Because of the big ice storm, my opportunity to teach on Zephaniah in Sunday school was rescheduled for a later date which gave me more time to sit on it and think. Zephaniah means literally “the LORD treasures” or “the LORD hides.” You put it together and Zephaniah’s name means “treasure that the LORD protected.” Zephaniah’s name grows into the ripest of fruit when in Chapter 3 the Lord promises “to rejoice over them with gladness, quiet them by His love, and exult over them with loud singing.” The total picture is of our Heavenly Father exulting over the saints who are His treasured possession.
This rejoicing over the beloved is revealed most clearly at Jesus’ baptism when the heavens are ripped open and a voice from heaven says, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” The power of Jesus’ cross is that every believer gets to share in that. A believer is baptized into the name of the beloved Son and shares in His experience of “beloved-ness.” Scripture even makes the painful experience of taking up our cross a sign that we are truly connected to the crucified Son.
The Apostle Paul agreed. In Ephesians 1 God says this amazing thing. Paul is praying for the believing community in Ephesus. He asks the Father to help them see “the hope to which he has called you, and what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.” For years I did not read carefully and I thought he was praying for the saints to see the glory of Christ. However, that’s not what it says. The glorious inheritance here is the saints. Paul is praying that the community of disciples would see that their life together in Christ is the Father’s treasure.
I can’t help but wonder if Paul had Zephaniah in mind here. These Ephesians had been “separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” This is the same conclusion a reader would reach from reading Zephaniah’s prophecy. Zephaniah’s word to the Gentiles is that because of their idolatry “I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth.” However, when the messiah comes the Lord will “change the speech of the peoples,” gather those from “beyond the rivers of Cush (a reference to Gentiles)”, take away their judgment, shame, and fear; make them “praised and renowned among all the peoples of the earth.”
In the final analysis, every believer is a Zephaniah, one who is treasured and protected by Father, Son and Spirit. The saints’ sight of Him is dim now, but will grow clearer. Look in faith to Christ today amidst your troubles and hear the Father exulting over you with loud singing. We look forward to that day when our faith will become sight and our praise of God will match His praise over us.
