“HE NEVER FAILS!”

Today’s Reading: Zephaniah 3

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

On the right of the photograph you can see the southwest corner of the Temple Mount area. The broken foundations of the walls were built thousands of years before modern Jerusalem’s walls. Seen in the middle of the photo are new buildings in modern Jerusalem built with the same kind of stone that was used by builders down through the ages. The people who live in these buildings want to be near the Temple area where they “call on the Name of the Lord” with “a pure language.” Hebrew has been restored as the language of modern Israel (Zephaniah 3:9a).

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

Key Verse: Zephaniah 3:17

The Lord your God in your midst,

The Mighty One, will save;

He will rejoice over you with gladness,

He will quiet you with His love,

He will rejoice over you with singing.

Today’s reading begins with a description of the condition of Jerusalem’s leaders at that time. There are corrupt princes, judges, prophets and priests (Zephaniah 3:3) who are in place. But this will not last! Zephaniah is coming on strongly! Daniel and other godly young men are about to come on the scene to shepherd God’s people under the coming Babylonian rule. Zephaniah is optimistic about the future. God gives him prophecies that are full of promises of God’s favour. Our key verse is filled with hope! Someone has said, “The future is as bright as the promises of God!” As the above photograph shows, Jerusalem, as a city, has been restored. And the spiritual “City of God,” described by Zephaniah, is under construction by the Spirit of God. Jerusalem is the only city for which the Bible asks readers to pray. Let’s do this today! Let’s all read Psalm 122.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Yes Lord, I am praying for Jerusalem. I sing with You! I am glad and rejoice with You! (Zephaniah 3:14). I have seen the fulfillment of Your promise, O Lord,  to bring the Jewish people back to Israel. Now, Lord, I pray for a mighty spiritual revival where Your Messiah, Jesus, will be Lord and Saviour for the majority! In His Name I pray. Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

I understand that by about 65 A.D. close to a majority of the people of Jerusalem believed that Jesus of Nazareth was Messiah. But then, because of persecution by the Roman appointed High Priest, the actions of those who wanted to overthrow Roman rule, and the cruel response of the Roman authorities, thousands of Jewish Christians left Jerusalem and settled elsewhere. Jerusalem and the Temple suffered destruction in 70 A.D. Eventually, the Romans would not allow Jews or Christians (who were mostly Jews) to live in Jerusalem, and so it became a totally pagan city for at least 150 years. Jews and Christians trickled back there around the year 320 A.D., after Constantine became Emperor of Rome.

I must comment on God’s promise of Zephaniah 3:9, “I will restore to the people a pure language.” In 1979 Crossroads produced a movie called “Apples of Gold.” In that movie our film crew interviewed an elderly lady who was the daughter of Eleazer Ben Jehuda. She told how her father was awakened in the middle of the night and heard a voice saying to him, “You are called to revive the Hebrew language as the everyday language of the people who will come to live in a future state called Israel.” That is exactly what has happened! Today even the menus in the Jerusalem restaurants are in Hebrew. A language that had been dead since the Babylonian captivity has been revived. To my knowledge, this has never happened before to any people. I think we can assume that the other promises given by God through Zephaniah will also be fulfilled!!! There are now dozens of Jewish Christian congregations throughout Israel that conduct their services in Hebrew. Zephaniah wrote of God, “He never fails!” (3:5) and God said, “Therefore, wait for Me!” (3:8a).

Yours because “He never fails!”,

David

P.S. I couldn’t help but begin singing the song, “God can do anything but fail” (click here for the Charlotte Mass Choir with soloist Albertina Walker).