A Teaching Outline for the Book of Zephaniah

Does God's patience with sinners ever run out? The global flood in the days of Noah should make it obvious that it does. When God looked at the world and saw that the heart of man was “only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5), He drowned the entire human population with the exception of eight people: “The Lord said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them’” (Gen. 6:7). But to those who imagine that such worldwide judgment was only a thing of the past, the book of Zephaniah offers an important corrective. There will indeed be another time—the future Day of the Lord—in which God's exhausted patience with sinners is manifested in global judgment. Referring to the Day of the Lord more than any other biblical writer, Zephaniah opened his prophecy with language similar to that used of the global flood: “‘I will completely remove all things from the face of the earth,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will remove man and beast; I will remove the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea, and the ruins along with the wicked; and I will cut off man from the face of the earth,’ declares the Lord” (Zeph. 1:2-3).

Writing during the early years of King Josiah of Judah (before Josiah began spiritual reform in the nation), Zephaniah was a prophet with a message of judgment upon his people—and for good reason. Although Josiah’s great-grandfather, King Hezekiah, had been instrumental in leading nationwide repentance (cf. 2 Kings 18:4), the kings who followed Hezekiah (his son Manasseh and grandson Amon) spent years leading the nation right back into wickedness (cf. 2 Kings 21:14-22). Child sacrifice, sorcery, and idolatry (even erecting statues in the temple!) were among the more egregious sins that tested God’s patience. Out of depraved indifference, the people even had the audacity to say, “The Lord will not do good or evil” (Zeph. 1:12). Like many today, they confused patience with indifference (cf. Rom. 2:4-5). Since the people of Judah would not offer genuine sacrifices to Yahweh, especially without any help from godly leadership (cf. Zeph. 3:4), Yahweh declared that He was going to prepare His own sacrifice—the people of Judah themselves (cf. Zeph. 1:7-8). Judgment upon Judah occurred when the Babylonians came and destroyed the nation, carrying survivors off into captivity (cf. 2 Kings 24:14).

At the same time, the people of Judah were not alone in their wickedness. Though the surrounding nations were not apostates from Mosaic Law like the people of Judah, they were godless pagans all the same. Thus, Zephaniah’s message also pronounced judgment upon nations in every direction: Philistia in the west, Moab and Ammon in the east, Ethiopia in the south, and Assyria in the north (cf. Zeph. 2:4-15). They too would suffer under the hand of Yahweh Sabaoth (“The Lord of Hosts”) for their sins—especially those committed against God’s covenant people (cf. Zeph. 2:8). And in fact, they did end up suffering under the hand of God for their sins, as history shows that the Babylonians likewise conquered them in devastating fashion.

But those judgments of the past were not the Day of the Lord that Zephaniah had initially threatened. Rather, they were previews, prophetic symbols, of the coming wrath that God has planned for the entire world. As divine warning shots, those past acts of fulfilled judgment merely foreshadowed the judgment that God has yet to unleash upon the earth. Zephaniah prophesied that there is coming a time in which the whole earth will be consumed (cf. Zeph. 1:18). It will be a day of utter distress (cf. Zeph. 1:15), a day in which men stagger about in terrified stupor (cf. Zeph. 1:17), and a day in which human carcasses are piled up across the earth like manure on a field (cf. Zeph. 1:17, Isa. 34:3). As Zephaniah cautioned—though people today still fail to realize—no one can buy their way out (cf. Zeph. 1:18). And ignoring God’s wrath won’t prevent it from happening (cf. Zeph. 1:12b). God will search the earth and find every unrepentant sinner; a makeshift hideout of self-righteousness will not camouflage anyone from divine justice (cf. Zeph. 1:12a, Gen. 3:7-9).

Yet, as Zephaniah also went on to explain, there is a way to hide.

Zephaniah, whose name means “Yahweh has hidden,” promised that those within Judah who sought the Lord would be “hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger” (Zeph. 2:3). All who were “humble and lowly,” taking refuge in their Savior, would be restored one day (cf. Zeph. 3:12). The remnant of true believers who grieved over the spiritual hypocrisy of their nation would be gathered back to the land (cf. Zeph. 3:18). And Yahweh their King (the leader they desperately needed) would be a victorious warrior among them (cf. Zeph. 3:15-17). Though no man seeks for God of his own will (cf. Rom. 3:11), the wonderful reality is that the Holy Spirit grants God’s elect people new hearts so that they will seek Him, and upon seeking Him they will find Him to be a gracious and sufficient Savior (cf. Zeph. 3:9, Matt. 7:7, 1 John 5:1).

Today, Christians—whose lives are hidden in Christ (cf. Col. 3:3)—will likewise find shelter from the coming Day of the Lord, being taken up in the air to meet Him prior to wrath upon the earth (cf. 1 Thess. 1:10, 4:17, 5:9). Afterward, they will enter the Kingdom, celebrating with God and His people for a thousand years (cf. Zeph. 3:17, Rev. 20:2-4). Ultimately, everyone who is clothed in the righteousness of Christ, through faith alone in Him, will be spared from eternity in the lake of fire. As you teach verse by verse through this sobering prophecy, may you and your hearers consider the wrath that your sins deserve, and seek the Savior who will hide you from it. The following outline is offered to help.

Ruin for Judah (Zephaniah 1:1-18)

The Day of the Lord Declared (Zeph. 1:1-6)

The Day of the Lord Dispersed (Zeph. 1:7-13)

The Day of the Lord Described (Zeph. 1:14-18)

Ruin for the World (Zephaniah 2:1-15)

The Day of the Lord Survived (Zeph. 2:1-3)

The Day of the Lord Symbolized: Philistia in the West (Zeph. 2:4-7)

The Day of the Lord Symbolized: Moab/Ammon in the East (Zeph. 2:8-11)

The Day of the Lord Symbolized: Ethiopia in the South (Zeph. 2:12)

The Day of the Lord Symbolized: Assyria in the North (Zeph. 2:13-15)

Redemption for Judah and the World (Zephaniah 3:1-20)

The Day of the Lord Earned (Zeph. 3:1-7)

The Day of the Lord Executed (Zeph. 3:8-13)

The Day of the Lord Exalted (Zeph. 3:14-20)