Thru the Bible

Steve Sweitzer: If you're an early riser, you've seen many dark nights turn into the dawn of a new day. I love those early moments. You can't help but feel the hope of something new as a day begins. Welcome to Through the Bible. In this final study of the Old Testament book of Zephaniah, we're going to look at the end of Israel's dark night of judgment and then hear about the light of a new day. Our teacher Dr. J. Vernon McGee begins in chapter 3 verse 9. So grab your Bible and find your place and while you do, Greg and I have a little time that we want to talk about one of the core values of this ministry.

It's one we don't really talk about that much and it involves you.

Greg Harris: It does and I think it's also a core value or a manifestation of the value that is kind of unique to Through the Bible. That is the level of personal involvement that our listening family has in not just consuming through the Bible but sharing it.

Steve Sweitzer: Yeah, sharing it with others and I think that's been such a key component of the ministry is the involvement of our listeners. The way people have supported us in prayer, the way we've built the World Prayer Team to support those who want to see and want to pray actively for what's going on. It's such an encouragement for us and I think it brings glory to God and it encourages our listeners who participate.

Greg Harris: Yes. And our listeners, I mean from the earliest years back in the late '60s and early '70s, you'd hear Dr. McGee talk about people sharing with their neighbors and their friends. And of course, that has developed into some interesting ways. We've heard about people that have gotten billboards up. Remember the one about people painting rocks on a trail like a hiking trail?

Steve Sweitzer: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, don't do that because anybody who's with the Nature Society or whatever is not going to be happy with you. That's that is graffiti for some people but still the heart is right.

Greg Harris: Yeah. Yeah. Um Yeah, bumper stickers and and lots of different ways that people have shared in their own in their own creativity. But we years ago developed this thing called a Bible Bus pass which is so simple. It's just a business card with a nice attractive TTB logo and a QR code and you can just hand that and say, Hey Steve, you're my friend. I'd love you to hear this program that has made a big impact in my life.

Steve Sweitzer: Yeah, I love it because it's just such a low friction way to share the teaching of Dr. McGee with somebody. Just say, Hey this I really love this program. Here, let me give you this QR code. You can download it too.

Greg Harris: Yeah. Yeah, and if the person is offended, they'll just throw the card out but it but more often than not we think the Holy Spirit will lead you to give it to someone who will use it. And we hear from our listeners about this all the time.

Steve Sweitzer: Yes. Yeah, here's one as an example. James recently told us this, Please pray for Marcos. He is a lost soul. I love this. I met on the Appalachian Trail this week. I've never been on the Appalachian Trail. I would love to the the West Coast version is the John Muir. I've been on parts of that, not the Appalachian, I continue.

Greg Harris: That's right. I have as a Boy Scout Steve, just so you know. It's it's important for you to know that.

Steve Sweitzer: Impressive. Yes. Thank you. Okay, let me continue with with James here. Okay, I talked with him and gave him a Bible and a bus pass. He needs the Lord so badly. Thank you. So again, those of you listening, pray for James as he hands out bus passes and Bibles and specifically pray for Marcos who's been the recipient of one of those.

Greg Harris: Yes, to James. Yes. Wow. Wow.

Steve Sweitzer: Greg Pam in New Mexico shares.

Greg Harris: Yeah, she says I'm pretty new to the Bible Bus. I've been listening for a little over 6 months. I downloaded the app and that's how I listen and I just love reading the Bible. Sometimes not as much because there's always something that kind of reaches out and basically slaps me in the face. I like the honesty there Pam. Thank you. She says but conviction is always good. And fun fact, sometimes I find myself reading the Bible, hearing the voice of Dr. McGee.

Steve Sweitzer: Yeah. Yeah. Mm.

Greg Harris: As somebody who's an introvert and a Christian, it's often times difficult for me to just branch out and talk to strangers. So I'm so glad for the Bible Bus passes and when I get a chance, I do share my testimony. I 'm just so grateful for the Bible Bus and I just love listening every single day. It's part of my morning routine now and I've shared it with my husband and my kids. I just want to thank you all for still spreading Dr. McGee's message and the gospel all these years later after he's passed. Keep up the good work and pray for me to branch out more and get a little more confidence in sharing the gospel.

Steve Sweitzer: Mm. Well, thank you so much for that letter Pam and we do appreciate your faithfulness and your desire to come out of your shell a little bit and share the gospel with others.

Greg Harris: Yeah. Yeah, how about if we get this one from Charlene? I think we have just enough time for that.

Steve Sweitzer: Okay. Now Charlene in Texas. This is my first trip on the Bible Bus. My sister asked me and my other sister if we would like to join her and we all said yes. Though we live far apart, we journey together through the word. I use the Bible Bus passes to send out with orders to my customers on eBay. Wow, that's the first time I've heard that. Way to go. Occasionally I hear back and it brings me joy. Thank you for your program.

Greg Harris: Interesting. So Steve, it's so cool just to see the creativity and the the personal expressions of how people can use Bible Bus passes to share TTB.

Steve Sweitzer: Yeah, let me pray for our studies we begin. Heavenly Father, we are thankful for the faithfulness of our listeners to share the teaching of Dr. McGee with others. We pray that you would bless those efforts, that you would bless the teaching of the word of God as it goes out in the study of Zephaniah 3 as we begin today. In Jesus name, amen. Here's Dr. J. Vernon McGee with our study of Zephaniah 3 on Through the Bible.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now friends, the storm is over as far as this little book is concerned. This little book of Zephaniah opens with dark forebodings. It opens with rumblings of judgment that are ominous and we have been through it. In fact, the last time when we took the first part of the third chapter here is judgment of the city of Jerusalem. It's almost frightening to read. And then it is frightening when you come to the last and it's the picture of the great tribulation period when he judges all nations and they will be brought up against Jerusalem in that last day so that actually you have two kinds of judgment here.

God's judgment of his own people and that is always chastisement whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth. He child trains, he disciplines and then God must judge the unbelieving world. And that is the picture that is before us in this little book. And therefore this little book is like a Florida hurricane, a Texas tornado, a Mississippi River flood, a Minnesota snowstorm and a California earthquake all rolled together. And you would think when you read this that God hates his people and he hates mankind in general. That he's vindictive, that he's cruel, that he's brutal, that he's unfeeling and that he's unmoved.

But the story that we told at the beginning is the story that illustrates this little book. It is the story of that man that took that little child in the darkness of the night and rushed away from home. It looked like he was kidnapping her and it was frightful when he turned her over to another man who plunged the knife into her innards and my, that was an frightful thing. But when you know the whole story, it was the father that had a little girl, his own little precious girl that had been having attacks of appendicitis.

And so it was at night that he went in and picked her up and rushed her to the hospital and put her into the hands of the family physician and in tenderness everything was done. But we find the day that our great physician, he takes his own and he puts the ones he loves on the operating table. And even in judgment God is love even when he's judging the unsaved and when he's judging those that are his own, God is love. And we saw last time that this world in which we live, the final curtain is coming down.

Someday man's little day will be over. And then judgment comes for lost mankind. But God will restore his children and we're going to find out that what we endured down here was actually a blessing in disguise. Now with that in mind, let's come to this. And as we do, let me put before you another little story again, one that actually happened of a boy that was in school and he was away from home and things got rough. The lessons were difficult and he was homesick and he wrote home and he said, Dad, it's hard here.

The assignments are too heavy and the dormitory is too strict and I'm homesick and I want to come home. The father writes back a stern and severe letter and he says, you stay on there. You study hard. You apply yourself. You get to work. And when the boy gets that letter from his dad, he says, I don't think my dad loves me anymore. My dad couldn't love me or he wouldn't want me to go through this torture that I 'm going through here. But we got a heavenly father that tells us, you stay down there.

You're in the college of lie. I 'm preparing a place for you and I 'm also preparing you for that place and I'm preparing you down there in the world. Now with that in mind, let's turn to this passage here, verse 9. For then will I turn to the peoples a pure language that they may all call upon the name of the Lord to serve him with one consent. Now God has this far off purpose. This is called a teleological purpose of God and we'll find it all through this section here because now we're in the light, no longer in the darkness of the judgment, no longer in the day of the Lord that begins at night.

Now the sun has arisen and light is broken upon mankind. For then he says, will I turn to the peoples a pure language. Now when he says here a pure language, he doesn't mean that everybody's going to speak Hebrew. A great many people think that's it. And he's not going to turn them to some other language. That is maybe some unknown language and that everybody will speak that. The pure language that he's talking about here is not what some of us Texans thought. We thought it was going to be the Texas accent. Many of you people that have not agreed with my accent and you found it rather distasteful, I thought for a while that you were going to have to get accustomed to it because that's what everybody would be speaking in heaven.

But honestly, it doesn't mean that at all. The pure language means exactly what it says. The language will be pure. There'll be no blasphemy heard. There'll be nothing that's vile and vulgar. There will be nothing that'll be repulsive. The language will be that. We had a neighbor one time. She was a very big-hearted woman in many ways and she was unsaved and she had not only a mean tongue, she had the vilest tongue that I think that I've ever heard. And actually it was offensive to people in the neighborhood to hear her lose her temper at times and you could hear her throughout the entire neighborhood.

And it was very distasteful, so much so that some wanted to report her. Well, in heaven friends, there'll be nobody to report because it's going to be just exactly what this says, a pure language will be pure and thought, word and deed there. And that is the thing that he mentions here. And they'll call upon the name of the Lord and they'll serve him with one consent. There'll be no rebellion against God in that day. Heaven friends is going to be really a nice neighborhood to live in. It's going to be a glorious place. You're going to have some good neighbors there.

Now verse 10. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed shall bring mine offering. Now again, here is a verse of scripture that has been variously translated or interpreted and they come up with all sorts of interpretations that there are is down in Ethiopia and that it's going to be brought up to Jerusalem at this time. Well, I don't think that that is the thing that he has in mind here at all. It does mean that Ethiopia is a nation will enter the millennial kingdom. I believe that is the thing that is important for us to see and their offering of course will be the offering that Christ made.

And there are many myths and in fact there are there's a tribe down in Abyssinia or Ethiopia today that claim that they are Semitic and they use the term it's sort of like the word Philistine that means immigrants. And they claim they can trace their origin back to Israel, that they are Israelites. Well, I think that is probably true. But I think we are reading a great deal here into this that don't belong here at all. And I think we just let it stand in its plain wording here. Now it goes on to say verse 11, In that day shalt thou not be ashamed of all thy doings in which thou hast transgressed against me.

Now he's talking to his own. We have seen that one of the things that God was judging them for was that there was no shame in the vile acts and their gross immorality. They were not ashamed of it. It's like the sins that were committed when I was a boy, they were always done in secret. Now they're done right out in the open today. But God's people will never reach the place where they can be satisfied in sin. If you can live in sin you can be sure of one thing, you're not a child of God.

If you can be happy and live in sin you're not a child of God. The prodigal son was never happy in the pig pen. And he had to say since he was a son of the father, I 'm going to go home to my father. Now many wasn't a pig. Pigs love pig pens but sons don't love pig pens. They want to go to the father's house because they got the nature of the father. Now he makes that very clear here. In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings in which thou hast transgressed against me.

For then I will take away out of the midst of thee those who rejoice in thy pride and thou shalt no more be haughty in my holy mountain. This is the day when the meek shall inherit the earth. They're not doing very well today with it by the way. The other crowd has it now. Verse 12. I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. When the Babylonians took Israel into captivity, there were about three deputations of slaves taken. But they never took all of them.

They left the poor and the afflicted, the cripple and all that sort of thing never took them with them. And you can imagine how they felt. It was terrible to go into Babylonian captivity and become a slave. But it was actually worse to be left behind. And God says here, I intend to take care of the afflicted and the poor. And if you'll notice all the way through scripture, we've called attention to it before. The Lord always mentions the fact that he intends someday to see that the poor get an honest deal, that they will be treated right.

And the only one in the world today who has a program for the poor is the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are poor and needy, he's the one to go to. He can help you and he's the only one that can. Now we read in verse 13, It says, The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity. That is the picture of the remnant. God has always had a remnant and there will be this very large remnant in the millennium. They'll not speak lies, neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth for they shall feed and lie down and none shall make them afraid.

Now will you look at this verse with me for just a moment. First of all, when he says that the day is coming when they won't do these things, that would seem to indicate that they did those things, even God's people indulged in sin but not permanently. They can't as we've said, they can't live in it. They may get their feet dirty. They may get down in the pig pen. They just won't stay in the pig pen. That's all. Now he says, The day will come when none shall make them afraid. Now with that verse in mind and saying that all of this has reference to the day when God puts them back in the land and gives them the land.

Are you prepared to say that what is happening and has happened in that land today is a fulfillment of prophecy? None shall make them afraid. Well, they haven't had a moment that they haven't been frightened ever since they've been in that land. And that is their picture. Now in verse 14 and here you come to the day when the kingdom is going to be set up on the earth by the king saying, Oh daughter of Zion shout Oh Israel, be glad and rejoice with all the heart. Oh daughter of Jerusalem the Lord hath taken away thy judgments.

He hath cast out thine enemy. The king of Israel, even the Lord is in the midst of thee. Thou shalt not see evil anymore. The Lord Jesus is now come to thee and evil has been put down. And the knowledge of the Lord will cover this earth like the waters cover the sea. Now he says, In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem fear thou not. But Jerusalem is afraid even today. And to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. In other words, be busy for the Lord. Now we come to this marvelous 17th verse.

The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. He will say he will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He will joy over thee with singing. Now God has a purpose and he goes through the night a night of judgment in order to bring us into the light of a new day. And he does all of this that the day might come when he can rest in his love. Now God loves you today and he loves me. I don't know about you but I doubt very seriously whether God would rest in his love for Vernon McGee.

He could say well, look, he's not perfected yet. He seems so immature. He seems so filled with faults. He's apt to digress. He's apt to detour. At any moment God can rest in his love today friends. But the day is coming when we'll be in his likeness and when we're in his likeness after he's put us on the operating table, why he's going to bring us to himself. What a wonderful and glorious picture this is and it continues. I will gather those who are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee to whom the reproach of it was a burden.

Behold at that time I will undo all that afflict thee and I will save her that is lame and gather her that was driven out and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they've been put to shame. At that time will I bring you again. Even in the time that I gather you, for I will make you a name and a praise among all peoples of the earth when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord. Oh this is the day of light that has come and it'll be glorious for the nation Israel.

It's going to be glorious for the church also because God is putting us through many of us through the furnace and he's putting us through trials. And I think that one of the glorious things about heaven will not be the golden streets and it won't be the gates of pearl. And it won't be the fact he's going to wipe away all tears. Glorious thing in heaven is going to be you and I are going to thank him for every trial we had and every burden that he put upon us. I close with this wonderful little poem.

Out from the mine in the darkness, out from the damp in the mold, out from the fiery furnace cometh each grain of gold. Crushed into atoms and leveled down to the umbles dust with never a heart to pity, with never a hand to trust. Molten and hammered and beaten seemeth it near to be done. Oh for such fiery trial what hath the poor gold done? Oh twirl a mercy to leave it down in the damp and the mold. If this is the glory of living then better to be dross than gold. Under the press and the roller into the jaws of the men stamped with the emblem of freedom with never a flaw or a dent.

Oh what a joy the refining out of the damp in the mold and stamped with the glorious image. Oh beautiful coin of gold. Someday when you and I are in the presence of our Savior we'll thank him for every burden, every trial, every heartache. We will thank him for dealing with us as a wise father deals with his children and we'll thank him for the dark side of his love. Oh my friend, this book has a tremendous message for us today, a dark side of love. So until next time may God ritually bless you when we turn back to the little book of Jude in the New Testament.

Until then may God ritually bless you my beloved.

Steve Sweitzer: Yes, there will be a day and it's coming soon when our long dark journey will be over and we'll enter into an eternity in the Lord's glorious presence and thank him for the dark side of his love. To be in touch, contact us through our app or call 1-800-65 Bible or send an email to biblebus@ttb.org. Now next time we're going to begin a new study in the book of Jude. I 'm Steve Sweitzer and I'll save a seat on the Bible Bus just for you.

Guest (Male): Through the Bible is a 5-year study of God's entire word and together we discover God's purposes in history and our lives found only when we believe in Jesus Christ. Do you know him yet?