Presents
Pamphlet 1719 Zephaniah kc 7-2
That's
right, Satan was once a high priest among our people
and
he walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire!
That's
right, Satan was once a high priest among our people
and
he walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire!
Zeph. 3:1 Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!
It
is made even more sad by the fact
that
our Father personally and affectionately chose this location as His favorite
spot in all the earth
and
it shall yet become the headquarters of the universe for all eternity (Rev.
3:12, 21:2).
To that end, it would
serve one well to read the 16th chapter of Ezekiel
before completing this
final chapter in Zephaniah
to understand the tenderness
of how our Father took Jerusalem,
a city who had an unclean
birth, and cared for her and then took her to wife as His own.
And
now just look at her!
She
is filthy (spiritually) and unholy and polluted,
and
she is poised and ready to receive the false messiah,
the
false cornerstone of the temple (Satan standing in the holy place),
an
abomination indeed!
Note: If you follow the current events in the Middle East you know that there have been two attempts recently by the Temple Mount Faithful to lay a "cornerstone" on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem for a third temple. Watch, watchmen!
[2] She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.
Oh how our Father wished she would!
Luke 13:34
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!
Zeph. 2:3
Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow.
And
her "judges" are like wolves,
who
are most ravenous at evening after being foodless all day,
who
so thoroughly consume their prey
they
do not even leave a few bones to chew on the next day!
Such
is the picture of the spiritual desolation ultimately caused by the leaven,
the
doctrine, of the scribes and Pharisees!
"Then Jesus said unto
them,
Take
heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees."
[4] Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.
Like father, like son!
Here
is what Christ said to scribes and Pharisees:
John
8:41 "Ye do the deeds of your father... [44] Ye are of your father
the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer
from the beginning, and
abode not in the truth, because there is
no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he
is a liar, and the father of it."
Their
father, the devil,
both
polluted the sanctuary and did violence (better translated "corruption")
to
the law of God in the first age and there is nothing new under the sun,
i.e.
in this earth age!
Ezekiel 28:16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence [corruption], and thou hast sinned [chata = "drawn away" God's children]: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
You
will find in Ezek. 28:13 that Satan ALSO wore those stones
for
they are all listed there as "his covering", i.e. something he wore!
That's
right, Satan was once a high priest among our people
and
he walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire!
He
is soon coming to walk up and down and stand in the midst of those stones,
even
the temple of God, once again!
[17] Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.[18]Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
In
other words, Satan has been sentenced by God to PERISH,
to
be totally consumed,
to
be turned to ashes whereby he shall cease to exist (see next verse).
That is why he is called
the "son of perdition",
the son who will perish!
This
same fate (perishing, not frying forever) awaits all the incorrigibly wicked,
i.e.
those who believe not Christ, at their judgment at the end of the
Millennium.
Of course the alternative to perishing is to believe the Son of God and receive eternal life.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Otherwise,
just like the son of perdition
you
shall be consumed in the lake of fire and "never shalt thou be any more"!
[19] All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.To study the Bible is the noblest of all pursuits; to understand it, the highest of all goals.
We pray that with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you accomplish both.
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