After two and bit chapters of rebuke and judgement, Zephaniah shifts to focus on a fully fledged future hope. The flipside of God’s terrible wrath is his unmerited and complete mercy where he shows his remnant people a perfect fellowship in mutual love which comes on the Day of the Lord.
In this Bible Talk, Ken Noakes addresses a specific events surrounding the newly appointed CEO of the Essendon Football Club. Hours after his appointment, issue was raised because of his association with his church (an evangelical church in Victoria) whose statements of beliefs are biblically shaped and consistent with traditional Christian doctrines. He was forced to choose between his church or his football club. He choose his church.
In this series we look at the book of Zephaniah and see the hope of grace in the shadow of God’s promised universal judgement and wrath. The focus of the book is on the nature of the day of the Lord. In wrath, God will reverse his blessings, yet also in mercy, he will reverse his curse for those who turn to him in repentance and faith.
In this talk, Andrew Cox helps us to understand how Hebrew Prophecy works to shape our understand of how God deals so justly and completely with sin (in Zephaniah’s time, concerning the people of Judah and in our time, us). And yet, how he does that with and eternal hope for those in faith.
The book of Joel is probably best known to Christians because of Peter’s sermon at Pentecost in the Book of Acts, where he quotes Joel to explain the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on all people. But the main emphasis in this book is the Day of the Lord, a day when the powerful presence of the Lord God will bring judgement – meaning deserved punishment for some or deliverance and blessing for others. What will that Day bring for you?
What grabs your attention? The natural events and the voice of the prophet are what God used to grab the attention of his people.
In Talk 1, Gary Haddon looks at the lament over Israel’s poor situation – a lament which leads not to a complaint against God, but a call to repentance in the light of the coming Day of the Lord.
Throughout history, we find all sorts of ways that societies have ‘sounded the alarm’ to alert their people to a serious and immediate danger.
In Talk 2, Dave Swan looks at Joel 2:12-13 as the key to the final question of verse 11 – ‘who can endure the Day of the Lord?’
God offers the way to endure the Day of the Lord: return to him “with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning”. That is, in true repentance and faith.
Life is full of uncertainties, but even in the midst of it all there is a constant: Gods’ voice and his promises in his word.
In Talk 3, Dave Swan shows us the way the Apostle Peter uses this part in his Pentecost speech – to point people to Jesus as the answer!
The Day of the Lord is about the presence of God. Which for some will spell disaster, but for those who call on His name and seek refuge in Him, will be the day of blessing – the day of a permanently restored and renewed relationship with their God.
For Bible Studies to accompany this series see Bible Studies – Joel: The Day of the Lord
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