I Believe Zephaniah 2:3 is the Central Verse of the Book of Zephaniah

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It's really a problem when one talks about the major prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel while forgetting minor ones like Zephaniah at times. However, every prophet, major and minor, all do their share in the furtherance and the expansion of the Kingdom of God. Every prophet of God is a spokesperson and should be treated with the utmost respect in the study of the Word of God. The setting of Zephaniah is a prophet from the line of David since his lineage goes all the way back to Hezekiah, another descendant of David. Zephaniah's father is Cushi, his grandfather is Gedaliah, who is a son of Amariah, who is a son of Hezekiah. Hezekiah would be the great-great-grandfather of Zephaniah and the great-grandfather of Josiah. Having a prophet from the royal lineage would make him a type of Christ. This was during the days of Josiah to which (and sadly), Josiah's sons were wicked, and his grandson Jehoiachin was also wicked and was shipped off to Babylon. However, from Jehoiachin to Shealtiel to Zerubbabel the governor during the time of the restoration.

I was thinking about how often God's commands are acid tests. It's very easy to say a person is righteous by the way they act. However, do note that some wicked people can use acts of righteousness as a facade for their wickedness. Sometimes, you're wicked and you don't know it. God's standards of righteousness are way higher. For God, a good person is the one who can keep 10 out of 10 and not 9/10 (Romans 10:19, James 2:10-11), and who can do that? It's possible to be active in charity work yet one is also worshiping idols. That's why the idea of you can have any religion you want and still enter Heaven fails. The genuine acid test comes with the LORD's commands to His own.

The problem of a great degree of people today is arrogance. Why some rich people become poor is because of arrogance. Why some poor people remain poor is because of arrogance. Though some rich people do get poor because of unfortunate circumstances and regain their riches by not being arrogant such as Job. The command is to seek the LORD all you are humble and not arrogant people. The call is to do his just commands (or carry out His judgment), seek righteousness, seek humility, and that perhaps they may be hidden on the day of the anger of the LORD at that time. The truth is who can really do so but the humble? Humble is very easy to brag about then that doesn't make one humble.

Zephaniah 3 really talks about the rebelliousness of the city. Zephaniah 3:1-5 talks about the problem of Jerusalem as a city that won't accept correction, full of tyrannical officials, judges that are corrupt, full of false prophets, and priests who have long abandoned their sacred duties. They don't receive correction because they think highly of themselves. Jeremiah's ministry was characterized by rejection. Josiah would have been Cushi's second-degree cousin and a second-degree cousin once removed (as an uncle) to the older Zephaniah. Josiah was eight years old when he became the king. I think Zephaniah was probably a teenager when his uncle Josiah was a young king. It was the typical situation when the nephew is older than the uncle. The Kingdom of Judah badly needed a revival after Amon's short but very wicked reign. The repentance of Manasseh still didn't do much to bring a revival. Amon, unlike Manasseh, returned back to the old ways that Manasseh repented of. The city needed the humble itself.

2 Kings 22:19-20 writes the words that God has given unto Josiah. Josiah was described to have been humble, something that his sons weren't. Josiah started a radical reform in 2 Kings 23 and 2 Chronicles 34. You can see the radical reformation that Josiah worked with in order to clean Judah from the influence of his father Amon and the remaining influence of his paternal grandfather Manasseh. Josiah sought to follow the ways of his great-grandfather Hezekiah, the father of his paternal grandfather Manasseh. Much of the abominations that were there such as the images of Baal and Asherah were torn down. Idolatry always caters to man's pride and false humility. It's always built on attempting to please the gods by one's actions. The gods of paganism are capable of human error hence works salvation made sense to those who worship them. However, the God of the Bible is not capable of human error hence making works salvation impossible. Rather, God commands people to come to them as they are and He will cleanse them from bad people to becoming really good people. 

The command to seek the LORD is really still there today. The problem is that sinful humanity is obviously in their pride. I don't say that they're not capable of doing good works but these good works are at best, pretentious and not genuine. All the good works done by the unsaved are but filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) and dead works (Hebrews 9:12). Sure, a person can be a model citizen but if she or she is worshiping idols then he or she is still good as bad (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). This humility requires one to really see the problem of sin and that you're a sinner. Such is not a popular doctrine because we're all inclined to believe man is basically good. Some religions teach man is fallen yet teach self-salvation from one's sin over salvation from one's sin by God's grace. Yet, the Bible is clear as day that we're not righteous, that the wicked go to Hell and the righteous to Heaven, and only God's imputed righteousness can make the wicked truly righteous enough for Heaven. 

But how can the people seek God when nobody seeks God? Romans 3:10-19 quotes from Psalm 14:1-3 and Psalm 53:1-3. The problem is that people are, however, not capable of seeking God. Nobody is seeking God because nobody is capable of doing so. People are too lost in their sins that the only free will they have is to sin or to try to win their salvation by efforts. People think that it's okay to tell "white lies" as long as you don't end up in jail for lying in court. People think it's okay to steal a piece of candy because you don't go to jail for it. Unfortunately, God's standard throws the one who stole a piece of candy and the one who conned people out of money into the Lake of Fire altogether. One would confidently say that they're not going to Hell because their sins aren't supposedly "mortal sins". One would be a criminal and be religious at the same time. Both are still going to Hell. That's why Godthe Father must intervene in the life of both offenders, the criminal and the not, to change them from bad people to good people in God's eyes through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Only those who are called by God can seek God. The others who weren't called by God just simply laugh it off because they weren't called by God. 

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