The Presence of God Is Purifying

You can tell a lot about a person about the environment they produce. For instance, you are in a department store and see several employees. Maybe they are slacking off, or maybe they are doing something but are talking. Then the manager steps up. You may know it is the manager by how he is dressed or the things he says, but you can certainly tell he is the manager by the response from the other employees. All of a sudden, the employees stop talking, disperse, and get focused on their work. Why? The manager’s presence produces an environment.

Think about a church that gives lip service to the Bible, has services and some liturgy, but the presence of God is gone. God’s presence is evident by the environment that God produces. This is true among individuals, a collection of individuals like a church, and even entire nations.

Zephaniah 3:1 is talking about Jerusalem. It begins, “Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!” How sad that God is not talking about the heathen as He is in chapter 2. He is talking about His own people. Why? Verse 2 says, “She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.” She was not in fellowship with God and the city reflected that. All the leaders were living as if there were no God. They were living for themselves, taking bribes, enriching themselves, making God’s holy place profane. What you learn from this is that the presence of God is purifying.

A theme of chapter 3 is “in the midst of.” Verse 5 says, “The just LORD is in the midst thereof.” Even among all this wickedness God was in the midst of Jerusalem. He is just and He is light. Verse 11 says, “I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in her pride.” Verse 12 says, “I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the LORD.” Verse 15 says, “He hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, the LORD, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil anymore.” Verse 17 says, “The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty.” So, don’t fear. God’s presence makes a difference. It is purifying.

What does God’s presence produce and purify? God’s presence produces holiness. Verse 5 says, “The just LORD is in the midst thereof.” He is talking about Jerusalem who won’t hear God’s voice, take correction, trust in the Lord, or draw near to God. The leaders were polluting the city that belonged to God, but God would do no iniquity. It continues, “Every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame.” They were proud and shameless. God says, “I am living in that same city that is run by wicked people.”

Second Corinthians 6:16 rhetorically asks, “And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” The body of an individual believer is the temple of God and a group of believers, the church, is in a sense the temple of God. God’s presence produces holiness. Does your life reflect the fact that you are aware of God living within you?

God’s presence produces humility. How could it produce anything else? Verse 11 says “In that day.” God is talking about the presence of God both at that time and in the future. It says, “In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me: for then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy mountain.” It is saying that God lived in this city and the time was coming when He was not going to allow pride to be in the midst of the city.

Ironically, these people were proud precisely because of God’s holy mountain. The sentiment often repeated in the Old Testament was, “This is God’s city. His temple is here. We are God’s people and are better than the heathen.” They were proud because of their relationship to God.

In Zephaniah 2:10 God is talking to the pagan Moabites, “This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts.” They were going to have trouble. The pagans were proud against the people of God. God is going to take care of the pride of someone who says, “There is no God. I can do whatever I want” or “We believe in God and we are better than you.” All that is pride. The presence of God could never produce that in a person because God’s presence and pride cannot dwell together. The way to beat pride is not to be proud but to be humble, to submit ourselves to God in a meek spirit.

Lastly, God’s presence produces hope. Verse 14 says, “Sing, O daughter of Zion.” There is coming a day when the Lord is going to make wrong right. Verses 15-16 say, “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 any more. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack.” Verse 17 says, “The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty.” Don’t fear. Don’t be slack. Have hope.

First John 2:28 says, “And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.” People often dread the coming of the Lord. If I am living the presence of the Lord today, I don’t need to worry about His manifest presence tomorrow. Zephaniah 3:8 says, “Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day.” God has a purpose and plan. When I am aware of the presence of God, I don’t have to live in dread, fear, and worry. I can live in hope for the present and the coming day of the Lord because the presence of God is purifying.