Love Is Here In Joy
1. Rejoice in the Lord, People of God!
Zephaniah calls us, the people of God, to be glad and rejoice with all our heart. God’s love is here and present in joy. The fruit of God’s love is joy in our hearts. He uses many different words to describe joy, to describe the total, complete, deep, overwhelming joy with which we should rejoice in the Lord. We should sing aloud for joy; shout, cry out for joy. We should be glad and express great joy. We should exult, be jubilant, and rejoice with singing, shouting, and dancing. We have such good news that we cannot keep it to ourselves. We have something to shout and sing about. God’s actions on our behalf are so great and awesome that half-hearted praise can never be enough. Therefore, we rejoice with all our heart in the Lord. We rejoice in the Lord always, no matter how difficult our circumstances (Phil 4:4). We rejoice because of what God has done, is doing, and will do for us.
The Lord has taken away our judgments and punishments (v.15). Our God is a holy, righteous, and merciful God. He must judge sin and rebellion, but He has also found a way to take away the judgments and punishments we deserve. We rejoice because “Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us” (1 Co 5:7). He has taken away the punishment we deserve by bearing it in our place. Because of what Christ has done for us, once and for all, on the cross, in taking away our punishment, we rejoice in the Lord with great joy. For there is now ‘no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Ro 8:1).
God has turned back, cleared away our enemies (v.15). God has defeated the enemies of his people in the past. He is mighty to save (v.17). We can trust Him to defeat all those who oppose God and attack his people. Jesus’ death is a victory over sin, death, and the devil. When Jesus cried ‘It is finished from the cross, it was a cry of victory, not a sigh of resignation. He “disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Col 2:15). Because of Christ’s victory on the cross, we can overcome Satan, evil, and sin. His death, resurrection, and exaltation, guarantee the final victory when He will come back and defeat the devil forever (Rev 20:7-10). Therefore, we rejoice in the Lord.
God dwells, lives among us, is in our midst (v15,17). He is King and Lord of all. He reigns supreme and is in control of all things. Yet, He is also with his people. He is an ever-present help in trouble (Ps 46:1). Jesus is the Word, was with, and is God. He became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (Jn 1:1,14). And Jesus did not leave us alone. Christ is with us and lives in us by the Holy Spirit. He sends his Spirit into the hearts of those who believe. The King rules in our lives through the Holy Spirit. And when He comes back, in his new creation, “the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (Rev 21:3).
God will take away our sorrows (v.18). Zephaniah’s vision of God who will remove false religion, remove the sorrows and the burdens of doing religion in our own strength, points yet again to the Lord Jesus Christ and the new Jerusalem where there will be no more sorrow. Jesus calls us to come to him, all who are weary and burdened. He will give us rest. “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me …’ But Jesus then goes on to say, ‘I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Mt 11:28-30). And when we are with God in his new creation “He will wipe away every tear from our eyes and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things passed away” (Rev 21:4)
God will rescue and honor the weak, powerless, and oppressed (v.19). As God’s people, we must do, here and now, what we can for those in desperate need and speak out against injustices. We know that our efforts are only partial and temporary, and sometimes they fail and seem hopeless. However, we endure in faithful witness, because we know that God’s kingdom is coming. On the Lord’s day, when He returns, and the final end is here, God will deal in perfect justice with those who oppress the poor and persecute his people. He will deliver his people. God rescues and honors those who put their trust in him, however weak and powerless they might be; if not in this life, then in the new, eternal life. At the end of the age, God’s promises will be completely fulfilled.
God will bring us home (v.20). On that day, at that time, the Lord’s day, God will come with judgment and salvation. And He will bring his people into his heavenly home. Jesus tells us, “Do not let your heart be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (Jn 14:1-3). “Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil 3:20). He will establish his eternal kingdom rule and bring about his new creation where He will restore our fortunes, and we will dwell with Him forever. This hope motivates us to live holy and godly lives; to commit ourselves to God’s kingdom work; to endure suffering; to preach the gospel; to persevere in faithful witness, and rejoice in the Lord always.
2. Fear Not, Rejoice!
Therefore, because of what God has done, is doing, and will do for us, we do not fear, and we do not give up. We are living in a crazy and ever-changing world. Nothing stays the same. You just get settled down and then the upheaval starts again. People change. Our health changes. Our jobs change. Our marriages change. Our children grow up and move away. Our nation changes. Our church changes. People move in and out of our lives. Nothing seems to be stable. So our hearts are restless. We’re anxious and uptight most of the time. We can’t relax; we live with a constant sense of being anxious and hurried. We are hurried, anxious, restless human beings living in a hurried, anxious, and restless culture.
It’s easy for us to become discouraged and to give up the fight, letting our hands hang limp (v.16). It’s easy to forget that the King, our Lord, is with us, in our midst, and that He is working out his sovereign will in our lives. We easily forget that He is a mighty warrior, mighty to save (v.17). When we are in the midst of trials and suffering we may wonder where God is and why it seems as if He doesn’t care.
So, when we are discouraged in trying to live the kingdom life or in our ministries, we should recall all the good things that our God has done for us. In this changing world, God says to us: “There is one thing that will never change: my love. It’s stable; it’s a rock. It is the only permanently safe place in the universe. So turn to me because I want to quiet you with my love. I want you to stay with me and stop the churning in your heart.” Make it a practice to remember the love of God for you. Let God quiet your anxious heart. Rest in his love. God is with us, and His love calms us. Therefore, we do not fear. We do not give up. We rejoice in the Lord always.
3. God Rejoices Over You
But that’s not all. In his amazing and extraordinary love, God actually delights in us. He rejoices over you with gladness. He exults over you with loud singing (v.17). If I were to ask the question, do you think God loves you, most of us would give the spiritually correct answer. So let me ask a different question: What does God feel when He sees you, and thinks of you? Think a bit about that one.
Jesus lived the life that we should have lived. He died the death we should have died. So now, when we believe in Jesus, turn to him and trust fully in Him, God the Father sees us in Christ. He delights in us as much as he delights in Jesus. God is looking at you. He is beaming at you. He is honoring you. Say it to yourself. Say it to your own heart. “God takes great delight in me.” Believe it today. Listen to verse 20: “I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your very eyes.” God delights in you, and He honors you.
God also sings over you. Did you ever think that God has an entire history of singing over you? God sang over you when you were still in the womb. God still sings over babies in the womb. God sang over you on the day you were born. God sang over you when you went to school. God sang over you when you felt hurt and alone. God sang over you when you tried to walk away from him. God sang over you when you told Him to get lost. God sang over you when you first turned your heart towards faith in Jesus. God still sings over you—when you ache, when you doubt, when you’re tired and feel like giving up, when you fall into sin, when you’re serving God, and living for him. God has a love song just for you. God has a history of singing over you.
If you’re not a believer this morning, do you know that the Christian path is all about joy? God wants to give you joy. Did you know that Jesus died for you because God loves you? If you are a follower of Jesus, is there something that is sucking the joy out of your life this morning? Maybe God is doing an intervention in your heart. Maybe you’ve hit a wall, and you can’t seem to get around it. Yes, it hurts, but God is doing something good in your life. Nothing can separate us from God’s love for us.
Perhaps you are saying, “I can’t rejoice in God’s love, because I’m such a mess, such a sinner.” The Lord has taken away your punishment. Jesus bore it on the cross, and it is gone. But you say, “I cannot rejoice in God’s love because I have too many forces working against me right now.” The Lord will deal with all who oppress. But you say, “I cannot rejoice in God’s love because I’ve been too wounded by life or my parents or a broken marriage or my own failure or my health.” God says, “I will rescue the lame and gather those who have been scattered.” But you say, “I cannot rejoice in God’s love because there is a cloud of shame over my head. I am defective. I have failed. I have this sin, this addiction, this family problem, these doubts, this grief, and it won’t go away. The shame clings to me.” God says, “I will give them praise and honor in every land where they were put to shame.” But you say, “I’m just too far from God. I’ve wandered too far. I’m not a good Christian like everyone else here. I have secrets that would scandalize the righteous.” To which I would say, “Join the club, my friend. We all have secrets that would scandalize the righteous. The good news is that no one here is righteous so stop worrying about it.” And God says, “At that time I will gather you; at that time I will bring you home.”
Again I want to end with a few questions. Think and pray about these:
Have you experienced the truth of verse 15: “The Lord has taken away your punishment”? Are you trusting in this truth?
How would your life change if you could believe, receive, and rest in all the wonderful promises in Zephaniah 3:17?
Is there anything that is robbing you of joy today?
God’s love is here and present with us in joy. Mother Teresa said: “Let nothing so sadden your heart that it takes away the joy of the Risen Christ.” Therefore, let us rejoice in the Lord always.