Zephaniah - Zeph. 1:1 DailyBibleStudy.Org

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Zeph. 1:1

Lesson # Zeph. 1:1
Study Material - Zeph. 1:1

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Zeph. 1:1

1 The word [dabar] of the LORD [Yahovah] which came unto Zephaniah [Tsaphanyah] the son [ben] of Cushi [Kuwshiy] , the son [ben] of Gedaliah [Gadalyah] , the son [ben] of Amariah [Amaryah] , the son [ben] of Hizkiah [Chizqiyah] , in the days [yowm] of Josiah [Yo'shiyah] the son [ben] of Amon [Amown] , king [melek] of Judah [Yahuwdah] . KJV-Interlinear

1 The word of the LORD which came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, NASB

The meanings of the names of Zephaniah's ancestry are as follows:

Zephaniah - The Lord Hides and Protects
Cushi - Bow of the Lord
Gedaliah - God is Great
Amariah - The Lord has Said
Hezekiah - The Lord has Strengthened

This book begins with the statement that the Word of the Lord, comes from God himself. Gods Word, the content of scripture, comes from no other source. It is not a matter of mans invention, or imagination, or logic, or reasoning, 2 Tim. 3:16, 'All Scripture is God breathed and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. That the man of God might be mature ...,' NASB

Over the space of five generations the scriptures have been available to everyone who was interested. Beginning with the source of all provision and strength. Then through listening to that which God says (through His Word), then one can come to the conclusion that God is indeed infinitely great. Given that God is all powerful, and all knowing, He has the believers best interest in mind. Then, anyone who aligns themselves up with God, living within His will, is then hidden from the powers and delusions of this world which would seek to destroy anything which is connected to God, and therefore the believer is perfectly protected.

God does not do things half way. I could use a different word here, but then this is a family study!! Wouldn't want to offend anyone for that portion of their anatomy which they sit on most of the day.

Anyway, Zephaniah begins clearly stating that these words are not his words, but those from God. Zephaniah was merely the hand which put Gods words to paper (so to speak). The messenger never authors the message. He merely delivers it. It is true in those days, and is true even in our current day and will always be true until the end of time.

Gods Word is available now, and has always been available since the time of Adam and Eve. We have been studying in the book of Revelation and have seen some pretty disheartening attitudes which will develop in that last generation prior to the Second Advent. But then, Gods word will be available then too.

It is even available now. We cannot go anywhere and not see some indication of God, of Jesus Christ, of something which is related to the divine authority, and yet we have all manner of human viewpoint being spread over the airwaves. Most of which are bordering on the ludicrous. Even those with common sense have their flaws.

In recent years, we have seen several reminders that we are in need of a spiritual wake up call. Some of us have had personal wake up calls with various problems which have impacted our lives. Our nation has received a wake up call with the attack on the twin towers in New York. Some of the wake up was short lived unfortunately, and now we face a close national race for the leadership of the country. The country being nearly evenly divided between two philosophies. On the one hand there is the attitude that we go after the terrorists and get rid of them. On the other hand there is a candidate who hasn't made up his mind for a couple of decades. And we are split over these two philosophies? The answer should be clear to clear thinking people. However, when the nation is lacking spiritual assets, then even the ludicrous becomes elevated to greatness.

Now this is not a political comment, but one for teaching purposes. We have been studying the Tribulation. There will be issues in those future days, which will be clear to all. The magnitude of the troubles in those days will be so great that no one will have any excuse for not seeing the real issue - their lack of a relationship with God.

We haven't studied the specifics of the worst troubles yet (the bowl judgments) but we will be there very soon. We have studied the initial half of the Tribulation, and the unbelievable failure of the attempted utopia which will result in the death of one-fourth of the population of the world. Not exactly an insignificant number. This will be followed by yet another one-third of the world dying, and still people will refuse to see the truth. If those major disasters do not convince people, then what would you expect from our current day differences, which should seem minor by comparison?

But just as we study those future days, and just as we study the past in Joel's time, and now in a time prior to Joel, the time of Zephaniah, we can see that mankind will always slip away from God and thus invite disaster on himself.

Our current day is no exception. Common sense will either prevail or it will fail. Common sense is built on knowledge, and wisdom, and the only true source of wisdom is the Word of God.

Through five generations commonsense prevailed through Gods Word for some people, but the nation went downhill because the common thought of the day was indifference toward God. And therein lies the source of all of mankind's trouble.

With indifference and with other aspects of negative attitude, comes trouble. God is a gentleman. If mans does not want God, then God will graciously step aside and that means that man is now open to the attacks of the world. With Gods defenses gone, then mankind is helpless against the trouble that the jungle will throw at Him. The real question is, what will it take (how much trouble) to convince mankind that he has made a mistake and needs to turn back to God?

Lack of Bible knowledge brings delusion, and delusion brings false conclusions, and false conclusions will always lead to trouble.

Now is the time to post a prayer.

End Of Lesson

Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth.

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