The Sounds of Salvation (Zephaniah 3:9–20)

In the 1950s, two young American friends, aspiring musicians, began performing in local pubs and clubs as the band Tom and Jerry. Their partnership enjoyed no commercial success and they soon parted ways.

In 1963, they regrouped under the name Kane and Garr, again performing on the local entertainment scene. Their performance at one establishment attracted the attention of a Colombia Records producer. The duo persuaded the producer to record one of their favourite original songs, which secured them a recording deal. By this time, they had dropped pseudonyms and were known simply by their surnames: Simon and Garfunkel.

The song that had secured them a recording deal, originally titled “The Sounds of Silence,” flopped. One fellow musician claimed that simply singing the opening words (“Hello, darkness, my old friend”) was a sure way to rouse an audience’s laughter. Though technically still signed to Colombia, the duo was no longer recording. A radio DJ remixed the track, played it on air, and its popularity began to soar. Now retitled “The Sound of Silence,” the song became an unexpected hit and quickly entered the halls of music legend.

Long before Paul Simon sat in his darkened bathroom, with taps running in the background, to write “The Sound(s) of Silence,” a Judean prophet by the name of Zephaniah comforted his hard-hearted audience with promises of the sounds of salvation.

Zephaniah was a prophet of royal descent, who preached during the reign of godly King Josiah. This was a period of external reform in Judah, though Zephaniah’s strong words suggest that the heart idolatry of former generations remained as pervasive as ever under Josiah’s reign.

Zephaniah is a loud book. The sound of silence hardly captures the tenor of the prophecy. It opens with “the sound of the day of Yahweh” (1:14), which is described as “bitter.” “A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements” (1:15–16). Sounds and noise play a key role in this prophecy.

Some two-thirds of the prophecy is taken with oracles of judgement: two against Jerusalem (1:1–18; 3:1–8) and one against surrounding nations (2:4–15). Sandwiched between these oracles of doom is a call to seeking the Lord in repentance.

“Seek Yahweh.” That simple exhortation to God’s beleaguered people is a call we do well to heed today. As Augustine noted, “To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek him the greatest adventure; to find him, the greatest human achievement.”

The closing verses of the prophecy (3:9–20), which are the verses under consideration in this study, were written to those who would heed the call of 2:1–3. Here, God offers staggering promises to the faithful in Judah. It is as loud a section as the opening chapter, and in we hear four sounds of salvation, which serve to encourage us as to what God promises and what God does for his people who seek him. Our goal in this study is to consider each of these sounds of salvation as we seek encouragement in the promises of the gospel.

The Sound of Purity

First, we read of the sound of purity: “For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of Yahweh and serve him with one accord. From beyond the rivers of Cush my worshippers, the daughter of my dispersed ones, shall bring my offering” (vv. 9–10).

Throughout Zephaniah, speech is a problem. In the first oracle of judgement, God chided his people because they “bow down and swear to Yahweh and yet swear by Milcom” (1:5). They verbally professed faith in the living God, but idols shared their devotion. And while they professed faith in God, they “do not seek Yahweh or enquire of him” (1:6). They claimed to trust God, but not enough to prayerfully seek his will as they moved through life. They leaned on their own wisdom, which rendered their professions of faith meaningless. These professors of faith “say in their hearts, ‘Yahweh will not do good, nor will he do ill’” (1:12). In other words, “We believe in God … but we don’t believe he actually does anything!” God is a nice idea, but he plays no part in real life. That is why they “leap over the threshold” (1:9). It’s all superstition. “I believe God … but touch wood.” “I believe God, but I can’t change Behaviour A because I am an Enneagram 5.”

But God will change that in the lives of those who seek him. He will “change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of Yahweh and serve him with one accord.” No longer will they utter empty professions of faith. God will change those who seek him. The transformation will result in hearts and mouths that call on, trust in, and serve him. God will transform superstitious hypocrisy to purity.

God changes those who seek him. He produces purity in their lives. Many segments of Christianity today are critical of what they term “purity culture.” I understand some of their concerns, but I find it strange that Christians would be critical of purity! Purity is consistently portrayed in Scripture as a virtue, which God here promises to produce in the lives of those who seek him.

Do you want to see change in your life? Real change. Change that produces purity. Change that moves you from bowing to sin to towering over it. Do you want to see victory over your sinful habits? Do you long to be done with your tendency to gossip and slander? Do you long to overcome your penchant to oppress the vulnerable? Do you desperately want to see victory over your lust, covetousness, gluttony, and drunkenness?

Do you long for a heart that calls on the name of Yahweh and gladly serves him? Then seek God! Find hope in his promise that he will change those who seek him. He wants purity from his people and promises to produce it in the lives of those who seek him. Seek the Lord and hear the sound of purity in your life.

The Sound of Humility

Second, Zephaniah speaks of the sound of humility.

Zephaniah characterises Judah as both complacent and arrogant. Their rebellion stemmed from “proudly exultant” and “haughty” hearts. This is always at the root of sin. Sin stems from an attitude that places me above God. Sin arrogantly dismisses God’s truth and embraces its own self-centred desires. And pride gets in the way of seeking God. “In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him” (Psalm 10:4).

There is, of course, a healthy sense of self that every human being should have. Every human being is made in God’s image. Humanity is the pinnacle of God’s creation, which is a truth, incidentally, that we need to recapture.

But there is also a deeply unhealthy push toward self-actualisation in the world in which we live. “Authenticity” is the highest virtue we can pursue, and if we must trample others in our effort to pursue our “authentic self,” so be it.

God here condemns the arrogance that led Judah to disregard his truth and his people in their pursuit of “authenticity.” The community of believers—Yahweh’s “holy mountain”—was no place for arrogance. And God promised to root out arrogance if his people would seek him.

God not only purifies, but also humbles, those he saves, which enables us to seek him. What does this God-produced humility look like? The text suggests three things.

First, humility “seek[s] refuge in the name of Yahweh” (v. 12). It does not find hope and safety in possessions or people—not even if those things are good in and of themselves. Ezekiel spoke of the temple as “the pride of [Judah’s] power” (Ezekiel 24:21). God’s people in Jerusalem had come to trust in the temple more than in the God of the temple and the only way to rectify that was to demolish the idol.

Where do you find your hope? Where do you place your trust? What would cause your faith to collapse if it were removed? Do you find refuge in God alone? That is a sign of true humility.

Second, humility “do[es] no injustice” (v, 13). It can be dangerous to talk of justice in Christian circles because some will immediately accuse you of a social gospel. But it is difficult to faithfully engage in Scripture without concluding that God is deeply interested in justice.

Are you interested in justice? Not in talking about justice, but about doing justice? “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does Yahweh require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8). It can be good and important to engage in conversations about justice in the world, but what about justice in your own life? Do you treat others with justice? Your spouse? Your children? Your employees? Do you consider different perspectives before jumping to conclusions? Justice is a key ingredient in biblical humility.

Third, humility is interested in truth. The humble “speak no lies, nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue” (v. 13). Humility does not claim one thing and do another. Humility pursues integrity.

Are you a person of integrity? That is a key marker of biblical humility.

The sound of humility is a sound of trust, justice, and integrity. Those who are characterised by such humility “shall graze and lie down, and none shall make them afraid” (v. 13).

The Sound of Festivity

Third, Zephaniah writes of the sound of festivity: “Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! Yahweh has taken away the judgements against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, Yahweh, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil” (vv. 14–15).

It is important to recognise the context of the festivity here mentioned. Zephaniah has made it clear throughout that there was no hope of escape from the Babylonian exile. Jerusalem’s fall was certain. Many of the people to whom Zephaniah preached would find themselves shackled and carried off to a foreign land, where they would live out their lives in exile. Those exiles would wonder how they could possibly sing in exile (Psalm 137). They would put down their musical instruments and mourn in silence.

Yet Zephaniah encourages them to sing, shout, rejoice, and exult! Why? “Yahweh has taken away the judgements against you; he has cleared away your enemies.” Alec Motyer explains, “The ‘setting aside’ of legal charges speaks of their peace with God; … of their secure tenure of the blessings of their salvation.” Even in Babylon, those who sought Yahweh could experience peace with God and enjoy the blessings of salvation.

Do you wish to experience peace with God and the blessings of salvation—even in your very real struggles and your everyday Babylon? Then seek God, because that is what he promises to give. God does not promise his people ease and material prosperity in this life. Sometimes, serving God invites the very opposite. The faithful Christian doctor who will not perform or refer for abortion may well lose his medical license. The faithful Christian businessman who will not lie or cheat for his boss may well lose out on opportunities for promotion. The faithful Christian wife who will not prioritise her husband above her God may find very real tensions in her marriage. Seeking God will not guarantee you freedom from miscarriage, barrenness, or singleness. Life is not always a Kendrick brothers’ film! But you can know peace with God and the very real blessings of salvation in him even if you suffer in this life.

The Sound of Deity

The prophecy takes a turn in v. 16 from speaking of the response of God’s people to his salvation to how God considers the salvation of his people:

God now speaks to his people and tells them not to fear (v. 16)—not (primarily) because he will deliver them from the promised destruction (though he would eventually do that), but because he will be with them in it.

Verse 17 has been described as “the John 3:16 of the Old Testament.” Listen carefully: “Yahweh your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

How would you respond if someone were to ask you, what does God think of you? Reformed theology, which rightly appreciates the biblical teaching on the depravity of humanity, can fall into the trap of thinking that God merely tolerates his people, or that his fury is somehow grudgingly held in check only by the sacrifice of Christ. That is not what this verse suggests.

The third verse of Andrew Peterson’s “Is He Worthy?” asks, “Does the Father truly love us?” and, “Does Jesus, our Messiah, hold forever those he loves?” To both questions, the song answers with a resounding, “He does.” Do we really believe this?

I will return to the first two lines of v. 17 at the end of our study, but for now consider the three last lines.

Zephaniah, speaking of God to those who seek God, writes, “He will rejoice over you with gladness.” Think about that for a moment. We are accustomed to thinking of our responsibility to rejoice in the Lord (see v. 14), but here Zephaniah says that God rejoices in us! God rejoices in his people. He rejoices with gladness. The NIV speaks of God taking “great delight” in his people.

Do you believe that God rejoices over you with gladness, that he takes great delight in you? Too often, we seem to believe that God merely tolerates his people, or that he is always on the verge of fury, which is held in check only by the sacrifice of Christ. This text would have us believe differently. Here we are told that God delights in his people—in those who seek him.

Not only that, but “he will quiet you by his love.” To those whose hearts are churned by fear, despair, and distress, God says, “I will quiet you by my love.” The sound of God-given silence will drown out the sound of judgement. When life around us seems to be falling apart, we can rest in the fact that God loves us. Does the Father truly love us? He does! That ought to settle you. As Luther wrote, “He will cause you to be silent so that you may have in the secret places of your heart a very quiet peace and a peaceful silence.”

Furthermore, “he will exult over you with loud singing.” Yes, we praise the Lord with song (see v. 14), but Zephaniah here tells us that God breaks into joyful song at the thought of those who seek him! God, as it were, composes a love song to his people and takes delight in singing about them.

What does God think of you? If you are one who seeks him, he rejoices over you with gladness, quiets you in his love, and exults over you with loud singing.

God’s singing over his people is described in vv. 18–20 in terms of a festival. There is a hint in these verses, for the original audience, of future redemption. Babylon would oppress, but God would eventually deal with Judah’s oppressors. He would save the oppressed and turn their deep shame into praise and renown. He would restore their fortunes.

Do you ever feel ashamed by your sin and unworthy of God’s love? In a sense, you are right to feel that way. And yet God here gloriously promises that he is willing and eager to remove the shame of those who seek him and to replace it with praise and renown.

But perhaps your question at this point is, how? How can God possibly do this for such a rebellious people? Judah was a people whose allegiance was divided between Yahweh and Milcom (1:5). It was a people who had ceased to seek his will (1:6). These people looked more like the surrounding nations than like Yahweh’s peculiar people (1:8). They were indifferent to God’s providence (1:12), deeply materialistic (1:18), hardened to correction (3:1), and shamefully unjust (3:5). Surely a God who cannot look at wrongdoing (Habakkuk 1:13) could not possibly show favour to such a people. But he would. And he would because of the first half of v. 17: “Yahweh your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save.” God can do all those things because he is present (“Yahweh your God is in your midst”) and because he has pardoned (“a mighty one who will save”).

God is Present

The first reason God will fulfil these promises is because he is with his people: “Yahweh your God is in your midst.” The God of the Bible is not a distant God, disinterested in his creation. He is one who deeply loves and is committed to his people. He manifests his presence to his people in redemption and relationship.

God’s presence with his people secures their redemption. This is a truth that Christians celebrate at Christmas: Emmanuel! We can be saved from our sins (Matthew 1:21) because God became a man to be with his people and to thereby deliver them from sin. Evan Wickham wonderfully captures the truth of the incarnation:

The incarnation is not a truth to relegate to Christmas. It is a cause for daily rejoicing year-round. God became a human being to identify with his people. As a human, he felt the weight of temptation, yet without sin. He went to the cross in the stead of those he came to save. Taking the penalty of our sin upon himself, he died on a Roman cross in shame. Three days later, he rose from the grave and later ascended to heaven, where he now rules at the right hand of his Father and offers eternal life to all who will repent of their sins and trust in him for salvation. Let us join with all the church from every age, singing, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain!”

God God’s presence also secures for God’s people a relationship with him. By the ministry of the Holy Spirit, we enter into a living relationship with the God who saved us. Through Scripture, prayer, and corporate worship, we enjoy his presence with us and offer to him the praise that is his due. Praise God that he is with us!

God Pardons

Because he has chosen to be with his people, the God of the Bible is “a mighty one who will save.” God would save his exiled people from Babylon and bring them back to Jerusalem. But that was a mere foreshadowing of the salvation that Jesus Christ would bring. Joseph called him Jesus because “he will save his people from their sin” (Matthew 1:21).

Do you feel weighed down by the burden of sin? Do you feel unworthy of God’s love? Then allow Zephaniah 3:17 to encourage you that the God of the Bible is a present, pardoning God. In Christ, he offers the promise of eternal life by the forgiveness of sin. And as we experience the salvation that he promises in Christ, and seek him as the God who saves, we can hear the sound of purity, the sound of humility, and the sound of festivity as we embrace his promises.

AMEN