope has all but left. What’s a lover to do?
And I suppose if we really want to make this accurate, we’d have the sickness be somehow self-inflicted. Maybe even through some foolish idea that her husband didn’t love her, didn’t like to dance with her, and so she did this to herself to somehow punish him. What’s a lover to do with this added layer of resentment and causation?
Well, Zephaniah tells us what God does. He grabs a scalpel and removes all the junk standing in the way of the dance. He woos her. She finally sees (but certainly not fully) the depth of His love for her, and she agrees to go under the knife. It’s painful. At times, it doesn’t even feel worth it. Maybe it’s better living with bum knees and never dancing again. But His gentle work leads the charge and eventually all of the yuck will be removed.
And then they’ll dance. And He will sing over her the most beautiful song of redemption. This is what Zephaniah tells us is the story of the gospel.
So let’s dance.
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