March 8, 3:30 p.m.
Speaker: Josiah Grauman 
Topic: The Judgement of Yahweh 
Passage: Zephaniah 1–3 

Message Summary:

The book of Zephaniah helps us understand the idea of global judgement. It reveals the glory of God’s hatred of sin and the wonder of His wrath and justice. 

God has judged the entire world before with water. Yahweh is still a warrior, and though He “hung His bow in the sky” after the flood, He never relinquished His sword. A day is coming where Yahweh will bring His judgement on the world, and this time, He will do it up close. 

A remnant is a small group that remains. Noah remained after the destruction of the flood, and a remnant will be saved from the day of Yahweh’s judgement. The remnant is made up of those who remain after the day when Yahweh finally cleanses His creation. 

The Need for Salvation 

Mankind is so wicked that God promises to wipe it out completely. Man's sin brings about destruction, and because of this sin, God promises to wipe creation out—to make an utter end to everything and everyone. 

The very first people Yahweh addresses in judgement are His own people, those who confess His name. The most responsible are those who have the truth of God’s word. Of all people in history, we are the most responsible. We have Jesus, and we have the fullness of God’s word. If we reject Him, we will deal with the terrible reality of falling into the hands of the living God, who is a consuming fire. 

If your God is only love, He is not Yahweh. If you preach a God who is all love and no wrath, you are not preaching the God of the Bible. Yahweh is a jealous God and one day He will unleash the full fury of His wrath. In that day, none will stand, the entire world will be held to account. We need to live our day in light of that day: We must hate our sin. We must kill our sin by any means necessary. We must flee in the face of this judgement. 

The Call to Salvation 

You cannot stop this day of judgement from coming, but you can do something before it arrives: flee from Yahweh's wrath.

But where can we flee to? Who can provide refuge from omnipotent wrath? God has left us with no other option but Himself. To flee from Yahweh, we must flee to Yahweh. Only the omnipotent power of the son could endure the omnipotent wrath of the father on our behalf. 

Don’t flee from God, seek Him. Give Him your whole allegiance.  

If you know the end of every unbeliever, you will respond in pity, not in anger, when they wrong you. Knowing that every unbeliever who hurts us will face the wrath of Lord Yahweh frees us from a need for vengeance. It causes us to join Yahweh in calling sinners to repentance. We plead with them, “Be reconciled to God.”  

The Promise of Salvation 

God promises to regenerate His remnant. His wrath is coming for all sinners, but His remnant will not be sinners anymore after He cleanses and purifies them. The ones that remain and are saved from God’s wrath are the ones that He chose to be born again and made new.  

Yahweh promises to save people from the ends of the earth. This is a future regeneration of all things, when Jesus sits on His throne in the new creation. Our current regeneration is preparing us for the glorious regeneration of all things in the age to come. In that day, God will look at us and find no reproach. We will stand before the father and have nothing to hide. This is total purification. 

You are sovereignly part of the remnant because God has called you to be. We are a remnant chosen by grace. And we’re not just justified and forgiven, we’re totally glorified. The people of God will become like God, and on that day, we will worship Him perfectly.  

Together, the entire remnant will radiate Christ’s glory and loveliness throughout the world. No prisoner, no lame man, no banished soldier will be left behind—Yahweh will bring all His children home. 

The Gospel of Yahweh is not just being a remnant spared from His wrath, it's remaining to be the object of His eternal love. The Gospel is that this perfect and righteous judge declares us righteous so that He can adopt us into His family, give us the same inheritance as His eternal son, celebrate us, sing over us, work His perfections in us, and enjoy us for all eternity. Just as sure as the day of Yahweh’s wrath against sin is coming, the day of Yahweh’s song is coming for His remnant. Let us live today in light of that day.