SESSION 2 Everyone Accountable Much like God s holy judgment against the earth in Noah s day, so is His judgment against idolatry brought to bear in any spectacular Day of the Lord. DATE OF MY BIBLE STUDY: 21
IN JESUS, CHRIST- FOLLOWERS NO LONGER HAVE TO DREAD THEIR ACCOUNTABILITY BEFORE A HOLY GOD. JESUS IS THE CHRIST-FOLLOWER S REFUGE OF GRACE; HE IS THE SOURCE OF FORGIVENESS AND NEW LIFE. FROM EVERYDAY PEOPLE TO HEADS OF STATE; FROM COMMON CROOKS TO POPULAR ATHLETES; FROM BIBLICAL CHARACTERS TO MODERN-DAYPEOPLE TOO OFTEN WE LIVE AS THOUGH NO ONE WILL EVER HOLD US ACCOUNTABLE FOR OUR ACTIONS. The temptation we face to dodge accountability represents a part of the story. However, the real story of Scripture centers not on us but on the Living God, who s all-powerful. God is also all-knowing. One New Testament writer reminds us that neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do (Hebrews 4:13). In Jesus, Christfollowers no longer have to dread their accountability before a holy God. Jesus is the Christ-follower s refuge of grace; He is the Source of forgiveness and new life. Yet new life in Christ brings a new desire and accountability to live in righteousness (see Colossians 3:1-17). Centuries before Christ came and fulfilled the way of salvation, God called Zephaniah to warn the people of Judah about their sins. Many of the covenant people in Zephaniah s time lived as though the Lord didn t matter. They worshiped idols and practiced the worst of pagan rituals. They broke the Lord s covenant, ignoring the Commandments that spelled out their responsibilities to love God and to treat one another right. Zephaniah warned them that a day of accountability was coming the Day of the Lord. 22 EXPLORE THE BIBLE YOUNG ADULTS
ZEPHANIAH 1:1-11 1 The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah. 2 I will completely sweep away everything from the face of the earth this is the Lord s declaration. 3 I will sweep away man and animal; I will sweep away the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea, and the ruins along with the wicked. I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth. This is the Lord s declaration. 4 I will stretch out My hand against Judah and against all the residents of Jerusalem. I will cut off every vestige of Baal from this place, the names of the pagan priests along with the priests; 5 those who bow in worship on the rooftops to the heavenly host; those who bow and pledge loyalty to the Lord but also pledge loyalty to Milcom; 6 and those who turn back from following the Lord, who do not seek the Lord or inquire of Him. 7 Be silent in the presence of the Lord God, for the Day of the Lord is near. Indeed, the Lord has prepared a sacrifice; He has consecrated His guests. 8 On the day of the Lord s sacrifice I will punish the officials, the king s sons, and all who are dressed in foreign clothing. 9 On that day I will punish all who skip over the threshold, who fill their master s house with violence and deceit. 10 On that day this is the Lord s declaration there will be an outcry from the Fish Gate, a wailing from the Second District, and a loud crashing from the hills. 11 Wail, you residents of the Hollow, for all the merchants will be silenced; all those loaded with silver will be cut off. Think About It Circle in these verses all the I will actions the Lord promised to take. What is your emotional response to these divine actions? Session 2: EvERYONE ACCOUNTABLE 23
UNDERSTAND THE CONTEXT When Zephaniah was born, his parents gave him a name that means the Lord hides. We can only guess at what prompted this Israelite couple to choose the name Zephaniah. Perhaps it reflected their prayerful hope that the Lord might shelter their son from all the violence, corruption, and gross idolatry characterizing Judah in the seventh century B.C. During the reign of King Manasseh (687 642 B.C.), for example, children were sacrificed to a pagan gods, witchcraft and sorcery flourished, and violence filled the streets with innocent blood (see 2 Kings 21:1-18). Around 621 B.C., King Josiah, Manasseh s grandson, led the people of Judah in a period of repentance and renewal of the covenant. They got rid of many of the pagan practices that polluted the people s hearts and invited God s judgment. However, the spiritual reforms made by Josiah evidently had not begun when Zephaniah prophesied. He like the prophet Nahum declared that the Lord was about to shake the world. The Assyrian Empire would collapse and its capital city Nineveh would become a heap of ruins. Nineveh was indeed attacked in 612 B.C. Zephaniah foresaw this coming time of reckoning, a Day of the Lord. He warned the people of Judah not to think that judgment would fall only on godless enemies such as Assyria. The people of Judah also would be held accountable for their idolatry and wickedness. God s judgment would begin with those who were supposed to be known as the children of God (see 1 Peter 4:17). 24 EXPLORE THE BIBLE YOUNG ADULTS
EXPLORE THE TEXT JUDGMENT ENCOMPASSES EVERYONE (Zephaniah 1:1-3) In a brief introduction, Zephaniah identified his family heritage and the timeframe of his prophetic work. He traced his ancestry back four generations to one man named Hizkiah. (Hizkiah and Hezekiah are alternate spellings of the same name.) One of Judah s few faithful kings bore the name Hezekiah (see 2 Kings 18:5-6). If that king was Zephaniah s great-great-grandfather, then the prophet also was related to the current king of Judah, Josiah the son of Amon. Josiah was King Hezekiah s great-grandson (see 2 Kings 20:21; 21:18,25-26). Verse 2 is shocking in its tone and breadth. The Lord declared that a worldwide cleansing was in store, warning, I will utterly consume all things from off the land! The decree included all human and animal life, as well as all the birds and fish everything! Wickedness had infected all created life. For those who knew the Scriptures, this warning sounded eerily familiar. It sounded like the Lord s fateful decree in the days of Noah before the flood (see Genesis 6:7). The Lord had promised Noah that He would never again destroy the earth and its creatures with a flood (see Genesis 9:11). However, that promise didn t mean the Lord would ignore the wickedness of people and nations. Zephaniah warned that a day of God s judgment was coming. It would encompass everyone and everything. Describe ways people usually respond to The-end-isnear! messages. In what ways do Jesus words in Matthew 24:42 relate to this question? Session 2: EvERYONE ACCOUNTABLE 25
KEY DOCTRINE: Our Sin Nature After the Fall As a result of Adam and Eve s sin in the garden of Eden, all humans inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as we are capable of moral action, we become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only Jesus Christ can give sinners a new nature (2 Corinthians 5:17). THE DANGER OF SPIRITUAL COMPROMISE (Zephaniah 1:4-6) The people of Judah had suffered under the Assyrians cruel boot for nearly a century. Yet therein lay a temptation for the covenant people. The temptation was to hear Zephaniah s fiery prophecy of judgment as directed only at Assyria and other foreign nations. But Zephaniah declared that when the Lord said He would cleanse all things in judgment, this included Judah. It included all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The people of Judah were as polluted with idolatry, injustice, and violence as the surrounding nations. Worship of the Canaanite deity Baal plagued the Old Testament Israelites throughout their history. Baal was the so-called god of the storm ; his worshipers claimed that he was the source of all fertility. They engaged in sexual rituals to lure Baal into giving fertility to their crops, to their livestock, and to their families. When the writer of 2 Kings penned the history of Old Testament Israel s final years and laid out the reasons the Lord allowed Assyria to destroy the Northern Kingdom, idolatry topped the list (see 2 Kings 17:7). The Southern Kingdom survived for another 135 years, but sadly the people of Judah often gave in to spiritual compromise too. The phrase I will cut off meant that God would personally take action to get rid of idolatry and pagan elements in the hearts of His people. Those who stubbornly gave themselves to these practices would experience the blade of His judgment. This included, of all people, Israelite priests who aligned themselves in faith and practice not with the Lord but with idolatrous pagan priests, or Chemarims! These verses list other subgroups who were in real danger of being cut off, or consumed, by God s judgment. The groups are identified by their spiritually compromising practices. Worshiping the host of heaven probably was related to the practice of astrology. A similar situation existed in Zephaniah s day with people who claimed loyalty to both the Lord and to the pagan deity Milcom. That is, they would attach the Lord s name to an oath in one situation but utter the name of 26 EXPLORE THE BIBLE YOUNG ADULTS
Malcham in an oath in another situation. Whichever deity they felt offered the best chance for success in a situation, that s the name they swore by. Jesus later condemned such divided loyalty as really no loyalty at all (see Matthew 6:24). It s actually spiritual treason, an intentional breaking of the First and Second Commandments (see Exodus 20:3-6). Finally, the Lord through His prophet condemned a group of people who simply had quit following the Lord. These Israelites once worshiped the Lord; they identified as His people. Presumably, they once brought sacrifices to the Lord s temple, sang praises to His name, and sought wisdom from His Word. But no more. They were possessed of an an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God (Hebrews 3:12). They became practical atheists, neither seeking to know God better nor to follow His ways. List some spiritual compromises you see in our world today. In what ways do these compare to the compromises identified by Zephaniah? A DAY OF RECKONING IS COMING (Zephaniah 1:7-11) Here Zephaniah introduced for the first time the phrase the day of the Lord, which defined the prophet s entire message of coming judgment. Many Israelites in his day knew about the Day of the Lord, but they believed that it would a day of divine judgment on their enemies and only on their enemies. For Israel, the day would be a joyous time of divine deliverance and restoration or so the people imagined. This was hardly a popular message for Zephaniah to proclaim. The people wanted their prophets to talk about salvation for Israel, not about doom and gloom. But Zephaniah called for silence in the Lord s presence. Hope for salvation lay strictly in God s grace and forgiveness. The people s sinful lives deserved only God s wrath. Session 2: EvERYONE ACCOUNTABLE 27
Bible Skill: Compare passages that use the same phrase. Several Old Testament prophets used the phrase Day of the Lord. Review these passages where it appears: Isaiah 13:6,9; Joel 1:15; 2:1,11; 3:14; Amos 5:18,20; Obadiah 15; Zephaniah 1:7,14; Malachi 4:5. Identify characteristics related to the Day of the Lord as described by these prophets. The second half of verse 7 amazingly foreshadows the atoning work of Christ. Zephaniah saw that God had already prepared a sacrifice and had set apart the guests to be invited. This sacrifice involved a time of judgment coming in his day. Yet it also foreshadowed the ultimate Day of the Lord when Jesus offered Himself on the cross as the onceand-for-all Sacrifice for sin (see Hebrews 9:24-28). Because the leaders of Zephaniah s day did the opposite of what God expected of them, the Lord declared that He would punish both the leaders and the wrongdoers. The leaders of Judah wanted to emulate their pagan neighbors more than to represent their covenant God. The phrase leap on the threshold refers to a pagan superstition that had no place in Israelite faith and practice (see 1 Samuel 5:5). Zephaniah warned the residents of Jerusalem that the Day of the Lord would not bring shouts of joy and celebration. Rather it would be filled with mournful howls and shrieks of terror as the enemy descended on the city to destroy it. All business and trade would be ended. The market and financial districts would be cut off. On that fateful day, no place would provide refuge from the Day of the Lord. The day of reckoning would have arrived! In what ways can Christ-followers take seriously our accountability before God for our sins yet rejoice in the peace, forgiveness, and new life we find in Christ? 28 EXPLORE THE BIBLE YOUNG ADULTS
OBEY THE TEXT We can be sure that everyone stands acccountable to God for responding to His holiness and grace. We must resist the temptation to give in to spiritual compromise. With God s help, we can remain devoted to Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Discuss as a group the things young adults can guard against to avoid temptation and spiritual compromise. List ways your Bible study group can help each other strive for holiness. Also list any boundaries that need to be established so that the group can function in this way. In what ways does your life demonstrate that you are trusting in Jesus alone for your salvation? MEMORIZE Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth, who carry out what He commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be concealed on the day of the Lord s anger. Zephaniah 2:3 Session 2: EvERYONE ACCOUNTABLE 29
Use the space provided to make observations and record prayer requests during the group experience for this session. MY THOUGHTS Record insights gained and questions to discuss during the group experience. MY PRAYERS List specific prayer needs and answers to remember this week. MY MISSION Acknowledge ways you will obey God s Word this week. 30 EXPLORE THE BIBLE YOUNG ADULTS