"[The Lord] will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love" (Zep 3:17)
What will the end be like for Christians? Zephaniah tells us two things:
1) There will be absence of judgement, evil and fear.
The Lord has taken away the judgements against you; he has cleared away your enemies. (Zep 3:15) Under the King, there can be no more fear. Not against evil, for God's enemies are totally removed, and no longer fear of wrath and punishment, for all judgements were already paid by the blood of the Lamb. It reminds us what it means to live under a protective, loving Shepherd (Ps 23).
2) We will be in the presence of an incredibly happy God.
It is often obscure to think of God as a happy God. We like to think of Him as a holy and solemn God who breaks more easily into judgment than joy. We associate God with saving and not singing. Yet singing is exactly what He does, as Zephaniah tells us. He will exult over you with loud singing (Zep 3:17). In the end of days God will be so exuberantly joyful of His people that he breaks out into songs of joy, for it is a people He Himself has claimed by His Son's blood. It is an amazing picture of God's joy in seeing His unblemished bride. If the angels rejoice over a sinner's repentance, how much more will God Himself rejoice! And so we, God's people look forward to bask in this eternal joy of God in heaven.
As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you. (Isaiah 62:5)
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Only the Humble Survives
"Seek righteousness, seek humility, perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the LORD" - Zephaniah 2:3
The people who have opposed God are those who trusted in themselves, in their own riches, their own buildings and power. Therefore God through Zephaniah sounds a warning: there will be utter and complete destruction of the proud, and neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the LORD (Zep 1:18). Earth's riches and human strength would not be able to withstand God's intense judgment upon the proud nation.
Fast forward to Chapter 3 and the end of Zephaniah shows us a picture of who's left behind in the kingdom of God: only the humble survives. I will remove in your midst your proudly exultant ones. I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord (Zep 3:11-13). Thus God's people are in the end, the truly humble, the ones who trust and obey God while the proud are sieved out of the kingdom of God at the very end.
The only way to escape that fierce judgment is to follow the way of the LORD. Seek humility, He says.
It is no wonder that humility is so lacking in many of us who are still being transformed. Only Christ is perfectly humble, and Paul exhorts us in Philippians to see him as our example. He laid down his glory to suffer a death of servants, even death on the cross (Phil 2). And God exalted Him to the highest place. Thus Paul says, in humility count others more significant than yourselves (Phil 2:3), to put others' interests above ours.
This is always a hard thing to do, in our pride. How many churches would not split, how many relationships would be preserved if humility is practiced extensively! Yet by nature we want to win, be it arguments, popularity, recognition, and ultimately preserve our own pride. Nobody loves to lose and give in. Yet the example of our Lord Jesus shows us that to lose now is to win in the end. To be humble now is to be exalted and glorious in the end. This is the counter-cultural way of our King, and we as servants will do well to imitate Him. We need the Spirit's help to bend our rotten self-centered wills to possess Christlike, others-centered love.
Application
Humility is what I was thinking about in my latest quarrel with Q. Often times I find her reluctant to admit her mistakes and say 'sorry', while most of the time I would readily confess my mistakes and ask for forgiveness. Sometimes she would refuse to say while I wait for the apology. And sometimes she would say, "What do you want from me?" So I get either no apology at all, or insincere apologies. This shows that there is much pride left to mortify, by God's grace. The way of humility is to be God-dependent, and others-centered. We should not be afraid to apologize, and expose our sinfulness to each other. May God give us this mind of Christ.
Remember, ultimately, only the humble survives and lives with God.
The people who have opposed God are those who trusted in themselves, in their own riches, their own buildings and power. Therefore God through Zephaniah sounds a warning: there will be utter and complete destruction of the proud, and neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the LORD (Zep 1:18). Earth's riches and human strength would not be able to withstand God's intense judgment upon the proud nation.
Fast forward to Chapter 3 and the end of Zephaniah shows us a picture of who's left behind in the kingdom of God: only the humble survives. I will remove in your midst your proudly exultant ones. I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord (Zep 3:11-13). Thus God's people are in the end, the truly humble, the ones who trust and obey God while the proud are sieved out of the kingdom of God at the very end.
The only way to escape that fierce judgment is to follow the way of the LORD. Seek humility, He says.
It is no wonder that humility is so lacking in many of us who are still being transformed. Only Christ is perfectly humble, and Paul exhorts us in Philippians to see him as our example. He laid down his glory to suffer a death of servants, even death on the cross (Phil 2). And God exalted Him to the highest place. Thus Paul says, in humility count others more significant than yourselves (Phil 2:3), to put others' interests above ours.
This is always a hard thing to do, in our pride. How many churches would not split, how many relationships would be preserved if humility is practiced extensively! Yet by nature we want to win, be it arguments, popularity, recognition, and ultimately preserve our own pride. Nobody loves to lose and give in. Yet the example of our Lord Jesus shows us that to lose now is to win in the end. To be humble now is to be exalted and glorious in the end. This is the counter-cultural way of our King, and we as servants will do well to imitate Him. We need the Spirit's help to bend our rotten self-centered wills to possess Christlike, others-centered love.
Application
Humility is what I was thinking about in my latest quarrel with Q. Often times I find her reluctant to admit her mistakes and say 'sorry', while most of the time I would readily confess my mistakes and ask for forgiveness. Sometimes she would refuse to say while I wait for the apology. And sometimes she would say, "What do you want from me?" So I get either no apology at all, or insincere apologies. This shows that there is much pride left to mortify, by God's grace. The way of humility is to be God-dependent, and others-centered. We should not be afraid to apologize, and expose our sinfulness to each other. May God give us this mind of Christ.
Remember, ultimately, only the humble survives and lives with God.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
The Steadfast Love of God
"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love..." - Ps 51:1
The first thing that David thought of God when he sinned with his adultery with Bathsheba and senseless murder of Uriah is the steadfast love of God. It is called 'hesed' in Hebrew and is found many times in the Old Testament that recounts the character of God. The idea connotes not only of God's immense love, but the loyalty and faithfulness of that love. God's love perseveres despite His children's repeated rebellion, and their moments of folly. God's love cannot run dry for His beloved children. This is great comfort. If you are a child of God, no amount of sin would cause God to stop showering his love for you. His love endures forever.
David knew he needed mercy. But thankfully his God is a merciful God. God's mercies are new every morning. I too have sinned like David. My sin may not be as spectacular as David's, and neither was my position as grand and significant as David's. I did not commit adultery and murder in the explicit and spectacular fashion that David did, but lust and murder is definitely in my heart in small measures. I am not, like David, a redemptive figure, an Israelite king, a vessel through which God blesses the world, a type of Christ. Yet if a man as important as David in the sight of God, committed sins as hideous as he did, could be forgiven by a merciful God, and be restored by Him, surely my sins can be forgiven and I can be renewed by the same God! By looking at David's example, one need not despair of his sins.
It is amazing how in many places Scripture describes David as an obedient and righteous man, as though the Bathsheba/Uriah episode never happened. It was as though God's Word was deliberately selective, or blind to David's hideous sins. It was the steadfast love of God that transformed David from a sinner to have the power to live obediently for God again. It was the steadfast love of God that allowed God to not remember David's sins, and not to hold it against him. It was the steadfast love of God, that ultimately He sent Christ, the son of David, to die so that you and me, filthy and rotten sinners, can stand before Him every day, righteous and perfect in his sight.
There is not one day that you can live outside of God's hesed, outside His amazing, loyal love for you. Thanks be to God!
The first thing that David thought of God when he sinned with his adultery with Bathsheba and senseless murder of Uriah is the steadfast love of God. It is called 'hesed' in Hebrew and is found many times in the Old Testament that recounts the character of God. The idea connotes not only of God's immense love, but the loyalty and faithfulness of that love. God's love perseveres despite His children's repeated rebellion, and their moments of folly. God's love cannot run dry for His beloved children. This is great comfort. If you are a child of God, no amount of sin would cause God to stop showering his love for you. His love endures forever.
David knew he needed mercy. But thankfully his God is a merciful God. God's mercies are new every morning. I too have sinned like David. My sin may not be as spectacular as David's, and neither was my position as grand and significant as David's. I did not commit adultery and murder in the explicit and spectacular fashion that David did, but lust and murder is definitely in my heart in small measures. I am not, like David, a redemptive figure, an Israelite king, a vessel through which God blesses the world, a type of Christ. Yet if a man as important as David in the sight of God, committed sins as hideous as he did, could be forgiven by a merciful God, and be restored by Him, surely my sins can be forgiven and I can be renewed by the same God! By looking at David's example, one need not despair of his sins.
It is amazing how in many places Scripture describes David as an obedient and righteous man, as though the Bathsheba/Uriah episode never happened. It was as though God's Word was deliberately selective, or blind to David's hideous sins. It was the steadfast love of God that transformed David from a sinner to have the power to live obediently for God again. It was the steadfast love of God that allowed God to not remember David's sins, and not to hold it against him. It was the steadfast love of God, that ultimately He sent Christ, the son of David, to die so that you and me, filthy and rotten sinners, can stand before Him every day, righteous and perfect in his sight.
There is not one day that you can live outside of God's hesed, outside His amazing, loyal love for you. Thanks be to God!
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