One God
Good Morning,
Zephaniah 1:4 “I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarims with the priests;”
vs. 5 “And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham;”
vs. 6 “And them that are turned back from the LORD; and those that have not sought the LORD, nor enquired for him”
This passage refers to three different groups. The story takes place around the time of Josiah, the great king who brought revival to Judah. Yet, among the people, some had no love or devotion to God.
Zephaniah assured everyone that God was not sitting back ignoring the shameful way the people treated the God Who gave them their land. Ruin did follow the death of Josiah. Little by little, the great land was taken from them; their government was slowly pulled away from them, and the blessings of God were withdrawn until the nation fell.
Who were these three groups the preacher warned?
First, the group that worshiped false gods:
Zephaniah 1:4 “I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarims with the priests;”
The Chemarims were bad priests — rejected, defiled, or simply false prophets. God announced that He was planning to cut off false religion and the priests who sponsored it. In 2 Kings 23:5, Josiah cut off the Chemarims, but some of them escaped the purging and were now in big trouble with God. The term Chemarim is defined as "men in black." The fallen or idolatrous priests wore black, whereas the true priests wore white. If a priest was put out of the temple, he went out in black. (Hmmm, seems appropriate for Halloween.)
Second, Zephaniah refers to the double minded — those who worshiped the Lord and Malcham.
vs. 5 “And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham;”
God has no intention of being one of the little deities in our life. He is Lord of Glory, King of kings, and the Sovereign of the universe. God will be preeminent, or He will be the One Who disciplines us. From the beginning (Exodus 20), God said, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." The glory that belongs only to God will not be shared with another.
Isaiah 42:8 “I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.”
Isaiah 48:11 “For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.”
God does not want to be an afterthought; nor does He want to be our Sunday God but not our Monday God. God asks to be first place: (Matthew 6:33) “Seek ye first the kingdom of God…" In addition, He gave the great commandment: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul..."
The third group that received the promise of judgment included those who either quit following God or who never cared about God.
vs. 6 “And them that are turned back from the LORD; and those that have not sought the LORD, nor enquired for him.”
There is no multiple choice as to which god we choose to worship. We are commanded to worship The God, to serve The God, to honor and obey The one and only God. It is not up to us to decide; He is not a choice or preference like chocolate or vanilla. There is only one God and He requires worship. We have the impression that it is up to each one of us to love God, to tolerate God, to choose which god, or to ignore God. In God's plan, He does allow for our free will. God does give us a choice to love Him or not, but do not think for a moment that we can ignore the Creator of the universe Who gave His only Son for our sins. Do not think God will simply let an arrogant decision such as that pass unchecked. Hell is prepared for the devil and his angels and for those who join him in rebellion against the only true God.
No doubt, there are demons, witches, devils, and evil powers. There are creatures in the darkness, chained under the earth who will be released in the Great Tribulation. One day, our culture's infatuation with zombies and death will become a reality to the lost as they face the Tribulation, and eventually a Lake of Fire. Make no mistake — God will be God, and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord! For the unbeliever, the only end will be the lake of fire for eternity.
God will judge those who treat Him as if He were not God.
Psalm 96:9 “O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.”
PastorGoddard