Bible Study: Zephaniah 3:12-20

Zephaniah 3 contains some of the most beautiful, poetic, and hopeful words in the Bible. My wife and I used verses 14-20 as the Scripture at our wedding, and gave our pastor a rough time coming up with a sermon on them. They speak of the deliverance of God, something I have personally experienced when God swooped into my life to save it from an irrevocable catastrophe.

The language of this text is simply stunning. Every time that I read it, it stops me in my tracks and leaves me shaking in awe at the mind-blowing love that God has for his people.

I wrote this Bible study on one side of a legal-sized sheet of paper, dividing the text into two columns on top, followed by commentary and discussion questions below. The lower portion consists of background on the life and times of Zephaniah, study questions, and then a piece of a sermon by Rev. John Piper:

Background: Zephaniah, a distant relation in the Judean royal family, prophesied during the reign of King Josiah (640-609 B.C.) and was therefore likely a contemporary of Jeremiah, Nahum, and Habakkuk.

Questions:
When has God given you reason to ‘shout in triumph’ and ‘rejoice and exult with all your heart’?

What promises does God assert to his people?

Compare this passage with Luke 15:10. What does God take joy in?

Commentary:
“We must banish from our minds forever any thought that God admits us begrudgingly into his Kingdom, as though Christ found a loophole in the law, did some fancy plea-bargaining and squeaked us by the Judge. No way! God himself, the Judge, put Christ forward as our substitutionary sacrifice, and when we trust him God welcomes us with bells on. He puts a ring on our finger, kills the fatted calf, throws a party, shouts a shout that shakes the ends of creation and leads in the festal dance.
“Someone may ask: Isn't that a bit unseemly and undignified of God to get so excited and shout and carry on this way? But I answer: Remember David's wife, Michal. When David danced with joy before the Lord with all his might, Michal despised this immoderate display of emotion. And the Lord struck her barren for the rest of her life! For he intends to be mightily enjoyed, and one day he will show us how to rejoice with all his might.” – John Piper on Zephaniah 3 (emphasis added)