Seek the LORD

KEY VERSE: “Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness.” —Zephaniah 2:3

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Zephaniah 1:13, 7, 12; 2:13

ZEPHANIAH’S PROPHECY WAS written just a short time before Israel was taken captive to Babylon in 606 B. C. The prophet foretold the dire calamity that would come upon both houses of the nation—Israel and Judah—for their sins. Surely the nation of Israel faced an uncertain and threatening future. As with other Old Testament prophecies, Zephaniah used the setting and events of his day to foreshadow not only what would soon happen to Israel and Judah, but also a worldwide trouble that would come upon all nations in the distant future from his vantage point—but in the present time from our vantage point.

He described a prophetic day of reckoning with the announcement of God’s intention to sweep everything off the face of the land, both “man and beast” (Zeph.1:3), much as he had “destroyed man and beast off the face of the earth” in Noah’s day.—Gen. 6:7

The overthrow of Israel because of her gross sin and neglect of God’s Law, well illustrates the divine overthrow of all evil as it will be accomplished at the end of the present age, and during the promised Millennial kingdom. This ‘Day of the Lord’ is one in which he will intervene in human affairs to end the long reign of sin and death and its prison-like hold over mankind, and to destroy all the enemies of righteousness.

On a daily basis, the news media forecasts dim prospects for our nation with respect to all facets of civilization—for all nations, and, indeed, for our entire planet. We are literally besieged with items of corruption in high places, environmental crises, wars and rumors of wars, urban decay and unrest, declining standards of health and education, family disintegration, and many other problems which are unsolvable by man. Even more distressing, despite the recent moves to limit them, we are still surrounded with such a multitude of nuclear weapons that they could destroy the world sixty times over!

In quoting Daniel’s great prophecy regarding the “great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be [again]” (Dan. 12:1; Matt. 24:21), Jesus disclosed that this was a ‘sign’ of his second presence and of the end of the Gospel Age—the “time of the end.” Many in the world are now asking, with more disbelief than ever, “If there is a God, why doesn’t he do something about our problems?”

As a matter of fact, Jesus assured us that God soon will give his answer to man’s bewildering question, for this is the time when ‘Michael’—the Messiah, the Lord Jesus—will ‘stand up’ to take control of world’s affairs. Jesus continued his marvelous message of hope to his disciples, but added this dire warning: “Except those days should be shortened, there should be no flesh saved.” If he had concluded there, his words would have fallen far short of being a marvelous message of hope! But they did not end there; instead, we read, “But for the elect’s sake, those days shall be shortened.”—Matt. 24:22

The prophet urged all the humble and meek of his day to seek the Lord, advising them that thus they ‘may be hidden in the Day of the Lord’s anger’. (Zeph. 2:3) Even today, these are words of wisdom, imparted for man’s benefit that he might be better prepared to endure the strife of troublous times ahead, and that he might rejoice in anticipation of the promised blessings to immediately follow, for all the families of the earth.

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