MADE PURE BY FIRE
ZEPHANIAH 1:1-7; 2:1-3; 3:9-20THEN WILL I PURIFY THE LIPS OF THE PEOPLE
A wedding ring is a splendid symbol of the marriage between a man and woman, and between God and his people. It is a circle, a symbol of eternity. Human love is beautiful, like flowers in a wedding. But like the flowers in a wedding, it wilts and fades over time if it is uprooted from the soil of God’s eternal love. To survive and flourish, our love must be planted in God.
A ring is also made of a precious metal. Precious metals are refined by fire; it is the fire that burns out the impurities. Marriage have their fires-turmoil and disappointment, tragedies and misunderstandings – but the fires need not destroy the marriage. They can help make it more pure and precious.
God is a husband to his people; he has married himself to us in covenant love. When we persist in sin like an unfaithful spouse he brings the fire of judgment on us. Sometimes the fire is brutal and searing, like the Day of the Lord described in Zephaniah. But its purpose is for purity. "Then will I purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name of the Lord"(3:9). The fire of judgment isn’t God’s last word, it’s his next-to-the-last word. His last word in the redemption and restoration described at the end of Zephaniah’s prophecy, and it is for the whole world, "that all of them may call on the name of the Lord."
God doesn’t enjoy judgment. It is work he must do, but Isaiah, calls it
"his strange work…his alien task" (Isaiah 28:21). "As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways!" (Ezekiel 33:11).
Understanding God’s perspective gives us great hope to pray in the face of judgment. We pray to a God who is not wanting anyone to perish (see 2 Peter 3:9), and who wills to turn the fires of judgment into the fires of purification. Even in the midst of Zephaniah’s harshest words, he says, "Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD’s anger" (2:3).
In Christ,
Janet Irene Thomas
Playwright/Screen Writer/Director
Published Author/Gospel Lyricist &Producer
FOUNDER/CEO
Bible Stories Theatre of
Fine & Performing Arts
www.biblestoriestheatre.org.
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