December 15 – Zephaniah 3:14-20

Main Focus: When we behold Jesus, we live lives marked by overwhelming joy.

The third week of Advent observes the joy of the Lord brought to us in and through the birth of Jesus, Immanuel, God with us. We’ll turn to Zephaniah 3:14-20 to see this joy anticipated in a surprisingly ecstatic encounter between God and his people.

As we’ve done the past two weeks, we’re parachuting into another Old Testament prophecy, this time in one of the minor prophets you likely haven’t read much about: Zephaniah. Here’s a background video if you care to watch it. For a quick summary, Zephaniah was a prophet in the southern kingdom of Judah right before the exile to Babylon, and much of his message has to do with God’s imminent judgment on Judah’s idolatry.

However, right at the end of Zephaniah we’ll read a message of hope for a day on the other side of this judgement. If you back up into chapter 3 you’ll see this turn, when God’s anger against the nations (v.8) gives way to his work of purification among the nations to gather a people for himself (v.9). We won’t particularly get into that in discussion, but once again we see how God’s plan all along was to call people of every tribe, tongue, and nation together for his glory. And it’s worth pointing out the diversity of this people because that’s who is addressed in verse 14.

Again, this passage envisions an encounter between God and his people. Often in the prophets these encounters are not good news (ex. Micah 1) because the Lord’s approach brings judgment upon a sinful people. However, what Zephaniah looks forward to is a celebration between God and his people on the other side of this judgment and work of purification, making for an encounter with a shocking sort of joy.

In discussion we’ll look at how the passage describes this meeting between God and his people. You’ll notice plenty of discussion about singing and rejoicing or exulting, but don’t miss who all is singing: both God’s people and God himself. “The LORD your God…will exult over you with loud singing” (3:17). This is the only verse in the Bible that speaks of God singing, and what is it that causes him to sing? Being with his people. How amazing is that!

We’ll chew on that in discussion by asking about where all this joy is coming from; you’ll also notice several mentions of the Lord’s saving work for his people, which is a huge component of their joy. However, perhaps even bigger than this is what God’s saving work is meant to accomplish: God finally being in the midst of his people. From the Garden in Genesis 2 to the New Jerusalem in Revelation 22, this is the ultimate goal of all God’s dealings with mankind, to be Immanuel, God with us.

Your discussion will then turn to how this loving, joy-filled relationship compares with our common assumptions about how God relates to us (i.e. whether he likes us like that or not). Often we assume God mostly tolerates us; perhaps if you ran into God the conversation would be awkward, like running into a landlord when you’re past due on rent. In actuality, God adores you and delights to be with his people. Our final two questions will focus on being characterized by and growing in the joy of the Lord, but all this flows from first recognizing God’s abundant delight in you and his people (“we love because he first loved us,” 1 John 4:19).

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