Zephaniah 3.8c-The Entire Earth Will Be Consumed By Means of God's Jealous Anger
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday July 14, 2016
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 3:8c-The Entire Earth Will Be Consumed By Means of God’s Jealous Anger
Lesson # 75
Zephaniah 3:8 “Therefore wait for Me,” declares the LORD, “For the day when I rise up as a witness. Indeed, My decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out on them My indignation, all My burning anger; For all the earth will be devoured by the fire of My zeal.” (NASB95)
“For all the earth will be devoured by the fire of My zeal” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction kî (כִּי), “For” (2) preposition b (בְּ), “By” (3) feminine singular construct form of the noun ʾēš (אֵשׁ), “the fire of” (4) feminine singular construct form of the noun qinʾâ (קִנְאָה), “zeal” (5) first person singular independent personal pronoun ʾǎnî (אֲנִי), “My” (6) third person feminine singular niphal passive imperfect form of the verb ʾākal (אָכַל), “will be devoured” (7) collective singular construct form of the noun kōl (כֹּל), “all” (8) articular feminine singular form of the noun ʾereṣ (אֶרֶץ), “the earth.”
The conjunction kî is introducing a prophetic declaration which advances upon or amplifies the previous prophetic declaration in which the God of Israel declares that He has decided to gather nations and to assemble kingdoms in order to pour out against them His righteous indignation, every bit of His intense burning anger.
The verb ʾākal is in the niphal stem and means “to consume” since it pertains to doing away with something completely, to destroy and here it refers to the entire earth being “consumed” by the Lord’s righteous indignation.
The noun ʾēš means “fire” but is used in a figurative sense for legitimate anger and is associated with God’s righteous indignation in a way fire consumes an object.
The noun qinʾâ speaks of God’s legitimate jealousy towards these Gentile nations and kingdoms who were involved in idolatry and not worshipping Him who is the Creator and Redeemer.
The noun ʾēš is the object of the preposition b which functions as a marker of means indicating that it is expressing the idea that God’s jealous anger is the means which He will consume the entire earth or all the nations and kingdoms existing on planet earth.
The noun ʾereṣ means “earth” referring to the dry surface of the earth in contrast to bodies of water upon which humankind lives and is modified by the noun kōl, which denotes totality indicating the “entire” or “whole” surface of the earth will be consumed by the fire of God’s jealousy.
Zephaniah 3:8 “Therefore, each and every one of you wait patiently for Me,” declares the Lord, “for the day I attack and take war-booty. Indeed, I have decided to gather nations, I will assemble kingdoms in order to pour out against them My righteous indignation, every bit of My intense burning anger. In fact, the entire earth will be consumed by means of My jealous anger.” (My translation)
Zephaniah 3:8 asserts that the entire earth will be consumed by means of God’s jealous anger and amplifies the previous prophetic declaration in that it identifies for the reader the extent to which God will judge these kingdoms and nations, i.e. He will judge all the nations of the earth.
God’s jealousy is legitimate and not sin since these Gentile nations and kingdoms were involved in idolatry and not worshipping Him who is the Creator and Redeemer.
This prophetic declaration that ends Zephaniah 3:8 echoes the one recorded in Zephaniah 1:14-18.
To a certain extent this prophetic declaration which ends Zephaniah 3:8 was fulfilled in the sixth and seventh centuries B.C. through the Babylonian invasions of the Mediterranean and Mesopotamian regions of the earth.
However, they will find their ultimate fulfillment through the seven seal, trumpet and bowl judgments during the last three and a half years of Daniel’s seventieth week (cf. Revelation 6-18) and at the Second Advent of Jesus Christ (Revelation 19:11-20:3).
They will ultimately be fulfilled in a far sense during the last three and a half years of the seventieth week of Daniel in which the Armageddon campaign will take place and will end with the Second Advent of Christ.
Whether fulfilled in a near or far sense, the last prophetic declaration in Zephaniah 3:8 is hyperbole which is a figure of speech that adds to the sense so much that it exaggerates, enlarges or diminishes it more than is really meant in fact or when more is said than is meant to be literally understood in order to heighten the sense.
This figure emphasizes that the Lord will not kill each and every living being or creature on the earth but a good majority of them and there are many indications within the contents of Zephaniah which indicate the language of Zephaniah is hyperbole.
For example, Zephaniah 2:3 indicates the possibility of the “humble of the land” surviving this catastrophic judgment.
In Zephaniah 3:6-9, the prophet asserts that although “no one will be left—no one at all” in the cities of the nations, the Lord also announces that He will “purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name of the LORD and serve him shoulder to shoulder.”
Also, Zephaniah 3:10 and 20 reveal that the Lord’s people will also worship Him after the earth is judged.
Zephaniah 3:11-12 also predicts that the Lord will remove the proud rebels in the midst of Judah and will leave a remnant of humble Jews and this will also be true of the Gentile nations.
Furthermore, history records that not every single person in Judah or among her Gentile pagan neighbors was killed by the Babylonian invasions since some survived and were enslaved and exiled to Babylon.
Also, the Scriptures teach that some unrepentant sinners in Israel and among the Gentiles nations will survive the tribulation portion of the seventieth week which is indicated by the fact that Ezekiel 20:33-38 and Matthew 25:1-30 teach that Jesus Christ will purge Israel of unrepentant sinners.
Matthew 25:31-46 teaches that Jesus Christ will have all unregenerate Gentiles removed from the earth.
We must remember of course that a believing remnant in Judah survived the Babylonian invasions and resettled Judah and Jerusalem seventy years later.
A believing remnant in Israel will survive the tribulation according to Matthew 25:1-30 and Romans 11:25-27 and also Matthew 25:31-46 makes clear that regenerate Gentiles will survive it as well.
Therefore, the totality of destruction theme in Zephaniah 3:8 is merely hyperbole in order to emphasize that there will be no place on planet earth which will escape the Lord’s judgment and that the renovation of the earth will be complete.
The last prophetic statement in Zephaniah 3:8 corresponds to the second, fourth and fifth seal judgments recorded in the book of Revelation which also speak of God judging the human race and bringing distress upon it through war.
These judgments reveal that war will be the reason why the blood of human beings will be poured out like dust during the tribulation period and their internal organs like human excrement.
Also, Revelation 19:11-20:3 teach that Jesus Christ will wage war against His enemies resulting in great bloodshed.
So the last prophetic statement in Zephaniah 3:8 which asserts that the entire earth will be consumed by means of God’s jealous anger is in fact speaking of the Armageddon campaign which will take place during the last three and a half years of the seventieth week of Daniel.
We must remember also that God’s wrath is not directed against believers who are faithful to Him but only directed at those who are unrepentant apostates.
His wrath is of course directed at unrepentant, unregenerate sinners.
We must also remember that the purpose for these prophetic declarations in Zephaniah 3:8 and in fact for all the prophecies contained in the book of Zephaniah is to bring about repentance.
God wanted the people of Judah to repent and the people of all the nations to repent in Zephaniah’s day and these prophecies will fulfill the same purpose during the seventieth week of Daniel.
The prophecies of judgment contained in Zephaniah 3:8 and throughout the book obviously imply that the Lord wants both Jew and Gentile, believers and non-believers to repent since He could have destroyed them immediately without warning.
The Lord is leaving room open for repentance which is indicated by the statements recorded in Zephaniah 2:1-3.
God announces judgment of the world in advance so as to afford an opportunity for its people to repent.
The Lord’s desire was not to kill people but rather His will was to forgive them and show mercy to them even though they rebelled against Him.
For the unregenerate in Zephaniah’s day in the seventh century B.C, whether Jew or Gentile, repentance would involve changing their attitude toward the God of Israel by forsaking their idols and trusting in the God of Israel and worshipping Him only.
For the unregenerate living during the seventieth week of Daniel, whether Jew or Gentile, repentance would involve changing their attitude toward Jesus Christ by forsaking their idols and worshipping Him alone.
By doing so, these unregenerate individuals would avoid facing God’s wrath not only while living but also they would avoid facing God’s wrath in the lake of fire for all of eternity.
For the regenerate in apostasy in Zephaniah’s day in the seventh century B.C., repentance would involve confession of sin to be restored to fellowship with Him followed by obedience to the various commands and prohibitions in the Mosaic Law in order to maintain this fellowship.
For the regenerate in apostasy living during the seventieth week of Daniel, repentance would involve confession of sin to be restored to fellowship followed by obedience to the various commands and prohibitions in the gospel of Jesus Christ in order to maintain that fellowship.
By doing so, these believers would avoid being disciplined by God.