The Presence of God (Zephaniah 3:16-17)

Sometimes, when reading the Bible, we come across an unexpected verse or passage. Who would imagine that in the genealogies of 1 Chronicles we would read about the prayer of Jabez and the answer he received from God? Or perhaps when we are reading Psalm 18 we notice that David gives the credit for his greatness in Israel to the gentleness of God. It may be the case as well that we did not realise that this astonishing pair of verses were in the Book of Zephaniah. One commentator describes them as the John 3:16 of the Old Testament. We get the point that he was making when we recall that John 3:16 is all about the love of God.

Not much is known about Zephaniah. We can say that he was a prophet who announced that first Judah would go into captivity in Babylon because of their sins but, second, they would be restored eventually to their country. Given that God had punished them for departing from him and worshipping idols, it would be an issue of concern as to how God would deal with them when they were restored. Would there be any qualifications on his presence? We can see that since Zephaniah announced what the Lord would do, the Lord wanted his restored people to know how he would deal with them.

In verse 16, we can see that when the restoration would come, the people of Jerusalem would be weak. We might be surprised by that, yet it was the case. Politically, they were a vassal state of the Persian empire, with no national independence as they had known before the exile. In fact, this would be the case all the way until Jesus was born, and indeed a few decades after his death the nation itself would come to an end.

We should not be surprised to see that the prophet urges the people not to fear. They had no strength and there was no likelihood that they would recover the place in the world that they once had. Looking back would only remind them of what they had lost, looking around would only point to the strength of their opponents, looking ahead would not indicate much change on the horizon, and looking within themselves as individuals would only increase their sense of weakness. What could they do in their weakness?

The obvious remedy for that weakness was for them to realise that the living God was with them. We might assume that here we have a reference to the doctrine of omnipresence. Yet it is better to see that here we have a reminder of what we can call God’s loving presence rather than his general presence. We can also say that his presence is loving in the sense of being an expression of divine restoration.

At the same time, they had to realise that the presence of God was not a reason for inactivity. They had a responsibility to not let their hands grow weak. We know that physical inactivity makes our muscles weak. Part of the reality facing those people was the call to them to get involved in the rebuilding of the temple, a formidable project for any group to engage in, never mind a people with their difficulties.

It is not difficult for us to see parallels between the situation facing the restored Israelites and ourselves. We sense our spiritual weakness, the demands of witnessing in our day are overwhelming, we live in days of decline and departure from all that once was valued in our Christian heritage, and we may wonder how we can keep on in the face of the strong threats to our existence. We should acknowledge the difficulties we face, but we should also remember the fact that the Lord is with his people.

God is with us

The reminder of the presence of God is a common statement in the Bible. Perhaps our minds go to Psalm 46 with its strong words of assurance that the Lord of hosts is with us. Or we might think of the promise of Jesus in the Great Commission when he said that he would be with his disciples all the days until he returns. Jesus assured the disciples earlier when he guaranteed to them that the Holy Spirit would be in them wherever they went and that he would remind them of the things of Christ.

I don’t know very much about John Wesley apart from him being a great preacher and that he became the founder of the Methodist Church. But I do recall a statement he made near to the end of his life when he said, ‘The best of all, God is with us.’ That is good comfort to have at the end of life, but it is also the state of things throughout life as far as God’s people are concerned.

To say that ‘your God is in your midst’ is the same as saying as God is near them. The prophet has in mind a communal gathering and in any communal group there will be a variety of people. Some will be pleased with life and others will be discouraged. Some will be old and some will be young. Some will be disappointed and others will wonder when will disappointments come to them. The answer to that wide range of experiences is that God is with them all.

But what can it be like to have God with us? The prophet highlights five details about their God. First, he reminds the people that God is their covenant Lord. He is the God who is committed to them and who has shown that commitment to Israel by keeping his promise to bring them back to their own land. Of course, we as Christians have the greater evidence of the covenant-keeping consequences that have come our way. Because of his covenant, God took the gospel to us. Because of the covenant he worked in our hearts to draw us to himself. Because of the covenant, he forgave us our sins and took us into his family. We see so much evidence of the covenant love of our God.

Second, the prophet points out to the people that their God is able to save them from whatever may come their way. Perhaps he is using basic logic here. If God has saved them from the power of the Babylonians, surely he will be able to deal with anyone who attacks them. It is similar to the logic that Paul uses when he argues that since God has given us Christ as Saviour, how will he not with him freely give us all things? Such reasoning is as valid as saying that two and two equals four. Since Jesus has paid the penalty for our sins, will he not provide complete salvation? Since he has justified and adopted us, will he not sanctify and glorify us? What power can stop the Lord achieving his purpose? There is nothing in the universe that can separate his people from the love of God.

Third, the prophet says that God will reveal his joy to his people. Sometimes, someone makes me happy, but I have no way of telling them that they did. Perhaps I read a sentence in a book that leads me to wonder at the goodness of God. I can be thankful to God when I read the comment, but I am not able to let that person know how happy he has made me. The extraordinary feature of this statement by the prophet is that he says that God is determined to reveal to his people the degree of joy that he has in them. Perhaps we get an insight into this divine response when Jesus speaks about the joy there is in the presence of God when a sinner repents. We misinterpret that verse if we limit the joy to happy angels and joyful saints. Rather the presence of God is God himself. Another verse that can point to this joy is the statement by Paul when he says that what he preaches is the gospel of the blessed God. Blessedness has happiness as an element. And as the angel told the shepherds when Jesus was born in Bethlehem that he had brought tidings of great joy, we can ask whose joy he was referring to. Surely, it was to the joy of heaven, the joy of the Lord.

Fourth, the prophet speaks about quietness in connection with the love of the Lord. The phrase can be translated in two ways and both options are true. In our version, the Lord is pictured as a mother quietening her child by whispering about her love. We can imagine how difficult that would be if the mother had triplets or more. But the Lord has millions of children to quiet by his assurance of love. Something has disturbed them and he rushes to calm them by loving them.

The other way of translating the line is to say that the Lord quiets himself or rests in his love for his people. In other words, he enjoys silently looking at his people, contemplating them, his children who are showing the signs of spiritual life that he has given to them. It is extraordinary to think that God takes delight in his people, but then we should remind ourselves that the re-creation of a human soul is more wonderful than the re-creation of a universe. A universe affected by sin is not a sinner. But a sinner is a rebel, an opponent of God. When he is changed to someone who loves God, God as Matthew Henry put it loves to love him.

Fifth, the prophet says that God ‘will exult over [his restored people] with loud singing’. Does God sing? In the Bible, there are accounts of when his voice was heard. He spoke in Eden to Adam and Eve, he spoke to Abraham, to Moses, and he spoke at the baptism of Jesus and at his transfiguration. So since he chooses to speak at times, it is possible for him also to sing if he wishes. There is no reason to doubt the delight God has in his people. Some psalms promote the importance of loud singing, and here the prophet says that when restoration comes to sinners God sings loudly.

As we think about the love of God, what can we say about it from these verses? It is tender when he quietens his people, it is satisfied when he sees his people, it is incomprehensible to his people, it is endless for his people, it is intense towards his people, it is comforting for his people, it is shared by his people and never diminishes.

Conclusion

In closing, three points can be made. First, there is the power of analogy. Some theologians look at verses like this and say that they are not literally true because it does not fit with their concept of God. They prefer to speak about him in abstract ways. No doubt, the prophet is using human experiences to describe what he says God will do. But the analogy should be used by us to see that God is more loving that what words can tell us, and since the pointers in this verse are great, what must the reality be?

Second, there is the nature of fellowship. The apostle John points out that we have fellowship with the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit. Fellowship is two-way – we speak with God and he speaks with us. At the moment, we cannot hear what God says, so we need to be informed of his contribution. Of course, his participation will vary according to the circumstances. The place where we are informed of God’s involvement in fellowship is the Bible and, as with all it contains, we grasp its information by faith. And that is how we should respond to this description of God.

Third, we have here a reminder that God is love. An illustration often used of him is that he is like a fountain that is always full and overflowing, and in our text full and overflowing with love. He is an eternal fountain (choosing his people), he is a creating fountain (bringing them into existence), he is a redeeming fountain (rescuing them through the work of his Son), he is a gracious fountain (sending to them the gospel and its promises), he is a forgiving fountain (multiplying to pardon), he is a restoring fountain (throughout one’s Christian life), he will be a welcoming fountain into his presence (when they go to heaven) and he will be an endless fountain throughout the ages to come.