The Gospel According to Zephaniah

Do you have a favorite Bible verse?

I’m not sure if I do or not. I sure quote Philippians 1:9-11 a lot. Revelation 21:3-5 is never far from my mind. Psalm 145:9 is important to me; so is 2 Timothy 2:13. But are any of those my favorite? That’s tough.

I heard a woman say recently that her favorite verse of the Bible is Zephaniah 3:17.

Zephaniah??

Yes, Zephaniah. (That isn’t a made-up Bible name. It’s an actual book in the Old Testament.)

Since I didn’t have Zephaniah 3:17 memorized, I looked it up.

But before you hear it, some context. Zephaniah chapter 3 describes the Lord’s reactions to Jerusalem’s unfaithfulness. There’s a lot of condemnation: Jerusalem’s leaders are ravenous beasts (3:3); her prophets are deceitful, and her priests are profane (3:4). There’s disbelief: “I said, ‘Surely the city will fear me; it will accept correction...’ But they were the more eager to make all their deeds corrupt.” (3:7) There’s some talk of “indignation” and “burning anger” (3:8).

But then, in verse 9, the prophet begins to strike a hopeful tone. “On that day you shall not be put to shame.” (3:11) By verse 14, hope has turned to joy and praise: “Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!”

And that brings us to Zephaniah 3:17:

The Lord your God is with you,
    the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
    in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
    but will rejoice over you with singing.

There’s so much packed into this verse.

“The Lord your God is with you” – That’s the story of scripture in a nutshell. God drawing near, to be with people: whether walking with them in the Garden of Eden, traveling with them in a pillar of cloud or fire through the wilderness, dwelling with them in the Jerusalem Temple, being born here with us in Bethlehem, or making a home with us forever in the new heavens and new earth. That’s what God does.

“The Mighty Warrior who saves” – the Lord fights for you. In scripture, God fights to save people from sin, from death, from illness, from poverty, loneliness, mistakes, shame, and more. And the Lord is a Mighty Warrior.

“He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you but will rejoice over you with singing” – I think we often imagine God as watching us, perpetually disappointed or frustrated. You might put a more positive spin on it and think of the Lord as patient and merciful, but, either way, we assume the Lord’s hawk-eyed and exacting, watching for every failure and sin. But, while God does rebuke us when we need it, what if what God’s really interested in is taking great delight in you and rejoicing over you with singing? What if God celebrates more than finger wags? Smiles more than frowns? What if God doesn’t watch you so closely to look for mistakes, but because God thinks you’re absolutely incredible? God is our Father, after all.

There’s an awful lot of gospel packed into Zephaniah 3:17.

Not a bad favorite Bible verse, really.

Listen to this week's devotional: