Now let's look at Zephaniah chapter
two. Now tonight, I wanna read through
this chapter, just make a few brief comments, and then I wanna
come back and focus on verse three, on this subject, Christ,
our hiding place. What you have here in chapter
two is the beginning of a call to repentance. Now you remember
the prophet Zephaniah, he was the last of the prophets before
what they call the Babylonian exile, contemporary with Jeremiah. And he was pointing out by the
Spirit of God the sins of his people Judah, the sin, the idolatry,
the disobedience, the unbelief of Judah. and forewarning of
God's judgment of wrath that was about to descend upon them
through a foreign invader, who was in essence God's instrument
of justice. You remember Habakkuk had problems
with that. He couldn't understand that,
but God set his heart straight, set his mind straight, and settled
his heart. on knowing that God is in control. God is in control. He will not
forsake His people. God has a people that He chose
from the foundation of the world, and He will never, never forsake
us. Christ said that to His disciples.
He said, I'll never leave you, and I'll never forsake you. Lo,
I'm with you always, even unto the end of the age. That's what
that literally is, the end of the world. People think, well,
that's when the world comes in. No, that's the end of the age.
He said, I'm gonna be with you always, eternally. And you remember
that the prophet's name here, Zephaniah, means Jehovah, hides. The God of salvation, the God
of all grace, the God of the covenant. The God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. The God who justifies the ungodly
through the Lord Jesus Christ and what he accomplished on Calvary.
The God of mercy who visits and communes with sinners at the
mercy seat. That's important for this message.
As it is for all messages, isn't it? The God who promises to save
his people from their sins, and he never goes back on that promise.
That's Jehovah. And Zephaniah means Jehovah hides,
or Jehovah has hidden, or Jehovah's watchman. That's what Zephaniah
was. He was the watchman on the tower for warning of the coming
judgment. And a lot of people will go different
directions with that name, Jehovah hides. but tonight i want to
take it in this direction because in this in this message on christ
our hiding place here's a call to repentance and what this call
to repentance in essence is saying is this he tells god tells us
not just the people of zephaniah's day but the people of all ages
sinners who are in need of salvation and that's us that's me that's
you he tells us that the only way to escape the wrath of God,
God's just judgment against our sin in that great and terrible
day of His wrath, that day of the Lord that Zephaniah probably
in three chapters mentions more than any other prophet, that
day of the Lord, that day of wrath, the only way to escape
the wrath of God in that day is to seek the Lord and find
our hiding place in Him. in the sacrifice that He has
prepared before that day comes. And the sacrifice that He has
prepared is the sacrifice of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let me read through this chapter. He starts off with this call
to repentance in the first three verses. He says, "...gather yourselves
together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired." Judah
had become an undesirable nation. What a great picture of man fallen
in Adam, ruined and cursed by the fall. What a picture of every
individual sinner born of Adam, dead in trespasses and sin, because
what he's saying, there's nothing, Judah, there's no nation, there
is nothing about you that is desirable to the Lord. That's the picture here. And
that's the way it is with us. We need to understand that. We
need salvation. But my friend, there's nothing
in us for God to desire, or to choose, or to save us. The Bible says in Romans chapter
5 that Christ died for us when we were yet enemies. You see, God's love is totally
unconditional towards sinners. God's electing grace is just
that. It's electing grace. We don't
deserve it, we haven't earned it. We're a nation. We're a nation
that is not desired. We don't deserve God's salvation,
we haven't earned salvation. That's the picture here. You've
made yourself an undesirable nation. And he says, look at
verse 2 here. He says, before the decree bring forth, Before
the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord
come upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger come upon
you." In other words, God's wrath is coming. But here's what I
command you, this is what I desire for you, this is Zephaniah the
prophet saying, before that day comes, verse 3, seek ye the Lord. All ye meek of the earth, which
have wrought his judgment, That is, you've worked His judgment.
Your works deserve His judgment. That's what that means. All your
works and your efforts, that's what they come down to. God's
judgment against you. Seek righteousness. You see,
your works didn't make you righteous. All they did was bring judgment.
But you seek righteousness. Seek meekness. That's submission
to the will of God. That's what that is. Meekness
is not just submission to the will of God, but it's a willing
submission. I'll show you that in just a
moment. And he says, it may be you shall be hid in the day of
God's anger. Now when he says it may be, he's
not saying God might save you or he might not. That's not what
he's saying. God makes a promise. and is preached out in the gospel
of His grace through Christ. God will save any and every sinner
who comes to Him begging for salvation in Christ. Period. But what Zephaniah is doing here,
he's showing you, look. You've tried to save yourself.
You've tried to do things for yourself. You've tried to keep
yourself. You've tried to make yourself righteous with your
works, with your religion. You've tried to fulfill your
souls up with pleasure and with material, and you failed. So
the only place you've got to go is to the Lord. Seek ye the
Lord. Now, what he does from verse
4 to the end of the chapter, he brings in the judgment of
God against all the nations. And somebody asked, well, that
sounds like it's out of context. No, what he's showing is this,
and you'll see this when we get into chapter 3 next time. What
he's showing is Judah, the chosen people, the people whom God brought
out of Egypt and formed at Sinai, the people whom God had blessed
so many ways in a material, temporal, ceremonial way, really, when
it comes down to it, you're no better off than the rest of the
world. As far as, listen, as far as being saved by your works,
you're no better off than the rest of, you're no closer to
God than the rest of the world. In fact, you're worse off. Listen
to what he says. Now here, let's just read down
through there. He talks about Gaza. He says
in verse 4, for Gaza or Geza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon
a desolation. They shall drive out Ashdod at
noonday, that is early on. It's not going to be too long
for that. And Ekron shall be rooted up. Those are the cities
of the dreaded, hated Philistines. Oh, infamous enemies of Israel
and Judah. You know better off than the
Philistines. In fact, it was an ultimate insult to call a
Jew a Philistine. Look at verse five. He says,
Woe unto the inhabitants of the seacoast, the nation of the Carithites. Most scholars believe that that's
people who had migrated to that area from that little island
in the Mediterranean called Crete. Remember what the Apostle Paul
said of the Cretans, that they were slow bellies and sluggards,
basically? He says, the word of the Lord
is against you. That's an awful thought. The
Word of the Lord is against you. Well, let me tell you something.
The Word of the Lord is against every person who comes to Him
without Christ, without the blood and righteousness of Christ.
He says, O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even
destroy thee that there shall be no inhabitant. I'm gonna wipe
it clean. Verse 6, listen to this. He says,
And the seacoast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds and
folds for flocks. You know those big, beautiful
houses on the seacoast that everybody pants after? Oh, I wish I had
that. Well, he says those houses are going to be homes for shepherds
and their sheep. That's what they're going to
be turned into. Not those big, fancy homes that everybody loves
and pants after. Verse 7. He said, the houses
of the rich will be homes for shepherds. He says in verse 7,
the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah, they shall
feed thereupon in the houses of Ashkelon, shall they lie down
in the evening, for the Lord their God shall visit them, that's
the visitation of wrath, and turn away their captivity. Here's
two great enemies of Judah. And what he says here in verse
7, this is significant now, in verse 7 he's saying here, he
made a promise to Judah, and he's telling them that after
their captivity he's going to return them to the land that
he promised Abraham. Now why is he going to do that?
Well, it's not because they deserve it. It's not because they've
earned it. I'll tell you exactly why. It's
because before they were ever formed as a nation, God made
a promise. And that promise, we've stated
it throughout these minor prophets several times. The scepter shall
not depart from Judah until Shiloh comes. So they're going into
captivity. And remember, Zephaniah's contemporary, Jeremiah, he revealed,
God revealed to him and he stated to the people it's going to be
for 70 years, but God's going to bring you back. You see, you're
not going to be able to blame God and say, well, God, it's
your fault or God, you've broken that promise that you made. So
we're going to blame you. No, sir. He says God's going
to make good on his promise. And that coast will be for the,
God's gonna bring them back to the land, the remnant of the
house of Judah, that small part that's left over when this punishment
is all through. Look at verse eight, he says,
I've heard the reproach of Moab, there's one great enemy of Israel,
the revilings of the children of Ammon, another great enemy,
whereby they reproached my people and magnified themselves against
their border, they tried to overtake Judah and Israel, Verse 9, he
says, Therefore as I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the Lord of
an invincible army, the Lord who cannot be defeated and stopped,
the God of Israel, the God who prevails. He says, Surely Moab
shall be as Sodom. Where's Sodom? They're gone.
And the children of Ammon as Gomorrah. Where's Gomorrah? They're
gone. Even the breeding of nettles
and salt pits and the perpetual desolation." In other words,
they're never going to come back. That's what he's saying there.
There's never going to be a resurgence of these. He says, the residue
of my people shall spoil them and the remnant of my people
shall possess them. Again, when they come back out
of the captivity. God is not finished with the
nation yet, you see. Even though they're going into
captivity and even though they don't deserve the least of God's
blessings. But he's not finished. Verse
10, he says, This shall they have for their pride, because
they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people
of the Lord of hosts. That's the reason that God's
going to bring them down, because of their pride, because of their
arrogance, because of their self-righteousness, and because they've reproached
the people of God. Verse 11, he says, the Lord will
be terrible unto them, for he will famish all the gods of the
earth, all idols. Men shall worship him. Now that's
a forced submission in judgment. That's not the meekness that
he calls for in verse 3. But they're gonna be forced down. Like the conquerors of old, when
they conquer a country, they force people to bow to them.
And that's what it's going to be. In Philippians chapter 2
it says that every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going
to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Every tongue, every
knee. Now, not just believers. Believers
have already done that by that time. And they've done it willingly
because God made them willing in the day of His power. But
in the end, all, all that breathe will honor the Son. That's right. For many it'll be too late, but
they'll worship him, everyone from his place, even all the
isles of the heathen." Whenever it mentions the islands, or the
nations, or the oceans, or the seas, it's talking about the
Gentiles. Verse 12, "...ye Ethiopians, also you shall be slain by my
sword." Most people say that's the Ethiopia that was in Africa,
and still is. And he says, and he will stretch
out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria and will
make Nineveh a desolation. Nineveh was destroyed, I believe,
in 612 BC and dry like a wilderness. Remember, I think it was Nahum
who prophesied of the ultimate destruction of Nineveh. He says,
all flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts
of the nations, both the cormorant, that's a bird, I think, some
argue that, and he says, and the bittern shall lodge in the
upper lintels of it, that's a beast of the field, and what he says
is that their homes, their houses and their palaces and their towers
are going to become the homes of the beast, the beast of the
air, the beast of the field. Their voice shall sing in the
windows, desolation shall be in the thresholds, for he shall
uncover the cedar work." That great ornamental expensive work
is going to be uncovered and exposed. And verse 15, this is
the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly. That's man by nature
right there. He rejoices in himself, he rejoices
in his religion, he rejoices in his pleasures, he rejoices
in the earth, But he lives carelessly. What is it to live carelessly?
Not seeking the Lord. Not seeking his salvation. Not
seeking his righteousness. He says that those that said
in their heart, I am and there's none beside me, nobody like me,
I'm it, you know. That's man by nature it. How
has she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down
in? Everyone that passeth by her shall hiss, make fun of her,
and wag his hand." Just pull them off, you know. That's the
way it is. Now what he's saying, he's saying, Judy, you're no
better off than them. Go back to verse 3 now. Now here's the
issue. Is there any hiding place from
the wrath of God for a sinner like me? Because every description
that he had of these nations, I'll tell you, spiritually speaking,
it fits every man and woman born of Adam. Arrogance, pride, concerned
with our own things, what's going to happen to me, that kind of
thing. Our own works, our own efforts. Everything that he said
about these nations that he's going to destroy by nature. That's
a description of me It's like Romans chapter 1 and 2 and 3
Whatsoever things the law saith it saith to them that are under
the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
become guilty before God is there any place of refuge is there
any place of safety for a sinner like me and here's the here's
the answer in verse 3 seek and ye the Lord. Seek ye the God
of mercy and grace, the God of promise, all ye meek of the earth."
No man by nature is meek. What did the Lord say in the
Sermon on the Mount about that? Verse 3, when He began the Sermon
on the Mount, He said in Matthew chapter 5, verse 3, blessed are
the poor in spirit. Theirs is the kingdom of God.
No man by nature is poor in spirit. We're all spiritually poor. But
it's one thing to be spiritually poor, it's another thing to be
poor in spirit, isn't that right? It's one thing to be spiritually
poor and think you're rich. It's one thing to be lost and
think you're saved. I heard an old man say one time
this, and I think it's true of every one of us, that everybody
by nature thinks they're saved before they're saved until they're
saved. That's it, that's it. We think
we're okay before we're okay. Until the Lord shows us different
and shows us our spiritual poverty and our need of a savior like
that publican who beat on his bread, said, Lord, be merciful
to me, the sinner. We're all by nature like the
Pharisee. Oh, I thank God I'm not like
this one, that one. Verse 4 of Matthew 5, he said,
blessed are they that mourn, they shall be comforted, mourn
over their sin. And verse 5, blessed are the meek, submissive
to Christ. Submissive to the Word of God,
submissive to the Lord our righteousness. What was the problem with the
unbelieving Jews is described in Romans chapter 10, they would
not submit themselves to the righteousness of God. And they
insisted on going about trying to establish a righteousness
of their own. They would not submit to Christ. Blessed are
the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. And so he says back
here in Zephaniah, they seek ye the Lord, all the meek, and
nobody else is going to seek the Lord, but the meek, those
whom God has brought low in their sins and their depravity. Like Brother Aaron read in the
study, Isaiah chapter 6, when Isaiah saw that vision of the
Lord, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, thrice holy. And when I saw that glory, he
said, I said unto myself, woe is me, I'm undone, I'm cut off,
I'm a man of unclean lips. You know why he says I'm a man
of unclean lips there? Well, Christ gave us the reason. It's because it's out of the...
The mouth speaks out of the heart. That's why. He needed that live
coal from off the altar. The altar is where the sacrifice
is made, where the blood was shed. And that's what we need. We need life and power from off
the altar of God. Life and power from Christ. He
says in verse three here, he says, which have wrought, wrought
his judgment. That's what we've worked. That's
what we've earned. That's what we've, we've made
for ourselves. And then he says, seek righteousness.
Now, how are you going to seek righteousness? Well, turn to
Isaiah chapter 46. Listen to the Lord here. when he speaks of righteousness. Where are you going to find that?
He says in verse 12 of Isaiah 46, he says, Harken unto me, ye stout-hearted
that are far from righteousness. Now that's us by nature. That's
man, stout-hearted. That means self-righteous. That
means proud. That means unwilling, unbending. and that are far from righteousness."
He said, I bring near my righteousness, God's righteousness. He'll bring
it near. It shall not be far off. And
my salvation, righteousness and salvation are the same thing
here. You can't have one without the other. Did you know that?
If you've got salvation, you've got righteousness. If you've
got righteousness, you have salvation. Sin demands death. Righteousness
demands life. He said, "...and my salvation
shall not tarry, and I will place salvation in Zion..." That's
a picture, a symbol of the church. "...for Israel my glory." It's
God's righteousness. You've got to seek it from Him.
Where are you going to find it from Him? Well, turn to Jeremiah
chapter 23. Here's where it is. Jeremiah, Zephaniah's contemporary. Verse five of Jeremiah 23. Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise up unto David
a righteous branch. And a righteous offspring of
David. And a king shall reign and prosper
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth, something
we cannot do. Verse 6, in his days Judah shall
be saved and Israel shall dwell safely and this is his name which
whereby he shall be called Jehovah Sidcanu, the Lord our righteousness. Who's that talking about? It's
talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. Seek ye the Lord, all
ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment, which deserve
his judgment. Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, who among us would stand? None of us. Who
makes us to differ? Not us. God does. We've worked his judgment. But
we need righteousness. Seek righteousness. Seek meekness. And it may be you shall be hid
in the day of the Lord's anger. Now, some people, you know, I
want you to turn back to 2 Chronicles with me. Turn to 2 Chronicles
chapter 34. And I told you last time, you
know, as Zephaniah opened his prophecy
there, he spoke of the time in which he prophesied. He spoke of his is prophesying
in the days of Josiah, King Josiah. And he talked about how his great-great-grandfather
was the king named Hezekiah. And you remember I went down
through that with you. Hezekiah, Zephaniah's great-great-grandfather,
he ruled Judah for 28 years, about 28 years, almost 30 years.
And the Bible says that Hezekiah was a godly king, He led the
people in the ways of the Lord, to seek the Lord, even though
he was very lax in some areas of obedience to the law, and
we'll show you that. But after Hezekiah came his son
Manasseh, who was one of the most wicked, evil kings that
Judah had ever had. He reigned 55 years. And under
Manasseh, a lot of these things that you read about in these
minor prophets After that period of time, that was the result
of Manasseh's reign. And then after Manasseh came
Ammon, which was his son. He only reigned two years because
he was assassinated, but he was an evil king too. But then came
Josiah. And that's the days that Zephaniah
prophesied in. And that's when Zephaniah, some
people say, well, Zephaniah was a few years older than Josiah.
He may have been, we don't know for sure. Some people say that
Zephaniah's prophecy and call to repentance coincides with
Josiah's reign here, and Josiah was a godly king of Judah. He was a man, he was like David
almost, a man after God's own heart. He led the people in the
ways of the Lord. And I want you to read, you can
read about this in 2 Chronicles 34, that's where I want you to
go, but you can read about it in 2 Kings 22, but I want you
to look at this. I want to show you something
and how this how this applies to us. Look at verse one of 2
Chronicles 34. It says, Josiah was eight years
old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and
thirty years. Thirty-one years, that's how
long his reign was. But here he was eight years old.
Eight-year-old boy took the throne of Judah, the throne of the royal
line, of the scepter, And it says in verse 2, and he did that
which was right in the sight of the Lord and walked in the
ways of David his father. How did David, what were the
ways of David his father? What would David say? Well, read
the Psalms. It was the ways of grace. It was the ways of mercy. It's the ways of the Messiah,
looking towards the Messiah, looking to Christ. That's how
David walked. Somebody said, well, does that
mean... Listen, I heard a fellow say this one time about the godly
kings. Now, the northern kingdom didn't
have any godly kings. They were all evil. But the southern
kingdom had some godly kings. And I heard a fellow make this
statement one time. He said, now the godly kings
kept the Ten Commandments. Now, it says here, Josiah walked
in the ways of David, his father. Now, did David keep the Ten Commandments? Well, you don't have to go very
far in Scripture to know that no, and David didn't claim to
keep the Ten Commandments. What does he talk about walking
in the ways of David, his father? What does it talk about when
it says he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord?
Well, the Lord never commanded any king or any servant or any
individual. to try to be saved and accepted
with him by keeping the Ten Commandments. Should they have tried to keep
the Ten Commandments? Yes, but not for salvation. If
that was the commandment of the Lord, I'm going to tell you what,
the whole nation, including David, would have been wiped out clean,
and us too, later on. They were sinners. And I want
to show you this now. He walked in the ways of David
his father. That's the ways of grace, that's
the ways of the promise, the ways of the covenant of mercy.
David said, although my house be not so with God, he hath made
a covenant with me that is ordered in all things. And sure, that's
the covenant of grace in Christ that would be finalized and fulfilled. in the coming Messiah Christ,
the God-man by his obedience unto death to whom David looked
and in whom David rested for all salvation and righteousness
and eternal life and glory. And you know what David said?
He said, that's all my salvation. That's all my hope, even though
my house be not so with God. He says, and he declined neither
to the right hand nor to the left. That is, in the ways of
God, he didn't veer. That's what that means. He didn't
veer off here and he didn't veer off there. Now look at verse
3. It says, for in the eighth year of his reign, that's when
he's 16 years old. Here's a boy 16 years old, king
of Judah. While he was yet young, he began
to seek after the God of David, his father, the God of grace. The God who justifies the ungodly.
What did David say? Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity. What did the Holy Spirit say
David meant by that in Romans chapter 4? Blessed is the man
to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works. And he said that's the kind of
God that Josiah sought after. A God who saves sinners by his
grace. And he says that in the twelfth
year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places
and the groves and the carved images and the molten images.
Josiah meant to wipe this place clean of all idolatry, all symbols,
all statues, everything that was related to idol worship. He knew that the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, the God of grace, is the only true and living
God. He says in verse four, and they break down the altars of
Balaam in his presence, and the images that were on high above
them, he cut down the groves, carved images, and the molten
images, he break in pieces. Now Hezekiah earlier had done
some of this, but Hezekiah didn't go far enough. He allowed some
of this stuff to stay around. But Josiah wouldn't, it says,
he break them in pieces, he made dust of them and strode it upon
the graves of them that had sacrificed, made dust of those idols and
sprinkled the ashes on the graves of those who sacrificed to them.
He meant business, didn't he? Verse five, he burnt the bones
of the priest upon their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. And so did in the cities of Manasseh,
and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks
round about. He took these sharp tools, like
a mattock, we use mattocks, and he chopped them down, destroyed
them. Verse seven, and when he had broken down the altars and
the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and
cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned
to Jerusalem. Now look at verse eight, it says,
now in the 18th year of his reign, so when he was about 26 years
old, when he had purged the land in the house, he sent Shaphan,
the son of Azaliah, and Maaseah, the governor of the city, and
Joah, the son of Joahaz, the recorder, like a secretary, to
repair the house of the Lord his God." That's the temple of
Solomon, or the temple of David, or the tabernacle, rather, and
the temple. And what happened to the Temple of Solomon? And
what happened here is during that time of Manasseh and Ammon
and all, the temple had been just told almost neglected. They didn't worship the Lord.
They didn't think of God's promise. They didn't think of God's grace.
You see, those things were just out of their mind. So he said,
go repair the house of the Lord his God, that Temple of Solomon.
And it says in verse 9, And when they came to Hilkiah the high
priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the house
of God, which the Levites that kept the doors had gathered of
the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and all of the remnant of Israel,
and all of Judah and Benjamin, and they returned to Jerusalem.
So they used that money to hire workers. Now look down at verse
14. I want you to see this. It says, and when they had brought
out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah
the priest found a book of the law of the Lord given by Moses. What book do you suppose he's
talking about? Well, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
or all five. And it says in verse 15, and
Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan, the scribe, I found
the book of the law in the house of the Lord. Well, I'll tell
you, that's what they needed. Find the book of the law in the
house of the Lord. And Hilkiah delivered the book
to Shaphan. And Shaphan carried the book
to the king and brought the king word back again, saying, all
that was committed to thy servants, they do it. They've gathered
together the money that was found in the house of the Lord and
have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, into the hand
of the workmen. And then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying,
Hilkiah the priest, hath given me a book, and chafed and read
it before the king. And it came to pass when the
king had heard the words of the law that he rent tore his clothes."
Now what does that mean? In the Old Testament, when they
rent or tore their clothes, what is that a sign of? That's an
outward sign of inward repentance. All right? Sorrow. grieve over
sin. And he says in verse 20, And
the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahicham, and the son of Shaphan,
and Abdon, the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahi,
the servant of the king, saying, Go, inquire of the Lord for me
and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah concerning
the words of the book that is found. For great is the wrath
of the Lord that is poured out upon us, because our fathers
have not kept the word of the Lord to do after all. that is
written in this book. Think about it. And later on,
they fixed up that temple. And they reinstituted the worship
of God and the priesthood and the sacrifices. And you know
what else they did? They kept the Passover like they
hadn't done in years and years. Under Hezekiah they kept the
Passover, but not like under Josiah. You can read on the rest
of this on your own. What is all that about? I'll
tell you what it's all about. It's all about God glorifying
Himself in the salvation of sinners by His grace through the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what it's all about. That's
what that temple was about. That temple which was the permanent
form of that tabernacle was built for one purpose and that was
to house the holiest of all. The place where sinners would
meet God through an appointed high priest based on the blood
sprinkled on the mercy seat. That's what it was all about.
Everything about that tabernacle, everything about that temple
was a picture and a type of the glorious person and the finished
work of Christ Who is he? He's God-man. He's God in human
flesh. What did he accomplish on Calvary?
He paid the price for the sins of his people, brought in righteousness
by which God can justify the ungodly. That's what that priesthood
was about. That's what that book of the
law that Josiah got was about. Moses wrote of me. That's what
Christ said. He said, had you believed Moses,
you'd have believed me, for he wrote of me. He sent his disciples
down and opened those books and the Psalms and the prophets and
he taught them the things in the scriptures concerning himself,
his glorious person, and what he should accomplish in Jerusalem
in the death that he died, shedding his blood, being buried, raised
again the third day for the salvation of his sheep. That's what that
was all about. That Passover, that's what that
was about. God said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you.
I can't remember where it is, but you read it here in 2 Kings
22 and 2 Chronicles 34 about how much blood Josiah had shed
during the Passover because he made it a decree. You see, he
was doing what the king of Judah should have done. He made it
a law. And it's not legalism now. He's
not saying you can be saved by killing an animal and putting
his blood over your doorpost. We're saved by God's grace and
mercy in Christ, the Lord our righteousness. But as a leading
king in that nation of rebellious people, that was the law of God
for that nation, that they were to keep that Passover. That's
right. It's just like in our homes when
we bring up our children. We mean to have them under the
preaching of the gospel, isn't that right? And we pray that
God will break their heart. But that's what that Passover
was all about. That's what this command back here in Zephaniah
chapter 2 and verse 3. Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek
of the earth, which have wrought his judgment, earned his judgment.
Seek righteousness, seek meekness. It may be you shall be hid in
the day of the Lord's anger. That's what Josiah was saying.
That's what Zephaniah is saying. There's no hope for me. There's
no hope for you but to be in Christ, our hiding place. And
we found him. We found our safety and our hiding
place from the wrath of God. All right.