Zephaniah 3:14-15 (NASBStr)
Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion!
Shout in triumph, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem!
The Lord has taken away His judgments against you,
He has cleared away your enemies.
The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
You will fear disaster no more.
We shout in many situations in our life. We shout when we want someone's attention. We shout when we want to be noticed. But, most of the time we shout when something great has happened ... more than likely with a sports team we favor. We love to shout when they score and win. We love to shout when our new baby walks their first steps. We love to shout when that same baby walks across the stage at graduation. In the above passage Zephaniah is telling the nation of Israel to "shout for joy." To really appreciate the admonishing, however, you have to recall what he has been telling the rebellious nation in chapters one and two of the book. This book is filled with warnings and condemnation of how God is going to take the nation into captivity for their sins. The coming judgement is real, deserved, on the horizon and unavoidable. But, yet, in the midst of this judgment the writer is telling them to prepare to shout for joy. God is, one day, through the Messiah (Jesus) going to take away their pain, suffering and, more importantly, their judgement. He wants them to "shout for joy" in the first line because he states they will "fear disaster no more" in the last line. We are to rejoice and exult in our hearts. This is calling on them to exercise faith toward God. Faith that their present judgment was based upon God's love but was not permanent. Faith that God would, indeed, take away their dissevered judgement, permanently. Romans 8:1 tells the believer there is "no more" condemnation waiting for the believer. By faith we believe God has taken that fear away. We no longer fear any disaster.
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